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The Bilstein 5125 Lower (Axle End) Bushing Guide –2nd Gen Nissan Xterra
I went through installing a set of these and it was unbelievable how little information was available for independently sourcing the bushings/sleeves for the lower shock mount. I did a ton of research over a few weeks on this and compiled a summary of everything here for installing a set of these on your own.
Parts List:
What you need to do:
Why the provided bushings/sleeves won’t work for the lower mount:
The eyes on the 5125 have an Outer Diameter (the bushing eye on the shock) of about 1.125" and the Inner Diameter is about 5/8". They also come with two metal bushing sleeves, you only need to use one of them and it goes on the lower (axle mounted) bolt. The sleeves reduce the bushing down to a 1/2" Inner Diameter and that's where everyone runs into trouble because our stock shock mount bolt is a 14mm diameter, convert that to inches and it's 0.55" so you can see it's slightly too big to fit in the .5” sleeve.
@Allshookup has some really great pics on this process that he might put up, I didn't want to just take them and repost without his input!
I went through installing a set of these and it was unbelievable how little information was available for independently sourcing the bushings/sleeves for the lower shock mount. I did a ton of research over a few weeks on this and compiled a summary of everything here for installing a set of these on your own.
Parts List:
- A small section of ¾” x .095” wall 4130 Alloy Steel Tube, I got an 11” piece from onlinemetals.com.
- Shock Mount Bushings with a ¾” Inner Diameter and 1.125” Outer Diameter, a few poly options are:
Daystar KU08007BK
Energy Suspension 98108
Prothane 19904
Energy Suspension 98108
Prothane 19904
What you need to do:
- Buy the new bushings + the piece of pipe.
- Cut the pipe into 2 sections that are exactly 1.65” long.
- Press the new bushings into the shock eye, then press the new metal sleeves you made into the bushings.
- That’s it, you’re ready to install!
Why the provided bushings/sleeves won’t work for the lower mount:
The eyes on the 5125 have an Outer Diameter (the bushing eye on the shock) of about 1.125" and the Inner Diameter is about 5/8". They also come with two metal bushing sleeves, you only need to use one of them and it goes on the lower (axle mounted) bolt. The sleeves reduce the bushing down to a 1/2" Inner Diameter and that's where everyone runs into trouble because our stock shock mount bolt is a 14mm diameter, convert that to inches and it's 0.55" so you can see it's slightly too big to fit in the .5” sleeve.
@Allshookup has some really great pics on this process that he might put up, I didn't want to just take them and repost without his input!
