Is it necessary? Doesn't seem like it would be. Ordered two rancho front shocks from amazon, but only got one of the black covers.

 

Your oem struts have a cover built into the spring ramp. The covers that come with the struts are not needed. The ones I got with my struts did not fit over the stud anyways...

 

Are you guys talking about the cover that protects the shaft rod? Technically...there important. A nick in the shaft could lower the life of the strut but....as we all know, many people never bother to use them. Personally, I would use them.

 

Here is a couple of pictures from my photobucket.. The first is the struts assembled. The black piece inside the spring is the factory cover that fits over the spring ramp. The second is the picture of the struts and shocks with the black piece that they ship in the box. Notice the difference.

Just to clarify what monkey said, make sure you reuse the factory cover. We had to pry mine off in the spring so we could clamp on to the old strut with vise grips to get the top nut off. We did not damage them. So we reused them.

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