Hey all,

So the front end rebuild on my 2004 Dodge RAM 2500 has commenced! I thought I would put in the shocks today. I went with the Bilstein Heavy Dutys and they rock! The first three went in like a dream and then came the fourth one...

So.. It is the driver's side original shock that I am trying to remove. I got to the third bolt on the mounting bracket and then all of a sudden, the stud started turning with the nut. And now the nut is fused and won't turn - just the stud is turning and the nut isn't coming up. It sounds rubbery underneath as the stud is turning...

My neighbor is suggesting we compress the spring and try to get underneath to where that stud us sitting to try and press it up and give it some tension... Would this be the plan of attack?

So, this is my first cry for help (first of what will be probably many over the course of the next couple days ). Any ideas for this? The build is at a standstill until I can figure this out.

Thanks in advance for any replies any of you can give me!

 

I think the stud is attached to the spring holder. It will probably need to be cut out and then a new stud put in. Not sure if they are pressed in or welded in. Not something I could do in my garage.

 

Looks like you replace the spring seat.
You will have to compress the spring to put a new seat in.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...6554&ppt=C0361

 

I went to O'Reiley just now and rented the spring compressor set they had. This thing wasn;t even close to fitting the spring on this Dodge RAM of mine. The spring press ends work with a cotter pin like function and the cotter pins wouldn't slide over the spring... So, that idea is shot...

Who knows what kind of spring compressor I actually need here for te Dodge RAM 2500 spring? Where can I rent the one that is needed? Something is telling me I will need to call Peterbilt in town...

Seriously though, what does "Joe Bob's Garage" do whey need to compress a spring on one of these trucks...??? SMH Here...

 

Instructions for spring removal: They don't even should compressing the springs.
I think most of the compression tools are for lighter duty springs.

SPRING
REMOVAL
1. Raise and support the vehicle. Position a hydraulic jack under the axle to support it.
2. Paint or scribe alignment marks on lower suspension arm cam adjusters and axle bracket for installation reference.
3. Remove the upper suspension arm and loosen lower suspension arm bolts.
4. Mark and disconnect the front propeller shaft from the axle 4x4 models.
5. Disconnect the track bar from the frame rail bracket.
6. Disconnect the drag link from pitman arm.
7. Disconnect the stabilizer bar link and shock absorber from the axle.
8. Lower the axle until the spring is free from the upper mount. Remove the coil spring.

 

Ok everybody, so I got it!

I wasn't about to take no for an answer today. I went to the dealership to talk to people, I went to the car parts stores in town to talk to people, I even went in and talked to the old mechanic that worked on this truck.

For all you noobs out there like me this is what you have to do if you ever strip out one of those shock tower studs like I did. These things are in what is called a stud ring (http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...6554&ppt=C0361) and they sit right below the coil spring and the rubber spacer in there sitting on top of that spring (the stud ring is under that rubber spacer). These things are setup to fail and are a cheap setup IMHO. So here is what you have to do (you can even use these steps to remove your coil spring in a 3rd Gen Dodge RAM 2500 like mine):

1.) You put the truck up on jack stands. Make sure your rear wheels are chocked on both sides of each tire. For all of you that are like me who had no idea where to put these jack stands, they go on the frame right behind the front tires. Now, Your wheels are only going to get an inch off the ground tops when you do this as those springs really come back down...

2.) Once your truck is on the stands, you need to put your jack back DIRECTLY UNDER the shock on the spring you want to compress... You will jack until the weight of the truck is on the jack and the frame is back off the jackstand on that side. This will fully compress the coil spring.

3.) Then, due to also watching youtube and seeing guys using the baseline O'Reiley's Spring compressors to put in their 2 inch lift kits I decided to give the O'Reiley's Spring Compressors another shot.

4.) Well. what I did is coat the snot out of the threads of those spring compressors with anti sieze. This really super helped. So, you put those spring compressors (one on each side) on the coil spring and ream them down ONLY a little bit. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THOSE COIL SPRING COMPRESSORS ARE COMPLETELY SEATED BEFORE YOU DO THE NEXT STEP. The coil spring on the 2500 and 3500 Dodges is too large and the safety cotter pins WILL NOT be able to be pushed in on these spring compressors. But they do work.

5.) Then, SLOWLY drop the truck back down onto the jackstand. At this point I had a 3/4 ton truck Coil Spring compressed a good two inches. The only thing holding the coil spring in the truck was the shock at this point.

6.) I was mindful the entire time that thing was compressed as to what I was doing and making sure to look at it AT ALL TIMES TO MAKE SURE I WOULD RUN IF IT LET LOOSE.

7.) I used an angle grinder to cut the stud and the bolt off that was stripped.

8.) It was a stud ring that I needed: I got one at the dealership for, gasp, $18.50. But, like I posted above, it looks like you can get it at http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...6554&ppt=C0361 as well...

9.) I sawzalled off the top of the shock as well as that bolt was also stripped. I had my neighbor hold the coil spring (that was compressed) and we pulled out the shock - again, had my neighbor not been there, once that shock came out, the spring would have just fallen out....

10.) To correct some of the suggestions that that shock comes out the bottom, those are unfortunately wrong. There is no possible way on this solid axle on this Dodge RAM 2500 that that shock will come out the bottom. It is not possible. You can only get it out the top.

11.) Since the spring was compressed (and the only thing holding it in was my neighbor's hand at this point) we were able to drop the old stud ring (it is three studs in a metal type ring - it is a terrible setup as the bolts were built to strip like mine did). We put in the new stud ring that I got from the dealership.

12.) We dropped in the new shock FROM THE TOP and attached the 21 mm bolt at the bottom to hold in the base of the shock.

13.) We then basically assembled the rest of the shock setup.

14.) Lastly my neighbor buddy and I VERY CAREFULLY lined the coil spring back up and ever so slowly jacked up the jack until that side was back off the jackstand. BE CAREFUL THAT THE SPRING SEATS AGAIN in its original spot or the whole weight of your truck will be on areas that are not held in by the spring still yet at this point. We were able to back off the coil spring compressors on each side once the spring was back in its home and voila, the shock was in... We then removed the jackstands and let er back down on the tires.

So, this was a story for the ages - took me 12 hours from start to finish to gather all info and get this stripped bolt stud out. Now I could do this same process in 20 minutes. Now I know

NOTES:
Stealership said they wanted $300 to drop the front axle (a tough thing to do kinda on these solid axles) to remove the spring to get to this stripped bolt. Whata crock... But the senior mechanic I talked to said back in the day they used to have the truck on the ground and wire up these springs and then jack it back up and the springs would stay compressed. Oh yeah, he said they used hanger wire to do it... Yurgh... Needless to say, the mechanic said I shouldn't do it that way.. But, that's what first led me to thinking about the actual solution I used...

Also, its like everybody and their mother was telling me that I would die or something by putting these O'Reiley's Spring Compressors on my Dodge RAM 2500 coil springs. This was flat out wrong. It was solid the whole time. You just need to use this method I laid out above and MAKE SURE THOSE BAD BOYS ARE SEATED ON THERE BEFORE YOU JACK BACK DOWN AND THE SPRING IS COMPRESSED. The spring literally could have been removed using this method...

What sprung the project for me was all these youtube vids where guys were talking about dropping their solid axles (on Dodge RAM 2500 and 3500 models) to get their springs out and then, instead, like all of them ended up using the Spring Compressors like I did.

So, the new shocks are in!! Time for the real project to start now for this guy My front end rebuild now starts tomorrow!!

Thanks for all the replies all!

 

Not sure why that link on my last post isn't working. Hmm

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...6554&ppt=C0361

 

I am guessing that safety concerns (OSHA) probably stopped this shortcut method at the dealership. But an old-timer mechanic might do it anyway and bank the 3-hours labor with a 30 minute job. I am glad out you got it out without have to pay a lot to do it. And its good to know for when I want to change my shocks. I changed my rear shocks but I could not tell any difference so I decided not to just replace the fronts.