Honestly? Some time has passed since doing this but as recalled, I removed and replaced them same as they came out, no change of the orientation of the retainers/washers... made sense to me without question.
Was much like the shock's retainers and bushings or control arm bushings with the retainers/Washers, if I'm reading this right it's concave in. Kinda like this -

N(0) = Large nut, ( retainer, bushing 0, retainer )

but please correct me if I'm wrong and no problem friend

 

Sorry vids still not posting correctly. Will make another attempt.

 

OK. I FINALLY got the vids to work properly. MY apologies to all.

JFloors and all,

Have a look at these vids for about 20-30 seconds. They all show the dome face in (towards the rubber).

(Nissan Pathfinder).
https://tinyurl.com/Nissan-Pathfnder

AMC Eagle:
https://tinyurl.com/AMC-EAgle

Older Mustang:
https://tinyurl.com/Older-Mustng

Newer Mustang:
https://tinyurl.com/Newer-Mustang

Chevy:
https://tinyurl.com/Chev-Pickp

Older Valiant:
https://tinyurl.com/Old-Valiant

These are a few of the vids I had found. Now, I freely admit, I am not a mechanic (but I play one on the internet) in way of thinking and absent any special considerations, a strut rod bushing is a strut rod bushing. Its function is the same regardless of where it's employed. No?

What am I missing?

Thanks.

 

Interesting video of the older mustang and seeing how the rod works!
my dilemma now is you got me wondering if maybe I absent mindedly flipped one or both retainers... wouldn't be the first time, or the last! No matter now, it's been done for 3-4 years and no troubles as of yet.
My boss has an 01 3500 Dodge passenger van with a lot less miles than mine so will take a peek at his to check next chance I get, but won't be til next week that I can do that. I'm driving bus to San Diego with a church youth group this next week.

I'm not pulling up any useful information specific to our vans, the diagram in my haynes is real visually unclear and r&r instructions say nothing, maybe someone else will clear up the mud...

 

​UPDATE:

I got the Prosteer bushings from Pepboys. While the picture SHOWS a metal sleeve,there was none in the package. It came with 4 rubber bushings, two dished washers and two flat washers.

Lift wheel off ground by frame, not control arm. Disconnect sway bar link, remove strut rod nut, Remove 2 strut rod bolts and jounce bumper. Nothing is under tension or compression. Very easy procedure.

I made the attempt at installation. Very straight-forward procedure​. While they "physically" fit, I noticed they were significantly smaller than the ones currently on the vehicle. Between that and the fact there was no metal sleeve, I decided to abort, put the originals back in (they were very worn and tattered) and order the OEM ones from Mopar. ($70).

The Mopar ones ALSO did not have the sleeve in the kit. Nor did they have the washers. Just two rubber bushings. I had to buy two kits (one for each side). There was a note in each kit that said they were redesigned with a metal sleeve. It was at this point that I realized the metal sleeve is INCORPORATED into the front bushing. I can clearly see it. The note also said to install the parts in the same order they came off. So I did.

The Mopar ones were much larger than the Prosteer ones. I notice that when ordering these from Pep Boys, the listing is the same for the 1500, 2500 and 3500. There's no place to specify the heavier duty front end (4500 LBS I think on this vehicle).

Mopar shows a separate number for the 3500 maxi than the others. I think this may be the difference is size.

Anyway, I installed them yesterday. While I had the wheels off, I squirted a little oil in the lower control arm spring pockets in case the metal on metal was making the noise. Upon test ride, it handled a bit better, less steering wander, but it seems the clunk noise was still there. Maybe not as load or as often, but still there.

Hope this helps some one.