I bought a set of front and rear Bilstein shocks about a month ago and installed them on my '05 CRD. I've since discovered the fronts are bottoming out internally and creating a terrible ride. The already destroyed the original rubber bushings, which I replaced with polyurethane. To my knowledge the suspension is completely stock on this. Anyone seen this or have any idea what the hell is going on? I emailed the company I bought them from and got a response that amounted to "that's not possible." I sent them these photos and I'm waiting to hear a response.

I took the spring out to cycle the suspension with just the shock in. This is with the shock completely bottomed out:


With the dust cover off you can see it is all the way bottomed out:


No shock, cycles just fine:

Thats why I recommend OME on the front of a CRD when asked they seem to hold up better
Plus not knowing how you drive or hit holes / speed bumps/ curbs etc has a lot to do with it.
Also your springs may be weak enough to cause issues as well
again not not knowing mileage on yours hard to say

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

I agree a weak spring would contribute to a poor ride, but the spring is not the issue in this case. I've completely eliminated the spring and proved the shock is bottoming out in a stock application before the suspension even hits the bump stop. This is my GF's DD, not our four wheeling Jeep. It's not like I'm using it to mob over curbs haha. It bottoms out over relatively minor bumps in the road during average, non-aggressive driving. I'm just trying to figure out if the problem is on their end or somehow this CRD is different than others. The control arms are stock, the springs are stock, the yoke from the shocks to LCA is stock... I just can't figure out what the hell it could be.

Well I think I found the problem. Been cruising the forum for hours this evening and discovered that my top plate doesn't look like any I've seen on here. Borrowing this picture from OzLtd on here:



Mine doesn't look like this, but has about a 2" depression down the center that the shock bolts to. We've owned the Jeep for a little over a year and never noticed a problem until I got the bright idea to replace the shocks... Looks like at some point in it's past life the CRD had a lift on it that was later taken off, unfortunately the ( * ) didn't put it all the way back to stock. Kinda bumed because the GF has been driving around on the brand new Bilsteins that have been bottoming out for about a month now. Don't think they'll last long after that.

That there in your hand is a top plate some one installed to give it some lift.
Many subjects on it floating around.

IF it has a 2 inch or so depression in it then it sounds like it had a Daystar spacer lift on it before, that would explain everything why the shock is bottoming out.
You will need to find some stock OEM plates and now of course new front shocks as well.
I never thought of anything like that since I "assumed" that it was stock and always had been

of course maybe the CRD top mounts are different anyone have a picture of one handy???

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

I don't have a CRD top plate picture but I'd also put money on those top plates being Daystar Units.

That's not my picture, just borrowed it to reference the top plate bolted to the top of the shock, not the plate the individual is holding. The shock post on that stock unit sticks up above the plate, mine is recessed about 2" into the plate.



Same assumption I made... In the time I've owned it I never found any indication it had ever been lifted so I assumed what I was working with was all OEM. Ya, I'll pick up some new plates this week. We're taking this on a 1K mile trip this Friday down to visit family in Reno for Christmas so I need to remedy this before then.

+1. I hit the same issue when putting an OME lift on my CRD after i bought it used. I had to order 2 new upper mounts

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05 CRD Limited
GDE Hot Tune
Samco CAC Hoses
OME 790 and Bilstein 916 up front
OME 948 and OME N132L in rear
245/75/16 Treadwright Warden A/T on Richard Cepek DC-2
Euro torque converter
Renegade roof lights
Pioneer Z110bt double din navi w/ reverse cam

i just looked at this again. Are those the stock bump stops?

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05 CRD Limited
GDE Hot Tune
Samco CAC Hoses
OME 790 and Bilstein 916 up front
OME 948 and OME N132L in rear
245/75/16 Treadwright Warden A/T on Richard Cepek DC-2
Euro torque converter
Renegade roof lights
Pioneer Z110bt double din navi w/ reverse cam

Yes thats another issue he needs to address SOON

_________________
MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

I don't think he has any lift, just the daystar plates and no spacer. He wouldn't need extended bumpstops then.

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2010 KK 4WD BRILLIANT BLACK
Fox/King/Bilstein ATH BUMPERS ATH RACK GY DURATRACS

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