Bilstein touring front shock missing bolt for 1992 240?

I have modified my 1992 240 with IPD lowering springs and bilstein touring shocks, and they?re fantastic. It?s more comfortable and tighter around corners and I?m happy with it. However, there?s a fairly loud rattle from the front struts every time I go over a bump, and it?s because there?s a sort of bolt that is supposed to screw into the tube of the strut assembly where the shock sticks out of the tube to hold the shock into place. The stock shocks we took out were sort of crimped at the top of the thicker bottom part so the bolt could fit onto it, and the aftermarket shocks weren?t crimped like this so the bolt couldn?t fit. Me and my buddies figured since it wasn?t essential to anything except not allowing any wiggle room, we put the strut back together without the bolt. I was wondering what you guys think about it and if you could answer any questions I have about it. Is it essential? Should I be worried that the bilstein shocks IPD sent me aren?t crimped like the factory ones? Could the small amount of wiggle room in the tube eventually bend the shock? Has anyone who?s modified a 240?s suspension had this problem? And is there anywhere I could buy a bolt that would fit the shocks since they didn?t come with one?

I?d appreciate any helpful advice I receive!

Just looked it up, apparently the part that doesn’t fit the aftermarket shocks is called a strut gland nut.

They should have come with the special gland nuts.

Redwood Chair said:

They should have come with the special gland nuts.

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Thank you, the part IPD sent me didn?t come with strut gland nuts, so I?ve contacted both IPD and Bilstein about the problem and I hope I can get some fitting strut gland nuts soon!

Bilstein touring have normal gland nuts. The hds have the special gland nut. Are your strut inserts black or yellow?

white855T said:

Bilstein touring have normal gland nuts. The hds have the special gland nut. Are your strut inserts black or yellow?

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They are black. So even though they were supposed to come with a strut gland nut, and we couldn?t fit the stock gland nuts on the touring shocks, the stock gland nuts were supposed to fit?

I've interchanged gland nuts with different brands. If you bought them new, then they should have had the gland nuts included in the box. The gland nuts should fit. Picture below of Bilstein touring strut inset with gland nut.

I know what you mean. The top of the section of the Bilstein TC isn't made smaller like other struts. So you need the correct Bilstein TC gland nuts. IPD or Bilstein will send them to you. You can't use the gland nuts from other struts on the TC bilsteins.