As has been covered here by a few people now, the KYB GR-2 gas
shocks for the front of Vanagons come with cheap rubber bushings and
metal washers, and the instructions clearly state to NOT re-use the old
ones. This is WRONG, and will result in clunking due to the bushing being
far too soft. Ok, I know that now.
But what I did not expect was this: the replacement nylon locknuts that
come with the shocks are *crap*. They are too deep so that the threads
are still engaged well past where the flat spot on the end of the shock
disappears into the but when removing it. This requires ones to use
narrow vise grips to hold the shock from turning to remove the ^*^*@# nut,
all the while trying not to destroy the threads. That was the story on the
first one I did. The second one started to bind so badly that it was requiring
as much torque as I could exert on a 14mm combo wrench while hold the
"key" on the shock rod, which was rapidly disappearing into the nut. It
actually was getting tighter, so I finally cut the stupid nut off with a dremel.
I was amazed how soft the nuts are - took about 5 seconds to cut it off! Of
course, the threads on the shock are very hard, so they appear fine.

I recommend buying replacement nuts that are not as deep, and probably
harder, so that you don't have to destroy things to get them off someday!
I'm fairly certain the size is M10 x 1.25, but I have not confirmed this yet...

Has anyone else run into this, and perhaps can confirm the thread size?
My thread gauge is hard to read way in there, and the nut is in two pieces
now...--
Shawn Wright
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
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