If you take a close look at the shock body, the Bilstein's spring perch sits on a retaining clip that is located in a groove on the shock body. The 2" pipe that is being used as a "sleeve" and to also lift the perch by 1.5 inches, has a thickness of 1/8 of an inch and an ID of 2.012in. The shock body has an OD of 2.002. What does this mean? It means that there is a 10 thousandths gap in between the two pieces. For some who do not know what the size of 10 thousandths is, just picture about 10 of your girlfriend's strands of pubes left behind in the shower, stuck to the Zest bar, lol! Okay, the clamp gives the pipe for the spring perch the small amount of squeeze (.010) that it needs to be completely flush with the shock body. I could have welded the pieces together, but it is totally NOT necessary. Plus, welding on a shock's liquid/gas-filled tube is a BIG NO NO! Unless you have a Super-Efficient way to keep the shock within an acceptable temperature range while welding, go for it; furthermore, if you believe that a C1018 3/8 round bar exhaust clamp doesn't have adequate sustained clamping force for this small task of which it has been designated for, then you my friend obviously know very little about steel, just that it is hard and becomes rusty when bare. LOL, you're more of a "parts changer." As for the remainder of the vehicle's suspension that houses the usual suspect bushings, they have all been replaced with new components: front L,R upper and lower control arms, F,R tie rod ends, front L,R spindles and steering knuckles, sway bar mounts (engine compartment), rear L,R, upper control arms. I did not replace the sway bar links because the bushings are not worn, only the boots. For those who do not know, the boots only keep out dirt. When it's time for the bushings to be replaced, you'll know. They will have a considerable amount of free play. Mine have a long way to go. If you have any more questions, comments or concerns, please do keep posting. I have my Gatorade and a bag of chips in hand. You guys are hilarious, lol! All that it would have taken was a few welds and the majority of you would have been okay with it, hahaha! That's like putting an aggressive exhaust on a really weak car with a good paint job. It would probably be sold to the ones who didn't know, lol.