I broke another Bilstein front shock over the weekend, that's my second so I decided to do some investigation.

The shock is failing under compression. The shock is simply too long and it splits the bottom eye mount when compressed.

The stock shock on the Xterra is 8.625" when compressed and 12.4375" extended.
The Bilstein B46-1099-H2 is 9.375 collapsed and 13.25 extended.

I will be contacting Bilstein this week to see if they can explain why this shock is being sold as a replacement for the Xterra when it is 0.75" too long.

Here is a picture of the one I broke last September (driver side), it broke in the same place as the one I broke today (passenger side).



Time to switch brands again, maybe someone can make a shock that actually fits.
NISMO lists a Rancho that is 13.25" extended and 8.69" compressed, but I can't find a match in Rancho's catalog.

The other option is to finally cut the shock tower, have a loop fabricated, and move to a longer shock.