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'76 k5 mid life crisis

last weekend i set out to finaly change front spring bushings. had a little trouble with a broken anchor plate, but all is good. so now new anchor plates, u-bolts, shims, bushings, and all new hardware. it went from handleing like a wet noodle to stiff like a dump truck, but i love it. still needs an alignment.

also put all new rubber in. new door seal, tailgate seal, all window seals and track seals. everything is so tight now im glad i have manual windows, because i dont think power would even be able to move them, they are so tight. i hope over time they will loosen up a little.

also got my rims sand blasted and painted to match, pics to follow.
 
so its been a week or so since i have rebuildt my front end. i have torqued my u-bolts a couple times and the number 2 nut on the drivers side has pulled almost all of the threads and still wont torque. all of the other ones both sides torque out normaly.

is that normal or anything to worry about?? everything else has stayed tight.
 
Best case scenario the nut is stripped, worst case the u-bolt and nut are ruined and you will have to buy replacement u-bolt and nuts.
 
i know its not striped yet, it is still pulling threads, but they are almost all gone. the bolt threds are pulled into the anchor plate, and probably 2 threds at the most befor the nut.

if this is going to cuse me problems all over again i will go out and get a new u-bolt.
 
did you tighten them evenly? I mean, on the other side of the same u-bolt, is there plenty of thread left?
 
DSCN0208.JPG
all of the other ones are just fine. we tightened them acording to the hanes manual, with a cross pattern, everything was done acording to the book.

best i can do for a pic in the dark

DSCN0208.JPG
 
Im sure if the u-bolt is tight it wont hurt. Its not an OSHA approved method but there are people around here who ratchet strap cabs on and drive them so...........
 
twisted frame

so this is my new problem. im pretty sure like 99% positive my left frame rail is twisted. from what i can see this is why my u-bolts are not torqueing correct. the drivers side leaf spring when bolted in, is all sorts of twisted.

when the camera charges ill take some pics so you can all see. with the new bushings you can see it from just looking at the front of the truck.

its still my dd. any thoughts.

i have like 7k in it so far and would hate to see it all be for nothing.

also just looking at the frame rail with nothing attached to it, i couldnt see any frame damage, its not till you hang the leaf spring that you can see it.

this is also, most likely, why the front fenders didnt line up right when we put them back on.
 
Mine is twisted and bent up on one side bad enough I had to cut the body lift down on one side to make the hood level. It doesn't effect any drive ability or anything. I just aligned it myself with a 2 4ft levels for toe, and guesstimated the drag link and steering wheel alignment and it drives great. And this is with 40in tires. These frames left the factory bent and twisted, so I wouldnt put alot of thought into it unless its been wrecked or something.
 
well when we put the springs back in, i bolted in the springs, and the center guide pins on the sping was more than an inch off center on the spring plate on the axle. i loosened everything up tightened the spring to the axle, so everything would line up, then tightened the shackles, and spring mounts to the frame. only on the drivers side the other side appears to be good.

i was thinking about compensateing with a longer shackle on the inside of the left hand spring, and washers under the spring mount in the front just to level out the springs. any thoughts??
 
chicken joe said:
well when we put the springs back in, i bolted in the springs, and the center guide pins on the sping was more than an inch off center on the spring plate on the axle. i loosened everything up tightened the spring to the axle, so everything would line up, then tightened the shackles, and spring mounts to the frame. only on the drivers side the other side appears to be good.
Click to expand...

Did you replace your FUSH mount? Thats a classic symptom of a bad bushing.
 
what is a fush mount.

if that is the uper frame mounted shackle holder, i didnt replace them but i did inspect them, still on the truck, and everything looked ok, no cracks, no oblong holes.
 
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