Help--Right Side Front Axle Moved

[prairie]

Have a CUCV M1008, basically a Chevy K30, with an ORD zero rate installed and moving the D60 axle 1" forward and 35" tires on ProComp black steel wheels. Have drove it like this for a couple of years with no problems.
After an incident involving a snow bank, an 18-24" vertical dirt bank, and a heavy foot, I broke the bead on the right front tire. My left side was up on the hard snow bank about 3 feet, and my right side was down on the frozen dirt up against and parallel to the dirt bank. I had my front turned into the dirt bank attempting to get my front tire up on top of it. The front tire banged into the dirt bank pretty good 3-4 time before I got on top of the dirt bank. Avoided getting stuck., but with a broken bead and the axle sitting at least 2" farther back than the drivers side.
Everything appears tight and no signs that anything has slipped or moved. We loosened the right side U bolt and spring clamp bolts and re-torqued with no change. The shackles were bent, so I threw on an ORD heavy duty front shackle kit with new poly bushings and greasable bolts that I had laying around. Slight improvement, but still to far back.
Have had a couple of other people look at it, but with no solutions.
Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[plyr2k]

In the center of the zero rate is the spring pack bolt. Sounds like you Broke that. Remove the u-bolts and bolts from Both sides and raise the truck so there's no weight on the axle. Watch your shocks, brake lines, and steerin linkage, then I'm willing to bet the zero rate falls out. Telling you, the centering bolt is broken, and the zero rate isn't bolted to the pack.

 

[prairie]

You may be right! During my initial inspection, I noticed the center pin was a little loose, but could not pull it out. Figured it was still OK, just loose. Both sides were that way. Will look at it this morning and report back. Hope this is the problem as that will be a very easy fix. Thanks!!
I had also removed the shock to make sure it wasn't bent or binding and throwing things off, and found out they needed replacing. Have a new set of Tuff Country SX8000 0-2" lift shocks on the way.

 

[WJACKSON11X]

I agree on the center pin being broken. It's not too uncommon.

 

[454Sub]

Yep, centering pin. Very easy fix. Easy way to see it is turn the wheels with the steering shaft and you can watch the axle slide on the springs before it turns. Thats how I seen my busted driveside one.

 

[prairie]

Not a broken center bolt, at least on the passenger side. Dropped the axle from the springs , and everything looked good. The drivers side center bolt I am able to spin with my fingers, but can not pull it out. No visible signs of anything that has moved on the drivers side either.
The only thing we did notice was that on the front spring eye, was that the large wrap on the middle leaf looks spread open farther than on the drivers side. Not talking about the top leaf wrap that the bushing and bolt go through, that looks fine. Have a spare set of front springs from another CUCV pickup of unknown model, that appear to not be opened up as far either when they are sitting on the floor. The various models of CUCV pickups had different rear spring packs, but I think the fronts were all the same.
My son took some picture that he will post up shortly.

 

[prairie]

These are pictures of the front spring wrap on the right side that has moved rearward. The pictures don't show things as clearly as I had hoped, and the left side pictures were unusable

 

[ChrisPerry]

Can you take a pic of the center pin area and the rear of the spring?

 

[prairie]

pictures of spring front spring eyes on a spare set of springs I have lying around.

 

[prairie]

Can you take a pic of the center pin area and the rear of the spring?

Will do tomorrow and post up

 

[Stomis]

Center pin bolts should never be loose. I still say the offset pin in the zero rate broke or bent. Im not much of a fan of that offset pin. Would much rather re-drill the pack to offset.

 

[prairie]

Pictures of the bent shackles and the ORD heavy duty shackles, poly bushings, and greaseable bolts that replaced them.
The axle position was the same before and after shackle upgrade

 

[prairie]

Here are pictures of the spring clamp area.
The Zero Rate is 1" of lift and used to move the axle 1" forward. Clamped together with a DIY4x UD Spring plates, that are slotted to accommodate the 1" move forward, and new U-bolts and bolts.
Notice how the spring sits at an angle to the spring plate. The rear side of the U-bolt is almost touching, but the front side is almost 1/2" away.
We loosened up both sides and pulled the right side forward with a come-along, and re-tightened, but made little progress.
Both shocks have been removed to rule out any influence from them.

 

[ChrisPerry]

Everything looks good in the pics of the pass side. Could the drivers side have moved forward instead?

 

[ChrisPerry]

A simple way to see what side moved is to measure the wheelbase on both sides. Takes less than 5 min with a friend.

 

[prairie]

A simple way to see what side moved is to measure the wheelbase on both sides. Takes less than 5 min with a friend.

The wheel base measures 2" shorter on the passenger side, about what I was guessing.

 

[plyr2k]

The wheel base measures 2" shorter on the passenger side, about what I was guessing.

Correct. Or, 2" longer on the drivers side... What were your measurements? Whats the wheelbase supposed to be stock?

 

[prairie]

I am sure it is 2" shorter on the passenger side. The drivers side tire's relationship to the body panel looks to be about where both sides were originally. The passenger side tire is noticeably farther back, and the tire rubs horribly when turning.
I will have to look up the official wheel base measurement.

 

[Blue85]

If you can spin the end of the center bolt, something is screwed! You'll have to take apart the center bolt and zero-rate to examine. If that front military wrap is really opened up as it appears, then the center bolt is sheared and the lower leafs have been moving around. This is a telling sign that the U-bolts had come loose. How many times did you re-torque them after installation of the zero-rate, etc.?

 

[prairie]

Took everything loose on the passenger side and the center pin is good. The drivers side center pin I can spin with my fingers, but can't pull it out. plan on taking everything loose on the drivers side and checking things out, maybe tonight.
I did not install things myself, as I was waylaid by health issues for several months. When I checked torque on the bolts about 5-600 miles later, most were good with only a couple needing slight tightening. That was about 5000 miles ago. Although I did not check torque, everything felt as tight as I would expect when I took the passenger side apart to inspect.