is it common to break a leaf spring bolt?

[82K5_6.5L]

so yesterday i sheared off the passenger side bolt going thru the frame for the leaf spring hanger. few people i have talked to said they have never heard of that? is that something common? i figured grade 8 bolts would be fine. they are the bolts that came from Tuff Country..

 

[noahrob]

I have never seen it break, but have heard of it which is why I upgraded to the bigger shackle and rear eye bolts...

 

[jekbrown]

happens sometimes... you talking about the front springs? the rear-most through-the-frame bushing? Stock those suckers are kinda weeney. Upgrade to 9/16" and make sure you get a bolt long enough that it isn't loaded in shear on the threads.

j

 

[diesel4me]

never!..

I've beaten my trucks pretty hard,and I've broken leaf springs,but never a shackle bolt,front or rear...

I have no idea how a full sized GM 4x4 can carry a plow and a 454 or 6.2,and not shear off those 7/16" bolts on the rear shackle of the front springs!..I've taken them off ,when parting a truck out,and they are sawed nearly in half by the shackle--yet they still held all that weight..!.. ..why they didn't use 9/16" bolts like all the other springs do is beyond me....

The six studs that held the spindle to the steering knuckle on my 74 K20 with a Dana 44 front end only had 4 out of the six bolts holding it on,and it had a 8' Fisher plow that weight 700 lbs,and a 454 in it when I got it!- -had 36" tires too,and some kind of "wrong" front springs off a Ford or Dodge stuffed under it..I ripped out the lift kit,fixed all the missing bolts, and put stock springs and tires on it,so I could plow without running the blade over--lifted trucks and plows are not a good combination in my opinion..

Ever look at a C30 Ramp Truck??....the rear springs often have way more leaves on them,but the shackle bolts are still 9/16"!!--even bigger trucks like C60's dont have bigger bolts!..guess they are pretty dam strong...the weakest thing of all must be the main leaf in the spring--one crack and its all over--once the MAIN leaf goes,all the rest are useless!.....
.....thats why GM must have wrapped the second leaf under the main one up front,to prevent it from dropping the truck to the ground if the main leaf broke...I broke a rear main leaf off at the swinging shackle end once--had to clamp on a "helper" spring with square clamps to hold it together so I could drive it 70 miles home--it was NOT a fun ride.....

 

[jekbrown]

yeppers, 9/16" is gonna be enough for almost any app. Main leaf breakage is poopy, but a military wrap on the second will make it survivable.

j

 

[NEK5]

so yesterday i sheared off the passenger side bolt going thru the frame for the leaf spring hanger. few people i have talked to said they have never heard of that? is that something common? i figured grade 8 bolts would be fine. they are the bolts that came from Tuff Country..

i did it...no idea how but i did it, i had this loud clunking noise and thought i blew out a shocks, put new shocks in and there it was....i`ve never heard of it before it happened either

 

[Hossbaby50]

I have seen 4 of the spring bolts break firsthand. 3 were stock 7/16" bolts that broke on the same truck, 2 of which were on the same day of wheeling. The 4th one was a 9/16" grade 8 believe it or not. The truck had already been upgraded to 9/16" bolts but with the wicked flex this truck had it managed to fatigue the bolt and snap it off anyway.

That being said I have never snapped one of my 1/2" upgraded bolts yet knock on wood. If I had to do it over I would upgrade to 9/16" bolts like my buddies have. With some hard wheeling with alot of different trucks with the 9/16" upgrade only 1 truck has managed to break a 9/16" bolt sofar.

Harley

 

[Hossbaby50]

P.S. Common? Kinda

With a heavy motor like a 6.5L up front it puts more strain on things like the spring bolts. So if you have started wheeling hard or doing alot of flexing out then it would be more likely that you could brake one. Upgrade now if you can. If you have broken one you will likely break another in the near future. It could be a fluke but it is probably more of a warning sign.

Harley

 

[FWP]

With some hard wheeling with alot of different trucks with the 9/16" upgrade only 1 truck has managed to break a 9/16" bolt sofar.

Harley

That would be me , but I wheel hard, most of the time. They're 5/8 now

 

[Hossbaby50]

Actually it was Rob. I didn't see you break yours. Rob broke one in Florence when me and Matt were out there wheeling with him.

So there you go, 2 broken 9/16" bolts broken.

Harley

 

[82K5_6.5L]

P.S. Common? Kinda

With a heavy motor like a 6.5L up front it puts more strain on things like the spring bolts. So if you have started wheeling hard or doing alot of flexing out then it would be more likely that you could brake one. Upgrade now if you can. If you have broken one you will likely break another in the near future. It could be a fluke but it is probably more of a warning sign.

Harley

been wheelin on k5 alot harder as of late, but just recently put the new springs/bolts on the front about 6months ago. i replaced both bolts on the passenger side w/ the 7/16" grade 8 stuff again, so when i get around to it, i'll definitly upgrade to something bigger. in the process of making a new heavy duty tie-rod,cuz mines looking more like a horse shoe then a straight piece
thx again guys

 

[ssped]

OK, I am bringin up an old one form the archive. I Noodled the 7/16ths bolts and am upgrading. My question, is he 9/16th bolt replacing the insert in the bushing?

 

[desertrat67]

I broke one in Las Cruces a couple years back. ONly time though.

 

[ssped]

I know they break but what about the 9/16th bolts replacing the collar in the bushing. is that what you do?

 

[desertrat67]

I believe you replace the sleeve, bushing and bolt. Contact ORD tomorrow. I think they sell an upgrade kit for this.

 

[ssped]

Ok here is a clearer description fo what I am asking. When upgrading to a 9/16th bolt in the shackle on the front springs the bushing has an sleeve in the middle isolating the bushing away from the bolt. It is the same size as a 9/16th bolt. Are you changing bushings with something else or just sticking the bolt into the bushing and 86ing the sleeve

 

[desertrat67]

The sleeve is required or the bolt will destroy the bushing. You have to change out the bushing, sleeve and bolt.

 

[ssped]

ok. then fer now I am just upgrading the bolt from the POS lubable ones I bent up,

 

[Chevy305]

It happened to me... And I also broke both rear main leaf springs. I replaced them and then I noticed I had a 2 hairline cracks on the fronts springs and the shackel bolts looked bent from the weight of the truck. The bolt ended up breaking and so did the shackel on the other side.

 

[desertrat67]

nice.