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Tuff Country Install question-U-bolt length

GoAWOL

GoAWOL

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Putting in my 4" tuff country install and found it weird that the supplied u-bolts are considerably longer than the stock ones. They also require some effort to get them into the stock leaf spring cap. Here is a pic of the front passenger side leaf spring mount assembly and how long these u-bolts are after they have been snugged up. You can see where the longer inside u-bolt is actually bent inwards when tightened.

I figure..
A. I'm doing it wrong
B. I have the wrong parts
C. This is the way it goes

Thoughts?

20140330_121331.jpg
 
how much did you have to bend in that longer one to get it in the hole?

as Martin said, super common for u-bolts to be long...
 
ryoken said:
how much did you have to bend in that longer one to get it in the hole?

as Martin said, super common for u-bolts to be long...
Click to expand...

I put it in the vice and squeezed it a little. Eventually I put a c-lamp around it as I put it in. So not too much but I did have to compress it to make it fit.
 
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Thats typical. You have to squish them a little to get them in, then cut the excess off. I use a c-clamp, but I think one of those trigger activated wood clamps would work way easier (I just don't have one).

I wouldn't squeeze them in a vice. I think you could stress the metal.
 
I usually have to squeeze them a little. That inboard one looks a bit excessive. My concern is that if it is bent on the wrong radius, it might not be making good contact in the saddle which means it could get loose. I'd take a look at that. If it looks like it's making good contact around the bottom, then yeah - just cut off excess. Either way, plan to retorque after a couple hundred miles.
 
rebelgregory said:
I usually have to squeeze them a little. That inboard one looks a bit excessive. My concern is that if it is bent on the wrong radius, it might not be making good contact in the saddle which means it could get loose. I'd take a look at that. If it looks like it's making good contact around the bottom, then yeah - just cut off excess. Either way, plan to retorque after a couple hundred miles.
Click to expand...

I made sure it rode up correctly into the saddle as I tightened it. Just seemed weird with a good 3 inches of access. But I believe you guys and will cut off the excess once I'm done. Thanks for the feedback.:waytogo:
 
I've had to pinch em in maybe a 1/4", tops... usually it'd only be an 1/8 or less tho... any more than that and I'd say it was the wrong radius.. easy enough to measure...

the length is an absolute non-issue.. ORD, any vendor you buy em from, they will be long, sometimes WAY long depending on your springpack, etc...
 
ryoken said:
I've had to pinch em in maybe a 1/4", tops... usually it'd only be an 1/8 or less tho... any more than that and I'd say it was the wrong radius.. easy enough to measure...

the length is an absolute non-issue.. ORD, any vendor you buy em from, they will be long, sometimes WAY long depending on your springpack, etc...
Click to expand...

Should I measure the radius in comparison to the old bolts or to the axle?
 
both since you have em.. usually it would just be the tube and the new ones... since your installed, the new one may be tough to measure... you measure at the beginning of the flats after the bottom curve..

it would be very odd that it was wrong being in the kit, especially considering that other one looks right.. but you never know.... the $8 an hr box packer may have had an off day or something.. it's just that one looks pretty bent, can't imagine the nut is super flush to the spring plate..
 
ryoken said:
both since you have em.. usually it would just be the tube and the new ones... since your installed, the new one may be tough to measure... you measure at the beginning of the flats after the bottom curve..

it would be very odd that it was wrong being in the kit, especially considering that other one looks right.. but you never know.... the $8 an hr box packer may have had an off day or something.. it's just that one looks pretty bent, can't imagine the nut is super flush to the spring plate..
Click to expand...

mystery solved. it seems the leaf spring top caps are not interchangeable. One goes on the left side one goes on the right side and they are both different sizes.I'd feel smart if it wasn't me that screwed it up in the first place
 
sh*t happens, what would suck is if ya didn't catch it...
 
fix

ryoken said:
sh*t happens, what would suck is if ya didn't catch it...
Click to expand...

I should have caught it before I tried to force the issue. To add to my screw-up I mushroomed the bolt heads getting the larger u-bolt out. :doah: Fark!

Anywho, I cut the heads off and put it all together. Here's some pics to hopefully prevent someone else from making the same mistake. The last pic is the finished product, torqued to 130ft lbs:waytogo:

20140330_174019.jpg

20140330_173952.jpg

20140330_181638.jpg
 
At least you dont have u-bolts like my truck has now,that were intended for a 2" lift kit,on stock springs,with no threads 2" above the spring plates...

I used about 50 washers on each U-bolt "stud" on the drivers side ones--on the other side I used two 3/4" "coupler nuts" and a few 3/4" nuts as spacers to take up the extra length...

I know its jerry-rigged,but it seems to be holding up fine,and if you saw what my old spring plates and u-bolts looked like,you'd say its a 110% safer improvement over what little there was left of them after salt dissolved them..

I was dead broke at the time,and a CK5 member in northern MA was nice enough to offer me those like new U-bolts and stock spring plates in good condition for just the shipping costs,so I took him up on the offer..I would not have found the spring plates anywhere locally in salvage yards,probably would have had to make them myself..(didn't have money to order any online)..

Someday I'll have a friend who works at a spring shop get me 4 new u-bolts the right length...if the truck lasts that long,that is..:rolleyes:..lately I think the U-bolts will be the least of its sins..
 
diesel4me said:
At least you dont have u-bolts like my truck has now,that were intended for a 2" lift kit,on stock springs,with no threads 2" above the spring plates...

I used about 50 washers on each U-bolt "stud" on the drivers side ones--on the other side I used two 3/4" "coupler nuts" and a few 3/4" nuts as spacers to take up the extra length...

I know its jerry-rigged,but it seems to be holding up fine,and if you saw what my old spring plates and u-bolts looked like,you'd say its a 110% safer improvement over what little there was left of them after salt dissolved them..

I was dead broke at the time,and a CK5 member in northern MA was nice enough to offer me those like new U-bolts and stock spring plates in good condition for just the shipping costs,so I took him up on the offer..I would not have found the spring plates anywhere locally in salvage yards,probably would have had to make them myself..(didn't have money to order any online)..

Someday I'll have a friend who works at a spring shop get me 4 new u-bolts the right length...if the truck lasts that long,that is..:rolleyes:..lately I think the U-bolts will be the least of its sins..
Click to expand...

I'm going to need to see some pics just to clarify how ghetto that sounds. If it's as bad as you make it sound it will be like watching cops just to feel normal.:haha:
 
eh, that's a minor infraction compared to the schtuff ya find on the scary steering page... tho, I think that site is dead these days...
 
ryoken said:
eh, that's a minor infraction compared to the schtuff ya find on the scary steering page... tho, I think that site is dead these days...
Click to expand...


I figure there are some novice engineers out there with minimal standards...I'm not trying to be one of them (at least not on purpose).

Did you happen to notice the color of that axle? How does it feel to have possibly hundreds of strangers following your advice? I can't even get my kids to listen to me let alone complete strangers online. Keep up the good work Paul...:bow:
 
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