CK5
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Tuff Country Install question-U-bolt length
- Thread starter GoAWOL
- Start date
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.
I'm like Red Green..I tend to use things that were never intended for the purpose I wanted them for...
The guy who inspected my truck might have seen the U-bolts,because the previous year he suggested I replace them NOW,before the spring plate failed completely...
I did a few months later,and by then,the passenger side one was already in two peices,I hadn't even noticed it!..tore right in half over the center bolt..
..he did peek under the rear of the truck,made a half snicker and half groan type of noise,and then proceeded to check the ball joints and tie rods..never said boo about the U-bolts..(was probably happy I at least attempted to "fix" it!)..I'm not proud of having to "rig" things like this,but sometimes when you dont have the means,you do whatever works with what you have available..
I had to use a 2" lift kit U-bolt on my previous truck when one snapped off when I went to tighten it,and I used a piece of 1/2" water pipe as a spacer to take up the extra length..drove that thing 5 years with no problems that way...not recomended,but it worked..
Worst "cob job" I saw on U-bolts was a friends '73 Scout ,he busted the rear U-bolts off during some extreme wheeling off road one saturday night,on the rear axle..no parts stores open then,or on Sunday...we also noticed the front ones were loose and couldn't be tightened without them snapping off..
Desparate to get the thing driveable,and out of the sand pit where it broke down,we searched every hardware store and home center ,only to find they had nothing better than U-bolts intended for light duty uses like a gate ,so we resorted to using 1/2" threaded rod from Home Depot,hastily cut with a hack saw and bent around a tree about the same diameter as the axle tubes...(the U-bolts were 9/16" but thats all we could find that would fit without drilling the spring plates to 5/8").we bought nylock nuts for the rod,and all they had was course thread rod..would have prefered fine thread,but oh well!..
His springs were above the axles too,so the U-bolts bore all the weight of the vehicle,unlike a chevy,where they just hold the spring to the axle and the weight of the truck is on the springs--so we were worried the threaded rod being only grade 2, might not hold up to the stress...but he beat that thing mercilessly off and on the road till the engine died about a year later,and the threaded rod U-bolts were still like new,no stretching or breaks...
I wouldn't recommend using all-thread for U-bolts,but if I had a U-bolt fail and thats all there was available,I think I'd trust it to get home at least..
I'm like Red Green..I tend to use things that were never intended for the purpose I wanted them for...
Life is about stories sometimes and it sounds like you have some good ones.
What gets me,is most of the time the things I've used to cob things back together,often WORK,just like some of Red Greene's creations...some things work like they were ready made for just that purpose,despite them never being intended for that use...one example is the "cup holders" I added to my VW Jetta--I screwed two 3" conduit clamps to the sides of the console,and they hold just about any sized coffee or soda cup securely...crude but effective,is often the motto I live by..
..yes, yes, I did notice on second glance...
in 25 yr's, I'll be cursed by the members for having given you all some zinc disease type cr@p...
I could see that if I wasn't already suffering from blazeritis!
Working on the rear springs and noticed someone tweaked the drivers rear side hard enough to bend the leaf spring. All of the force twisted the hanger so I was forced to get new ones from Kurt at DIY4x...great customer service by the way.
