Leaf Spring Torque

[PrairieDrifter]

Who said cheap wheel spacers? And 4 pieces of bent rod for $100.00 sounds like someone's making money. As for my bad day I'll take my chances. Back when these trucks were new,they didn't have all the testing for hardware we now have,so the answer was overcompensate, these bolts are not near stressed enough to be close to their limit. And look at the diaghram above Toyotas not recommending at least on that model replacement. Again I never said it was a bad idea,I just don't agree that it's as big a deal as you are making it into. All four are not going to break at once. Pinion angle is going to start changing on accel and decel long before you are in danger of the rearend falling out of the vehicle. Even if all 4 break,you now have 4 j bolts holding the rearend not all the sudden zero hardware. I agree changing them sounds like a good idea if you buy quality replacements. Not Rockauto,Ebay,or Amazon. FWIW Rockauto doesn't own the parts,warehouse tge parts or even know for certain where the parts came from,they are just an auction house,like Ebay and Amazon,selling g other people's car parts,good ones and bad ones.

I understand rotational forces and torque application a little more than the average bear. Sorry.

Going off your theory you wouldn't see pinion angle change because the leaf pack bolt is a centering pin, how could it get loose enough to pull that pin out but not lose the axle? That's a pretty far reach..

If one breaks it's not four j bolts, it's one j bolt and one u bolt that is now worthless because all of the tension is now lost on the whole assembly, because that's how u bolts work. All four corners equal the final tightness of the assembly. If one side of one u bolt lets loose, almost all of the clamping force is gone for the whole thing.

Go ahead and cut one side of a u bolt then drive around and see how loose it is. Then think If they were even tightened correctly too. If you don't get that plate level, your chances of it loosening up after breaking are exponentially higher. Then let's not even get started on temperature differences too.

Couldn't tell you which broke, was a long time ago, pretty sure it was out of a brand name lift kit. I've never ordered cheap u bolts. I use ORD u bolts.

 

[1lejohn]

I had the front leaf spring U-bolts loosen up and the front end would make a horrible popping sound when turning a tight corner at slow speeds. I just tightened them back as tight as I could get them. 3 years later no problem. I vote for replacing them if it makes you feel better. I think they recommend replacing them because the threads get stretched where the nut seats against the plate. I would surely go with a name brand spring manufacturer.