I came across some free <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> 1/4 inch plate steel that should work great. If I fab up the plates, they won't have the turned up ends like the kits do. \___________/
What are the purpose of these turned up ends? Are they vital? The only thing I can think of is maybe they help keep your leaf spring from kinking. Anyone have any experience with this issue?

The turned up ends help stop the sides of the plate bending down from the force of the U bolts.
Do you get what I mean?
Kinda hard to explain.
There is probably other reasons for it too I dunno.
Anyway shouldnt cost more than 5 or 10 bucks to have a shop bend the ends for you but Im thinking 1/4 inch is too thin anyway. Go for 3/8 thick.
Paul.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by ausyota:
<strong>The turned up ends help stop the sides of the plate bending down from the force of the U bolts.
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Exactly. You have to have the bend w/ thin steel.

I had some made locally out of 1/2" flat bar w/o the bend.
<img src="http://www.wildyoats.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?s=&postid=1632" alt=" - " />

They sheered them off and punched the holes in about 15 minutes and the total cost for the pair was about $25... which was about the cost of ONE of the 1/4" thick bent gold colored plates I bought from the 4x4 shop. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />
(so I just used the gold one for a pattern and returned it unused!)

Yes, 1/4" plate will bend, even with the bent up ends, I have the remnants of a flip kit from a well known vendor in frnt that has basically formed itself around the springs in about 4 years of use. Its about 1/4" thick steel bent up ends. I have flat 1/2" plate in back, but will be replacing that with 3/8" thick w/ bent ends front and rear.

And use a large diameter u-bolt, I run 5/8" front and rear and they have held up great, after wearing out/stripping 1/2" and 9/16" bolts, I only run 5/8" now.

And the bent up ends also help prevent stressing the leaves at the transition, if you had a nice sharp edge, the stress would concentrate there and fatigue the springs. Rounding the edge or bending it let the spring flex naturally at that point.

<small>[ March 05, 2003, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: 4Crawler ]</small>

ErikB, do you have more shots of that? I'm trying to figure out what looks like a bracket welded to your axle, and it has me mystified... Are you using U bolts, or straight bolts into a bottom sort of plate?

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> I run 5/8" front and rear and they have held up great, after wearing out/stripping 1/2" and 9/16" bolts, I only run 5/8" now.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">well, I was going to use 9/16" bolts. Do you think the stripping was due to maybe using fine thread instead of coarse thread? The stock bolts seem pretty stout. What size are they?

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Originally posted by Lou Bell:
<strong>well, I was going to use 9/16" bolts. Do you think the stripping was due to maybe using fine thread instead of coarse thread? The stock bolts seem pretty stout. What size are they?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Stock is 14mm (9/16"). You usually have no choice of threads on a u-bolt. 9/16" is the smallest size I would use, but I find the 5/8" are not stressed anywhere near what a smaller bolt is. I find the threads on the Rancho u-bolts are the best formed in that they fit the nut well. Many u-bolts use a rounded thread on the bolt and the nuts have a V-shaped thread. Each time you install the nut, the threads are partially deformed and ultimately wear out. The Rancho threads seem more V-shaped and they use a lock nut instead of the deforming threads to lock the nut in place. Seems to work fine, never had one fall off yet.

Now the official line is that u-bolts are single use items and new ones are to used each time. I don't like the hassle of rounding up all the hardware every time I decide to pull off the springs to work on something. The larger u-bolts are under a lot less stress and seem to last and last. I got my rear bolts used 5 years ago (and I have no idea how long they were used befor that) and they are still in excellent shape. Just one less thing to worry about.

I used 1/2" plate and 5/8" U bolts. No need for bends to add strength, and the U bolts are plenty strong too <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

I used plates from cherokee for the rear and
passenger side front i think from chevy van or
pkup. driver side is still stock toyota. bump
stops were just held on by 2 brackets w/ nuts on
top of ubolts.

I'm using 5/8" Rancho u-bolts all around as well. Good stuff. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />

Bill- That's my trussed/shaved Taco axle w/ welded blocks:

<img src="http://home.off-road.com/~bibelheimer/images/temp/3-02_2/tacoaxle6.jpg" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://www.wildyoats.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?s=&postid=1633" alt=" - " />

The u-bolts pass through the truss, so that's probably what you're looking at. Details here:
http://www.4x4wire.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=006524

Someone asked me for dimensions of the plate-
They were cut from 1/2" x 6" flat bar
4.5" x 6" outside dimensions
11/16" punched bolt holes
2-5/8" x 3" inside the bolt holes (3" is the axle tube thickness, 2-5/8" is the spring width give or take)
The center hole is actually a slot 11/16" x 1-11/16" so you can move the axle up to an inch forward or backward (if you drill your perches to match), which is how I moved my axle back an extra inch.

HTH.