I agree, WHY SUA?

That is a LOT of loading on that plate, once it bends far enough, it will stress the bolts to failure....

And that shock setup looks trick, but really looks like it just adds load tot he shackle preventing flex...does it really work?

</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 Bill_Morgan:
<strong>Same plates on the front? Problems wrapping 5/8 Ubolts around the front axle? Or does it fall together like a Lego set? I would relieve the sharp edge is all, but that's 5 minutes with a grinder.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">I used 3.25" wide u-bolts up front vs. 3" for the rear. Its a bit of a chore to bend the 5/8" u-bolts to fit the passenger side. I used a hydraulic press to put enough bend in them the fit well.

As it turned out, I used NAPA 5/8" 3" ubolts, three of the four fit easily with a little press 'adjusting'. For the pesky inside passenger one, I still went with 3", but opened it up a little by heating and bending so it was just a little more like V than U, then bent the front leg back with a press to conform to the odd axle angle (using as a template the cheap bent 1/2" ubolt that came with a certain vendor's Ubolt flip kit). Practically fell into place.

I elected to weld an additional 1/4" plate to the top of that vendor's 1/4" thick plate after making the plate flat again with the press. Allowed recentering the holes for the 5/8" Ubolts, as well as repositioning the axle further forward. Hell for stout now. I'll do something similar in the rear soon.

Bill,
Can you please post the part #'s for the 3" u-bolts? Did you get them from your local NAPA or at NAPA online?

I don't have the part numbers handy, but just went into NAPA and asked for 5/8" x 3" x 7.5" long or so, and they were in stock. ~$7 each. You want a longer one (I believe I measured ~11.5"? Measure yours if you are doing the front solid axle) for the inside passenger front U bolt, and they had to get it from the warehouse. The 9" long ones, which I need for the rear, are more like $10 each and they had to get them from the warehouse. If you aren't running a block, thick springs, and fat plates you can get away with the 7.5-8" ones. Measure twice, order once. You can always go long and do a Sawzall adjustment <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

This just in...
all 5/8" U bolts from NAPA-
3" x 7.5" 6504044
3" x 9" 6504050
3" x 11.5" 6504052

Like I said, you may need something a little longer/shorter, so measure.

<small>[ June 24, 2003, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Bill_Morgan ]</small>

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/mad.gif" /> The part numbers are not correct, and neither were the U bolts this afternoon. The ones tomorrow will be...
Its only as good as the counter guy I guess.

I am also assuming that this discussion is aimed at the rear axle. A u-bolt flip looks like it would be a little more complicated in front. looks like you'd need a combination of square and round bent bolts. I've heard that there are shops that will custom bend u-bolts; anybody want to recommend one that will take an order over the phone and ship the finished product.

If anybody knows the dimensions of the bends or where I can find that I'd be glad to learn about it. Thanks

Matt

<small>[ June 28, 2003, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: matts ]</small>

I run the following:

Front: Rancho RS17436 5/8x3.25x8.75
Rear: Rancho RS17531 5/8x3x9.25 (for '86+)

Both round bottom u-bolts.

</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 4Crawler:
<strong>I run the following:

Front: Rancho RS17436 5/8x3.25x8.75
Rear: Rancho RS17531 5/8x3x9.25 (for '86+)

Both round bottom u-bolts.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Thanks Roger. You are a bottomless well of precious toyota info.

If I run Old Man Emu's in the front I'll probably need longer bolts. Can Rancho supply those? Where would I get a great mail order deal on the aforementioned u-bolts? Thanks

Matt