fanned out rear spring

[420BlackXJ]

How did you go about tightening the center pin??? I think if i try to tighten the center pin, i'd have to drop the rear axle so that i have room to hold the pin with a pair of vise grips.

I might get flamed for this, but I don't think the center pin was meant to keep the leafs from fanning out. The U-bolts have much more influence on keeping them in line.
I have actually seen leafs with a broken center pin stay in line.
Once you have tightened the U-bolts, the center pin is in effect, not there.

 

[4LVLFWD]

I might get flamed for this, but I don't think the center pin was meant to keep the leafs from fanning out. The U-bolts have much more influence on keeping them in line.
I have actually seen leafs with a broken center pin stay in line.
Once you have tightened the U-bolts, the center pin is in effect, not there.

thats what i was thinkin. I thought the center pin was only there to keep leafs lined up and hold the shim in place.

 

[kcjeep6]

The center pin locates the axle and prevents the leaf from moving forward or backwards.
Somebody mentioned that the spring perches must be narrower than the springs; Ruff Stuff has a rant about this on their web site. I have been working on this flaring issue and was installing 9/16 U-bolts hoping to cure the issue. I noticed that the perches looked wide, when I took some measurements I found that the perches are 2-3/4” wide, they are a well known aftermarket manufactures. Damn now I have to cut them off and get new ones.

 

[horner21]

thats what i was thinkin. I thought the center pin was only there to keep leafs lined up and hold the shim in place.

If the center pin was tight then why would you have movement of the leafs? I used a Grade 8 allen bolt and a ny-lock nut to hold all our spring packs together and have never had a problem like this. I crank the piss out of it but never the less....

 

[4LVLFWD]

If the center pin was tight then why would you have movement of the leafs? I used a Grade 8 allen bolt and a ny-lock nut to hold all our spring packs together and have never had a problem like this. I crank the piss out of it but never the less....

isnt that what the u bolt do? center in is really small compared to the ubolts, which there are 4 bolts compared to only one center bolt.

 

[kcjeep6]

I made one trip with the 9/16” u-bolt and the springs are flared again. The u-bolts were torque to 90 Ft-lb’s with anti-seize. So my next step will be to replace the spring perches with a pair from RuffStuff that are of the correct width for the springs.