WH 11 pack leaf spring help

[beasterly]

Took the bolt out of my leaf springs now can't get them lined back up perfect advice. I get the bolt through and snapped off at 40 ft lbs

 

[Arikilen]

Are you referring to the center bolt that aligns the spring pack to the perch? If so, you will need to remove all the weight from the pack (ie, separate the chassis from the axle) to realign them. You will want to get them loosely lined up and then use a couple c-clamps to tighten the pack together. Once you have done that you can put a new alignment bolt in.

 

[beasterly]

Yes sir took it out to install shims

 

[beasterly]

Thanks I'll get on it once I can hunt down a bolt drove around for 3 hours looking odd size

 

[SHX669]

I just had mine apart and reassembled . Like was mentioned you have to take the tension off and loosen the spring keepers then you can align the leafs. That center pin bolt doesn't have a "head" .- its a " centering pin" that drops into the spring perch.

 

[Whoaa]

Yes sir took it out to install shims

If your using the 7* shims to help correct pinion angle, the shims go between the leaf pack and the perch that is welded to the diff housing. No need to remove the center pin of the leaf pack.

This can be a 10 minute job. Loosen/remove the U bolts, jack up, slip the shims in place, and then re-torque the U bolts. Its best to use top-of-the-line fasteners & U bolts, I prefer to use new hardware.

 

[garberz]

The shim gets bolted to the bottom of the leaf pack. I use C clamps to hold the pack together while replacing the center pin.

Mark

 

[DirtDonk]

He's right Whoaa, at least as far as our shims go. This way the full head still sticks into the spring perch.
Ours come with two sizes of bolts, in case you're using them in some other brand of spring packs.

Sorry you had trouble with snapping the bolt beasterly. Was that the new one going in?
In a pinch you can use an Allen head cap screw of the same size (7/16") and you might have to grind down the head a bit to make it fit into the perch.
if you still don't have luck finding a replacement, call us in the morning and we'll get you another set out right away.

And while they should be fine at 40lbs as specified, stop at 30 or so just in case. It's still tight enough, even though it's supposed to be tighter.
Looks like we'll have to check some out. Hopefully you just got a defective one.
Well, "hopefully" for use anyway! %) Doesn't exactly do you any good at this point.

In some cases too, the difficulty installing the new one is that those holes in the leaves are pretty tight, and you need to align things pretty precisely. And still have to tap the bolt through with a hammer.

Good luck. Let use know tomorrow if you need more.

Paul

 

[bearskinner]

You can also use a grade 8 bolt with a hex head, align it all, tighten the bolt, than going the hex head round to fit into the centering hole

 

[u10072]

NO -- just use a socket head bolt-- they are a Grade 8 in rating and if you need to remove the bolt -- you just use a allen socket not vise grips! I always use at least a 7/16" bolt-- if you need to oversize the hole use a carbide cutter and not a drill bit as a drill bit almost wont cut spring steel. Something I would also recommend is a coarse thread as they fine thread gets torn up pretty easily if you hit the threads against the spring steel. Last but not least-- measure the overall length of the spring/shim and get a bolt that has a shank as close to the measurement as possible-- cut off the excess.