The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline What's Wrong with This Picture?

Set my front fender on temporary to do body work and discovered the wheel is pushed back from center of fender. I measured to center of hub from a reference point on both sides and sure enough, there is about a 2" difference. I also measured leaf spring rear attachment to u-bolt at axle on left and right and yep, about 2" difference. There was some kind of impact on left side because the bumper bracket was bent that I had to replace. Do I replace leaf springs to solve problem?

Possibly the center bolt on the spring sheared off and the axle slipped backward on the spring. Replacing the springs might solve it. you'll need to remove at least the left side spring to check. The head of the center bolt fits into a recess in the top of the axle at the spring seat. There should be a caster shim in there as well.

Joe,

From what I could find, the measurements for the correct springs for your truck should be 18-7/8" from center of front spring eye to center bolt and 19" from center spring bolt to rear spring eye center. See this aftermarket replacement dimension specs.

If what you have measures differently, it could have the wrong springs installed.

There could be other stuff going on too, but that's what I would check 1st!

Dan

Hopefully something simple like the center bolt in the spring pack. A bolt runs through the main leaves and into a recess in the axle. Take a look at where the axle is in relationship to the center of the spring pack. Measure the passenger side from the center of the axle to the rear perch, compare to the drivers side.

All measurements are off comparing left side to right. Leaf springs do not match and the left side leafs are not aligned. Note the leaf bracket placements are different. See pics.

Yeah, something is off there. Your picture number 2 might be showing the remnants of a broken leaf. Kind of hard to tell from the pics.

Yep. End is broke and leafs misaligned. Guess springs can't take too hard a beaten. Rears are bad too.

I'd take some frame measurements relative to fixed points, side to side, front to back, diagonally, etc.

Those misaligned leaf springs may well indicate that the bolt in the center has sheared, allowing the spring leaves and axle to go wherever they felt like going.

It will be awhile before I remove springs and find out about that bolt. Never removed springs. Hope it's not a pain-in-the-A. Thanks all!

If its just a matter of the center bolt sheard, you won't have to remove the spring. With stands under the frame & a jack under the axle remove the U bolts. Lower the jack to let the axle hang down. Remove spring leaves & pieces of the center bolt. The head of the bolt may be in the hole in the axle.. Clean out the hole. Get a new center bolt & reassemble the leaves to the main leaf. You will probable need new u-bolts also. The center bolt & u-bolts will have to be cut down in length to fit. Jack the axle back up & fit the bolt head in the hole .

George

George, I think his springs are too far gone to just replace the center bolt. He has at least one broken leaf.

Joe, removing springs isn't too bad. The rear bolt on the front spring and front bolt on the rear spring might be a bit hard to get out if there's a lot of wear or corrosion, but the shackles should come loose pretty easily.

Once you support the vehicle frame and allow the axle to drop, there are no hidden energies in the leaf spring.

Its not that hard to take the springs off, or take the springs apart and put them back together. You might get lucky and only need to replace a broken bolt.

Follow-up:

Center bolt on left spring was indeed broke. Right and left spring do not match. When replacing left spring, getting out the rear bolt holding the end of the spring was super difficult and also difficult getting back in for new spring. I attached a photo showing the support bracket attached to the frame. At some point, someone had bolted it on and then did
a "beautiful" weld job. The other side is riveted with no apparent weld. What they did made lining up the spring hole with the bracket difficult. Another photo shows, maybe, some kind of shim. Is it important to put back on? Also, new springs have 8 leafs and the old has 9. I'm guessing no big difference.

Where was the shim? Is it tapered?

Those appear to be caster shims. One appears to be marked 4 De(g). And also marked No-Sl(ip), which they obviously aren't. The shims should go between the bottom of the springs and the top of the axle pad. Original ones (at least the ones I found on my truck) had a depression for the center bolt on top and a nub on the bottom that fits into where the center bolt would go if there were no shims.

Yes, you need to replace them with probably the same taper (4 degrees.) The thick part should go toward the rear of the truck. If you get it aligned afterward, they may want to replace the shims with a different taper if your caster is out of spec. Spec for a 1/2 ton is 1-3/4 degrees +/-1/2 degree (that's measured at the kingpin, and isn't necessarily the same as the shim taper.)

The photos of the shims are your caster shims and yes, they are an important part of the front end alignment. Those do not appear to me to be stock and they seem to say "4 degrees" which may be a bit too much. I have a manual for a '51 1/2 ton and the caster should be 1 3/4 (plus or minus 1/2) degrees. The thick part of the shim should be toward the back, thin toward the front.
Kent

That shim is the caster shim and needs to be installed otherwise the steering wheel will not return to center position. Looks like they may need to be replaced.

Both Kevin and Kent beat me to the punch!

That is an ugly weld. I can’t recommend a solution for that hot mess is but I’m sure we’ll have other ‘Bolters with more experience chime in soon. My drivers side was also loose so it’s a common issue. In my case, I reamed the holes for 1/2” grade 8 shoulder bolts and bolted it back on.

At this point, I wouldn't worry about the weld. That is unless it's also welded on the bottom flange of the frame. That's a big no-no, unless some sort of reinforcement is added. Welds on either the top or bottom flange of the frame will weaken it, and the spring mounting points are some of the highest stress areas.
The parts book doesn't specify what the taper of the shims (original PN 474682) should be, but those don't appear to be stock. They could have been installed to compensate for sagged springs sometime in the truck's past. With new springs, you should probably go with some original shims.