Center bolt on RE 4.5 leaves broke

Lonestar · Jul 24, 2004

I jerked my rear axle today starting on my 9" swap and found that the center pin on one of the leaves is broke. Does anyone know what size it is so I can get a new one? Also why would it break? Is it because I was using shims to adjust pinion angle?

red91 · Jul 24, 2004

Lonestar said:
I jerked my rear axle today starting on my 9" swap and found that the center pin on one of the leaves is broke. Does anyone know what size it is so I can get a new one? Also why would it break? Is it because I was using shims to adjust pinion angle?

Don't know why it would break, but i got pins the other day and they had 2 options 3/8th's and 5/16ths. normal xj size is 5/16th...

Lonestar · Jul 24, 2004

Where do they take the measurement? On the pin where it goes into the spring perch or on the threaded end?

xj92 · Jul 24, 2004

Measured on the threaded end. If you have some strong drill bits and a good drill you can drill them out to the next bigger size also so they don't break again in the future.

old_man · Jul 24, 2004

Autozone even carries the bolts so you should be able to get one easily.

Eagle · Jul 25, 2004

It's the shank diameter that is listed as the pin size. Stock for the XJ is 5/16". I've heard of at least one aftermarket manufacturer whose springs use 3/8". I'm not certain, but I have a feeling it might have been RE. Try fitting any standard 3/8" bolt through your spring -- if it goes, use 3/8. It it won't go, get 5/16".

logdog · Jul 25, 2004

If the nut on the top of the leaf pack is loose, the bolt will sometimes break. Just make sure you check it once in a while to keep it from happening again.

HEX-J · Jul 25, 2004

I had to buy a couple of those today, had to search for them because Autozone, Pep Boys, or Advance here didn't carry them, as well as extended U bolts. I went to the local NAPA and showed them the bolt and they had an exact fit.

Kejtar · Jul 25, 2004

Lonestar said:
I jerked my rear axle today starting on my 9" swap and found that the center pin on one of the leaves is broke. Does anyone know what size it is so I can get a new one? Also why would it break? Is it because I was using shims to adjust pinion angle?

RE leaves are 3/8"

y2kxj · Jul 26, 2004

find a spring shop in your area. they'll have everything and make your u-bolts whatever size you want.

Dano · Jul 26, 2004

when I got my 3.5" springs from RE I had to take to center bolt out and gring the bottom part down because it wouldn't fit onto the spring mount of the Dana44. graounded them down and put them back on and they are fine now. But the driver side bottome 2 springs have shifted and are no straight in line with the other springs so I will have to take them apart eventualy and fix that...

I do know that my old rusty's center bolt were same as stock and the RE bolts were bigger.

xj92 · Jul 26, 2004

An alternative to grinding down the head of the spring bolt would be to drill out the leaf spring mount on the axle to accept the larger spring pin head.

Yucca-Man · Jul 26, 2004

red91inWA said:
Don't know why it would break, but i got pins the other day and they had 2 options 3/8th's and 5/16ths. normal xj size is 5/16th...

I have a feeling I know why it would break...after removing my center pins today with only 12 months and 20,000 miles on them, the centers were rotted...Colorado and several other states have a nasty habit of spraying the roads with MgCl (Magnesium Chloride) so I had big ol' wet salty rust in there.

Like red and a dozen other folks have said, RE uses a 3/8" center pin in most of their spring packs, where the stock size was 5/16" - in some cases the spring perch will need to be drilled out a bit to fit the pin. My 8.25 wouldn't take the larger pin so I ground the head down (didn't think about drilling), but my D44 had no problems accepting the larger size of the 3/8" RE bolts I installed today.

Center bolt on RE 4.5 leaves broke

Lonestar

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red91

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Lonestar

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xj92

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old_man

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Eagle

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logdog

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HEX-J

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Kejtar

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