leafspring mounting hole on chassis

On my XJ we replacing the spring bushing and leaf rebuild, we noticed a slight ovaling in the vertical direction of the bolt hole on the chassis for the forward leaf mount. the oval is not so much as to go totally off the end of the steel tube that the bolt passes thru that is in the bushing. the ovaling is only about 1/16th inch, so there is still contact around the bushings inner steel tube

is this typical wear?


should proper torque of bolt be enough to secure it to the bolt won't move up ad down in the ovaled hole, assuming I get full contact on the bushings inner steel tube

For all I know the hole was ovaled long ago, maybe even before the prior owner had the lift springs installed. So maybe it was not moving around since I bought the jeep.

Thoughts?

You can take and weld a washer over the hole so it will hold the bolt steady.

How tight a fit is required? Clearance specification?

maybe make a plate with hole in it of correct size and weld it over the ovaled holed bracket?

Or get this...
https://www.rustysoffroad.com/rusty-s-xj-rear-spring-mount-reinforcement-brackets.html


???

A 1/4 plate with the correct size hole welded onto the bracket will be sufficient.

If your OCD is kicking in, you can buy a new forward leaf spring mount bracket on eBay.

ok, this is what I measure...

passenger side hole 0.610" wide, 0.640" tall

driver side hole 0.610" wide 0.620" tall

the bolt shank is 0.545" diameter

what is the hole size new? Should it be a snug fit on the bolt shank in this application? I assume so.

The tube that is in the rubber bushing that the bolt passes thru is 0.635" ID and 0.885" OD.

Thus the bushing would have to be perfectly centered to give full all around contact of the mount to the bushing tube with the mount holes the size they is now, and that ain't going to happen.

If I do the repair, say by welding a plate with correct sized hole over the mount holeposition, I still will not have full around contact with the bushing bolt tube as the remains of the stock opened up hole will still be there, thus I probably should open up the old hole to say an inch maybe before welding on the repair piece. Thus the bushing bolt tube will bear solely on the repair piece, rather than be partially bearing on the over sized opened up hole. Does that make sense?

Thoughts?

thanks!

p.s... this simple adjustable shackle upgrade to correct shackle angle sure has turned in a bigger project... New bushings, rebuilt spring pack with repaint, added spring clamps to fix fanning of the lower leafs, new u bolts of larger size correct for the axle tube (ford nine inch), new friction discs on springs.
Now the over sized hole repair, then still need to rig up bump stops which were non existent when the XJ became my owner. Of course the bump stops cant go on the passenger side until after I move the exhaust pipe out of the way, it is incorrectly welded to the muffler, putting the pipe right in the way of the stop mount on the frame!

Tim_MN said:

A 1/4 plate with the correct size hole welded onto the bracket will be sufficient.

If your OCD is kicking in, you can buy a new forward leaf spring mount bracket on eBay.

Click to expand...

OCD?

thanks for the advice!

Just do the repair.. you're overthinking it. They sell repair washers just for this type of repair. Purchase a set and go to town. Or get some 1/4" or 3/8" plate and use that.



Good day to ya!

If you weld in a plate, drill a round hole that fits the bolt snugly.

Overthinking same as OCD. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, having a tendency towards excessive orderliness, perfectionism, and attention to detail.

Bolt the stuff on and call it good. The bolt holes are just for the bolts, the bushing sleeves are held in place in the bracket thru compression provided by the bushing bolt.

These bad boys work nice, Uni-Strut square washers, I had two laying around the the hole size is pretty much perfect. Nice and thick, the bolt won't oval these out very easily!

https://www.unistrut.us/product-details/p1062-thru-p2490

Uni-strut washers don't have a precision drilled hole which you need now more than ever.

Also, if you haven't already done it, lose the factory "reduced" shank bolts and replace them with some 10.9's that have a full size shank.

RCP Phx said:

Uni-strut washers don't have a precision drilled hole which you need now more than ever.

Click to expand...

The hole was very tight on the bolt shoulder, about 0.010 inch diameter difference. It should be tighter? They is already welded on.