Are my U-bolts bent or is this normal?

[88mjblue]

[yellaheep]

Severely over-torqued.

 

Unless you need to remove them, they'll be fine as they are.  But once you do remove them, don't re-use them.  You'll also want to straighten out that shock mount plate before installing the new u-bolts.

[DirtyComanche]

Bent.

 

I'd say it was overtorqued to begin with, and the spring plate couldn't take it, which caused the ubolt to bend.  Some bending of both the spring plate an ubolts is normal, as deforming the ubolt permanently is part of the torquing process, but that is really bent and IMHO unsafe.

[HOrnbrod]

^^  Agree. I've never seen a spring plate that distorted. Also the plate isn't correct for an 88 - looks almost like the newer HO plate. Where is the reinforcement plate that goes under it? How's the other side?

 

 

HO plates on left, 90 and below on right

 

The spring isn't centered on the spring plate either. Does the leaf spring center bolt pass through the spring plate hole or is it snapped off?

[88mjblue]

I assume it was torqued like that from the factory because I have a fairly detailed vehicle history from the previous owner from 1987 till when I purchased it and have nothing relating to leaf springs. Here are some more pictures, maybe it may clarify. From the pictures Don posted, I believe they are correct for 88 and looks like they have that reinforcement plate. As for the centering bolt, I'm not sure - by not centered do you mean front/back? Because maybe the angle of the photo makes it look like that.

 

More of the passenger side:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Driver's side now:

 

 

 

 

[Eagle]

I wish there were a current source for that reinforcing plate. I have a set of the shock mount plates out of an '87 or '88, but not the reinforcements. And I wouldn't mind adding them to the XJs, either.

[HOrnbrod]

Okay, can see now those are correct with the reinforcement plates.

 

You could probably run forever like that with no problems, but since I'm anal I'd have to replace those ubolts and bent plate if it were mine.  :yes:

[SVPete]

Made me go out  and look with a flashlight (twice)......your drivers side looks exactly like mine.....a slight outward bend of the u-bolts and a slight upward bend of the mounting plate. Passenger side of my truck...the inward u-bolt is bent more than the drivers side, but not quite as much as yours. 

 

FYI, bought our truck new and have never touched those bolts, and both leaf springs are actually against the outward u-bolt (thus, not centered).

 

Doesn't look like anything hit that area and if you are not having any problems...got to say, let that dog lie.

[DirtyComanche]

The threads on those ubolts look to course to be factory to me, but I couldn't say for sure.  I have a set that I just cut off here which I could look at, but I also couldn't guarantee they were factory.

[88mjblue]

I was in Moab this weekend and was checking out a YJ (all stock) and saw the same thing, so when I got home I checked mine and it had the same thing going on. I think I will let it stay for now, but when I replace the leafs one day, I will go with all new hardware. And also probably go with a 1-2" lift. Also, is there an alternative for mounting the shock plate? Maybe different style? I feel like it hangs too low...

[HOrnbrod]

I was in Moab this weekend and was checking out a YJ (all stock) and saw the same thing, so when I got home I checked mine and it had the same thing going on. I think I will let it stay for now, but when I replace the leafs one day, I will go with all new hardware. And also probably go with a 1-2" lift. Also, is there an alternative for mounting the shock plate? Maybe different style? I feel like it hangs too low...

 

I think this is the reason why the spring plate design was changed in the MJ 1990 year. You can see the plates are much thicker than the earlier 2-piece plates. Has anyone never heard of the 90-92 plates bending? I haven't. Ideally replacing the old style plates with the newer ones and using 5/8" dia. ubolts would be a good solution, but unfortunately you can't get the newer plates anymore - junkyard item only.

 

 

A stout ubolt eliminator kit is another option, but I have no experience with these.

[Eagle]

 

I think this is the reason why the spring plate design was changed in the MJ 1990 year. You can see the plates are much thicker than the earlier 2-piece plates. Has anyone never heard of the 90-92 plates bending? I haven't. Ideally replacing the old style plates with the newer ones and using 5/8" dia. ubolts would be a good solution, but unfortunately you can't get the newer plates anymore - junkyard item only..

 

 

5/8" U-bolts would certainly do it, but that's probably massive overkill. The stock MJ U-bolts are 14mm (0.5512"). XJ U-bolts are 12mm (0.4724"), which is less than 1/2". I've settled on using good quality, spring shop 1/2" U-bolts for both XJs and MJs. If I were to go heavier, I'd stop at 9/16" (0.5625), which is still slightly larger than 14mm.