Mangler0075 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hey all, been looking for info and it is hard to find much on these trucks. Scored a 87 che for a really good deal. Well it is only a 2wd, I have had the urge to toss some cheapy steel TM5 wheels on it with decent profile tires and lower it.. My question is does anyone know how far apart, center to center the u bolt holes are on the rear leaf bottom plates? It's been cold and raining here and haven't been able to get under it to measure.. I figured one of the u bolt kits would work for it.. Any help would be great, would like to order a kit for the back tonight.. thank you l, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Hey all, been looking for info and it is hard to find much on these trucks. Scored a 87 che for a really good deal. Well it is only a 2wd, I have had the urge to toss some cheapy steel TM5 wheels on it with decent profile tires and lower it.. My question is does anyone know how far apart, center to center the u bolt holes are on the rear leaf bottom plates? It's been cold and raining here and haven't been able to get under it to measure.. I figured one of the u bolt kits would work for it.. Any help would be great, would like to order a kit for the back tonight.. thank you l, John We need to know what axle is under it. The u-bolts for the Dana 35 are not the same as for the Dana 44. If it's a 2WD it probably has a D35, but you need to be sure before you buy u-bolts and find they don't fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParadiseMJ Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 While you're under there figuring out your axles, take a tape measure with you. Measure the distance between nuts, measure the axle, measure the holes and size of the bolt. Measure the length of the u-bolts. You'll get an instant answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 The MJ axle plates that the u-bolts pass through are exactly the same for both the stock D35 and D44 axles. The style was changed in 1990, but the parts numbers remained for both versions. The D35 and D44 axle tubes are very close in diameter for the stock axles. When I installed my MJ D44 I used 9/16" dia. u-bolts (vs. the original 12mm u-bolts on the D35) and everything went in fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 I thought all MJs used 14mm U-bolts for the rear axle. The XJs used 12mm. I've standardized on 1/2-inch -- it's slightly larger than 12mm, and since I don't expect to be using my MJs for any heavy hauling or towing I figure good, new 1/2" U-bolts are at least as good as rusty 30-year old 14mm U-bolts. But -- I'm dealing with a mixed fleet of XJ and MJs, so I try to simplify where possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I thought all MJs used 14mm U-bolts for the rear axle. Nope. I looked up the part number for both the "standard duty" (D35) and "heavy duty" (D44) leaf spring u-bolt nuts, 11500756. It crosses to a 12mm nut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangler0075 Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 While you're under there figuring out your axles, take a tape measure with you. Measure the distance between nuts, measure the axle, measure the holes and size of the bolt. Measure the length of the u-bolts. You'll get an instant answer. Seems like a great idea.. I figured I would get a answer from some one that had a set maybe laying around.. Its fugn 10 deg here and snow.. I honestly don't feel like doing that in the freezing cold weather if I am able to get a answer from some other guys that have obviously been into these trucks a lot longer then my self.. But thanks for the stellar answer.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangler0075 Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Thanks guys, from a glance under there it appears to be a 35. But if you are saying it's will fit either or that works as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desbennett004 Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I got 9/16" u bolts for a chrysler 8.25 to fit in the stock MJ plates when i did my diff swap. Needed a little squeeze with a clamp, but went in pretty easily. Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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