Opinions on a u-bolt flip

Bought a Marlin Crawler u-bolt flip kit and started the install today. Got the u-bolts on one side and they look a little wide. Axle tube is 3" and the u-bolts are 3.3" (to the inside of the bolt diameters). Pretty sure these are supposed to fit snug. Opinions? Thanks

Photos attached.

 

too wide i wouldent run them i would find u bolts that fit.

 

Agree too wide, will the plate support 3" ubolts? Or will you have to auger it out?

 

That's what i figured. I will have to open the plates up a bit or return the kit and get something else. Darn

 

I bought u bolt plates like this for my jeep they fit a wide verity of tubes then you can order correct u-bolts to go with them. https://www.barnes4wd.com/Toyota-U-Bolt-Plates-For-2-12-Inch-Wide-Springs_p_101.html

 

@agalloch07 do the barnes plates a big enough hole to clear the nut on the pack pin? Or did you bolt the plate to the pack? Looks like they have a kit for 3" rears too: https://www.barnes4wd.com/Toyota-Rear-Axle-U-Bolt-Flip-Kit-3-U-Bolt-Early-Toyota-Rear_p_722.html

 

I guess it depends on how big the nut is but it cleared the nut in my spring pack fine. It could always be drilled bigger if need be, i had to machine mine out the slots to accept a u-bolt that was slightly bigger than the plate would accept when i did my axle swap.

 

Seems like everyone so far has agreed, but that's how my ubolts look and I've had no problems.

They shifted around a bit until I really cranked down on the nuts, but I've banged it around offroad a LOT since then.

 

Wheelers Timbren U-Bolt kit

 

Nice looking kit

 

Have you tried contacting marlin crawler??

Did you buy direct fro. Marlin? Where did you get them?

Hey know their shit, but I’d call them to see if they may have sent the wrong set.

 

@jbrandt I ordered directly off of Marlins website. I haven't contacted him yet I was going to wait until tomorrow because of the holiday weekend.

 

Yeah, that’s your best course of action. I’d at least send an email, then follow up after the weekend.

Make sure to include those pics from this thread.

 

OK, explain to me the benefits of flipping the ubolts. Sturdier? Less prone to movement? Or is it just clearance?

 

You could argue that they are sturdier but its main purpose is clearance. Moves the bolt heads above the axle too which provides protection. Pair it with a shock relocation and 10" shocks and you get more down travel out of the rear as well.

 

Having done a few of these for people the last 20 years.

Anymore I just get the correct U-Bolts from the local spring shop and make the plates.

Curious to see just what Marlin has to say kit labeled wrong it seems to happen more often

 

Yeah, clearance is the primary reason, but it's kind of "all of the above". You don't have those big plates hanging under the axle to get hung up on rocks, etc... It also opens you up to different shock geometries. Since you need to weld on new shock mounts, you can put them literally anywhere, and can set up your shocks however you like. The mounts can be sturdier too, since you'll most likely do a double shear type mount vs the stock single shear post style mount.

 

Little update. I emailed Marlin on monday but haven't gotten a response yet. After some extensive searching it looks like this is pretty normal for this kit and similar kits to have oversized u-bolts (by about a 1/4"). I'm not comfortable running the oversized bolts so I will be going with the barnes plates and 3" u-bolts suggested by @agalloch07