1 Hour Spring Clamps

I don't know if this MOD has appeared here before , but no matter,

after building a leaf pack or doing an AAL its always a good idea to add a little "sidewall" support.. Now most if not all clamps are done at the factory by way of drilling a hole & driving a huge ass rivett thru the clampbase & thru the spring/overload sometimes tension by way of a hole drilled thru top of clamp with a nut & bolt....

These things seem to loosen up around the rivett in not much time allowing it to add to the other rattles & noises that drive us all batshit after awhile...

So I came up with a cheap clamp MOD that so far seems to be holding up out there in the dez being mobbed by a couple guys I turned loose with them a few weeks back.

Now I know this could be done alot cleaner, & alot prettier but that just ain't how we roll at OMD . (well, sometimes we're pretty)

With a little 3/8" galvanized all-thread, a handful of nuts & washers, some 3/16" flat steel , we're going to help keep the leafs in place on the cheap...but cheap = shit if it doesn't work right ?....

 

The steel was cut at about 3.5" long pieces & I haven't measured the distance between the holes but I will in a bit....

 

Curious if you use nylocks and leave them a hair loose or snug them up good and lock-washer 'em or??? I would probably nylock or threadlocker it. What sayest thou OMD?

 

I used 7/16" All Thread , which is a little over kill really, I'll use 3/8" for now on & save some $$$ (besides the ones that are being R&D'd are 3/8")....

 

Hey Thanks Brock !!....

Ya know I thought about nylocks & aircraft grade 8 anodized bolts too, but seeing how 16 nylocks would be needed (at about .30-.40 cents per nut, & I know for a fact that the bolts would be almost $2.00 each , just got some) & the whole on-the-cheap concept would be out the door...

 

Understood! yeah those buggers are expensive... Love your spring refurb thread too. Hows your truck coming?

Although I get my hardware at "Fastener's" they sell to all the big guys and are generally at LEAST half of lowes/home depot and like 75% off True Value. Just fyi

 

So for as far as keeping tight its just flat washered both sides & if you lok in pic you'll notice a slight warping of the clamp ends over & around the spring, this is how tight you want to get these, no more, no less.. It's tight on the pack w/tension but not so tight that thread stretch occurrs & the whole mess loosens up....

 

Thanks dude..!! Almost have enough to get a rebuilt trans w/3 year warranty, damn I'm stoked, its been about 8 months without it on the road....

& yeah, even better if you get material xheaper for sure...

 

Bad ass Doug!

 

Hi Dave & thanks ...

 

Ok, that about sums it up, back in a bit with cost of MOD...

 

Nice that's a good idea so simple also

 

what is the purpose of these clamps? to prevent the leafs from spreading from the centerbolt(pivot point)? is there anything preventing these clamps from sliding towards the axle?

I'm just playing devil's advocate here...

also, why not get correct sized bolts vs. cutting all threads(unless its cheaper for all threads)?

 

OK. this is how it breaks down...

1 stick of flat 1 & 1/4"x 3/16"x36" - $7.98

Zinc'd 7/16"x36" - $3.71

around $7 or $8.00 for nuts & washers (theres alot of them)

So you can figure under $25 for both sides..

easy,cheap, & functional... I like it...

 

Hey like I said in the 1st post...

Now I know this could be done alot cleaner, & alot prettier but that just ain't how we roll at OMD

You can go any way you want with it , I'm doing it hillbilly, cause at the end of the day thats what works (& being in Lakeside)

 

You could also leave enough allthread to double nut, its just the concept, it can be implemented alot of diff. ways ,thats the beauty...

 

I gotta ditch this sig pick, its freaking me out...

 

me too

 

fixed....

 

Doug,

I wonder what spring dynamics would be affected were you to re-use the old U-bolts for the clamps. You would need to extend the threads and use only one steel plate to clamp on the bottom side? The rest of the hardware would come from the re-used U-bolts. Mounting the clamps close to the axle, there should not be much springing action there.