Installing rear superbumps

I've ordered up some wheelers offroad superbumps for the front and rear to smooth out the rare bottom out from my King OEM suspension. The fronts seem easy to install but for the backs can the u bolts be loosened enough get the stock bumps out and new ones in while keeping the truck on the ground, no jacking it up? Also, what torque should the u bolts be put back to?

 

If you've got the normal style of u-bolts you could probably do it sitting on the ground, one side at a time, just be careful. I think you'll have to take them all the way off to get the mounting plate loose, but if the truck is sitting level it should be okay to sit on the leaf springs loose with one side unbolted at a time.

The U-bolt should be torqued to around 50ft/lbs but a bit more won't hurt.

 

On my 1st gen, I could just loosen the u-bolts quite a bit which was enough to get the Superbumps in there. You have to loosen them a lot though and at that point you might as well just take them out and make it easier on yourself. Helps to have an impact driver or something to get the bolts on/off. Use a torque wrench when putting them back on (it's actually not recommended to re-use u-bolts, if you really want to play it safe then get a new set). I've reused mine a few times though.

There is some debate over what the torque specs should be for u-bolts on 2nd/3rd gens...I don't own one so I won't press the issue but 50/ft lbs sounds way under torqued to me. 1st gens require 90ft/lbs for what it's worth.

 

I've also seen 73 ft/lbs reported, and yeah that seems more right, but Toyota's book says 50 ft/lbs.

 

I think I remember reading somewhere that on 2nd gens the FSM stated 32 ft/lbs or something crazy like that....dunno why because the hardware doesn't look any different than it does on my 1st gen and it can handle 90ft lbs easily. I'd like to ask whoever decides such things over at Toyota what their logic was when determining that torque spec lol. U-Bolts are something you do not want to have come loose or worse yet, break off.

 

It really depends on the grade of the bolt, which we don't know. If they are grade 5 equivalent I'd say 55-60ft/lbs would be about right, but grade 8s would be more like 95. 75 splits the difference, I guess.

The thing with u-bolts is that they just have to be checked regularly no matter what you do, because they're holding two things that flex together, and bolting them down tight enough where they will stay tight forever would crush the axle-tube.

 

Sounds like I can do it just on the flat ground, but the u bolts are a mixed bag. I have grade 8 bolts that came with the deaver 10 spring pack, would that make a difference on reusability? They have about 2000 miles on them.