Where can I find some replacement Rear Ubolts in 5/8 instead of 9/16's for my 99 2500? I think they are 13.5 inches long & 3 inches wide?

 

Any spring shop should be able to make them for you.

 

Why the increase in size?

 

I would rather be safe than sorry. You only have to drill out the holes in the axle plate to accommadate them. I guess the 9/16's may be plenty, but they just look so skinny with the stock 5.5 inch block.

 

Recently had mine off, installing traction bars. The scary part to me is that the service manual only calls for 110 Ft-lbs torque on the U-Bolt nuts.
I checked with two professional mechanics and they both said the same thing... they run impact wrenches till they stop turning... which is a lot tighter then the book says. One of them estimated 220 to 240 ft-lbs doing it his way, and never stretched or snapped one off yet!

RJ

 

That's why I was looking at ya cross-eyed when you were hunting a torque wrench to set the U-bolt nuts... torque wrenches are for internal parts - unless you're doing A & P work.

Besides, I've got a torque wrench hanging off of each shoulder!

 

Yeah Mike....Yesterday,I put bars back to neutral and using a 2' breaker bar, I tightened them good! Needed, IMO... especially with the bars pushing back on them.

RJ

 

You know, it just struck me that the reason you & Brian noticed an even better handling improvement with the traction bars than I did with the '05 is because my truck is heavier and more heavily sprung - hence their effect on the rear leaf pack is magnified on y'all's trucks...

 

Does anyone sell the u bolts I am looking for? I know I can have them made locally, but they aren't cheap. I figured some suspension vendor may sell them. You would think with all the lift kits in existance, that someone would mass produce u bolts, especially chinese ones. Anyone know a place that you can just order them from? Thanks.

 

here i are some i found online. FYI most of the 5/8's are at the bottom of the page. not sure if they would be long enough tho.

http://www.bds-suspension.com/products/acc_ubolts.php

 

You did not ask, but I would not go that route. Sometimes factory parts are hard to beat. After market wheels come to mind. Many members have trouble with after market wheels, cracking or spinning out centers, but you never hear of problems with factory wheels... even with over sized tires when pulling or drag racing.

I've never read of any problems with factory axle U-bolts, even at 600,700,800 HP.... or towing 20,000+ lbs!

Just my unsolicited $.02

RJ

 

im with RJ on this one. ive herd of ball joints going out and u joints failing, but ive never seen a thread about broken u bolts....

 

Nahh, none of those will work. I think you guys may be right. I may just have to get another set of 9/16's but I can't find any of them either. I do need to see what they cost from Chrysler. I am going to put an add-a-leaf into my suspension, so I may have to have bolts slightly longer than stock, but still can't find anything even in the stock range.
Jturs, thanks for the link. I looked at the list, but everything was round or come up short.

 

Fair amount of thread left on mine... even after adding bracket for heim/traction bars!

 

Thanks Row. I would still like to replace my bolts & just put some new ones on. When I put this most recent rearend in, I noticed the upper threads were galled up, even though the nut wasn't reaching them. I thought it good maintenance anyway, after 300K miles.