Chevy KP D60 pass side leaf spring perch redesign?

[makemeknowit]

I have a CUCV 60 front under my ftoy, leaf sprung. If you are familiar then you know you have one ubolt outboard and two regular bolts inboard that thread into the housing. Wheeling last weekend I managed to snap the forward most inboard bolt. This design doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy so I was curious if anyone had resigned the top plate to incorporate ubolts on the inboard side as well. It would involve notching the webbing around the diff section along with a fabbed plate for the top of the spring. A guy I was wheeling with thought he had heard of it being done by some in the past. I'd feel better with 2 ubolts vs the current setup. And before anyone says "just link it" that ain't happenin' on my meager earnings.

EDIT: apparently a 5-1/4" ubolt inboard is the ticket

 

[total newb]

Ruff stuff makes plates that are already drilled so you can add a 3rd bolt.

I run 2.5 wide springs and have bee wanting to add shim plates to the sideto wrap the pack tightertighwhat has been done before with fords is to drill holes in the webs to make room for a ubolt. I dont see why you couldnt do the same so long as youre running narrower springs than gm 3". The oblot would go over the outer flange on the diff cover with wide springs.

 

[Rangerrod]

What’s stated above. There was a bunch of pictures on the old site of this.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

If you actually look at it, the diff cover is in the way of doing a 2nd u bolt. I've seen it done, and it looked ghetto to me. I think it works better on the dodges.

Not sure what TN is talking about a 3" spring as I'm pretty sure my cucv housing is set up for a 2.5" wide spring at the diff.

I personally am not a ubolt fan as they seem to just stretch and stretch. I drilled and tapped mine for a 3rd stud/bolt and put NEW hardware in all 3 holes. I didn't get to run it very long, but worked fine for a year.

 

[makemeknowit]

I'm running TG springs so they are Toyota width.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I'm running TG springs so they are Toyota width.

So 2 3/8" vs 2 1/2"

Went and looked at my axle, it's set for 3" wide leafs

Was it only the D44/10b's that got those weird tapered leafs?

Either way, I'm not seeing that being a big factor, but I could be wrong. I'd put 3 quality studs, a new 5/8" u bolt and tighten it down tight. Probably be fine.

 

[rockyota83]

EDIT: apparently a 5-1/4" ubolt inboard is the ticket

thats what i did

started with drilling and tapping them to 3/4" then that failed i went to 7/8" and then after that failed i went to a u bolt which is what i should have done in the first place, only downside is having to remove the u bolt when you want to remove the diff cover, not really too big of a deal though as thats not done a lot

 

[YotaAtieToo]

thats what i did

started with drilling and tapping them to 3/4" then that failed i went to 7/8" and then after that failed i went to a u bolt which is what i should have done in the first place, only downside is having to remove the u bolt when you want to remove the diff cover, not really too big of a deal though as thats not done a lot

On your tow rig? What failed on the 3/4" bolts?

 

[rockyota83]

On your tow rig? What failed on the 3/4" bolts?

casting was brittle and it stripped out, the 7/8" lasted about 5 yrs though

fwiw though my tow rig gets beat hard like a trail rig, it lives most its life down rough mostly unmaintained dirt roads getting driven too fast with too much weight. a lot of times the only reason it sees pavement is to go get fuel

 

[YotaAtieToo]

casting was brittle and it stripped out, the 7/8" lasted about 5 yrs though

fwiw though my tow rig gets beat hard like a trail rig, it lives most its life down rough mostly unmaintained dirt roads getting driven too fast with too much weight. a lot of times the only reason it sees pavement is to go get fuel

Which is almost never at 35 mpg ​​​​​​

Is it still the dodge axle? I've heard they are worse for stud issues whatever reason.

 

[rockyota83]

Which is almost never at 35 mpg ​​​​​​

Is it still the dodge axle? I've heard they are worse for stud issues whatever reason.

its a chevy d60, used to have 2.5" wide chevy 52" springs but they kept breaking now i have 3" wide f550 superduty leafs

 

[FordFascist]

Drill the 3rd hole then build a set of shims that are about 1/16" - 1/8" shorter than the uncompressed spring pack and you will stop sheering bolts. On mine it was about 3/4" of spacers.

I used Grade 8 equivalent studs for my 3 studs from McMaster.

Its on my build thread at the old place too. I'll put a new thread up here when I get some time.

 

[Im4yotas]

https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/dana-60-spring-perch-stud-elimination.653718/

Drilled lower web, clearanced upper web. 3/4" u bolts. Couldn't find a good picture, but I drilled the hole in the lower web outboard of where the guys in that thread did. This way it wouldn't be in front of the diff cover bolts. Then bent the ubolt to align with the plate properly. No problems at all. Raced KOH like this.