Thread: Rear spring center bolt question

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My 10 bold rear end was originally a coil spring rear. The spring perches were welded on to fit the leafs but I noticed that neither the leaf or the perch has a center bolt. The previous owner stuck a hard bolt thru the leaf and down into the spring perch.

What are my options to make it right, is there such a thing as a plate with a center bolt that clamps under the U bolts?

You say the leaf has no center bolt hole? What is it out of?

Give us a couple of pictures, can't envision what you have there.

Don

I'll take a picture....

What I have, at least what I think that I have, are stock leaf springs out of a '53 Ford F100 minus a few leaves to get the drop and the ride. The rear end is a 10 bolt out of a '75 Chevy Monte Carlo with a spring perch welded on. I have what looks like a standard bolt sticking up out of the spring perch peretruding thru the holes in the leafs, but it is 1" too long with a nut on the top. I'm thinking that it may be the stock center bolt from the leaf pack but it is now too long due to missing leafs. I'll have to look closer, what puzzles me is the fact that the bolt is smaller in diameter than the holes in the spring, that leads me to believe that it may be just a bolt and not the stock center bolt. I think that the stock springs had a rubber bumper on top, that may explain some of the length.

Most any good parts store will have a selection of center springs. I have made my own in a pinch by grinding the head round so it fits in the hole.

I've used alan head bolts for the center bolt (same as willowbilly grinding a hex head to fit)

Oft, you read my mind. I imagine that I could get a grade 8 cap screw that would fit

Originally Posted by OFT

I've used alan head bolts for the center bolt (same as willowbilly grinding a hex head to fit)

That's what I have always used...joe

That center bolt becomes incidental once the U bolts are in place, so any grade 5 or 8 bolt will work, with grade 8 being preferable obviously. I also just round off the points on a hex head on a grinder and hold them with vice grips until tight.

Don