First off all, SUA truck are illegal in Belgium, so keep the "Go SOA" replies for yourself! :flipoff2:

Anyone got any info on this? Can i just get some square ubolt's and bolt the whole thing back together upside down or is it a bit more complicated than this??

This could get me an inch of extra ground clearance and the smooth U bolts wouldn't bite into the dirt like the U bolt plates do.

These would be easier to fab.....

Ubolt Kits (http://www.lcadvancedhandling.com/products/u_bolts.asp)

The ubolt flip kit is more complicated than just using square bolts...I had a kit like the one Man-a-fre sells and it has plates top and bottom and square ubolts.

Here is a link to the 4plus MAF one. MAF kit here (http://www.man-a-fre.com/mafexclusivesusp.html#ubflip) I have this kit on the front of my cruiser and am very happy with it.

What's the use of those plates? To prevent the u bolts getting hung up on something and shearing off??

Are there other trucks that run these type of square u bolts stock or do i have to order the custom made square u bolts? Anyone ever try and bend there own square U bolts? What steel are U bolts made off?

Why not use grade 8 bolts instead of the U bolts, to bolt the two plates together??

Originally posted by Diesel_Cruiser
What's the use of those plates? To prevent the u bolts getting hung up on something and shearing off??



They allow you to use shorter ubolts that don't hang below the spring pack. I have seen them on Jeeps before....much simpler way to do it...

Tighten the Ubolts and then cut the excess bolt off...

Here are some pictures of the Man-A-Fre ubolt flip kits. These are very beef and a quality part. The top plate is 5/8" thick very stout. This is on the rear axle.

Greg

Funny enough, I was thinking about the exact same question this morning. I think I will build a cutom DIY plate out of some beefy C-channel iron, with the inner width of the channel matching the width of the spring pack. Then I'd weld a few big nuts on 4 corners, and build the matching upper plate with 4 holes basically. That way I wouldn't need any kind od square u-bolts, just some big high-grade i-bolts.

As for bending your own u-bolts, you just can't do it yourself. Bolts are case hardened. If you heat some in order to bend them, you will lose the hardening, more than likely resulting in a quick premature failure of them bolts.

Bye,

flip kit and disk brakes in da back? dirty dog.:eek:

how much does the flip kit cost? Seems like my ubolts grind over every rock in sight....

So is this a good idea or not?? Two plates bolted together with high grade bolts??

Any advice from someone who actually tried this??

If I remember correctly the flip kits were 150.00 per axle. I felt they were worth the price when I saw the kits. The Man-A-Fre site doesn't currently list the price.

The 4 wheel disk brakes an my cruiser are sweet, but in the front I need to do a vented rotor swap.

I think the flip kits are needed if you are staying SUA.

In regards to the I bolt and two plate appliation --?? doesnt that still leave u-bolts to grind over granite?? Granted you could remove the top bolts to get them off but you will still have bolts to grind, and bend, and anchor you with, hanging down. If you are to make your own I would use square u-bolts with a 5/8" thick top plate with the axle seat pieces cut out of 3/8" thick. The bottom plate cut out of 3/8" or 5/8" plate and notch it for the ubolts. make the front and rear ramped for rocks and you will have a cheaper imitaion of the Man-A-Fre kits. Don't Forget you need a center hole for the spring pack bolt on the bottom plate.

Greg

Mmm, I don't meant to be a cheap bastard with this, but I can't justify 300.00 for something I could and would be proud to build myself for a lot cheaper.
Here's what I was talking about:
http://toy4x4.free.fr/flip.gif

I had about the same thing in mind, can't see why that wouldn't work!

I see at least one : if we don't build it, it won't work... :flipoff2:
GET IT !

Back to MIG now...

How is that welding going?? Have you started on the sheet metal yet?? Ever found out what the use of thos two mystery knobs were?

Goin' fine... The front door pillars, rockers and front sides are almost done. Now it'll be the cab floor, then the rear tub, which should be no big deal...
MIG works great... when you know how to use it.
Dunno really what the switches are for, but what I know is when there are gaps in the thin sheets, I set it up at 1-min, for close overlap 1-max is excellent, and when I welded some 8mm removal nuts on my front drums, 2-min was fine. I have an ass kicking 4.6m3 weldmix bottle, as well as a 5kg 0.8mm wire drum.

The tricky part is when the weld is not easily accessible, such as for the front pillar, inside the cab... It seems that my left hand works better than my right unit... WTF ?!? :confused:

That design looks like it would work just fine. The only thing I would worry about is the collars or nuts that the bolts come down to. Would the be able to handle the torque that could be applied under full spring compression? What about welding some 5/8" wings on the side of the channel at a right angle. Then the bolts could be put in the up position with the nuts above the top plate and the axle with absolutly no rock contact.

Greg

The nuts have to handle the torque whatever location they are.
The side wings idea may be good, to, but you'd need bracing like in the setup nolen posted about, otherwise there's a lot of stress purely trying to tear the weld apart. Now it's the bolt head that could be trashed by rocks. Both designs are equivalent IMO. I just feel the welded nut is simpler ?

Bye,

The torque on the bolts is the same yes. I was refering to the torque on whatever you are welding to the channel iron. I just felt you could get more welded surface area to handle that torque with the wings as opposed to the individual weld on each nut.

With a big good weld, with big good penetration, I don't think it would be an issue really. The section of the weld (not the filler metal only) could be twice as big as than the section of the bolt itself. I think it would not be a real issue here...
but Christof or I will have to test this anyway :D

Bye

you stoners from europe ;)

square u-bolts?
60 series landcruisers and mini trucks (hiluxes) have a combo of square and round u-bolts up the front

surely one of these is suitable for your application, go to a junkyard, do some measuring, maybe even grab an old one and test for fit

then buy new shiney ones and install!! :D