d21 leaf spring u bolt issues..

[lucky03602]

so in short I bought a 97 d21 4x4 and have been working on it when money let me. it runs fine has codes and in nh we do have emisisons testing so they will be delt with when I get to them. had major exhaust issues, junk shocks (still haha) bad brakes and a broken leaf spring (2nd leaf).

so far ive redone the exhaust from engine back, pace setter headers, brand new oem cat, brand new intermediate pipe and a muffler pulled off another d21 but I don't like it. the exhaust tip is short and interferes with the ebrake cable. also exhaust hangs really low so I gotta work with that too. both o2 sensors are new and haven't redone the hangers yet. its held on between header bolts and muffler hanger. redid front brakes (calipers, rotors and pads) have the back brake parts (drums, shoes, hardware kit, wheel cylinders) blah blah.

while redoing leaf springs I managed to get an extra pack but instead of ripping the bushings out and such I cut u bolts center pin and left main and rebuilt one side so far. since I had it apart I bough some cheap short add a leafs with new centers. I have the pack back together and centered on axle. ive had some misses about the leaf springs tho.

I finally figured out that I need 1/2" thread x 2 1/2" width but what length? I bought some 9 1/4 length and they only will work on rear side of vehicle where it almost hits thread end. the front side the threads stop about half an inch from the plate..

I plan on measuring it all out tomorrow and wish I did ahead of time but can anyone please give me the exact ubolt size for these vehicles? ive searched google and such and basically came to a 9/16 thread x 2 1/2 x 10.5 long over and over. well the 9/16 is too big, 41.20 later I know that now. 10.5 seems wayyyy tooo long now..

[lucky03602]

my stock side looks to be about 7" length, and the side I rebuilt with the add a leaf is shy of 7 1/2" so with stock springs I think that 7 1/2" ubolts will be a good size and just cut excess off, and in my case ill be picking up some 1/2x25x8 today and see how they work.

[lucky03602]

so the u bolts I ordered fit perfectly with about an inch to an inch and a half to cut off once I torqued them.