U-bolt installation on an 8 3/4 housing

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str12-340

str12-340

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I'm assembling an 8 3/4 housing on a Dart that originally had a 7 1/4 set up (anybody want the 7 1/4?) and it seems that the U-bolts that go through the shock plate and hold the housing to the springs have slightly different length legs. Does the longer leg go to the front or the rear???
 
They aren't aftermarket, they have the flat spot in the top of the U to distribute the pressure on the housing and each one is consistently 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch longer on one side. I wonder if the factory tightening procedure or the stresses on the housing over 40-50 years actually distorted the bolt so it's pulled one side down unevenly??? Wierd!
 
str12-340 said:
They aren't aftermarket, they have the flat spot in the top of the U to distribute the pressure on the housing and each one is consistently 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch longer on one side. I wonder if the factory tightening procedure or the stresses on the housing over 40-50 years actually distorted the bolt so it's pulled one side down unevenly??? Wierd!
Click to expand...

Yeah, who knows, lol. As long as they are in decent shape, no harm no foul.

You can always trim them after install if it bugs ya, it probably would me.
 
I bead blasted them and they look fine, and yes they would work either way, so I'll just put them all in the same way. At least they don't hang down an inch and a half like the aftermarket ones that came with the MP kit to move the springs in 3/4 of an inch on each side. Those bolts are round at the top and so all the pressure is on a very narrow band around the housing.

Thanks to all for the input!
 
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