leafspring problem, need some help

[wakingtowinter]

Yesterday and friend and I were out exploring some forest roads in the ranger. One of the roads was in fairly bad shape with a couple of washouts, but the others were in decent condition with just some good-sized potholes. It was pretty mild stuff. When we got back out to the paved road, I did a quick once-over on the truck to look for any problems, and I saw that my driver's side leaf pack was a little messed up. the little helper leaf on the bottom had come out of alignment with the rest of the leaf pack so the front of the leaf was angled in toward the pass. side and the back of the leaf was angled out toward the tire, so the leaf pack kind of looked like an X. not that bad, but you get the idea. So what might have caused this and how do I fix it? Is it as simple as just jacking it up, loosening the U-bolts and straightening it out? Thanks guys.

 

[ThatGuy]

U bolts could be loose or you could have caught it on something.

But yeah, knock it back straight and tighten the U bolts down. No biggie.

 

[wakingtowinter]

Excellent, thanks very much

 

[4x4junkie]

My experience was they never stayed no matter how tight you tightened it.

Take two nuts with a couple hardened washers between them and thread them down the outside-rear u-bolt and tighten them together right alongside the OL leaf. The leaf butting up against the edge of the washers will then hold it straight.

 

[wakingtowinter]

Nice. Thank you, I will try that.

 

[devinhal]

My leafs spread out all the time too. I built ties(clamps) to hold them together with 1" by 1/8" steel strips. Cut strips about long enough to have room for a bolt hole on each end of the strips. I put one on top and bottome of the leafs and and use bolts on each side to hold them together. I put one forward of the axle on each side(4 strips total and 2 total clamps) and it solved all of my problems.