Found this today. Need advice

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brningdawn

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What do you guys think would be the best way to fix this? Just try replacing the u bolts? Should I just hit the yards looking for a new axle? I’m assuming that mount is welded on? I don’t have a welder.
 

RichLo

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Thats a common problem with these trucks. Water and dirt pool in that mounting plate and does exactly that. Your lucky you found this before your axle was clamped with a Wi-Fi connection!

Replace all 4 u-bolds and both mounting plates. That bottom plate is not welded on, just the spring perch on top and that is fine.
 

618 Syndicate

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Thats a common problem with these trucks. Water and dirt pool in that mounting plate and does exactly that. Your lucky you found this before your axle was clamped with a Wi-Fi connection!

Replace all 4 u-bolds and both mounting plates. That bottom plate is not welded on, just the spring perch on top and that is fine.
^^This.

Soak the nuts with penetrant, and be prepared to fight them off.
 

fancyTBI

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Yikes. What region are you from? My 350K mile W/T has lived its whole life in northern IL and doesn’t look that bad. Daily driven year round, too.
 

RichLo

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Yikes. What region are you from? My 350K mile W/T has lived its whole life in northern IL and doesn’t look that bad. Daily driven year round, too.

You may want to double check, as you can see, the worst part is at the VERY Bottom when the water gets trapped by the dirt and cant evaporate.
 

johnckhall

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I agree with others. Cut those old leafspring bolts off. No need to unscrew them. They’re getting trashed anyway. I did this for both sides and it wasn’t too bad of a job. I ordered the brackets and bolts from rockauto I believe.
 

Schurkey

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Soak the nuts with penetrant, and be prepared to fight them off.
No.

Cut the U-bolts. Hack-saw, abrasive disc on a die-grinder, smoke wrench...there's zero reason to unscrew the nuts.

The broken U-bolt could be removed with ONE cut, on the leg opposite the broken side.

MAYBE you can save the mounting plate at the bottom. Kinda unlikely based on how they look now.

I've seen axle tubes that have severe rust in the U-bolt area, too. In my case, I took a chance on re-using the axle assembly, and "so far, so good".
 

Komet

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Gas axe or death wheel to remove. High torque impact might do it in the sense that at some point it'll twist the ubolt in half but you'll be showered in rust debris while it's in maximum destruction mode. Personally I'm not a big fan of rust taste. The grit feels bad on the teeth if you know what I mean.
 
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