So the whole side of the box van was bowed. The right side. I realized the lattice work of square tube they put inside had only been attached on the left side but the right side was attached to the top and then they had two other little piddly things but not enough to really make it solid. It also made a hell of a lot of racket banging on the gap between the plywood box. So I got some carriage bolts with some anti-turn locking dinguses, and did a whole bunch of drilling and shored that shit up! I got to thinking the amount of the bow on the right side may have acted like a wing which contributed to a little bit more of my swaying on the freeway. Given the left side was straight and the right side was bowed out, it may have acted like an airplane wing.
Either way it's good and I should have eliminated a whole lot of rattles today.
Lol, I have a borrowed money tree. I just gave it back some money since today was payday. I'm definitely putting the kibosh on any new expenditures for the next few months. Gotta prune that money tree back to a money shrub. The box van is safety related though. I don't feel comfortable towing with the old crappy springs anymore. The race car is light enough it's not too bad, but even that sags the crap out of the van. I think it didn't use to do that. Probably had something to do with the pallet of cement bricks for the patio project last year. That was around 2500 pounds in the back, which probably wasn't the best idea.
Surprisingly the hardest part of this is getting it lifted. 8 million jockeys of wood later and two jacks because this thing's probably 8,700 lb right now and the frame is really high off the ground. Now that I have it situated I'm going to spray the bolts with penetrant and see about getting it off. Good news is I'm just barely at ground level which means I should be able to just loosen this and yank it out as it sits. Fortunately the axle is below the spring pack.
My new fancy ass gun wouldn't hardly do anything to these u bolt nuts. 5 foot breaker bar was moving them a 1/4 inch at a time. Seeing as I got new u bolts, it was time to kill with extreme prejudice. Take that u bolt!!
And they're in! It's a lot taller in the rear now. I figure the springs should settle a half inch or so but definitely not any problem with squatting while towing the car now. Actually found torque specs on alldata. Only 80 foot pounds for the u bolts, re-torque in 500 miles.
Ah yes....took a long soak and listened to "Wish you were here" the entire album. Awesome for relaxing. I be pruned and salted. (I should clarify for younger viewers that is Pink Floyd)
My new fancy ass gun wouldn't hardly do anything to these u bolt nuts. 5 foot breaker bar was moving them a 1/4 inch at a time. Seeing as I got new u bolts, it was time to kill with extreme prejudice. Take that u bolt!!
