broken leaf?

[digglesworth]

so is the leaf broken or does this end simply slip under the bolt/bushing?

 

[rsc]

Nothing duct tape can't fix. Well, maybe a whole roll will need to be shoved between the body and spring.

 

[06 H3]

Spoke with him on the phone. I have a few theories why this may happen I will post up after class.

 

[digglesworth]

thanks for the phone call chris and sheddin some light on this.

 

[digglesworth]

Gmpartsdirect has them for $128/each. Anyone know anywhere else cheaper?

 

[alrock]

FYI, here's a pic of a normal leaf front mount, also with Hunner skids

 

[06 H3]

For anywhere you go get it shipped. Alot of those GM websites offer low prices then the shipping and HANDLING fee comes in jacking up prices.

So with the break of atv4speed leaf spring he had leaf springs shop look at it and both agreed that rust fused the bushing sleeve to the hanger and basically put a ton of stress on the spring and something had to give. I looked back at some leaf spring breaks and most of the locations were in the rust belt.

Also the H3 leaf spring has little teeth on the sleeve. I have no idea why, its just another thing to cause binding between the bracket and sleeve.

Lastly Hunners skids are great but you are running extended shackles, next time you droop out do you hit the skid? If so that can cause more stress on there. If so cut them down a tad so the leaf clears.

3 things to thing of
1) file or gently grind off the little teeth on the bushing sleeve. I did that with success I believe bebe has too.
2) Anti seize the **** out of the sleeve, frame bracket or any part of the leaf that contacts a stationary part.
3) Droop it out and see if you contact the hunner skid, if so shorten it.

I may be wrong with all this, anyone feel free to correct me but there is not many breaks on the leaf springs so far. The few that have share one thing in common, living in snowy areas=road salt= rust

 

[alrock]

I trimmed my skids before they were mounted.

I suspect that the bushing is supposed to hold to the mount and the flex occurs within the rubber portion of the bushing, not on the metal sleeve. The "teeth" are likely there to keep the core of the bushing fixed in place, and thus keep the leaf in place. I doubt that the bolt and the hole in which it passes is designed to do 100% of the holding in place duty w/o some assistance from the bushing sleeve.

Here's a pic of what 06 H3 is talking about.

Why don't you go to a local spring shop to see if they can rebuild, re-arch and add a full length leaf for added support? You'll likely spend about the same money but end up with a better product. You'll probably need to supply them with the bushings and you can find those on rockauto, but only if you look under the 06 H3 (the vehicle, not the forum member )

 

[06 H3]

On my leafs the sleeve sits further out then the bushing itself so the actual contact portion is of the sleeve not the bushing.

 

[4speedfunk]

I've seen this exact break before, and my only guess is a very simple one: Just plain ole abuse & poor part quality. Not sure there is anything you can really do to prevent this, other than getting some better springs. Try to find somebody to make you some springs with a "military wrap" to help strengthen the eye of the spring. If not...I'm totally cool with replacing a $128 stock spring from time-to-time. That seems like a great price, and given the lack of options its probably your best bet. Like many other parts on the H3...sometimes you just have to face the facts and realize these are throw-away components and they need to be replaced periodically. That's not what any of us want to hear but, its the only cheap and easy fix I can come up with. Remember...this set of springs lasted five years. Not bad for $128/side.

The teeth on the sleeve are supposed to be there. They dig into the sides of the spring pocket, when you tighten down the mounting bolt. This keeps the sleeve from scooting around (popping & cracking sounds), when the rear axle articulates. However with the SOA, the brackets are so beefy...I'm not sure if you could squeeze them tight enough for the teeth to dig-in to them, anyway. So I'm not sure it applies to SOA guys.

 

[Hummerboy]

I broke a leaf a while back and it looked the EXACT same. I felt pretty lucky that it broke that way because I could still drive it. didnt even know it was broken until I got home and one side was 2 inches lower than the other. I suspect I broke mine when the leaf came down on a small dirt mound when wheeling. When I ordered new ones I went ahead and replaced them both as that was recommended. had to buy new U bolts as well. I cant remember the place I bought them but I believe I paid $148 each but it could have been less. I will try and find the paper work that I got when I ordered because you DO NOT want to order from the same place I did. I was waiting for about a month. They said they shipped them 2 weeks after I placed the order. They lied because a few days later they called to say the ones they had were broken...... if you already shipped them how like you said they couldnt have been broken. anyway 2 weeks later I received them and installed them. So I didnt drive my 3 for a month because I was scared to hit a bump or something and it could come out of place. thank god I didnt have to get a rental car. The only bright side was it kept miles off of my rig. Because I broke it due to it hitting the dirt mound and the springs sagging too low I will be doing an SOA when my rancho springs begin to sag. And when I get home I will look for where I bought my replacement leafs. I dont want to bash the wrong website.

 

[atvspeed4]

Chris is right. Mine looked exactly the same. Went to two different spring shops and did a lot of searching all of us that broke were in the rust belt or had H3 that was from the rust belt. Both speciality spring shops said it was a combo of rust seizing the pivot and poor heat treatment around the eye of the spring. They explained "think of it as bending a thin piece of metal back and forth till it breaks. That is what happened instead of rotating around the eye like it is supposed to"

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

 

[digglesworth]

Since it's sittin on the hanger, my rear axle is cock-eyed... I'm not gonna drive it. I didn't know what that end of the spring was supposed to look like so thanks Alrock for the pic.... I don't really have time to source a shop to make new ones. 4speed is right. There's a lot of stuff on the truck that just needs thrown away sometimes. If my Rancho kit deal comes through, at least I'll have fresh new leafs for the soa... It's just horrible timing. Have a local 4wd club event this weekend. But I'm glad this didn't happen out on the trail. I haven't checked the hunner skids for contact since I haven't had them on all that long. The plan is gonna be to order new leafs, replace both sides and flex it out to see if they're hitting the skids... Thanks for the responses everyone.

 

[digglesworth]

$312 shipped for both sides. Didn't use gmpartsdirect. 06 H3 hit the nail on the head. Over $80 to ship one.
Says it should ship out today since the order was placed early enough.
I'm thinking I'll get a little more height in the back now with warrior extended shackles and new, non-sagged leaf springs compared to my old 95k mile leafs... I just hope they get here quick. I'm without a vehicle til I get it fixed.

 

[digglesworth]

Is there an upgraded bushing kit for the leafs that use a urethane bushing instead of the rubber?

 

[06 H3]

4speed back when I did my soa a few years ago it was only you and bebe who had done one. I couldn't get the damn leafs in because the bracket is a tad narrower then stock and called up bebe and said when they did hers they had to grind it down a tad getting rid of the teeth and that it would be fine. They never had an issue.

I have never had an issue without the little teeth but I have to fight the fcker to get a spring in. It's a tight fit

 

[06 H3]

Is there an upgraded bushing kit for the leafs that use a urethane bushing instead of the rubber?

Not sure if you grab the dimensions you might be able to check out energy suspension. Or google h3 leaf spring bushings not sure but I assume we must. Aren't we the same width as a ton of other leaf Springs?

 

[4speedfunk]

Urethane bushings are on my list for sure. The stockers are way too soft and prone to completely falling out. Alrock paved the way on this, and he sent me the following info awhile back:

"I found the receipt that listed the part #s for the leaf spring bushings. I got them from Rockauto. They are only listed under the 06 H3 for some reason. Thought you might want the part #s
Dayton RB-231 and Dayton RB-172".

I have not pursued this yet...but its coming. Not sure if this addresses the one in the frame (for the shackles) but, at least there is something available for the spring eye's.

 

[digglesworth]

Those appear to be the standard rubber bushings...

 

[alrock]

They are the rubber bushings. I think 4speed was simply referring to the fact that I was able to find replacement rubber bushings and rebuild the OEM springs.

 

[digglesworth]

why cant u-bolts be re-used? i re-used mine when i put my hunner skids on... do i need to get some of those too?

 

[4speedfunk]

My bad...yes I want urethane. I'm sure someone makes them. If not, I will get the next biggest size and turn them down on a lathe to fit.

Torque-to-Yield bolts...
The U-bolt debate has been raging for some time. The concern is that the factory U-bolts might be TTY bolts which are designed to stretch during the initial tightening. Then any further tightening after that will result in additional stretch which causes the fastener to loosen over time. Most modern vehicles use TTY bolts on the motor components, stuff like head bolts, intake bolts, etc. On those items...its very critical use new bolts (or replace them with non-TTY versions). The extent of TTY fasteners on the H3 is an unknown, and I'm not sure GM specifically calls it out anywhere. I know for a fact that the GM manual does say USE NEW RING GEAR BOLTS on both differentials...just one example, that these might be TTY bolts. Whatever the U-bolts are, I don't think its a super-critical issue. If you re-use them, just make sure to give them a pull once in awhile to make sure they haven't loosened up on you.

I am a believer in nice U-bolts. I bought new ones from Barnes4WD.com when I did the SOA, and they are much nicer than stock ones. Not only are they re-useable...but they are much harder steel. Best of all they come with monster thick washers, and great big nuts! (heh heh) Just make sure you get the correct size because really good quality U-bolts cannot be bent or opened-up...no matter how hard you pry and beat on them. That's why the sizes come in 1/8" steps. You can crank the living hell out of aftermarket U-bolts to get them beyond super-tight (like over 130 ft.-lbs). And that is required for hard-core wheeling. Not sure the stock bolts are up for that.

 

[rsc]

Adding a main leaf from a Tahoe like Bebe did?

 

[amrg]

Urethane bushings are on my list for sure. The stockers are way too soft and prone to completely falling out. Alrock paved the way on this, and he sent me the following info awhile back:

"I found the receipt that listed the part #s for the leaf spring bushings. I got them from Rockauto. They are only listed under the 06 H3 for some reason. Thought you might want the part #s
Dayton RB-231 and Dayton RB-172".

I have not pursued this yet...but its coming. Not sure if this addresses the one in the frame (for the shackles) but, at least there is something available for the spring eye's.

I've ordered those bushing for my truck a while back, abd you have to order the front and rear seperately. The frame bushing for the shackle is a seperate part number (so total 3 part numbers)

I rebuilt my leaf springs on my 06 H3, but neglected to change the rubber pads between the springs (the guy who did it for me doesnt have experience with leaf springs and I didnt research enuff). Result, I got less squeaks then before but they are not gone, Ill say less than 50% is gone, but my truck used to squeak like crazy. I'll check online if its possible to replace those pads without removing the springs.

 

[amrg]

why cant u-bolts be re-used? i re-used mine when i put my hunner skids on... do i need to get some of those too?

I read somewhere that they stretch/deform and its better to change then. Anyway, they arent very expensive and you only do it once...