I'm installing 4 degree shims on my rear axle to correct the driveline angles for my lift and double-cardan driveshaft, and there's one thing I haven't been able to figure out, despite searching here and with Google: how to actually attach the shim.

I had assumed the shims would fit over the leaf spring center pin, and then the pin would go through them into the axle perch, but the center pin isn't long enough to go through the shim and then fit into the perch, and the pin is bigger around than the hole in the shim.

Am I supposed to pull the center pin OUT of the leaf springs, install the shim on the bottom, and then put the center bolt THROUGH the shim, with the pin coming out the bottom? If so, how to keep the leafs from trying to separate? Just C-clamp them on either side of the hole, and hope things don't move around too much?

 

Yup. Through the shim, get new center pins too...clamp on both sides of the pin, remove old, install new.

 

If only it had gone that well. Pins aren't long enough to go through the shim and still fully engage the nut, and the hole through the shim wasn't big enough to fit the pin, so you have to drill it out. Between this, the terrible quality of the parts I got (paint already flaking off, surface rust already forming), and the fact that I'm doing all of this because I broke two leafs on my last RE springs, I'm done with Rubicon Express.

To top off the **** parts I got stuck with, I was an idiot, too, and let a little tension off the center pin while the clamps were off, so the whole spring pack blew apart, and the not-long-enough center pin is all stripped now. I'm contacting RE to try to obtain longer pins; when that doesn't work, I'm just going to set fire to the garage and start walking everywhere.

Thanks for the assist! Too bad my idiocy and RE's inability to make quality parts that interoperate properly has ruined everything.

 

Any idea where I can get new, longer center pins that'll fit RE springs? They're oversized, so I don't think I can just grab a random one off the shelf.

 

Huh. RE makes some of the best springs on the market, IMO. Did you contact them about the broken leafs?

As far as center pins go, the ones I got when I did my RE rear springs, were also RE...and everything fit together perfectly, but I also had to drill out the shims, no big deal.

Sorry to hear of your woes...but I would contact RE about the parts you got if you're not happy, see what they say. Other than that, you'll need to buy all new springs and hardware if you don't wanna run them...maybe Rustys? IDK...

I've been running my RE stuff for a while now, and have nothing but good to say about them. Good luck, man.

 

Found the pins on Amazon, thankfully.

I'm leaning more toward me being an idiot than them being garbage, the more I calm the **** down. I usually swear by RE, too, so this is probably just one of those cases of learning curve (my first shims) and frustration (it's -10 in the garage, and the previous owner really ****ed up the installation of the last set of springs). It's just one of these days:

Still think it's dumb I have to drill out the shim to take their own pins, but it's kinda my fault for not having a bench vise yet, I guess?

 

I dont recall drilling anything when I put my shims in. I used RE springs, center bolts and shims. Was a pretty straight forward deal. I think its that -10° weather screwing with you.

 

That part, at least, I know isn't just me. The Amazon reviews are full of people who had to drill one size larger. RE agrees with you that something's not quite right, but the stock center pins definitely don't fit through the shims I've got. But center pins come in two different sizes, too, so... I'll find out for sure on Friday what's going on, when my new pins come in!

 

If I don't have the correct size center pin available, I make one.
A center bolt is just a bolt with a round head.
Take the proper length 3/8" bolt, chuck the threaded area of the bolt up in an electric drill and spin it against a running bench grinder, to round the head to the needed size.
Takes about a minute. You could do it by hand, with file, too.
The right size allen head bolt will work too.