95 TXT heavy duty leaf spring issue

[Helirich]

So when the side "stuck", is the shackle spun around up against the frame? It really sounds like someone brook a mount off and rewelded it back on in a slightly different place.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by drakison

when I installed the spring, it was almost vertical at that point. They looked exactly like sir Nuke's picture when they were installed. Not to mention, when I first installed it, it worked like a champ for the first 8-10 hours.

if you didn't replace the rubber bushings in the shackle as well as the bushings on both ends of the spring....that could be your problem. The picture I posted was with new bushings and all six spots. Its something to loot at.

[chloe]

In looking closely at your pics, it appears the upper spring mount bolt has not been touched. Notice the difference in appearance of the upper and lower bolts. It also appears the upper bushing is thinner than the lower.
I think your pics show the problem. You have not replaced the upper bushings making them the weak link in the installation. New bushings will help prevent the shackles from torqueing and allowing the shackle to spread. fore and aft.
Install new bushings in the upper mounts, both front and rear. Then let us know how things go.

[drakison]

after further work on this problem...I missed something simple. I measured both sides from the shackle mount to the front mount. There is about a 1.5 inch difference. Digging further, I realized, that the frame was bent. I put a bottle jack (along with a puzzle of wood to keep it all stable when spreading) and spread out the downtube in the back from the frame by the batteries. I wasn't able to spread it out and distress it well enough to stay in the stock position, but it is definitely better. I haven't tested it with anyone really heavy on the back yet, but so far so good as it doesn't appear to be collapsing. My guess is that the frame will return to the bent position over time, so this winter I will probably expand it to the perfect measurement and weld a cross beam in there to reinforce it. Essentially the spring appeared to be too long, but in actuality the cart was too short because of the bent down tube.

The reason it looked and worked fine for the first bit, was because the leaf spring took that amount of time to "break in".

[DaveTM]

Bent frames are like crazy blonds. At first....all seems good. Then, as things are rolling along....things seem to get a bit weird....yet you can't quite pin point it. Then.....from out of nowhere, they just explode and suddenly, your going 360-degrees on a downhill spin and you've lost your ability to steer and your brakes have faded to nothing.

It happens.