Bent Rear Spring Hanger

[Mack4]

Somehow I ended up bending my drivers side rear spring hanger (where the leaf spring shackle attaches to the frame). Which then caused my axle to shift 3 inches to the right, bringing my Toyo MTs about 1/4 inch away from my bumpstop, bending the center pins on the leaf pack and generally causing a problem that could turn into a 80mph tragedy pretty easily.

The body shop stuck it on their jig and bent it back into place and now I am in a conundrum trying to figure out what to do.

I was considering gusseting the leaf spring hangers to prevent the bend, but I hate welding on that (relatively) thin hanger and am worried about warping it or sucking it up towards the frame when I lay a bead on the gussets.

The other thought I had was that PRG's Traction Bars might take out some of the side to side action that could cause it to bend again.

Any thoughts or past experiences would be helpful!

-Mack

 

[Lecoq]

Could you post a picture? I would lean towards welding some reinforcement but I'm unsure on how much and where.

 

[Gator]

I would not hesitate to weld on the nissan frame. Mine as been welded on plenty. As long as you or the person welding is compident, you'll be fine.
Lator....

 

[Mack4]

I will post up some pictures when I get the truck back tomorrow.

It's not so much damaging the frame while welding as pulling the thinner metal towards the thicker as I weld it. I had this problem when I did my rear bumper for the Tundra. The 1/4 plate I used for the side mounts ended up pulling towards each other when I added gusseting to the 5/16 square tube. If I stitch the weld and let it cool between stitches I won't heat/warp the metal as bad, but even a little warping could offset the hanger again.

 

[Co-opski]

Mack it may help if we all knew what truck you were working with. Good luck, sounds expensive.