I'll post the full story in a few hours don't have time right now, don't pay attention to the date on the pics, this happened about 6 months ago.





Sorry about pic quality, if you cant tell the retaining pin (the pin that goes in the hole on the spring plate welded to the axle) on the lift block sheared off, u-bolts bent and the nuts stripped and came off!

 

That does not surprise me at all!

 

Ok, here's the story, it doesn't really look that bad by looking at the blocks, but the truck is what got the
damage.Sadly I have NO pictures of the truck, didn't own a camera at the time (The pos I had quit)
and didn't have time to get one, besides taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. I had to get it fixed
because i had to drive it (daily driver).

So here's what happened:I was looking for some 2" lift blocks for my truck, I had looked on the internet and the
GOOD lift blocks were around $40-$50, well I went to autozone and was looking around and spotted the cheapos, I
had heard the stories of problems with them but I thought what could go wrong (Mistake #1). So I put these things
on my truck (Mistake#2) and the next day decide to go wheeling (Mistake #3).

So I go to an area I hadn't been to in a few weeks, I run MOST of the trail perfect not one problem,
well the way this trail runs you go in one end and leave at another end (around 25 miles from where you started),
well I top a steep (around 35 to 40 deg. downhill) hill and start down it, about half way down I see a rock ledge
sticking up (Not really big, probably sticking up about 6"-8", I knew it was there I'd
ran over it probably 10- 12 times, no problems going over it, at least the other times)I slow down and run over it
with my front tires, they go over fine, the back tires not so lucky, the passenger side tire starts to go over the
rock, then all hell breaks loose, the retaining pin shears off(The nuts on the u-bolts were torqued to spec)
allowing the axle to push back into the bed and also allowing it to hang on the rock, the problem is the truck
keeps going, pulling the axle back farther then basically jerking the nuts off the u-bolt, finally the truck stops
moving, I get out and look and the driver side rear tire is against the frame, the passenger tire has been
pushed back about 2 to 2 1/2 ft. into the bed of the truck,it's completely shredded, the drive shaft is broke, the
leaf spring on the drivers side is bent (that's right it's bent (remember zabeard's leaf spring? Like that!). 6
hrs., 2 tow trucks, and $450 later the things finally at a shop to be fixed, turns out my ring and pinion are shot,
the bed needs replaced, leaf spring, drive shaft, tire, among other things.

Since I got it fixed I put on a superlift 2" block, I've ran over that rock 20-25 times since and not one problem,
I look back now and don't know why I bought those damn things, I mean they were ALUMINUM!

So, by me being a cheapass and saving $30 dollars, cost me around $2,500.

Lesson learned, DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!

 

well that sucks.

 

**** happens...

 

you guys are scaring me...

 

That so-called retaining pin is actually an alignment pin.Only used to align the spring pack to the axle.It does not and is not expected to keep the springs from shifting around.
The U-bolts are what keep the leaf pack in place.
You may have torqued the U-bolts but evidently not correctly or did not check them after a few miles.

 

They were torqued correctly , checked them again next day before I left, again when I got to the trailhead, and yet again halfway through the trail just to make sure they weren't getting loose, less than 15 minutes after they were checked it happened.

 

Really not suprising