Center bolt/spring perch question...

[montana_hiboy]

How important is it for the head of the leaf spring center bolt to fit snugly inside the spring perch hole?

Is its role to simply hold the spring pack together or do they also aid in positioning the axle?

I know the U-bolts when torqued down hold everything in place but it seems to me that the center bolt head/spring perch hole should fit snugly together.

The axle in question is a HD44 and the spring perch holes are approx. 3/4" in diameter, i have two sets of center bolts, 3/8" bolts with a 9/16" head and 7/16" bolts with a 5/8" head.

Both sets too small to fill out the nearly 3/4" spring perch hole, so what gives here? did the factory center bolts completely fill out the perch hole?

[71PA_Highboy]

They need to be in the hole, and snug is preferrable as they are used for alignment of the axles on the spring pack.

You can build a shim if you feel it is needed.

I do not know the size of the originals.