The heavy duty U-Bolt plates I bought form an off road suspension parts supplier (ruffstuff.com) are set up for the 2-1/2 wide springs.
Question: Should I scab on a couple of 1/4 inch thk side plates (or thicker?) to make the perches a little wider without adding any height to the perch?
Option 'B', if my U-bolts are long enough, I could weld some wider pieces of plate onto the spring mating surface of the perches making them both a little taller and wider.
Here's a pic of the perch sitting on the leaf spring alignment pin (note the alignment bushing I made to improve this fit).
My thought is that the extended sides of the existing perches are intended to provide some stability to the U-bolts and help prevent them from twisting, perhaps even keeping the sides of the leaf spring from digging into the U-bolts(?). Which could also be a potential down side to Option 'B', above.
You can see more in my build thread linked in my signature line, below.
Any thoughts, experiences or advice?