Expedition & Adventure Rig plus Daily Driver

[original condor]

Howdy folks, I'm slowly smoothing out my 70 K10 longbed. I bought it with 350 with 12,000 mi, 650cfm Edelbrock carb, & Performer intake, headers, granny 4 spd, 4" blocks in back on a truck 12", & 44 in front, fairly straight body with rusted out rockers & some floor boards/ cab supports & base of drivers "A" pillar, but zero rust at driprail/gutter, inner cowel or lower back corners. Also came with a Leer cab height shell, & nice 15X 8 aluminum rims with the round holes like Semi wheels.
Has bad paint, mediocre interior, but runs like a bat out of hell due to a big lumpy cam, way too much for the comp. ratio you can get fuel to run. I would have never used this cam but that's how it came. I'll put an RV cam in it when I pull the engine. Paid $2500 so I'm happy so far!
I'm concentrating on finding rust, exposing it fully with wire wheel, and phosphotising, then priming with rust reformer, then recoating all with paint, or rubberized, paintable under coating. Also scraping grease, & other stuff that requires very little money, just lots of time & elbowgrease.
Today I discovered marks on my rear diff that showed the housing had rotated slightly from the wrap up under acceleration, so I broke out the breaker bar and 7/8 deep socket, & proceeded to bear down on the u-bolts
but before I took them to the max I can do with my feet against the tire, pulling with both hands, my back & my legs, I figgered I'd better ask whether
it's possible to overtighten those u-bolts? Any advise would be appreciated
Many thanks in advance...............Steve Rieck

['63GENIII]

There is a torque value for every type of bolt out there. I would measure the diameter first and then call a spring mfgr. to find out what the torque should be. Ive never seen them break while tightening them although I have seen overtightened ones break and its usually when you least expect or want them to. Like when driving down the freeway or out wheeling far away from help.
U bolts are one of those things that if there is a doubt in my mind about them for more than 10 minutes, Ill go and get new ones. Betts Spring in San Jo made some while I waited for 50$ and they came with all new hardware. 9/16" x 14" x 2-1/2". Peace of mind.

[argonaut]

Those 5/8" fine thread ubolts needs something like 120-140 lb-ft of torque applied to them. Then after you drive they will will need to be checked and possibly retorqued.