[rotorwrench]

Most of them just clamp the spring securely to the cross member to keep it from shifting. The cross member should hold most of the load. There were round top U-bolts and more rectangular shaped on the front end depending on the year of manufacture. On the clips, I would prefer either the original forged ones or new ones made from structural steel stampings. The cast iron or cast steel ones would need to be ductile material or they can crack/break the ears easier than forged. They only act as a clamp plate but the u-bolts being torqued up does put some strain on them. Having the correct U-bolts for the upper hand crank bearing clip on the front and the correct shaped lower clips on the back is important. The parts have to fit together well and some of the cheap reproduction stuff may be suspect. There are different rear clips depending on thickness of spring but they are sandwiched between the U-bolt nuts and the cross member. I would shim them if there is any gap between the clip and the cross member. They need to be tight but they don't need a bending load on those four ears.