Wooo Hoooooo!!! I got the U bolts in and tightened down.

I beat on them. I put them in my HUGE vice and almost had the bolt ends touching. Neither made the ends stay closer together after hitting them or taking out of vice. The old bolts are tempered I guess... or something. I managed to get a C clamp on them. It wasn't easy and the clamp kept coming off but at least I was EVENTUALLY successful.