bronco guys

[built4war]

alright i have a 66 ford bronco 351w 90 miles on the motor a np435 dana 20 dana 44 front discs ford nine inch in back detroits front and rear. power brake system. i talked to nobody about his and i got some more questions about somethings you and ebsteve have on your rear axle who shorted your axles? do you guys still run 5 lugs rims whats the cost to change the 60 over to that? i have a dana 60 and a 70 and want to put it under my bronco but not sure if i want to shorten them or not. ebsteve looks like he has a custom four link rear home built? or is it from james duff? how well is the travel? what was the cost of your radiators from speedway? anyone who has info on tech tips or parts they run and have great performance i would like to know and i mean anything!! specially about cooling cause i dont have much room between my flex fan and radiator as it is and i need a larger radiator for sure. siping or grooving or both? im blown away by the 3psi and rarely having problems. whats the weight of your bronco fully loaded? how many bronco guys made it to SOB this year and how was it i just didnt get mine done in time to make it!

[EBSTEVE]

Ok I will try to answer a few of your questions first the Dana 60, yes both of ours are 5 bolt but you could change that easy if you wanted. I actually have one that is EB stock width that I am going to be selling and I did a quick breakdown of the cost and it's about $1885 if you can do all the setup work and weld all the brackets (assuming I did not forget anything). You could save a few dollars here and there if you wanted cheaper gears or to cut corners I threw the break down below.
My 3 link is something I built and it travels more than needed so I have it limited and I rarely unpin the front arm anymore. The radiators are under $200 delivered but they are "universal" so you have to fit it and there are no mounts. I moved mine forward as much as possible and made a crude shroud with the Taurus fan. Grooving tires is great IMO, if you have a tire with a huge lug but for me the amount of open area in my swampers is fine, siping is a must.
I have only made one SOB but I do hope to go this year.
HTH


Moser Custom 35 splined Alloy Axles with Timken bearings $425
New Dana Spicer 4:56 gears $400
Housing with ends installed $250
Auburn gear 35 splined spool $225
Full install kit Timken bearings $150
New Dana Spicer pinion yoke $105
Brake calipers $100
Brake rotors $100
Moser big bearing housing ends $80
Brake hoses and weld on brackets $50

[Nobody]

Steve and I built rear dana 60's because we could build a stronger 35 spline axle for less than a ford 9 inch. They are hybrid axles meaning that we used semi-float ford 9 inch housing ends and axles. As such you can order the axles with any bolt pattern you need. I'd recommend keeping with the for 5 on 5.5 pattern though. Cheaper wheels, and more common to find a spare in you're ever in a jam.

I would only build a Dana 60 if you feel you need 35 spline axles. Otherwise a 31 spline ford nine inch is plenty strong.

I had a local fab shop weld on my housing ends. I'm sure there must be shop somewhere in your area. I know www.dutchmanaxles.com is in Portland, Oregon.

I'm on the fence when it comes to full width. It certainly would nice in a few situations. I'm currently about 60" wms-wms. That was perfect for my Bronco II, but I'd like to be a tad wider on the Early Bronco.

The tru-kool radiators at speedway motors are great. As Steve mentioned, they are universal, so you have to make your own mounts. I cut about an inch out of my core support so I could move my radiator up a tad to make room for an electric taurus fan. I have tons of room for with my clutch fan. It should also be noted that the 91-93 thunderbird 5.0's that we are running have one of the shortests front dresses out there. Helps a lot! 5.0L ford explorers also have very short accessories.

On to the tires. Siping really does help a lot. Depending on the tire, some grooving may help, but I really think it's the siping that helps.

Yes we do run 3psi and lower without beadlocks. I have a hell of time when want to break the bead. The biggest reason we can get away with this is because of the more flexible sidewall on the radial. Instead of working the bead loose, the sidewall just flexes. You will not be able to do this with bias ply tires. The sidewall is just too stiff. Running a narrower wheeling the tire tread width also helps.

There's nothing wrong with beadlocks. It's just added insurance. I'm a cheap SOB and learned many years ago how to run low pressure successfully. As such it's a good idea to know how to get a tire back on the wheel and have air handy. I used to bust tires at Les Schwab back in the day, so it's no big deal to mount and dismount tires in the field.

Toddkaz on this forum runs Stuan beadlocks and is very pleased with them. Just keep in mind that most beadlocks only lock the outer bead. The inner bead can still pop off.

Bronco is about 4200 loaded. Steve is probably a little heavier with full cage and winch.

I rode with Steve to SOB a few years ago. Had a blast. Can't wait to go back. Life has been getting in the way the last couple years.

Whew...I think I covered it all!

[built4war]

thanks for the info, ebsteve you should post a picture on your bronco flexed out if you have any! how hard was it to make your three link with pan hard bar? what size links you run? length, thinkness, bushing or hiem joints?

[EBSTEVE]

I originally did it because it was cheaper than leaf springs. It's a three link with a upper wishbone instead of a pan hard , I don't remember how long the links are. The links are 1 1/2" 1/4" wall DOM tubing, some say it's undersized but it's worked great for me, I did have a link bend in the early stages but it was the adjuster not the tube, I bought a 20' stick for about $2.25 a foot so I used it. Originally I used radius arm bushings on the uppers and spring eye bushings on the rest with a custom joint I built on the axel end of the upper, since I have changed out the radius bushings for Johnny joints. It's not hard IMO but it also depends on your level of skill and the tools you have available. The most important thing is that you do your homework on link layout, squat and anti squat can make all the difference between getting traction or spinning tires and rear steer can make it so that when you back up you go where the rear wants you to go and typically that is not where you want to go.
You should search for "Venom" as a user name for pictures and info, it's Quinn and I looked and measured his and copied what he did changing the link length and ratio but if you see his you will see about what I have and he has or had pictures all over when I did mine (about 8 or 9 years ago).
I don't have tons of pictures, it's different than the snow when you stop for a break it's typically just in the middle of a trail and when it looks cool you just want to wheel so here is one from probably 5 years ago.

[built4war]

thats awesome!! what type of coil spring are you running? i have a suspension handbook has layouts on all types of suspension and designs i would like to build my own just cause i want the expierence and know how but i also like polyperformance.com four link and three link complete weld in kit. do you have long arm radius arms up front also? i got the tools to build it but like you said need to reasearch a lil more before i do something. i got a model 3 pipe bender and bend tech ez3d software still learning how to use it but the tube bender is pretty sweet. did you build your roll cage cause it way nice i like the bed part of it and how it mounts to the half cab. is venom on this site or google it?

[Nobody]

You can find more pics of Steve's Bronco on my other website www.BroncoII4x4.com . We're both running wristed radius arms up front. You can find info on that there as well.

Steve's 4 link is pretty nice. It would be a good design to copy. There's a bronco guy named Quinn that used to go by venom on serveral websites. I think much of that content disappeared years ago. He's still on www.broncofix.com and the broncofix mailing list.

[EBSTEVE]

The rear springs started as 79 F150 stock take outs from a friends truck. When I changed the bushings I took out the adjusters I originally had and installed some KbarS springs that I got in trade, they are 3.5" lift EB front springs and nothing special IMO from a company that has been out of buisness for some time.

No long arms up front but I have been toying with the idea for a few years now but I probably won't ever build any.

Yes I built my cage, I started three days before I left for the Rubicon and worked on it after work with my wife helping hold tube for me to measure. It was about 5 years ago and I have yet to finish the rear of the cage that I got just far enough to be able to store stuff on and work for minimal protection and there it has sat. The rear is removable so the top can be taken off.

I have a Pro Tools 105 that I recently converted to hydraulic but it spends 99% of it's life as a storage rack in the shop.

[built4war]

my pipe bender is doing about the same just sitting in the corner of my room, been trying to get my dad to hurry up and get his shop put up at his house.

how do you like the hydraulic conversion on your 105, well worth it?

thanks again for all the information!!!

[EBSTEVE]

I love the conversion, it's a power unit I built from scavenged parts and a cylinder from Egay so I am about $100 into it and I have quick disconnects on the unit so I can add a press when I ever get around to building one and all I will have to do is plug it in.