75 Bronco Build

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D/F 998lbs P/F 1032lbs
25.8% 26.3%

D/R 966lbs P/R 882lbs
24.9% 22.6%[/quote]

Those weights sound lighter than I would expect! Makes my coilover spring weights sound more correct. I was thinking I was light on the springs but there isn't a whole lot of sprung weight on a Bronco I guess! I am at 100 over 200 on my coil over springs. That gives me 5" of shock shaft exposed on about 4.5" of lift but almost no pre-load on the springs. I think I will end up with 100 over 150 once I am all done with my suspension work. Just as kind of an FYI for your starting point.[/quote]

Crawlercreations,
I was pleasantly surprised with the weight myself I was thinking more along the 4500 but I'll be happy if it stays under 4K, I weighed it 4 times and got an average. I'll be running 12" 2.5 Kings custom shimmed with 12"/200 uppers and 14"/300 lowers to start out with and see how that turns out??

[crawlercreations]

D/F 998lbs P/F 1032lbs
25.8% 26.3%

D/R 966lbs P/R 882lbs
24.9% 22.6%

Those weights sound lighter than I would expect! Makes my coilover spring weights sound more correct. I was thinking I was light on the springs but there isn't a whole lot of sprung weight on a Bronco I guess! I am at 100 over 200 on my coil over springs. That gives me 5" of shock shaft exposed on about 4.5" of lift but almost no pre-load on the springs. I think I will end up with 100 over 150 once I am all done with my suspension work. Just as kind of an FYI for your starting point.

Crawlercreations,
I was pleasantly surprised with the weight myself I was thinking more along the 4500 but I'll be happy if it stays under 4K, I weighed it 4 times and got an average. I'll be running 12" 2.5 Kings custom shimmed with 12"/200 uppers and 14"/300 lowers to start out with and see how that turns out??

I've got 2.0 foxes in 14" travel. I started with 200 over 250 and had 7.5" of shaft showing. Too much for my uses but if you're going for a lot of up travel that's probably pretty close for you.

[Justin]

I'm pretty close to crawlers spring rates.

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A small milestone on the Bronco build this weekend, I was able to get the front shocks mounted and cycled. Now to move on to the rear with some minor metal trimming.

[cravenbronco]

Nice keep the pictures coming. Can't wait to see this thing when you are all done with it

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Nice keep the pictures coming. Can't wait to see this thing when you are all done with it

Thanks Cravenbronco,
My plan is once the rear shocks are mounted I'll weld up the tube flare sheet metal and then remove the body to start cleaning and welding EVERTHING just bought a new 33lb spool of wire to finish that up.

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I think I have the rear C/O mounts figured out I just need to tac the upper mounts, duplicate to the passenger side and cycle the axles to check tire/frame clearance. I also need one more stick of tubing as I forgot about adding a vertical brace for the rear shock mounts
Cutting the wheel wells was just a WAG but I got the same angle as the front C/O's. I'm hoping to have enough room to add a 40" bench seat.

[Jesus_man]

That looks killer! I am sure this will perform well! Any type of boot that can be added there to keep dust and other elements out?

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Thanks Jesusman.
Yes once I check clearances I should be able to bend up some sheet metal to cover it up to the top hat, and using a round gasket it should be 100 sealed with no coil springs showing from the inside.

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Not much progress in the last 3 weeks, as the wife and I traveled to Italy. Lots to see and plenty of good food/wine during our travels I can say it was a good break from the garage. Just before we left I was able to test fit a 40" rear bench seat and to my surprise it fits really well between the rear coils. I'm trying to get my garage mojo back but can honestly say that trip kicked my butt lots and lots of walking.

[Jesus_man]

Cinque terre and Rome! Where else? Tuscany? We didn't get to spend much time in Italy, but 4 days in Rome, and probably 12 driving from Florence, down thru Tuscany, Piza, and back into Florence. Fun place!!

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Cinque terre and Rome! Where else? Tuscany? We didn't get to spend much time in Italy, but 4 days in Rome, and probably 12 driving from Florence, down thru Tuscany, Piza, and back into Florence. Fun place!!

Rome, Florence and the Cinque Terre's, we travel mostly by train with Rome/Cinque Terre towns being our favorites don't get me wrong Florence had plenty to see and do and a fun place for sure!

[Jesus_man]

Cinque terre and Rome! Where else? Tuscany? We didn't get to spend much time in Italy, but 4 days in Rome, and probably 12 driving from Florence, down thru Tuscany, Piza, and back into Florence. Fun place!!

Rome, Florence and the Cinque Terre's, we travel mostly by train with Rome/Cinque Terre towns being our favorites don't get me wrong Florence had plenty to see and do and a fun place for sure!

Completely agree. Of the areas we visited, we enjoyed the tranquility of Tuscany the most! But Rome was just awe inspiring! Have no reason to go back to Florence. On another trip, we really enjoyed Northern Italy's Dolomite region, and dipped down into Milan, and Lake Como. Neat trip for sure.

Now...back to that bronco!

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With the 96 Explorer serp parts installed I was surprised that the shock hoop bar actually cleared the components with little modification.
The power steering reservoir was too tall IMO and I had plans to use the large ford power stroke version but I think its a little too large to fit so for now I'm using a 97 Grand Marquis. Fitting the coil packs also required some "trimming" of the hood crossbar but I now have 3/8" clearance with the hood shut.

My next hurdle was the radiator, when installing the engine cage I used the 75 radiator for mock up, WTF was I thinking the tabs are all wrong for the 94-4.0 radiator and the tube is not bent correctly to mount the new radiator, So I will have to re-design it which sucks because the grill mount is almost perfect oh well. While changing the bar I might also be channeling the passenger side frame 1.5" in order to center the fan blade to the radiator since this will forever bug me. The only highlight is that the wife works this weekend so I get 2 full days of "Garage Time"

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Replacing the front engine bar wasn't as a bad as I thought, mocked up some scrap bars for reference points and then started cutting. The new front bar is cleaner looking and the 4.0 radiator fits perfect with plenty of side clearance. I bent some lower radiator mounts fabricated some tab mounts for the 4.0 fan shroud and it all fits using the OEM mounting points. While at the JY I found this air box off a 97 Benz that looked to have the 2-ports in the correct location and was able to fit it in the battery spot using all the Benz tabs including the lower rubber mount. My plan for the battery was to mount somewhere inside the bronco but found that I have a open spot on the front driver side that would work, both air box and battery are 7" up above the tire at full lock which will be fine since I only have 6" of up travel. With only a 1" body lift everything clears the hood by 1/2"+ except the coil packs they actually just touch the hood cross bar so I channeled 1" out.

My next step is work welding in all 4 fender skins and then I believe I'm ready to tear is all apart for cleaning/welding the frame for final install.

[Jesus_man]

That benz box works amazingly well. Are you going to reuse the factory benz air filter? Are you going route the intake somewhere else? Nice fresh air there, but very easy to ingest water. Nice rework of the cross brace.

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That benz box works amazingly well. Are you going to reuse the factory benz air filter? Are you going route the intake somewhere else? Nice fresh air there, but very easy to ingest water. Nice rework of the cross brace.

Thanks,
Yes OEM Benz filter will be used, the intake on the air box is pointing straight at the passage turn signal so I will be modifying and adding some duct work, if I get water that high up I'll just use my seat cushion as a floatation devise and swim to shore

[Jesus_man]

Gotcha and I think that's a a good plan with some ducting. But really, there are a handful of CO trails that have some deep water crossings. Well, at least they used to be when CO got snow... The gulches West co 'Springs comes to mind. Madeno Pass is another.

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This weekends marks a year that I brought the Bronco home, needless to say I may have fibbed to the wife on how long it would take me to get it on the road although in my defense I wasn't planning on a full link suspension so that along with trouble getting it started and keeping it running may have set me back 3 months (not that I'll have it done in 3 months)
This weekend I had two friends stop by to give an extra hand holding the flares while I tacked them in place.

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Tube flares are fully welded with all the welds ground down, so I just need to run a small skim of body filler on the fender side and then I think I'm ready to remove the body.

[Rox Crusher]

Those look great !

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Those look great !

Thanks Rox Crusher !

[Jesus_man]

Very unique and nicely done!

[hockeydad4-22]

In a build full of very cool, super highly functional stuff, this may be the first idea I am stealing for mine. There are others, but this may be the first I actually fab and install

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In a build full of very cool, super highly functional stuff, this may be the first idea I am stealing for mine. There are others, but this may be the first I actually fab and install

Thanks hockeydad4-22 !
If the time comes and you have any questions about the flares just let me know.

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I finished seaming and spraying etching primer on the bare steel flares.

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Worked on making a safari top with removable side panels, the side panels are held in place with just two bolts on the top and pinned on the bottom using 3 of the oem holes. My plan is to not install the glass but maybe have some Plexiglas inserts to carry just incase of rain and then have a canvas rear hatch made up. I think the safari top will be a nice touch painted blue and still look like bronco with a more open air feel.

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Sunday I finished tacking the top of the cage and then removed the suspension/axles dropped the frame on some carts and then removed the cage. Man a 2 car garage just isn't big enough!

[phyler]

I wish I could work even half as fast as you do. If I could, I'd be done by now. [emoji38]

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

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[quote="phyler"]I wish I could work even half as fast as you do. If I could, I'd be done by now. [emoji38]

I'll let you in on a little secret, listen to 105.5 the Colorado Sound and drink a 16oz or 20oz RedBull and don't even mess with the baby 8.4oz cans!