Bronco Suspension 1.0

[Jesus_man]

I have little flex out of the front of my bronco. Well on a recent trip I got the front end bound up on a tree and one of the coil springs popped loose from the lower coil bucket and then my bronco started flexing. So it got me to thinking that part of my problem is the stiff springs.

I also wheel with a lot of jeeps and have seen how the coil spring design is somewhat unique in that it allows the top of the coil spring to come off it's seat to gain a little more flex. So I modified my bronco to do something similar.

These are about 8" long:


Installed in place of the spring retainer:


Flexed out with high lift:


Bushings at their max:


Phase 2.0 will be all new arms with JJ's and hiems! Hope that comes late winter early spring.

J.D.

[sbolt19]

Wait a second here, so are you saying to completely take the top spring retainer off and used the pipe as the "retainer"? I see the logic with the added flex because there isn't anything holding it on, but what about stability? How's that gonna work?

[Jesus_man]

Yes, the tube is the new retainer. I am not sure I understand your stability question. When specifically are you talking? Highway, trail?

Once I install new radius arms, I will likely have to install limiting straps to keep the springs from coming all the way off the retainers.

J.D.

[Entourage]

Which arms are you thinking about? There are guys in the club running Wild Horses and James Duff Extended arms. I have looked at the Cage arms and they are fairly reasonable compared. I was leaning toward the Wild Horses brand after seeing them on a club member's truck at Golden Corral Breakfast - they are so nice. The bracket is really well built as well.

[Jesus_man]

Actually, I am doing all Custom from Battlement Fab. If you're familiar with Clint's shop in Grand Junction, he's the one going to do a "kit" for me. It'll be a Y-link setup with one main tube to the bottom of the axle and a shorter one off the top back to the lower arm. IIRC it's a JJ at the frame, Bushings as the axle, and a Heim on the upper arm where it meets lower. He's also making me brackets to weld onto the axle.

The plan is to mount the frame brackets just inboard of the frame to help with tire-rub and just low enough to get the bolt thru the joint under the frame. The bracket on the axle will include coil buckets as well as a lower and upper mount for the links. We'll have to figure in something for a shock mount too. I hope to push the axle forward a couple inches as well.

J.D.

[sbolt19]

I am not sure I understand your stability question. When specifically are you talking? Highway, trail?

Once I install new radius arms, I will likely have to install limiting straps to keep the springs from coming all the way off the retainers.

J.D.

Both trail & road manners, how does the spring keep from....for lack of a better term...bucking in the spring bucket without a top retainer keeping it in place? Is the weight of the vehicle going to help keep it in place until trail time?

[Jesus_man]

yes. in fact I had to take quite a bit of weight off the front to even get the spring to unseat.

road manners shouldn't change. I should have better trail performance because in those instances where I am hanging a wheel in the air, maybe it'll be contacting the ground now. I think I'll get a "pop" each time a coil reseats, but that's tolerable for the added flex.

J.D.

[crawlercreations]

I have seen that suspension idea used quite a bit. The main issue with the fronts of our broncos is the radius arms. They act as a sway bar when the suspension is travelling. Your new suspension set-up should not need the coils to float at the top. Food for thought: My rear suspension flexes like mad....I have only seen a couple others that can flex as well as mine....I am running bone stock 1975 bronco coils that have been cut down 2 inches!! Mostly about the front suspension design. That is the reason I wristed my custom long arms....the long arm wasn't quite enough for me.

[Jesus_man]

For some reason, these coils I have are very stiff. Seems odd as the ride isn't bad, but they don't stuff or droop at all. It's all 100% reversible if I don't have a need for the coils to float.

J.D.

[Jesus_man]

So far I have no concern of it not seating properly, but I have not been out on the trail either.

J.D.

[ZOSO]

Only thing I'd be scared about is the spring twisting out of the lower cup.

[Jesus_man]

Only thing I'd be scared about is the spring twisting out of the lower cup.

Yeah, and the new brackets I get from Battlement won't allow that. until then I'll have to watch.

J.D.

[akaFrankCastle]

How long will you be waiting for the brackets and how much wheeling do you plan to do in the interim? Might be worth tacking a small tab on to the lower portion of the spring that prevents it from twisting out of the lower retainer.

[Jesus_man]

How long will you be waiting for the brackets and how much wheeling do you plan to do in the interim? Might be worth tacking a small tab on to the lower portion of the spring that prevents it from twisting out of the lower retainer.

With a little one at home, I am very lucky to get to wheel once every couple months, so at that rate, I'll get one trip in before I get the new suspension stuff. Battlement said two weeks from the word "Go".

J.D.