build thread from the wind tunnel

[Digger]

Looking good Chad, glad to see this coming along!

Good choice in jounce bumpers.

[Gunnibronco]

Looking good Chad, glad to see this coming along!

Good choice in jounce bumpers.

Thank you. Slow but steady progress.

These are the only bumps that I could easily fit. Super lucky to find them unused and super cheap. I'll probably have to make some extensions for the Jounce Stops after adjusting the rear springs.

[Digger]

Looking good Chad, glad to see this coming along!

Good choice in jounce bumpers.

Thank you. Slow but steady progress.

These are the only bumps that I could easily fit. Super lucky to find them unused and super cheap. I'll probably have to make some extensions for the Jounce Stops after adjusting the rear springs.

I used this kit to extend mine about an inch. You cut and weld the middle tube to set the extension length.
https://www.spcalignment.com/index.php?option=com_spc&task=part_description&pid=25603&Submit_form=Submit

[Gunnibronco]

Looking good Chad, glad to see this coming along!

Good choice in jounce bumpers.

Thank you. Slow but steady progress.

These are the only bumps that I could easily fit. Super lucky to find them unused and super cheap. I'll probably have to make some extensions for the Jounce Stops after adjusting the rear springs.

I used this kit to extend mine about an inch. You cut and weld the middle tube to set the extension length.
https://www.spcalignment.com/index.php?option=com_spc&task=part_description&pid=25603&Submit_form=Submit

I had seen those when I picked up the bump stops and was reading on them. Do you know if they are still available? Summit and the other dealers list it as unavailable. If not, I can always lift the striker pad. I also think I have a few of the 1/2" aluminum spacers that screw together, and I bet they can be modified to work. I think I'll need 2" spacers.

[Digger]

I had seen those when I picked up the bump stops and was reading on them. Do you know if they are still available? Summit and the other dealers list it as unavailable. If not, I can always lift the striker pad. I also think I have a few of the 1/2" aluminum spacers that screw together, and I bet they can be modified to work. I think I'll need 2" spacers.

SPC quit marketing JounceShocks years ago, but they still produce them. I would give them a call and ask about that part number.

OR Bryan Kudela of Lanternmark retails SPC off-road parts on his site:
https://www.lanternmark.com/store/shaft-extension-kit

[Gunnibronco]

Good to know, thanks!

[Gunnibronco]

Back at it. Still a long way to go, but it's sitting on all 4 tires (for a while).

Reworked the rear shackle hangers. It gained me about 1.25" lift in the rear. So basically, I got rid of the 1" lift blocks and it's sitting about the same. It looks very nose high in this pic, the passenger side looks better but still a little low in the back. For some reason the driver side front coil is about 1/2" taller than the passenger side. I'm not sure why this is. I'm going to try a few things and see if I can get it sitting more level.

I can still add a taller shackle and keep good angles, and/or add a bit of a lift block under the springs to get things right if I need.

[Jesus_man]

Nice to have a roller!! Hope you can get the stance more level. Seems like you have good options!

[Gunnibronco]

Nice to have a roller!! Hope you can get the stance more level. Seems like you have good options!

I find it weird that the compressed height of the front springs is so different. I'm hoping it's something simple to level out. The rear is actually about .25" higher now than before the swap.

I also have the option of lowering the front. The right front is maybe 1/4"-1/2" higher than when I started, the left is 3/4"+ higher.

If I can drop the driver side front .5", I'll still have about 5" uptravel in the front. Then I can drop the entire front 3/4" (hole spacing on the upper coil towers) and still have good uptravel and lots of droop available.

From the leaf spring mounting/shackle length Youtube video, a 6" shackle will stiffen up the rear a bit and still give a better shackle angle than before. I liked how the truck drove with the terrible shackle angle before the swap. According to the video my new shackle angle should have a softer spring rate, I'm a bit worried it will be too soft, but obviously don't know till I drive it. I need to decide what I'm doing before I set the rear pinion angle.

[Jesus_man]

If you haven't moved it after you put the tires on, it could be that just rolling it 10ft in each direction, might help settle things too. Maybe you've already done that?? But if you did one corner at a time, it's possible the suspension has a bit of a bind on it.

[Gunnibronco]

If you haven't moved it after you put the tires on, it could be that just rolling it 10ft in each direction, might help settle things too. Maybe you've already done that?? But if you did one corner at a time, it's possible the suspension has a bit of a bind on it.

Radius arm and leaf spring bolts are all still loose. The only bolts that are tight are the coil retainer plate in the upper coil buckets and track bar.

I've bounced each end and each corner with my weight, but it's not changing anything. The rear springs are just about identical left to right (frame to axle measurement is within 1/8", shackle angle is within 1*).

I'm going to loosen up the front coil retainers first, and maybe the track bar and see if that helps. After that I'll swap front springs and see what happens.

[Gunnibronco]

Still slowly chipping away at things.

I've tacked in the rear brake hangers and anti-wrap brackets. My friend cut the brackets out on a cutting torch table he built in the late 70s. It uses a wiper motor controlled by a toy train control to trace Masonite templates. Super cool. I couldn't use the off the shelf brackets because one fell on the pumpkin right next to the diff, so I made one with a flat instead of a tube cut out.

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Also picked up a 1350 flange to start test fitting on the Atlas. Both the front and rear will be a tight fit. The rear may interfere with my crossmember and the front is very close to the frame. It may fit by removing one crossmember to frame bolt. It's always something.

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I'm also finalizing h-booster stuff and ARB switches/solinoids/air lines. I ran the air lines in the ARB black plastic, but will only use them for measurements to have braided stainless lines made and as back up in case of damage.

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[Jesus_man]

I had to modify my axle bracket nearest the pumpkin too. That is one slick way of cutting parts! Genius!

I'm glad to hear you found a solution to the ARB lines. Half the failures I have seen were from cracked lines. Others were internal to the locker itself.

Great progress. Looking sick!!

[Gunnibronco]

Started on bump stop hangers, and landing pad also temped in my shock on the driver side. Swapped a polybushing for my old Metal Cloak joints on the radius arms.

[Gunnibronco]

Fine tuning the shock and bump stop on the driver side. This side looks good as-is.

The passenger side is looking more complicated. I want to be able to pull my passenger side upper radius arm link for crawling. It really frees up the suspension. My gut says it adds some articulation, but I've been told it only reduces the binding without adding to the travel.

With the upper link removed the caster rotates forward when the axle cycles to full stuff on the passenger side. I'm pretty sure if I reproduce the driver side on the passenger side, I'm going to have problems. It looks like the bump stop will miss the landing pad and/or the shock and landing pad trying to share space during articulation.

Hopefully I can come up with a solution. I'm thinking I can extend the bump stop pad and move the shock back an inch or so. We shall see.

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[Jesus_man]

So you're saying the bump stop will miss the pad because it will land outboard of what you have or behind it?

Can you test the theory of removing the upper link now? Maybe you can leave it in with no sacrifice? Seems with the added articulation of all your joints, you should be fine. I'm plenty happy with mine and I have bushings at the axle and a JJ at the frame.

I need new shocks all the way around, so I will be picking your brain with what you end up with.

[Gunnibronco]

I have the passenger side upper link removed for cycling. With the link removed I can VERY easily cycle the suspension through all positions. With the link installed it's far more difficult/impossible to have the driver at full stuff with the passenger at full droop and vice versa. It's striking how much bind is removed. I know many are running without a removable link. My goal is to have the option to see how it acts with and without the link. If I can't figure a way to do it, I'm sure I'll be happy with the performance regardless.

With the upper link removed the passenger side knuckle rotates forward when at full stuff and the driver at full droop. It looks like the landing pad will be too far forward and miss the stop. If I extend the pad, I think it will interfere with the shock with the link connected at full stuff(based on how the driver side looks/acts). I want to be able to run with the upper link installed or removed.

I can probably easily test it out by reinstalling the passenger side link and removing the driver side link. I think it will mirror the motion.

I'm running:
Metal Cloak joint on the main radius arm link @ the axle
Poly bushing on the upper radius arm link @ the axle
Heim joint @ the frame

My shocks are:
Front- 14" short body Bilstein 7100 360/80 valving
Rear- 12" Bilstein 5125 255/70 valving
I'm very happy with how they ran before I changed everything. If I had to do it over again (and I probably will), I'd move the rears to a more vertical position, they are running more angle than I'd prefer. And they attach to the front of my axle, I'd like them straight up and down attached on the top or rear, so they would be less likely to be damaged. I haven't had a problem yet, but I can see they are vulnerable.

[Gunnibronco]

Well it's been a while so I thought it was time to update this.

I've been doing lots of work, but not taking many pictures apparently.

I decided to jump on a few "upgrades" I was going to save till later. Over the last few months I picked up Yukon Hardcore hubs, 35 spline Dutchmen outter axles and Yukon Superjoints. I also got a set of American Iron Offroad Ball Joint Deletes. So the front axle will be pretty bulletproof.

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The 1350 output flanges fit with out any problems, surprisingly. I was worried it was going to hit the frame in the front and the t-case crossmember in the rear. Both fit, barely. New driveshafts will be ordered soon.


I did get the front shocks and bump stops 100% welded on and everything cycles with a little wiggle room.

Full bump

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Full bump passenger, full droop driver, with steering cranked to right. Lots of room to spare. Turns out I did a lot more clearancing on the frame crossmember than needed.

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I made a set of 6" shackles and it has my rig sitting nice and level, shackle angle still looks good.

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My antiwrap bar is done, just need to make a shackle to replace the "temp" shackle, and finish welding the shackle bushing to the crossmember. I'm going to run the ARB and brake line down the anti-wrap bar. So of course I'll have to shorten my brand new ARB line. It's never Plan A, its always Plan B.

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I've stripped out all the fuel and brake lines. I pulled out my low pressure pump and accumulator, and moved my high pressure pump as close to the tank as I can. Hopefully this will run well, it certainly simplified all the stuff hanging from my frame rail. I'm running PTFE fuel hose with -6an fittings for the fuel and return lines. I'm going to start measuring and mapping out the brake lines as well.

Lots of wiring getting redone, rerouted, etc. As well as ARB lines. I finished wrapping the entire exhaust system with heat wrap and I'm waiting on a muffler blanket. I'm really trying to keep the cab as cool as possible. After living in Gunnison for 22 years, I'm still adjusting to the desert summer temps here, lol.

Seems like I should have more progress to report. I'm sure I'm missing some things. Regardless it feels like I'm in the home stretch, finally.

[Jesus_man]

It's looking amazing!! So happy for you!! Seems wheeling season is already here in your neck of the woods!! Hope to see it hit the trails soon for a solid shake-down!

[Gunnibronco]

It's looking amazing!! So happy for you!! Seems wheeling season is already here in your neck of the woods!! Hope to see it hit the trails soon for a solid shake-down!

Thanks! We have a lot of snow on the ground now, and it's been super cold. So I'm not missing much, but my goal is to get this thing up and running with some test miles on it before the wheeling really starts. It will be interesting to see when stuff opens up in the mountains, we are at 200% of normal snow pack in the Sierras right now.

[Kinder]

Looking extra beefy, I’ve never heard of a balljoint delete and looked them up, nice bit of kit.

[Gunnibronco]

Looking extra beefy, I’ve never heard of a balljoint delete and looked them up, nice bit of kit.

Thanks.

Hanging out with serious crawler types I've learned about the inherent weaknesses of ball joints. One of the biggest issues is that if an axle ujoint breaks it can push the ball joint out and leave you with a very difficult trail repair, or worse destroy the knuckle or inner C.

There are also a few other companies selling Ball Joint Eliminators that get welded into place. I chose these Deletes because they are press in and the owner of the company provides awesome support and tech help.

[Gunnibronco]

Quick update.

I couldn't leave well enough alone. I wasn't really happy with my rear springs after dropping the shackle hanger and installing a longer shackle. The truck was sitting nice and flat, but I felt the front of the leaf spring was a lot higher than the rear. I'm not sure it mattered but it just looked wrong. I watched a bunch of KOH and all the leaf sprung vehicles had a very flat leaf pack without much angle.

So I cut off my front spring hangers and fab'd up new hangers about 1" taller/lower. I also bumped them back about .25". This leveled out my springs and added about .75" lift so I'm sitting slightly higher in the back. I'm happy with this and it gives me a little extra height for when the truck is heavily loaded. It also gave me a little better shackle angle. I'm super happy with it now and promise to leave the suspension alone at this point.

Before:

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After- sorry my phone camera is not great:

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I finished welding my antiwrap shackle hanger to my tcase cross member.

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I ordered all braided stainless brake lines from Crown Performance. There is no room for parking brake cables due to my Atlas4 speed so I'm adding a ghetto parking brake with a ball valve that I can operate from the driver seat. I'm also running the brake lines and air lines down the track bar and antiwrap bar. Trying to use steel brake lines was going to end up with a lot of short pieces and fittings so I thought it was best to just order flex lines for everything. I'm finishing up routing and tie down points now. I'll be able to pull everything out one last time for final welding and paint, then reassemble for installation.

My rockbouncer friend wants to build my driveshafts so there will be some "experimenting" going on with my old driveshaft. He doesn't like to follow rules and thinks he can build my driveshafts without double cardans and make it work. I'm not so sure, but he did it with his bouncer and old Jeep and they run down the road without vibrations. If his experiment works with my old driveshaft it will become my trail spare, and he'll build a super beefy ones out of .25" DOM.

I have a few things to do while the axles are out (rear main seal, final front suspension/frame welds), and I'm out of town a bit over the next few weeks, but I'm seeing the end of the tunnel approaching.

One interesting thing I realized is that I've got leaf springs from a 95-00 4 door/4wd Tahoe, based on the chart below I thought their spring rate matched the Bronco (1750). I was on RockAuto and realized the 1750 spring rate was for the 2 door Tahoe. The 4 door/4wd is 1650. The 4 door/2wd is only 1550. I doubt it matters. I guess if I need more lift I can find a set of 2 door springs.

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[Jesus_man]

It certainly looks like a beast!! I hope to hit the rocks with you someday!! Just don't show me where the hidden keys are to your shop or you may find your bronco on cinder blocks and no axles! LOL!

I need a remedy to my rear shocks sooner rather than later. Did you build what you have? I went to inboard shocks years ago and I loved the gained flex. But once I added my anti-wrap links, it contacts my shocks. Not sure I can get away from that and maintain inboard shocks... But I worry another configuration would hinder flex?? All I know is my shocks are blown out and now all the bushings are too, so it creates a LOT of noise back there.

[Gunnibronco]

Thanks, I have a feeling we'll be meeting on the Rubicon or Fordyce soon enough.

A very long time ago, before I had a bender, Justin bent up the hoop part of what I'm running. Take a look at the first page of this thread and there are some pictures of what Justin made me.

I added the 3/16" bracket and gussets at the frame. I also had to modify it so the shock mounted outside of the the hoops to make everything fit. Let me know if you want better pictures. I have a bender with a 90* 1" die so I'm sure I could build it now. It's a good design, I'm not sure if it would fit on a stock width axle, there may not be enough room to squeeze the shock between the wheel well and the tire. If I had to do it over, I'd build the hoop to mount the shock directly above the axle (as much as possible) to minimize the shock angle. I'd also like to install the axle end of the shock behind the axle or on top to minimize the chance of damaging the shock.

If you can get the upper shock mount into the wheel well you can choose a shock length that won't limit suspension travel. Keeping the shock mount under the tub floor limits shock length. Inboarding the shocks gives you the extra length for more flex.

[Jesus_man]

I know there isn't enough clearance for a shock between the tire and the wheel well. My tires rub the wheel well at full stuff now, but having it leaning forward like that, was something I hadn't seen. Still, my guess is not enough room for that.

Maybe I just need to adjust the location of the mounts on my current setup to clear everything and replace the shocks.

[Gunnibronco]

I have the axles out again, hopefully for the last time. I've test fit my brake lines and welded on all the tie down points.

I started painting the links and small parts yesterday. Brushing on an industrial single stage black. Not my best work, but it's too cold to spray outside, and I don't want to deal with the work to spray inside. So it is what it is.

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Rear axle is finish welded except for the spring perches. We are going to set those when we build my driveshaft.

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I need to do some finish welding to the front suspension brackets on the frame and a few things on the front axle, paint the axle housings, do the rear main seal and fix my oil pan/dip stick leak. Then hopefully I can put this thing back together for good.

[Gunnibronco]

A few pics.

Before tearing it apart, hopefully for the last time

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Everything is painted. It's nice assembling things for real.

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[Jesus_man]

Killer paint booth!!

Really, I am excited to see you finally get this thing on the trail!!

[Gunnibronco]

Killer paint booth!!

Really, I am excited to see you finally get this thing on the trail!!

Whatever works, it was too windy to spray outside. The first batch was done outside.

I'm so happy, it feels good to see it all getting wrapped up.