I got first dibs on your Red Bronco when you get ready to sell. I hate reading this thread becuase I wish it was in my driveway. One of my favorite Broncos ever.

I didn't know Chad sold his

Sold mine to buy a house just before Christmas. It was very sad day but took less than 48 hours and got full asking price and went to a great home. I sold everything with it knowing that I will do it again. Plus, it really worked out good for my family as the housing market really took-off and low interest rates. I thought I built my "Dream Bronco" but that changed - I really want something that I can take offroad like Bought not Built. Love this Bronco and I am on the hunt for it's twin.

So who do we mock now for having a Costco crawler?

So after some investigation i think Viper and Zoso are onto something with that wrap trap.. i think its really the cause of my pin shearing problems as most of the threads I have read make sense in that the 2 point wrap bars use the leaf springs as the lower bar in a wrap prevention setup.

When the rear suspension tries to wrap the upper bar puts pressure on the spring mounts which in turn shear the weakest link.. in my case the little centering pin.

So what's the plan? I know some guys in TX used one that was based off the pumpkin. I could find out a bit more about that, or I know of another design that uses some simple parts and is easy to fab.

This is the simple design I was talking about. I couldn't find any diagrams last time, but this one popped right up, from Pirate.



From:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/suzuki/9 ... nions.html

Anyway, I'd use bushings at the axle ends, and a Johnny Joint at the frame end so it does not bind on flex. You can use a heim where the upper link meets the lower link if you ever think you'll change the lift, or just make it solid if you don't. And no slip joint there either. This particular design, while very well done, is over-thought. Can be much more simple with way less moving parts. Post #23 has a similar design to what I would do.

Ah-ha, found the exact design I'd use:

Here is a crappy pic of what I built. Bushings on the rear to a heim on the from with a shackle.

Finally got around to installing the new perches, ubolts, centering bolts and spring plates. Loaded the back end with about 200lbs then worked on the pinon angle and set it at 1-2 degree down. no vibrations and as a bonus lowered the rear end a bit so sits pretty level ;)

In the Wildhorses directions it says toque the ubolts to 120 ft lbs, that seems a bit low. The local spring and suspension shop that I got the previous 5/8 ubolts from told me 177 ft lbs. I went ahead and torqued down the WH ubolts down to 150 ft lbs... i would assume with 5/8 bolts I should be good as long as I keep tabs on them.



Guess its time for some burnouts ;)

now you really gotta rework the rear shocks.

Ya I'm going to pick up some risers. It's on my list :)

Just a few pics of the rack Kinder and I made a few weeks ago, unfortunately didn't bag any elk this year but there's always next!

Glad to know Im not the only one that got skunked on their elk hunt this year. It took a week but we finally saw some and both my dad and myself missed our shots. They were 300+ yards tho.

That's why the call it huntin'!

The rack looks like it'll work great. Do you think the po-po will give you trouble for covering your license plate?

I should probably change the title of this thread but I guess I haven't touched the engine yet :)

Anyway, forgot to update the build thread with the ZF-5 Conversion and all the other things I have been fixing and upgrading - but I will do that here soon.

Meanwhile have started to try and fab(ulous) my way through a tunnel cover....

Not sure this will work but I think i have a game plan.. anyway, my welds aren't that great and honestly I should have ran a little backing plate behind the seam but oh well live and learn...

anyway things to Kinder I have fused two tunnel covers into one and cut out for the dual sticks... fits but will need to hammer the edges to match the angles a bit then I will spray line it and hopefully I can deal with the looks :)



Anyway more to come!

Just watch it it thats out of a 78-79 bronco. They galvanized everything. If you weld galvanized it produces a toxic gas. Just be careful. Make sure you grind it all off and its really clean.

oh great.. well hopefully i won't go into seizures at work today..

the more i get into this tunnel the more i'm thinking of just having a piece of aluminum or flat metal bent up... really my tunnel isn' too bad and I dont have allot of holes to cover... it would give me more space inside and be a cleaner install.

If you're not looking at anything too complex you're welcome to use my press brake. Not sure how big a part you're looking at. The max it'll handle is about 19", but it can probably bend 3/16" across the entire width.

thanks, i will see what i can dig up. I just want somethign simple and un-obtrusive..

I finally got tired of the harnesses and ordered some 2" bungs to weld into the cage for my H1 belts. Got around to installing them today, my welds aren't pretty as I am still working on my skills. Bottoms where the toughest not much room and being new to welding I had to work on em a bit...







here is what the belts look like...



Belts are mounted up - hard to see.. was nice and sunny :)



still have to bolt in the latch end should be able to do that tomorrow.

Getting there, going to plumb bob the spring plates and then measure the radius arm mounts and bolt em in. Next is to fix my dope steering and see if I can get the York mounted ;)

Damn. Am I going to be the only one in Moab without any major mods since last year? I feel like I'll be hanging out on the bunny slopes with Shawn.

Nah. I have been wanting to do this from day 1.

I'm not doing anything that hard in Moab. I'm just going it for looks :)