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Decided to get the tracbar for the Better Half done this week:  Mocking it up, the bar needs to be roughly here, to match the draglink angle  Took some time with the upper mount, as i wanted something that would bolt up in place of the original TTB pivot, so i didnt have to drill any more holes in the frame:     ...and installed!  The lower mount on the axle  ...and done!  Im not in love with the lower mount, but i think itll do the job ok. I would have preferred to put the mount closer to the knuckle to get the bar longer but im pretty sure it would have hit the springs when the pass side drooped out, so i had to compromise. Im not building a hardcore long-travel rock crawler anyways, so i think itll be ok as is. So the garage is clean  ...which can only mean thing thing: the bronco is inside!   and the mountain of parts continues to grow:  Now that it's inside, the very next thing we're going to do, is get a tracbar made for the front. Stay tuned! Let's fix that tailgate!  Couldnt get the window to go down. Had to resort to drastic measures to get the regulator out, but we were successful. We had some issues with the wiring harness that needed to be resolved  ...but in the end we were successful! Alright we're trying this YT thing. I recommend watching Joe's video, he's got a pretty good overview of the day in his: Heres the highlights from running the trails at AOAA with Ox, Darre & Joe. It was a rough day for me with issues with the water/meth injection on the drive up, then sinking the bronco in a mud pit and stalling it, and wrecking the alternator as well. Everybody else did fine! Got some cool pics though. I shot some video as did Darrel, so there should be some good videos to watch soon at least! Weve got a wheelin trip planned for this weekend, so what better time than to quick cram in an update to the front suspension! Enter one set of Bilstein 7100s:  We're also swapping from the standard 80-97 F250/350 shock mount, to a set of Rough Country dual shock mounts for a Superduty:  So lets get the old tower removed:   But wait, what's this?  Crack in the frame! It was far worse than it looked. But i got it all ground out from top to bottom, and all welded back up, which meant we could get the upper mount installed:  ...and shocks!  ...and done!  Barely noticeable, but makes a huge difference on the road. Nice and firm without being stiff. Definitely what this big heavy truck needed, and just in time to test it out this weekend! Time to deal with these things:  Theyre a little scaly from sitting for so long  all cleaned up:  ...and done! new bushings, center pins, and a coat of paint!  added a set of 1" zero rates from ORD as i expect to need the extra inch of lift, and i also need to push the axle back to correct for the loss in wheelbase from the shackle flip we'll be installing.  Coming up next week, the rear suspension and the Sterling 10.25 get installed! It's a mess under here  driveshaft out:  One set of tires ill never have a use for:  ...and the 8.8 is out!  Surprisingly the wedges werent cracked, so ill probably sand blast em and keep em  Who does this?! Driver side had one bolt holding the front bracket on. Passenger side it was two, both on top. Of course thats hardest to get to with an impact gun  Leaf springs out:  You can tell the truck sat for years, by the condition of the frame:  But, some needle-scaling, wire wheeling and paint, and it looks almost good as new!   Next step is rebuilding the leaf springs and getting brackets on the frame, but its raining, so that'll have to hold off until tomorrow. Found some wires under there im going to have to fix, im sure there's more.  And here's the money shot- with the rear end jacked up to level it out:  Im in love with this ride height, i think its going to be perfect for a set of 35s.  Threw on an old diff cover i had, RuffStuff maybe? Dont remember anymore. Lube locker gasket as i have them on multiple trucks now with no leaks:  Pretty sure thats the cover i used to run on the D70 in the rear of the 88 as the lower edge is ground down pretty good. Got that Carolina Squat yo!  Pretty sure its sitting at 4" of lift. i was surprised at how good the the drag link angle looks considering its stock F350 steering with a stock bronco pitman arm. I might try to get my hands on an F350 arm since theyve got ~1" more drop just to level it out a bit more, but i dont think i need to spring for a proper drop pitman arm. I gotta root around in the garage and see what i have. I have parts to build a tracbar but thats coming later. Tires are a junk set of 305/70R16 on stock Ford wheels, because its what i have for rollers. We have a set of 315/70R17 we bought on CL for cheap in the garage ready to go, just dont have a set of wheels for it yet, that one is up to the wife since its her truck.  I have a set of F350 shock towers in the garage that will go on the front eventually. For now my goal is to get the rear lifted and the 10.25 in so i can pause, clean up, take a trip to the scrap yard, and then roll this thing into the garage for the rest of the rebuild. It hasnt run in years so its gonna need a major tuneup at the very least (it also needs a gas tank, fuel pump & skid plate) and who knows if the transmission even shifts. I want to open up the tcase to inspect the pump, the exhaust is rotted out and falling apart.....the list goes on. Cant leave it like this forever!  Scored a set of leaf springs out of an Excursion pretty cheap a while back, so we're going to use the front set!  the Excursion guys hate these leafs, they think theyre too soft and usually switch to V-codes out of the Superdutys. So hopefully these will be just right for a bronco! These things are a bit rough though. All the anti-friction pads are shot, and the center pins look rough, so its all getting replaced  New anti-friction material from Speedway, and a set of new pads from Dorman:  Wire wheel, paint, new pads, bushings, center pins and done!  We're using the 2wd version of a 2" shackle reversal for a 85-91 F250/F350 from Sky's Offroad Design, along with quite a few other parts from them that you'll see show up as this project moves along  Sky's low clearance shackle hangars
...and the front hangar installed! The 2wd hangar fits right up on the bronco's frame like it was made for it. The 2wd version comes with plates for the inside of the frame horns to box them up a bit so its nice and stiff once its all bolted together.  New shackles  ...and the leafs installed!  Next up: getting that D60 installed! |
