Highlander's Bronco Upgrades

[highlander]

Sure what time are you thinking? It's not a big deal to swing by your place!

[crawlin68]

Is 8 or 8:30 too early for you? No biggy if it is, we can leave when ever you get here. I don't want to mess up your schedule. I figured it'll probably take about 30 mins. to get mine all loaded up and hit the road. Do you already have what ever food items that you are going to bring? Or are we going to stop at a grocery store somewhere on the way?

[highlander]

I was taking some measurements today for shock placement, the stock rear shock mounts just aren't cutting it.

And while doing so I noticed my leaf springs doing this, should I be worried about the life of my springs? They seem to hold this shape for while after flexing. I thought it might have something to do with the rear shocks pushing the axle forward when they bottom out, so I disconnected the top of the shocks and it was worse due to the gained up travel. I don't see how a antiwrap bar would help in this scenerio. As you can see I am still not to my 4.5" bumpstops either.

[highlander]

I thought I would also add that I looked at the shackles and they appear to have more room to roll back.

[crawlin68]

I noticed my springs doing that same thing a while back. They were getting that "S" shape to them and eventually you will bend the springs and they stay like that. It is due to axle wrap. Look at your pics and notice how high your rear pinion is. The more the suspension flexes, the higher up it goes, thus twisting the axle housing and twisting your springs into that "s" shape. Once you install an anti wrap bar, you will notice your pinion will not do this any more and your springs will stay more true to their natural shape during articulation.

I can't find the before pic, but I have a pic somewhere, from Jerry's BBQ last year, while I was on the RTI ramp and my leaf springs look exactly like yours do in your pics. And I bent them! Here is a pic from our last BBQ after I installed my anti wrap bar and notice how my springs are NOT in that "S" shape because the wrap bar won't let the axle housing twist.

[crawlin68]

I still can't find that pic from Jerry's last year, but here is the result of having no anti wrap bar in place.

[highlander]

I pretty much came to the same conclusion after looking back at some of my pictures of your bronco from the BBQ. I had this one, by the way look at your shocks in these pics one is bottomed out and the other is only extended a few inches. I think I am just looking for an excuse to go 4-link

[crawlin68]

Yeah, I noticed my shocks too. It's a long story. Originally I had 14 inch travel shocks on the back and they worked great. At that time I was running new WH leafs. Then once I bent the crap out of them, the rear of the Bronco sat lower and lower as I bent them more and more. So I went to a 12 inch travel shock to buy me a little more time to do the 4-link build with Gravel Maker. Well that didn't work out, so when I found a set of brand new WH rear leafs for sale, I bought them and installed them. Well....it turns out that they are set of their older leafs that have the bad sagging problem. Before I even rolled the Bronco out of the garage I noticed that the rear of the Bronco is about 2 inches lower than the front because these damn springs sagged already! I've driven the Bronco about 25 miles (on the paved road) sense the new springs were installed and they have been sagging even more now. What a waste of money. Now I need to buy a new set of leafs to replace the junk WH springs and then my shock length will be back to normal because the Bronco will be back at its proper ride height.

[seahawkfan]

What do you mean by junk WH springs? Is there a known issue with them? I have had mine on my rig for over 2 years now with no change in height at all. Now, it's not running so that mey be one reason but I have had the back chock full of junk using it as storage for a while too.
Just curious.
Jeff

[crawlin68]

Here is the pic that was looking for last night. Look familiar?


Axle wrap................it's a terrible thing!

[welndmn]

Looks great Highlander!!
I'd just suggest putting a truss on your rear....... 9 inch.......... The diff.
If it gets bent, and broken axle can wipe out the purdy HP center section.

[highlander]

Before I even rolled the Bronco out of the garage I noticed that the rear of the Bronco is about 2 inches lower than the front because these damn springs sagged already! I've driven the Bronco about 25 miles (on the paved road) sense the new springs were installed and they have been sagging even more now. What a waste of money. Now I need to buy a new set of leafs to replace the junk WH springs and then my shock length will be back to normal because the Bronco will be back at its proper ride height.

Maybe thats because of all the extra steel you keep adding to that thing
So how about instead of buying new springs we just build the 4-link. I think I am convinced that I need to do it! I'm happy with the ride and flex of my leaf springs, but I don't like the bending. Adding a antiwrap bar is just going to give it some antisquat, besides I need to rebuild my hole exhaust to fit either in. I even picked up the spring buckets and cups from the yard today. I think if a few of us go in together we can save a lot of money just in DOM if we buy 20' sticks. The rest of the parts I am looking for the best prices, but I really like how the frame brackets work from Poly Performence. I am willing to buy them if they work we can get someone to fab up a run for every one else intrested. The brackets at the axle are all pretty simple, and relatively inexpensive.

Looks great Highlander!!
I'd just suggest putting a truss on your rear....... 9 inch.......... The diff.
If it gets bent, and broken axle can wipe out the purdy HP center section.

I was thinking about that while driving back up the hill today, I will need one to mount the upper links to anyway!

[crawlin68]

Man, I would love to do the 4 link, but with my D60 build going right now, I think I had better wait for while.. Don't know if the boss would go for that at the moment. If I started a 4-link build now, I might have to come sleep in your barn.

[highlander]

Man, I would love to do the 4 link, but with my D60 build going right now, I think I had better wait for while.. Don't know if the boss would go for that at the moment. If I started a 4-link build now, I might have to come sleep in your barn.

Well there's plenty of room for you and your bronco in my barn, as long you don't mind sharing it with the bats!

I still have a list of parts to gather for the exhaust and the doubler, but I plan to put the links in at the same time along with a new cam. I'd rather not tear it down until I get some wheeling in this spring and early summer.
I usually do a memorial weekend trip to Bald mountain w/ a pretty large group of idiots the trip is called "The Catastrophey." The partying out does the wheeling so I tend to just go up for one day now cause they get pretty wild at night and I can't handle them for three days. I like to call it "The Cholestrophey" because it's all guys and they pretty much live on BBQ'd meat and beer for 3 days some of them make it a 4-5 day extravaganza. There are a couple Bronco's that usually make it, if there running at the time.

[highlander]

Well I finally spent some time to install my new transmission cooler. I wasn't happy with the cooling abilities of the in radiator cooler alone so a while back I installed a 7" x 12" tube and fin cooler with a electric fan mounted in the grill after going through the radiator. This was keeping both the motor and the tranny warm on the trail, so when I upgraded radiators I omitted the in rad. cooler and ran just the remote cooler, this helped keep the tranny a little cooler on the trails but not enough my engine runs very cool now. So I decide to ditch the small cooler for a 21" x 10.5" tube and fin cooler mounted in front of the rad. I had to get a new PS cooler since this would take up the space where it used to sit. So I added a 3" x 21" tube and fin cooler in front of the rad but under the grill. I know the plate coolers are more efficient but I was worried about the amount of air they block so I just went to a larger size tube cooler. To fit this monster cooler in I had to eliminate the hood latch, so I installed hood pins and finally put some hood shocks on.

It all went in pretty smooth with one exception I manged to put a hole in my nice new Ron Davis Rad (I almost cried). I patched the tube w/ low temp aluminum solder, but I need to pressure test it before it goes back in . Here is what I came up with hopefully my tranny runs cool now: