Well, finally got it done enough to put on the trailer and bring home .. so I figured I'd do a little write up.
First, acquire a front d60 out of an '89 F350 (or whatever year you want.. 78/79 would make things easy with a wider drive side axle tube)
Then put your bronco on a trailer towed by a capable tow rig and head down to Karl's buddy's Nick's place in VA.
Remove d44 and bent tie rod and give to Karl for services about to be received.
Start with tiny jack combined with stack of wood
set bronco on tiny jack stands supported by wood and concrete blocks that are laying around
There isn't much room on the drive side tube so you'll have to grind off the spring perch and a little hit of the housing tube, and then notch the Cs to go around the housing that is left.
-Karl grinding
-Karl grinding some more
-this is the perch you have to cut off
-don't forget to bring your trusty sidekick to stand around and smoke cigarettes
Grind off the old trac bar mount and passenger side spring mount too cause its useless for a coil swap
Force Dubz to do something
Now that you've ground everything off and made it nice and smooth you should have something that looks like this
If you get your c wedges from bronco graveyard you'll have to grind them out because they're made for the d44 tube which is smaller.*
*If you have a broken tape measure you'll also have to make spacers and re-drill the lower coil buckets
At this point you should be able to bolt the radius arms up relatively easy and then position them for welding
Use your high tech leveling devices to make sure you have the perfect angle for caster so it drives down the road straight (if you're a mall crawling DDer you'll probably want to take some extra time to make sure this is perfect)
Tack in place, remove arms, and weld er up (Nick doing the welding)
It should look something like this at this point, only 7 inches across
Grind it smooth, clean it up and give it a quick shot of primer to prevent rust
Throw it under the bronco and get the other side lined up
You'll need a trac bar mount at this point. We used 1"x.250 chromo tube and 3/4x5/8 chromo rod ends to built the steering linkage and trac bar. If you're using the stock setup with bushings you'll have to do it differently than this.
With your new bling steering linkage, drag link, and trac bar it should look about like this
The clearance between your lower coil bucket and king pin cap is going to be close, just adjust the steering stops accordingly
Put some brakes on ..
This is an extended braided SS I bought with my lift, and I scavenged the hard lines off of another d44 I had that had all new brakes on it. I still have to tie the lines down somehow to they aren't flopping around.
Then when you're all done throw your tires and wheels back on and test er out! Flexing on the trailer to make sure everything clears (mall crawlers head for your largest speed bump!)
You'll want to make sure your track bar and drag link are as parallel as possible when doing up your mount, so they look something like this and to clear the differential housing when flexing.
Hope I helped anyone trying to do this .. any questions on what we did just ask and I'll answer or ask Karl if I don't know!
ps: I'm going to pull and paint everything to make it look better (mall crawlers will need to pick up the brightest colors they can find for their steering linkage at this point!)
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-Paul
-88 Mustang 5.0/5spd mild restoration in progress
-78 Bronco 460 and things
-2003 F350 Supercab shortbed FX4 6.0 PSD
Only question....would it be better to try and find a 78 79 D60, or a 86+D60 be easier to modify for coil springs and radius arms?
Good job Karl and Nick! is what that should say, all them.
You'll want a 78/79 d60 for more space on the drive side tube, but they cost significantly more. With an 86+ you have to do all the grinding that we did, but it should save you 400+ if you find the right deal. The least ideal setup is the ball joint d60 which is post 92 I believe. Even worse is a superduty d60 because they have unit bearing hubs that bring the suck!
__________________
-Paul
-88 Mustang 5.0/5spd mild restoration in progress
-78 Bronco 460 and things
-2003 F350 Supercab shortbed FX4 6.0 PSD
Matt, I would think the 78-79 D60 would be easier to mod for coils. As you can see by Pauls pics there is a rather large chunk of cast crap on the driver side that needs to be cut down and re-shaped to fit the c's. I believe the older axle has a welded on perch that makes it much easier.
Paul,
I see that driving it on the trailer worked out, any issues with the track bar coming close to the diff cover? You get a chance to finish the brakes and take it for a test drive? If so, how did it handle on the road? Any bumpsteer or wander? I'm curious to see if it's any different than my 44 is....
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Karl
I'm the Voice of Reason
FTE - Where signatures get edited with no explination why.
Its still raining up here so i just screwed the new bleeder screw in to get enough brakes to get it off the trailer and test that and then parked it, so I haven't taken it on the road yet.
quad we measured front and rear to the rotors I think, and made the front a little closer together to keep it straight on the road
__________________
-Paul
-88 Mustang 5.0/5spd mild restoration in progress
-78 Bronco 460 and things
-2003 F350 Supercab shortbed FX4 6.0 PSD
with the rotors lined up and an equal measurement from the front to front and rear to rear, we then took a measurement from the tie rod mount centers. I subtracted 1/8" from that to get the total overall length that the bar needs to be. From there, we threaded 1 end, placed the rod end almost all the way in (to leave room for adjustment later) found the length we needed, cut the bar and threaded the other end, again leaving room for adjustment if needed later on. I wanted to give him a little toe in to help it track better on the road, as opposed to leaving it perfectly parallel, which will sometimes bring a wander feeling. We did the same for all of the bars, just measured everything with 1 side done before cutting and threading the other side.
__________________
Karl
I'm the Voice of Reason
FTE - Where signatures get edited with no explination why.
ps: I'm going to pull and paint everything to make it look better (mall crawlers will need to pick up the brightest colors they can find for their steering linkage at this point!)
Paul, I think you need to paint the axle gloss black and all of the suspension and steering parts bright red! Then it'll match what my 150 looked like until I beat the pee outta it in the mud.
__________________
Karl
I'm the Voice of Reason
FTE - Where signatures get edited with no explination why.
with the rotors lined up and an equal measurement from the front to front and rear to rear, we then took a measurement from the tie rod mount centers. I subtracted 1/8" from that to get the total overall length that the bar needs to be. From there, we threaded 1 end, placed the rod end almost all the way in (to leave room for adjustment later) found the length we needed, cut the bar and threaded the other end, again leaving room for adjustment if needed later on. I wanted to give him a little toe in to help it track better on the road, as opposed to leaving it perfectly parallel, which will sometimes bring a wander feeling. We did the same for all of the bars, just measured everything with 1 side done before cutting and threading the other side.
brilliant!......thats why i shall do
__________________
Nick
STG's Minions: Sergeant at Arms
The Rockwell/4-link/anything Badass Specialist!
Dont be a puss, RUN ROCKS!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ebay Assjack
The truck was lifted with the custom frame as seen in pix. (the best way to lift a truck!!!)
Nice write up Paul. From the looks of it you got the brakes done! Well Hope it works good for you cause it's already out of warranty!!!! LOL Remember I told you 30/30 30 feet or 30 secconds wichever comes first! Well keep in touch and let me know when you want your rollcage welded up. Just don't forget the grass seed next time you come down!
Nice write up Paul. From the looks of it you got the brakes done! Well Hope it works good for you cause it's already out of warranty!!!! LOL Remember I told you 30/30 30 feet or 30 secconds wichever comes first! Well keep in touch and let me know when you want your rollcage welded up. Just don't forget the grass seed next time you come down!
Oh yeah, that's right, just like most of the new vehicles you buy nowadays, once you take it off the lot it yours and your a$$ out on the warranty!!!!
__________________
Karl
I'm the Voice of Reason
FTE - Where signatures get edited with no explination why.
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