so after working on the f100 for about a year and already stripping down and scrapping the 79 bronco ive gotten around to making a thread for my build. im only 17 and dont even have a liscence yet (my test is thursday) so ill have tons of questions so any tips or even obvious things you think ill forget about feel fre to point then out. Here some pics of the 56 f100 bought last april for my bday and the bronco i bought this april for my bday, yeah i know awesome presents(even thogh i paided for more than half for them) anyway here ya go. oh and since im using a 79 drivetrain on the 56 frame i have tones of 56 parts so if u need anything let me know.tthanks
(btw i nvr took any pic of the bronco before we tore iy apart, drove it off the trailer burned somerubber and went up on blocks)



pushed the broncoi body right off, i swear, the frame was so rusted we took some huge crobars and wedged it straught up.



the 56 in april 2010
i have way more pics but for now ill just tell you whats going on, i have the 56 frame completly stripped in a garage we build around the truck(hope it get out haha) the cab is hagning from the ceiling and the 79 axels are sitting under the frame, im waiting for the garage to be wired for 220 so we can box the front of the frame then mock up the front axel mounts then the rear, i hope to mock it up then take it apart finish welding clean /paint everything(including the fram) then put it all back to gether and get the brake AND Steering working and the cab mounted, i hope to have this done by the end of summer and maybe even finish the body work on that, sinve im a senor i wanna beable to drive this at least some, but im starting to work at a garage this summer so i dnt no how much time i have.


sorry im rambeling im just way excited. so any tips trust me i need em
oh and a big thanks to fordman hes really been helping me out, hes a great guy

 

I dont see any pics if there were supposed to be any?

 

I dont see any pictures either

 

damn thats weird i can see them, anyone know what i did worng?

 

I can't see any pictures either.

How did you post the pictures? I personally like to use Photobucket. I find it much easier to upload pictures there and just link them here.

 

Yeah, it looks like you tried to link them directly from your email. You'll need to register and setup an account with Photobucket (just the easiest in my opinion) after uploading pics to the Photobucket acct, it should be relatively easy to find the 'codes' that you can paste here to link to, or show the pics.

 

[IMG]<a href="http://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i426/cwest73/?action=view&amp;current=IMG-20110808-00036.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i426/cwest73/IMG-20110808-00036.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]
so ive gotten the rust off the axels and the frame and gotem paionted, i got all new bushings and springs and shocks and put the front axel together, today i bolted the coil towers to the frame
but i have a question ...it seems that the axel is just to wide like one coil is stright and the other ois bent outward as the col tower is to close inward,, so do i have to put a spacer or something?

also should i take the coilds off to find where the shocks go because without the engine the coils are not compressed enough for the shocks to even reach the frame?

 

Cool! A pic we can see! Now that you have that figured out, can you bring up and post up the pics you attempted in the first post? I'd like to see more of your project.

 

It's looking good so far!

I don't remember what coil towers you decided to use. I think you said your stock ones were rusted away. Did you order some replacements for the 79 Bronco or did you go with some early Bronco ones? What I would do is measure on your front diff from the center of one spring pocket to the center of the other spring pocket on the diff. And then do the same thing with your coil towers/buckets. If there is a difference that will let you know if you will need to add spacers behind the coil buckets. If the two measurements are different take the difference and divide it by two and that will be the thickness of the spacer plate you will need to add behind each coil bucket/tower.

And I wouldn't even worry about the shocks until you have the rest of the front suspension in place. I would get your track bar mounting bracket and the steering box located before you mount the shock brackets. especially if you are mounting the shocks in front of the coil buckets. The picture below is my 78 F150 4x4 chassis. There's not a whole lot of extra room. It only had the single shocks up front not the dual set up. I don't know how your front shock mounts were situated with your track bar mount. Did your stock Bronco front shock mount mount between your track bar mount and the frame?

 

okay ill do that
and the shock mount has the trac mount connected to the bottom, its one mount for both basically.
also so with shocks radius arm sway bar and steering what should i do first and then..???

 

That makes sense, I just couldn't remember how they had the track bar mount on the dual shock set up.

Here's what I would do. Get the coil spring buckets/towers taken care of. The do the radius arm mounts. Those two items will help set the axle location. Then do the track bar mount ( if combined with a shock mount do those at the same time ) , steering box. If your Bronco had an anti-sway bar I'd do that last.

On the shock mounts just make sure they get mounted straight inline of the shocks and that both sides are at the same height.

 

okay but the radius arm mounts mount to the frame and to the transmission crossmember so should i mount that or leave those botls out and put the transission crossmember in later? and for the shocks can i do them later after the engine is in cause the coils arent compressed enough for the shock monts to reach the frame?

 

What are your plans for locating the engine and transmission? Do you plan to fit them to the 56 and modify the drive shafts? Or mount them in the same orientation that they were in the Bronco and modify the firewall? The reason I ask is if you mount them so they fit the truck then your transmission cross member will probably be too far forward for the radius arm mounts. If that is the case you will have to make some support brackets or better yet another cross member for the radius arm mounts.

If your radius arm mounts are like mine then they will mount to the frame with four bolts on each. Mine have two bolts thru the side of the frame. Two thru the bottom. And then the two that bolt to the transmission cross member. To get your front axle located you should be fine just bolting the four bolts to the frame on each mount for now. You will need to add a cross member or support brackets before it hits the road. But since your 56 frame doesn't have the drop in the center like the Bronco frame you may need some different C-bushings to correct the alignment. Otherwise the caster will be off on the front diff.


Yes you can worry about the shocks later but get the upper shock mounts mounted to the frame after you get the radius arm mounts and coil buckets taken care of.

 

ok...damn i just put the new c bushings on that i bought

and i think im gonna stivk with the transmission crossmember mount to the radius arm mounts and modify the fireway id rather do that

and when i raise the radius arm mounts to where they should go the coils bend is that because of the c bushings or is it because there is no weight to compress the coils??

oih and i figured out i need a one inch spacer on each side for the coil towers so im gonna find somewhere online that has 1 inch plates cut to size.

 

I did say in your other post you might have to change them. But you might not too.

Personally I think you'd be better not doing a firewall recess and just build another cross member to help support the radius arm mounts. You could loose a lot of leg room with the firewall recess. I know about this with my project. But it's your choice since it's your truck.


If the coil springs bow to the front then the difference in the frames is too much. Try to measure how far from the bottom of the frame the radius arms mounts will have to be for your coil springs to be straight up and down( no bow forward ) . The easiest solution would be to pick up a pair of radius arm drop brackets, if they are the correct drop to fix your issue. The other bonus with these drop brackets you probably won't have to change out your new C-bushings.

Radius Arm Drop Brackets 78-79 - WILD HORSES Full Size Ford Bronco Parts

Radius Arm Drop Brackets - www.jackit.com - The Suspension Experts


I didn't think the early Bronco coil towers were that much different then the 79's. I place I get all my metal is here: The Best Place To Buy Metals & Industrial Supplies Online