Group,


Finally got the go-ahead from the boss..... I want to lift the 77 that I have. Some background on it. Stock suspension. and full fiberglass body that has the cutouts already molded in.. I am getting a full cage installed before I put the lift on. I would like to run 35's. Questions:
1. What amount of lift do I need? 3.5 or 5.5?
2. Do I need a body lift too?
3. What is the best package lift? On the 79 F150 I had I used Skyjacker.
4. My assumption is that both drive shafts have to be lengthened & I will need longer brake lines.


Thanks for any and all advice.


Sam

 

My '71 has about a 3" suspension lift and about a 1" body lift. With cutout rear fenders it has plenty of room for the 33/10.50 - 15s that I have on it. I bought it with 33/12.50-15 which also cleared. I'm not sure if 35s would rub on it or not, but it'd be close.

Here mine is with the 33/10.50-15. Not flexed much, but the most I have a picture of.


And here it is in the driveway on 33/12.50-15.

 

Bob, Thanks for that info. On the photo with the 12.5 X33's are you running 8" or 10" rims?

 

Sorry, I don't know what they were. They came on the Bronco when I bought it and left with my CJ5 when I sold that 2 or 3 years later (11 years ago).

 

not sure ur Q but I'd ck in here (or at classic bronks dot com) w/Tasker (Randy) as he's had a glass body in NH for many yrs. I'd ask your vehicl's specific application (mine has been a 'wrk truck' 33 yrs & is being converted frm 70/30% off/on rd to the opposite 4 my 20 y/o daughter) in order to get more specific on suggestions.

We generally agree that anything over 3.5 inches (BL or SL or combo) needs some or all of 1/2 doz changes: b. lines, track bar bracket, pitman arm, gas filler neck, collar on firewall 4 ster., fan shroud. The '76/7 have some differences to other EBs due to frnt discs & "Y" ster. linkage.

Keep talkin…

 

Wild Horses 4x4 - best money I ever spent on my 77! That's where I would go again 100%

I went with a 4" lift and needed a dropped pitman arm, track bar bracket, extended break lines, but stock driveshafts were okay.

I was honestly shocked at how much BETTER the Bronco was after that! Enjoy!

 

SDDL-UP, What size tire did you get with the 4"???

 

Good question! I think I was running a 32-9.5x15 - it was an uncut 77 and you really can't fit much in those small rear wheel wells without cutting them. I'm certain if you gave Wild Horses 4x4 a call they could tell you exactly what size you could fit, and the offset needed.

 

Here's my thoughts...

This is very important and I don't want to assume you already know this, so make sure that you tie the cage into the frame or it will be absolutely useless in a rollover.

1. A 3.5" should fit 35s just fine.
2. A 1" or more body lift will help out with all kinds of clearance issues. They really should have come with more lift built in.
3. I'll second Wild Horses and add Duff's as another great source.
4. Depending on the kit you buy, it will come with the needed brake lines. Drivelines you can have done by your local machine shop, or buy new ones from Tom Woods if you feel they need replacing.

Here's a pic of mine with stock rear springs, front leveling springs, 1.5" body lift, cut front and rear, and 35" tires. The front does not flex at all, and the rear will rub slightly at full stuff. The 3.5" Wild Horses lift in my garage should fix both of those issues!

 

2X on the "tye-in"~
anythin else is just "fashion" (a death trap).

$4!tt, after all these yrs I C ur rig…
da Blue Bomber!

 

Yeah, I guess it's a little hard to see in the small avatar up top.

 

I thought it wuz a pick-me-up.
Didn;t know U gave hands on assistance (we T/Ced bout 1 tuns 4 da bronk yrs ago).

 

Hey Sam. I know it's been awhile now, but did you ever get your stuff set up?
I have a couple of additional comments just in case you did not.

The '76 and '77 EB's (assuming their stock front Dana 44 and disc brakes that is) need to keep the wheel backspacing within reason. I think 3 5/8" is generally accepted as the maximum without resorting to spacers to add clearance between the inner wheel edge and the tie-rod ends.

The wheels on Nothing Special's old setup look like 10" wide wheels. The ones on dclack's setup look like 8's
There is no guarantee of either of those being the case of course, as the appearance of depth on a wheel is very much changed with different offsets/backspacing measurements.
But given certain common layouts, they look like 10's and 8's to me.

Your steering linkage is known as the "Inverted-Y" setup. And while it was indeed one of Ford's better ideas for a stock Bronco with smaller tires, it's sorely limited when using bigger tires and wheels on a lifted Bronco. I highly recommend a beefed up steering conversion to the older "Inverted-T" design. Here's the one we sell for your year: Buy Tie Rod & Drag Link (3 Way Adjustable) 76-77 - Bronco which would fit your wider steering arm spacing, smaller tapered holes of the '77, and the most important aspect of all (after the added strength) is the adjustable draglink.

When converting a '77 to the T-linkage, you would normally not use a trackbar drop bracket because yours is already bigger than the older ones. But that means that a standard '77 dropped pitman arm is a little too much to keep things parallel. So for most, they find that this full-size arm: Buy Drop Pitman Arm 78-79 - Full Size Ford Bronco Parts has a little less drop and puts the draglink and trackbar in almost perfect alignment.
The only thing that needs to be done then, is to put some tapered shims in the holes so the smaller upper rod end on the draglink fits tighter into the hole.
I'm not sure if anyone has tried using the '77 tie-rod and the '75 draglink (we sell them separately) or if it's a better fit, but it might be.

All the above means that for your needs you should stick to a 3.5" lift or lower. Once you get to the 4.5" range, there is so much more finickiness to the steering setup that there just are no "bolt on" parts that are made for that combination on the street. You just have to start fabbing stuff up yourself at that point.
But a 1" body lift as was mentioned is usually a good thing and more than enough for the 35's in conjunction with the 3.5" suspension lift. Oh, and cut fenders of course.

And speaking of shims... You will probably need the 6 degree tapered shims under the leaf springs to keep your rear pinion in correct alignment with the driveshaft. This is not universally guaranteed either, as every Bronco is a little different. But with about 90% of users needing them, it's a good bet you will too.

Proper pinion angle goes a long way to not needing longer driveshafts. About 95% of 3.5" users do not need new longer shafts. If you do, we do sell the Tom Woods brand in two flavors, but with any luck you don't need them.

If you go with 3.5" suspension, you really should replace the brake hoses between the frame and axles with longer ones for a lifted truck. You can drive it with the stock ones most of the time, but they're pretty much at their limit and you don't want to test that theory I'm thinking.

You do NOT need new longer parking brake cables however, unless you're going to do some serious four-wheeling. The old ones become the limiting factor in wheel travel, but there is still more than enough to get by under most circumstances. I did the Rubicon trail with stock cables on my lifted Bronco and though they did limit total travel, I still made it!
So if you want the max, get longer. If it's going to be for weekend fun around town you don't need the longer ones.

Body lifts (even just 1") will sometimes need other mods. The auto trans shift rod might need to be lengthened. Or not...
The clutch rod might need to be lengthened. Or not...
The radiator shroud might need to be lowered on the radiator. Or not... But this last one is going to be for most. At least 50-60 percent need to do it. I didn't, but I consider myself lucky on that one.

I guess that covers most of the questions you had. Hopefully you already got it handled. But just in case you did and were still dealing with some teething issues after the lift, some of that might help out.

Good luck!

Paul

 

good 2 C U over here too Paul.

 

Thanks! Good to be here.
Been awhile since I've been on forums for the full-size trucks, but I still couldn't stay away from the good old EB section no matter where I am!

Paul