Finally... the days of beating on my daily driver are over. I recently picked up a 79 Bronco with a 460, I got a pretty good deal on it because the previous owner pretty much jumped the thing off a cliff. He busted the front axle housing completely in half, right where the axle tube goes into the center chunk. The body is so so, which makes it perfect for a beater rig.
Anyway this is what I have so far: Got the motor and trans running and working properly, went through the cooling system, installed a 6" suspension lift and cut the wheel wells out. I bought a set of axles already built from a friend of mine, the front D44 has 4.88s with a Powerloc LSD the rear 9" has 4.88s with a full spool. I picked up a used set of 37x12.5 Swampers. At the moment I am working on building some bumpers for it with built in recovery points. I am already thinking the 1/2 ton stuff isn't going to last long with a big block. I am thinking in the near future I will be stuffing a Dana 60/70 combo under there with more lift and more tire.

 

sounds pretty good, and it also sounds like you have half a brain to realize half ton's don't hold up to 37's and big blocks for very long. more common sense in the offroad forum, weird.

jumped off a cliff, hmmmmm, you didn't happen to buy this from kirby, did you? sounds like something he and his family would do.

 

more lift? i feel like a bronco would become unstable where you have it right now. sounds like a sweet project though.

 

good point dillin, i missed that. 6'' with cut wells should be enough to fit damn near anything. paul has a 4'' with cut wells and 40'' boggers

disregard the homoghey stripes :flipoff:

 

Pictures??

 

snap crackle pop

 

Yeah it seems like a good foundation for a build up, I have always liked the 78-79 Bronks. The frame is actually really clean and solid, the cab mounts are in pretty good shape. The floors are all really nice, rear quarters are better now that I did some trimming The truck actually is pretty much unmolested, except for the plow carriage that the P.O. WELDED to the frame. Of course it was the classic chicken turd globbed up nasty mess, I am amazed it didn't come unglued when they were ramming snow banks with the durn thing.
Yeah the axle swap is pretty much inevitable, although I have way more faith in the 9" than I do the D44. I would like to step up to 40s probably so 1 tons will be a must. I am running what I have for now until I can afford to build up the 60 and 70. I have the 1 ton axles I just dont have the loot to set them the way I want yet. I haven't swapped the rear axle out yet because I am waiting on the rear lift springs to come in. I am actually clearing the 37s with no lift in the rear, with the wheel wells cut out. I got it up and going under it's own power a week or so ago and couldn't resist taking her out for a little spin down the shop driveway. I'm sure you can guess where this is going huh? Then I thought a couple low range/ 2wd hole shots might be fun. After about the 3rd or 4th launch the rear end started making some crunchy sounds. Sure enough I splattered the spiders, oh well it's coming out anyway. Damn that was fun, the 460 must be pretty strong to be able to break stuff with the stock 3.50 gears and 37s.
Well from the sounds of what you guys are saying, I probably don't need any more lift to clear 40s.
Yeah it's amazing how many people don't think about regearing or going to bigger/ stronger axles. I have to laugh at all the people where I live that jack their big bad 1/2 ton Chevy Z71s (very common vehicle in my area) in the sky... they leave the stock toothpick axles in there, only few are smart enough to regear. It's always fun watching them grenade the front diff when the they get stuck or try to get a little rough with it. JUNK!!! I can't help but laugh a little every time I see one.

 

not really.

its done quite often with 300-6s and 302s. Big horsepower doesnt break stuff (well yeah it does but in this case no). Ive seen FAAAAAAR more carnage with 350hp than I have with 700. What happens is the low horsepower engines dont have the power to keep the tires spinning regardless of what it comes in contact with like more powerful engines do and thats when things break. Think of the difference between spinning tires on asphalt vs spinning in loose sand and its effect on the drivetrain. Its just more exciting and expensive when 700hp breaks stuff.

 

That's true I suppose, I always worried about twisting axleshafts on my 84 F150 4wd. It has a warmed up 300 six with the venerable NP435 granny 4 speed. While she was no speed demon it had unstoppable low end torque, especially with 4.10 gears. I have limited experience with 302s however, they were good little motors but they always felt kinda wimpy in a truck to me... I've always prefered the big cube six over the small V8. Gearing does play a big factor I realize, I guess the 300 always seemed tougher to me. In this case I figured why play with a small block when I can go to a big block?

 

pauls bronco is saweet

 

pkupman,
I guess my point was a 300-6 and a 302 were the lowest rated hp engines available and it would be more common for a low hp engine to break something than a higher hp truck.




put it in real world experience:
when I had Pauls motor in my truck it made around 400hp and 500ftlbs. I could break D60 rear shafts on command with 38.5 SXs. I did it all the time and usually not really meaning to. I even started twisting the splines on Moser alloy shafts. I kept a tube of black rtv, a spare shaft, spare set of bolts in the ash tray and a 5/8" socket and ratchet on the dash. I broke every component in the front D44hd at least once. Hubs didnt stand a chance.

when I built my motor up a little more I also swapped in a chromo'd D60 front so that breakage went away but every now and then Id break a 60 rear shaft. I also stepped up to 39.5 boggers.

when I built my stroker motor I havent broke a single thing. Nothing.


I beat on the truck just as hard and just as often.

 

Right... Torque is what breaks stuff. That or extreme shock load... I am guessing that is what you were refering to when it comes to higher horsepower situations. Also as you already know, for example 44" tires have much more rolling resistance than stockers. When they are put in a situation where they bind up against an obstacle, if the drivetrain components aren't up to the task something is going to break once enough power is put to it.
I guess the whole higher horsepower thing doesn't make complete sense to me, but I can see what you're saying as being a definate possibility. I have seen guys up in Silver Lake sand dunes with pickups and Broncos still running the TTB front ends with 33s and 35s and they seem to hold together somehow. And most of them are running some pretty nasty small blocks, some even with nitrous.

 

high horsepower applications dont necessarily have more torque. It all depends on the build.


thats exactly my point but I think youre still missing it. 700 hp wont come in contact with as many obstacles that bind up the tires as 350hp. Its the shock load that breaks components. When tires get spinning (say in 12" deep mud for example) and all of a sudden you hit a root or rock or whatever in said mud the lower horsepower engine will most probably not have the power to keep the tires spinning and it will bind. Thats when things break. I guess the same could be true if you have a totally miserable engine that has no power and it stalls the truck out. If its a big enough obstacle like a submerged tree stump I dont think it would matter either way.

trust me! Everything else being equal 350hp is harder on components than 700.

I have no experience in sand dunes...hell Ive never even seen one in person...but they cant be more than glorified dirt roads and lake/river beds which I do have experience with. Loose sand isnt tough on components. If you ever get stuck usually the tires will spin freely but youre bottomed out on the axle or frame. It doesnt suprise me a 44ttb and 35s powered by even a "nasty" 302/351 will live just fine in sand.

 

I agree, sand dunes are much easier on components than mud or rock crawling. The truth is you can really tear up a truck fast in the sand if you get really careless and rowdy with it. I have seen guys bend and break axle housings, frames, etc from jumping. Up there the frame and suspension seems to take more of the pounding than anything else. The sand up there is the consistancy of sugar, especially on busy holiday weekends it gets really torn up. I takes a good bit of power to get around up there, and it does put a bit of strain on drivetrain components. Stock and lower horsepower engines tend to overheat easily, automatic transmissions don't like it too much either. I would have to say the dunes is nothing like a glorified dirt road. The number one trick to getting around in sand is lowering tire pressure.

 

Sand dunes are easier on stuff, until you jump one and smash into another one.

Ask me how I know.