Hi all. This will be a busy first post from me. Just registered yesterday and have been reading through the forums, playing with search, etc.


Great info here. Think I stumbled on one of the best sites on the web for these trucks.


The truck is nice...pretty much rust free, short bed, Silver (faded) with a nice red interior. I am selling a very built 1998 Nissan Frontier with Solid axle swap, exo cage, dual lockers, crawler gears, etc etc. because I wanted to build a bigger trail rig. Have had the Frontier for 18 years and did a ton of the work myself, sans the welding, so I'm definitely not a stranger to doing suspension work.


Anyways, I'll break this down in 3 parts:


#1. Carb. I appear to have a vacuum leak around the base gaskets or possibly a line. Haven't had time to tear into it, but I do have new gaskets and will be installing those this weekend. Symptoms are that the truck starts and idles well, but falls on its face with more than half throttle. I sprayed some brake cleen around the intake and found some movement in the idle. While the leak isn't pinpointed, the gaskets are cheap insurance.


The choke doesn't appear to work at all though. This is a 351/2bbl with what I believe is the stock carb. Is this an electric choke? When I set the choke by pumping the pedal once, the butterfly is wide open....should be at least half closed. Ideas?






#2. The passenger door. The inside handle is stuck. It was working and stopped...seems like it's hanging on something. Will pull the panel to see what's going on, but is this common? Outside handle works ok. Not great, but OK.




#3. Suspension. Ideally I'd like about a 3" lift, but most kits I find are 4" or greater....while not totally averse to a 4" lift, I need to know what the best options are out there.


For rear springs, I want to get rid of the OEM block and have springs that have sufficient arch to do that if possible. Should I assume that after market kits with rear springs retain or dump the OEM block?


I want external reservoir shocks. Looking for something that would bolt in. Open to recommendations. Not going to do the Rancho/Bilstein/etc monotubes because despite being good shocks, they still heat up and fade.


Front:
Does 78-79 steering directly replace the Y setup I have?
With a 4" lift, can I retain the stock track bar, or do I need an aftermarket longer/adjustable one?
I assume the Axle bushings would come with most kits to correct caster, right?
Are OEM driveshafts long enough for the 4" lift? I don't want to be pulling those apart at the worst possible time.


Enough questions yet? haha. Thanks in advance for the forthcoming replies!

 

Oh, here's a pic of the truck:

 

Pic: 22600 door handle bolts to the 21818 door lock remote control. The 21940 link rod connects the control to the 21812 door latch with the 386656-S nylon bushing.

These parts are the same: 1973/79 F100/880 & 1978/79 Bronco. All are obsolete, but are available NOS

 

Thanks for that diagram....that'll help me troubleshoot!

 

Do you fabricate at all, or just want bolt on stuff? If you do more than just bolt-ons, you can get more options, sometimes for cheaper.

Lift: I used Rancho 3" coils on my old truck. They ended up lifting the truck over 3". If you dropped the coil buckets, you could retain the stock springs and still get the lift. For the rear, newer leaves (such as chevy's) and a shackle flip can give you the lift, better ride, and eliminate the blocks.

For the steering, you can replace it with stock 78-79 stuff, or buy chevy tie rod ends, tubing and a reamer and get heavier duty stuff for the same (or maybe a little cheaper) than the replacement 78-79 stuff. Either way, however, you will need a 78-79 pitman.

On my 3" lift (which ended up being about 3.75") I didn't need a new track bar and had no problems with driveshafts. While the C bushings can compensate, it would be best (for ride and handling) to drop the radius arm brackets.

 

Honestly going for bolt on. One big reason I got this truck over what I had where EVERYTHING had to be fabbed. Pain in the neck. If something breaks I want to be able to get a replacement and slap it on.


Been doing more reading and it seems the 78-79 steering is the way to go. Kits on Broncograveyard have adjustable track bars and a drop pitman.....but will that keep the drag link and track bar reasonably parallel or am I asking for problems? Should I maintain a stock pitman arm for a 4" lift to keep geometry right?

 

Probably, geometry wise, the best would be a drop pitman and extended track bar bracket. Even at 4" you could start shifting the axle to the driver's side due to them being non-adjustable.

Spend the $$ on new bushings, brakes, ball joints, etc. It is worth it, and since you have it all apart anyway, probably the best time to do it.

 

Yes, it will get all new bushings. Brakes are in good shape. Haven't checked the balljoints but will do that when it's all off the ground. PO had the front axle serviced so will see how well they did. I've done Dana 44 balljoints many times. If they're OK, will wait to get Chromo shafts before I tear it down to the knuckle since will have to do it then anyways.


How about longer brake lines on the 4" lift. Are the stockers long enough?

 

I forgot to mention that. They might be, but I would just replace the 40 year old rubber ones with new braided stainless ones.

My experience has been that a lift kit is under $500, but to do it right, and make the truck safe is about double that, assuming you do it yourself and aren't paying a shop.

 

There's aftermarket shock towers for these trucks that allow for a taller shock but they are mostly weld-in. Very basic if you wanted to fabricate one. Otherwise, I doubt you would have enough room for reservoir shocks?

You can do a shackle flip and gain something like 2" on the rear. May be an option along with 4" springs to remove blocks and end out at a 3" lift?

 

Will definitely replace if they look even a little bit questionable. I know it's been gone through, but won't fully take the PO's word for it.


Kit I'm looking at is close to $1k and includes front and rear springs, adjustable track bar, radius arm lowering mounts, drop pitman, all new bushings, and Ubolts....might have brake lines too...will go look.


Will also need to add 78-79 steering linkage.

 

Shackle flip is an idea....imagine that would tilt the pinion up pretty good. Need to keep Tcase output and pinion parallel to eliminate vibe....


Let me ask this...with a 4" kit, are most guys adding shims to the rear packs to get pinion angle right, or does it settle into about where it should be?

 

When I did the 4 inch lift on my 77 sb reg cab, we bilt new rear springs without the lift block, cut the spring pads off the axel and used 1 ton chevy pads cause they were a lot longer.Got the pinion set properly no u joint problems ever.

 

Anytime I alter the rear lift, it's a gimme to just go ahead and cut the pads off and install new ones. You can buy a new set for not much and they are much stronger. And then you set the pinion angle exactly what you want. Chances of installing a rear lift and pinion angle being "correct" afterwards is slim to none.

 

I don't have a welder so I'm stuck using shims.


Since these trucks have carrier bearings, where is the best point to check the output angle to compare relative to the pinion angle? I'm used to single piece rear driveshafts.