Hi everybody, I'm usually in the 73-79 truck section, but have a good friend of mine who just got a free '83 or '84 Bronco. His "new" Bronco is perfectly straight, only rusty over the back wheels, and has a bunch of new body parts on it already. Reason it was free was the previous owner blew out a front axle, then the transmission, all in one big glorious muddin' incident. He had also said the transfer case was making noise already before all this happened.

My buddy Brad is not into 4wd's, in fact quite the opposite. And since ALL the 4wd parts are broken he wants to slam this thing to the ground on some 22" wheels and make a lowered 2wd show truck out of it all in the name of being different. That it will. So, all personal preferences aside, it is after all his truck not mine, but I have been drafted into the project. So, heres my question: Can you easily switch a 4wd bronco to a 2wd using 2wd truck front end parts bolted on, or, do you need to swap out the whole front frame clip, steering colulm, steering box location ect? I know on the older trucks doing this is alot of fab work, just hoping its not on these "newer" ones. I did a forum search and nothing came up other than 78 or 79 straight axle Broncos. Thanks guys.

 

You can... it's a lot of work... I doubt you are going to find too many Bronco enthusiasts who know (or care) much about lowering techniques. Most folks would recommend just yanking the front driveshaft... 4WD to 2WD in about eight bolts and ten minutes. You certainly won't gain anything but the knowledge that you did it.

I won't presume that no one will know the answers but I will tell you (since I don't know for certain how to best answer your question) it would be my best guess that Ford would have made frame mounts to align with either the TTB D44 front axle or the twin I-beam front suspension assembly. If for no other reason than to not have to make different frames/mounts/holes between 2WD and 4WD models, it would have been the most cost-effective way to have designed them.

Since I am not one to nay-say someone else' ideas or preferences, I will refrain from carrying on about my own feelings regarding this project. I will merely say that lowering and emasculating a Bronco has the same effect on my gastro-intestinal system that lifting and slapping 4WD running gear under a Coupe DeVille would.

 

Yeah I am hoping they did that with the frames for money saving reasons too. But I know on the old Dent sides like mine (also once owning and building up a '79 bronco myself) it would have been pretty difficult to do.

Haha and thanks for not voicing your opinions on doing it, its a technical question, not an opinion colulm so i appriciate the restraint. I figured it would be a touchy subject when I posted it up.

 

A friend of mine converted a mid 80's F-150 2x4 to 4x4 with a doner truck. All the componets bolted on in factory holes. It should work the other way. Not sure if the bronco frame has all the holes, but it still should work.