73bronco
Sr. Member
- Joined
- May 10, 2007
- Messages
- 936
I haven't been on the site for a while now. Life gets busy so I browsed occasionally but haven't posted in a while. I still have my bronco. I think the last postings I had about it were while I was narrowing the body 10". That has been done for about 8 years now and I have just been enjoying the Bronco for a while. I had been tired of breaking axles in the front but thought I finally had a good set up as I hadn't broken in a while. Well I was in Moab on an optional line at the top of metal masher when I blew up another short side inner and twisted the splines on the stud. That was the 8th chromoly shaft I have broken so I knew it was time to dump the dana 44. I have been saving up and starting my own shop for the past year and put together a 60-9 front end for the bronco. For those that don't know what that is it is a ford 9" center section with dana 60 "C"s and knuckles out. I was originally planning on keeping my radius arms and steering box/ram assist but really wanted to stretch the wheelbase some. So I ditched the gearbox and long arms and went 3 link with coilovers(14" travel) and full hydraulic steering. I was also planning on running a load bolt, low pinion 3rd member until I started pricing it out and realized a true hi9 was not that much more expensive than a low pinion load bolted 3rd so I ordered that.
I ended up stretching the front forward about 4 inches from stock with my 3 link. My wheelbase is 97" currently. I have all the parts to build a fabricated 9" rear with 35 spline axles, I just need to find the time to do it. I will be stretching the rear about 6 inches to end up around 103" wheelbase. It will also get coilovers(16" travel). Overall the only disappointment I have with the front is that I lost a bit of street driveability. I won't take it on the highway yet. I am hoping that the longer wheelbase and antirock will help the road manners. If not I guess I will invest in some sticky tires and make it a trailer queen.
Anyway, on to the pictures.
I ended up stretching the front forward about 4 inches from stock with my 3 link. My wheelbase is 97" currently. I have all the parts to build a fabricated 9" rear with 35 spline axles, I just need to find the time to do it. I will be stretching the rear about 6 inches to end up around 103" wheelbase. It will also get coilovers(16" travel). Overall the only disappointment I have with the front is that I lost a bit of street driveability. I won't take it on the highway yet. I am hoping that the longer wheelbase and antirock will help the road manners. If not I guess I will invest in some sticky tires and make it a trailer queen.
Anyway, on to the pictures.