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68rockcrawler 1-ton build

68rockcrawler

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
I am starting to put a 14 bolt and Dana 60 under my Bronco and finally have enough pictures to make it worth starting my build thread. My plan is to keep it leaf sprung in the rear and do a 3-link in the front with Johny Joints. I got a deal on a used set of 39.5" Iroks and 15" beadlocks. The 15's are very close to the brake calipers, but I got a deal on the set and as long as there is a little clearance I'm not going to complain.

I got my link kit from Barnes 4wd. Their brackets are top notch and I would definitely recommend buying from them.

The 14 bolt was pretty much a direct bolt in. It will require a set of shims to get the pinion where I want it. I am gaining several inches of width with the 14 bolt and a couple more inches with the 60 over the width of the stock axles.

Here are a couple of pictures of the axles and tires, and the rear axle sitting in place. Since this picture was taken I put on the u-bolts. I was able to re-use my Wildhorses extreme duty U-bolt top plate, even though the axle tubes are a 1/4" larger.
 

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broncosbybart

Bronco Guru
Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Messages
2,644
Nice! Looks like someone already added some good stuff to those axles. Hope the swap goes easily (well, at least as easy as it can).

Brad Barnes is the man! I got the 14 bolt shave diff cover kit from him along with the disc brackets and all that. Planning a D60/14b on one of mine down the road.

I've got a good bit of his stuff on the racer. Shipping is pretty much next day for me. Can't beat that.
 
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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
Nice! Looks like someone already added some good stuff to those axles. Hope the swap goes easily (well, at least as easy as it can).

Brad Barnes is the man! I got the 14 bolt shave diff cover kit from him along with the disc brackets and all that. Planning a D60/14b on one of mine down the road.

I've got a good bit of his stuff on the racer. Shipping is pretty much next day for me. Can't beat that.

The axles were already geared and had the Chevy 1-ton steering, HD dif covers, discs, etc when I bought them.

I'm following your build thread on mtfit's old Bronco. Looks like a lot of work.
 

broncosbybart

Bronco Guru
Joined
Mar 13, 2002
Messages
2,644
Cool. I assume you know Bill and his old rig. I will be going the other way with it. Back to a more streetable type rig. I do have a set of 1 tons that I plan to put under a cummins 4bt project. That one won't be started for a while...

Looks like you are going to knock the axle swap out in short order.
 
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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
Mark - I'm sure a concrete floor would make things a lot easier, but all that concrete would take money out of the Bronco budget! I built the whole Bronco on gravel, so I'm used to it.
 

mtfit

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
1,012
Loc.
pa
Looks good Drew, looking forward to wheelin again soon!
 
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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

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Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
Yeah Bill, hopefully I'll be out this spring, and definitely in time for the Roundup in June.

I have been trying to find time to post some more pics. Here are a couple. I got all the brackets cut off last weekend. I figured I would have had to destroy the coil bucket to get them off, because I plan to re-use them. But after I cut the weld along the bottom of the frame then was able to break the welds at the top of the frame and they came off pretty easily.

Now I am at a standstill until I get my lower coil brackets in the mail and pick up my link material from my local steel shop.
 

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SC74

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
3,411
Love 1 ton builds - keep the pics rolling! Great progress so far.
 
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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
After several weeks away from the garage I have finally made some progress. The cross member in front of the engine is now laying on the floor! It was in the way of the tie rod and will either get re-used or scrapped in favor of a new smaller cross member.
 

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SC74

Contributor
Bronco Guru
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May 24, 2004
Messages
3,411
Good call on the front cross member. I ended up cutting the bottom half out of mine and boxing it in for the same reasons. If I had foreseen this problem earlier it would have been replaced with tube - like I did the rear.
 
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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
I made some "progress" this weekend. It feels more like moving about 10 steps backwards. I am trying to get close to 100" wheelbase which seems like it will end up more like 96-98". Here is a picture of the axles sitting at 96", but I am also going to move the rear axle back a couple of inches, including moving the gas tank back and up. It is going to take a ton of work to gain these couple of inches.
 

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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

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Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
I moved the steering box forward a couple of inches, which puts the drag link just in front of the front of my oil pan. I have seen pictures of other Broncos without this bump in the front of the oil pan. I assume I have the stock 91 Mustang pan because that's the engine I have.

Keeping the TRO setup on the hi-steer arms does not seem like an option because it will require me to either lift the Bronco more than I wanted to or limit my uptravel to just a couple of inches before the tie-rod hits the frame.

As you can see I cut out part of my driver side front body mount and cut into the core support to move the steering box forward. I wondered if I could get a shorter pitman arm, but I'm guessing that would not work because a shorter arm would not move the steering as far side to side as a longer arm would.

There are so many problems with trying to use the hi-steer arms and stretching the wheelbase. If any of you guys have read Dan Wheeler's 3-link build thread he originally was using hi-steer arms then switched out to the lower mounting location on some Reid knuckles. He also switched to a steering box with a forward facing pitman arm, which isn't an option for me because I am running coils and springs, not coilovers like he did.
 

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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

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Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
Here are a couple of pictures with the trac bar mocked up. It is right under the oil pan. Right now it looks like I will be using one of the upper bolt holes on the frame end bracket and one of the lower ones on the axle riser. If I get a different oil pan that would solve a lot of problems.
 

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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

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Sep 18, 2006
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1,417
Over the weekend I got my new gas tank cross member built and installed. I want to push the rear axle back as far as possible and don't want to go to a fuel cell because I don't want to loose the bed space. I moved the tank back 2" and up 2" and with this new cross member I will be able to push the axle back 3" on the frame and 1" on the spring perches and have plenty of clearance over the pumpkin.
 

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68rockcrawler

68rockcrawler

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Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
1,417
I got one of my link/coil/shock brackets together and tacked in place. I also got all the frame link brackets clamped in place to check for fitment issues. Of course the tranny cross member bracket is in the way preventing me from moving them forward any more, so some more modification will be required.

I got my Wildhorses shorty headers in the mail last week. I can't wait to get started on exhaust.
 

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