Suspension height and rear axle location

I recently bought a 1976 bronco that had been somewhat restored. I’m wanting to put bigger tires on but I’m not sure how big I can go. Currently when I measure from the center of my hub to the fender well above it’s 24inches both front and rear. However, my rear tire {30”tire) measures only 17” from center of hub to fender well in front of tire. It’s like my rear axle needs to be moved back. My problem is, I’m not sure what if any lift this thing has. It appears to have 1.5” lifting blocks on the rear. I’d like to put 34” tires but I don’t think they’ll fit because of rear axle. Thoughts? PS I’m no mechanic
Thanks
JC

Sounds like your rear fenders are cut and have flares. Measurements like yours are pretty common depending on where the previous owner cut the fender to put the flares. Change your status on the forum to "contributor" and post some photos. You will get a lot of help/ideas.

Hopstr said:

Sounds like your rear fenders are cut and have flares. Measurements like yours are pretty common depending on where the previous owner cut the fender to put the flares. Change your status on the forum to "contributor" and post some photos. You will get a lot of help/ideas.

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Not sure how to change my status. Here are some pics

Well crud, I have to wait to have my son show me how to post a pic on here

Give us a measurement btw the axle tube and the frame, front and rear.

At stock height: frt is 7"
rear is 6"

If you have a 1 1/2" lift blocks in the rear you should be sitting at 7 1/2"... this is so you can compare to what guys will eventually chime in with tire and suspension comparisons

How to upload photos - Become a Contributor < link

nvrstuk said:

Give us a measurement btw the axle tube and the frame, front and rear.

At stock height: frt is 7"
rear is 6"

If you have a 1 1/2" lift blocks in the rear you should be sitting at 7 1/2"... this is so you can compare to what guys will eventually chime in with tire and suspension comparisons

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply
Front 10 1/2”
Rear 9”

Sounds like I have approx 3” of lift total. Does that sound correct?

sykanr0ng said:

How to upload photos - Become a Contributor < link

Click to expand...

Thanks...I’m now a contributor . I feel more like a consumer but happy to pay because this site is full of great information.

Welcome aboard!

Yes, your measurements sound like the PO got your rig standing close to what most people end up putting on, a 3 1/2" lift.

What was done to the front to get your height? Any funky spacers under the springs? He probably paid the $125 or whatever to buy coils to get that height, but didn't plunk down the $400 or more for the leaf springs in the rear, hence the spacers and whatever springs he already put in...

with your fender flare cutouts there's a bunch of folks on here who could tell you what size tires you can stuff in without scraping fenders...I'm guessing 33x11.50's without too much trimming up front... but you'll get some answers!

Here are some pics

You look like you have room for 34's or at least 33's easy.

Yes you can move your axle back an inch or a little more.

I did it in about an hour and a half, but I have no blocks.

They make blocks called e-z inch(?) that have the off set built in to move the axle back an inch or so.

I used the ez inch and it was easy!!lol they come from diy4x.com. let me make a comment though - nice bronco - and holy stack of washers batman, I would get that corrected asap!!.

some things to consider,
don't forget to move your axel snubbers back when you move the axel
you may need the rear driveshaft lengthened because with the lift you have if it wasn't lengthened when the lift was put on then the shaft is probably at its max length before the splines let go. not a definite but check it out before you tear into it.
emergency brake lines may need to be longer also. again with the lift you have and moving the axel back, if they weren't replaced with longer ones then they probably wont reach with the axel moved back.
figure out what your pinion angle is right now and if it is not about 2* then order the shims you need to correct the angle. diy4x sells these shims with the ezinch and they bolt together. the center pin goes through the ezinch and the spring pack so it all becomes part of the spring pack and not an add in block like you have now

these were all things I had to do but you may not have to do all of them or more - none of our broncos are exactly the same so it depends on the bronco

and by all means - HAVE FUN!!!!

bronconut73 said:

You look like you have room for 34's or at least 33's easy.

Yes you can move your axle back an inch or a little more.

I did it in about an hour and a half, but I have no blocks.

They make blocks called e-z inch(?) that have the off set built in to move the axle back an inch or so.

Click to expand...

i agree, should be able to fit 34's easy. I see you don't have a body lift.
nice looking bronco and looks like a fresh build

Thanks Gents! You guys are awesome. I hope that someday I will know something and be able to help someone, but I doubt it lol!

Yes, beautiful Bronco from what we can see. And welcome to classicbroncos too.
Thanks for becoming a contributor so quickly as well. Not always easy to justify when you first join a forum, but if you like to post images that status does make it a lot easier.

How does it drive (besides stiff that is) on the road?
Reason I ask is that it looks like you have the 3-3.5" lift as stated, but with no dropped pitman arm or dropped trackbar bracket. You do have an adjustable trackbar, and that's great. But with that much lift you almost always need those additional parts I mentioned.

And look at the size of that overload leaf will ya!!! As thick a leaf as I've ever seen on anything smaller than a super heavy duty pickup. That and the block are a big part of your lift. Can't tell if there are any add-a-leaves in there or not.

Now that you're a contributor, can you post up some more pics? Not only so we can see a cool new Bronco, but specifically of a few other items.
A full shot of the front end wheel-to-wheel so we can see the steering linkage.
A side shot of the springs. Mainly the leaves, but front and rear would be even better.
A side shot of the rear pinion (where the driveshaft meets the rear axle) to check the angle.
A shot of the rear gas tank too. Looks almost as if there was a larger NWMP/Sunset Metals type tank and then they replaced it with a stock one using the larger tank's old hardware. That might explain all the washers on the J-bolt.

Again, great looking rig. Really nice paint from here at least, and rear discs, and clean undercarriage, and things like dual shocks (not usually needed, but depends on what you intend with the truck) and lots of other monies spent.

What is your intention with the rig by the way? Going to take it camping, or hunting? Cruising around town with the family? Beach and lake runs?
it's all good, and Broncos to it all exceedingly well.

But if you drive it around town much, be prepared to stop and talk to all the other people that think it's a cool rig too!

Have fun!

Paul

Dirtdonk
Thanks for the comments. I bought the truck about 4 months ago out OU Louisiana. The guy said he owned it since the 80’s and used it as a hunting vehicle. He said it used to be camouflage and had a 6” lift. I’m guessing he saw the upswing in Bronco values and decided to “restore” it. I’ll get some more pics but I think it’s a sweet ride. He basically performed a frame on restoration. Very seal, knob, bracket, etc on the inside has been replaced. Interior looks perfect, I’m finding that the underside was sort of thrown together. I noticed it was sitting a little cockeyed so I took it to local suspension shop. They replaced rear springs and put new lifting blocks on. They did something to the front end to level the truck out, but I’m not sure what. The truck drives great. It has 4:11 gears which makes it run at high rpm’s with those 30” tires (no overdrive). This is one reason I want to put larger tires on it. I had a grinding feel in steering wheel when turning but they fixed that by adding some additive to rear end because the posi-trac was working overtime. This will be a road only vehicle, I’ll never take it off-roading (although I admire those who do). Thanks again, I’ll get those pics soon. Have a great day

Welcome sir, and great looking ride!

The 76' and 77' models have a few things different than other years, namely power steering and brakes, and a different steering geometry system than previous years. Yours has a lot of trick stuff that someone added to their taste, the rear disc brakes are neat.

I'm surprised it drives well, or maybe it doesn't? Obviously rough with the dual shocks and seriously massive rear leaf!

How does it respond when you hit a dip in the road, pothole, or go over a ridge at 45+mph and unload the suspension? As dirtdonk mentioned there are some steering geometry parts that historically don't work well together.

For some reason that I can't explain, back in the day many times flares were installed not-even-close to "center". And I realize "center" means different things to different people; center of the sheet metal, center between the gas filler caps, center between the inner fender sheet metal, or?

On yours obviously the clearance between the front gas filler cap and rear cap is different. There is a sheet metal brace, that is really just a smallish 5/16" steel rod, holding that piece of forward sheet metal that often times people are reluctant to cut. Therefore the outer sheet metal gets cut and the flare installed too far back. Then to make things worse is the shape of the flare. Notice the sharp radius of the forward slope on the rear flare, compared to the gentle radius on the rear part of the rear flare. So when viewed from the side the front part of the rear tire is much closer to the flare than the rear part of the tire.

In short there is not easy fix, although there are some things you can to make it better. WH sells some flares that are *really* flexible and almost stretchy. With great care you could trim a little more forward on the sheet metal and then install these new style flares. However they only come in black and would need painted to match you're already color-matched flares.
Another option is to move the rear diff housing back a little. This takes a little work, but not a tough job. You'll need to remove the rear housing, cut the existing leaf spring perches off, then weld new ones back on with an offset hole for the leaf spring center pin.
That said, if it were mine and my intended use was to drive it on the street because its a cool old classic I wouldn't install new flares or move the housing back. Just fix the front end parts, remove some shocks so you end up with 1 on each corner. And if you want a smoother ride change out the rear leaf springs and lift block (throw that block in the trash can) for a new/soft style 11 leaf pack. Cheers!