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My second Bronco... Crawler build...

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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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Looking like a crawler to me, Good job---and fun, It takes so long to build.
mark

I have built some quick with a big budget... But when it's my money- it's slow going!!

First pic- axle under the truck. Trying to work out geometry... I would like front frame height under 30"... Pic is 27", but the axle would be 5" higher with the 44s... And the motor is in the way for a correct 4 link at this height...
 

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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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This is only 6" stretch... Going further makes the 4 link more viable, but requires more cutting on the grill

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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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I am struggling with the 4 link front and I am open to comments, suggestions, pics, etc. with the big truss, tight clearances and keeping it low, there is little room for a track bar, so I wanted to go with triangulated 4 link. However the motor is in the way if I triangulate the uppers and the doubler creates driveshaft to link interference with triangulated lowers...

The truck has a body lift and I am pulling that now. This should give me more suspension room while keeping my overall height goal... This may cause engine and coil over mount clearance issues... We shall see!

6 inch stretch in the front should put the leading edge of the 44s close to the front of the frame horn giving a good approach angle. Not set in stone, but the rear will likely go 6-8" to the back. Giving 104-106" wheelbase- a little short of my 110" goal, but who's counting!
 

Monster Mike

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I'm at 105" wb with a triangulated 4 link in the front. I can get you some pics later today...when I wake up :cool:

id like to hear your thoughts on running 44's vs running smaller tires that achieve similar results. I run 42's on 60's front and rear with rear steer and I'm working on putting a 500hp stroker motor in. once a year I run with a group in AZ who only run 40'' max. they feel if you run tires bigger than that they see more breakage. granted there dedicated rock crawlers and you and I see mud and other terrain where big mud tires have an advantage. but i was thinking of dropping down to 40's or 39.5's to minimize breakage and drop my overall height an inch while still being just as functional i imagine...

what do u think?
 
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av8rds

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I am struggling with the 4 link front and I am open to comments, suggestions, pics, etc. with the big truss, tight clearances and keeping it low, there is little room for a track bar, so I wanted to go with triangulated 4 link. However the motor is in the way if I triangulate the uppers and the doubler creates driveshaft to link interference with triangulated lowers...

THIS thread has a little info for you.

If not I'd call Call Clint at Battlement Fab and run it up his flagpole and see what he thinks. Especially since he sells Artec stuff and has a history in Broncos.
 

av8rds

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Dec 26, 2005
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Loc.
2300 mi East of Moab
id like to hear your thoughts on running 44's vs running smaller tires that achieve similar results. I run 42's on 60's front and rear with rear steer and I'm working on putting a 500hp stroker motor in. once a year I run with a group in AZ who only run 40'' max. they feel if you run tires bigger than that they see more breakage. granted there dedicated rock crawlers and you and I see mud and other terrain where big mud tires have an advantage. but i was thinking of dropping down to 40's or 39.5's to minimize breakage and drop my overall height an inch while still being just as functional i imagine...

what do u think?

I was at 42" IROKS on my buggy and stepped down to 39" BFG stickies early this year. I know I lost about 2.5 inches of belly height and you could tell when I switched BUT I don't think it was detrimental at all. And now I wouldn't know any different. You might check with Suzy Duff, she's down to 39's(Krawlers also I believe) from 42's on here wheeling Bronco, so she'd have good input for you.
 
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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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I'm at 105" wb with a triangulated 4 link in the front. I can get you some pics later today...when I wake up :cool:

id like to hear your thoughts on running 44's vs running smaller tires that achieve similar results. I run 42's on 60's front and rear with rear steer and I'm working on putting a 500hp stroker motor in. once a year I run with a group in AZ who only run 40'' max. they feel if you run tires bigger than that they see more breakage. granted there dedicated rock crawlers and you and I see mud and other terrain where big mud tires have an advantage. but i was thinking of dropping down to 40's or 39.5's to minimize breakage and drop my overall height an inch while still being just as functional i imagine...

what do u think?

I already have the 44s under my full size crawler that I am stripping down, but have been eyeballing smaller 39-42s. The type of wheeling in the southeast seems to favor big tires and the ability to turn up the wheelspeed when needed. I am no rock bouncer, but will hit the rev limiter when needed. As to breakage... I ran a much weaker front D60 under a much heavier full size Dodge Ram truck with minimal issues. Both axles are 35spline now and fully rebuilt, but anything is breakable! I will start with the 44s and see where it goes from there. I will say that on my crawler, I ran 38s then stepped up to 42s then 44s and really noticed an improvement at each step. I think the width of the 44s really helped.

Would love to see some pics. I will PM you an email address or you can post them here as well.
 
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Monster Mike

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I was at 42" IROKS on my buggy and stepped down to 39" BFG stickies early this year. I know I lost about 2.5 inches of belly height and you could tell when I switched BUT I don't think it was detrimental at all. And now I wouldn't know any different. You might check with Suzy Duff, she's down to 39's(Krawlers also I believe) from 42's on here wheeling Bronco, so she'd have good input for you.

Now that you mention it I remember seeing her post up on fb her brand new krawlers. I'll ask her, thx!


I already have the 44s under my full size crawler that I am stripping down, but have been eyeballing smaller 39-42s. The type of wheeling in the southeast seems to favor big tires and the ability to turn up the wheelspeed when needed. I am no rock bouncer, but will hit the rev limiter when needed. As to breakage... I ran a much weaker front D60 under a much heavier full size Dodge Ram truck with minimal issues. Both axles are 35spline now and fully rebuilt, but anything is breakable! I will start with the 44s and see where it goes from there. I will say that on my crawler, I ran 38s then stepped up to 42s then 44s and really noticed an improvement at each step. I think the width of the 44s really helped.

Would love to see some pics. I will PM you an email address or you can post them here as well.


Thx for the input, pm me your email. I'll post up here to if you want
 
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Mountain Ram

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Feel free to post the pics in the thread Mike. It's good info for anyone wanting to do this.

I got the body lift out this morning. What a PITA! Three bolts were pretty rusted in... Thankfully I only had to cut one!

37807b7fce9c081ba2fe271333054135_zps0ae85237.jpg
 

broncosbybart

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I was wondering where that Bronco went. Glad you got it. Looking good! I'm digging that front truss!
 
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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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I was wondering where that Bronco went. Glad you got it. Looking good! I'm digging that front truss!

Got it for about half his asking price with a bunch of parts in boxes like AFR165 heads, E cam, set of scorpion roller rockers, two carbs, two dizzys, two aluminum radiators, etc. I sold the E cam, set of GT40 heads and the 38s and got most of my money back- thankfully!

This thing was sort of a roach to start with, but all I wanted was the body, frame, engine trans and front axle. That was well worth the $1k I have in it not too mention the other parts I kept!
 

broncosbybart

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Got it for about half his asking price with a bunch of parts in boxes like AFR165 heads, E cam, set of scorpion roller rockers, two carbs, two dizzys, two aluminum radiators, etc. I sold the E cam, set of GT40 heads and the 38s and got most of my money back- thankfully!

This thing was sort of a roach to start with, but all I wanted was the body, frame, engine trans and front axle. That was well worth the $1k I have in it not too mention the other parts I kept!

Da ya think?? :)

Sounds like a screaming deal to me!
 
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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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Thanks Mike- great build and good inspiration for mine!

I have been cruising miscellaneous threads for ideas and thought I would link them here for my future reference as well as anyone looking to do this on their own.

If the thread linked is of your build and you don't want it linked here, let me know and I will pull it down. I will add some others from here and elsewhere as I dig them back up.

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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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Got some more tear down done... I have been hacking at these abortions or a while... 3-4" spring bucket spacers, shock mounts and the WTF 2wd steering mount hacked into the frame.

I am planning to cut the other frame horn- likely both behind the firing crossmember and build a front frame with integrated winch mount...

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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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And frame is clear! This was just over 80 pounds of steel!!

Anyone need coil buckets and shock towers for full width axles??

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Monster Mike

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hey that looks familiar!


i had to chop mine cuz it was ghetto notched for the giant radiator.

problem solved!

...
 
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Mountain Ram

Mountain Ram

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Been working out my front dual triangulated 4 link and trying to squeeze it all under the Bronco, but keep it low and functional...

I am looking at mounting the upper link frame mount outside the frame with the link going under the frame to the top of the axle. This will allow me to have a good angle on the links, clear the oil pan and give me some decent numbers in the 4 link calculator. I ran some mock up links and it appears I should get 6" up travel with frame clearance... If I make my brackets right. Which is the reason for my post.

I have a mock up of the upper link frame mount. The links will be at 20 degrees from center with 32" length. This will put me right in front of the body mount. Lowers will also run 20 degrees to CL and be about 42" long. I am concerned that the uppers are a little short, but they are close to the suggested 70% rule, fit and give decent calculator numbers

I would not consider this to be putting my engineering degree & skills to work!! LOL!

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