I had all of this info gathered back when I was doing the fabrication of the suspension and never got around to finishing it and putting it together like this till now. Disclaimer: I am not going to say that this is the best or worst way to build a 4-link rear but if it helps someone then the purpose for posting it has been served.

Below is the first build, my upper links were too long and I was getting a bunch of rear steer when I cycled it.

Here you can see where I remade the upper links shorter and reused the front mounting holes to build the double shear mounts for the new location of the upper frame mount.

The lower mounts to the frame are sleeved through the frame and then I built this mount to hold and protect the urethane end of the lower link.

I copied some of things that I liked about all of the mounts that I saw and came up with this for the rear upper to the axle mount. The diff guard goes up and mounts to the tube that crosses over the pumpkin.

Here is another view of the cradle that protects the transfer case and is part of the front 3-link mount. I included it for a different angle view of the mid frame mounting points.
(This was prior to the shortening of the rear upper links)

And lastly this is a rough drawing of the frame and all of the mounting locations that I used. I am missing the upper link length and frame measurement for that link, but you can see from the photo where I mounted it under the body mount.

The end result is still yet to be fully tested but what little bit I have driven it so far, I am very pleased with the way everything works.

Tech article by Wade (wadensd)

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1. Fabricate Twin Stick Shifters for an Early Ford Bronco Tech article by Chris (taipeichris) Since I’ve owned my 1966...

Below is my 3.5″ “universal lift” from about 1987. I call it a “universal lift” because the lift companies sold one lift kit that fit everything from our small Broncos to long bed F-150s with big blocks in them. To even call this a suspension system is a crime. There is virtually no movement. These springs can be yours for the price of shipping. Or I can save you some money by suggesting that you jack up your rig to the desired lift and weld in a solid piece of steel in place of your shocks.

First put your Bronco up on jackstands, remove the shocks, springs, radius arms ect….. I chose to do one side at a time. Next, I torched off the original radius arm frame mounts.

I then torched the spot welds off of the steel “donut” from the radius arm frame mount. You will need these. I was planning on building the new mounts out of half inch steel plate but……

I found these pieces of steel in my scrap pile. They were the perfect size that I needed. I just had to Henrob the frame cutout and torch out the hole. I then used a Dremel to clean up the hole. My steel was galvanized, so I had to do a lot of grinding to get to good metal. If you do ever grind on anything galvanized, don’t breath in the vapors. Not to good for you. If you don’t have access to these parts you could easily use 1978-79 Bronco mounts in a pinch.

I then welded the “donut” over the hole just like the original , only a whole lot beefier. I used a MillerMatic 210, not the small Lincoln in the photo.

I then took the radius arm extensions that I purchased from bentandtwisted.com, cleaned up the mating surfaces, pressed the extension on to the radius arm (really I pounded it on with a brass hammer), and welded it all the way around. The extensions don’t seem to be on there webpage, but I do remember just calling them and shelling out around $125 to $150 for the pair. Can’t really remember for sure(sorry).

Next up is bolting the new long rod on to the front end. I measured from the front bolt on the rear leaf spring, on the opposite side to the center of the front axle. I then made sure that my measurement was the same on the side that I was fabing up.

I got lucky and was able to use the factory predrilled holes in the frame. I wanted to use just the bolts first to see if all my calculations were correct before I finaled it with the big Miller. I also chose to angle the radius arm mount down so that at rest, the radius arm and mount are in alignment. I figure that it will give me more down travel before it binds than if I were to mount them 90 degrees from the frame. I realize that there are other problems with this style front end that will limit travel before the mounts bind, but I figured every little bit helps.

Heres the final look(before welding). 5.5 BC coils, Bilstein shocks on F-250 mounts and all new bushings.

Here is my finished project. Found this little hill next to the shop to try her out on. When I started this project, I had no intention of increasing travel. I just wanted the old Bronco to ride better. It does. The suspension feels really plush. It does have that squishy feel when you first drive it, but I am used to it now. I think it will travel farther if I can find a better hill or use the forklift at work to flex it. The stock rear suspension also really limits the flex. One last thing I may do is weld an eye on the frame and another eye on the radius arm so that I can put a tie down between the eyes if I ever need to change a tire. My handyman jack is rendered useless with this suspension. I can jack it to the top and not lift a tire off the ground. Unlike the old suspension, where I could jack up on one corner and change both tires.

Tech article by David (Bucmaster)

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The F-250 shock tower is one of those great modifications that’s both cheap and simple. By replacing your stock shock towers with these taller, heavier units, you’ll be able to use longer travel shocks for more articulation. Pricing is around $25-35 for the pair. That’s less than one new shock!

Here are the new towers. Ford part # E5TZ 18183 A for a pre-1994 F-250. They’re available directly through Ford or several of the Bronco parts houses including BC Broncos and Wild Horses. The photo on the right gives you an idea of the extra shock length the new towers will allow. Another benefit is that the new towers use the more common “eye” shock mounting style. This gives you more options for shocks including the popular Rancho 9000(X) series.

This is how NOT to remove your old towers. The factory towers are welded to the frame top and bottom. You’ll need to grind the welds down to remove the old towers, but the top welds are not easy to get to. In my impatience I tried prying the tower back and forth until the top weld finally broke. Unfortunately it took a chunk of the frame with it. Oops!

After screwing up the first side I determined an easier way would be to cut the top portion of the old tower off first with a sawzall. This allows for much easier access to the factory weld between the top of the frame and the factory tower. An air grinder makes quick work of the weld.

When I trial fit the new towers it became obvious that they tilt away from the inner fender quite a bit. Although it’s possible to bolt up the shocks, I felt the angle put more stress than needed on the shock mounting points and decided to take some of the “tilt” out of the towers. This puts the shock at a more vertical position and reduces bind. It also helps keep the top of the shock well away from bulging tires.Two simple cuts at the bend of the new towers followed by a few minutes of agression therapy with a bench vice and BFhammer straightened them out to a better angle. I trial fit a few times and when happy with the results I just weld up the gaps.

The final towers in place. You’ll notice I was able to match up one of the pre-drilled tower holes with a factory frame hole. This worked out well for the shocks I wanted to use, but notice that the new towers aren’t as high up as they could be. If you really want to cram the longest travel shocks possible in there you’ll want to mount the towers as close to the upper fender well as you can. If you have a body lift it will also affect how high the towers can be mounted. Be sure to measure and trial fit for your particular shock and lift before final welding.One final note about welding your towers to the frame; you definitely need to. I used just the bolt and temporary tack welds thinking that I wanted to trail test for proper travel and be sure there wasn’t any binding. Although the trail was fairly mild, the single bolt and tack welds didn’t hold up long at all. The bolt actually started to distort the frame because of the leverage of the shock going through full travel. Test your set up on a ramp or local hill, but don’t go out on the trail without fully welding those new towers to the frame.

Tech article by Jon Hanna (Admin)

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When changing those front springs, you will probably encounter a small problem. This is a simple way to install the bolts back into the retainer. The bolt on top of the spring tower is easy to start. The one on the side is a little more difficult.

What you will probably find is the bolt holes don’t line up and you can’t get the bolt started. Here is what you do to install that bolt. Don’t just leave it out.

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