Hey Tunderchief, welcome! And wow, what a Bronco!
But as has already been said and you already knew, it's certainly way off from being set up for the street.
I hope you got a reasonable deal on it too, because you'll be spending time and money for awhile. But then, that can be the fun part! (well, the spending time anyway. Not sure about the spending money yet).
Only worried about the money for how frustrated you might get when working on it. Not that the money you spent would not have been worth it. But just the beginning...
Sounds like you know your way around a wrench and are not afraid of tackling this, so you're ahead of the game already if that's the case.
I would say yes to the stiff comment. If it has spent any time at all bouncing in the mud, then much more flex in the suspension and the body would be thrashed already.
One possibility is that those tires were not on it for the fun, but another is that it has as yet not spent any time off-roading after the build was finished.
So don't take anything for granted yet or you may be doing more body work than planned.
At this point too, you should look at your time and costs for things like spring hangers and perches, radius arm mounts, etc. and then look around for an old frame that someone is getting rid of and see if it's not a better way to go.
At that point, VIN matching is the only thing you have to concern yourself with. Worth a little looking around anyway. Old frames in good condition would probably have been $200 a couple of years ago. Maybe still less than $1000 though?
Just thinking out loud anyway. Good luck no matter which path you take!
And enjoy that cool rig when you're done. I kind of like the pickup styling.
But can understand too why it's so sketchy to drive at this point.
Paul
I took a long look at it all and this is the situation.
For me to redo the rear closer to stock, I will need to cut the fender and put wheel wells to fit the 35s. To do that I need to move the radiator, and to move the radiator, I need to swap the engine.
The reason the 39s don’t rub is that the spring and link don’t let it flex that far to touch the fenders. Also, as the axle is on top, the gas tank is not much farther than the fender is from the tires. So if the tire rubs on the fender, it prevents the tank from being hit. It does run like something between and an old truck and a tractor.
Those tires have been there for a few years, so there must be something in the 3.5 gear axles to hold the 39s. Whoever put the time, money and engineering to make this Bronconstein, did something that is holding the 39x18.5 tires. It has semi float and all disk, so there was work done the axles. I did some research and it looks like something between a home-made rock and or mud racer. Until I swap engine and move radiator, I may put the 36 or 37 and redo the front a bit, I feel its higher than the rear anyway.
There’s something crass, hard and cool that I love about this truck. My idea has always been to have a cleanout Mad Max-like Bronco.
Also, I put a 35 on it to check and it looks a bit small for the lift, maybe because I'm used to the 39s. I found some 36x12.5 tires, but I'm not discarding the 37s idea yet, I don't know when I will be able to swap the engine and only then properly redo the suspension after it. I’m also concerned that as it is if 35s flexes far enough, it may hit the tank before the fender.
What’s a way to make this homemade 4-link set up be any better without having to swap to small block first?
How could make it somewhat ok until I swap engines?
Thoughts?
