'77 Ride Height Question

[redvettemike]

I am working on a '77 Bronco. The truck was used on some rough country and had much rust issues. We are putting new sheetmetal from the firewall back (except one door and the top and tail gate). The owner wants a stock appearance but with somewhat bigger tires. We may or may not cut the rear quarters. We are replacing the suspension with a plan to put a stock height suspension in the truck.
If a stock suspension goes in do you need some sort of body lift to fit in a slightly larger tires? Or should we get a suspension that will increase the ride height somewhat? Thanks for any advice.
Mike

 

[Apogee]

You'll probably get a lot of varying answers on this, but based on what you said the customer is looking for, I would think that a 2.5" SL with a 1" BL would give you a mild LUBR look and allow the possibility of some taller skinnies. Some quality springs and shocks will go a long way towards making it ride nice and be fun to drive. I'm not a LUBR tire fitment expert though, but 32x9.5 or 32x10.5 (or the metric equivalent) should be doable I would think.

Cool build...it was the same color as my '77, at least where mine has paint that is.

 

[DirtDonk]

You can put 33x12.50 tires on a stock height EB with fender cutouts. But that sort of reduces the "stock look" that your customer is looking for. To me, a cut Bronco still looks like a Bronco. Just not a stock-ish one.

Without cutting the rear fenders you're severely restricted on the width of the tires you can use, but like Apogee said, I'm sure someone will have some good info in that regard.

And as you can imagine, the stock fender/tire size discussion has been gone over many times with many pictures. So finding one of the picture threads would be a big benefit to you and your customer I would think. Pictures tell it all.
Search for LUBR, or LUBER if you have not arleady, and see what you come up with.

With LUBR's, it's by definition going to show mostly lifted uncut Broncos (where the name comes from), but there are probably several pictures mixed in among them of unlifted and uncut EB's for comparison.

Good luck. I really like the look of the 2.5" + 1" + uncut fenders as well.

Paul

 

[bigpitbull]

I'm planning on running 2.5" SL and 1" BL with 235x85x16 which comes out to be a 32x9.5... On an uncut bronco

 

[redvettemike]

If I run with 30" tires would a 2' body lift take care of any clearance issues in the rear on a uncut '77 (with stock height suspension)?
Tks,

 

[Broncobowsher]

If I run with 30" tires would a 2' body lift take care of any clearance issues in the rear on a uncut '77 (with stock height suspension)?
Tks,

A 2 foot body lift will give tons of clearance

As mentioned, you can go up to about 33" in diameter before that get to be an issue in the rear. Front will rub in a turn first but that can usually be trimmed back and still look stock.

Width is the HUGE issue in the rear if not cut. Rolling the fender lip can help a lot. Wheel choice is another huge factor. Adding body lift does not address width issues, unless you do put 2 feet of body lift on then I am sure you will be OK.

 

[redvettemike]

Well, my bad. I said 2' of body lift but meant to say 2".

 

[Justin@WH4x4]

If I run with 30" tires would a 2' body lift take care of any clearance issues in the rear on a uncut '77 (with stock height suspension)?
Tks,

If your running a 30" x 9.5" or less, you won't need any additional body lift. Stock suspension will fit those tires no problem provided the backspacing on your wheels is correct (3.5 or so) You can achieve a nice ride with our replacement Stock Suspension Kit, but you'll get an even better ride with our
2-1/2" Suspension Kits and the good thing is that these kits won't require any additional parts like lengthened driveshafts, longer brake lines, drop trac bar bracket, etc. My favorite "stock look" combo is a 2-1/2" suspension lift with 31x9.5" tires mounted to stock wheels. It looks great, rides awesome, and makes the rig a little more capable, while retaining a look very close to stock.

 

[redvettemike]

Just about everything on this '77 is worn out including the suspension. So, I have to buy new front and rear springs. Looks like the 2 1/2" suspension lift with 30 or 31" tires is the way to go with this particular ride. Steel wheels with correct hub caps may be the direction that we will go.

 

[Ourobos]

I ran a 31" tire on nothing but a 1" body lift. Wheels where 16x7 with 4" backspacing.