Bronco lean question

[Braddw25]

Hi once again Bronco lovers. I have a question to ask about Bronco lean. I think I have the problem diagnosed, but I am pretty new to bronco ownership and wanted to confirm that I am correct. I recently with lots of help rebuilt the front axle, steering and suspension of my '71 bronco including new radius arms and bushings. I know that if radius arms are not installed right it can cause a lean. I don't believe this is the problem on my bronco though because we leveled the arms before installing them. I think the lean was there before and I just didn't notice it because I wasn't looking for it. To confirm, I measured the height of the fram rails down to the alignment rack tha we have the vehicle sitting on. The frame rails are within 1/16" of eachother over the entire lenght of the frame. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this not indicate that the lean cannot be caused by the radius arms?? I should also note here that a P.O. replaced the front floor pans with sheetmetal and also the front passenger side body mount was replaced with what appears to be a very jury rigged P.O.S. To me, this indicates that it is the body that is leaning and not the classic Bronco lean caused by radius arms. I was planning on welding in real bronco floor plans anyway, and I'm hoping that will correct the problem.

 

[68 Broncoholic]

It could be that the body mounts are dented upwards causing the body to lean. It could also be one of your coil or leaf springs causing the lean.

Just curious, when you bolted up your radius arms, was the axle out? and did you do them both at the same time? As in slightly tighten one side and go to the other and tighten each bolt in an X pattern keeping equal? Its best to keep the tires on so that if you see one of the arms lift off the floor, you will know they are off from one another. Once they are tight, rotate the axle up and back down to see if they touch down at the same time. If you tried to bolt the arms up with the arms already in the frame mounts it will lean.

 

[Braddw25]

We did have the radius arms in the frame mounts when we bolted the C cups in place. Would the frame rails be level though if the radius arms were causing the lean. Maybe I will have to take the axle back down and try again to make sure the arms are level.

 

[nrramse]

I've also read reports of bad leaf spring eye-bushings causing lean.

Mine has a little lean too, despite perfectly aligned radius arms and new eye-bushings. I blame it on the motor and transmission not being centered in the frame, combined with a soft riding suspension lift.

Newell

 

[Revelation]

From your measurements the lean should not be anything in the suspension. If the lean is on the Pass. side the first place I would look would be the body mount under the battery tray. Seen many Bronco's that this mount was rotted away causing the body to droop.

 

[blubuckaroo]

You are right. If the frame is level, the mody mount pucks, or the perches may be the problem.
I'm not a subscriber to the "C" bushing tightning blonco lean myth. I've just seen too many bent body mounts and flat springs.

 

[Steve83]

 

[Revelation]

You are right. If the frame is level, the mody mount pucks, or the perches may be the problem.
I'm not a subscriber to the "C" bushing tightning blonco lean myth. I've just seen too many bent body mounts and flat springs.

The red one we just finished had a very poor repair to the mount under the battery tray, they welded in a repair on the body that was 3/4" off, causing the right side to droop 3/4".

 

[Braddw25]

I just got finished doing some more checking as per some of the helpful suggestions from this thread. The body mount under the battery tray is GONE. It has been replaced by what looks to be a gate hinge bolted to the underside of the body and spaced incorrectly causing that side of the truck to be mounted too high believe it or not. The floor boards on the opposite side of the truck were replaced with sheetmetal instead of stock floor boards. This sheetmetal appears to be bent so that it is higher than the stock floor board would have been judging by the pieces of the old floor that were left behind when the new sheetmetal was welded over the top of it. I can't tell for sure, but just by eyeballing it, it looks like that sheetmetal is 1/2 an inch ABOVE where it should have been which would cause the body when it sits down on the frame to be 1/2 inch lower than the other side. The other side also still has a spacer above the bushing which would make the lean even worse. I am now completely convinced that my lean is due to body issues and not suspension issues. It's not a terrible lean, because I never even really noticed it before I started checking this week, but when my bronco goes to the body shop in the spring this year, It looks like I'm going to be paying a bit more than I expected. Thanks very much for all the helpful suggetions!

Bradd

 

[Revelation]

If the floors are that far off you might want to check all the body braces to make sure they are not rotted also.