Can you guys check dangle angle?

[Faster Eddie]

I am also having wander buggy issues.

Have 2.5 WH lift installed, new 35" tires, (what PSI should I run? They filled up to the top at Discount tire), newly installed T style linkage on my '77, stock box that I was told "seems just fine", alignment was done after new linkage installed but don't know the numbers, new column, upper n lower shafts, everything is torqued to spec except for the drivers rear spring bolt. Seems the nut is stripped.

Other than my rear spring blot that may have play, do the angles look ok? Any help is huge!!

 

[Faster Eddie]

 

[bronconut73]

I think your drag link is supposed to be at a 45° angle where it connects to the tie rod.
Yours is facing straight ahead.

Your drag link and track bar should be parallel.

 

[broncosbybart]

You want the angles to be parallel. The upper track bar mount on the 76-77 frames were lower than the prior years. I would remove the drop bracket.

You can also remove the rag joint (if still equipped) with a u joint. Check steering box bolts, etc. It is usually a combination of things.

Unrelated, but 35's with a 2.5" lift?

 

[Rustytruck]

with 35" tires try around 28 psi. and work from there.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yep, adjust the tie-rod first. Then get your bearings from there.
Once the center of the tie-rod is rotated up so that your grease/zerk fitting is pointed up roughly at the bumper, note the angles between the two bars. A note here though: The "parallel" reference is taken from the pivot points, not the bars since they both have some bends in them.
Notice how your upper trackbar bolt/pivot point is just below the pivot point of the draglink/pitman arm? That's going to be your sticking point. Once you rotate your tie-rod, that angle will improve, but you can see right off that it will never be above the trackbar's lower pivot. Which means that you will need some more tweaking with the trackbar's upper mount location. As was said, that probably is going to mean either removing the add-on drop bracket.

Even just rotating the tie rod will improve things. Just not quite enough.

Regarding air pressures, the trick is to play around with them, but a good reference point might be 30 psi in the front.
I mentioned pressures in another post, but you might even try the old chalk trick. Run chalk line across the tread, run down the street a few yards, and see where it's worn off. If with this higher pressure you're running right now, it wears off only in the center but not all the way out to the edges, lower the pressure. You can do this a bit at a time until you're very close the the edge of the tread, or you could simply start at 30 and see how it feels.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[Faster Eddie]

Is there a center point in the front axle/diff that I should mark and use for centering the frame over everything? Or just measure knuckle to knuckle and frame rail to frame rail?

When making these changes to the linkage do I need to support or jack anything up? Or just chalk the wheels and start working?

 

[Mark]

Holy Huge drop trac bar bracket! lol
With just a 2.5" lift, I don't think you need all that finagling with your steering components.
Faster Eddie, I suggest going back to a basic stock steering setup (no drop trac bar bracket, no drag link bend, no drop pitman arm) and go from there. I bet you won't have any wandering (definitely not as bad) with a stock setup and just a 2.5" lift.

 

[Faster Eddie]

Thanks Mark. Although I've owned this rig for 16 years and grown my knowledge base of wrenching on it; when it comes to big changes I have sought the advice of vendors, forums, and mechanics. Needless to say, I am thankful for all of the guidance but a lot of times I end up redoing things because I picked the wrong advice to follow. I have lived and learned and spent a sh_t load of money while doing it.

At this point, I'm gonna get an adjustable track bar, center everything, probably use the stock bracket hole and twist the lower draglink so it points in the right spot. Then, we'll see...

 

[DirtDonk]

While Mark's hypothetically correct that for a 2.5" lift you don't absolutely need all that stuff, you really don't want to go back to stock '77 at this point. You have a slight lift, but you also have 35" tires and the stock "Y" setup hates 35 inch tires.
Maybe that's only "most" of the time, but not only have you already invested in the more lift-friendly design linkage, but you'd also lose the adjustability built into it.
Too many negatives.

So I still say do what you're discussing, and keep the linkage and pitman arm, lose the trackbar drop at the most, and make sure it's all adjusted properly. This should make for a sweet handling Bronco.

You do not need to jack anything up or support anything for this work. Neither the steering linkage OR the trackbar are supporting weight. Both can be completely removed without supporting the truck. Chocking the tires is certainly a safety bonus, but not completely necessary either, if everything else is working as expected. But if you're on a slight incline, even with parking brakes working a chock is not a bad practice to get in to.

The only exception to that "support" rule is the frame will often shift to one side when you remove the trackbar. It's the coil springs and lift along with the radius arms putting some English on things that does it.
Which leads to the other reasons for leaving the tires fully on the ground.

First is that to get a proper center measurement for the axle, the suspension has to be at normal ride height.
Second is that when the trackbar does not line up exactly (which is more the rule than the exception) you can have someone just turn the steering wheel a tiny bit to make the frame shift back so you can line up the upper trackbar eye with the hole in the mount. Makes a hassle job into a super easy one.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Oh, yes you can measure, pinpoint and mark a center line on the axle assembly, then do the same thing on the frame crossember to hang some sort of plumb line, then line them up easily that way.

It's not super convenient in those spots, but it's actually not that bad. You can use tape on the housing for a surface to mark with a pen, and tie or tape a string for the plumb bob (usually a string and a nut in most garages;D) hanging off the frame.

Paul

 

[Faster Eddie]

Well, there's one thing... I looked at my 2.5 year old receipt, it's a 3.5" lift.

 

[Apogee]

I have a 3.5" lift on my '77, adjustable track bar in the factory mounts, inverted-T style steering like yours with a drop pitman arm. Remove the track bar drop bracket and you should be golden.

Just an aside, when I bought mine the bushings were toast, it had a drop bracket on the track bar and stock pitman arm, and it handled like a shopping cart loaded with bowling balls down a flight of stairs. Now it'll do 70 mph all day on the highway with one hand on the wheel if you want.

 

[Faster Eddie]

UPDATE: found 2 loose body mounts (first ones up front), drivers side leaf spring front bolt untorqued and not a lock nut, drivers rear leaf spring lock nut stripped and only at about 40#'s of torque instead of 105. Twisted the lower drag link to point at bumper, lowered rear tires to 30, fronts to 28. WOW, what a difference! Steering box is centered, frame is centered, just have to ditch the drop bracket and throw in an adjustable track bar, then test her out again. More updates to come. Thanks Guys

 

[DirtDonk]

If those are our rear springs, then you don't necessarily use the original factory torque specifications.
Now "loose" is not a good thing, and finding that probably helped tighten up your ride. But poly bushings with shoulders and shorter metal sleeves do not require the same mondo-torque as the old serrated sleeve. vulcanized rubber bushings dictated.
Just make sure that all six of your bolts have good locking nuts on them. We use "C-nuts" or compression type jam nuts in our kits, but standard Nylocs work very well too.
Simply tighten the bolts until the ears of metal (shackle's or spring hanger's) start to contact and lightly compress the bushings. Any more than that and you're just fighting nature, making for a potentially stiffer ride, and hurting the bushings in the long run.
It's just that to use this lower torque method successfully, the nuts have to hold it tight and keep it there.

Might as well double-check the torque of your u-bolts while you're back there. A re-torque is part of the normal maintenance after the first 500 miles or so on a new u-bolt.

The torque specs are listed on our site. As a general rule though, if they're standard 1/2" diameter, they would be torqued to between 65 and 75 lbs. A 9/16 u-bolt gets about 85 to 105, and a big-boy 5/8" u-bolt would get 115 to 125 lbs.
These are not etched in stone, nor are they necessarily the same ratings you'd get with a straight bolt and nut. But they're general use ratings for that size u-bolt.

Paul

 

[Mark]

While Mark's hypothetically correct that for a 2.5" lift you don't absolutely need all that stuff, you really don't want to go back to stock '77 at this point. You have a slight lift, but you also have 35" tires and the stock "Y" setup hates 35 inch tires.

Yes, totally agree. The "Y" setup isn't good with 35" tires (or any significant suspension lift). I should have specified stock "T" style.

 

[Faster Eddie]

Thanks Paul. I'll get to your site and redo.

 

[SoCal68Bronco]

For PSI. I'm running 30lbs front, 28lbs rear. (35" BFG AT's)

 

[Faster Eddie]

Update: lack of caster was main culprit. Had 3* but sniffed all over the road.

Installed adjustable trackbar...no more bump steer.

Installed radius arm drop brackets. 5.5* caster left, 8* caster right.

The truck drives like its on railway tracks.

Now have to fix the front driveline angle/ length issue.

But boy, is it better!!!

 

[Ol'Blue]

Did you install the adjustable radius arm drop brackets like Duffs? You may get away with the next highest setting, middle, and help with the pinion angle and still have good caster measurements, maybe 3.5-4.

I have exact set up with 4.5" lift and getting vibration in the front when in 4x4. Thinks thinks are binding up at the U joint. Going to try and raise to the next setting on the drop brackets and see if it helps.

Great to hear you are getting the issue tackled!