Coilover Options

[hstock68]

Hey there im a young bronco lover that just finished restoring a 1968. just like all bronco builders and wheelers, we all know our projects could ever be finished, wich is why im staring to turn my truck into an off road bad ass.

i recently got the oppertunity to get a full set of coil-overs and/or bypass shocks. im looking for shock hoops that are a good idea and work for my early bronco. if you have any ideas, tips, or even buddys with ideas, let me know!

thanks guys,
houston stock

 

[hstock68]

also if you guys like off road racing, or mabey boat racing and deep sea fishing, check out my site!!
http://www.trackinginternational.com

 

[av bronco]

I havent seen any "pre made " hoops for coilovers but I have seen coilovers on eb's you might try to contact Dusty at west coast broncos.

 

[sstlaure]

Lots of ways to run hoops, packaging can get tight though.

 

[73stallion]

i thought about welding plates in the coil towers and using either tacoma or tundra coil overs up front. not sure how much they'd flex though.

 

[sstlaure]

hey there, you recently posted a reply on my blog about doing coilovers. were you saying it would be expensive to send them? do you know someone who has built set? im not sure if i could build hoops
thanks
houston

My comment about packaging is fitting everything inside the engine bay. I ditched my inner fenders which made things easier.

As far as not being able to build hoops.....If you can't build hoops, how are you going to fabricate everything else you need to make coil-overs work? Sway-bars, suspension links/bracketry, etc.

I think you'd be better off looking at one of the off-the-shelf 4-link kits that are available if that's the route you want to go. I can't think of who has them at the moment, but I'm sure someone else will chime in. There are at least (2) on the market currently.

 

[hstock68]

well im only doing coils in the front any bypass with springs in the back. im not confident on the geometry and detail to the hoops. i could get help at my old mans race shop with the rest, but i do need help with general information with the rest.
thanks so much
houston

 

[sstlaure]

Feel free to look through my build thread. I'm running coil-overs and bypasses in front and just bypasses in rear with extended length deaver leaf springs (60" long 1645F53 springs vs stock 48" long) They are also 3" with instead of the standard bronco width (they're full-size F-series springs.)

 

[hstock68]

springs

i see you put in a classic looking hoops for the front from what i can see. i also saw you did bypass and coilover in the front. did you have to do a bunch of crazy bracing for the top?

 

[sstlaure]

Yes...there's very little Bronco left on my truck - bracing everywhere. The bypasses in the rear go through the floor and straight into the cage, so the cage is also tied into the frame.

I wouldn't call the hoops I did in the front as classic - I haven't seen it done this way on any other trucks. They were a pain to make, but I wanted full length travel without the shocks going up through the hood, and I wanted a relatively low ride height (for the travel). That's a 14" travel coilover and a 16" bypass in the front. I run 16" travel bypasses in the rear as well.

I've been building this truck for 7 years now.

 

[hstock68]

Wow man.. Looks like a lot of time on the cage bracing and looks good.
Did you spread out the axles when u put in the coilovrs in he front? I found a hoop kit for coils and I can start building the bracing. I really like your idea for the uper shock mounts in the back. I'm leaning that way. You have pretty tall stance for what I'm looking for, I think you said you used 3.5 inch full size ford f series. Is that correct? I was thing about geting leafsprings from a 76 f 100.

You've been a huge help,
thanks so much
Houston

 

[sstlaure]

I contacted Deaver, told them the performance I wanted and that I wasn't afraid of fabrication - 1645F53 is the Deaver spring part # of the leaf pack I used. I believe it was an early 80's F-series application (but was a spring specific to ones they provide for desert racing.) It's a 3" wide spring. I have gone down to 5 leaves instead of the 9 it came with to get the spring rate down and lower the ride height. No idea what "lift" spring these are in their intended application - doesn't really apply to my truck given the different weight, etc.

These are stock width axles on my truck, but full width axles would make the job significantly easier as I had a hell of a time packaging in bypasses, coilovers and airbumps in the front. (The rear was much easier)

 

[hstock68]

sstlaure you da man,
im heading north to orange county from san diego tommorow to start working on my bronco in my dads race shop to start this project and power steering. befor i start the front coil project did you push your front axle and power steering box forward about two inches.

will keep in touch..

thanks so much dude, much appreciated
houston

 

[sstlaure]

Both axles and the steering box are in the stock locations.

Here's an overall pic to get an idea of the ride height. I think I've got about 4" suspension lift + 2" body lift.

I recommend building from full compressed. (i.e. bottom out your suspension, bottom out your shocks to 1/2" from full compressed to avoid really bottoming them....that's what bumpstops are for)

If you do this, you know that you are using the full travel of your suspension, then you'll set the ride height by using the proper rate coils in your coil-over

You'll probably have to set the rear, then match the front ride height to make it level as there is obviously less adjustability to leaf springs (unless you've got access to someone that can re-arch springs nearby - like Deaver)

Good luck with your build.