Dana 60/moving front axle forward

[TRABY]

Ok, so I've got the Dana 60 stripped of all the old brackets and I've ordered some new wedges to use the stock radius arms and I would like to move my front forward as much as possible without causing problems with steering problems, is the way I do this is simply cut my rear radius arm mounts and move them forward ? How far forward can I go and still be able to use "normal" steering set up? What else am I not thinking of? Pitfalls? Advise?

 

[68rockcrawler]

How far do you want to move it? I was looking at my steering setup and wondering if I could put in a steering box that is reverse from the Bronco steering box and put the pitman arm facing forward and move the axle up 8 inches.

 

[shamu]

My guess is 1" in the stock location. Or you cut your drivers side body mount off then you can get to 4". But then you will need to weld,grind and fab up steering shaft pieces. And then run collars through the frame. The radiator and the core support will be in the way.
Or run full hydrolic steering.
Clear as mud?

 

[TRABY]

Axle

Right now my Bronco is in the middle of frame off. I'm gonna run a flaming river column for steering, I just want to move the axle forward to extend the wheelbase. I don't understand the body mount issue or radiator issue? Maybe I wasnt clear in my origional post?

 

[Broncobowsher]

1" gain isn't worth anything.
If you are going several inches then most people would run extended radius arms instead of moving the mounts forward.

I really don't see room for movment with stock steering. There is the track bar as well. By the time you move that forward it will be tangling with steering. So if you start playing with steering ('78/9 bronco forward facing steering box I like the idea of) you could get a good deal of relocation. But you are now sticking the axle under the engine crossmember. Since that is one of 2 real, solid crossmembers in the frame you can't just remove it.

It can be done, just a huge can of worms. Time for a whole bunch of mock up time. Put some tires on the axles, body on the frame, start lining stuff up. Figure what you want, then take it all apart again.

 

[shamu]

I agree with Broncobowsher. 1st pic stock bronco. The rest are of my buggy with a HP dana 44 pushed up 4 inches. (Full Hydro steering and not street legal) Note there is not one stock piece of anything on this conversion. But It sure is nice having a 109 inch wheel base.
I need to make a car wash run.

 

[Colorado75Bronc]

Man you're trac-bar bracket on the frame looks super weak, I pushed mine forward 1" when i built my extended arms, but it was more for aesthetic purposes, I know my buddy pushed his 2" s when he did his arms, and he is running a narrowed hp 44 and one ton steering his steering is close but works and drives fine

 

[shamu]

Man you're trac-bar bracket on the frame looks super weak, I pushed mine forward 1" when i built my extended arms, but it was more for aesthetic purposes, I know my buddy pushed his 2" s when he did his arms, and he is running a narrowed hp 44 and one ton steering his steering is close but works and drives fine

Thanks bro.

 

[Colorado75Bronc]

I'm not trying to offend you just wondering if you have plans to brace it up, I understand the full length trac bar, I would like to see more pics of your rig sounds cool!

 

[shamu]

I'm not trying to offend you just wondering if you have plans to brace it up, I understand the full length trac bar, I would like to see more pics of your rig sounds cool!

Sorry Bro. I didn't have my glasses on and I read sweet. It is holding up so far and yes I need to add a few gussets.
So as for pics what do you want to see? Should I Hijack this thread.
Again sorry and I am wearing my glasses today.
Here is a thread I did for charging my Fox Shox.
http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205888

 

[NOTPRETTY]

Ok, so I've got the Dana 60 stripped of all the old brackets and I've ordered some new wedges to use the stock radius arms and I would like to move my front forward as much as possible without causing problems with steering problems, is the way I do this is simply cut my rear radius arm mounts and move them forward ? How far forward can I go and still be able to use "normal" steering set up? What else am I not thinking of? Pitfalls? Advise?

I have looked at this with a goal of at least 3" and up to 8. The truth is it is a house of cards. You get beyond 2"s and the domino's start falling. As the axle goes forward you have to remount the track bar, move the steering box, relocate the body mount, likely alter the frame crossmember...or relocate it entirely...as you get to 4-5 inches you then start needing to clear for the tires...and that mean cutting the fenders/body panels and you eventually hit the headlights. You can narrow the grill, core support, and hood to deal with that...again more dominos. It is not easy to do on a Bronco, but is probably one of the smartest things to do on a bronco if you can. The Bronco is nose heavy with the motor sitting litterally on top of the axle. Every inch you move the axle forward you greatly improve the center of gravity of the vehicle. At 8 inchs...its hard to make the rig look like a "Bronco" but at that point you see huge gains in Center of Gravity (COG). Or, you can move the motor back into the firewall...or do both which is what I was considering so I could still have it look like a bronco...then I scrapped it because it was so much fabrication and at that point it would be wiser to build a tube chassis. I may do that some day. Hello lottery

Its always been a dream of mine to design a tube chassis for an early bronco that when done looks like a Bronco...atleast visually you think it is right. Wheel base at 105, engine moved back, axle pushed forward, rear pushed back...not sure if its possible, but if you make the design so that with the tube chassis and body parts now being made by Dynacorn you could build a much better rock crawling Bronco, you might have something.

Good luck

 

[dbasile]

I remember reading on here some where a guy was going to push his front axle forward about 5". "He was going to use a BB stearing box and hav the pitman arm forward. I can't seem to find it now.............I tried? I would think that there is alot of work involved but a good pay back. A much nicer aproach angle. When I get the time to mess with the suspension I was going to look into much more. But the to do list will put that on hold.

 

[gravy]

Check out Dan Wheeler- he did it. Mine is pushed forward 3-4 inches. Running f150 box, coilovers with d60 and 3 link