Factory frame and front end question

[flexmerc]

Hello,

I am about to purchase a suspension lift to replace the current unknown front, original rear leafs, shocks and fix the "bronco lean". I was checking measurements was just curious if the frame came boxed from the factory and if the track bar and tie rod look correct?


Thanks guys

 

[sykanr0ng]

Yes the 66-77 Bronco frames were all boxed (like the Scouts they were built to compete with)

Your track bar and drag link are not quite parallel but you will be changing the suspension so should wait until you do to see what it is then.

 

[AZ73]

Not sure what that welded plate is on the bottom of the frame in front of the Steering box and body mount.

Your drag link and track bar are fine in my opinion. They just look slightly off because of the angle you're taking your pictures.

"Lean" can be caused as much by your c bushings as the suspension. I'm assuming you're replacing those? Read up on how to center the radius arms because attaching them to the frame. And have fun!

 

[DirtDonk]

Looks like a non-stock (non-Bronco anyway) pitman arm was installed. Which could account for the slight discrepancy in angles. I agree it could be the angle of the camera, but it does look like the two pivot points do not match exactly.

The arm looks to have more of an angle on it than stock EB arms, but if it's a power steering swap, it could be an arm from lots of different models.
What year is this Bronco flexmerc? Power steering from the factory?

Paul

 

[Rustytruck]

Somebody rebuilt or extended the front bumper mounts on the frame ends.

 

[flexmerc]

This is a 74 bronco, ranger model, I think it came with power steering?

 

[DirtDonk]

Ok. Maybe it's a factory pitman arm after all and just looks like it has more drop from the angle of the camera.
But I have seen some EB's with slightly skewed trackbar/draglink angles. Maybe there were some variations on the pitman arm theme other than the ones we've documented.

Yes, a '74 ('73 and later) would easily have come with power steering. It was still an option, but I think most Broncos were ordered that way at the time. As soon as it was available, power steering was on most buyer's wish lists.

Does the steering box run to a full 6 to 6.5 turns lock-to-lock? If so then it's still in it's original configuration even. Some get converted to quicker steering (3.5 to 4.5 turns) when they get rebuilt, but from the factory the '73-'75 boxes were 6-turn, and the '76 and '77 boxes were 4-turn boxes.

By the way, the front coils don't look all that old. Not that all of us vendors don't want to sell you another set of course, but are you sure you need them? I know you said you have a lean, but that can come from other sources just as easily as it can from the coils.

Can you tell whether the upper fifth or so of the coils are much closer together than the rest? If so then they're a modern variable rate coil and pretty desirable. If not, or if they're only slightly tighter than regular, then they could be one of the vendor's (possibly BCB) linear rate coils. Also with a good reputation for reliability.
And a bad street ride can be from other things as well. The tires and the shocks being the most common.

As far as unknown goes though, have you verified how tall your truck is yet? If you measure between the bottom of the frame rail and the top of the axle tubes you can find out how much effective lift is on there now.
The front would be 7" and the rear is 6" from the factory. Anything above that is your suspension lift.
Give or take a half-inch or so.

Good luck. Hopefully it'll be pretty straightforward to get it dialed in the way you want it.

Paul

 

[flexmerc]

All, thanks again...I have attached more photos (pictures speak better than my jacked up English)

Dirtdonk, my suspension is as follows
Front Pass = 9 1/2
Front Driver = 9 1/4
Rear Driver = 7 1/4
Rear Pass = 7 1/2

Also, I attached photos of the springs, they don't look variable to me.
I'm thinking of going with a 3 1/2 Wild horses kit, to have all the recommended springs and shocks. I only plan on having 33inch tires, and will be 90% road 10% hunting type "off-roading" and maybe donuts in the dirt when I get a wild hair up my butt.

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks. Funny, but the perspective of the pics sure makes those coil springs look massively thick!
They could actually be variables, but could also just have sagged out upper coils. Notice how they look closer together than the lower coils. That would normally indicate some version of a variable rate, but they don't look quite as tightly coiled as I would expect at least based on our own design. So hard to day.

Equally hard to say is what the lift was intended to be originally. Front seems roughly 2.5" or so, and the rear is about 1 to 1.5 inches or so.
Might be typical though, of the practice of lifting the rear an inch less than the front, to help level it out.

But I'm having a hard time thinking that a 1/4" lean is worth going to the trouble of "fixing" so unless there is some discrepancy in the points you used for measuring, or something like that, there may be other factors at work.
So check your body mounts too, to make sure that at least some of your lean is not coming from the body-to-frame orientation.
The cushions/insulators are 3/4" tall when new. If you have some that are sagged down to the frame, as many of the old rubber ones are, then I would replace those no matter what else you do to the suspension.

Paul

 

[flexmerc]

Paul what you say makes sense, because there is a noticeable lean a couple of inches on the driver side if I measure from the body (front and rear) to the ground. I will check the body mounts as you suggested.

 

[DirtDonk]

When you measure from the body, are you using the upper body line, or top of the bed rail where the top mounts? Using fender openings would seem like a bad idea due to more inconsistencies even from the factory. But add cut fenders and you can no longer trust them to be even.
If you're using the factory upper lines though, you're probably fine.

Same for using the bumpers to ground actually. It's not as accurate as the suspension numbers you just got with the tape measure, because there are still inconsistencies that can be introduced. But it's one more area to compare all the others.

And not a bad habit either, to use multiple locations to make sure that you're not fighting something that's bent, twisted or otherwise damaged and giving you skewed readings.

Paul