Is this a typical "Bronco lean"?

[kat]

Looking at buying this Bronco but started looking at it and it seemed one side was higher than the other. I looked around on here and seen the Bronco's at typical in having a lean. But to my eyes it seemed the body was lower on one side than the other. I would assume this is from body bushings worn. I inspected the bushings and some did seem a little squished. My concearn is frame warping. I drove the truck and it seemed to do fine down the road but I didnt get it up to highway speed. Also there is a pic (sorry for the blurry) of inside the frame by the steering box. Weld so dirtdobbered up looks like a 10 year old did it. Is this common or is there an issue with the frame.
I left the truck but want to go back and buy it but conserened about the lean.
My plan is putting a suspension lift on it and to go ahead and replace the bushings wont be that big of a deal if that is the problem...thanks

 

[KAllen]

how are all the body mounts?

 

[77RHINO]

I'll leave professional confirmation to some of the guru's here, but I agree with you on the body mounts, bc the bumpers look level. When I bought mine the grille was forming to the frame and the tailgate was scratching from hitting the rear bumper. WH 1" body mounts do wonders for these, they should have been a factory item in most of our opinions. I do think its odd that one side is so much more squished than the other, but I'd just do a thorough inspection of all the body mounts, some could be replaced with welded rod as a quick fix and then forgotten about, as mine were. If it drove good, didn't ride dog-legged, all tires look to be wearing decent and a hard braking didn't truly scare you, then jump on in, the waters fine ;D

 

[kat]

Some body mounts seemed flattened to me. All of them that I seen had variants. I drove it braked hard and everything seemed fine. It kinda scared me off so I thought I would ask opinions before I did something.

 

[Whoaa]

This has me puzzled at the moment because the whole body, and/or frame appears to be racked. It may just be the pic's, but I doubt it because you're seeing it in person also.

And this is NOT the typical Bronco "lean" - the root cause is radius arm alignment. This is a body / frame issue.

The interesting thing is that the Front Passenger side is down, and the Rear drivers side is down.

The body could be severely racked on the frame, or the frame could be diamond racked. Either way I doubt just the body bushings could/would cause this much distortion....something else is going on here.

The lines on either side of the tail gate seem about the same. Often times the bed will splay open and cause all kinds of other associated grief, but this ones appears to be square on the rear. The front hood is much closer on the driver side than the pass side, but this can be an easy adjustment to the hood hinge plate.

Often times door alignment tells a tale. Can you provide pic's taken from the each side?

And, how do the doors open and close? Striker plate alignment? Rust in the front or rear door area? Other serious rust....firewall, floors, rust in the mid-point body bushing location?

EDIT: After looking at it again, and thinking some more, it could be as a simple as each frame horn that the bumper mounts to, Right front & Left rear just happens to be slightly bent in opposite directions.....this would mean nothing is seriously wrong with it, and you can fairly easily straighten the un-supported frame end where the bumper bolts to.

 

[Blue Bastard]

Measure between frame and top of axel. If there is a difference, that is bronco lean.

 

[BRONCOchild]

The bumper also seems to be gaped wider on the rear driver side, than on the passenger.

 

[KAllen]

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/5307706057.html

the link. maybe it works.


seems a little high for all the issues.

 

[surfer-b]

That's from the bushings and/or the body mounts. It looks if though someone added new bushings to the driver side and not the passenger, almost like they started a body lift and decided it was too much trouble. If it were only "Bronco Lean" which is suspension related, the body and bumper would not have different gaps from one side to the other, the frame and body will move together, not saying that both are not happing with that Bronco, just that suspension will not cause the body to lift away from the frame unless the mounts and/or bushings are bad.
Take some measurements on both sides and see what you come up with and also from the axle to the frame on both sides as someone else stated

 

[surfer-b]

Also there is a pic (sorry for the blurry) of inside the frame by the steering box. Weld so dirtdobbered up looks like a 10 year old did it. Is this common or is there an issue with the frame.

If that is all weld and not grease and dirt, cant really tell from that pic, then yes, there has been some welding done there. It is not uncommon to see that espec when big tires have been installed and it has been used hard.
I would look that rig over with a fine tooth comb before laying dwn the cash.

 

[half cab]

I agree with B. I've seen the squat like that and besides the b b being flat the hat rail had sorta peeled over at the front floor mount.

Looks like this Bronco may have took a hard landing of some sorts?

 

[Whoaa]

After viewing side pic's of door alignment in the CL ad -they look fine, I've narrowed down my opinion to 2 possible issues.

1) The actual mount location for the body bushing are damaged, and as a lesser issues the old bushing are squished a little un-evenly. However I can't imagine just the bushings will cause this much mis-alignment.

2) The R front frame end, and L rear frame end just happen to be slightly bent in opposite directions. Fairly easy fix. Or the frame is diamond racked, such as a hard landing from jumping it -run away.

And I'll throw in my 2 cents for value, I'd be real happy buying this one for around $6,000.

 

[half cab]

Example of flat body bushing and bent hat rail.

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[kat]

Thanks for all the feedback. First to talk about the blurry pic. Yes that is weld. Not grease. Not dirt. Weld. A very bad one at that. It sticks out a good inch and is about 5 inches wide. It does not look factory. And with the whole "twisted frame" issue it kinda looks like there must be a reason this thing looks like it does.

I tried to Google "diamond racked" but didn't come up with anything. Im assuming landing hard from a jump. Either way I think this trucks problem is beyond my skillset. I can deal with rust or a leak, but to me if there is even a thought that the frame is messed up in anyway scares me to death. Even if its just ears or pads that are messed up, in my opinion something bad happened to make it that way. I did talk him down a little but I don't think its worth it to me. I did measure the bottom of the frame in the rear to the concreate and the passanger side (rear measurement) was about an inch higher than the drivers side. I took in consideration of tire pressure but thought that might be a little extream. I should have measure frame to axle like was mentioned but didn't think about it.

And to add to the mystery of the Bronco. there were some bondo on the top of the drivers side fender, like something dropped on it...could be nothing, but it could mean a lot... I think I will continue my search.

 

[m_m70]

[/QUOTE]EDIT: After looking at it again, and thinking some more, it could be as a simple as each frame horn that the bumper mounts to, Right front & Left rear just happens to be slightly bent in opposite directions.....this would mean nothing is seriously wrong with it, and you can fairly easily straighten the un-supported frame end where the bumper bolts to.[/QUOTE]

This is what I had..............easy fix

 

[Whoaa]

Thanks for all the feedback. And with the whole "twisted frame" issue

I tried to Google "diamond racked" but didn't come up with anything. .. I think I will continue my search.

Sorry about the diamond racked comment -old slang terminology. But it sounds like you got the idea, twisted frame.

 

[Piglet]

EDIT: After looking at it again, and thinking some more, it could be as a simple as each frame horn that the bumper mounts to, Right front & Left rear just happens to be slightly bent in opposite directions.....this would mean nothing is seriously wrong with it, and you can fairly easily straighten the un-supported frame end where the bumper bolts to.[/QUOTE]

This is what I had..............easy fix[/QUOTE]

^ i had this problem, had a few fender washers stacked on top one side of frame rail under the top bumper mount to level out the bumper for a while.

 

[Brent13]

$11,000 for that truck? If that is worth 11k, mines got to be 20k. That Bronco looks like a mess of trouble.

 

[Teal68]

Mark,
Glad you posted up on here for more opinions. I figured this crew could add more insight. Good bunch here for sure.
Tyler

 

[Justafordguy]

Hey Kat, I looked at this Bronco the other day and I have to agree with the others that it's not just "Bronco Lean" I think the body bushings/mounts are the main problem but I would also be concerned with the bad welded spot on the frame. Even if the frame is OK I still think the price is high.