Need more articulation

[77CSP]

I have a 1977 with a 3-1/2 inch WH suspension lift, no body lift. It's running 35's with stock axles. The rear does not articulate very well. This is mainly a rock crawling rig with little road time. Was thinking about inboard shocks. Not sure how to get this thing to flex more. Any suggestions would be a great help.

 

[SteveL]

To get flex you need extended front radius arms or the wah from bcbroncos. Do either of those and yes you will need longer shocks front and rear. Also if you add that much flex with a 3 1/2" lift and 35s you're gonna need to stretch the fender flares real big and or a body lift to not rub. My 72 has a 3 1/2" suspension with extended radius arms, 2" body lift, duffy stage 2 shock hoop up front that reaches to the top of the inner fender well. In the rear I have inboard shocks. With 33s it flexed like crazy in the rocks but lots of body roll on the road. Now with 35s I may need to add bump stops and my flares are cut pretty big. I'm also looking at going with outboard rear shocks and or sway bars to control the body to on the road. Still weighing options

 

[Yeller]

Longer shocks help, but must be outboard for stability both in the dirt and on the road. I’ll give up some flex for stability any day. Most of the time with them outboard sway bars are not needed

 

[399strokerEB]

How old is your suspension? Next to you have it maxed out climb out and take a look at what your suspension is doing. You may just be sitting on your bump stops.

 

[bknbronco]

how is inboard shocks gona help with rear spring articulation? Take them off. unless your shock is too long or too short it should have any input on spring articulation. changing position, angle, etc wont really do anything to help unless you already have them binding. Sometimes the shocks will slow axle movment if the bushings are squeezed really tight, but you need them somewhat tight. I have noticed that with loose shock bolts i got more axle drop.

Leaf springs are not the best for articulation...but excell in other ways sometimes. Remember were not driving a new 4door HEEP. The bronco will typically need lockers front and rear because you will more than likely be offroading with a tire in the air most of the time.

I still havent gotten my bronco in the rocks yet...maybe this summer....while i do expect good results in the rocks.....i dont expect to impress people at the metal articulation test ramp.

 

[SteveL]

Going inboard just allows for a longer shock but the further from verticle you mount the shock takes away from its performance.

 

[Madgyver]

spring rockers and long arms will get you what you are looking for but it comes at a cost in street manners. Body roll. Off camber runs are sketchy

 

[SteveL]

At one point they were talking of making the spring rockers printable for the street. Dont know if it ever happened.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Spring rockers, wow that takes things back 10-15 years. There was a pretty good write up about someone who rolled there rig and the analysis and pictures showed the rockers allowed the leaf springs to flex sideways (which is what they do to allow flex) but that allowed the axle to shift sideways and the rig fell over. Pretty much as soon as that came out the spring rockers all but disappeared from broncos.

That and the few random pivot bolt failures. That was a long time ago.

 

[ZOSO]

Im running WH 3.5" leafs and the inboard shock mounts. Get plenty of travel out of the rear. No stability issues either but it does require a fairly stiff shock to control the bounce/rocking when wheelin.

Like was said above if you free up too much the tires will rub. Im on 35's and 1"bl with large cut flairs and they still rub under full stuff.

 

[WILDHORSES]

I have a 1977 with a 3-1/2 inch WH suspension lift, no body lift. It's running 35's with stock axles. The rear does not articulate very well. This is mainly a rock crawling rig with little road time. Was thinking about inboard shocks. Not sure how to get this thing to flex more. Any suggestions would be a great help.

You should easily max out the travel with a stock shock mount so you are on the right track with your thinking about doing something different with the shocks.

With 35s 3.5 suspension and no body how much more flex can you go? Remove the shocks all together and then do your flex test. You may find bump stop configuring necessary if your tires get into the sheet metal. I like the inboard set up as well.

Jim

 

[Broncobowsher]

Check out the Bilstein shocks as well. I believe it is the short body series you can get a little more travel out of the rear using the stock mounts. You have to watch both the compressed and extended lengths. As both numbers go up so does the available travel. But you need to watch that the shocks never bottom out, that kills them.

 

[stout22]

My 76 trail Bronco is running a WH 3.5" SL and 1" BL with f250 front shock mounts. 37x14-15 IROCS. I had to put extended bump stops. At this time I had stock radius arms. The shocks are what gave me the articulation I wanted. I don't recall what shocks I'm running.

 

[BanditBronco]

In my opinion the stock radius arms tend to try and keep the truck flat with the front axle, and the rear axle tends to do most of the "flexing". Even with stock shock mounts the rear will flex pretty good. Depending on the obstacle, and where the weight of the vehicle is leveraged, the truck following the front axle while it is trying to stay as flat as possible gives the driver the feeling that you aren't flexing that much, because you aren't. At least not up front.