New Bronco finally "finished".. Haha

[Speedracer800]

Hello everyone.

I'm brand new to the forum and I'm once again back in the early Bronco owners club. Had one when I was a kid (25 years ago) and have been wanting another for years.

Mine is a 74' and just completed frame off restoration. 351w, 3 speed floor shift, 2 1/2" Graveyard lift and 1" body lift. Finally getting some miles on it and it's primarily going to be driven on the street with almost no serious off road use.

I'm having the same drivabilty issues it seems most guys do with these beauties. Caster! Even with the 7 degree bushings and another degree or so from the upper ball joint bushings, I still only have a degree of positive caster and as all of you know, that takes a bit of the fun outta driving these things. Because my frame is all freshly powder coated, welding on drop brackets for the radius arms is obviously my last resort for solving this. Same for extended arms. I have no bump steer, but a bit of torque steer which I'm seeing in other threads here is also pretty common. Something else I've noticed is my front axle is out of center by roughly an inch (not using an adjustable Trac bar.. Been ordered though). Could that be contributing to the torque steer? Also I was considering cutting right to the chase regarding the caster and going to the Bc Broncos adjustable radius arms.. Anyone have any experience with those yet?

Thanks in advance for your help.. I've really enjoyed the threads here. You guys have been really helpful to an (old) newbie.

P. S I'd love to have posted pictures but maybe it's not letting me because I'm new??

 

[cldonley]

Welcome to the forum. That is a beautiful rig! In order to post pictures you have to become a contributor ($12 a year). Congrats on the new rig. Looks like it was worth the wait!

 

[Speedracer800]

Thanks for the compliments and the information.. I'll definitely get signed up. I've been addicted to the forum for the past few weeks..

 

[Speedracer800]

Finally had some time to take a few more pictures.. So happy to getting some miles on it. Slowly starting to dial in the steering issues.

 

[Blue Bastard]

Gorgeous truck

 

[Justafordguy]

Welcome to the site. Your 74 turned out awesome.

Your best bet on getting more caster (if you don't want to do the radius arm drop brackets) will be to have the ends of your front axle cut off, turned for more caster, and welded back on. Post up your location and maybe someone can recommend a shop that can do it for you.

 

[xcntrk]

^Rotating the knuckles would be the ultimate fix.

Are you sure caster is your problem and not sloppy steering components?

 

[70_Steve]

I'm having the same drivabilty issues it seems most guys do with these beauties. Caster! Even with the 7 degree bushings and another degree or so from the upper ball joint bushings, I still only have a degree of positive caster and as all of you know, that takes a bit of the fun outta driving these things. Because my frame is all freshly powder coated, welding on drop brackets for the radius arms is obviously my last resort for solving this. Same for extended arms. I have no bump steer, but a bit of torque steer which I'm seeing in other threads here is also pretty common. Something else I've noticed is my front axle is out of center by roughly an inch (not using an adjustable Trac bar.. Been ordered though). Could that be contributing to the torque steer? Also I was considering cutting right to the chase regarding the caster and going to the Bc Broncos adjustable radius arms.. Anyone have any experience with those yet?

I'm surprised that 7° bushings with a 2 1/2" SL only yields 1° caster. Did that " 1° " number come from an alignment shop? If that number is actual, the first thing I'd check is the installation of those 7° bushings. It's very easy to get them installed incorrectly.

For comparison, when I installed my 2 1/2" SL, 4° bushings gave me 3 1/2° caster.

The front differential not being centered isn't helping things any, but if that was your only problem, you may not have noticed any ill steering effects. You are measuring from the frame to the wheel/front differential, right??? Do not measure from the body to the wheel. The body can be misaligned with the frame.

Torque steer is usually felt when accelerating or decelerating. It will push the Bronco to the left or right. Usually caused by a locking rear carrier, like my Detroit Locker. What rear carrier are you running?

 

[zonian]

Great looking truck, I have the same outside color, wife picked it!

 

[Speedracer800]

First of all.. Thanks for the nice comments regarding my truck.. I really appreciate it. It's been a long time coming and I'm really happy with the final product. (with the exception of my little drive ability issue)

So I installed the new Trac bar I got from Wildhorses and it was the easy solution for centering the front axle under the truck. I was measuring from the frame to check the location.. This was a pretty dumb oversight when the truck was being assembled. I just ordered an adjustable drag link as well because now that is an issue also.

Regarding the caster.. I'm baffled. I took the caps off the radius arms last night to double check the installation and to insure they are indeed 7 degree bushings and all is correct. I agree that cutting and relocating the knuckles is the best real solution for this since longer arms and/or drop brackets are not an option for me. I'm still messing around with ride height though so I'm going to wait and get that dialed in first before diving into the caster problem. I'm in the Chicago area so if anyone can knows of a good shop local to me that's capable of working on this front axle housing I'd love to hear some referrals. I lowered the front end a bit last night and the caster of course increased slightly and things improved for sure. But like I said, I know I have a problem with the steering center so I need the adjustable drag link to get that squared away.. Just keep pickin away at it.

 

[Leftka]

Great looking build.

 

[Speedracer800]

So I got a camber/caster gauge.. Checked caster and now have 5.75 degrees. Why does it still drive like it needs caster?? Toe is in about 1/8". No bump steer. Not sure what steering box I'm using but it appears to be stock for the 74. Only 4 1/4 turns lock to lock. Would the Delphi box help? I'm also using a stock type pump with serpentine setup. Again.. Doesn't drive horrible but I'm looking for a little bit better road manners. Someone else had mentioned my shocks being part of the problem maybe? Any one else have issues with the Bilstein 5100 series shock? I've heard they're just a bit soft early on in travel??

 

[broncoitis]

Really nice lookin Bronco that you have there! Unfortunate that you are having problems with the driving manners. I have some of the same issues but have yet to attack them. I admit that it does definitely affect the enjoyment that these trucks offer when the road manners are a bit suspect.

 

[afowles]

What part of Chicago you in? Nw suburbs myself.. Truck looks great BTW

 

[Speedracer800]

Really nice lookin Bronco that you have there! Unfortunate that you are having problems with the driving manners. I have some of the same issues but have yet to attack them. I admit that it does definitely affect the enjoyment that these trucks offer when the road manners are a bit suspect.

Thank you.. Yes, it sure does. The fix is out there though and I'll keep digging away until it's perfect. I'm starting to think my problem might be the steering box. The single biggest issue is the steering wheel not wanting to return to center.. Which normally indicates a caster problem, but the box being screwed up could also create this problem.

 

[Speedracer800]

What part of Chicago you in? Nw suburbs myself.. Truck looks great BTW

Yep.. Me too neighbor.

 

[Bronco73]

Looks great