what is the best order of mods

[stock1970]

say you have a stock bronco , what is the order of mods you would do to make it a trail rig.. ie.. arb, lift, cut, efi, axel shafts, tires, pwer brakes, steering, roll cage. radiator, trans. .. ect.. ect.. ;D


and no i am not thinking of making my stocker a trail rig.. lol

 

[bmc69]

Yes.....;D

 

[Heus33]

Hardcore trails? Safety first, get the cage, then the lift/cut. The rest can be upgraded after you demolish the stock parts!

 

[sprdv1]

Cage, lift, cut, gears, lockers, tires...

 

[evil69]

Cage and then front 60.

 

[Apogee]

Safety first on any rig, regardless of use. Brakes and steering are the top priority in my opinion, everything else is secondary. A cage doesn't do the folks you hit any good because you couldn't stop or turn safely. Everything after that point tends to depend on what your goals are for the rig...I certainly wouldn't build a bone stock driver the same way I would a purpose built trail rig.

 

[justinoshea]

The stereo man, the tunes all the way!
j/k, brakes/steering, efi/relaible motor, lockers, then the cool looking stuff

 

[rubbman]

Wild horses disc brakes and Stone Crusher steering are the two MOST importaint mods. You must have controll of your buggie first!

 

[ep67bro]

Brakes steering, cage, lift, tires, gears, lockers, and then all the little things that take every last cent you have! In that order. LOL

 

[Sbolt19]

#1. Brakes - you gotta be able to stop
#2. Steering (add hydroboost while doing this) - turning big meats with manual isn't fun
#3. Engine - If it don't run reliable, it won't get you back
#4. Trans/x-fer - Make sure your tranny is up to the task. Also take a look at the driveshafts & see if they need to be fixed.
#5. Axles - Do the gears/lockers at once, so you don't pay 2x to have them set up
#6. Cage - Make sure the thing is mechanically able then you can add crawler necessities
#7. Lift (susp. or body) - Cut the fenders when you do this if that is your intention
#8. Tires - You will probably go through different size tires in your mind, but I would figure out what size you want and build towards that, but do the tires last. It would suck if you got a set of 38s first and only did a 2" suspension lift

 

[Socal Tom]

Safety, Reliability then performance upgrades.
Tom

 

[needabronco]

My $.02 is to come up with a true game plan first. What do you want out of your rig? If you plan you'll save some major coin, cause you won't be doing things two or three times.

How mechanical are you? Do you like to scrounge up parts or buy 'kits', this will dictate your budget.

But since you asked;
1. Disk brakes, good rear drums, new brake lines
2. Drivetrain make it reliable
3. Cage
4. Axles, lockers, maybe gears
5. Suspension and tires at the same time
6. Drive it like you stole it....;D

 

[yellow69]

I would put a cage in first then a winch before you upgrade the axles to much. So you don't have to rely on other people to get you out of a jam

 

[22213evl]

brakes, drivetrain, cage, engine, stereo, naked women! ;D

 

[sprinksbeme]

Make a plan of what you want first! This will save redoing things you aready done and save you money. Some things will be best done in groups.

1. Brakes Front Disk
2. Cage
3. Steering upgrade and frame reinforcement
4. Suspention Lift
5. Gear Change & traction Devices (Gear Change a must if going bigger than 31" tires)
6. Alloy Axle Shafts and Joints
7. Tires
8. Cut Body
9. Bumpers and Rock protection

Engine & Transmission upgrades plus anything not upto par will need to be fit in.

 

[Broncobowsher]

First, fix all the problems with the parts you are going to keep. But don't sink any coin into stuff you are not going to use. This is part of the make it safe with cage, belts, etc.

Now as you follow your plan (you do have a plan on what you want, don't you?) take care of the non-functional items first with the upgrades.

I would love to be more specific, but there are countless versions of a "trail rig". I have seen trail rigs that are nothing more then a stock truck with cut fenders, big tires and welded diffs all the way up to tube buggies that have a little bit of a Bronco grill left on them. You mention ARB, do you want that in a D44 or a D60? That is providing you were talking about the front. Rear, stock 9" or 1-ton? Full width 1-ton, full width half ton, or stock? Pure trail or drivable to the trail? The above answers and I am sure some that will follow will be good plans, for what the poster is thinking their idea of a trail rig should be. But do you want there idea of a rig, or your own? It is easy to follow someone else's plan and build something that doesn't work for you. It is another to determine the parts you want in then ask us what order to put them in.

I think you want us to tell you what order to do the work, just what work do you plan on doing?

 

[Dave]

The stereo man, the tunes all the way!

Dope! Man... Don't know how is works as I've never tried it but back in the late 60s and early 70s it didn't matter if it was rocks, sand, mud, or terrain, when you finally got to the cool camping spot at the end of the challenging trail there would always be a couple of VW busses with a bunch of hippies sitting around a camp fire smoking dope. ;D ;D ;D

 

[t.lay]

Like others said - safety first - brakes and steering. Then reliability, then performance

 

[Viperwolf1]

I say do the horsepower mods early. Then upgrade the rest of the drivetrain as parts fail. It's the sure way to identify the weak links.

 

[broncnaz]

In my book Brakes and steering first. I put a cage down near the bottom of the list or at the same time you install a lift and bigger tires. my reasoning is while stock height broncos do roll your less likely to get into that situation until lifted. Bad part is most mods go hand in hand so there is really little choice in the order. You put a lift on so now you can put on bigger tires but you need new axle gearing to turn those tires since your lifted with big tires now you need a cage. now you need more power from the engine and a tranny to go along with it. It goes on and on. Have fun.