cocco78 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 Well here is a picture... Jaeme wanted me to draw her a tattoo of her Manche. Stupid permanent marker only lasted 2 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rokhound Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 I paid a bit more for my parts-Bronco, but it had with the same striping. :D if i could find one what year would be ideal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 I paid a bit more for my parts-Bronco, but it had with the same striping. :D if i could find one, what year would be ideal Depends if you want to use the Ford radius arm suspension. The 75-77 F-150 has welded-on radius arm mounts and they are easy to cut off. The 78-79 F-150 and fullsize Bronco have cast-in mounts that are pretty much impossible to remove. The 77 and earlier Broncos have narrower "Jeep-width" axles, but are low pinion front and have weaker 9" rear axles. In 1980, the F-150 and Bronco went to the TTB front axle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 78 and 79 are fine if you want to keep the axles full width, which we are going to do. But if you want to narrow the axle to jeep width then look for the 77 and older with the welded on mounts, so you can cut them off and stuff. The 77 and older early bronco axles are junk, small and weak and only worth money to bronco guys, stay away. A non-disco hp30 with 297 joints is way stronger than that cheesy LP44 in the early bronco's. The thing about the full width hp44's in the full size bronco's and f150's is the coil spring mounts are somewhat offset on the axle, and don't match the stock coil spring mount width on the Jeep. But they unbolt and you can swap them around and change the offset and get it pretty darn close to work, I think within an inch. Makes a nice swap into a TJ, MJ, or XJ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 After flipping the buckets around, they were still this far off on my truck: and they bowed the coil forward too. I made some wedges to fix the bow and then later on I cut and angled the bump stop tower to match the axle. Eventually I had this: I don't want to clog up cocco78's post with my pile of rust, so you can see all the photos here: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=4940732&uid=512063 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rokhound Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 thanks guys and i like what you got going on there man and more pics :popcorn: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 78 and 79 are fine if you want to keep the axles full width, which we are going to do. But if you want to narrow the axle to jeep width then look for the 77 and older with the welded on mounts, so you can cut them off and stuff. The 77 and older early bronco axles are junk, small and weak and only worth money to bronco guys, stay away. A non-disco hp30 with 297 joints is way stronger than that cheesy LP44 in the early bronco's. The thing about the full width hp44's in the full size bronco's and f150's is the coil spring mounts are somewhat offset on the axle, and don't match the stock coil spring mount width on the Jeep. But they unbolt and you can swap them around and change the offset and get it pretty darn close to work, I think within an inch. Makes a nice swap into a TJ, MJ, or XJ... Actually, if you want to narrow it you can get 2 birds stoned at once here. Basically, you have to remove the welds that hold the cast mounts to the inner tubes. Then remove the entire mount/outer tube/C as a unit - a press probably works better than a BFH. Then you cut the inner tubes down (I wouldn't use waggy shafts, it'll mess everything up because of the uneven length) - I'd say 3"~ off each side. Then you smack the mounts back onto the tube, set caster, and weld the mess back together. Now the coil mounts are narrower too - by 3" on each side, probably really close to inline? Hard to say. And the radius arms are a little more workable at that width, IMHO. We need somebody stupid enough to try this. And will to spend a couple bucks on some aftermarket shafts. I've only even seen it done once, and they put it under a YJ. But, the axle does still have thinner tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 I've seen a guy run that 44 with the coil buckets flipped around and he moved out his upper spring mounts an 1" and it was really close to straight. He just cut off the bump stop, welded in some 1/4" plate, and welded on the bumpstop an inch further out on each side, then just added some gussets to make the mount strong. Anyway, here are some pics and even a couple video's... The video sucks and it was windy and the strap kept hitting the camera making noise but whatever... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 looking good! wish I had mine ready for a little wheeling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 how much lift is on the front of your MJ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 4.5" coils from www.ironrockoffroad.com $130 for the pair. Some el cheapo adj lca's, SS braided brake lines, and sway bar disco from rough country, and a slightly used rubicon express adj track bar from ebay... There is probably about $400 into the front end. There is about $20 into the rear SOA, 4 new u-bolts. As far as the bed bob goes, we spend about $25 for all the grade 8 bolts, $50 on the massive bumper, probably $20 in sawzall blades, drill bits, and grinding disks... It may not be the best but its my gf's first Jeep and we are just trying to do this on a real tight budget. Not that we can't spend more on it but its just fun seeing what you can do for the price. I know we are under $2k from day 1 including the $350 purchase price. We completely went through the truck first to make it drivable and safe, u-joints, brakes, bearings, ect.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 nice, where did you score your el cheapo adj lca's from? I too am looking for that exact set! I am on my way to building the cheapest 4.5-5.5 lift ever lol. Except I only have an ADJ RE TB that I scored for $50 delivered. still looking for my "other parts". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 we ordered the rough country lca's from jcwhitney. I forget how much they were but we were watching ebay and the fs sections on different boards and the used prices for adj lca's were outragous. Plus I don't like running special flex joints, I prefer stock control arm bushings. Living in Michigan rust is a huge problem and no matter how you take care of those joints they don't last a year. The rouch country arms just have poly bushings in them, which kinda suck imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jared Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 where in michigan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 The UP, Iron Mountain, right on the MI/WI border... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1999MJ Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 nice bob job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisty Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 nice bob job lol, I read that different (chest enhancment :brows: ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jared Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 The UP, Iron Mountain, right on the MI/WI border... oh well you must have some good wheeling up there. if you weren't so far away you should come to the xj/mj meet at the mounds in flint, but its probably a waste for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DansGreyMj Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 how do the coils ride and would u say the lca's are adequate for 4.5in or would u also recommend uppers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 The mounds, yeah thats a waste of time. we have better wheeling on our way to work than the mounds. As far as the 4.5" of lift goes thats too much lift for just lower control arms. I'd say the most lift you can do with adj lower control arms it 3 or 3.5" of lift. I mean it'll work but with that much lift the control arms pull the axle so far back you really need adj uppers and lower to get the axle back to where it needs to be and have proper alingment. We don't do alot of on road driving with this so its ok how it is. If you wanted to build something that worked as well on road as off YOU HAVE TO GO TO LONG ARMS, there really is no way around it. The same goes with tj's, xj,s, zj's, wj's, ect... anything more than 3.5" of lift and your at the point of to much lift for stock length control arms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 New update! We picked up the parts bronco, I didn't expect much for $128 but it turned out to be pretty nice. Spent the afternoon cutting out the axles while it was still on the trailer. I'm getting pretty good at this, i've done it several times now. It really helps to have an open deck trailer, lots of strong timbers and good jack stands. The rest of the bronco goes to another guy that wants the trans, I told him he could have the trans for $75 if he took the whole truck! And these are the radius arms that we'll be using... And a few other parts from one of my buddies old projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jared Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 sweet! what gear ratio in the full widths? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocco78 Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 stock gears, 3.55's I'm sure. Plans call for 4.88's with 36" tires, maybe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88swampedmj Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 i would do somethin better than 4.88s with 36s... but thats me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 It depends on the terrain to be wheeled, the tcase gears, tranny gears, and the power level of the motor. 4.56s and 37s works for me. You just get to smell my clutch sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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