GoFastBroncos.com

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2-link: http://www.gofastbroncos.com/forum/view ... p?f=3&t=72


The rear is a bit more simple than the front but still needs attention before you go attacking whoops and jumps.

Basic foundation:

Long-travel leaf springs
Longer shocks
Longer brake hoses

Recommended items:
Limit straps (to keep shocks from overextending)

Performance at this point should be very good. You'll have more wheel travel, better damping (hopefully you used at least a Bilstein 5100) and more articulation. As with the front, shocks will be the limiting factor. The rear will, however, not fade quite as fast as the similarly equipped front suspension.

Most people choose to upgrade shocks next. To get full wheel travel out of the rear of a Bronco you'll need to install a new upper shock mount that will allow the use of longer shocks. Doing so will free up several inches of droop (suspension extension).

If keeping the stock rear floor, most people use a 12" travel shock leaning forward like the stock configuration. The upper shock mount will end up under the floor just behind the foot well for the rear passengers.

If you decide to go through the floor Your options really open up. The stock sheet metal is no longer limiting placement and you can build in much better shock geometry.

Here is a great write-up on "bed cages" and shock placement. All the same principles apply.

http://www.desertrides.com/reference/bedcage.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

An upgrade that is often overlooked is the addition of some sort of ant-axle-wrap device. The most common is probably a "2-link" kit which consists of two bars attached to the bottom of the axle-tubes extending forward to a bracket on the frame rail.

A properly designed 2-link kit allows the axle to freely move up and down and articulate, but stops the axle-housing from rotating under load (acceleration and braking). This will eliminate most if not all of the rear wheel chatter and allow you to run a softer spring which will promote wheel travel and articulation.

In the following picture you can see the two-link bars and brackets as well as long-travel leaf springs, 12" travel shocks mounted under the floor and the side plates of a bolt-on upper shock mount structure.




There next most common anti-wrap device for the go-fast Bronco is probably an upper link which attaches to the top of the differential housing and extends forward to the two frame rails. Imagine the upper link on a 3-link coil-over suspension. This one will be trickier as there are no "bolt-on" kits available as of now.

[See image below]

Does anyone know whose this is, forgot where i pulled it from.

It's important to note that the 2.5 diameter 12" shocks used in the rear of a Bronco need to be a "short body" style. Any shock longer than 19.5 when fully compressed becomes difficult to fit without limiting compression travel or changing the lower mount and sacrificing ground clearance.

This is the main reason you see a lot of Swayaway 2.5 shocks used on Broncos, as King 12"x2.5, Swayaway 3.0 12", and Fox 12"x2.5 are too long. Bilstein has short body shocks that are not listed in the catalog that will fit.

Does anyone here make or know a good place to find the rear shock mount bar? I know autofab sells as part of their $kit, but was wondering if it can be had by itself somewhere else.

monkei wrote:Does anyone here make or know a good place to find the rear shock mount bar? I know autofab sells as part of their $kit, but was wondering if it can be had by itself somewhere else.

You can buy it separately.

monkei wrote:Does anyone here make or know a good place to find the rear shock mount bar? I know autofab sells as part of their $kit, but was wondering if it can be had by itself somewhere else.

You can buy almost any piece from a kit you want from Autofab, he will even add or subtract options on coil buckets and such. His stuff is not the cheapest out there but you will only have to buy once....

so last night,i was working on my buddys CL3 bronco(79).had had bought some f-53 deavers a few years ago from deaver,(and they sat untill now)
i pulled them apart and basically mono-leafed the rear end to get some measurements.1 measured 12"vertically( with an empty 9"housing bolted up and stock shackles). no negative arch the springs were flat.at theat point i had 6 inches left @ bump before the housing hit the frame rail. if the springs were to have say 1 1/2" of negative arch,to get a little bit more bump,whats the harm?
this bronco will only see at the most 3 races a year and will get prepped btween races as needed.
i know rule of thumb is" if the stay flat they'll last.on my rangers,i have set them up to go a little negative to gain the the couple of extra inches or bump.but i want this to reliable and not be sending springs out after very race

bajascott wrote:so last night,i was working on my buddys CL3 bronco(79).had had bought some f-53 deavers a few years ago from deaver,(and they sat untill now)
i pulled them apart and basically mono-leafed the rear end to get some measurements.1 measured 12"vertically( with an empty 9"housing bolted up and stock shackles). no negative arch the springs were flat.at theat point i had 6 inches left @ bump before the housing hit the frame rail. if the springs were to have say 1 1/2" of negative arch,to get a little bit more bump,whats the harm?
this bronco will only see at the most 3 races a year and will get prepped btween races as needed.
i know rule of thumb is" if the stay flat they'll last.on my rangers,i have set them up to go a little negative to gain the the couple of extra inches or bump.but i want this to reliable and not be sending springs out after very race

Longer shackles will reduce the negative arch and make your springs live longer. They will also help with droop. You could also change your front spring hangar out with an F150 2WD part as the spring mounts 2" higher.

never heard of the 2wd hanger, thats an idea worth looking at.we are going with longer shackles as well,
i was shooting for 15-16" of travel. and by the way this is not going to racing cl3 in bitd or score. the owner just wants to have fun and race sportsman type classes.it was origionally built for 4100 bitd last races in 2001 at the LV200
thanks philo!

bajascott wrote:never heard of the 2wd hanger, thats an idea worth looking at.we are going with longer shackles as well,
i was shooting for 15-16" of travel. and by the way this is not going to racing cl3 in bitd or score. the owner just wants to have fun and race sportsman type classes.it was origionally built for 4100 bitd last races in 2001 at the LV200
thanks philo!

You could probably re use your old hanger farther up too but I think the spring you have is 2.5 wide so a 2wd hangar is the way to go. They are still reasonable from Ford.

they are 2wd springs. thanks .

Let's not forget shackles!

I upgraded to nice Bilsteins, got my Deaver packs on, extended brakellines...and it was pretty good.

Then I got longer Camburg shackles and they made all the difference. My rear travel got a LOT better, the rearend sticks to the ground in the whoops now, and even ride quality improved. Night and day, it's so much better now. I'm kicking myself for not getting them sooner--after all, they're relatively cheap compared to some of the other stuff.

bajascott wrote:never heard of the 2wd hanger, thats an idea worth looking at.we are going with longer shackles as well,
i was shooting for 15-16" of travel. and by the way this is not going to racing cl3 in bitd or score. the owner just wants to have fun and race sportsman type classes.it was origionally built for 4100 bitd last races in 2001 at the LV200
thanks philo!

Scott,
Is that Bronco one that was out of Grass Valley area around 1999-2000 era. I remember talking to the owner of that truck and him describing the rancho shock boots dripping off in a puddle by the first pit of Vegas to Reno. That was a true stock class truck.

We use F250 front spring hangers because they have 6 mounting bolts holes instead of 4 and are thicker material. They dont require any reinforcement and spread the load on the frame. You have to monkey with bushings though using a 2.5" spring. We havent found a stock bushing combo yet that works without mods. The Blazer bushings are close but have to be bored to fit our sleeves.

Ken

haha i believe it the same bronco.the owner is the guy who invented the "bajabuster" his name is Eldon.
he's a hell of a guy.
thanks for the tip on the hanger Ken, i will pass that on to Eldon and get him on that!

would someone mind measuring how thick an individual leaf is in their deaver pack?

So do you still order F53 deavers if your going to use the 2wd front hanger? or do you have to run F150 leafs?

So I notice that most of the 2-link set-ups have the bar attached under the leaf then going back and mounting just below the shackle, has anyone run a setup where the 2-link in inside the leaf like the Superlift bars? Does the change in mounting positions affect how much/little the bar affects the up/down motion of the suspension?

f53 's are f150 springs, they are 2 1/2 " wide and bronco are 3"

so we made up some shackles,we decided to keep the front hanger in place and just build shackles.
with the shackle i made,we got it to cycle 16.33333333333333333(haha)"
that is with the spring laying flat. im sure itll change a little bit once the rest of the springs are in place.
but i think if we modify the shackle hange a little bit we can get another 1-2" of droop. at least that the way it looks.
i'll post pics once we get some more work done thursday night......