95 F150 overland/prerunner

Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:14 pm

Hi. My name is Brian new to being a member but long time lurker of this forum. First time making a build forum and hoping the build doesn’t take to long. I am building a 1995 extra cab F150 5.0/5speed/4x4 to be a cross between an overland rig and a go fast desert truck. Inspiration for the truck is to build a truck similar to the bajaf250 and the Baja mobile. I’m building everything myself and learning as I go. I picked up the truck about a month ago. I already have all new suspension to go under the truck which includes a Solo Motorsports stage 2 kit, a trail gear rock assault 9 inch with wilwood disk brakes, and fox 2.0 10 inch resi shocks for the rear and still debating running the Bilstein shocks that come with the solo kit or the fox 2.0 8 inch travel shocks I already have. In the future it will be getting coilovers in the front and bigger shocks in the rear but would like to keep the shocks under the bed For as long as possible. I have already trussed and boxed the the front beams. I am in the process of building new drop shackle mounts to run with the solo shackles. Most of the suspension came out of a 83 bronco my uncle was building for my dad that stalled because of health issues then the decision was make to scrap the project and the parts became available! I have been working on the truck parts every night while trying to get rid of the bronco body and frame. (Which I still have if anyone is interested! Free!! FREE DELIVERY IN THE LA AREA!!) I am going to start tearing the old suspension out of the truck this weekend and start mocking up the new parts. I will be updating this build as much as possible.
The bronco that was sacrificed!

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My new to me truck

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My parts waiting to go on the truck

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Needles929 · Post by **Needles929** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:28 pm

Nice start! I Look forward to seeing your progress.

ChaseTruck754 · Post by **ChaseTruck754** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:52 pm

Sad about the bronco, but the F-150 is just as cool! Looking forward to see this thing come together. If it follows suit of the BajaF250 or Bajamobile it'll be well worth it.

Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:38 pm

ChaseTruck754 wrote:Sad about the bronco, but the F-150 is just as cool! Looking forward to see this thing come together. If it follows suit of the BajaF250 or Bajamobile it'll be well worth it.

Yeah the bronco was going to be one mean truck but sometimes s**t happens. We had a ERod Ls3/4l80e/atlas drive train for it. The motor sold in 3 days of it being listed. I still have everything else that might one day make its way into my truck but we’ll see. If I can get this truck to turn out half as good as either of their trucks I will be happy!

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ChaseTruck754 · Post by **ChaseTruck754** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:56 pm

I was going to ask what happened to the motor, but held back in case the answer was "it's for sale" lol. I love the drive train combo. Sounds like you still have the 4l80 and atlas, which would be rad in that F-150! Maybe even just get an LQ4 or LQ9 to drop in front of it for a more "budget" way to go...

Tchajagos · Post by **Tchajagos** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:56 pm

Sounds like a sweet truck. The trucks are a little harder to stay under the bed with the larger shocks because the bed is a lot lower than the bronco cab is.

S00TLYFE · Post by **S00TLYFE** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:56 pm

Love this thing can’t wait to see it progress. I’m doing a similar build with my F-150 (sacrificed my Bronco as well)

Tchajagos · Post by **Tchajagos** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:57 pm

Or actually I think it was that the bed cross support was right in the way of where you would want the shocks to go, so you have to lean them more forward and get rid of the front gas tank.

Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:06 pm

Got a little done tonight. Got the first shackle mount almost done still have a little more boxing to do on it then start boxing the other side. I’m off work tomorrow so I’ll be trying to get rid of the bronco body and frame and finish these up. I might be pulling the truck in the yard to start tearing it down also. Thank you for all the interest in the truck you guys are definitely going to help keep me motivated to finish this thing! It’s been a few years since I’ve welded so their not the greatest but I don’t think these things are coming apart anytime soon.

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Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:11 pm

ChaseTruck754 wrote:I was going to ask what happened to the motor, but held back in case the answer was "it's for sale" lol. I love the drive train combo. Sounds like you still have the 4l80 and atlas, which would be rad in that F-150! Maybe even just get an LQ4 or LQ9 to drop in front of it for a more "budget" way to go...

Yeah I still have the 4l80 and the atlas and trust me it’s tempting to just start ripping the truck apart and find an ls motor to throw in but I’m going to be building this thing in a few stages.
First stage is to get all the new parts I have in the truck and get it back on the road.
Second stage is hopefully going to be a full cage to make this truck last with some hard off road miles.
Third is going to be coilovers and bigger rear shocks.

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Tchajagos · Post by **Tchajagos** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:12 pm

I would throw the shackle on there with a bolt on it and make sure it can cycle all the way. Back/forward.

Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:12 pm

Tchajagos wrote:Sounds like a sweet truck. The trucks are a little harder to stay under the bed with the larger shocks because the bed is a lot lower than the bronco cab is.

Yeah it’s not going to be easy to stay under the bed but I think I’ll be able to run a 10 inch shock with minimal cutting of the bed support that’s in the way and still clear the front gas tank. I want to eventually run a big single rear tank but for now I need to keep the front tank.

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Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:30 pm

Tchajagos wrote:I would throw the shackle on there with a bolt on it and make sure it can cycle all the way. Back/forward.

I did multiple times while building it to make sure everything was clearing.

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Tchajagos · Post by **Tchajagos** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:40 pm

Perfect!

ChaseTruck754 · Post by **ChaseTruck754** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:01 pm

Bsbronco wrote:
ChaseTruck754 wrote:I was going to ask what happened to the motor, but held back in case the answer was "it's for sale" lol. I love the drive train combo. Sounds like you still have the 4l80 and atlas, which would be rad in that F-150! Maybe even just get an LQ4 or LQ9 to drop in front of it for a more "budget" way to go...
Yeah I still have the 4l80 and the atlas and trust me it’s tempting to just start ripping the truck apart and find an ls motor to throw in but I’m going to be building this thing in a few stages.
First stage is to get all the new parts I have in the truck and get it back on the road.
Second stage is hopefully going to be a full cage to make this truck last with some hard off road miles.
Third is going to be coilovers and bigger rear shocks.

I would be VERY tempted. Your plan is solid though! Bolt on what you can now, keep it running then do a bigger jump later after you have enjoyed it for a bit. I personally can never fight the temptation & therefore have a handful of "yard art" in the form of half built rigs...

Bsbronco wrote:
Tchajagos wrote:Sounds like a sweet truck. The trucks are a little harder to stay under the bed with the larger shocks because the bed is a lot lower than the bronco cab is.
Yeah it’s not going to be easy to stay under the bed but I think I’ll be able to run a 10 inch shock with minimal cutting of the bed support that’s in the way and still clear the front gas tank. I want to eventually run a big single rear tank but for now I need to keep the front tank.

My truck is slightly different as it's a '74, but things should be failry similar numbers wise. 10" were doable on my truck if I were ok with putting the lower shock mounts well below the axle. I didn't like this. That meant I had to go to an 8" shock based on where my lower mounts were. The shock bottoms out before I run out of travel though. If & when I ever get this thing running I'm hoping to throw 10" stroke shafts in these 8" body shocks & get a bit more droop.

Here's what I built on my '74 crew. Travis (Tchajagos) just built something similar for his 80's F-150 as well.

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: photo2.jpg (120.41 KiB) Viewed 1134 times

And yes, as you can see the cross support in the bed is in the way...

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: x 250.jpg (60.43 KiB) Viewed 1134 times

Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:06 pm

ChaseTruck754 wrote:
Bsbronco wrote:
ChaseTruck754 wrote:I was going to ask what happened to the motor, but held back in case the answer was "it's for sale" lol. I love the drive train combo. Sounds like you still have the 4l80 and atlas, which would be rad in that F-150! Maybe even just get an LQ4 or LQ9 to drop in front of it for a more "budget" way to go...
Yeah I still have the 4l80 and the atlas and trust me it’s tempting to just start ripping the truck apart and find an ls motor to throw in but I’m going to be building this thing in a few stages.
First stage is to get all the new parts I have in the truck and get it back on the road.
Second stage is hopefully going to be a full cage to make this truck last with some hard off road miles.
Third is going to be coilovers and bigger rear shocks.
I would be VERY tempted. Your plan is solid though! Bolt on what you can now, keep it running then do a bigger jump later after you have enjoyed it for a bit. I personally can never fight the temptation & therefore have a handful of "yard art" in the form of half built rigs...

Bsbronco wrote:
Tchajagos wrote:Sounds like a sweet truck. The trucks are a little harder to stay under the bed with the larger shocks because the bed is a lot lower than the bronco cab is.
Yeah it’s not going to be easy to stay under the bed but I think I’ll be able to run a 10 inch shock with minimal cutting of the bed support that’s in the way and still clear the front gas tank. I want to eventually run a big single rear tank but for now I need to keep the front tank.
My truck is slightly different as it's a '74, but things should be failry similar numbers wise. 10" were doable on my truck if I were ok with putting the lower shock mounts well below the axle. I didn't like this. That meant I had to go to an 8" shock based on where my lower mounts were. The shock bottoms out before I run out of travel though. If & when I ever get this thing running I'm hoping to throw 10" stroke shafts in these 8" body shocks & get a bit more droop.

Here's what I built on my '74 crew. Travis (Tchajagos) just built something similar for his 80's F-150 as well.
x 430.jpg

photo2.jpg

And yes, as you can see the cross support in the bed is in the way...
x 252.jpg

x 250.jpg

I have already have the pics of your rear shock mount on my phone for reference haha. So with putting a 10” shaft in an 8” body. I understand the longer shaft means you will gain the 2” in droop but wouldn’t you loose 2” in bump travel also? I haven’t taken the time to measure the overall length of the 10” and 8” Fox’s I have.

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ChaseTruck754 · Post by **ChaseTruck754** » Mon Mar 05, 2018 12:23 pm

On the "short body" shocks, which are what a lot of guys end up running on broncos so as to get more droop (although on bronco's it's typically a 12" shaft in a 10" body) you don't lose anything that I know of. I could be imagining this thing all wrong though, as to be honest it was years ago now when I cycled my rear & the short body shock was an afterthought I didn't truly measure out at the time.

Here is how things worked in my experience though:
with a 10" shock I got the droop I wanted, with the lower mounts on the axle up a little bit & protected like I liked. The issue was at bump the shock would bottom out before the suspension fully cycled up.

If I moved the mounting tabs for the lower end of the shock way low, below the CL of the axle (like 3-4" lower than stock lower shock mounts if I remember right) I could get the thing to bump, but I left a lot of shaft hanging low & exposed.

I went to an 8" stroke shock that allowed me to put the lower mounts where I liked, and also made it so the shock bottomed out much closer to full suspension bump (although shock still would bottom 1st, so I bumped it a bit low).

My thought with the 8" body & 10" shaft I could keep my truck bumped where I am at now, but gain the couple extra inches of droop. I do see what you are saying about still losing that 2" of bump since the overall shaft if longer. I'm having a brain fart right now with wrapping my head around that would be the case or not, as I'm distracted by the work I'm supposed to be doing vs. playing here online 7 thinking more about trucks - haha.

VintageIronFab · Post by **VintageIronFab** » Mon Mar 05, 2018 1:38 pm

From a F150 owner - my 2 cents worth Ditch the ridiculous front tank, move that cross member and change the lower shock mount at the axle if that’s the only barrier to a 12” shock under the bed- put a 12” shock on there. Don’t go wider, use aftermarket fuel injection or lose the tailgate function. I would extensively clean the frame, replace motor mounts with a Autofab style and replace the rivots with bolts.

ChaseTruck754 · Post by **ChaseTruck754** » Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:52 pm

Pretty sure the barrier to 12" shocks under the bed is the crazy lean needed to get them there...

If you're ok cutting the bed life is simple. And, the cutting can be done minimally so as to keep from eating a ton of bed space.

Bsbronco · Post by **Bsbronco** » Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:06 pm

Okay got some work done on the truck tonight! I stopped working on the rear shackle hangers because they weren’t quite coming out how I wanted them so they are on the back burner for now. I have the solo drop brackets for the stock shackle hanger so that will be going on for now. I also finally got rid of the bronco body and frame over the weekend and sadly had to cut it up to scrap it because I didn’t have a pink slip for it. (No it was not stolen haha) so between getting rid of the bronco and helping my buddy move his project car to his new house. Such a tiny car was a PITA to move haha. I didn’t get to touch the truck until tonight. But I’m pretty happy with how much I got done today. I got the entire front suspension out just have the drop brackets and old radius arm mounts to remove and start scrubbing the frame because it’s covered in mud and grease from the last owner.

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