GoFastBroncos.com

Now all Ford has to do is to build something worth racing, like... A 78/79 BRONCO!

flyinbronco wrote:Ford Racing shows a little love our way.http://www.fordracing.com/news/detail/i ... icle=38749

I think that is so cool. Congratulations Don and Ken and the black bronco crew.

FnA!

Super cool, Moss Bro's!

Great finish and what a good way to celebrate 35 years of great racing for BFG. I’m sure they are not disappointed of having the 300 Bronco on their emblem!

300 wrote:From the BFG site

I rock that sticker on my truck.

Cool to know where it came from.

Some pics at the 2012 B500! Tech...

12 Baja 500 Team Photo!

Still my all time favorite Bronco!!

They still make you tech that thing?! She's a regular!

Do you have a better picture of the front axle. I'd like to see the front bracing on Moss truck. If it can survive them, I'm sure it's a good setup.

I wonder if I they have the CAD drawings of the braces?

cdnbronco wrote:Do you have a better picture of the front axle. I'd like to see the front bracing on Moss truck. If it can survive them, I'm sure it's a good setup.

I wonder if I they have the CAD drawings of the braces?

See the link below.

http://www.thewebwheeler.com/forums/sho ... .php?t=220

We are now on version 4.0 which does have bracing on the top as well. The one on the jig was probably version 3.0 which was broken at Vegas to Reno immediately after it was installed. I believe we have offered to sell the cut pieces, would have to check on prices and availability. As you can imagine demand is very low. Even with the bracing, life expectancy is short and it is HEAVY. They leak oil at the axle tube weld points and the trussing distorts the pumpkin and makes it impossible to set up and get the gear set to live. All this to use a D44 that doesn't belong in a racing situation!

Don - is there a reason you haven't made a d60 fit in the front? I'm assuming weight & maybe cost but I would think the overall strength of the 60 might help. Then again I guess that all depends on where the things are breaking.

300 wrote:All this to use a D44 that doesn't belong in a racing situation!

There is likely a rules limit but we've been looking at a custom D44/50/60 for our desert running.
The concept is to take the D50 TTB center and install it in a Fabricated housing using CrMo in the fabricated housing and 50 parts, to clear D60 shafts and joints or RCV or fabricated "C" and knuckles (Poison Spider, etc). Cost wise it is looking like it can be done for less then the cost of a blown up bulletproof D44 and certainly for less then the second one.
Just a thought.

ChaseTruck754 wrote:Don - is there a reason you haven't made a d60 fit in the front? I'm assuming weight & maybe cost but I would think the overall strength of the 60 might help. Then again I guess that all depends on where the things are breaking.

Weight, cost and the trouble to do it has ruled out the D60 so far. I have this discussion just about every time I see my gear guy and the box cars of money required start lining up the further we get into it. As it is now, it costs about $300 worth of parts each time it goes in. Actually the D60 could probably be built to nearly the same weight after all the trussing we do on the D44. The other option is to use a 9" in the front which is something we have discussed that has its own technical issues. Then at the end of the day, you have to have a second one for a spare, so mutliply the cost X 2.

From what I understand, there is no advantage to going with the D50 center section, the gears are just not that much better than a D44. Used to be we only had trouble with the spider gears exploding and then taking out the R&P. Now you can't get a decent quality R&P and the last time the spiders were fine and 4 teeth were missing off the ring gear. Apparently all the mfg's have gone to cheapest available supply. Since going to the Alloy axles and CTM joints, there have been zero axle problems. We never run in low range, so there is never any real torque on the shafts, it is just all of the shock loading from big tires going a different speed when they hit the ground again. Using a TTB center section and fabricated housing is being considered because between the stock 78-79 housings we have destroyed and the EB guys using them as a conversion, the stock housings are getting very hard to find.

Rules only say "Front axle must be an automotive type housing".

300 wrote:

ChaseTruck754 wrote:
From what I understand, there is no advantage to going with the D50 center section, the gears are just not that much better than a D44.

My gear guy says about a 15% gain in R&P strength (Torque capacity) over the D44 at no significant cost increase, but if you don't need it then save a few ounces and run the 44!

Get RoughStuff to build one and I may be in there to order one to. Ruffstuff front 9 inch with stock Ford New D-60 inners and outers for availability. Maybe +1 to 1.5 inch wheelbase?

cdnbronco wrote:Get RoughStuff to build one and I may be in there to order one to. Ruffstuff front 9 inch with stock Ford New D-60 inners and outers for availability. Maybe +1 to 1.5 inch wheelbase?

The taper on the RoughStuff center section of their housing makes them very wide and I haven't figured out if I can make it work yet. Probably have to move away from the stock C's on the radius arms. The overall height is a lot less than a 9" housing, which helps and they seem to be happy without a lot of additional trussing. How do you plug the D60 axles into the 9" side gears? I would like to use a standard diff in the 9". Guess the D60 axles could be re-splined to 31.

You can have the axle cut with whatever splines you want. 31 or 35 spline, with the correct Ford pressure angle. I think I would run 35 spline just because. No additional cost since it would all have to be new.

This Bronco, with a well built TTB................ it will be, "which way did they go?" even more! Better, more controllable wheel travel, more clearance in the centre, use the D50 pumpkin (stronger gearset) and axles (for the D60 unis) and most of your front axle problems will disappear Just my $0.02.

And I bet there is no rule that says there has to have a ring gear. Make it light. No more issues with gears or axles. Same thing with the transfer. just remove the 4we and low gear to make it light. How many races have you done without using 4wd? Yup, It would be slower on a rally type gravel roads, but how many of those are there. And lots of 2wd rigs manage to get thru the silt beds, although I do not seem to be able to do it without 4wd.
PaulW
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300 wrote:

ChaseTruck754 wrote:Don - is there a reason you haven't made a d60 fit in the front? I'm assuming weight & maybe cost but I would think the overall strength of the 60 might help. Then again I guess that all depends on where the things are breaking.

Weight, cost and the trouble to do it has ruled out the D60 so far. I have this discussion just about every time I see my gear guy and the box cars of money required start lining up the further we get into it. As it is now, it costs about $300 worth of parts each time it goes in. Actually the D60 could probably be built to nearly the same weight after all the trussing we do on the D44. The other option is to use a 9" in the front which is something we have discussed that has its own technical issues. Then at the end of the day, you have to have a second one for a spare, so mutliply the cost X 2.

From what I understand, there is no advantage to going with the D50 center section, the gears are just not that much better than a D44. Used to be we only had trouble with the spider gears exploding and then taking out the R&P. Now you can't get a decent quality R&P and the last time the spiders were fine and 4 teeth were missing off the ring gear. Apparently all the mfg's have gone to cheapest available supply. Since going to the Alloy axles and CTM joints, there have been zero axle problems. We never run in low range, so there is never any real torque on the shafts, it is just all of the shock loading from big tires going a different speed when they hit the ground again. Using a TTB center section and fabricated housing is being considered because between the stock 78-79 housings we have destroyed and the EB guys using them as a conversion, the stock housings are getting very hard to find.

Rules only say "Front axle must be an automotive type housing".