Making a beat up trail truck into poser GFB

[decker]

Hi all, going to change up directions with my Bronco. I've been beating the hell out of it in the rocks and hucking it off dunes here in Oregon for the last 10 years. My body cant handle the rocks anymore, and the sand is more fun anyway.

It's a 96 5.8 with all the options, 6" superlift with extended radius arms and rear springs. The rear quarters are beat to hell and need replacement.

I stumbled upon a set of front and rear +3 width, +2 rise fiberglass from someone else's project. Rears are full wrap around and fronts are "bolt on" I plan on skinning the factory fenders for the support and bolting the fiberglass over it. Rears are bond on and I'll glue them on ala Corvette.

Yeah, it'll be a bit of a poser with out the cut and turn and coil overs, but I cant afford those right now.

My questions are, what shocks? I was thinking about the 6" lift 5100's front and rear but I have a feeling that I would be travel limited with them in the stock location. I also do have a collection of parts when I was going to do a D44 solid axle, including 78 coil buckets and F250 shock mounts.

Out back, I was thinking about swapping the 8.8 with either the 10.25 I have or going out and getting a 9.75 out of a 2004ish E150 with a 5.4 to maintain the 5x5.5, either way I probably need to regear, as the 10.25 has 4.10's and the D50 front chunk I have is also only 4.10s. I think I need 4.56s or 4.88s. Not sure what rear spring I will run, but I need something to maintain the ability to tow up to 4k (popup camper).

I've also got the D44 8 lug conversion parts to convert over, but I'm not sure I want to loose my 4WABS.

I'm currently running a 315/75R16 Mudder and a 37x12.50x16 TSL SSR. The SSRs are probably a bit heavy. I wanted the Red Label Grabbers from 5 or 6 years ago, but they arent available anymore.

What do ya'll think?

[ChaseTruck754]

Welcome. Sounds like a fun project! What part of Oregon are you in? Close to Florence for the dunes, or is it a drive to get there?

On the shocks, I think you are right with the 5100's being a bit light. If you have some light fab skills the 78/79 bronco bucket with the F-250 shock mount could serve you well. Just note that the 78/79 bronco coils had a different wind on the top so you'd be looking at something to combat keeping the coil in (steal an idea from autofab like on these: https://www.gofastbroncos.com/forum/vie ... 26&t=10060 ) or going to a different coil. A 2" body Fox or a 7100 bilstein at a 10" or so stroke should do well. If you can find a deal on used 2.5" rebuildable shocks and can built a mount or hoop for them (look for pics of the old Camburg coil buckets) then those would be even better.

For rear end, the 10.25 would be heavy, but pretty much bulletproof with only 35" tires. The full float axles are nice, but then you have 8 lug pattern. Maybe someone like RuffStuff or Solid has made a conversion hub for these things by now and you can convert to 5 lug & disk at the same time? Or... There's always those semi hard to find 5 lug, disk brake D60 rears from the 2000's vans.

On the tires - those Grabbers were known for being heavy so I'm not sure they're give you much relief from the TSL's. Lots of options now-a-days for tires though.

[decker]

Thanks!

I'm about an hour south of Portland, so most of my sandtime is at Sand Lake, but I do make it to the coast every couple of years. It's about a 4 hour drive to Florence/Winchester.

As for fab skills, I can cut and weld. I do have access to a couple really good fab guys, so I'm OK with that. I'm trying to go on the cheap, because eventually I want to put the Solo Stage 4 stuff on it.

For shocks, a 10 inch stroke would be enough? I blew out the Rancho 9000's that came with the lift due to stuffing it too hard on a dune one year. I know I need to get the thing up on a lift to actually cycle the suspension to get wheel travel and numbers for new bumps and straps.

I dont mind changing out the coils, as I've been jumping this thing every chance I get, so the springs, front and rear are a bit.... relaxed. Probably going to swap them out, they are over 12 years old. Any thoughts on an inexpensive replacement front coil?

I am hunting for that van rear, but I'm looking for the Sterling 9.75 with disks. I think they are 4" wider than the stock 8.8, which would fill out the +3 rears nicely with the standard low offset wheels. I'm actually running Dodge Ramcharger wagon wheels right now for the DC Mountain Cat 315's.

I'll also be doing an LS or Coyote swap on this thing with a 6 speed auto in the future. I can spend $7-8k rebuilding the 351 and another $3-4 rebuilding the E4OD or spend $15K on a swap that will get me better economy and better tuning ability. Yeah, I'm probably going to be buried in this thing, especially if my wife sees the bills!

On tires, I just liked the look of those grabbers, no other reason. I'll probably end up with a set of Cooper ATs. I've got them on my Super Duty and I like them alot on it.

One thing I did notice is the part number for front and rear 5100's for a 6" lift bronco are the exact same as the 5100's I just put on my 2005 SuperDuty. That was pretty cool, opens up some other possibilities with all of the Bro-Diesel around here.

[ChaseTruck754]

I haven't heard of Sand Lake- I'll have to look into it. Inlaws have a place in Bend so much of my time is spent there in recent years, but I have roots from both sides in Grant's pass and then also a wing of the family that was in Cove. I've only been to Florence once and it was without any toys, therefore I have a pretty big desire to go check it out again but in something fun.

If the plan is to go Solo stage 4 later I'd say maybe take the time to take the stock coil buckets on now, modify them for the shock mount and bolt them back up. When you go to coilovers later you just un-bolt them at that point (and will be glad you did the rivets long ago). In my mind there's no major benefit to the more custom work in making the late 70's bronco/F-150 buckets work at that point. The 70's buckets are cool (I have a pair in the garage I was hoarding for a project too) but you'd be figuring out mounting them, which would involve setting their height on the frame to get the coil fairly close, adding the shock mounts and figuring out a coil retainer AND what coil to use. Keeping the stock buckets cuts this list down to modifying them for the shock mount. Note that there's pictures floating around here in this subject already.

For the 10" shocks - they should be fine. It all depends on mounting points honestly, and if you are making the shock mounts then you set the mounting points. The 10" shock recommendation is for a behind the bucket mounting and then off the radius arm.
I will note that you should definitely cycle things to figure this out, and you can even do that with one of the front corners up on jack stands really. Take the tire off, coil out and put a jack under the end of the beam (TTB). Jack the beam up til it bumps, let it droop out and then look at shock mounts based on this. You can do this before hand to help pick shock lengths or after you have shocks to make sure you don't kill those shocks by setting them where they won't bottom and then setting limit straps so as to keep the shock itself or brake line from being the limit strap...

The LS would be cool for sure. I've wanted to swap an LQ4 or LQ9 and 4l80 in a toy for a while.

Last - for the 5100's and the cross referencing you noticed - that is pretty common. Crazy how much stuff swaps back and forth between platforms etc. and no one realizes it or advertises it. I use to take a tape measure to an auto parts store and look up rear shocks for trucks that had strong aftermarket advertising and measure eye to eye extended and then collapsed and if they worked for me then that opened up options of available shocks. This was before 2.0" shocks were on anything more than the highest class race cars though and definitely not as widely available as they are now.
Anyway, check out craigslist etc. for shocks off the superduty. If the trend up there is anything like down here then guys have kings and other cool shocks on street driven super duties for looks and you should be able to snag a used pair.

[decker]

Sand Lake is a pretty small little place north of Lincoln City. Less than 100 acres I think. Only one major bowl-ish thing and a couple 1/2 to 1 mile straights. Takes about 30 mins to go the whole width at a reasonable speed in a stock truck. I do it in 10

Thanks for the words of encouragement and thoughts, very much appreciate it.

I spent a couple hours looking for pin mount shocks for the standard style mount and I came up with a Bilstein 5100 (24-186018) and 5165 (25-177473), along with a Fox Bypass (FOX-985-24-056) I think there was a Fox IFP as well, but I closed that tab All have 8" or so travel, which I was "shocked" to see. I thought they were much more travel.

I'm still tossing around the idea of a truck coyote and 6R or a LS and 6L80. I know I want the 6 speed. If I can get the Bronco to hit 20 MPG I can retire my Escape Hybrid DD (30 mpg). Ok, pick yourself up off the ground from laughing now...

Since I purchased used fiberglass (Advanced Fiberglass Concepts), I'm going to have to do some repairs. The guy I got them from was going to use quarter turns to mount them, but I want full bond on so I have some holes to fill. Any good sites you know of on how to close these up? I may also go completely poser and mount up the quarter turns in the holes with a washer and bolt on the back side. An interesting thing about these AFC rears is they are full wrap around vs the type that end before the tail light.

[ChaseTruck754]

Sounds like part of your shock issue is you are looking at pin mounts. Ditch that and go you eyelet mounts and you'll open up a lot more options for shocks. Still, the 8-10" travel shocks are pretty common in more stock type configurations on these trucks. That shock stroke doesn't by any means mean that is the total amount of wheel travel on that wheel. This goes back to the "where the shock is mounted" thing. Mounting the shock on the cab side of the bucket gets the shock closer to the fulcrum (radius arm pivot point) than the wheel is, so the amount of travel the shock sees will be less than the wheel. Put the shock in front of the coil bucket or off the front of the beam and you'll need a longer shock.

For the fiberglass - why do you want full bond on? I like to keep things removable personally, so I'd be bolting them on. Autofab makes the polyurethane mounts, or I like the aluminum stringer washers with a counter sunk bolt. Looks clean.
Now for the full wrap on the tail lights, these are a bit harder to fit right. Especially if the mold the fiberglass came out of is old and worn, or wasn't built super well in the first place which is honestly way, way too common in off road fiberglass. Many guys cut the extended part off and keep the stock tail light mounts. I think there's a thread on here discussing this if you wanna spend a little time searching.

[decker]

I'm looking at full bond on because the rear quarters are so trashed I can't use them for mounting. The rear of the truck is diamond shaped. I'll get some pictures later. I used to use the rear quarter panels as rub rails to get around trees.

[ChaseTruck754]

Got it. Just a heads up that it'll be a little harder to do that with fiberglass

[decker]

Ha! yeah... My tree rubbin days are over. The wife hates trails and rocks, so the sand it is.

[ThrustMaster]

Some input on your fender plans. There is no inner liner to use as a support on the front fenders and its better to just build in fender supports. On the rear i wouldn't recommend bonding them on. There is no place that they sit flat on the original sheet metal. Most people, me included, use fender fasteners and a nutsert tool.
Also the 8.8 is strong enough for some duning.

[decker]

Been a while, been pretty sick this year. Anyway, to the Bronco, after it sat for 2 years I put a battery in it and it fired right up and idled perfectly! T's and P's came up to where they should be and ran for 30 mins without heating up or sputtering. Then again, I did always fill it with non-ethanol fuel. Just need to rebuild the rear drive shaft and swap out the minispool and it will be "drivable" again.

Thanks for the input, ThrustMaster. My rear 1/4s wrap around the tail light in the back and up and over the rail under the fiberglass top. That's where I was planning on bonding them on. I thought these were a normal type of 1/4s, but as I look around even the company that made them dont have them anymore. Advanced Fiberglass Concepts. The fronts from the same company are "bolt on" as in they are drilled to sit over the stock fenders and bolt to them. I planned on just skinning the pair of old fronts I have sitting in the back for now. When it gets caged I'll build up the front end as well.

I've been told the 8.8 is a fine axle... but I'm on my 4th. I've turned two of them into bananas and blew up a third (limited slip diff came out in about 100 pieces and shot the center pin through the solid industries cast cover).