Tree Trunks 1987 FSB

[Tree trunk]

Hi

This will be the start of my 1987 bronco build thread.
I bought the truck back in 2018ish so there will be a bit of historical post before we get to the current state.

I picked up the bronco for $1200….
This was before the bronco boom lol

She was a runner, mostly stock…

A 3-4” ttb drop bracket with some ranchos
Lift blocks in the rear
Stock 302
AOD
And 32” all terrains



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[Tree trunk]

My first car was a 1970 vw bug.
My dad and I tore into it as a father son project.
I learned to Fab and some mechanical skills on that car through a lot of trail and error.

After many renditions of the Baja bug I decided to sell the chassis and build a full tube chassis buggy with parts off the Baja bug.

After finishing the buggy I decided I wanted an off road toy I could drive on the street.
I sold the buggy and funded the bronco.

So I was a bit of a buggy dork. I didn’t and still don’t have much experience with trucks with that said the “trail and error” still seems to be my preferred method of tackling projects lol







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[Tree trunk]

And some of the buggy






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[Tree trunk]

The first order of business on the bronco was fluid changes and a tune up, just get it running decent.

Next order of business…. Find some BFG projects cause that’s what race trucks run


of course most of those tires didn’t hold air and flat spotted when it was cold out…..

But that’s how I ran it for a while.


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[Tree trunk]

Made a few trips out to the desert…

Then I wanted to start small with some bumpers





I also ditched the projects as there are a bit heavy and kinda suck on a daily driver.

Also at this point in my life I didn’t own a MiG welder so I Tig welded everything. Making everything take twice as long to build lol 🫣

So you guys will have to take it easy on me if you zoom in on any of these welds lol essentially I learned how to Tig while building the bronco.



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[Tree trunk]

I went out and bought some shocks before taking any measurements on shock travel

I figured a 14” bypass would just fit just fine…..

Don’t buy shocks untill you know what size you need lol




Remember I had no experience with truck stuff or TTB so I was just plugging along and seeing if I could get something to work.

I figured I would run a bypass and coil spring because it seemed easier in my mind. It was a pain in the ass to try and fit that shock around the stock stuff





I found out that these shock mounts work better at an angle I also found out that a 14” stroke shock is way too long for this set up lol


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[Tree trunk]

A buddy of mine was building a TTB set up on his ranger-D44 stuff. So he let me use his templates and I made up some radius arms and drop brackets.





Also installed some sketchy wheel spacers,



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[Tree trunk]

I added a 2.0 4” bump stop and a deaver 4” lift coil.

The shock only cycled 10” of the 14” stroke, so really that bypass lived in the 2nd bypass zone and bump zone.


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[Tree trunk]

Moving to the rear-
I bought the desolate hangers and shackles to run the q88 leaf pack.
King 2.5 16” stroke bypass

Looking back now I wish I would have changed this set up a bit.
-the bench seat is a little tight with two adults and having the shocks inside the cab is super loud…
The bypass clicking and no muffler made the ride a bit rowdy








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[Tree trunk]

Changed the wheel tire combo up again

Some AR 23’s and….. back to some
projects lol


And I hadn’t realized how scary running wheels spacers were yet, so those are still on there




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[Tree trunk]

Made a couple desert trips this way




The bronco ran pretty well for the first time out. The 4” stroke on the hydro bump stop made for a pretty rough ride, I had to take them down to 50 psi to make it through the trip. The rear shocks were valved a little heavy or maybe the springs needed a few miles to break in…



https://youtu.be/62c9uIz9iuw?si=Kny-ZqRYumTm8ymJ

https://youtu.be/FqL7xsvFf3Y?si=2SSZgXjExgQGzJxl


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[Tree trunk]

Next I just started picking away at a few little things.

- Sleeved the bump stops to 1 3/4 stroke
- Got rid of the go fast wheel spacers
- Built a new exhaust, I didn’t have room for a muffler so I thought a super trap would quite it down enough…. It sounds cool but isn’t that quiet.
- installed head sets






For reference this is spring-ish 2020


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[Tree trunk]

https://youtu.be/PUwl8bt0y2o?si=vjPtoNPuuN27ZmSG

https://youtube.com/shorts/eGZuAKEGuJc? ... aCO60Yh8cS

I accidentally gave it too much beans….. it wasn’t that bad of landing but I did have my wife with me and our seat belts work about half the time.

So the options
1. Dial it back and just cruise….

2. Cage it


Looking back I should have left it alone and enjoyed the truck with a few safety upgrades….


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[hobbyturnedobsession]

Nice looking bronco. Should work nicely. I've got rear bypasses and was worried about placement of the piston vs. the tubes. The wheels make it look right also.

[Tree trunk]

Thank you I kind of wanted to keep it “period correct” that late 80’s 90’s style.

Yeah that tube placement will make or break the ride. Once the front bypasses heated up they worked well, but because they lived in the upper portion of the shock…. they got hot and would fade fast when I was pushing the truck.

I went with option #2
Bought the solo cage and thought I could finish the cage in a couple weekends…..







I figured since I pulled the dash I should add a dash bar.




Since I added a dash bar I should just push the cage to the front of the truck. Set up a coil over to run with my bypass should be a quick side project to add on with the cage


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[Tree trunk]

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[Tree trunk]

Fitting a 14” coil over and bypass on stock beams was difficult, but I was able to get everything to clear full bump lock to lock.



And this is how the bronco lived for a couple years….
We moved and had a kiddo, so the bronco was put on the back burner for a while


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[Tree trunk]

Once I was able to get the bronco settled into its new home, I built some lower shock mounts on the beams. I didn’t truss and plate the beams before building shock mounts. I probably should have. But once it’s on it’s feet, i will either extend the beams and redo the shock mounts or incorporate a truss into the shock mounts




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[Tree trunk]

I really didn’t want to build a swing steer because I had NO idea how to build one

A buddy of mine had built a double swing steer on his bronco so he let me copy his design. Because I still have the drop brackets his templates couldn’t transfer directly to my frame.
So I based my swing set loosely on his set up.




Building this swing set was quite the learning process.



I picked up an old millermatic 35 so I could start burning in some mig welds.




After getting the geometry “correct” I went a head and burned in the insides of the swingers, I didn’t do a final fit and test…. Always do a final fit and test lol

I welded the wrap around plates on backwards….
That was a hard lesson learned.

Attempt #2 on the swingers was under way




I cut up the main swinger again…. The driver side tie rod was way to close to the other secondary swinger, I was shaving down bolt heads to try and get it to clear comfortably.

So I redesigned the swinger again.

Luckily attempt #3 on the swingers seems to be working




I added a 2” ram for the steering assist. It was an 8” stroke and I sleeved it at 4”

I set up the steering for a 1 turn to lock .
Next it was on to power steering pump and tapping the box for hydro assist


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[Tree trunk]

For power steering equipment I hit up Howe first. they gave me a quote for the whole power steering deal. I want to say it was almost $2800 that included sending my box in and having it tapped for hydro with the internal stops.
I opted to try and source all the parts myself.

The power steering equipment I used

-sweet TC pump 1350 psi @4.5gpm
-PSC 2” ram 8” travel
-generic 7” plate cooler
-karteks power steering reservoir filter combo
-HOWE bypass valve

I rebuilt the power steering box while I had it apart to tap it for hydro. Although, I still have a bit of play in the box…. it may just take some adjusting to get the play out or I will need to start again. I welded dash 6 bungs to the box for the hydraulic lines instead of running a tap.


I wasn’t able to find a drop in TC pump bracket to fit the 1987 5.0 bronco engine, so I cut up the stock bracket and made up some new mounts.
I also had to build a lower radiator line to clear all the steering stuff.

I went with the 5.5” pulley on the power steering pump. I found a calculator online and I think it was a good jumping off point.

I am interested to see if the 1350 psi pump works well. I believe 1500 psi pumps are more standard in this set up.


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