MOSS BROTHERS 79 BRONCO CLASS 3 RACER

[Dust]

The 78/9 Bronco will always be my choice for pure badassed looks!
Thank You for sharing!

Quick question, which you may have answered many times.
Why strap the front short? Class rules?

Well the reason the front is strapped is to save a long chain of modifications and testing and modification and testing.
It is currently at the limit of the front CV joint. Sure you can go find a little higher limit driveline...but another half inch and the steering binds. So you can redesign the steering with custom parts and build spares... but oops now the steering isn't matched to the track bar travel. So the track bar needs another redesign and mount which puts even more leverage on a frame area prone to problems. So now everthing is rebuilt and cycles okay in the shop... but now the track bar and steering is pretty steep angle at full droop. So if you hit any sort of holes or side hits drooped out while making a slight or not so slight left turn it bends the track bar, steering and sector shaft. Basically we would rather drive it than work on it all the time. There is a pretty fast Black Jeep out there that is limited to not much more than we are for I suspect similar reasons.
I have seen some builds claim more travel with straight axle Bronco setups but never heard of one completing San Felipe Loop with 40mph or greater average yet. Pounding them for 24hours straight will definitely find weakness that occasional sand dune romps may take years to discover. I dont know how many times we have checked out vehicles before a race that look like they should be sooo fast then race time comes and you pass them like they are towing a trailer or something. On the other hand a docile looking thing like a Hall family Hummer in a stock class with reported 9" of travel can be some work to keep up with or pass. Its still got to be tuned and driven whatever it is.

Not any travel limits currently. I think BITD had one when the class was alive there.

Thanks for the straight answer.

[SteveG]

The Moss Brothers have been campaigning the same KC HiLiTES Ford Bronco for 10 years now....

I love that! Good luck to you guys!

[mracer]

Ken Nicely said. Custom is not all it cracked up to be .Don and Ken will probably have more mile on motorcycles than my new bronco will ever see. The jeep we ran in 2007 had a custom billet 4130 pan hard rod and still with 10.5 inch of travel self-destructed. Before mile 830!

[shockseals.com]

How come you guys were the only class 3 to not combine classes with jeepspeed 3700 at the
mint? 6 in class would have been way more fun and competition than 3 in each class.

[MOSS2]

How come you guys were the only class 3 to not combine classes with jeepspeed 3700 at the
mint? 6 in class would have been way more fun and competition than 3 in each class.

Well it wasnt my decision to make but I guess I could ask why Jeepspeed guys didnt try and join class 3? Since I think that was a points race for them I dont think its right for them to fill out the class with vehicles built to a different set of rules. Not much to gain by joining their group except Don could have gained a fraction more of his money back it turns out. We all started within a few minutes of each other in the same race and you cant tell me they werent trying to compete against each other. I dont think it would have changed the fun factor any for me it was still fun. Turns out Jeepspeed challenge should have had all of us join them and take all our money. Anyway I dont think its a big deal and it was good to run with all that showed up. Two of the 3700 were pretty fast , maybe too fast, and they couldn't hold them together. Not many races more brutal than SF250 on a vehicle but the Mint deals out quite a pounding.


Edit- I have no idea what the payback schedule is for the Mint but I know sometimes in SCORE races first place money can actually be less by adding just one car over the point that determines how many places pay out. Just something else to think about. The payback definitely isnt the fun part or nobody would be desert racing.

[Broncodawg]

How come you guys were the only class 3 to not combine classes with jeepspeed 3700 at the
mint? 6 in class would have been way more fun and competition than 3 in each class.

Well it wasnt my decision to make but I guess I could ask why Jeepspeed guys didnt try and join class 3? Since I think that was a points race for them I dont think its right for them to fill out the class with vehicles built to a different set of rules. Not much to gain by joining their group except Don could have gained a fraction more of his money back it turns out. We all started within a few minutes of each other in the same race and you cant tell me they werent trying to compete against each other. I dont think it would have changed the fun factor any for me it was still fun. Turns out Jeepspeed challenge should have had all of us join them and take all our money. Anyway I dont think its a big deal and it was good to run with all that showed up. Two of the 3700 were pretty fast , maybe too fast, and they couldn't hold them together. Not many races more brutal than SF250 on a vehicle but the Mint deals out quite a pounding.


Edit- I have no idea what the payback schedule is for the Mint but I know sometimes in SCORE races first place money can actually be less by adding just one car over the point that determines how many places pay out. Just something else to think about. The payback definitely isnt the fun part or nobody would be desert racing.

Well said Ken. Thanks to you and Don for the great weekend and congrats on a hard earned finish.
Like you said, the extra races within the race, regardless of class, definitely added to the excitement.

[yogib]

Nicely done guys.I saw you guys go by pit D with Pike in tow.Looked like you fended him off and pulled out another win.I coulda swore I saw Pike at about 10:30 or 11:00 pm pull up to the finish and go out for another lap? Thats when we finally limped the Pro-truck in with a alternator dieing and after fixxing a broken ball joint and spindle.Lots of carnage.I briefly met Don at Contingency.Keep it up.Dont want to see Heeps or Dodges beating the Broncos.

[gr8brnc]

I love the bronco you race and I saw your write up in Bronco Driver magazine! Great stuff, keep up the good work!

[MOSS2]

Just noticed BFG came out with a 35 years celebratory logo. I think it looks great!! BFG is the best!

http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/bfgapp/index.jsp

Ken

[Dust]

Anyone have a source for the sticker version?
I need a few!

[78Class3]

It took me a few minutes to figure out what the link was supposed to show.....and then I saw the sticker. That is a huge honor, congrats to the MOSS BROS. Poster child for BFG. Awesome!!!

[Nick]

It took me a few minutes to figure out what the link was supposed to show.....and then I saw the sticker. That is a huge honor, congrats to the MOSS BROS. Poster child for BFG. Awesome!!!

I'm not seeing it...

[300]

From the BFG site

[Dust]

From the BFG site

STILL sexy after all these years!

[Nick]

From the BFG site

Nice!

[philofab]

That makes up for the fact my stupid baja game has the number 300 on a blazer! What were they thinking?

[Jasonj105]

Doesn't that suck, that game has jeeps, blazers and gay little hummers, but no broncos. It's still the best Baja game out there though.

[AussieRod]

The 78/9 Bronco will always be my choice for pure badassed looks!
Thank You for sharing!

Quick question, which you may have answered many times.
Why strap the front short? Class rules?

Well the reason the front is strapped is to save a long chain of modifications and testing and modification and testing.
It is currently at the limit of the front CV joint. Sure you can go find a little higher limit driveline...but another half inch and the steering binds. So you can redesign the steering with custom parts and build spares... but oops now the steering isn't matched to the track bar travel. So the track bar needs another redesign and mount which puts even more leverage on a frame area prone to problems. So now everthing is rebuilt and cycles okay in the shop... but now the track bar and steering is pretty steep angle at full droop. So if you hit any sort of holes or side hits drooped out while making a slight or not so slight left turn it bends the track bar, steering and sector shaft. Basically we would rather drive it than work on it all the time. There is a pretty fast Black Jeep out there that is limited to not much more than we are for I suspect similar reasons.
I have seen some builds claim more travel with straight axle Bronco setups but never heard of one completing San Felipe Loop with 40mph or greater average yet. Pounding them for 24hours straight will definitely find weakness that occasional sand dune romps may take years to discover. I dont know how many times we have checked out vehicles before a race that look like they should be sooo fast then race time comes and you pass them like they are towing a trailer or something. On the other hand a docile looking thing like a Hall family Hummer in a stock class with reported 9" of travel can be some work to keep up with or pass. Its still got to be tuned and driven whatever it is.

Not any travel limits currently. I think BITD had one when the class was alive there.

We had the same problems racing Range Rover Classics years ago. With a very simmiler front axle design, we had to limit trav el to avoid those very issues. If we lifted it too far, the panard rod bent, the steering link bent or the panard rod chassis mount broke off. 10" of strapped travel would allow us to finish races without breaking any thing.

[baja-chris]

We raced Todd Z's Stroppe in NORRA with 6" front travel and 7.25" rear travel and it handled great, was reliable, and fast. I've driven some EB's with double that travel and the compromises to handing and reliability would make it a challenge to race IMHO. Moss has it figured out.

[flyinbronco]

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.