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Big Bronco FAQ's

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
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Alright fellas, this is similar to what I'm doing in the dentside forum, I'm trying spark an interest in tips, tricks and references in this section to try and give folks a quick reference that will hopefully save them time and money. I'll start with this site:

http://www.bigbroncofaq.com/

It's a great site that I have permission to use...so no it is not my work, nor am I trying to take credit for it. But take a look at it, it's a great reference and helped me out a time or two.

So if you have any tips, tricks or anything to reference, go ahead and post it.
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
3,121
67
Michigan
Where i get most my bronco ideas, help or tips is fullsizebronco. That forum is amazing when it comes to any full size bronco
 
3,121
67
Michigan
Big Broncos, Little Broncos, F150, 3/4 ton or 1 ton. Great group of people and a ton of parts visit this site!

www.broncograveyard.com
 
3,121
67
Michigan
These guys make some pretty awesome looking bumpers!

http://broncoair.com/

Im just gonna post links even tho they can be used on any 80 or 90ish ford truck. Maby give someone an idea of a future project, or a part or accessories to make their ford truck even more tougher!
 
3,121
67
Michigan
95Bronks Coil spring write up.. 80-96 Bronco or F150 with TTB

The drivers side coil spring on my truck broke somehow.. So i went to autozone and purchased two brand new springs.

The part number for the springs are (will post on a later date) and they cost around 90 dollars for the pair. Also purchased new Gabriel Ultra shocks (will post part number later). They cost 32.99 and have a life time warrenty.

When looking up the shocks, autozone might ask you if you have the lift kit or not... Im not 100% sure why and no shocks came up in that section if i remember correctly but i will find out.

Pertaining to my bronco i have the dual front shocks. As of now i am only running the AFTER FRONT AXLE shocks. Ride quality is alot better and i have not noticed any difference when off road.

Step one-
Block one of the rear tires so the truck cant move forwards or backwards. Loosen lug nuts. Then lift the truck by using the axle. You will have to lift quite high because the TTB does drop quite a bit. Use two jack stands and place them on the front frame rails.

Step two-
with truck placed safely on jack stands and tires still on but all lugs loose, give the truck a few shakes to see if you can move the truck at all. You shouldn't be able to and if so, find a better spot to place jack stands and repeat. Then take tire(s) off.

Step three-
With tire(s) off, decide which side your going to do first. Then use the floor jack and apply pressure to that side of the axle.

Step four-
Now its time to take the shocks off. The top nut is a 15mm and with the inner wheel well in place its pretty much impossible to get a deep well socket plus a 3/8's drive ratchet in there. You will need to use some elbow grease and use the closed end of a combination wrench. WEAR GLOVES IN CASE YOU SLIP! you will save yourself alot of pain later. Bottom bolt and nut is a 3/4 or metric equivalent. One side of the bolt you will need to use a combination wrench and the other is the 3/4 half inch drive and you may need to use a breaker bar, or an cheater on the ratchet. Leverage is your friend

Front shock is held on by a single nut and ive broke both lower mounts on my truck. Crap happeneds.... Also on a side note... Studs on the top of my shocks broke off. So expect to be buying new shock(s) when doing this job

Step five-
With both or shock out of the way, your axle will drop down quite a bit. Now its time for the fun part.. Using a (cant remember what size socket but i will post here when i find out) take the top spring retainer off. Spring should not pop out of the spring and shock towers but please be careful.. With axle dropped it shouldnt have much spring pressure..

Step six-
The lower spring mount is held on by a 1 1/8 nut. Only way to get at it is with a combination wrench. Most people cut the open end part of the wrench off and use a cheater bar. I myself used 6 or so Bi metal blades made for cutting quarter inch plate steel or larger and a sawzal. Took some time but after the spring was out of there i could use a socket with a breaker bar. Torch might have worked very well at this point too! If you go this route make sure axle has no pressure on the spring. Zawzal blades were free if your wondering..

Step seven-
With old spring out. Take time to clean the spring towers and it wouldnt be a bad idea to use a wire brush and clear off all the rust and factory paint, then undercoat or paint.

Step eight-
Time to install the new spring. The spring itself can go only one way and its pretty much dummy proof. You will understand when you get to this point. Place spring within the mounting points and use the floor jack to apply pressure. Reinstall the top spring retainer. Make sure it is in correctly!!! The reinstall the bottom 1 1/8 nut and retaining plate. Only way to tighten this is to use that combination wrench again. Take time to make sure the wrench is seated on the nut properly so you dont round the edges. This i found is pretty tricky when you get down to the last few threads. If you feel that you have to, cut the open part of the wrench off like stated in step six. But with one foot on the frame rail and two hands on the wrench, it should be tight enough! Also some red thread locker wouldnt hurt before installing the nut.

Now that the spring is in place and everything is tightened down, install new shocks. Take the truck for a test drive. Shouldnt have any knocking or any change in steering. Also i did not have to disconnect the sway bar end links.

Good luck!
 
3,121
67
Michigan
Good i was hoping that writeup was still posted. Went to post it last night and a error occured. Let me know if you all can see it.
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
78/9 Bronco manuals say you need to remove the starter to access all the oil pan bolts. I find pulling and reinstalling the starter is much more tedious (1/4 turn on the bolts gets old) than fishing for a couple oil pan bolts. In reality, it's not so bad...I take my 1/4" set, use a 6" ext. to a wobble joint to a standard length socket. You can't reach up directly to the bolt, but if you work your way in from the end of the starter, (kinda like operation, but with a ratchet extension) you'll be on your bolt in no time. If you wanna get real fancy, magnetize your socket (then you won't have to worry about falling off your bolt)...then put a piece of rubber hose over your socket so it doesn't stick to anything else.
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
Anyone wanting to swap in a super cooling radiator may be instructed to get upper hose 7799 (NAPA PN, cross reference PN's for other stores) to fit properly. Well that hose is $32. However, you can also get hose 7757 (NAPA PN), you will need to fine trim both ends a little, but this hose is $15...$17 in your pocket to buy that antifreeze you'll need.
 

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