Optikalillushun
Registered User
i have a question Mel, why arent u interested in just using a solid axle?
Moosestang upgrade hit a wall
- Thread starter Agnem
- Start date
david85
Full Access Member
The pickup trucks have a longer wheel base and require a different length of steering arm geometry. In theory, it might bolt up and look good, but when you go into a medium or tight turn the front tires will be fighting each other. Each of the 4 wheels of a vehicle tracks in a different path when in a turn, thats why we have differentials.
In the case of the front wheels, the inside tire of a turn will turn tighter than the outside tire. How big the difference is between the inside and outside wheels is determined by the wheelbase of the vehicle. Long wheelbase vehicles have LESS divergence in a turn, where short wheelbase vehicles have MORE divergence. If you look at a farm tractor in a tight turn, this is more easy to see.
They way you control that divergence in a turn is by how the length of the tie rod compares to the distance between the steering knuckle centers. Thats where the offset of the steering spindle arms comes into play, and thats why short wheelbase vehicles like broncos can't use the same front end components as long wheelbase vehicles like a crewcab F350.
Darrin Tosh
IDI Hound
I am guessin that he probably is, it is just the difference in spending $1000 to $1200 for buying one, and then making it work in coil front spring Bronco.
I wanted to go this route for a couple of reasons. First off, swaping axles means finding one that has the right gear ratio, is affordable, and then going through all the effort to install it, and I'm sure that would turn into a full weekend ordeal. Then I'd have to worry about front end alignment, shocks, maybe driveshaft lenght... as you can see, it's quite a bit more involved then spending what should have been 2 hours to swap spindles, and leave the drill and the welder in their stored positions. Second, it was already done, and I had a how-to to work from. Why reinvent the wheel when somebody already went through hell to figure it all out.
Now my delema is I pretty much got to go through with the conversion. One of the things I may or may not have mentioned, is that the existing hub on the passenger side melted last June due to a brake caliper failure. It will cost me $278 from Ford to replace that part. I would then end up back where I started, with the least desireable of all Bronco spindle/hub combinations, and getting parts in the future is just as iffy. The reason I'm being so ******* myself is because I usually don't F' up like this, it's damn hard for me to get to a good junk yard, and it's been since freakin' June that the Bronco has been down, and fuel is creeping up to the $3 mark, and I need to get this thing on the road before I go broke.
Now my delema is I pretty much got to go through with the conversion. One of the things I may or may not have mentioned, is that the existing hub on the passenger side melted last June due to a brake caliper failure. It will cost me $278 from Ford to replace that part. I would then end up back where I started, with the least desireable of all Bronco spindle/hub combinations, and getting parts in the future is just as iffy. The reason I'm being so ******* myself is because I usually don't F' up like this, it's damn hard for me to get to a good junk yard, and it's been since freakin' June that the Bronco has been down, and fuel is creeping up to the $3 mark, and I need to get this thing on the road before I go broke.
Ironman03R
Full Access Member
I still have an axle layin aroung that may have the right spindles, I know its not a D60.
defecater
Full Access Member
The balljoints are further apart on the 3/4 ton version of the TTB than they are for the 1/2 ton. I was going to do just that a couple of years ago on a whelling buggy project and found out the hard way that it just does not work that way.
If you need that oddball lockout just to get it back on the road for now, I have two of them that need a home. just cover shipping and they are yours.
Thanks to both of you for the offers.... Steve, if you can get me pics, I may be happy to take it off your hands. That would be great! There is a guy on FSB trying to help me too, but I know you and don't know him, so your my first pick. Thanks for the heads up Darrin.
Pearl_Diesel
Full Access Member
Wait a minute, in the Ford Ranger world, they just take the stock axle housing and ream out the ball joint holes to fit a knuckle off of a Bronco's Dana 44. Why couldn't you just use the same, and that way you can keep with the ford parts?
Here's the link: http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2007/44knuckleswap.htm
Here's the link: http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2007/44knuckleswap.htm
Ironman03R
Full Access Member
Mel, I'll see what I can do. I might be a couple days on getting to it.
