Well finally got some time to work on the bronco I want to put pics up but my internet is being stupid and I cant upload it times out so I will go over a few things that I absolutely know to be true from the last weeks experience .
1. Do not weld anything inplace unless your sure beyond doubt that it is staying there .
2. Do not under any circumstances spray another coat of rustoleum over existing coat that has only cured for 24hrs unless a wrinkle finish is what you are going for .
3. when at parts store if you think you only need a foot of hose buy 2 just because it seems to shrink on way home ,
Anyway I put one of the Sherman tank gas tanks in they fit really nice the mounting system is very easy to setup . One bad thing is the fuel feed line , They come with a 1/4" draw tube line that although would work fine for a stock bronco I do not think the motor I have would like that nor the 450 lph fuel pump so I drilled out the welded 9/16 JIC fitting with the 1/4 steel line and welded in a new 3/4 JIC fitting with thin wall stainless 3/8 line that from what I see in charts should flow about 30 to 40 % more than the 1/4 line so that situation is all set now .
Next I narrowed a high pinion 44 out of a 1978 bronco that went very well taking 6 inches out of the passenger side . Detroit true track , 5.13 gears and Yukon chrome moly axle shafts . I wanted to set it up with high steer , a lot of reading showed this to be a waste of time but previous experience with a jeep I built setup the same way yielded 0 bump steer so I figured why not . In doing this I used ford 3/4 ton Dana 44 HD knuckles looked good at the time everything bolted on and fit including the 1/2 ton spindle and caliper mounts . It was all good till I went to put the caliper on and realized this was in no way going to work there needs to be around 5/8 clearance in the knuckle for the caliper to fit and to grind on it would make it super weak so not being a cobbler , $600 latter I have a set of aftermarket high steer arms that work with both 1/2 and 3/4 ton brakes accept all ford parts and a new set of Spicer ball joints . Just have to powder coat them and then take everything back apart .
The rear end I am undecided if I want to setup a track bar or not I have all the brackets and tubing to fabricate it just not sure if its needed but it would be easy to add right now vs latter .
I also found that the fox reservoir shocks I have are too short for the front with the hoops I have . I need the 12 inch travel models and I have the 8 3/4 so that's another $500
I welded the bc broncos 4x4x2 mount brace to the frame that turned out good I see some have made another brace for inside of the frame to there is 0 flex I think I will go ahead and do that too .
I'm going to put the motor and tranny , T case together and set in the frame so I can set the rear axle angle and get everything welded together so the rear axle can stay in , Its an 8.8 out of an explorer , disk brakes , Detroit locker , 5.13 gears and Yukon ultimate 8.8 kit , Should hold together .
Just bought a new tailgate from wild horses its a very nice part made on the original tooling looks just like the factory one crappy welds and all . Ill smooth them out before painting . Its galvanized so should not rot out in my lifetime .
Its cool seeing this all come together I have been hording parts for the last couple years now I'm getting a little garage space back . I also bought a JD2 model 4 tubing bender and will be making the cage myself I want to run it down through the dash right tight to the firewall so I have as much room as possible in the half cab .
Ill try to post a couple pics but it may not work ,