BlueBronco budget build

[66sprint6]

Worked all night last night after work on gettin the front end mocked up and some ideas tossed around and what do I have to show for it?



Yup, 3 little brackets, one of which (the smaller one) I had already made a couple days ago, I just painted it with the other two. The small bracket is the frame mount for my panhard bar and it made from C channel aluminum. The other bigger brackets are my radius arm mounts for the axles. They are cut, hammered, bent and brazed from a 2" long piece of 1/4" steel square tubing each. I took my time and tried to get the holes drilled at the right angles in order to have the mounts lean towards the pinion a tad. A little tweaking and they will be perfect I believe. I also tried to cut out what I didnt need from underneath to smooth things out a bit. I want to try and tackle the radius arms next. I plan to make em look like most available custom 2 bar into 1 radius arms for the 1:1 Fords. I will use 3 rod ends for each and use the panhard or track bar to keep the axle from moving side to side...at least I hope this all works LOL
Matt

[66sprint6]

Once again I worked a couple hours and have little to show for it LOL. I mocked up the finished radius arm mounts and tweaked em ever so slightly to get the angles a little more in line with what I wanted and set about figuring out the arms themselves. Like stated before, I wanted to keep it simple and in line with what you might see under any lifted 4x4 Ford from the era. I bent two pieces and cut a long straight piece of 3/16 solid rod (the long pieces are actually the rear links that the Mule destroyed). I then threaded each end to fit Revo rod ends, figured out the angle I wanted and brazed em. Im still learning the brazing thing and I think I really got it down on the second one. First one took WAY too much heat but I figured out my issed and moved it off the vice so the joint was hanging off the side and it heated up quicker and let the braze flow more evenly. Anyways, here is what i came up with mounted on the axles.





All I have to do now is put together a mount on the chassis and then cut and thread the ends of the arms to fit. I MIGHT have to bend them slightly depending on where I put the mounts on the chassis for clearance but Ill cross that bridge when I get to it.

Matt

[Fowlboy]

Man, I can't wait to see those axels and arms installed...! Nice bronco!


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[66sprint6]

After mocking up the front suspension and bending, tweaking and doin all I could to make things work together...but couldnt get it where I would be happy. SOOOOOO, scratch the stock style radius arms



I couldnt get the front to flex smoothly and it seemed to be extremely limited so I did some snoopin online at 1:1 3 link setups. I figured Ide bite the bullet and go with a simple 3 link but didnt like the look of any of the trusses that were available so I set off to make my own. Space is limited above the pumpkin which is what threw me off RC4WDs and BlueMonkeys, so I got some 3/16 solid rod and the old radius arm mounts and got to work. I mounted up the panhard mount and a 3 link mount and am SUPER pleased at the outcome.

(dont laugh, i burned the powdercoating off one of the knuckles tryin to braze the panhard mount lol)





It fits like a glove and is back behind the pumpkin just enough to stay outta the way. Here it is with the links and shocks mocked up







Suspension is free moving and other than the panhard hitting the pumpkin at full flex I am extremely happy. I will bend some new links for the panhard and toss together the rest of the steering then I should be good to go again. Here are a couple more shots of the mount cleaned up and ready for paint.









I also cleaned up the sliders and front bumper while I was at it lol



Gonna get everything painted and back together then itll be time for some tire work and maybe a back bumper. Itchin to get it out and see how she does!!!

Matt

[66sprint6]

Got the hardware kit from Harley the other day so now I can finally get to puttin the Bronco back together!!! Ive now got it to roller/semi running status, just need to tweak the wheelbase slightly, put together a steering link and then tweak my 3 link. It works perfect if you flex the passenger side where it is, but when you flex the driver's side it rocks the pinion up a bit. Im gonna do a little tweakin and then see if its enough to really matter before i take it all apart and try again lol. ANYways, here are a couple pics I took last night.

With the old wheel/tire combo



With the new wheel/tire combo.





These tires are a pain to make but I believe itll all be worth it in the end. Wish they made a 5 lug wagon wheel but these will do for now!

Matt

[66sprint6]

Made some headway this weekend! I took apart the suspension after reading some 1:1 articles and looking at numerous pictures of front 3 link setups and figured out my issues. With the old setup pictured below my pinion would move when I would compress one side but would sit still when I compressed the other



I realized what was goin on after doin all the research and tried it a little differently with great success.



Unfortunately pushing the lowers out like I did made them contact the frame so for the time being I simply bent the turnbuckles Im using as links and they clear perfectly now. The issue is completely resolved and I moved on to bending the panhard to clear the pumpkin and moving a coupld nuts and bolts around for clearance issues. Ive almost got it 100% and just need to make a couple more tweaks, a steering link and either decide to keep the bent turnbuckles or go out and make a couple more links.

I also finished up the last of the 3.5" TSLs which was a PAIN but as far as looks are concerned...totally worth it!!!



In this shot you can see a little detail work Im gonna run for a bit and see if I like it.



If you didnt notice, I cut out a dana "diff cover" which is just a ring cut out of aluminum and put around the pumpkin. If I like it Ill detail it more with some bolts but for now Im just feelin it out. Im gettin close! Ide like to take it out soon and shake it down before the big Shanty Hollow ride!

Matt

[canadianbacon]

I like it, those tires look great. For the axle, I think if you were to paint inside the ring you cut out, it might actually look like a Dana. Or you could try with foil tape too so it would be easy to remove if it looked like crap haha.

[66sprint6]

I masked it off earlier and colored it in with sharpie and hated it LOL. I tried makin a diff cover out of a coke can as well as some foil tape and also didnt like it. I saw a diff cover on google that was black and had an aluminum ring around it and thought it looked slick so thats what I went after. Its only gotta be enough to look decently real out on the trail. I will look into either painting the ring black and adding some bolts or like you said, painting the inside. Shoot, might even rust it up and weather it to look like whats usually on all my junk. All in all itll be impossible to make look just like a Dana, due to the size of the tubes and the pumpkin but I thought ide at least give it a go either way. All I really wanted overall was an offset pumpkin and a little skinnier track width and I got those, the cover is just one of those "wonder what it would look like" kinda deals.

Matt

[LoneRanger]

the Dana diff cover is freaking Awesome! Keep rockin it out, I am totally stealing some of your ideas! Us EB guys got to stick together!

btw, were I doing a "play truck" or "rock rig" or any other kind of vehicle besides my stupid scale truck- I would totaly go with a 3 or 4 link setup.



my advice (for what little it may be worth) is to use steel brake line from an auto store (freaking really cheap!) - get a small tubing cutter and cut all your links to size and use the threaded rod ends- it makes the linkage look really "clean". to get the threads to fit- fill the ends of the tubing with silver solder then drill out the ends and thread them with a screw the same size as your link ends. cheap, easy, durable, and they look GOOD!

L.R.

[66sprint6]

I appreciate the advice, usually I just take 3/16 solid rod and grind the ends down and thread em to fit revo rod ends. I like this cause they are super strong and look good when they get all rusty lol. I abuse the piss outta this rig but have been wantin to take it another couple steps in the scale direction. When I first did the leaf springs I thought I would have to ease up on the abuse and that she would perform worse etc...nope, she took all I tossed at her and then some. Im now feelin the same way, with the smaller tires, no more underdrive rear and narrower track width itll prolly finally perform like doodoo...but Ive been surprised before and Im hopin she will do it again this time around! As for the 3 link, I just wanted to do somethin that someone with a mild lift and 35's might do to their Bronco up front, and Im never givin up the leafs in the rear its too much fun

Matt

[66sprint6]

OH and steal all you want man, I been watchin your build like a hawk and thinkin bout doin some stealin myself Wish I had a 1:1 EB like a bunch of yall but till that happens Ill keep messin with this little BlueBronco!

Matt

[j-bird]

Those tf2 axles just set ol blue off man. It looks great. Have you not test ran em yet. I was thinking bout getting some for my dodge build. I'd like to hear your feedback on the performance of them under blue.. Keep up the good work bud

[66sprint6]

Nope, havnt ran em yet man but Ive seen some TF2s take a lickin so Im hoping these will hold up. Im not gonna throw alot of power at em so Im not too worried...yet lol. I finished up the steering and am just doin some minor touchup stuff before i take it out and shake it down.

Matt

[66sprint6]

Well...She's back up and runnin and after a quick shake down run with Wayne, I am as happy as could be with the new setup!!! The skinny, short swampers did AMAZING despite spinning on the rims and altho I had to be extra careful on steep inclines thanks to a little more torque twist than the old setup (stock front gear, underdrive rear) I was surprised to see her go up just about everything I attempted!!! Another pleasant surprise came in the sidehilling area. I can damned near get this thing up on two wheels and it stay there LOL. There were numerous times I would lift the rear wheel off the ground and have the front tire BARELY touching and I could sloooowly continue on my way. Its gonna take a bit to get used to the shorter ride height but I look forward to gettin it out again soon!!! I only took a couple pics due to the cold and wet conditions and I was a knuckle head and left my spare batteries in the car so I had to carry out the rest of the way, but here they are.







The list of needed tweaks MOSTLY lies in the wheels/tires. RC4WD's TF2 wheels dont hug the inner ring like my black set do so I have to hammer em down a tad (thanks for the idea Wayne) and then I took the opportunity to put together a wider set of foams. Hopefully this will cure most of the issues I was havin along the way. Another thing I need is a better servo which will come shortly as well. Once i get it back together Ill post more pics along with some info on all the wheel mods Ive been messin with.

Matt

[Bad Apple]

I'm liking the new stance. This little guy has come a long way and keeps getting better... It just has boat loads of character.

[66sprint6]

Yeah I appreciate it and agree!!! I keep wanting to put together a new body for it but I just keep gluing, painting and strengthening this one. I wont be gettin rid of it so I hope to be able to continue modding it as I go along, making it more and more scale as I go!

Matt

[66sprint6]

Finished up cleanin up the Bronco's new wheels! Im gonna run them for a while like this, but the paint didnt like two of the wheels very much and Ill eventually re-spray em. They look good enough for now tho!!!



Heres a quick run-down on all that ive done to em. First I noticed they werent holding a bead worth a flip so after some advice from Twisted I took a block of wood and a hammer and tightened up the clearance between the wheel faces and the inner ring. Then, after seein how much more I liked the look of the wagons over the steelies I decided to make them 5 lug like they should be. I bought some 1.9 5 lug hubs from RC4WD, drilled out the middle hole on the back wheel face to allow the hub to fit flush and then put the two faces together using a broken spindle and a wheel nut.





I tossed it in the vice and drilled the new holes. One existing hole can be used. The next two on either side of this hole also use existing holes, you just end up widening them out a tad. The bottom two holes are new. That leaves you with this



On my black set of wheels I coulda left it at this and been happy but seein that they extra holes stand out against the white...aaaaand I chipped the factory white finish when hammering them earlier, I chose to strip em (aircraft enamel stripper took about 30 seconds) and filled the holes with JB weld. I put a piece of masking tape on the front face of the holes to keep the JB weld flush and allow for less sanding.





After this I smoothed em out ever so slighly with some bondo (not necessary) and then hit em with some satin white. Im pleased as can be, other than the slight paint cracking. Im gonna take apart my black set and do them next. Now it doesnt matter that just about every wheel on the market is 6 lug, us Ford guys can finally get the look right LOL

Matt

[xigtc]

Looks frickin awesome man. Can't wait to to see it eat up Shanty Hollow.

[King James]

awesome idea on the 5 lug man

[66sprint6]

Thanks guys. Been thinking bout trying it for some time and finally said hell with it and gave it a try lol
Matt