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Front D60 Install

From 1981 Ford Bronco “The Bronc” — documented by Lars915.

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1981 Ford Bronco - Front Dana 60 fresh off the truck 1981 Ford Bronco - D70U waiting for its turn under the wrench 1981 Ford Bronco - First test fit of D70 under the Bronco 1981 Ford Bronco - Hummer rim waiting for its turn to be refinished. That's a 35 inch tire. 1981 Ford Bronco - New 42" shoes! 1981 Ford Bronco - Clearance difference between 42"s and 35"s 1981 Ford Bronco - That little bitty tire was on the Bronco when I bought it. 1981 Ford Bronco - First fitup of front axle to see where things will line up. The axle is forward about two inches from stock. 1981 Ford Bronco - Front view of initial fitup. Those are stock Bronco rear springs. 1981 Ford Bronco - This is about the final position for the tire. It'll take quite a bit of trimming to make this fit with a low lift (4-6 inches). 1981 Ford Bronco - Hummer beadlock with the runflat section cut off. A little grinding on the sharp parts and it'll be ready for installation. 1981 Ford Bronco - The parts I cut out to build a heavy duty spring hanger. 1981 Ford Bronco - All the parts welded up. And yes, my welding sucks. 1981 Ford Bronco - Both hangers with the welding finished. The one on the left has been abrasive blasted for paint, but both need final cleanup and some more… 1981 Ford Bronco - Boxed in front frame horn with installed shackle bushing. 1981 Ford Bronco - These will get nice rounded ends and paint when everything is finished. Length is 6" center-to-center. 1981 Ford Bronco - Final mockup of rear hanger. Definitely could have been done better, but OK for a first attempt. 1981 Ford Bronco - The whole spring assembly in place. The front shackle angle is about 45 degrees at ride height. 1981 Ford Bronco - First installation with entire suspension. Now I have to pull it all again for final touch up and painting. These are stock Bronco rear spr… 1981 Ford Bronco - Here the axle is supporting the truck. The shackle angles look good and the pinion angle looks good. The front axle is parallel to the rear… 1981 Ford Bronco - The axle postion at ride height is about 1 inch ahead of where my SAS axle lined up. I should have about 106 inch wheel base, or two inches… 1981 Ford Bronco - Close up from the right side. 1981 Ford Bronco - Closeup from the left side. 1981 Ford Bronco - Rebuilt and in the truck. Tie rod won't fit above knuckles, have to work on that. 1981 Ford Bronco - Too bad they don't look like this very long. 1981 Ford Bronco - The finished axle and springs. It still needs shocks, brakes, and steering to finish the front end. 1981 Ford Bronco - Another angle 1981 Ford Bronco - First time on the new axles. This should be real close to the final ride height. The axle centers are 21 inches off the ground. 1981 Ford Bronco - 42" tire on Hummer rim. The inner fender is installed in this picture. The inner and outer fenders have been heavily trimmed. 1981 Ford Bronco - This is the clearance between the tire and rear of the inner fender witht tire turned to full lock. Not much vertical movement available. 1981 Ford Bronco - At full lock the rear of the tire hits the spring. Have to adjust the steering stops. 1981 Ford Bronco - This is the clearance between the front of the tire and the inner fender with the tire straight ahead. 1981 Ford Bronco - At full lock, the tire hitts the front inner fender and radiator support hard. 1981 Ford Bronco - At full lock, the front of the tire is also hard into the spring. Have to adjust the steering stops. 1981 Ford Bronco - This is part of why I chose drive flanges instead of hubs. Hubs would stick out another two inches. 1981 Ford Bronco - My homemade Zero Rate lift for the front spring. The steering rod will hit the spring when the spring is flexed. I'll have to put the overl… 1981 Ford Bronco - Loads more clearance after a bunch more cutting and relocating the rad support mount. 1981 Ford Bronco - Removed a bunch of the radiator support. Hopefully the relocated mount will survive. 1981 Ford Bronco - The new body mount sits on top of the frame. There is less beef in the radiator support now, time will tell if this was a good move. 1981 Ford Bronco - With the inner fender reinstalled. 1981 Ford Bronco - From the front, the fender is opened way up. I can keep the turn signal, but just barely. 1981 Ford Bronco - If you compare this to previous pictures, you can see how much inner fender is actually removed. 1981 Ford Bronco - First test drive with new driveline! 1981 Ford Bronco - I kinda like this one better 1981 Ford Bronco - 651 on a 30 degree ramp. Equates to 952 on a 20 degree ramp. The coil / radius arm suspension would do about 700 on a 20 degree ramp. 1981 Ford Bronco - Keep in mind that's a 42" tire falling out of that fender. 1981 Ford Bronco - The spring goes into slightly negative arch at full stuff. Bump stops will be added to limit travel since the tire is into the firewall at… 1981 Ford Bronco - There just isn't any more droop in this spring. The tire is barely touching the ground here. 1981 Ford Bronco - It's amazing these springs have lasted. This is a 6" lift spring. The tire is fully stuffed though, it's hitting the inner fender and canno… 1981 Ford Bronco - Keep trimming 'til it fits 1981 Ford Bronco - Not much left