Bronco Driver Reader's Stories page on a 1995 Bronco XLT solid a…

reliance on the daily driver. and less on- road miles. Well, early last year I could tell it was nt long before some money was going to need to he spent on the front TTB balljoints and a few other items. The 8.8 'as also in need of brakes. Id been researc ing a solid axle swap for months and was about ready to buy a 10.25 rear, when another axle became available. It was a Dana 60 rear tulltloat with Detroit, 4.563, and disc brakes, for a fair price. Now to some, this might not seem a big deal, as the Dot) rear is the littlest t'iillfloat one can score, and if going for big meats, really may not be the best choice. But 1 had made up my mind some time ago that a D44HP from a 78r79 Bronco was going in the front, along with an eventual upgrade to 37s, which would be the tire size I wanted to run for some time into the future. This nlakes a D60 rear FF 3 very good choice, With an 8 lug rear, I got lucky in that the friend that 1 purchased the D60 from also happened to have most of the pans I needed to do an 8 lug kniicklesrout front. So I bought the rear axle, a front D44HP bare, Chevy at top knuckles, big bearing spindle. K20 rotors, caliper brackets and 8 lug hubs from him, along with Ford inner shafts, and Chevy outer stubs. Along with all these used parts, I spent February through June 2005 cleaning, assembling, prepping, painting, buying new bearings, calipers, pads, etc. I had to buy a toner ring and drill a hole to mount my rear speed sensor so my E4OD would function properly. New 4.56 gears went in the front, along with all new bearings, seals, cm. The ARB from my old TTB was moved over to the new axle, and for a few weeks [just drove around with no front driveshaft or TTB third member. Lots of boxes were arriving daily as well, . .new shook towers from Wildhorses. upper and lower coil mounts for 78r79 Broncos, new C bushings, spieer ball joints, extended Chevy stainless steel brake lines. etc. Basically, all wearable items were bought new. I also took a trip up to Cage ottroad to pick up new extended radius arms meant for the Early Broncos, Emnen Drtvar Mogexlne - www.mnncuDrlvarcom and new 14" travel shocks. Shopping locale ly, l was able to put together the DOM tube ing threaded tor Chevy 3/41 ton Tie Rod Ends, and then ream out a stock pitman him to aeeept this bigger TRE. The chevy knuckles were all ready for me TREs on top of the knuckle arm, and I also had fabri- cated an upper track bar mount, The track bar was also the same DOM, but with 3/ " rod ends. I believe it was the weekend of June 25th 2005 when myself and four friends did the from SAS over a Saturday. The rear had A m- already been installed a couple months back as well as a custom fab FAOD crossinem- her, so the long Cage Radius Arms would bolt to the frame without crossmember interference. We did this in my garage. Yes, I had already carefully measured to ensure I would be able to drive it out of the garage! What made this a snap? Hlive lots of hands, at least 2 grinders, a welder. the usual good setts) of hand tools, and a compressor/air tools. and lots or prior planning. It you don't understand the planning aspect. youll likely run into lots of little things that will set you back ttnlewisc. 1 cant thank my friends enough, and I stand ready for when they need help with labor. The Bronco has been back on the road and trails now 8 months, and all could not be better, The results were so worth the lime, expense and effoit; especially for me since I tend to hold onto things, and Ive only just hit the l decade mark. 1 tigure Ive now got another decade to enjoy the fruits ot the labor Handling, mileage, cte...,so triz' xii , , dt .tanr. lnllvjttrlll ' llt: tullvtt V-tllll"l> dim - Nil lfitt , ,. tr , many small things are unaffected, or even improved from an on-ioad perspective, on: road, well, I'll continue to test, but so far off-camber and ex stuff is night and day. A Solid axle is the best for trail duty, and it certainly never hurts to run an 8 lug setup and [ulltloat rear when running bigger tires and the weight of a full~size. Since we all know that love of the Bronco equates to never actually being n- ished" with things you wantJneed to do to your truck. my current work calls for a swap from the electric 1356 Tease to a man- ual since my electric h s been giving me problems (in process now), alloy shafts and aftermarket joints tip front. and 2t rollbar. Im looking forward to this summer now that shes all setup, lll hitting some trails, so I hope to see you all out there 2: