Tree trunks 87 FSB

[Tree trunk]

Thanks dude!
I think the main reason I’m able to run straight tie rods is that I have the drop brackets over the cut and turn beams.

Actually I’m not sure now…
My buddy did a dual swinger on his bronco with cut and turn beams and was able to run straight tie rods. And I loosely copied his design for my swingers. Because I have the drop brackets my geometry was different from his.

For example


I’m not sure I needed to make my swingers as long as I did. but it cycles clean.
I really didn’t know what I was doing other than I needed to pick up the lower pivots to not get bump steer. lots and lots and lots of trial and error in this set up. More than I care to admit

I think the bent tie rods are more common with a single swing type of set up?

 

[UR_Mawm69]

oh. oh. ooooooooooooohhhhhhh.

you have donkeydickdrop brackets. i didn't know that. i guess i just assumed you had C&T beams................

makes sense then

 

[bullnerd]

Killer job on the steering dude!

 

[Tree trunk]

Killer job on the steering dude!

Thank you sir

 

[Tree trunk]

I’ve been working on the front end list.
Nothing too exciting,
-made some hood pin mounts. I’m not too happy with how they came out but they should keep the hood closed.
-secured some more wiring
- installed the headlights and grill for the 427th time. The fitment for the headlight bezels to fender and hood inst that great. It’ll work for what I’m doin though

View attachment 18A3D995-EE1E-447D-A046-BA0A45EAD581.mov

Standard hood pin stuff…. I used the auto fab grommet deals. I should have used those when I was setting the pin placement they sit kinda funny because I set them up to just go through the hood and not the grommet.



Then I figured I might as well see if this thing would support its own weight.

The coil overs didn’t shoot through the hood so we are looking good so far



My coils are wayyyyy to stiff
12” 500 over 16” 550

Was thinking about a 14” 250 over 16” 550?

I was going to hold off on the re spring, but I need to pull the coil overs off to cycle the tires for clearance on the bumper anyways.



I actually rage ordered these things like 4 months ago I didn’t think I could fit two car seats in the back of the jeep. Turns out I can lol.
I’ll throw these in the back of bronco once I start on the interior

 

[Turboyota]

Then I figured I might as well see if this thing would support its own weight.

The coil overs didn’t shoot through the hood so we are looking good so far

View attachment 42357

My coils are wayyyyy to stiff
12” 500 over 16” 550

Was thinking about a 14” 250 over 16” 550?

I was going to hold off on the re spring, but I need to pull the coil overs off to cycle the tires for clearance on the bumper anyways.

Lemme know if you want to try some spring rates. I have a fuckton of springs on my pallet racking, and I’m right down the street…

I think you’re gonna want 350/400 or 350/450…

 

[Tree trunk]

Lemme know if you want to try some spring rates. I have a fuckton of springs on my pallet racking, and I’m right down the street…

I think you’re gonna want 350/400 or 350/450…

I will take you up on that thanks dude

I’ll slide up in the DMs and we will set something up

 

[Tree trunk]

@Turboyota set me straight on my spring rates.

New springs 14” 250 over 16” 450
Old springs 12” 500 over 16” 550

These feel like a much better jumping off point.

While I had the coil overs removed I figured I better check full bump now that I have fenders and fender wells….



Yikes….. and I still have some up travel before the bump stops bump out.
—I was a little ambitious on how much up travel I could squeeze out of this thing. I never cycled the front end with fenders untill now.

untill I want to rethink my inner fender wells I was thinking about shimming out my bump stops in the can a bit…. that way my fenders and fender wells don’t delete if things get spicy.

Shimming the bump stop in the can seems a little scetchy, but I think I’ll give it a try.




Got the dash installed, I was even able to cut up and duct tape a portion of the original HVAC plenum to give partial air to the driver and passenger and some lines that I will plumb back to the rear passengers through the center consul.



Well I think I’m gonna take her up and down the street this weekend to test the steering, breaks and all that other crap that was thrown on.
Still a big list to work through, but driving this thing again will be a major win.

Only thing I needed to drive was a battery.… I talked a lot of shit on optima’s and said I would be buying a Kirkland or duralast when the time came.

I ended up buying a optima red top anyways lol

 

[the bodj]

Rather than shimming the bumpstop down, add 1/4" pucks with a little weld bead onto wherever the bump hits.

 

[Tree trunk]

Rather than shimming the bumpstop down, add 1/4" pucks with a little weld bead onto wherever the bump hits.

I think I’ll do this

 

[95Bronco]

Great idea with the A/C. I was wondering what those vacuum hoses were doing.

 

[Tree trunk]

Thanks dude I will keep you guys updated if it moves enough air to keep everyone comfortable. I forgot to take a picture of it when I had the dash out. I was stoked to get it back together and I forgot to document.

Speaking of rushing to get it back together…. I threw the battery in last night with hopes of getting it fired up…. And I couldn’t get it to crank over…. Something in the start Solenoid is fuckky. That or I need to pull the dash again and look for missed grounds. I’ve got a relay that is hooked up to the start solenoid, it looks aftermarket. But I donno, it ran a couple months ago, I just gotta chase it down

 

[Brett_408]

God damn I'm impressed with how well you fit the dash on the A tubes. Also being able to salvage factory ducking. I ended up completely having to guy my ducting to get the dash to fit. Pretty bummed to have lost AC because of that.

 

[Brett_408]

For the fenders maybe use auto fab stock width glass? Bigger wheel well on them.

 

[Tree trunk]

It looks better from this angle on the A tubes, but the back side where they slide into I’m not too proud of I’ll cover that shit up with a nice little dash mat some day.
And I butchered the sides of the dash pretty good when I was still trying to install the cage without pulling the dash. but I will do some sheet metal stuff to secure the dash and clean it up.

The picture I have of the ducting cut and tape up tottaly sucks. But I’ll show what I did



Another one of the dash but my shitty cuts on the a pillar



If I blow apart my fenders I’ll be looking at those fenders forsure…. But also, shit might as well get some +4 fenders and start building out some bigger beams no no no…. Just gotta chill out and keep rolling on the current goals

 

[Brett_408]

I trimmed up my dash mat it hid my butchery well

 

[Tree trunk]

Was able to take the bronco up and down the street to test steering and breaks,
Both worked very well
the quick steering will take some getting used too.
I had to go back to the 500/550 spring combo, I think the 250 top spring was way too soft. Once I actually started moving the front end dove so hard I thought the coil over mount had tore off even the 500/550 combo has more sag than expected.



After the rip around the block I parked it

Added a little pre load to the front coils
Installed the bump stop extendo pads
Added corner supports to the front bumper

Then started on seat belt mounts and harness bars
View attachment B07EB7E1-0BD9-4271-8CE2-035E978C6CCE.mov
View attachment ECAE60C1-02E1-411E-B82D-51A9FD7193A8.mov



I had been debating on just keeping the rear bench for now….. but when I went to throw the bench In to test fit, I noticed a mouse had been living in the internals of that bench…..
-now that that bench smells like mouse piss, I will go ahead and reconfigure the rear to fit two full sized seats.

Also That mouse is dead now

 

[Brett_408]

What length Bypass and diameter body do you run in the back? Are they mounted outside the frame rails on the stock width rear end? I'm thinking about switch to this set up for a better shock angle then my current under body shock mounts.

 

[Tree trunk]

I’m running a 2.5 3tube bypass 16” stroke,
It’s on the outside of the frame rails with the lower shock mounts on the spring plates.
Though I think a 3” shock will be in the future now that the front suspension is not a limiting factor.

- It handles very well, I can even take a little valving out of the shocks so I can fine tune the top half of the bypass.

- the cons,
The bypasses are extremely loud, to the point that head sets are needed.
Fitting two full size seats will be a squeeze, but they should fit.

 

[Brett_408]

I’m running a 2.5 3tube bypass 16” stroke,
It’s on the outside of the frame rails with the lower shock mounts on the spring plates.
Though I think a 3” shock will be in the future now that the front suspension is not a limiting factor.

- It handles very well, I can even take a little valving out of the shocks so I can fine tune the top half of the bypass.

- the cons,
The bypasses are extremely loud, to the point that head sets are needed.
Fitting two full size seats will be a squeeze, but they should fit.

Do you have a stock rear end width aswell? Wheel spacers?

Definitely worried about noise my tundra was ungodly loud without headsets aswell from bypass chatter.