Advice for a new 78 Bronco

[53 Driver]

I finally bought a 78 Bronco with a 460 in it. Unfortunately, I am in Korea, and the truck is in Virginia. I'm trying to figure out my list of immediate action items with it, and since my wife managed to drive it three hours home, I think I can leave the engine alone for a while. It does, however, have what appears to be a four inch body lift, that I would like to change to a suspension lift. I have only been able to see pictures of it, so I am trying to gauge all of my clearance issues withough actually getting hands on it. If anybody has any advice on tight spots that I can get my son and wife to take a look at, as well as any advice on good lift kits, it would be appreciated.

[379sinvb]

Congrats and welcome to the nut house! I would like to help ya answer this questions but how about this? What are your plans with it, just drive it or drive/wheel it or off road it only? How about some pics of it?

http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/...ead.php?t=6204

[Scoop]

What size tires? What gearing? 4 inch BL is a lot for just BL. As Rick asked, what is your intended use? Beach? Rock crawling? Mall crawling? Biggest question is what size tires will you run - that will determine your clearance issues. With 4" lift you should be able to run 35's with only minor rubbing issues. Thanks for serving.

[Saltlife]

They didn't make a 4" Body lift for your bronco. I am sure it is a 3" BL. Like said tell us what you are planning on doing with it. Also post a picture so we can see it.

We have a great group of guys here in the ECBM.

[53 Driver]

I was pretty vague, sorry. Mostly, I bought it for something that my boy and I can work on together. My goal is to make it close to daily driver as possible. Although I don't picture myself taking it out for tough mudding or rock climbing, I would like to have the confidence that it can handle at least moderate abuse. Right now, it has 35" tires, but I am considering knocking that down to 33".

[53 Driver]

Originally Posted by Saltlife

They didn't make a 4" Body lift for your bronco. I am sure it is a 3" BL. Like said tell us what you are planning on doing with it. Also post a picture so we can see it.

We have a great group of guys here in the ECBM.

I haven't enough time to read and figure out how to post pictures, so I just put a picture as my profile picture. More to come, thank you for all of the interest.

[Saltlife]

By your profile picture it looks like theres a suspension lift on there. Get a photobucket.com account, upload pictures there, Copy IMG CODE here.

When will you be back states side?

[379sinvb]

Alrighty, so you want something that you and your boy can work on, drive on a daily basis if ya want and take offroad and perform well if needed. Looking at the picture you have. The body looks pretty straight and the suspension looks to be tinkered with. A 4" suspension will clear those 35's with almost no rub (radius arms at most). If you ditch those 35's and go to 33's that will look silly (imo). Here are some pics to go off of.
4" suspension w/ 35's

Stock suspension w/ 33's


If ya need some help let us (ECBM) know and we would be glad to help.

Lift kits I would recommend.
http://www.wildhorses4x4.com/product...ion_System_4in
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-...-lift-kit.html
http://bds-suspension.com/product?ma...1&yr=1978-1979

[53 Driver]

Thank you for all of the help. I think I am going to stick with the 35" tires, and do what I can to get rid of the body lift. Hopefully it goes smoothly. I will post current pictures shortly, and as the work moves along.

[53 Driver]

Here are some pictures. Again, please let me know if there are any areas I need to be concerned about with respect to clearance, etc:

[53 Driver]

Sorry guys, I haven't been able to figure out this internet machine yet. Here are some links to the pictures I tried to send:

http://s946.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_4674.jpg
http://s946.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_4694.jpg
http://s946.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_4730.jpg
http://s946.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_4745.jpg

[379sinvb]

You have to copy the image code then paste it here.

[beernut]

Nice looking Bronco.

cheers
-bn

[379sinvb]

Looking at the rear leaf pack it looks like you have a lift block in there.

[89Heaver]

looks like about 3in body and i agree with possible lift block out back. Grats on a very good lookin 78!

[53 Driver]

So, here's my plan: first, new tires. I'll stick with the 35" tires, and I think I will stick with the BFG A/T. Second, I'm going to replace the blocks with the 4" Standard Flex Suspension lift kit from JBG. Third, figure out how to make my wife forgive me. Fourth, work on everything else.
Would anybody else do things the same way, or am I way off base here?

[379sinvb]

Looks like a good plan esp on the wife part. Not really important but why did you choose the standard flex kit? As the work gets done take pics for us & post in the " build/restore" thread. If ya need a hand let me know cause I'm willing to help.

[OX1]

Sounds like a decent plan. If mostly going to be a street truck, I would
add the rear swaybar and new bushings for the front swaybar also. My 79
has 35 BFG AT's, 2" lift and both sway bars. Mostly use it for towing,
but it really is a nice driver too, corners very flat.

Also, the 35 BFG AT is a very small 35 (compared to many other 35's),
maybe 34 actual dia when new (with the perfect rim width off the vehicle).
So small in fact that even with a plow on the front and only 2" springs,
it never rubs.

Here is another data point for looks/clearance, 2" lift,
no bod lift and 35 BFG AT (16.5 rims).

As far as mods and their sequence. I would do hydroboost brakes
after the new tires (assuming alignment is OK). The brakes on these
are marginal at best, even with stock tires.

[53 Driver]

Originally Posted by 379sinvb

Looks like a good plan esp on the wife part. Not really important but why did you choose the standard flex kit? As the work gets done take pics for us & post in the " build/restore" thread. If ya need a hand let me know cause I'm willing to help.

I picked that specific kit because of the Deaver springs. Although I understand the basics, I don't know much about different brands for suspensions, and that name kept popping up when I was asking around about what type of lift kits to get.

[53 Driver]

Originally Posted by OX1

Here is another data point for looks/clearance, 2" lift,
no bod lift and 35 BFG AT (16.5 rims).

I know that I want to remove the body lift. I will probably get a better idea after I get back home, but are there a huge clearance issue with the 460 engine? It doesn't have headers on it right now, but those are on my longer range to-do list.