Can a Bronco II be modified to reduce rollover risk?

[wildbill23c]

lil_blue_ford is exactly right, the media always takes something non-important and blows it out of proportion. The whole blowout/rollover BS from the explorers were caused from idiots who can't drive. The rollover issues with the Bronco 2's was the same just people who don't know how to drive anything other than a little tiny low to the ground car. Plus teenagers thrown behind the wheel of a truck and trying to show off always has a negative disastrous result at some point.

Treat it as a truck not a sports car and it will be just fine. I've found that these vehicles are actually extremely stable when driven properly, I've had my trucks in some pretty weird places and never felt in danger of a rollover although from how they were sitting you would scratch your head and wonder. Its all in knowing how to drive properly, and knowing the limitations of your driving skills and the limitations of the vehicle.

I really like my Bronco 2, its so small and compact that its easy to get into tight spaces, and maneuver where a truck would have major problems.

As for the engine size anything past 1986 had the 2.9L Fuel Injected V6. The 1984-1985's had the 2.8L V6. Either engine is good, nevermind the hype of not having power you will read about on here. They're not race cars this is why they didn't put larger engines in them, they had "rollover" problems with the little V6 what would happen with a 302 LOL. Anyhow, either engine will do its job very well, and you would be surprised what these trucks are capable of.

 

[flightsuit]

These comments about not driving it like a sports car, and therefore not rolling it over, don't totally make sense to me. If you're making an emergency lane change, you're doing it because you have to, because the alternative is to hit, or be hit by, another vehicle.

So that's my only concern. My friend's smart enough not to treat a Bronco II like a CRX, but you never know what's going to happen out there on the freeways. We live in California. Everybody is on their cell phone, and inconsiderate.

 

[wildbill23c]

Not driving it like a sports car means slow the hell down for curves, and as many of us have said they are a lot more stable than you think they would be.

Having to make an emergency lane change oftentimes is due to people not paying attention, however, making fast lane changes don't necessarily make the vehicle unstable, its the over-correcting, then trying to re-correct is what gets people into trouble if they aren't paying attention or not experienced enough in driving a truck.

Everybody on their cell phone....Exactly the reason for the emergency lane changes, people NOT PAYING ATTENTION.

Remember its a truck that has a short narrow wheelbase and a high center of gravity. With that in mind drive it as a truck not a car and you'll be just fine. I've made a lot of emergency maneuvers offroad and none of which resulted in anything close to a rollover, you would be surprised how stable these trucks really are.

 

[4x4junkie]

These comments about not driving it like a sports car, and therefore not rolling it over, don't totally make sense to me. If you're making an emergency lane change, you're doing it because you have to, because the alternative is to hit, or be hit by, another vehicle.

So that's my only concern. My friend's smart enough not to treat a Bronco II like a CRX, but you never know what's going to happen out there on the freeways. We live in California. Everybody is on their cell phone, and inconsiderate.

Not driving it like a sports car also includes not doing 75-80 on the freeways when traffic is mostly going 65-70. This gives you considerably more time to react to any situation that arises, and makes for less likelihood the vehicle would go out of control in the even of an overcorrection.

There is truth to that statement. It isn't a design "flaw" because there are compromises in all designs. The tib and ttb are a swing axle design like the vw bug rear axle. When you turn left - right - left quick enough the axles are "forced" together raising the COG [center of gravity] making the truck more likely to flip. But like everyone else has said, drive it like a truck and you will have no problems.
One way to help is to put a thicker front and rear sway bar on, tho some b-ii's come with the thickest stock sway bar already. The thickest front bar is ~1 1/8" and the thickest rear is 1" and both those sizes are found on b-ii's. I think the earlier years, '84 and '85 are the ones to look for.
I think the b-ii is a great all around truck and can carry four people and still has cargo room out of the weather.
Good luck,

Richard

I don't think you can really compare the Ford Twin-Beam setup to a VW rearend... For one thing, one is at the front of the vehicle, the other in the rear, which have entirely different dynamics. A VW is also much narrower, and the swingarms terminate several inches short of the chassis centerline, where the Ford's twin beams (probably more than twice as long) terminate well opposite of center (which greatly reduces camber change at the wheel, and therefore any jacking effect).
There was previous hype like this involving the Chevrolet Corvair (again, later disproved from being inherently unsafe compared to other similar vehicles). Unfortunately there were people who perpetuated the issue because they thought they saw a similarity and insisted "Oh that's why it rolled over" after some one incident somewhere must've made news headlines.

The Ford Explorer/Firestone thing was another one. Oddly enough, while that one was still playing out I started paying attention to the generation Explorers that were making the headlines... Every one that I saw was a 2nd-gen (which used a more-conventional A-arm IFS rather than the Twin-Beam). Seems like that would point to the A-arm suspension being more rollover-prone than the Twin-Beam setup with everything else being the same...