• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Project Guinea Pig


I totally agree. There are some kickass Bronco II's on TRS.

I want mine to be among the best here and don't want any Mickey Mouse stuff on it. To be honest, its the one I want the Dana 44 under - not the Ranger.
The Ranger is my 'Guinea Pig' for a reason. Its an ongoing experiment. Suspensions, Drivetrains, Axles and everything else are subject to change.
I guess thats my decision. The TTB goes into the Ranger. Its the first suspension change, albeit one that could have come from the factory. :icon_thumby:

Edit. Its raining out. Not crawling under there in the rain.
 
Last edited:
Haven't got much done on this lately. Its just rained all the time and I refuse to work on this in the rain. With a short break today I hauled out my collection of coil springs for RBV's.
By using my calibrated eyeball technique I've determined the 3" James Duff springs have sagged a fair amount.
DSCF0100_zps68f505fb.jpg


From left to right:
Short black pair: Moog replacement 87 STX coils (supposed to be an inch or so taller than stock.)
Rusty filthy blue pair: James Duff 3" coils.
Rusty grey-ish pair. Bought used from another Ranger a couple years ago, What exactly, idk.
Tall black pair: 6 1/2" BDS coils for a Jeep XJ. (240 ppi)

Okay, I plan to use this thing as a dd and occasional use 4x4 though I tend to truly kick the sh!t out of my 4 bys off road. Which springs should I choose?
:icon_confused:
 
Last edited:
The xj's they'll be a better ride. The ttb could are too stiff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The xj's they'll be a better ride. The ttb could are too stiff.
I think it would flex better with the xj springs but lean like a mother on curves as a dd. I agree the RBV springs are far too stiff and was leaning towards the BDS springs anyway. I wasn't planning on running a swaybar so I guess I'd have to change my driving technique (ie slow down for curves...) a bit.
Second choice would be the grey springs just to maintain altitude since they're pretty heavy duty. As stiff as RBV springs are they do sag over time.
 
Remember you have different spring rates there, so even though one spring may be higher, it wont support the truck like another, due to the higher spring rate...

SVT
 
Remember you have different spring rates there, so even though one spring may be higher, it wont support the truck like another, due to the higher spring rate...
SVT
I'm not sure what you might recommend SVT, and would welcome your input.
Should I look at early Bronco coils? Theres a wide gap in spring rates between the 240ppi xj coils and 5 - 600 ppi RBV coils.
:dunno:
 
There have been a few that have used the light xj coils on the ttb with success. I'm running a 190 ppi coil on my full width sas ranger I'm currently building. Flex should be good...

SVT
 
There have been a few that have used the light xj coils on the ttb with success. I'm running a 190 ppi coil on my full width sas ranger I'm currently building. Flex should be good... SVT

I'm aiming for around 5 to 6" of total suspension lift so the gray springs (I believe to be a 6" Ranger coil of unknown make) and the BDS 6 1/2 xj coils are the only real options among what I have. Coils aren't the hardest things to re & re so my first choice isn't crucial but if both are wrong theres a wide gap between them.
 
The 6.5 xj's might get you 5" at ride height. They would probably flex more than the travel you have....

SVT
 
Then thats not a bad place to start. The issues can be addressed over time.
Thank you, SVT.
 
I might have to stick the D44 in this thing and not necessarily the way I wanted to. With all the rain and a few floods in here I've discovered some of my new D44 stuff has gotten wet. The Eaton posi has a small amount of rust started. The bottom box was the Poison Spyder diff cover which is kind of lucky, I guess.
Looking at my collection of parts and I realize I have most of the important items but not the really sexy stuff. (I really wanted the Reid knuckles, for instance.)
So I'm gonna take a shot at sticking it in here.
For those who haven't seen it, Its an early Bronco unit I got it from an S10 guy with all the Ford mounting stuff stripped off and leaf perches welded on. I paid $140 so I ain't complaining. Its even got 4.10's in it. :icon_thumby:

So I guess the JD ttb lift and Skyjacker radius arms are going on Craigslist.
 
Started ripping the rear axle and leaf springs outta the pickup yesterday. I decided to swap the springs between that black POS Explorer and the red & silver POS Ranger. Among the RBV's in the yard the pickup has the crappiest springs and most useless rear axle. Even the B II has a 3.73 posi although its a 7.5". But, naturally, its fighting me.
The frame rails look good but spring hangers and shackle mounts are all rusted out. Almost every single bolt is rusted in place so I'll be cutting that crap off in favor of newer parts from my favorite shopping place - the scrapyard.
I gotta get that sploder out of my parking spot soon, it came with at least one rat. Which explains the snail shells and some of the smell.
No pics yet. We've all seen rusty junk we want to get rid of and forget, right? :sad:
 
Good luck man! That's gonna suck going to the JY to pull hangers lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My cordless angle grinder is a piece of sh!t and I need a better one and/or maybe a sawzall. But the cordless tools are awesome for crappy jobs like these.
Trick is to take lots of batteries! lol
 
A couple pix of my rustbucket. lol The bolts in the leaves don't budge.
After the pain in the a5s I've endured trying to tear this junk apart I might need to rethink getting some of this stuff from the garbage supermarket.

DSCF0108_zps4sudzxio.jpg

DSCF0107_zpsyvhgwsvw.jpg


Its been a slow process so far but the tail of the springs is down. The right spring hanger is hacked apart but the left will be slower for sure. The Bronco will probably be worse, it lived near the ocean.
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Special Events

Events TRS Was At This Year

TRS Events

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

TRS Latest Video

TRS Merchandise

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Sponsors


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Sponsored Ad

Back
Top