Snacktime's Broken Bronco Build

[Snacktime]

Oh... Hi Nate... We fully stand behind our products. If you are not happy with them, if they did not work for your rig, if they did not do their job and protect the incredibly vulnerable parts of your Bronco, just bring them back and we will happily give you a full refund.

As one of our very first customers... who wanted products before we even had them available for sale you are an incredible early adopter and we appreciate you.

Let me know if there is anything else you need for your rig and I will happily take care of it.

Otherwise, like I said, I am happy to issue you a full refund for your troubles. - Matson

I accept and will drop them off Tuesday, this does challenge me ethically as I have used them.

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[Snacktime]

She is naked and reworked my factory skid for my differential drop.

 

[87-Z28]

@Tex I used my Milwaukee 12v right angle drill for the outside holes. Felt like hot rolled steel, way to soft. I think Ford designed the bracket to flex to not stress the welds.

I also cheated with a unibit, didn't want to go buy 2 drill bits.

intriguing idea. Looks to be plenty of room on the brackets. Curious how much material you left for bearing stress. What is distance from lower shock bolt bearing surface (lowest point of hole) to the free surface on bottom of bracket? Did you make a curved or fairly straight cut?

 

[Tex]

intriguing idea. Looks to be plenty of room on the brackets. Curious how much material you left for bearing stress. What is distance from lower shock bolt bearing surface (lowest point of hole) to the free surface on bottom of bracket? Did you make a curved or fairly straight cut?

There's a decent amount of wiggle room there, you don't have to go 2" up but there is a minimum amount of material you'll want to have between the new and old hole for strength. To be on the safe side I'd the same or more material between the two holes as what there was from the old hole to the edge of the bracket. There's enough room to go a little higher than 2", and you can also move it closer or further from the axle as well. When I finally get back around to drilling mine it's going 2" higher and inline with the coilover while it's on the ground to minimize whatever changes in geometry there might be. If you're feeling fancy, you could bend the bracket excess hanging down around on itself to box it in and then weld together to create a little skidplate for it, or just cut and weld a piece of plate steel to it instead.

If you don't expect to hit the bumpstops doing high speed stuff, you can trim off some of the excess material (looks like a kong dog toy) to get more compression travel. Done correctly with the lower bolt relocation, you'll get the same amount of compression travel as stock with two free inches of droop and a 2" lift to go with it.

 

[87-Z28]

Yeah there are a lot of positives about this. A great idea. Not much else needed for me except maybe a small body lift. I won’t ever run more than 37s. I can fine tune the lift and preload with spring compression.

I like leaving it in-line with the current shock central axis. I also like boxing it in for some additional strength plus protection. Thanks for info.

I have some pretty bad plug welds on mine where rear axle housing meets the diff. I also only have 4.27 gear ratio. Was just going to do the gears but maybe my plug welds break and I redo the lower shock mount before the axle goes in.

 

[Snacktime]

Well I don't think I can keep my ice chest on the front of my trailer. It just makes it to long. Started jacking the trailer up to lift it and the front tongue moved an inch so I cut it off and fixed it.

 

[Snacktime]

@Tex & @87-Z28 for high speed running the extra preload helps with the rear more then the droop. Since removing my 2.5" of rear preload I now hit my bump stops at 35mph instead of 45mph bombing over the speed humps. Really need another 3-4 inches of rear travel to get a drastic improvement.

 

[87-Z28]

just so I am clear, you are running at stock shock length no spacers just moved lower shock mount up 2.25”. Also running on lowest spring preload setting?


Understood. Changing spring preload or the compressive displacement essentially moves the equilibrium position when statically loaded at ride height. Since total travel doesn’t change you either loose some up travel or down travel depending on where your lower spring collar sits.

I am trying to get some data so I can get things dialed in how I need. I appreciate the feedback back wrt hitting max compression fairly easily in your setup.

I am a firm believer in not changing the geometry to far outside the design envelope. I am still trying to figure out where the envelope is. I was hoping to not move the lower shock mount as much as you did. Maybe only 1.5” or less. That’s why I was asking about bearing stress and areas. I think those numbers can be calculated tho.

sounds like you once had spacers on the rear and then went to moving shock mount. If so, how thick were spacers. I am trying to decide which way to go. If I can’t get the lower shock mount moved <1.5” I will probably do a small spacer lift.

there is a good solution here between increasing spring preload, moving top shock location up with spacer or raising lower shock mount, and small body lift.

Thanks for the info. Always good to learn from guys that are experimenting with all of this.

 

[Snacktime]

@87-Z28 Yes I am at the zero preset(1" lift setting on 5100) with 2.25" of relocation. I wouldn't worry about the bracket it is hot rolled steel which is soft and has lots of flex. I don't think you going to have any strength issues since it is such soft steel to begin with. You shouldn't have an issue with doing a shorter rear location. Plenty of meat in the bracket to drill holes slightly forward to avoid the factory hole.

The relocation was to gain ground clearance. I am now more set up now for slow speed wheeling. If I was running more high speed stuff I would have maxed out the 5100s and not touched the brackets. I really feared not having enough droop but after wheeling you just learn to 3 wheel as flex is not a bronco trait.

 

[87-Z28]

Yeah. Slowly working thru the decisions. Thanks. Part of the fun is thinking thru these things and making it happen.

I think @BigMeatsBronco significantly shaved his bump stops and put a lot of miles on them without damage. Not exactly sure how he is using his ride but would think he is engaging the stops at speed occasionally.

 

[Snacktime]

Yeah. Slowly working thru the decisions. Thanks. Part of the fun is thinking thru these things and making it happen.

I think @BigMeatsBronco significantly shaved his bump stops and put a lot of miles on them without damage. Not exactly sure how he is using his ride but would think he is engaging the stops at speed occasionally.

Very aware of the bump stops. I need longer shocks shorter bumps are only going to net me another 1" of stuff. Not worth it as I want some cushion when coming down off 3 wheels.

 

[87-Z28]

Yeah I figured you would not want to lose cushion. Especially running with little preload. I agree. I am very surprised he has not had any damage. he cut his by more than a factor of 3. Bump stop force is fairly linear with length so his forces are going up by a factor of 3. I would have thought that would cause some damage. If he is smacking his kinda hard and no issues with many miles? Surely an inch can be removed and only lose about 25% of the cushion, if it is about 4” long.

just an interesting thought. Not sure I would do it either.

 

[Snacktime]

Yeah I figured you would not want to lose cushion. Especially running with little preload. I agree. I am very surprised he has not had any damage. he cut his by more than a factor of 3. Bump stop force is fairly linear with length so his forces are going up by a factor of 3. I would have thought that would cause some damage. If he is smacking his kinda hard and no issues with many miles? Surely an inch can be removed and only lose about 25% of the cushion, if it is about 4” long.

just an interesting thought. Not sure I would do it either.

He is also running SAS suspension, I am on Hitachi springs. I think there is some benefits to the Hitachi springs as I flex to near stock SAS suspension with a sway bar still on.

 

[Snacktime]

Memorial weekend break down. After hours of retaping bolts, pulling all my skids off. I boxed in my factory front skid for my diff drop.

Install 1/0 cable for my compress and curt 4 prong trailer wiring harness.

Rebuilt the tongue on my trailer, rewired the trailer and cleaned up after myself.

 

[Tex]

You think the compressor will get enough airflow behind the panel? I thought about installing a computer fan or similar to my panels for when I bolt in all the inverters and chargers and whatnot just to keep air moving in there.

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