Diff Drop and Ford Performance CV Axles Install

[Felix808]

@Dusty, Another great video like always Great point about walking away to take a break when things don't seem to be coming together. I always find that I will look at the problem from a different point of view and usually figure out a working strategy.

I did notice 2 things on how you removed & installed your engine skid plate. Instead of removing the intercooler grill you were able to reach behind to the nuts. I've always removed the grill (I've got the winch version) So I might give that a try next time. The second thing I noticed is that you mount your skid plate 4 bolt lip on the outside of the bumper where I mount it on the inside as I think it makes a smoother transition

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[ScLeCo]

Hey, I'd pay money for an extra inch!

 

[7sKnuckledragger]

Question, I was looking at “ Ford Performance Half Shaft Kit Front Painted M210 Bronco 2021-2024
Ford Performance: M-3429-BR” but I didn’t see anything articulated as to why they are an improvement over OE. Did I miss something?

 

[Dusty]

Question, I was looking at “ Ford Performance Half Shaft Kit Front Painted M210 Bronco 2021-2024
Ford Performance: M-3429-BR” but I didn’t see anything articulated as to why they are an improvement over OE. Did I miss something?

Did you miss the part where it says “Painted”?

 

[telenerd]

Great video. You remind me of my Dad when he would work in his garage. Sure miss him.

By the way how many inches of travel from stock before you saw CV bind and had problems?

Thanks

 

[NorthShoreBronco]

As someone's who's busted 2 CV shafts... I'm curious to see how you'll make out with the Ford Performance ones!

 

[Dusty]

Great video. You remind me of my Dad when he would work in his garage. Sure miss him.

By the way how many inches of travel from stock before you saw CV bind and had problems?

Thanks

Thanks for that. I remind myself of my own dad too, and smile whenever something I do or say is straight from him. He's long gone too but it's in these ways they live on within us.

I never did any measuring as I'm not scientific. My reasoning for needing this is mostly anecdotal and simple reasoning, but not based on any technical data. But I can say that even at full "static" droop, such as when I have the Bronco up on the lift with no weight on the suspension and everything fully extended at rest, there wasn't any discernible CV bind. As I said in a post above, I think the problem comes in those instant moments when the vehicle is in action and suspension travel comes to its abrupt extent with all of that inertia behind it., while the axles are still spinning. That's not a scenario that would be easily duplicated and measured in the shop.

 

[SnowBronco]

That’s nice. I haven’t installed yet. Waiting to move to 35s. But I was curious about how you described mounting the skid to the new diff bracket. Assuming I understood you correctly.

Ok, got pics. The rear skid plate that I cut now goes on first. The front skid on now goes on last and it leaves a slot right over the new diff drop. Totally lines up with the new diff drop for drilling and tapping a hole to make a new mount point there.

 

[Oldhippie]

I did drill and tap the drop mount and bolted the skids on (after modifying the diff skid)…

 

[murphtron]

Ok, got pics. The rear skid plate that I cut now goes on first. The front skid on now goes on last and it leaves a slot right over the new diff drop. Totally lines up with the new diff drop for drilling and tapping a hole to make a new mount point there.

That’s cool. Are you going to drill/tap with the diff drop still installed? I sort of assume yes, but not sure of the clearance

 

[SnowBronco]

That’s cool. Are you going to drill/tap with the diff drop still installed? I sort of assume yes, but not sure of the clearance

Yeah, there is nothing behind the area that could be drilled. It's no biggie!

 

[Blaylock1988]

I also installed the Broken Innovation diff drop along with a HOSS 3.0 steering rack a couple weeks ago. Those two rear mount bolts took 10x longer to get at than the rest of the diff work, huge pain in the butt. It was worth it though.

I have JCR skids, and had to remove a mount as well as cut a slot for the diff to protrude through, although its barely below the bottom of the skid.

 

[Goods7506]

Hey guys we just uploaded our video on installing a Diff Drop kit from Broken Innovation along with a set of new CV axles from Ford Performance. If you're interested please check it out!



The Bronco's CV's are easily vulnerable to damage by over-extension, particularly in Broncos with suspension lifts. In other words, when your suspension flexes beyond the safe range intended by the Ford engineers, the CV joints can bind and damage the precision components of the joint, leading to anything from premature wear to catastrophic failure. Short of CV failure, over-extension can also tear the rubber dust boot which is an equally labor-intensive repair (though less expensive) that can lead to more severe CV joint damage if not addressed. Many suspension lifts allow the extent of down-travel to come dangerously close to the CV's safe operating limit. Heavier tire/wheel combos can exacerbate the situation as the added mass and inertia can "bounce" the components beyond their static limit, when cycling at speed under hard use. Add in other unauthorized mods like deleting the sway bar (which I've done, precisely to get more articulation) can also be a factor. So I've done quite a bit to my Bronco to put the CV's at a disadvantage. Lowering the differential a couple of inches helps even the playing field by relieving those operating angles at the extremity of travel.

We've had several CV joint and/or boot failures so we decided to address the issue once and for all by installing a diff drop. We chose the kit designed by forum member @TeocaliMG after following his thorough design process here on the forum. It's a well thought out design and as far as I can tell the only one you can get by itself (not part of some larger suspension kit). I swapped out the axles first, so if you're only interested in the Diff Drop install, skip ahead to 11:05 in the video.

While I was at it I did decide to start fresh with a brand new set of CV Axles from Ford Performance, since I had installed a pair of used axles when I swapped to the M210 FDU a few months back (see that video here). The rusty old used axles were of unknown integrity but I had already torn a CV boot on them, so I thought it was prudent to just pair the new Diff Drop with a brand new set of axles.

As I've become accustomed to doing with our install videos, I've just gone ahead and included the entire process, including mis-steps and learned lessons, so you can learn right along with me. I'm not a professional mechanic and I don't present myself as an expert, or my install videos as definitive bibles on how to do something. I try to include it all in there because something I cut out might have been useful to someone. But I do speed it up when appropriate, and try to weed out most of the idle time in order to keep things moving. For anyone who is just wondering what it takes to do installations like these I hope you find the format useful.

the kit that I received looked nothing like that ! the spacer you received I didn't, they gave me 3 washers, that other smaller black bracket with the two bolts, I received the two bolts but not that piece. mine was painted though.

 

[Ducati1098]

the kit that I received looked nothing like that ! the spacer you received I didn't, they gave me 3 washers, that other smaller black bracket with the two bolts, I received the two bolts but not that piece. mine was painted though.

That’s probably because you have the dobinsons kit.. not the broken innovation one shown in this video.

 

[Goods7506]

That’s probably because you have the dobinsons kit.. not the broken innovation one shown in this video.

that is correct, I have the dobinson kit... but why wouldn't they be the same ? missing that small black spacer for the rear of the differential

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