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commbubba19

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The strut bolts to the lower control arm are top down for a reason. If the nut falls off the bolt will remain in place until you can pull over. Bottom up there’s nothing to retain the bolt and it will fall out if there’s a failure and you will have hard time keeping the vehicle on the road. Do not do what this guy did.

Also when he rotates the strut to line back up to the control arm mount it is pputting the spring out of the perch alignment. Looks like it happened in the rear as well.
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Broncola

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The strut bolts to the lower control arm are top down for a reason. If the nut falls off the bolt will remain in place until you can pull over. Bottom up there’s nothing to retain the bolt and it will fall out if there’s a failure and you will have hard time keeping the vehicle on the road. Do not do what this guy did.

Also when he rotates the strut to line back up to the control arm mount it is pputting the spring out of the perch alignment. Looks like it happened in the rear as well.
Nice catch on the spring perch.
 

Razorbak86

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The strut bolts to the lower control arm are top down for a reason. If the nut falls off the bolt will remain in place until you can pull over. Bottom up there’s nothing to retain the bolt and it will fall out if there’s a failure and you will have hard time keeping the vehicle on the road. Do not do what this guy did.
As a mechanical engineer, I can certainly understand that design choice from a safety perspective, but I thought the bolt position top-down with the nut on the bottom was simply a design choice made for ease of assembly? 🤔

If I recall correctly, the suspension components are initially assembled when the chassis is upside down, and then the chassis is flipped over before the drivetrain and body are attached. If that’s correct, then the nuts attaching the coil-over assemblies would be driven from above instead of below while the chassis is upside down, which would appear to be an easier assembly process to automate.

My memory may be wrong, though. 🤷‍♂️ If anyone knows for certain, feel free to correct me.

I know I plan to fab and attach skid plates to protect those low points anyway, so it won’t affect my rig.
 

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Thanks for the video! Nice tip with using the crash bar. How hard do you think it will be to bang out the cv shaft by hand?
I know some of you are considering doing this lift yourself, or wondering if you could/should attempt it.

Here is a video of my experience with it (Individual results may vary ;). )

 

commbubba19

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As a mechanical engineer, I can certainly understand that design choice from a safety perspective, but I thought the bolt position top-down with the nut on the bottom was simply a design choice made for ease of assembly? 🤔

If I recall correctly, the suspension components are initially assembled when the chassis is upside down, and then the chassis is flipped over before the drivetrain and body are attached. If that’s correct, then the nuts attaching the coil-over assemblies would be driven from above instead of below while the chassis is upside down, which would appear to be an easier assembly process to automate.

My memory may be wrong, though. 🤷‍♂️ If anyone knows for certain, feel free to correct me.

I know I plan to fab and attach skid plates to protect those low points anyway, so it won’t affect my rig.
maybe but I know it’s done due to safety. You will find most manufacturers will always place bolts in this orientation.

placing bolts upside down like that is just asking for trouble. I’ve seen plenty of nuts back out over time. In this case he didn’t even use any lock washers or loctite.

the front suspension on the bronco is exactly the same as the ranger. Most of us ranger guys have already been down this road.

the ford approved method to pull the strut is to drop the lower control arm.
 

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Did the instructions really say to take all of that off of the front end? Not being critical or anything, I don’t have a Bronco or the kit, so I have no idea.

Edit: congrats, btw
Definitely loosen the axle! I did a 3” lift on my 2021 ranger (which is identical to the bronco) and decided to skip that step and ended up separating the inner cv joint when I pulled down on the lower control arm while putting the strut back in and they don’t just go back together because they are pressed after they are assembled. It was a giant pain in the ass to fix. Had to pull it out of the truck and remove the boot and pound it together with a sledgehammer. Skipping that easy step cost me about 6 hours and probably shortened the life of the axle.
 

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maybe but I know it’s done due to safety. You will find most manufacturers will always place bolts in this orientation.

placing bolts upside down like that is just asking for trouble. I’ve seen plenty of nuts back out over time. In this case he didn’t even use any lock washers or loctite.

the front suspension on the bronco is exactly the same as the ranger. Most of us ranger guys have already been down this road.

the ford approved method to pull the strut is to drop the lower control arm.
Thanks for the response. Certainly lock washers or Loctite would have been preferable to minimize the possibility of the nuts backing out over time.

Like I said, I plan to fab/install skid plates over those low points anyway. The flusher they mount, the better, so I will definitely be flipping the bolts upside down in my scenario, and I will probably drill the bolt ends and add cotter pins to prevent the nuts from backing out, too.
 

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maybe but I know it’s done due to safety. You will find most manufacturers will always place bolts in this orientation.

placing bolts upside down like that is just asking for trouble. I’ve seen plenty of nuts back out over time. In this case he didn’t even use any lock washers or loctite.

the front suspension on the bronco is exactly the same as the ranger. Most of us ranger guys have already been down this road.

the ford approved method to pull the strut is to drop the lower control arm.
What is the Ford approved method for delivering Bronco's? BTW, good looking Ranger!
 

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I know some of you are considering doing this lift yourself, or wondering if you could/should attempt it.

Here is a video of my experience with it (Individual results may vary ;). )

Me and wife watched your video last night. I was amazed how well you take things in stride. Good information and subbed for future videos.
 

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Thanks for the response. Certainly lock washers or Loctite would have been preferable to minimize the possibility of the nuts backing out over time.

Like I said, I plan to fab/install skid plates over those low points anyway. The flusher they mount, the better, so I will definitely be flipping the bolts upside down in my scenario, and I will probably drill the bolt ends and add cotter pins to prevent the nuts from backing out, too.
Saftey wire ,fixture to drill nuts good to go.

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Nice DYI 😎👍 I plan to flip my lower shock mount bolts the same as you for the obvious reasons. For you buttercups out there that are concerned about safety due to them falling out. You should probably keep your Bronco “Store Bought”. The tie rod end are installed without castle nuts. If you think lossing a shock bolt is dangerous you’re in for a big surprise when your tie rod falls off. Regardless any non factory authorized modification will be way beyond your comfort level. You’ll probably need a crying blanket the first time you go off-roading 😂😂😂
 
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Thanks so much. I've done enough of this kinda thing to know glitches show up at every turn, you just have to figure the work around, which you did.

Did the front flatten out when you moved it and the tire scrubbed out?
A bit, but Not completely took it to alignment shop but there are no specs available for them yet so they were not able to adjust them. Will talk with dealership on Monday to see if they can do alignment
 
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Thanks for the video! Nice tip with using the crash bar. How hard do you think it will be to bang out the cv shaft by hand?
Not hard I did on the passenger side instead of using air hammer
 
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Did you measure the garage to see if it will drive out before installing 😳
Hahaha yeah plenty of room though will be a tight squeeze after changing out wheels and tires.
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