Fullsize Bronco replacement(2rz swap finally)

[DieselD]

I am going to make my official build thread now since I have officially received a good portion of my junk today Why wait to the summer wheeling season you might ask?? Well being in Arizona its hot as hell here so we dont do much wheeling unless its at night. figure now is as good as any to build a new rig.

I am still waiting on my springs from marlin and some odds and ends. the hold up is going to be those 4.7 gears. I can build everything else now except for the t-case which of course  holds up the drive shaft making. I still need gears and lockers too, figure this is a good starting point to be able to get everything under the truck at least.

this weekend starts tear down of front axle and cutting off all the unneeded junk on it. some time next week the truck will get parked and I will start cutting the IFS out from under it.

here is the truck. only owned it for 2 weeks, I bought it to wheel the piss out of.


plus this




plans as of now.....
5" marlin springs
36 tire in a swamper variety
30spline longs
5.29s and either detrots or arbs if cash permits
dual cases with 4.7 23spline in the rear
twin stick
half doors
rear ford fuel tank
remove the bend in favor of tube.
maybe an exo or a really nice interior cage.(I have yet to see an exo i like)
typical tube sliders and front bumper
9k winch of course
repair leaks and stupid stuff to the engine then when it dies or i find a good deal  go for the 3VZ swap
of course I am sure there are lots more of little things to do.
I was going to get nuts and do 4 links but have since decided to keep it simple and on a budget which I am nearing close to already.

More to come!!


oh and for you ford haters out there I sold this to buy a yota......I had it for about 7years and spent god knows how much money on it. I wheeled the piss out of it until I figured out I should get into a lighter smaller rig

[DieselD]

first time taking apart a toyota axle. it was an experience to say the least. Very very messy since everything turned to goo. I assume by leaking inner axles seals allowed all the diff fluid to find its way to the birfs.


looks a little better with all those stupid brackets gone. need to get to trussing and gusseting it.

[DTB]

looks like fun! 

[DieselD]

its underway!

A before picture


rear suspension gone


mock up. this is at full droop. everything is just tacked in place and finger tight.


shackle angle, I think this is going to need to be addressed. everything is where it should be according to marlin.

an idea of how high its going to be. the picture throws it off but the rear is like 8" higher for some stupid reason. granted its not settled or really has any weight back there but still.


I however think I made a critical error. It seemed like the overall opinion was to run 5" springs for a tire over 36 tall. well these are 5" springs and this thing is going to be huge! Im not sure what to do at this moment

[86bobbedtoy]

dude that is a clean a*s yota

[Jordan7118]

Lookin' good! Keep up the work! 

[DieselD]

dude that is a clean a*s yota

if you ignore the rust hole in the bed. beds going away so no big deal. the rest of the truck isnt bad though

[86bobbedtoy]

hay its hard to find a yota with no rust, especially as cheap as we all like to find em. paid 400 for my first one, 1100 for my second (runner) 450 for my current (sorry no good pics yet)  they all looked like a little cash and alot of time later they were wheelin machines,,   your build looks awesome, and looks like it will be with the best of em.

[DieselD]

more progress today as the IFS hits the road.

points of interest......
-plasma cutters rock! best investment ever!
-trying to use plaz upside down sucks!
-when you smell burning flesh,cloths or otherwise excessive smoke stop what your going and put the fire out.
-toyotas have alot of brackets to cut off.
-not sure whats worse, brackets welded everywhere or rivets
- Its hot as F*** out!




Its not a TTB but still deserves a nice F you!


broke a socket and no time to go by another? weld that pregnant dog!


everything unbolted


god I love plasma


look at all the crap that needs to be cut




still need to grind everything, fill in the holes in the frame, and box the engine mounts.


so yeah that was my fun filled 7hours worth of working in the 110* weather. but its one step closer to being done.

[Rocksurfer]

Great progress, can't wait to see it when you're done, and it was 112 not 110.

[86bobbedtoy]

lookin good.

[Jordan7118]

Torching IFS SUCKS!!! ... and then comes grinding... and boxing... YeA!!!!

[DTB]

Torching IFS SUCKS!!! ... and then comes grinding... and boxing... YeA!!!!

at least u have a torch lol....i did mine with an angle grinder and about 35 cutting wheels

[DieselD]

I love my plasma, so much better is situations like this.

yeah i havent got the grinder after it yet

[DieselD]

decided to run detroits front and rear. I wanted a hi pinion for the front and you cant get a lunch box locker for them. decided against arbs for 2 reasons. cost and dealing with air. sure you have some sort of on board air but you have to deal with all the air lines and crap to run them. didnt want the hassle of tearing a air line or leaking issues that are common with arbs. I could run the toyota e locker tacoma lockers. these are cheaper than arbs and are the strongest carrier out of the toyota family of 8" diffs. the downfall is they are slow to engage and have a big actuator hanging of the 3rd member. athough most people dont have a problem hitting them Im sure I will knock them off with the rocks out here. not to mention you have to modify your housing and cant go back the other way once you do it. so parting the axle down the road could be a hassle if I wanted to go another route. I would also have the hassle of finding a module and wiring all that crap up. more stuff running to the diff. So to make a long story short I will be running detroits front and rear. I ordred by front 3rd today and hope to find a deal on the rear. I might just build the rear myself. the front was cheaper to buy built already.

I just spent 2 hours grinding on the frame. I went through 2 wheels, my hands are numb and Im picking metal boogers out of my nose. but the best part is I  just about forgot about my shitty day at work! Mentally refreshing!

[DieselD]

got the front hanger tacked on....

[86bobbedtoy]

at least u have a torch lol....i did mine with an angle grinder and about 35 cutting wheels

Hay, me to.

[DieselD]

Hay, me to.

sucks for you guys!

here is todays work.
rear shackle pass through. What a pregnant dog these where. the frame had a piece of metal in the middle that kinda wrapped around and was impossible to cut. a torch would have been nice since the distance was farther away than the plas likes. And it was a pregnant dog to weld around that body mount.


wonderful view. there is just something about a sold axle under a rig that wasn't built with it. its also much cleaner looking than a IFS. This is purely a mock up stage. 


hard to tell if its 1.5" forward.

[Jud]

Looks good!

[DieselD]

forgot to mention I had the front leafs on backwards! yeah dumb I know but easy to do. hey what o you expect Im a ford guy! 

[DieselD]

got a little shorter. overall wheelbase is right at 110.5"


got some tires to use for mock up. I will not run them in the end. the backspacing is way off of what I need. yes and it will get lowered some.

[DieselD]

So here is the latest, got the bed off and all the junk cut off. cut off about 6" of frame, boxed it in and bent the main hoop. There are still lots of crap to do before this thing runs

This hoop took 5hours and 3 people to bend.


looks simple enough huh? well getting that 10* forward bend to follow the cab lines is a pregnant dog when all your other bends go in a differnt direction.


as it sits now

[DTB]

5 hours and 3 people! damn 


got it on the first try though? looks good 

[jimbo74]

So here is the latest, got the bed off and all the junk cut off. cut off about 6" of frame, boxed it in and bent the main hoop. There are still lots of crap to do before this thing runs

This hoop took 5hours and 3 people to bend.


looks simple enough huh? well getting that 10* forward bend to follow the cab lines is a pregnant dog when all your other bends go in a differnt direction.


as it sits now

that is major attention to detail, i never thought about it, but i would say most people jsut run a straight bar across, no bends forward for the cab lines and call it good... nice work

[DieselD]

that is major attention to detail, i never thought about it, but i would say most people jsut run a straight bar across, no bends forward for the cab lines and call it good... nice work

thanks!

yeah everything I have seen as always been just a straight tube and I never cared for how they look.  I wanted to step it up and get it to actually follow the lines of the truck. Its not perfect since the cab has 2 differnt curves in it. its curves farther about midway up the cab. There really is no way to get the tube to match that perfect. They way it is now should be enough to be noticeable

5 hours and 3 people! damn 


got it on the first try though? looks good 

yeah it was the first tube, took about 15ft, we made one minor error but it was fixable. the biggest issue was getting the forward bend to bend in the bender with another bend needing to happen right where another ended in a differnt direction. very time consuming. Once you get so far you take it very slow just to double check your measurements and make sure its right. You dont want to mess up aafter investing so much time for one tube. The rest should be fairly easy. this is the key tube to making the bed look how I want. Should be most noticeable when looking at it.

[jimbo74]

just htought of something, when the frame flexes will the cage hit the cab due to that bend?

[DieselD]

nah i really don't think so. 1.5" is about as close as it gets. I plan to tie everything into the frame in several places. I actually think I will tie in the interior cage with it too. I shouldnt have too much frame flex to worry about.

[Jordan7118]

Looking good! They're right when they say most people just do a straight bend on that hoop, and yours looks a lot better! Keep it up!

[baconator]

good job so far.  i look forward to following this build.

[Tallchevy]

Nice job so far  keep the pic's coming.