1981-ton Bronco (99-04) leaf spring SAS

[1981tonbronco]

You'd think. I was in a autozone yesterday with my 90' Bronco on 38's and the guy who worked there was standing outside when I pulled up. Even asked me if I wanted to sell it. We get inside and he asks if it's a Bronco or a Bronco II.

I try not to take those comments personal but they still make me mad haha if anything, I take away the fact that everybody thinks they are cool trucks. Even the people that know nothing about them

 

[1981tonbronco]

I figured I would include some info on my custom Saginaw bracket that I made. For years I was looking for an 80-86 Ford Econoline with a 300. Easier said that done…

So I got impatient and used a Borgeson Saginaw swap bracket that was designed for a Ford 200. It looked extremely similar to the mounting surface as the 300. A piece of 1/4” steel was bolted to the block using existing bolt hole locations, the Borgeson bracket was clamped to the block so that everything could be lined up. Used a metal straight edge to line up the pulleys and zeroed the face of the power steering pump pulley to the face of the crankshaft pulley

 

[1981tonbronco]

The bracket and plate were burned together, painted and ready for install.

Desolate Motorsports sells a serpentine Saginaw swap kit so I purchased their hoses and fittings separately. They worked out perfect and look clean.

This has truly been in the top 3 best upgrades I’ve done to this truck in the 10 years that I have daily driven it. The Saginaw pump is dead silent and turns the 37’s full lock with ease in a stopped position on the street.

 

[fordpickupman]

The Saginaw pump isn’t a stellar swap. I put one on my 1st gen Explorer. It’s quiet, and it keeps up with shenanigans.

 

[1981tonbronco]

The Saginaw pump isn’t a stellar swap. I put one on my 1st gen Explorer. It’s quiet, and it keeps up with shenanigans.

Definitely will be much happier on the trail compared to the stock C2 pump. Time for hydro assist!

 

[1981tonbronco]

These rear springs up front are working well!

 

[rattle_snake]

Nice work on PS pump mount. I had issues with similar single shear mount on long bracket, would shake/vibrate at certain RPMs and puke fluid. I added a rear brace to solve, and a gusset all the way out to pivot mount hole.

 

[1981tonbronco]

Nice work on PS pump mount. I had issues with similar single shear mount on long bracket, would shake/vibrate at certain RPMs and puke fluid. I added a rear brace to solve, and a gusset all the way out to pivot mount hole.

Nice! I actually heard of this mount breaking at the welds a few years ago but If you look close, you’ll see a gusset on the front for a little added strength. It’s held up so far.

 

[1981tonbronco]

Since the old 4” lift rear shocks worked perfect for the front, Bilstein makes 5100’s that are valved for 80-96 Broncos for 2-4” lift.

They are 26.5” extended and 16” collapsed. Now I have 5100’s all the way around and the truck drives awesome.

Getting a 1350 yoke for the np208 and a cv driveshaft made for the front

 

[1981tonbronco]

The owner of the alignment shop said that for the alignment to be this good after a swap of this caliber is so impressive that he didn’t even charge me. Guess you get lucky every once in a while.

From what I’ve been reading, caster between 4° and 5° is ideal for 99-04 superdutys with lift and bigger tires. The steering wheel returns to center nicely and no wobble at highway speeds.

 

[Socal4x]

Very nice! You just gave me tons of motivation and help. I'm picking up a 95 Bronco next week and this is the approach I want to take. I was contemplating if to throw any money into the TTB, but SAS leaf is simple and works. I've built a few Jeeps but looking forward to the Bronco build. Thanks for sharing!

 

[1981tonbronco]

Very nice! You just gave me tons of motivation and help. I'm picking up a 95 Bronco next week and this is the approach I want to take. I was contemplating if to throw any money into the TTB, but SAS leaf is simple and works. I've built a few Jeeps but looking forward to the Bronco build. Thanks for sharing!

You are welcome! I’m sure you know but I always tell people that decision is based off of what size tire you want to run. You can definitely run 37’s on the ttb but I would rather not worry about having to replace shafts, hubs, u joints, etc deep on the trail.

With 35’s and traction devices, the ttb is extremely capable on the trail. They obviously excel in the desert stuff! The leaf springs were supposed to be cheaper than coilovers and links but there’s always figuring out to do. But so far, the truck has done extremely well on the trail and I daily drive it with no complaints with the leaf springs

 

[1981tonbronco]

I figured that since it has been a year now, I would give an update.

Everything has worked great both on and off the trail. The front springs are definitely soft. I took the trac bar off for adjustment for a little bit once the springs settled and the truck did not handle well on the highway. So for anybody wondering why I did a trac bar with leaf springs, that is why!

I had to do a bit of trimming. With the low ride height, those 37’s really get into stuff when stuffed and turned at full lock.

 

[CDA 455 II]

Bigger pics!

 

[1981tonbronco]

Next on the list:

• Sky Offroad hi steer knuckle machining
• Sky Offroad ‘project 60’ hi steer arm
• Ruffstuff crossover draglink
• Offroad Design 7075 solid aluminum tie rod
• Bumpstops

The limiting factor on this set up is the trac bar hitting the pumpkin at full bump since it is directly between the crossmember and axle. But any more bump and I’d be eating fenders anyway. The only time the trac bar makes contact with the diff is when I come off of a ledge/waterfall where both tires are at full bump at the same time. If one side droops out, there is much less of an issue.

 

[WaterH]

Why does the tie rod need to go down from the knuckle? Seems like it could go straight from knuckle to knuckle and you get maybe 2” more clearance.

Edit, I see you haven’t done the high steer arms yet. Duh

 

[1981tonbronco]

Why does the tie rod need to go down from the knuckle? Seems like it could go straight from knuckle to knuckle and you get maybe 2” more clearance.

Edit, I see you haven’t done the high steer arms yet. Duh

Yep, that is exactly why I wanted to do a high steer drag link. A straight, flat drag link will reduce tie rod roll when turning and the straight tie rod will give me more clearance.

Should be a win-win!

 

[1981tonbronco]

Got the hi steer all finished up. Using Sky Offroad’s knuckle machining and hi steer arm. It got a little tricky fitting everything with such a low ride height.

Decided to run the TRE underneath the hi steer arm and on top of the pitman arm. Doing so allowed there to be a slight angle to the drag link. Normally, you’d want the drag link as flat as possible but having the trac bar between the axle and crossmember doesn’t allow me to match the two angles. So a little bit of angle was the goal to get the geometry correct. The good thing about trac bars on leaf spring set ups is that they are just assisting the springs instead of doing all the work on a linked build. So angles being a little off won’t be the end of the world

The Offroad Design solid aluminum tie rod is beefy!

 

[rattle_snake]

Nice. I did the same recently for the same reasons. Happy with quality of sky machining.