Chuzie's monster transformation

[medwards01]

Hot Dayum Chuzie, here's to ya bro :notworthy: Did you hit the lottery or what?? That kinda stuff is golden, talk about ya bling, bling!! :rubeyes: Santa Clause must be coming early....I bet you haven't been able to sleep since you placed the order. Can't wait to see pictures of the install.... :rockon: :jump: :rockon:

[jollygrngiant]

NICE chuzie! Give me a hollar when you get it. I'll help you out as much as I can with the install.

[73Bronc]

:rubeyes: Giddy up Chuzie! I look forward to seeing the install progress.

[firefighter2134]

i wish santa could be that nice to me...good luck on install and post up some pics.!

[snipes243]

what size lift are you running now

[chuzie]

5.5 same as what is coming just major ugrade

[blazinchuck]

come on chuzie...quit being shy! i know something's been done in the last couple of days lol

[broncomatt]

:popc1::beer::popc1:

[chuzie]

And Chuzie said "Let there be flex," and there was flex. Chuzie saw that the flex was good, and so he began to install the new suspension he ordered...... :toothy12:


Day 1 (26 Aug 10)
Objective for today:
1. Obtain baseline RTI rating
2. Inventory all parts

We decided to perform the installation at Chuck's garage because I am living in an apartment and my garage is packed up in storage. Plus, Chuck has all the really cool toys at his place.

We took the Bronco to a friend's house to obtain a baseline RTI. The test was performed on a 20* ramp. We tested the front driver's side and then the rear driver's side using the formula RTI dist / wheelbase x 1000. The front had an RTI of 608 (56/92x1000) and the rear 489 (45/92x1000). Keeps in mind I am currently running 5.5" suspension lift with 35" tires. Objective 1 complete.

I dropped the bronco off at Blazinchuck’s garage and we did a complete inventory of all 13 boxes Duffs sent. I decided all the hardware kits needed to be inventoried as well so as to prevent any delays in the project due to missing items.

Basically there are four projects going on at once; rear 4-link, front shocks, front coils, and radius arms. Each has its own hardware kit and instructions. I broke the hardware kits out and bagged and tagged as I inventoried.




They packaged everything very well. All the items were wrapped and then sealed in the boxes with spray foam.

All the kits were intact and 100% accounted for with the exception of the hardware for the 4-link kit. I am still working on the details with Duffs, but it looks like I am missing a significant amount of hardware. More to come on that...

We were somewhat disappointed with the quality of the instructions that came with the kits. They were photocopied and the photos were not even discernible. Considering the price paid for this stuff, we think Duffs should have included a full color manual; not a couple of crappy pieces of paper. Objective 2 complete.

Day 1 complete.
All objectives complete.
Man Hours worked: 6
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Day 2 (27 Aug 10)

Today is the first real build day. To work as efficiently as possible, our plan of attack is to try and incorporate all four projects into a single series of events. In other words, we are just doing everything at once by jumping from one project to another. There is a method to the madness. All the steps we perform will be taken in a logical sequence and reference order of operations in the Duff's instructions. Duff's does recommend the front be accomplished before the rear; however, that does not mean we cannot incorporate some of the rear steps as we deem fit.

Objectives for today:
1. Remove shocks
2. Remove shock towers
3. Remove coils
4. Remove coil cups
5. Install shock hoops
6. Remove radius arms
7. Remove exhaust
8. Remove old radius arm mounts
9. Install new radius arm mounts

First I removed the old shocks which I suspect will be the easiest part of the entire project. Objective 1 complete.


To remove the old shock towers I had the option of torching or grinding. I chose grinding because I am dangerous with a flame!.

So I ground the bottom weld. And ground and ground and ground.


Then broke out the air chisel to give it a little encouragement. Once the bottom weld was removed I was able to fatigue the top weld to a breaking point to remove the tower.


I finished by cleaning up the frame. Objective 2 complete.






Though not called for in the instructions, I removed the front drive shaft because I plan to completely remove the front axle for cleaning and painting.


The coils were next. They are horrible coils. Super stiff and thick. Some suspect they came out of an F-150. They were stuck in the cups so I took the air chisel to them for extra encouragement. The cups came out with the help of some break free and the impact wrench. Objectives 3 and 4 complete.


The shock hoops are pretty nice items. You need a minimum of a 2" lift to accommodate the hoops. I immediately ran into issues with the driver's side hoop not clearing the top of the inner fender. Upon further investigation, I found that the moron who owned the Bronco before me was either in a wreck or reinstalled the fender incorrectly. This left it in a low position so coaxing of the sheet metal was called for. We beat the piss out of the fender until we were able to force the shock hoop into position. Not cool!


We quickly discovered that the frame mounts for the shock hoops looked weird. Both the forward and aft frame mounts on the driver's side appear to be too wide thus leaving a large gap between the mount and the frame; more than is preferable for welding. The forward passenger mount shares the same problem; however, the aft passenger mount is just the opposite. It is too narrow which forces us to pound it into position using a rubber mallet. We could not get it flush with the frame. I emailed these pics to Duffs to determine a course of action. The shock hoops did not get installed but I did go ahead and prep the areas for welding for future installation. Objective 5 incomplete.




The radius arm caps were removed.


Then the radius arms were removed. The passenger side nut gave me some trouble but nothing a little break free didn't fix. Objective 6 complete.


The exhaust had to be removed to make room for the new hardware. It will be refitted and installed at a later date. Objective 7 complete.


The radius arm mounts were a huge time killer for us. The previous owner somehow adapted, what we suspect, is a full size Ford lift. It was nasty and welded all over the frame.


Chuck used the plasma cutter to remove the extremities. Then we used the angle grinder to remove the weld from the frame mounted areas so as to prevent inadvertent damage to the frame with the plasma cutter. There was a LOT of grinding involved but we finally got them off. Objective 8 complete.






The center of the new radius arm mounts are to be installed 10.25" aft of the stock center radius arm mounting hole location. We slaved them in. Marked the location and cleaned the frame. We called it a night at that point so objective 9 is incomplete until the next work day.


Day 2 complete.
Objectives 5 and 9 incomplete.
Man Hours worked: 13
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[blazinchuck]

what a great "real" 1st day at the labor!!! the build and write-up are class A Chuzie!!! keep it up, this thing will get completed and be one helluva rig!!!!!


i love the description and pics!