Busted Bronco Bits
Question: I have had my '78 Bronco for 16 months and have done many upgrades myself, including 4-inch coils, a drop pitman, a steering stabilizer, radius-arm drop brackets, 3/4-ton Dodge knuckles, C-bushings, a 14-bolt full-floater with disc brakes, and 4-inch Deaver springs. I have a 460 that I plan on building to replace the 351, but I'm building the drivetrain first. I don't plan on going bigger than my 35-inch BFG M-Ts because it just fits in my garage. I have been reading your mag for a few years and also have read many options online. I live in Michigan so I trail-ride a little, but I am mainly building the truck for the sand dunes. I recently broke a front axleshaft and don't know if I should replace the shaft with a junkyard part or chromoly, or swap in a Dana 60. Whichever way I go, I plan to lock the front. I also don't plan to rockcrawl or gear lower than the 4.10s that I have.
Mike P.
Answer: I'd say for what you do, either stick with a few spare junkyard shafts or upgrade to the chromoly bits, whichever you can afford when adding the locker. A Dana 60 is overkill for now with 35s, and the weight will be a detriment for going fast in the dunes. Once the 460 is in, if you are snapping axles like chocolate-covered pretzels, then it might be time to step up to some more beef, and you may then be ready for bigger tires also.
Nuts! Did I Get Screwed?
Question: I just opened up the box that contains my new leveling kit and noticed that the front spacers only measure 1 1/2 inches thick, but it's supposed to be a 2 1/2-inch kit. What gives?
Mark T.
Answer: I ran your question by the guys at Daystar Products (800.595.7659, www.daystarweb.com), since they make leveling kits. They replied:There is a common misconception with leveling kits that in order to gain a certain amount of lift-say, 2 inches-the spacers needs to be exactly 2 inches thick. Though this may be the case with some types of suspension, this is not the case with the vast majority of late-model IFS vehicles that utilize coilover shocks. It has to do with suspension geometry, or more specifically, how the coilover shock is mounted on the vehicle in relation to the wheel mounting surface. There is usually a ratio involved, meaning that in order to gain the desired amount of lift out at the wheel mounting surface (say, 2 inches), the vehicle may only need a 1 1/2-inch spacer at the inboard at the coil. This ratio varies from one manufacturer to another since they all mount their shocks at a different place along the A-arms. The bottom line: Don't worry about the thickness of the spacer in the box, as the thickness will not reflect the amount of lift that it achieves once it's installed on the vehicle.
Good Gear Query
Question: I'm building an '88 K5 with a 700R4 in it now and plan on doing 1-ton axles and a nice 383 with some 38s. It won't be on the highway a lot, but I have to drive it to the trails. Should I stick with the 700R4 or go with a TH400 or TH350? I need to rebuild the trans anyway, so starting with another tranny right now won't cost much extra and I have some friends that are parting out some older trucks that I can get transmissions from. I'm considering just running a 205 or maybe going with an Offroad Design Doubler, so the transfer case will be beefy either way.
Joe W.
Answer: For the use you're talking about, one of the three-speed transmissions may work better. The overdrive gear in the 700 is nice to have if you're going to spend a lot of time on the highway, but you don't plan to spend a lot of time on the highway. The deep First gear on the 700 is nice to have, but you'll be able to compensate with the transfer-case gearing you're talking about, so that's not a huge selling point for the 700R4 either. The nice part about starting with the three-speed trans is that it will probably be cheaper to build to take your power level than a 700 would be.
If you're starting with a complete earlier truck, you might also find the right adapter and transfer case already with the transmission. This can be a big deal since you can easily spend hundreds of dollars on adapters, so getting the right stuff all in one shot can really help out. If you keep the axle gearing around 4.56 or 4.88 you'll keep the on-road engine rpm reasonable and maybe you'll even find the 1-ton axles with 4.56s in them already.
You should talk to your tranny builder about your choice between a TH350 and a TH400. We've seen the TH350 take a lot of abuse with a variety of built motors, but the TH400 has bigger parts and will take more power. With a 383 built for trail use (not super-high-rpm power, but rather good smooth low- and midrange torque), the TH350 should work for your truck and how you plan to use it. No matter what, you have to cover all the standard auto trans basics: Run a good cooler, install and watch a trans temp gauge, and plan on a good shifter at some point to make sure you don't overshift or bind up the linkage. Good low gearing in the transfer case and/or axles will also go a long way toward keeping stress off the transmission and help longevity.
Nuts, I'm Confused
Wife's Wheels
Question: Help Me, Please!
I have a lovely wife-smart, pretty, makes good money, and she cooks excellent Southern food. So as a proper husband I bought her a new Jeep JK. (OK, so she needs to make the payments each month from her good teaching job, but I did help convince her that it was a better vehicle than that Jetta she thought she wanted.) We have the thing home for a month and I'm ready to start buying stuff for it. I want bigger tires, a lightbar, a winch. You know, all the cool stuff.
Then all of a sudden she's like, "Wait! This is my Jeep and I'm only 5 feet tall. How am I going to get in the thing?!" Help me out, guys. I want the thing to look cooler (it's an X-model, as we couldn't swing the extra money for the Rubicon), plus my dream is that she'll want to start off-roading it eventually, and I know that it needs at least some knobby tires to fit that bill.
How do I convince her to go for some upgrades without upsetting the delicate balance in the household? (i.e., how do I keep from getting in trouble? Being a teacher, she's vicious with a ruler!) And what would you recommend as some good upgrades for the Jeep?
Richard P.
Answer: Today is your lucky day. We are giving away a Rough Country (800.220.8960, www.roughcountry.com) 2 1/2-inch suspension for the '07-and-up Jeep JK Wranglers to the "Nut's I'm Confused" letter of the month. And what better way to convince the boss-I mean wife-that it's a good upgrade than to tell her it's free? In addition, the progressive-rate coils are designed to improve ride quality since the first few inches of compression are a lower spring rate for small bumps and then it gets stiffer under hard braking and cornering.
The kit comes with Rough Country's Performance 2.2 series shock absorbers with a 41.4mm-diameter piston, which creates 40 percent larger displacement than traditional shocks for added energy absorption, and external jounce bumpers for energy absorption during suspension compression. Since it's only 2 1/2 inches of lift, she won't need a stepladder to get in the Jeep.
I'm sure you want some aggressive mud tires for the JK, but I suggest sticking with some all-terrain treads to start. They are better than the factory street tread, but not as noisy as most muddies. Again, this keeps the upgrades agreeable to the better half. The Rough Country suspension clears up to a 35-inch, but I'd recommend a 33 for now. Let her get used to the A-Ts at 33, then jump up to muddies at 35 inches when those wear out.
The winch may seem like a useless tool to the average female eye, but it is great for pulling old bushes out of the backyard so you can build that nice little deck and hot tub she always wanted. Oh, wait. That job would mean more time and money away from the Jeep. Maybe we'll stick to other stuff like lockers-perhaps something selectable so that she doesn't even notice it has changed.
Does she like red? ARB also has some neat differential covers for the JK in red that might also spruce up the Jeep. Another angle you might go is to have her help pick out the parts, but be careful because she may start seeing how much the parts cost, which could slow down your build considerably. Finally, look through the Mopar catalog the next time you take the Jeep into the dealer, as it has many great upgrades for the Jeep and the dealer can install them while you're in for regular maintenance if you don't do it yourself.