87 Bronco II build up begins.

[410Fortune]

I deleted my charcoal canister and ran the vapor line directly from the canister purge to the tank thats where my ARB compressor sits now and my oil filter

 

[CopyKat]

I deleted my charcoal canister and ran the vapor line directly from the canister purge to the tank thats where my ARB compressor sits now and my oil filter

I've been thinking of hooking up the cruse on mine and that's right where I'll put it. Besides my canister is mounted already and everything is working fine.

 

[Joe93]

Well im an idiot ive been holding off on putting the engone in cause i want to do something with the engine cross member. Well once i get the motor in i wanted to drive it for awhile before i put in the D44. so with out the OE crossmember theres no way i could do that. So now its time to put the motor in Today.

 

[410Fortune]

?

What do you need to modifiy on the factory engine cradle for the 4.0L or a solid axle? Were you planning to beef it up?

 

[Joe93]

I was planning on a new one for more room for the d44 . Im trying to keep this as low as i can and run 37's. I dont wana be hitting the diff. So im gona cut it out and make abetter one. A removeable one at that.

 

[410Fortune]

I see no need personally, the dana 44 can sit under there with 3-4" of lift only and clear just fine?? Especially if you move it forward just a bit??

But more power to ya! would be sick to have a custom one, someday SOON I want to box my frame and do a complete frame off on the old girl

 

[Joe93]

the way the 44 was set up in the explorer it it . It was moved almost 4 inches forward. I think it must have been the amount of lift i had. dont know. just about every 44 swap ive seen they have had to hack the crossmember to clear the 44

 

[CopyKat]

I was planning on a new one for more room for the d44 . Im trying to keep this as low as i can and run 37's. I dont wana be hitting the diff. So im gona cut it out and make abetter one. A removeable one at that.

 

[Joe93]

ive seen that one. Pottsy made that one right? I like it. Im thinking maybe something similar maybe tubular though?

 

[410Fortune]

um if you ask me that thing looks bigger then the factory one

So many solid axles I have seen done with the factory engine cradle, rangers, BII's, Explorer's, I am really questioning the need, a solid axle is a great fit under the factory unit, d30 or 44

 

[CopyKat]

um if you ask me that thing looks bigger then the factory one

So many solid axles I have seen done with the factory engine cradle, rangers, BII's, Explorer's, I am really questioning the need, a solid axle is a great fit under the factory unit, d30 or 44

If you look at it you will see that it's pushed back which gives the diff more clearance as the front of the x-member is what interferres with the diff.

 

[Joe93]

here is a different pic of that crossmember. Mine will be alot higher up than this one.

 

[Joe93]

here is a pic with lifeguards swap. Not much room for any up travel. I had even less on the explorer with the 44

 

[410Fortune]

How will you get it higher up? His new X member looks damn close to the factory unit.

I mean its a great project and I can see the need for it, but does the ends justify the means here?

Why not notch the factory one for the diff and re-enforce it?

 

[Joe93]

Any way I go about doin it its gona take some work. So i might as well do it the way I want. Im also not to fond of the hacked member look. I have my plans for it. so we will see how it ends up. hell i just might not even put on in. cut it ou and forget it like this one

 

[FROADER]

All I had to do is cut about a 4" square piece out of the rear of the stock x-member to solve all of my clearance problems. The bends and rigidity are still there. I'll try to get some pics tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[Trckmagik]

All I had to do is cut about a 4" square piece out of the rear of the stock x-member to solve all of my clearance problems. The bends and rigidity are still there. I'll try to get some pics tonight or tomorrow morning.

Good times sir...

 

[FROADER]

Good times sir...

 

[Kirby N.]

My Dana 44 hit with 5.5" of lift and the crossmember hacked when I hit speed bumps. My driveshaft would hit the ypipe on compression before my diff hit though. This could be solved with a LP EB diff (mine was a HP F150 diff narrowed to EB width) or a FW axle. Since Joe has the FW axle, I don't think he will have the problems I had. The only I way I found to fix thiswas to move up to a 7-8" lift. Now I get plenty of up travel- when the axle is flexed, the passenged side must be drooped enough that the angle of the axle is such that my crossmember doesn't come close. It is a fine amount of lift with 37s!

I am not saying you can't run 5.5" of lift and get a solid amount of uptravel, but I am saying that you can't run a narrowed HP Dana 44 and get a significant amount of uptravel. I tried to hard. I really like 5.5" and 35s. I mocked my axle 2" forward, then 3.5" forward. 3.5" was a far as I could go with the buckets set up like I did.

My cross member is pretty much hacked on the front huge. When it was making contact, I cut the crossmember so that it fit around the pumkin, and the diff would go with in an inch to a half inch of the oil pan (crossmember between). That is why I decided to leave the stocker. The way I did it, it is still strong, and it is a barrier between the pumkin and my oil pan. It would be pretty tough to build one that would serve the same purposes. Besides, I got plenty of other junk on the "to build list".

 

[Kirby N.]

Also, keep in mind that Danger Ranger had another crossmember for that centerlink in front of the hacked one. It wasn't that he did away with the crossmember, he moved it.