hatched91 going from leafs to coils

hi everyone. i had a previous sas thread where i used a jeep dana44 with leafs. i plan on using the same jeep axle but with coils. here's the list i think i'll get.

5.5" wild horses coils
78 bronco coil seats
78 bronco radius arms
78 bronco radius arm brackets
78 bronco coil spring buckets
78 bronco track bar (modified if needed)

i should be getting most of my parts by next weekend. i have some questions that would be great to have answered before i start.

i was wondering about radius arms, do they need to be extended?
what does "wristed" mean?
would i have any problems using coils on my jeep wagoneer dana 44 axle?

 

[410Fortune]

Matt not happy with the leafs?

Colin u da man with the picture help

This looks great so far, nice work just hacking the frame

 

[hatched91]

eh, i payed $150 for the whole front end. the guy hacked it off for me. it was a PITA getting it home, it sat on my friends shady ladder rack, we had to drive 30mph max all the way home. 6hrs later i got it mostly apart. So far i've been sandblasting. Painting is sat. I've got to order some "c" wedges for the radius arms still. I was planning on doing the swap saturday, but the cast in C wedges on the full width axle screwed me. I've got a TON of slop in my steering as it is, i'm hoping with a straight drag link and the partsmike TRE kit moving it closer to one side will elimiate most of the slop. if not, then i guess it's time to try another steering set up.

 

[hatched91]

oh btw, it's ben not matt lol. that guy in the pic isn't me either haha.

 

[410Fortune]

No sorry I was talking to Rockranger his name is Matt, he said he wants coils now

 

[hatched91]

oh haha. well i didn't get to swap it this weekend, the c wedges are cast on, not welded so i ordered some from ebay with 3day shipping. i'll be ready to do the swap next weekend.

 

[fun_in_mud]

I dont think you need to lift your explorer. just joking, but what all do u think i need to do the same thing to my 91 explorer? and what kind of axle should i use?

 

[hatched91]

you can ask me this in person lol. use the search button you can see tons of sas threads

 

[hatched91]

man is it a lot of work to sandblast and prep for paint, but it's worth it!
base coat

clear coat

 

[Tilt168]

oooooooooooooo

 

[hatched91]

well my friend didn't want to deal with it this weekend, i guess i'll have to push it off another week.

 

[redranger4.0]

Make sure you post lots of pics of how you do this on the wagoneer axle my truck needs a coil conversion and this would be cool if you get it to work.

just run a parrallel 3 link or something along those lines

 

[CodePoet]

Are you going to re-use the stock 79 trac bar bracket?

 

[hatched91]

i havn't decided yet..i was going to ask a question about that. it seems like everyone uses the shocks behind the springs, instead of one in front of the spring, one behind. is there any special reason for this? i'd rather not cut the bracket up, but i can always fab up a new track bar bracket and a shock mount for the radius arm to go behind the spring.

 

[FROADER]

People with the radius arm set up have the shocks behind the coil because there is a mount for it on the radius arms already. Look at the pic I posted on the first page to see it.

 

[hatched91]

mine has a mount on one arm, but not the other. The other arm has a mount on the cap, then the track bar mount and the shock mount are the same thing.

 

[CodePoet]

I thought about basing my trac-bar bracket off the stock one but there needs to be a ton of beefing up before it could ever go on my truck. Almost too much to make it worth it. I think using F250 shock brackets and a custom or extremely beefed up stock one is what i'll be doing.

 

[hatched91]

yeah i think i'll make a shock mount bracket for the other radius arm. Then after i get that taken care of, i'm going to cut off the lower half of the track bar mount, temp weld it to my frame to last a couple of weeks. Once i know where it needs to be and such, i'll make a beefy one. I don't have 4wd so i won't be offroading it anytime soon. I bought the front shocks today.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

ur waisting ur time...explorers suck...buy a jeep...jk looks like ur goin in the right direction but my 88 f-350 (doner) had a track bar on it(weird, leafs in front) look for one of them in a jy, it was like 1-3/4 diameter and like 1/4 thick ...real stong. and BTW sploders rule... plain and simple.

 

[hatched91]

i was never raised a jeep person....or a ford person for that matter but i did drive this girls 98 jeep cherokee that i'm dating. although it is an automatic, that sucker really moves! i was impressed with the handleing, the turning radius and the get up and go that sucker had! although there were faults. it's bad on gas and the steering is very touchy, and i thought it was flat out ugly! But most of all...it's not a ford haha i think i'll probably just cut and reweld this track bar and then buy an adjustable one before i take it wheeling!

 

[Mud Bug 94]

just my $.02