- First Name
- Brian
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2023
- Threads
- 65
- Messages
- 8,870
- Reaction score
- 15,815
- Location
- Central CA
- Vehicle(s)
- '23 BB 4dr 7MT, '22 BSport OBX, '87 B-II XL
- Your Bronco Model
- Big Bend
- Thread starter
- #1
Ok, after reading the thread on suspension upgrades, I had pulled the trigger on these while they were on sale.
When I bought my Bronco, it came with a Rough Country 2.5" lift kit installed and 35" MTs from the dealer. Measuring everything before I started monkeying with it,. I was 40" from ground to fender in the front, and 39.5" in the rear.
This is my first time doing coilovers. Install went ok - no big hangups. I dropped the lower control arm in the front. The front axle nut was on there good, but got those loosened - no obvious damage to the front axles.
The rear end the hardest thing was getting those stupid body clips out of the fender liner. I did finally figure out to just not use a phillips at all, just take a flathead, pull/pop the top of the screw out a bit and then pry the screw on it out with a body panel tool, then pop the whole clip out with the panel tool... much faster than trying to actually pretend the screw works like a screw.
The instructions for the 4WD/ProComp say to adjust the coil adjuster, measuring from the "charge port counterbore" to the top of the adjusting collar. The charge port happens to be right at the top of the threads, so I went from the top of the collar to the start of the threads. The counterbore itself is 5/8" or so, and it doesn't say top/centerline/bottom - and the diagram they have sort of lines up with the top of the threads -- so hopefully I was taking proper measurements, although evidence may prove me wrong (keep reading)
So the front coil has an adjustment range from 3/16" to 2 1/8", with a recommended max of 1 5/8". The rear has an adjustment range of 1"-2", with no recommendation. My thinking was, well I have a 2.5" kit coming out, I'll just start at 1 5/8" (the top of the recommended range from the front), and see what that does for me. My intention was to hit roughly where I was before, give or take, and figured if I was taking out spacers that were about 2" thick, starting at the 1 5/8" should put me roughly back where I started, maybe a bit lower, which would be fine.
I was wrong.
I did remove the old spacers, they are still on the OEM Hitachi shocks (if anyone is interested). After I got everything torqued and buttoned up, I was measuring 42" front and rear. 2" on top of what I thought was already a 2.5" lift, and not at the top of my adjustment range (if I am measuring appropriately). Not what I was intending.
I drove around a bit to see how they settled, they did come back down about 1/2". Total time working was about 6 hours, not too bad and everything was pretty accessible, even working on the ground with jack stands. The truck didn't have any excessive body roll and was well behaved on some dirt roads.
So, I am second guessing if I measured the coil adjuster correctly in the first place - I don't think I'm exceeding the 2" maximum for the rears even if I did, but I didn't intend to go adding lift to my rig. It could be I didn't really have a 2.5" lift to begin with - but I'm pretty sure it was the RC kit, it has the RC UCAs and the trac bar bracket that come with that 2.5" kit
I checked headlight alignment after driving a bit and figured I'd see what folks here thought before I went and dorked with it even further. I didn't really need more lift, the shocks do drive a heck of a lot better than the OEM Hitachis did. I am wondering about front axle angle. I don't do anything too extreme - mostly dirt roads, the occasional rut/rock/stump, but I also don't want to go breaking tierods or axles if I don't have necessarily need to because I have some extreme angle going on and don't know any better.
If it's just the same, I'd prefer to not have to go back monkeying with it and leave well enough alone. I'm pretty neutral on lift in general - I was fine with what I had before, I have RSEs so getting in and out isn't an issue, and I'm fine with where it sits now. It drives well now.
Axle/Tierods Before:
After:
I think the angle is a bit steeper, but I don't know how much is too much. I'm going to get it aligned tomorrow (after monkeying with the LCAs). I can get at the adjustment collar without too much effort, so re-adjusting the shocks isn't crazy difficult, but not something I necessarily want to do just for the sake of doing it either if it isn't really that big of a deal. Looking for opinions here. I wasn't expecting such a drastic change in ride height.
When I bought my Bronco, it came with a Rough Country 2.5" lift kit installed and 35" MTs from the dealer. Measuring everything before I started monkeying with it,. I was 40" from ground to fender in the front, and 39.5" in the rear.
This is my first time doing coilovers. Install went ok - no big hangups. I dropped the lower control arm in the front. The front axle nut was on there good, but got those loosened - no obvious damage to the front axles.
The rear end the hardest thing was getting those stupid body clips out of the fender liner. I did finally figure out to just not use a phillips at all, just take a flathead, pull/pop the top of the screw out a bit and then pry the screw on it out with a body panel tool, then pop the whole clip out with the panel tool... much faster than trying to actually pretend the screw works like a screw.
The instructions for the 4WD/ProComp say to adjust the coil adjuster, measuring from the "charge port counterbore" to the top of the adjusting collar. The charge port happens to be right at the top of the threads, so I went from the top of the collar to the start of the threads. The counterbore itself is 5/8" or so, and it doesn't say top/centerline/bottom - and the diagram they have sort of lines up with the top of the threads -- so hopefully I was taking proper measurements, although evidence may prove me wrong (keep reading)
So the front coil has an adjustment range from 3/16" to 2 1/8", with a recommended max of 1 5/8". The rear has an adjustment range of 1"-2", with no recommendation. My thinking was, well I have a 2.5" kit coming out, I'll just start at 1 5/8" (the top of the recommended range from the front), and see what that does for me. My intention was to hit roughly where I was before, give or take, and figured if I was taking out spacers that were about 2" thick, starting at the 1 5/8" should put me roughly back where I started, maybe a bit lower, which would be fine.
I was wrong.
I did remove the old spacers, they are still on the OEM Hitachi shocks (if anyone is interested). After I got everything torqued and buttoned up, I was measuring 42" front and rear. 2" on top of what I thought was already a 2.5" lift, and not at the top of my adjustment range (if I am measuring appropriately). Not what I was intending.
I drove around a bit to see how they settled, they did come back down about 1/2". Total time working was about 6 hours, not too bad and everything was pretty accessible, even working on the ground with jack stands. The truck didn't have any excessive body roll and was well behaved on some dirt roads.
So, I am second guessing if I measured the coil adjuster correctly in the first place - I don't think I'm exceeding the 2" maximum for the rears even if I did, but I didn't intend to go adding lift to my rig. It could be I didn't really have a 2.5" lift to begin with - but I'm pretty sure it was the RC kit, it has the RC UCAs and the trac bar bracket that come with that 2.5" kit
I checked headlight alignment after driving a bit and figured I'd see what folks here thought before I went and dorked with it even further. I didn't really need more lift, the shocks do drive a heck of a lot better than the OEM Hitachis did. I am wondering about front axle angle. I don't do anything too extreme - mostly dirt roads, the occasional rut/rock/stump, but I also don't want to go breaking tierods or axles if I don't have necessarily need to because I have some extreme angle going on and don't know any better.
If it's just the same, I'd prefer to not have to go back monkeying with it and leave well enough alone. I'm pretty neutral on lift in general - I was fine with what I had before, I have RSEs so getting in and out isn't an issue, and I'm fine with where it sits now. It drives well now.
Axle/Tierods Before:
After:
I think the angle is a bit steeper, but I don't know how much is too much. I'm going to get it aligned tomorrow (after monkeying with the LCAs). I can get at the adjustment collar without too much effort, so re-adjusting the shocks isn't crazy difficult, but not something I necessarily want to do just for the sake of doing it either if it isn't really that big of a deal. Looking for opinions here. I wasn't expecting such a drastic change in ride height.
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