Sierra Bronco 2.0 build. Or…1.5? 🤔

[SierraBronco]

Got the bump stops in and dialed in for the correct height. We installed the shock sans coil and bled off the pressure from the bump stops. Then it was a matter of getting everything to clear. Our first obstacle was the fittings on the coilover for the external reservoir. We decided the best option was to adjust the hose routing and put the reservoir behind the coilover, instead of up front. Different look, and not in a bad way. Now it was a matter of seeing where we hit first-tire on fender or UCA against upright. Annnnddddd! UCA ran out of misalignment before we hit the tire against the fender. We adjusted the bump stops accordingly and gave a little bit of a buffer, just to be safe. We also ran the limit straps .75” short of where the coilover drooped out before. The height of the new towers were built to accommodate the longer coilovers and if a limit strap breaks, we’re still not at risk of overextending the CV or tierod. They will extend to the same length as before, and we never had any binding issues with that setup. No more hard bottoming out! Hopefully.

(The sudden acceleration in the video is wifey opening up the jack)

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[87-Z28]

That’s so cool. Watched that video over and over again. The angle on the shock looks great. Seems like you guys nailed the shock tower design. Looks slightly more vertical than oem? Any thoughts?

 

[SierraBronco]

That’s so cool. Watched that video over and over again. The angle on the shock looks great. Seems like you guys nailed the shock tower design. Looks slightly more vertical than oem? Any thoughts?

Yeah I forgot to mention that! We are one degree steeper than oem. There was a little clearance between the coil and UCA so we took advantage of that. Got us away from that stupid A/C line that Ford seemed to just randomly throw in there. Previously we were 5.25” away from the fender. Take the body lift out and that’s 3.75”. Now we are 2” from the fender. Going to hit up Vasher to see how much more we can get with a 1.5” uniball. Might not be worth the effort based on the bumpstop height though. We can only gain another ~1” of uptravel with the bump stop sucked all the way in.

 

[SierraBronco]

The front is officially on the ground! Unfortunately, the rear axle was not done today. Hugely disappointing as that eliminates our entire weekend for getting the axle mounted and getting some testing done before driving 1200 miles to meet up with @TruckCamper, et al for a Rubicon redemption run.

With that said, the rear will determine where we land on preload up front, but we started with the nuts backed all the way off and we’re very happy with the results. Previous ride height was 7.5” from the fender to the tire, and we’re now at 6.5” before coil break in. The happiest news is that we have allllllllll kinds of shaft showing, whereas before we had about an inch before bottoming out.

The LCA is just kissing the bump stop, so we’ll see what that’s like. When we recharged them with argon we didn’t max them out as we knew about the last four inches of travel would be through the bumps, so we put them at about 130-140 psi to avoid a harsh bottom out. They might need more. Might be fine. Couldn’t tell ya.

Also put additional insulation on top of the insulation on the exhaust that’s under the belly skids. See if that makes a difference on the temperature in there. It gets hot!!

 

[ScLeCo]

I did the same. I triple wrapped everything that's covered by the skid plates.
Gets fucking toasty in there.

 

[SierraBronco]

I did the same. I triple wrapped everything that's covered by the skid plates.
Gets fucking toasty in there.

Damn. I only did a single wrap. Now I feel like a slacker.

You notice a difference?

 

[ScLeCo]

Damn. I only did a single wrap. Now I feel like a slacker.

You notice a difference?

Yeah I did, it for sure kept more of the heat in. I did the triple wrap because I used 3" tubing in my (homemade) exhaust and it was pretty close to the then plastic transmission pan. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with more than one layer.

 

[SierraBronco]

Yeah I did, it for sure kept more of the heat in. I did the triple wrap because I used 3" tubing in my (homemade) exhaust and it was pretty close to the then plastic transmission pan. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with more than one layer.

Nice man. Ours is still stock up there, doesn’t go homemade until the axle dump portion.

 

[ScLeCo]

Nice man. Ours is still stock up there, doesn’t go homemade until the axle dump portion.

Well, there is a reason I don't show pictures of my "custom" exhaust.

A grinder and paint....

 

[turbo_jimbo]

I know there was a lot of planning to get here, but it’s coming together really quick!

 

[IwannaGOfast]

Love seeing the constant updates.

Those shock towers will probably have a lot more leverage on them than before. Have you considered adding a cross brace?

 

[SierraBronco]

Love seeing the constant updates.

Those shock towers will probably have a lot more leverage on them than before. Have you considered adding a cross brace?

Rock Krawler actually offered to make us one. We’re considering it as the one degree change in steepness isn’t helping a ton. Additional strength is why we wanted to leave as much of the factory towers as possible in place, as well as welding the new tower to the frame itself and not just the shock tower remnants. We won’t have anything for this initial trip so hopefully it all works out

 

[SierraBronco]

Not an incredibly eventful day without an axle. Wifey pulled the toolbox to get the cutoff switch on the air compressor changed from 150 max to 100. The compressor trying to hit 150 psi just created too much heat.

Routed the brake lines along the three link yoke. While the axle will have that center strap to limit the center droop where the brake lines are, limit straps do break and having the brake lines ripped apart wouldn’t be enjoyable. This will also look cleaner. We had four 10” braided lines made that will jump from the frame to the link then the link to the axle. This will also look nice compared to the brake lines simply dropping down like they did.

 

[ScLeCo]

I love it.
If it weren't for the lack of money, knowledge, talent, and the fact that I'm extremely lazy, I'd be doing the same stuff.

 

[swamp2]

Incredible. I can't imagine doing this without CAD....

Seems like some magazine or website might be interested in documenting this build (assuming it all works well in the field). Would be interested to see this compared to stock (best non Raptor suspension) and Raptor for primary specs.

I don't even know what wheels and tire size you'll be running.

Hope she gets over the finish line for Rubicon.

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