What front springs with a winch?

[Unaweep]

I'm going to replace my 80's suspension lift, currently 3.5 and very stiff.

I have a 351W and plan on adding a winch and some bigger bumper later.

I'm going 3.5" lift, so what springs do you think I should get on the front?
(may be going 4 link on the rear with leaf springs). EDIT - I meant rear coil springs, not leaf.

Driving is around town, mild 4x4ing and camping/hunting/Moab stuff.

Its hard to tell with out riding in a vehicle set up.

Erik

[Eck]

I've got basically exactly what you are planning to do. I just replaced my suspension. You're welcome to take a ride Saturday if you'll be at the breakfast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[horseplay]

Hey Mike did you get your new roller cam set up installed? If so how much of a change did it make on the highway.

[Eck]

Hey Mike did you get your new roller cam set up installed? If so how much of a change did it make on the highway.

I have but haven't really taken it on anything too aggressive to give you an honest answer. Are you trying to decide if you're going to go roller? I will say on the little driving I've done around town, it feels like a noticeable difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Justin]

What tire size are you planning to run? Also, why the leaf Springs if you link it?

[Unaweep]

What tire size are you planning to run? Also, why the leaf Springs if you link it?

Justin - for tires I like 33's, the Bronco had 35's before but it looked "wrong" for the lift, overstuffed.


Leafs? Darn, that's a typo or something, spellcheck, I hit the backspace, , etc.....my fault using a the tiny iPad with tiny screen and typing while laying on the couch.

I meant coils, not leaf for the rear end.



The ride quality I'm trying to get close to is what the UTV's have. What made me think about this was my friend just sold a '76 Datsun pickup, 4.6 V6 EFI with 35" tires. It looked cool but rode rough off road. He really likes the ride quality of his UTV vs. the Datsun.That got me thinking about the Bronco off road roughness.

While I can't get the Bronco ride quality to that level, I do want it to improve greatly and I'm not too worried about road manners too much, Grand Junction is a small town and traffic putts slowly.


Erik

[Justin]

I'd match the front and rear springs for the lift. If you're going to link it later you'll be able to adjust rake if the springs sag a little.

[Unaweep]

I've got basically exactly what you are planning to do. I just replaced my suspension. You're welcome to take a ride Saturday if you'll be at the breakfast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Eck, can I take a raincheck on that ride?

I live on the western slope (its kinda far for a breakfast) I've tried to make one of your meetings before on a Denver Bronco weekend.

Erik

[Eck]

I've got basically exactly what you are planning to do. I just replaced my suspension. You're welcome to take a ride Saturday if you'll be at the breakfast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Eck, can I take a raincheck on that ride?

I live on the western slope (its kinda far for a breakfast) I've tried to make one of your meetings before on a Denver Bronco weekend.

Erik

Yah- I forgot you were out that way!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Digger]

What tire size are you planning to run? Also, why the leaf Springs if you link it?

The ride quality I'm trying to get close to is what the UTV's have. What made me think about this was my friend just sold a '76 Datsun pickup, 4.6 V6 EFI with 35" tires. It looked cool but rode rough off road. He really likes the ride quality of his UTV vs. the Datsun.That got me thinking about the Bronco off road roughness.

While I can't get the Bronco ride quality to that level, I do want it to improve greatly and I'm not too worried about road manners too much, Grand Junction is a small town and traffic putts slowly.


Erik

Unfortunately you will not get the Bronco anywhere close to the ride quality of a UTV in rough terrain. UTVs and 4-wheelers have very low pressure tires, fully independent suspensions, lots of travel for their size, and low unsprung-to-sprung mass ratios, meaning the body and frame supported by the springs is much heavier than the weight of the suspension. Broncos on the other hand have fairly light weight bodies and frames, but heavy solid axles and tires.

The best you could do with the Bronco is run the lowest rate spring rates you could find, good digressively valved shocks, like Bilstien 7100s, give the truck as much suspension travel as possible, strip out as much unsprung weight as possible and run really low pressure in your tires while off-road.

Regardless of lift, you will want a minimum of 5" up-travel from static ride height f/r. 6"+ is preferred. Desert trucks tend to run much lower ride rates than street vehicles and lots and lots of travel to soak up bumps at speed.

[Justin]

One option you might consider is going to coilovers if you've got the fabrication skills. I'm running spring rates that are a chunk lower than most of the available springs. The front soaks up bumps beautifully and I'm looking forward to linking the rear. Longer arms also makes a difference in ride quality if you haven't done that.