'67 refresh

[Slackkinhard]

Hi, I've got a '67 that is far from a runway queen, but she and I have been through quite a bit. I bought used in the 80's with a 302, 4spd manual, and spent 20yrs driving it throughout the west and baja. Then life caught up and I moved to the PNWet. Stored it in shop area for 20yrs and I'm finally getting back to it. Not going for anything extravagant, but would like a solid bronco to drive for another 20yrs. All my real 4x4 journeys are most likely long gone, but I'd like to be able to traverse the stuff production SUV's can without extravagant mods. It has a 4 corner, dual shock setup from James Duff that they sold back in the 90s. The front has no hoop, it has the original tower cut off and a shock mounted both front and rear of the spring/axle. Rear has them at opposite angles to each other. Doetsch tech shocks all around. 1-1/2 inch body lift (blocks cut in half), poly bushings. Can't recall what the suspension lift height was. Rear springs were re-arched.

Suspension worked great for a young buck in socal...pretty stiff though for a now 50+ guy.

Last I took her out she nearly caught fire due to a rats nest of wiring under the dash and 50yr old wiring insulation cracked and falling apart. Bought a Ron Francis kit and figured I could make it all happen. The wiring went well, but then I started upgrading things. Started with a one wire alternator because the kit was setup for one. Replacing the alternator turned into a journey of sheared bolts, drilling, tapping, all new hardware, water pump and front end bracketry, belts and hoses. Looks good now.

Then I turned to the brakes and found the rear drums in poor shape. Rebuilt everything.

Here's where I am now...the dana 30 front end. The c-bushings and radius bushings were crumbling at the touch, so I figured time to pull it all out and freshen up everything. Bought a power disc brake kit from Tom's and brake lines front to rear. Now is the time to have the conversation....Dana 44 or keep the Dana 30. I've never really had a problem with the dana 30 making it happen for me....even on some rough trails. I've always felt that front suspension design kept the dana 30 from over articulating, and as long as I kept my throttle foot under control, I never broke it. But here I am...it's in the driveway...if I want a Dana 44 project, what I am I realistically getting myself into, and how much should it cost?

Any help greatly appreciated...did a lot of work, getting close to being a runner again...wondering if there's a smart option to take though.
Brett from Mukilteo

 

[okie4570]

Nothing wrong with a Dana 30 for a daily driver or hitting the trails. Rock crawling is a different story though...
If you have a 44 available, do the swap and put disk brakes on it. Otherwise run the 30 imo.

 

[kylakekevin]

Just refresh the 30 and drive it! Unless you can find a 44 really cheap probably not.

 

[Rustytruck]

measure the distance between the frame and the axle tube to estimate the lift. I think it was 7" up front and 6 inch in the rear or the other way around. talk to our vendors as springs and shocks have come a long way since the 80's. plan on rebuilding the stock seats new foam and covers and add headrests. nice stock seats are quite the ride as long as your not too tall. The old rubber has to go and new high end radials really run well these days. don't cheap out on tires if you want a nice ride, that's where it all starts. My KM3 are really really nice but I wont buy them again for a strictly off road tire. Sidewalls too soft and vulnerable but a great mostly street tire.

 

[Slackkinhard]

I've decided to go with the d30 and should have it back together later today. I think with the tall gearing and light weight it's probably my best option.

I've got the original seats, vinyl is pretty bad, but foam seems fine when I sit in them. I've seen a lot of upholstery kits, not sure what makes sense there. Girl wants seat warmers and I ran wiring leads. Not sure about the idea, but maybe they work?

I need to do some floor pan repair...got some ugly holes there. I welded up some holes under the seats, and need to do something about the cancer under the hood up near the windshield. I don't have a good setup for sheet metal welding(flux core), so might have to find some help. Sealed and primer'd everything else up so far.

Floor covering I'm thinking a rubber oem mat up front on top of a full carpet kit. Not sure what others experience are. Want to be able to clean it up.

Need to find some shocks...probably should get 8 and a stab, so wondering what kind of money that will end up being. I'm not broke, but I'm still concerned about running out of money and can be happy with a B-solution.

Power steering box is leaking, need to fix that. I've always run 32" BFG M/Ts or A/Ts just because they haven't failed me. Might consider something else.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated
edit: springs are 17" tall

 

[Rustytruck]

replace the 50 year old foam its worth the money. old foam sucks.

 

[Slackkinhard]

any suggestions for running gear paint? Historically I've just rattle canned it flat black with the cheapest can I could find. Any good alternatives?

Thanks for all input, greatly appreciated

 

[kylakekevin]

I just put new Duff 70/30 shocks on mine and it made a huge difference over the old 70/30s that were on it . mine has 2 on each corner as well. Duffs said to run 2 70/30 on each corner or one of there new shocks on each corner so check how pricing compares. I went with the old school look for mine. A lot of people are using POR15 or something along those lines on the running gear.

 

[Slackkinhard]

what does that Duff 70/30 drive like? Does it feel stiff like a pre-runner truck? That's what mine feels like, and for socal sandy washes and faster terrain, it worked great. Could jump this thing 3' in the air and wouldn't bottom out. Now I'm in the NW, I need something that is a bit softer for things like the dirt roads/trails in the area.

 

[kylakekevin]

They are a bit stiff but I like it on the road I don't off road mine to know how they do on the rougher stuff.

 

[Slackkinhard]

I'm wondering if anyone else has our setup with a softer setup? I'd hate to have to weld a shock tower or go hoop route.

 

[Rustytruck]

I have a very old school set-up. 2-1/2 lift with stiff ass Rancho red coils. I run Rancho adjustable 9000 shock in the back and 1 Duff 70/30 one each side in the front. works well for me. I am set up for duels and have run them but that was too stiff for me. the Rancho shocks don't work well in the front as I believe they were designed around leif springs. the 70 30 shock allow the coil spring to compress and hold control on the rebound which works well with coil springs. I haven tried any of the newer design shock to compare to. I run trails much harder the forest service roads. I have had several sets of shocks in my time and stopped chasing shocks 20 years ago so I have no comment on the newer shocks out there. its gotten too expensive these days to experiment hoping to fine something better. so I stick with what I got.

 

[helo-mech]

any suggestions for running gear paint? Historically I've just rattle canned it flat black with the cheapest can I could find. Any good alternatives?

Thanks for all input, greatly appreciated

I used the POR-15 and then bed-liner for my floor pans and interior work and have enjoyed the results. The POR-15 super simple to apply with a gun, roller or brush and self levels. It's not UV protected unless you add a UV Top Coat, but if you are use to rattle can running gear you may not care, It will fade to a flat black over time. It's held up well since doing it 15 years ago.

I have planned to do the same with my running gear and under carriage, but just seem to never have had the time or parked it long enough.

I would be a little hesitant myself with the mat and carpet plan. I had the original black mat and even though the Bronco was fairly well taken care of and never put through any hard driving in it's early life, you can see that it trapped water. Even with all of the strapping to hold it down and 'seal it' there is just no way to keep the water out.

Since you are talking about heat seaters I assume you are in a cooler climate? Maybe bed-line the interior and then put the carpet in. Just keep the carpet attached in a manner that you can remove it every once in a while to clean it out.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Slackkinhard]

thank you for replies. I believe I have those rancho red coils as well. It was suggested to me to try a pair of ProComp ES1000s up front. Not sure, still researching.
Thanks for input on carpet/mat. I've been concerned about that mat trapping water and historically I've done what you say by putting down a good sealing coat then removing the carpets if necessary to clean. Thought maybe that mat was a good idea, but I live north of Seattle and the water gets everywhere

 

[DirtDonk]

Water does get everywhere. Especially in an old EB. Lots of potential holes for it to find it's way inside. You could be one of the lucky ones and have no leaks of note, but most of us have had to deal with it.
If you do the mat straight over the floor, or even with insulation underneath, you're going to want to lift it up now and then just to make sure water has not collected. My '71 was literally a swamp when I bought it. And it had been in CA for a couple of years already!
At only five years old (bought it in '76) the floors on both sides were already rusted through (driver's side was the worst) and the rear corners of the engine compartment were swiss cheese. I was lucky looking back in that my cowl was intact with no rust I could find.
But that's just by way of telling you not to trust that water is not under a floor covering until you know you've sealed it all up. Took me awhile, but mine is dry as a bone to this day after finding and stopping all the little leaks. I went away from the base model factory mat (just sitting on the front floor) and went with full carpet using the bright strip hold downs. Any time I pull up a corner it's bone dry now. Thankfully!

The full coverage floor mats are fantastic. Just wish they would reproduce the original parchment colored Sport mats. I'd trade my carpet in for one of those any day. Finding originals in good shape is like hunting for unicorns. They're out there, but it's always someone else that comes up with it!
If you do go with rubber mats, still use insulation underneath. Rubber alone does not do much for sound deadening or heat rejection.

I see you said maybe putting a mat over carpet. That might work, but could be very problematic depending on how well the mat fits. Since it's designed to go on the floor instead of carpet, it might make the mat look pretty poochy to try to form it over carpet.
But it can probably be done...

Paul

 

[Slackkinhard]

thanks again for reply. I think I'll just go with what I know. I figure I'll need to get in there too much for the mat to be sano.

any suggestions on springs? I'm pretty sure I got those red ranchos and I was looking at Duff and Tom's offerings. Pretty clueless when it comes to what might be out there and the tradeoffs

 

[Slackkinhard]

Need some assistance....I pulled my springs and in the haste of moving things around, I've forgotten which spring was on which side. I didn't take good not of the cup orientation and now I'm confused. Seems it can be made to work either way...

any help appreciated

 

[helo-mech]

I can't guarantee your '66 is the same as my '76, but may be this will help. Can you post a pic of a lower cup and the upper connection point?

On my '76 you can see in the pictures below that my springs go into the cups in a normal coiled orientation. The 'hooked' portion of the spring goes into the bracket at the top. The 'Seats' what we are calling 'Cups' are installed with the overhang toward the OUTSIDE of the chassis and the Retaining Clip towards the inside. This ensures that the springs are aligned. After aligning the cups/seats with the Retaining Clip bolts loose, rotate the spring under the bracket, and then adjust/raise the axel just enough to make the spring align with the upper spring tower, adjust the upper bracket and bolts and then tighten down all down.

The down shot of my spring below is the top of a spring with the 'hook. You can see that the lower portion just continues with the coil.

Again this is all for my '76 but hopefully it helps make it all make sense with your '66.

 

[Rustytruck]

If I remember right the straight part of the coil is the top front of the coil where the top hold down strap goes. coils don't have rights and lefts so it doesnt truly matter which side. if it was mine I would put the coil on the ground upside down and look at them side by side and take which ever is taller and put it on the drivers side. since the passengers side is loaded less and there is always a driver but passengers side is not used as much. so put the taller coil on the drivers side to carry your weight. this is all moot if buying new coils.

 

[Slackkinhard]

thank you all...I got it together. Actually more a pita than I thought, but its together and I did some measuring. I need some new shocks, so I needed to measure some things with the springs installed. Now that I've done that, I'm considering replacing the springs. Started looking at the Duff and TBP sites and looks like for the money, I'd be a fool not too. Do I need any other measurements to choose appropriate springs? Is there a way for me to know if I have 2.5 or 3.5" lift? I believe its 2.5, but this truck was built in '89 and I can't remember
Again, thanks for all the help....the diagram was great
Brett