Bronco Bilstein 8112s...Going for it!!

[CTamir]

Very little to go on yet and a few details to iron out on the clearance side due to my 37s, but first impressions are surprisingly good. Tightly controls the 37s well, way less secondary unpsrung shake and shimmy coming through body and steering and the first bumps I hit seemed to not upset the body nearly as bad as before and again almost no shake after.

I was hoping id clear tires where I mounted the reservoir but it it hitting at full lock so I need to move to under the crash bar mount or in front of it. Was really hoping this spot would work because I used existing hardware/mounts for some factory components and tucked in nicely but oh well.

Also think I went too far up on the top mount I designed, it appears in full droop to have plenty more travel so I may end up running a 1/4 - 1/2" spacer to get rebound limits where I want. As far as lift, the default spring perch location from Bilstein yielded just about 2" of lift over factory FX4 setup, which makes sense given the mass of each vehicle is similar and i confirmed that the geometry/hard points of the suspension on both yield a very similar motion ratio.

After I sort the reservoir mounting and space out the wheels with a tiny spacer to get the tire from rubbing the upper control arms at lock, I will do some serious venturing and come back with more thoughts.

 

[CTamir]

Another pic of the fully assembled corner:

 

[ApolloChurchill]

Wonder how the springs compare. They're so much narrower than the F-150 version

 

[PNWTremor]

Wonder how the springs compare. They're so much narrower than the F-150 version

Do you mean the space between the coils themselves, or the diameter of the coils?

 

[ApolloChurchill]

Do you mean the space between the coils themselves, or the diameter of the coils?

A bit of both. Just going off my own for reference but it looks like a higher coil count as well as narrower width

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

Another pic of the fully assembled corner:

How did you clearance for the 37s? This is sick!

 

[PNWTremor]

How did you clearance for the 37s? This is sick!

My question too… seems like there are only one or two people on here running 37s w/o a lift (I hate lifts). Would be cool to see what has been done.

 

[CTamir]

Well as short as possible, have to keep the offset high, I have +18, then i run fixed offset inserts for the lower control arm inboard points (i think from rpg), full inboard on the fore joint, full outboard on the aft joint. This pushes the wheel center forward and provides a little extra clearance to back of wheel well. On the front side, i am running an aftermarket bumper and i removed the crash bars so no clearance issues there. In the back of the front wheel well, need trim down the plastic fender brace at the back of the wheel well and trim the bottom inside of the fender a little bit. I wish I could do more wheel offset, but these aftermarket companies seem to basically do no basic engineering. I went with icon upper arms because of the adjustability, but just waaaay too much material than needed in certain areas (im really tempted to just scan them and do some FEA, I would put a lot of money on the ball joint stud failing long before the arm itself). Beyond that, no real contouring to the shock body, just looks like a kid out of school CADed them up real quick. Then there is a bunch of bending on the clamps for the adjusters which is a huge no-no with aluminum in any real engineered application. Off topic at this point, but tires rub on upper control arms now so have to push them out a wee bit so maybe will be more difficult to fit without rubbing now. If I had the time and a little better fab skills, I know I could make an adjustable steel arm that would never break and could probably fit +25mm or maybe even +30mm offset and not rub but I have no time and 3 young kids so will be a while if I do ever do it.

 

[CTamir]

Couple pics of last tume I beat on it a little bit:

 

[CTamir]

Also, as far as the upper top mount adaptor, let me know if anyone may be interested in more of these. They could theoretically be used for any damper/shock that is slightly longer and needs to be recessed higher into the spring perch. I got mine made out of billet stainless steel and nitride coated so were expensive ($900) but the prototyping source i used gave me a quote of $400 if there is enough quantity and using mild steel instead. The rest of the hardware (stainless shoulder bolt, press fit hardened bushing and then studs for mounting to damper housing) was around $70.