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A lot of folks have been asking Autofab to produce a wider front end for the Bronco and F150 twin traction beam front ends. Our good customer Rick Bagwell approached us about some problems he was having with his setup and after looking it over I proposed that we start over. He asked me if I could fix his front end and I said that we could fix it, but that I would not do it. He gave me a funny look and asked why. I said, why should I fix someone else's poor workmanship and make them look good??? I said that the only way I would work on his truck was to start over and do it right. When I told him we had already produced a front end 6 inches wider he was very excited as his was only 3 inches wider and he was having nothing but problems trying to make the front end work right and drive right. He had limited wheel travel and was constantly running into the bump stops just driving down the road. This was annoying as he could hear and feel them constantly.
We took Ricks front end apart and cycled it to see what was going on and he had about 13 inches of travel and it virtually had no up travel without hitting the bump stops. This was largely due to improper shock mounting and location of the bump stops. The steering was basically stock with lengthened adjuster sleeves. The toe change on the left wheel was pretty bad but that wasn't the real problem. The front end was lengthened at the pivot ends and the 3rd member side (left side) was running into the frame and the bump stops were setup to accommodate the shock mounts which were the beginning of all his problems. He was using a mix or match (hodge podge) parts from 2 different manufactures and none of it worked together correctly.
He said that he was trying to save some money and originally thought that we were too expensive with our parts. I said I understand economics and why he did it but what did you gain?? He spent many hours of frustration with something that would basically never work right together before he finally came to Autofab and asked for our help. Rick stepped up to the plate and said go for it and gave us a decent budget to work with.
Autofab chose to widen the housings at the outer ends. It is more work to do this way but the results are better. The differential stays in the stock location for the best frame clearance and the driveshaft fits better as well. This does require two axles to be made but for the best results this is the way to do it right. We spent many days figuring out how to accomplish the lengthening process and also alignment for a lift as well. Much trial and error went into the development of the first pair. Actually the first pair took about 4 weeks total time. If you math guys want to figure out what that works out to at a nominal shop rate of $85 per hour that works out to $13,600 worth of professional time.
Prices on the 6 inch wider TTB housings is $2600 exchange for good housings, this will include monoball heim ends for the pivots complete with spacers for the stock beam pivot brackets. We will include 2 chrome moly 4340 axles with the housings. For the amount of work involved this is a good value. We would also like you to purchase the radius arm kit as well. price on that is $1100 for the pair complete with heims, pivot brackets, heim spacers, and grade 8 bolts and nuts to properly install the setup. Add $80 for the differential skid plate that will protect the lower part of the housing. No shock mounts are provide with the basic setup as we anticipate most of our clients will be doing coil overs. Please keep in mind that we insist on good cores for exchange or be prepared to pay the core charge of $600 per pair. Cores must be clean and what you would expect if you were to pay good money for. If your cores do not meet our expectations be prepared to replace them or pay the core fee. Thank you.
Low profile and excellent ground clearance here.
Good picture showing location of bump stop receiver. Critical clearance for tie rods during travel took time to achieve here.
6 inch wider front looks awesome.
Nice picture showing the relation of the tires to the body.
This picture shows the right wheel tie rod and the work on the right side housing.
This is a good view of the equal length steering system. It consists of 3 separate tie rods made from 4130 chrome moly tubing and heim ends. One tie rod comes from the pitiman arm and drives a bell crank on the right side to operate the tie rod to the left wheel. The pitman arm drives the right wheel tie rod as well. By doing this we drastically reduce the toe change on the left side wheel caused by the stock steering. Autofab can do the steering for you as well please add $2500 and send us your knuckle ends for modifications necessary to work with heim joint ends. We will include the 3 tie rods , alloy heim ends and jam nuts, modified pitman arm, special bell crank pivot and mounting parts and rework on the knuckle ends for the heim joints. Thank you.
This is a custom coil bucket assembly by Autofab with our unique coil adjuster kits. This bucket assembly is setup with a 10 inch travel King racing shock and air bump stops on each wheel. We achieved 17 inches wheel travel with this setup. Using coil overs with bypass shocks etc up to 21 inches of wheel travel is possible.
Final breakdown on prices for 6 inch wider front end $2600 TTB housings exchange with 2 new axles $80 skid plate for diff side $1100 for DOM radius arm kit $2500 for equal length steering complete $6280 total plus the governors cut if you live in California. Thank you for your interest ! |
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