Wild Horses 3" Body Lift

Because I ended up getting 35" tires and plan on doing a NV 4500 trans swap, I opted for the Wild Horses 3" body lift. My way of installing the body lift is a little different than most people's, since I had the body off the frame already. So right before I put my new body on the frame, I put the body mount bushings together on the body mounts, stacked the body lifts on top of the bushings, and set the body on top of that. I had no cables, wires, brake lines, or shifters to worry about, so it was very easy. The hardest part was getting all the different parts of the mounts, lifts, and the body itself, lined up to install the bolts. Oh, one other thing, the fiberglass body is a little thicker, so I had to use 4 longer bolts than what was supplied in the kit. The four longest ones that came with the kit were long enough for the front four mounts, but I had to find four longer bolts for the rear four positions. I finally found some at a new Ace Hardware. These were 1/2" x 8" and 9". After getting the tub tighened down completely, I had to get all the holes cut in my firewall. Once that was done, I mounted the steering column. Of course it was up too far. What I did to remedy this was to purchace the steering joint that Wild Horses has

for sale. It is a very nice little U-joint. Here's what I did to install the U-joint on my manual steering column. I took the column out of my Bronco and clamped the actual shaft in a vise. Oh, of course I supported the rest of the column. I then measured an inch below the bottom most berring in the column, held up one of the ends of the U-joint with the end of it on the one inch mark, and marked where the end of the shaft should be. Then with a metal blade in my dad's Sawzall, I cut the shaft. Now, mounting the U-joint was my own creation. The joint has a threaded hole in it, which I marked on the steering shaft. I then took a 3/8" drill and drilled an indentation in the steering shaft. I only went in the shaft a little bit, enough for the bolt in the joint to lock itself onto the shaft. With the shorter steering column mounted back in my Bronco, I sliped the other end of the joint

on the steering box end of the shaft, the piece I cut off, and mounted it on the steering box. I held the U-joints in place relative to where they would be after I was done, and marked where I should cut the bottom of the steering shaft to keep the shaft out of the way of the center cross. I then took the bottom shaft back out and cut it where I had just marked it. I also took the 3/8" drill and made an indentation just like I did for the upper shaft. I put the lower shaft back on the steering box and then pressed on the caps. You should be carefull when marking where you're going to cut the lower shaft. If you make it too long, you won't be able to get the caps pressed on because the two U-joints will be too

close. If you cut it too short, the very bottom of the shaft will not fully engage the steering box. Of course, if you have the top of the steering column in the center of the mounting slots, you will have some leway. But not too much. I have had the chance to manuver my Bronco around my driveway a bit, and the steering works fine for being manual steering with 35" BFG's. So far, I have not had the chance to do anything else like shifter placement or even clutch rod. Although I did get the HD replacement from Wild Horses. And I can say that with the 170 or 200 cu in engines, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to the throdel linkage is concerned. I will have more of a report in about seven months when I come back from summer vacation and had a chance to work on it more. So if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

I have pictures of the finished product for your veiwing pleasure. Just click on the pic to see a larger picture of the same thing. Although I'm sure you already knew that.

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