suspension gurus

try installing a sway bar which might help or better yet, a panhard bar. and what type of vehicle is this anyways?

wow. i checked out your site. to be honest i thought your bronco was gonna be...well "gay." but damn its pretty cool man! i have to give you props on that one. its different and thats what i like about it. did you do the work yourself? nice ride

No question - the II is cool; seen it before. Leaf springs are about the worst way to locate a rear axle - and they're heavy unsprung weight. No doubt a properly located 4 link with Panhard rod and coil overs will make a huge difference in both suspension effectiveness and ride quality. However, that's a huge change and quite involved. And, you need to work with someone that understands the implications of how/where you locate the pickup points, instant centers, anti-squat/anti-dive, etc. Locating the rear end that way would also probably make you want to re-think your front suspension - especially if it's still got the old 'twin-I-beam' in it -- almost as archaic and heavy as the leaf sprung rear.

I road raced a leaf sprung car, and we couldn't by the rules ditch the leaf springs. Two things I did that helped a lot. First - added a Panhard rod to locate the rear end laterally. Lateral location isn't a strong point of leaf springs. Second, I varied shackle heights so the spring sat level with respect to the ground. This minimizes 'rear steer' when cornering hard.

If harder launches are what you're after (my car didn't have enough power to worry about that) then some sort of traction bar or control arm is probably available to limit or eliminate leaf spring wind up. There's a great article in this month's Car Craft (silver 71'ish Mustang on the cover) about rear suspension design. Given what you're considering, it's probably worth a few bucks to pick up a copy.

bart said:

bronco 2, its on my www

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That is without a doubt the first Bronco II i've ever liked... two thumbs up! Get that thing as fast as a Mustang and handling like one, and you've got one seriously cool ride.

HAHA! Dude that is by FAR the coolest Bronco II I've ever seen. I can't believe you stuffed that engine in there. Nice work. I suppose I'm a little late in making this comment but I just had to give you props. That ride is badass.