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The '80-'96 FordTwin-Traction Beam (TTB) front suspension uses a swing arm designthat's become the foundation for thousands of long-travelfour-wheel-drive suspensions over the years. Ford's TTB suspensionbenefits from a simple robust design that requires only four pivotpoints, as opposed to six on a typical leaf-sprung front axle, eight onan IFS GM truck, and ten on a four-link Dodge frontend.
Why It Works So Well
TheFord TTB axle beams are mounted to a massive engine crossmember andpivot on two rubber bushings near the center of the frame. A pair ofradius arms locate the axle beams front-to-rear, and are tied to theframe with bayonet-style bushings that allow almost unlimited rotation.Due to the length of the TTB axle beams, it's possible to getdouble-digit suspension travel numbers from the Ford system - if youadd the right parts.
16 Inches Of Travel
John Ehmke's Autofab is based in Santee, California, smack-dab in the heart of the off-road racingcommunity. Autofab has been building off-road parts for more than 30years, and when it comes to long-travel TTB suspensions its 16-inchfront wheel travel kit is elegantly simple, and brutally effective.
To install the Autofab kit on our '96 Ford Broncowe began by hoisting the truck up on a friend's lift and removing thestock suspension in order to bolt on the Autofab coil buckets, radiusarms, and modified axle beams. The only difficult part was removing therivets Ford used in these frames. We did so to bolt the Autofab pieceson with Grade 8 hardware.
18-Inch Travel 2-Link
Then we took the Broncohome and mounted a set of Deaver Spring's J40 rear leaf springs. Wechose the 3-inch wide J40 spring packs instead of using 2.5-inch wide F-150 springs because we were going to ditch the rear sway bar, and the extra spring width will help with sway control.
Whenthe leaf springs were mounted we bolted Autofab's two-link traction barsystem onto its reinforced frame brackets, and a friend welded thetwo-link mounting tabs to our rear 8.8-inch rear axle.
Finishing Touches
To finish off the new suspension we added a set of 2.5-inch diameter Sway-A-Way RaceRunner shocks (10-inch travel in the front and 12-inch travel in therear) with remote reservoirs. To play it safe we plumbed the brakeswith a set of extended-length DOT-legal brake lines from Superlift.
We'dstill like to add some limit straps and do some bumpstop tuning, butoverall the suspension has proven to be far more forgiving over the bigbumps and ruts. The 35-inch tall tires have made some minor contactwith the front bumper and inner wheelwells. Which is probably whyAutofab recommends 33-inch tires mounted on the factory forged wheelsin order to take advantage of all 16-inches of travel. We'll keeppushing our luck with the 35s, and save our money for a set ofAutofab's Ashley-style fiberglass fenders.
Why It Works So Well
TheFord TTB axle beams are mounted to a massive engine crossmember andpivot on two rubber bushings near the center of the frame. A pair ofradius arms locate the axle beams front-to-rear, and are tied to theframe with bayonet-style bushings that allow almost unlimited rotation.Due to the length of the TTB axle beams, it's possible to getdouble-digit suspension travel numbers from the Ford system - if youadd the right parts.
16 Inches Of Travel
John Ehmke's Autofab is based in Santee, California, smack-dab in the heart of the off-road racingcommunity. Autofab has been building off-road parts for more than 30years, and when it comes to long-travel TTB suspensions its 16-inchfront wheel travel kit is elegantly simple, and brutally effective.
To install the Autofab kit on our '96 Ford Broncowe began by hoisting the truck up on a friend's lift and removing thestock suspension in order to bolt on the Autofab coil buckets, radiusarms, and modified axle beams. The only difficult part was removing therivets Ford used in these frames. We did so to bolt the Autofab pieceson with Grade 8 hardware.
18-Inch Travel 2-Link
Then we took the Broncohome and mounted a set of Deaver Spring's J40 rear leaf springs. Wechose the 3-inch wide J40 spring packs instead of using 2.5-inch wide F-150 springs because we were going to ditch the rear sway bar, and the extra spring width will help with sway control.
Whenthe leaf springs were mounted we bolted Autofab's two-link traction barsystem onto its reinforced frame brackets, and a friend welded thetwo-link mounting tabs to our rear 8.8-inch rear axle.
Finishing Touches
To finish off the new suspension we added a set of 2.5-inch diameter Sway-A-Way RaceRunner shocks (10-inch travel in the front and 12-inch travel in therear) with remote reservoirs. To play it safe we plumbed the brakeswith a set of extended-length DOT-legal brake lines from Superlift.
We'dstill like to add some limit straps and do some bumpstop tuning, butoverall the suspension has proven to be far more forgiving over the bigbumps and ruts. The 35-inch tall tires have made some minor contactwith the front bumper and inner wheelwells. Which is probably whyAutofab recommends 33-inch tires mounted on the factory forged wheelsin order to take advantage of all 16-inches of travel. We'll keeppushing our luck with the 35s, and save our money for a set ofAutofab's Ashley-style fiberglass fenders.
1996 Ford Bronco Bronco
1996 Ford Bronco Suspension Spectacular
1996 Ford Bronco Coil Sprung Twin Traction Beam
Fordoffered the coil-sprung Twin Traction Beam (TTB) front suspension on'80 to '96 four-wheel-drive half-ton trucks. The setup under our '96Bronco had 140,000 miles on it before we decided to upgrade it withAutofab's 16-inch wheel travel suspension upgrade.
1996 Ford Bronco Updated Factory Shocks
Toget a good baseline for our suspension we updated the factory shockswith gas-charged Bilsteins in order to compare the before and afterride to the Autofab kit. The Bilstein shocks were significantly stifferthan the original shocks, which made the Bronco handle better on thestreet, but the off-road ride was rougher than we liked.
1996 Ford Bronco Autofab 16 Inch Fromt Suspension
Autofab's16-inch travel front suspension replaced the stock Ford setup withmodified Ford beams and extended radius arms. We bolted our originalDana 44 differential, axleshafts, and steering knuckles onto theAutofab beams and attached them to the frame with the factorysuspension pivot brackets.
1996 Ford Bronco Removed Rivets
Weremoved the rivets that held the Ford coil spring buckets to the frameand bolted on these Autofab units. The Autofab mounts not only retainthe Autofab 4-inch lift front coils, but also allowed us to mountlonger shocks.
1996 Ford Bronco Autofab Beams And Radius Arms
With the Autofab beams and radius arms attached, we installed a set of 10-inch travel 2.5-inch diameter Sway-A-Way RaceRunner shocks to the Autofab coil buckets. We had to trim the plasticinner wheelwells in order to clear the top of the new shock mounts. Wealso installed a set of extended length, DOT-legal brake hoses fromSuperlift to ensure our brake hoses didn't become our suspensionlimiting straps
1996 Ford Bronco Stock Ford Radius Arms Have 3 Flaws
Thestock Ford radius arms have three major flaws: Their short lengthcauses major caster changes when you have lots of suspension travel.Their stamped-steel construction means they tend to bend when you addlarger tires. And their bayonet-style bushings tend to pierce throughthe stamped steel bracket when you pound the truck off-road. Autofabsolves all three of these problems with its extended-length radius arms(built from DOM steel tubing) and heavy-duty bushings and frame mounts.
1996 Ford Bronco Autofab Cuts Lower Ball Joint Mounts
Most4-inch lift kits for TTB trucks lower the axle beam pivot-points inorder to correct for the added ride height. The Autofab suspension doesnot. Instead of moving the pivot points on the frame, which tends tooverstress the frame and cause cracks, Autofab cuts the lowerball-joint mounts off the axle beams and relocates them further outtowards the wheel to correct the camber.
1996 Ford Bronco Autofab Kit Installed
Withthe Autofab kit installed we got an enormous increase in groundclearance, were able to retain the stock steering geometry and pitmanarm (reducing stress on the steering box), and now have an incrediblysimple and reliable 16-inches of wheel travel.
1996 Ford Bronco Autofabs Three Piece Upper Shock Mount
Thenwe moved on to the rear suspension and bolted-in Autofab's three-pieceupper shock mount. Installing it was the most time consuming step ofthe whole project. We removed the exhaust, rear driveshaft, and jackedthe truck up by the frame in order to remove the stock shock mounts anddrill the new holes required for the Autofab piece.
1996 Ford Bronco Sway A Way Race Runner Shocks
Once installed, the Autofab shock mount allowed us to use a set of 12-inch stroke 2.5-inch diameter Sway-A-Way RaceRunner shocks. The Autofab mount was designed to tuck up close to theBronco's floor and allowed us to fit the longest shock possible withoutcutting into the sheet metal.
1996 Ford Bronco Blue Tape Protection
Wewrapped the Sway-A-Way shocks with blue tape to protect them while wetried out different mounting locations for the reservoirs. Strappingthem to the Autofab mount protected them from debris, but made it hardto charge the shocks with nitrogen.
1996 Ford Bronco Strap Reservoirs To Shocks
Fornow we're just going to strap the reservoirs to the shocks, but you'llnotice that we lined the clamps with rubber to protect the shockbodies. You'll also notice that we bolted in Autofab's two-link rearsuspension arms and Deaver Spring's 3-inch wide J40 Bronco springpacks. The Autofab two2-link kit was designed to eliminate axle wrapunder acceleration and braking without binding the suspension.
1996 Ford Bronco All Terrain Tire
Havingfour-wheel drive meant that we could use an all-terrain tire withoutworrying about getting stuck. We mounted a set of 315/70R17 GoodyearWrangler AT Extreme tires on 17x8-inch Alcoa Classic series wheels, andhave found them to be quiet, and quite strong, thanks to their3,195-pound load rating.
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