4WD panther.

[Southern_Pride]

Im going to do it. Starting today. Bronco drivetrain under my 89 on a box frame. TTB dana 44, 31 spline 8.8 rear end, E4OD, BW 1356 transfer case. Im in progress of disassembly of the truck, will post pics of reassembly under the car.

[DuceAnAHalf]

sweet. why you going with the TTB over a straight axle? cause you have the TTB? how much lift is this gonna give you

[Southern_Pride]

As far as lift numbers, I have no idea. Probably in the neighborhood of 12"+. As far as why ttb? I like it better. Same strength as a solid dana 44, you can get more ground clearance from it, rides better and it seems easier to mount it. I have a solid dana 44 I can get for free, but I really dont want it.

[Freshmeat]

I believe the TTB is going to be pretty hard to mount because of the crossmember assembly required, but if you want to attack that, go for it. I think your better bet would be to grab a driver drop solid axle D44 (or D60 if you can find a junker 350 in your area), but again, it's all in what you want. I'll be thoroughly interested in how this turns out. I was one move away from doing this with my wagon using D60s. Hopefully the E4OD won't be too big for your transmission tunnel without too much cutting. They're fucking HUGE.

Have you considered the possibility of a T-18 or a NP435? You'd never break it and it's significantly smaller than the E4OD... not to mention the 6.31:1 first gear...

Again- just tossing around ideas in case there's something that didn't cross your mind. I'm anxious to see you get started on this.

[Freshmeat]

Also- are you thinking you'll convert to leaf suspension for ease of installation or will you fabricate some sort of long arm set-up?

[Southern_Pride]

The rear will be leaf spring. Front will be coil. Im planning on a body lift to clear the tranny due to clearance issue. Ive thought about a granny gear, but I'd rather have the automatic in the mud. Clutches dont hold up. As for the ttb mounting its actually rather simple. Unbolt the front suspension and bolt a big ass steel plate up there with the factory mounting points as the mount for it. Factory setup has brackets bolted to the engine crossmember. The way I wanna do it should be fairly sturdy. I have a driverside drop dana 44, but the radius arms have to be mounted at a certain angle on them. With ttb you get much more flexibility in mounting. The only real issue will be making the tcase shift since it is pushbutton. Its been reliable so far, so I plan on keeping it.

[Freshmeat]

I'm sure you can find PLENTY of threads on Pirate regarding a button assembly to operate the BW case.

Again, good luck with it. Keep your ideas flowing; it'd be nice to see your thought process as you go along.

[Southern_Pride]

Ive got the button assembly and all the wiring in the truck. Ive just got to adapt it to the car.

[Archangel]

Why not just drop the car body on the bronco frame? May need to move the rear axle a bit back, but it overall it may be easier than modifying the Panther frame and all that...

[Southern_Pride]

It actually easier to put on the car frame, and a lot safer and less ghetto. Plus you can't move the axle back on a bronco frame. Nowhere to go, frame end like 6 inches after the rear spring hangers.

[GoodSamaritan]

Oooh. I have been waiting for someone to take the plunge. Frankly I just haven't had the time. I was eyeballing the axles on an old army deuce and a half the other day. It looks like, a simple leaf spring setup would work in the front and the rear. Of course I didn't get all that close of a look at the tandem setup, but I assume that they have the flipped leaf spring setup. That would mean cutting, and welding some more conventional mounts on the axle.

[Lincolnmania]

i was thinkin about it using the awd aerostar front axle and suspension

[Southern_Pride]

Awd aerostar wont hold up to the abuse of offroad though. Probably be easier for a road going car, but not offroad. Try it and see. Worst that can happen is it breaks.

[DuceAnAHalf]

Oooh. I have been waiting for someone to take the plunge. Frankly I just haven't had the time. I was eyeballing the axles on an old army deuce and a half the other day. It looks like, a simple leaf spring setup would work in the front and the rear. Of course I didn't get all that close of a look at the tandem setup, but I assume that they have the flipped leaf spring setup. That would mean cutting, and welding some more conventional mounts on the axle.

problem with the rockwell axles is the weight, about 1000#s each.

and some guys with those trucks remove the rear most axle and run the single rear with a conventional style leaf spring set-up., takes about 1200#s off the truck and better performance offroad

[GoodSamaritan]

Well, another reason I never have done it, is I really don't need 4 wheel drive. You have to admit though, there is something to be said about having a vehicle whose axles alone outweight some cars. LOL! That and I doubt you'd ever break them without mangling the rest of the car. Of course, you would sink like a stone the first time you hit some mud.