Orange County CAF's: up to no good

more power, "better" fuel efficiency, more control over the A/F ratio

 

God those trucks need all the help they can get on fuel economy. Buddy has a 93 5.0 that gets 7.5 mpg and that's after I redid the ignition system. It also makes shit power so the bad mpg isn't even worth it

 

well, they make like 210hp and 325ft/lbs so it's no rocket ship, but the torque though lazy, is determined, and they have a reasonable amount of grunt when geared correctly. They are very easily upgraded though, there are a lot of heads and headers for them, and being older MAF trucks, intakes make a pretty decent difference in hp.

 

I had a buddy who bought one dirt cheap for his pizza shop. That was the worst grocery getter if there ever was one. What threw us for a loop was most of the engine bay was really clean, yet 90 percent of it was shit.

You couldn't pay me enough to own one.

 

I know the numbers are lower but they are without a doubt the slowest trucks I've ever drive. I have no doubt that they have some potential as I've seen some of the aftermarket for engine mods but man they are just so big and heavy and not well built imo. The "twin traction beam" suspension is weird and pretty stiff and the fact there is no way to drain the front diff pisses me off. I know with modification it can probably be loosened up but it just seems like way too much work.

Right? I have had my buddies the last couple of months while he is off in the marine corp and its a cool looking truck but man the amount of stupid shit I've seen in this thing astonishes me. Looking forward to it going away

 

Both of my Bronco's got 10mpg, no matter how nice you drove it. It's a lifted brick on 35" tires and a slushbox transmission. You don't buy them for MPG

TTB is gods gift to suspension. You put some extended shocks and uniballs in the pivots instead of bushings and those things will flex like its going out of style.

They call it dirty hooker travel because of the camber change as it cycles, but damn they work well. 17" of travel at stock width is something no other suspension system can touch. And you get a lot of the benefits of a solid axle, but the ride of IFS. Everything is a compromise, but I love TTB

 

Yum 4x4 swingers

 

I always knew they had potential, I was just never sure what mods needed to be done to make them good. The problem with my buddies is its 100% stock other than what I believe is a Rough Country 6 inch lift so it as stiff as a rock and unfortunately that is probably all that truck will ever be. I feel if I had more experiences with other versions of these I wouldn't be so negative but this particular truck is the devil's spawn

 

It's all in the shocks. And they need extended radius arms to really work well.

Rough country is garbage for any vehicle.

 

My 87 ranger was TTB. One of the best off-road vehicles I have ever owned.

 

and that's the D35.

Considered putting a D35 TTB under my Tacoma, but I need the space of a Bronco. Rangers are fantastic trucks.

 

People talk shit about them but my little RC STX ranger would shut them up quickly.

 

They really are awesome little trucks.

 

Do the swingers drive better than solid axle? Assuming you can minimize the bump steer.

 

much better imo. They are hard to keep aligned, and when bushings wear, they can get super mushy. They also rarely experience death wobble.

A swing set steering upgrade eliminates the bump steer, and if you use heims, you can increase precision.

I've owned a long travel Bronco, and ridden in a number of them. They drive like a couch, but they drive like a couch through 2ft whoops too lol.

 

my Tacoma drives like a go cart compared to a Bronco, and I will miss that for on-road driving for sure. But the Bronco's are so much smoother offroad.

I can run softer springs, and larger shocks, double my travel, and have it still look like it's barely modified. My style is more OE+ vs wild fiberglass and flashy bits.

If I can get it to work well and still drive nice, i'm happy. Dream Truck: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeLSz8Hg7VZ/

 

Awesome. I saw a guy on dr Do that swap to his tacoma. Looks amazing. Full kill linked, caged, I beam 4x4. Unstoppable play truck.

 

for the cost of all the custom work, I could just buy a Bronco or OBS F150, and have the same out of pocket. Plus a V8 and more space lol.

Theres an XJ rolling around with a TTB swap, and it is glorious haha

 

I understand why they stopped making TTB but man they are fun.