66 Bronco Project

[ZOSO]

Looks great. I cant wait for mine to get that close.

[totalchaos]

Yeah kinda thought the flat black would look interesting so painted all the accessories on the Bronco that color don't look to bad..kinda need more lift now thought the bumper would be a little smaller then that but ended up looking like it could go through a brick wall which could be good or bad..ill be taking it to eagle rock the 13th and 14th for the voyage run guess we'll see what happens

[socofn]

I agree that your bumper is to big for your rig and you should give it to me. Great job in such a short time, I am envious as hell. Jayson

[totalchaos]

I agree that your bumper is to big for your rig and you should give it to me. Great job in such a short time, I am envious as hell. Jayson

Lol thanks

[Jesus_man]

Yeah, looks great! I see another bronco there beside yours. You got another iron in the fire??

Let us know how the shakedown run goes. Wish I could accompany you!

13th is supposed to be a nicer day. And the hill you climb getting to the trailhead (gold camp rd) will test your cooling system.

J.D.

[totalchaos]

The other bronco was an axle donor for this bronco Ill either part it out or sell it as whole when Im done getting everything off it..I just brought a trailer yesterday some Im gonna trailer it up with my diesel just incase something goes wrong..sounds like we will just do a one dayer unless we decide to stay the night but I heard there was suppose to be rain so we'll see...yeah man wish you could have came out but theres always next time I suppose...Im getting ready to take off so Ill fill you guys in how she does..

[totalchaos]

Well got back from the maiden voyage last night...I still have alot of work to do..I dont blame the bronco cuz I did it together pretty quick..here was some of my issues..we went up the long boring trail around eagle rock and the bronco would run then 15 minutes later it would die out of nowhere..pretty soon I got to the point I could get it started my holding it to the floor till she fired..It seems I was having vapor locking issues and lets face it carbs suck on the trail..well with all that crap aside which consumed my whole day I couldnt hit 4 low on the bronco...I know jesusman sent me the diagrams of the shift pattern but for some reason or the way i saw it it seems all the way up is 2 low with a notch...then a long notch which is nutruel then the would hit what seemed to be 2 hi then 4 high and there was one more notch under that that i believe was 4 low and I could never get to go into gear...so anyway I was stuck with 4 hi which sucked..and the bogging of the carb..which sucked..then I get the dumb idea while we are on this trail on the way back lets take eagle rock backwards...its down hill how bad could it be? well the bronco was doing ok with all the problems I was having we tried to hit all the by passes I ended up going into a bypass and it had about a 3-4 foot drop kicking u to the left were there stood a tree..well I dipped in and crunch the roll bar smacked the tree and I look down and my front tires were kicked hard to the left heading up hill rear passenger tire was about 3 foot off the ground and my nutts were about 3 inches from my adams apple..my buddy was telling me crank it to the right which i couldnt get the bronco started long enough for the power steering to kick in so i decide Ill muscle it and i snap the welds on my steering shaft...nice.. well they decided we were going to leave my bronco were it sits and drive the 2 hours home to get it welded...and I said hell no my broncos not sitting here that long..so I get the wild idea to throw a strap to my rear bumper to my friends rig and take a tow strap about 10 foot into a tree in front of the bronco and hook it to my new winch..that winch picked my whole front of my bronco up and allowed us to turn the tires back down hill and pulled me off the shelf I was on..then I just limped her back down the hill letting the power steering do all the work and got her back to the trailer..i guess all in all it was an exciting trip..shes not beat up to bad..but I did decide I need either a fuel injection kit on my motor or an off road carb(any advice on this would be appreciated) and a nice flexy lift is a definate and lets not forget the damn transfer case that I cant seem to get to work..

[ZOSO]

you made it home. thats what matters. they dont call them shakedown runs for no reason. You'll get them all worked out.

[socofn]

Holy crap dude, sounds exciting. Glad you made it home safely. Good luck with figuring everything out. Jayson

[Justin]

Youch, glad you made it home OK. Probably not your perfect vision of the first drive. Bummer, but you'll get it there.

[Jesus_man]

Yep, 4-low all the way to the top, then 2low below that, then neutral, then 2hi, then 4-hi. Sorry to hear it wasn't engaging. That make it tough, especially carb'd. Quite a few guys experienced Vapor Lock when we went last time too. Not fun to deal with. Glad you were able to get it home and I think you are VERY VERY,uh VERY smart not to leave your bronco there. That is a really bad area for people to strip rigs. Heard about it many a time! Especially one as nice as yours. You might have been ok being mid-week, but not a chance I would take either. I'll pm you my cell number for next time and you'd be more than welcome to stop by here to use any tools I have.

How was the weather? Seemed the rain started here about 1 on Wednesday and was coming down hard.

I don't know enough about the D20 to help you figure out why it's not shifting, but I would get all fours off the ground securely, start it up and put it in what you think is 4low. Start at the front d-shaft and see if it's getting power, then work your way thru the axle. Just make sure you don't have something disconnected and that your hubs are indeed working. In terms of grease inside your hub, less is more. You pack them full and they won't engage because it's like losing your boot in deep mud. I prefer to use lithium grease and a good coat, but not globbed in there.

As to the carb - my advice is to go full on EFI. Either pull a junkyard motor that already has it (mine is from a '94 F-250) or put Ford EFI on your engine. Getting an off-road carb will improve your issues, but you'll still deal with vapor lock and it will still load up on you in the difficult sections. All that is gone when you EFI. I wish I could have gone and you could see the difference.

Or....go propane injection. Works the same way, it's just difficult to deal with propane tanks sometimes, especially if you want any kind of range out of your bronco. To keep up with someone with a 23 gallon gasoline tank, you're going to need a 30 gallon propane tank. I have a guy who knows a lot about it if you want to talk to him.

J.D.

[hockeydad4-22]

We seem to have solved our vapor lock issues by installing an electric fuel pump right in front of the tank and routing the fuel line through the frame (yes, this was a chore...) to avoid all the heat from the exhaust. Then keeping it well insulated once inside the engine compartment. Did that mid summer and had no more issues with the vapor lock. Of course we have not had the chance to go off road with it since but plenty of driving around town where we were previously struggling. Good luck.

[totalchaos]

Ok as far as the transfercase issue what I was doing is my buddy would look under the bronco when I would select a gear in the transfercase and watch my drive line..when I would it all the way forward it would be in 2 low the front drive line wouldnt turn one pull back was a long nutruel gap like almost an inch..then 2 high then one down 4hi the drive shaft would start turning then there was one more notch under that and we couldnt get it to go into that gear..which I figured was my 4 low..Ill try what u said about picking it off the ground and going through the tcase wouldnt hurt..I thought about going the propane way heck u could just run gas till it started getting hairy then switch to propane..as far as a motor swap I dont know what would be easier..would kinda like to keep my motor and put efi on it but I dont know if thats possible and Im really not to good with motors..I can usually trouble shoot but when it comes to tearing them down Id rather have someone do it that knows what they are doing..I do have a friend selling a wrecked ford with a fuel injected 302 in it for cheap I thought about buying it and making that transfer harness and all..but I think my motor is built allready and Id hate to have to take it out..decisions decisions..the weather was actually pretty crappy it rained the whole time we were there got there about 1 and it was cold.. thanks for the ideas guys..

[Jesus_man]

Sounds like you were trying to pull your t-case too far down. There is nothing below 4-high. 4-low is all the way to the dash. I hope it's that simple. If not, and the driveshaft would turn in 4-hi, then I fear you have t-case problems. not to worry, I am sure someone in the club has one laying around that you can just in and run. In fact, I think my FIL in Rye has one he'd let go for cheap.

When you have it off the ground, make sure you grab onto the driveshaft and try to stop it with your hands. It could be spinning from minor rubbing of the gears inside the case. Ever see how a backhoe's wheels still turn when it's off the ground digging? Same idea.

If you're motor is built, it maybe be easier to swap out the necessary parts off that 302 to make yours fuel injected. Someone else will have a better idea than me because I bought my bronco EFI already on it. Thank goodness, but I am no good at Electrical stuff.

Hockeydad - I hope you fixed your problems, but it seems like off-road is a whole 'nother animal when it comes to Vapor Lock. Just ask those guys who did Eagle rock with us last time. Their rigs ran fine around town, but had problems pretty quickly just getting to the trail.

J.D.

[dsmith01]

Never learned how to work with carbs so I swapping it out for EFI when I bought mine. It was an easy swap. Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

[totalchaos]

Never learned how to work with carbs so I swapping it out for EFI when I bought mine. It was an easy swap. Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

Yeah that'll be my best be ill be sure to ask if I have any questions thanks

[totalchaos]

Well I dont know if any of you noticed or not but Ive had a couple people ask about it..I have put my pride and joy (bronco) on craigslist for sale..Its kinda hard to talk about this cuz its embarassing enough without everyone knowing about it but I feel you guys should know about it maybe some of you can learn from it as I have..a couple months ago I was at band practice I sing for a hard rock band when Im not working..anyway I had a 12 pack from 5 in the afternoon till 130 in the morning..when practice was over I hopped in my wifes new mountaineer and started my voyage home 1 mile straight shot down the road keep in mind a country road no traffic..anyway..my phone went off and i reached to grab it out of my pocket and flipped it open next thing I knew I was heading for the ditch on the right side of the road so I yanked the wheel and ended up nose diving into the ditch on the left side of the road the suv flipped on its lid and slid upside down for about 50 yards or so in the ditch..I was fine when I woke up and crawled out of the crunched wreck...just had a little bump on my head and a gash on my leg..but the damage was done I was shipped to the hospital and csp administered a blood alch test..came back a .212 about the .17 limit so anyway I so far have lost my license for 9 months and have to have interlock for 2 years ..interlock is where u have to blow into your car and it reads if your ing or not and starts the car..along with the dui comes alot of bs...I have to go to alchohol classes and therapy and thats from just what dmv gave me..the court part will be tomorrow..so we will see what happens...I know now that I will never step behind the wheel when Ive been ing...ever..when you look at the pics I could have been a gonner..someone was looking out for me that night..anyway back to the bronco I wont be putting interlock on it cuz its too expencive to put on it and my daily driver so that means the bronco will sit for 3 years...that sucks so Im selling it in hopes to find me a lifted jeep that I can drive every day and take to the trails..dont worry Ill be building another..hell you guys saw what I could do in a summer...3 years is nothing..anyway starting price is $12,000 you can read through and see what I have into it I think thats a fair price but I am negotible...hell Ill take an awesome jeep on trade if you got one..well thats that and Im sorry if I let you guys down Im not proud of what I did but all I can do is learn from it and move on..thanks for all the help u guys are awesome..

[Jesus_man]

number 1, I am glad you are OK. What a scary deal!

number 2, I am very sorry to hear that you are selling your bronco. We've all seen the amount of work you have put into it and hate to see you start over! I assume it's mandatory that you get interlock on all your vehicles?

I think it's awesome that you have vowed to not and drive. Not many folks recognize that this is a problem, even after a bad accident. The important thins is learning from your mistakes and maybe even allowing others to learn from it as well.

We're here for ya man and I am sure there will always be an open seat until you find that heep you are looking for!

J.D.

[Entourage]

You are lucky to be alive and sharing your story may save others the same mis-fortune. The Bronco and wife's SUV are just things and things can be replaced. Sharing your story and helping to save lives that cannot be replaced is very admirable.

[totalchaos]

thanks for understanding guys..definetly something Im not proud of but Ill live through it and move on..Ill definetly be getting another bronco to build if this one sells perhaps not make this one as pretty and focus more on fuel injection and a flexy lift more of a rock crawler..

[Jesus_man]

Yes, your rig sure looks nice for what you were hoping to do with it. There are plenty of solid, but well worn broncos out there where you can focus on function and not as much form. Pretty much sums up mine...

[Rox Crusher]

The measure of a true man is being able to admit he made a mistake.

I really admire you for being able to do so.

I hate to see you selling your great rig and hope you still visit the site while you are waiting for the right time to get your next one.

Stay steady brother !

[Justin]

Youch! Glad you're still here with us. Hang in there, sounds like a rough patch with an end in sight.

[totalchaos]

Hey guys long time..things are going good here so far..still kicken I actually sold the bronco yesterday to a guy out of state..got my 8k for it which isnt the best but at least it has a good home shes been good to me and its sad to see her go but like Ive said before Ill build another one Ill always be a bronco fan..in a couple days it will be shipped out to its new home..I in the mean time bought me a jeep wrangler tj that Ill be dumping half the money in...guess Ill see if I can build a jeep as good as I can a bronco..Ive allready got a good start on it 6 inches of lift and 35s I installed should be a sweet ride but will never replace my bronco..anyway Im still down to hit the trails this summer if you guys dont mind a jeep taggen along..hope all is well with everyone

[totalchaos]

Sahara Model Hey, is it a 2000? If so I had one just like it and I see it every so often. It was black too and I flamed the front with a gritty silver with Candy Apple tips then pin striped them with blue. Looked pretty damn tough.

close its a 99 the one u had sounds pretty cool though..picked this one up in the springs a month or two ago..got big plans for this thing Im going all out

[totalchaos]

I forgot to congratulate you on your sale.

I found an old Pic of mine from around 2003/2004 LOL.

Thats a nice looking jeep and thanks