Black Smoke Donkey

[Kinder]

I'm running the factory steel rear tank, 11+ gal. The aux tank is aftermarket, also 11+ gal.

[Kinder]

Finished the back soft doors, just in time for our 2 day soaking, no more tarp!



When it stops raining I'll take some pics of how I bridged the gap between front doors and how the frames fit together. I still need to source some handles, do a bit of trim work and patch the holes left by the old kayline handles.

[Jesus_man]

That'll make a huge difference!

[Kinder]

****** WARNING ******

What I'm about to post is borderline ridiculous, almost too much and if you are drinking your coffee or milk you'll want put it down as I won't be responsible for it shooting out your nose.

[Kinder]

I'm not sure if I've gone too far or not far enough in my quest to make BSD more tractor like, but this will certainly help. It's from a Ford F700 and to say it's big is being nice, if I tilt the wheel up and slouch in my seat I can look between it and the hood just fine. The spinner is from a John Deere tractor, and it makes it real nice to back up a trailer or maneuver quickly off road. I have to say that I've never seen so much of my dash clearly before! I've got two days under my belt driving it with this setup and I'm not sure if I'm man enough to keep it. Time will tell.

[Jesus_man]

Come'on now. Stop holding out!

[hockeydad4-22]

Probably thinking about stuffing that rattletrap engine into TFB and going electric and changing the name to lightning bug donkey

[Justin]

with custom fit solar panels on that big 'ol roof. It'll be the Prius-like Donkey.

[Kinder]

Okay, updated the post above.

[akaFrankCastle]

Okay. That's pretty ri-donk-ulous. I was thinking 67-72 F series wheel would be a good fit. A little bit larger than the Bronco wheel but not steering the Titanic large like you have now.

[akaFrankCastle]

I find it funny you are still running the auto column stuff (with a '66 turn signal lever) in a manual truck.

[Rox Crusher]

I would have to see it in person to be certain but from the pics I think it looks perfectly natural in there

[landshark]

i think it needs another spinner on the other side..

[Jesus_man]

Nice work! I like it! You might want to look into the legality of the spinners for on-road vehicles. They are handy as heck and would come in very handy in many situations, but I have heard once upon a time that they were illegal. Sorry, I tell you that know, but I was really only joking when I suggested it.

[Kinder]

I only put out active fires, the smoldering ones get knocked down when time permits. I think I have a line on a manual tilt column, very hard to find btw. The 66 turn signal lever is staying though, I like the knurled end on it, more grip.

I find it funny you are still running the auto column stuff (with a '66 turn signal lever) in a manual truck.

[Kinder]

I don't think the spinner will stay for road use anyway, it gets in the way a bit. I'll work out a quick release setup for it so I can it on when I hit the trail.

Nice work! I like it! You might want to look into the legality of the spinners for on-road vehicles. They are handy as heck and would come in very handy in many situations, but I have heard once upon a time that they were illegal. Sorry, I tell you that know, but I was really only joking when I suggested it.

[Justin]

You might want to look into the legality of the spinners for on-road vehicles. They are handy as heck and would come in very handy in many situations, but I have heard once upon a time that they were illegal.

They're legal for road use in Colorado, and commonly used by folks with disabilities. Some states require a form from a doctor, but Colorado isn't one of them as there is no mention of them in the CRS (Colorado vehicle code Title 42: Article 4). Yes, I'm that boring.

[Jesus_man]

Well then, we need a vendor to make some cool bronco ones!

[Kinder]

Started in on the back doors for BSD, sectioning 11.5" from the front half of the doors so I can keep the door latch mechanism unmodified as it's more important to me, I'll solve the window mech once they are sized right. Based on my cuts and plans to reuse most of the window frame I'll be able to use a stock piece of side glass, that makes life easier.

Are there any recommendations out there for the best way to pop the skin from the front half of the doors while leaving it attached to the rear of the door besides the basics, drill out the spot welds then use an air chisel to open up the seam?

Pics of the cuts (leaving a 1/4" wiggle room) and my redneck whiteboard.

[Gunnibronco]

Not exactly sure it work for your needs, but when we pull a skin off, we use a grinder to grind through the fold of the seam. Grind until you have just cut through the "fold" of the skin (sounds painful). You'll then have 3 layers- the outer skin, the door frame, and the remaining skin on the inside of the door. If that makes sense. We usually use a 90* diegrinder with a 3" roloc grinding pad, but its possible with an electric 4-1/2" grinder. Then use a chisel to separate the skin from the frame, if it doesn't come loose.

[Kinder]

Thanks for the advice, I've got a die grinder so I'll just need to pick up some wheels for it. I'll create a new fold for the forward edge and I guess I'll just butt weld or maybe spot weld the lower edge when I move the piece back. I'm not looking forward to creating the hinge cutouts in the skin, I'll do my best to make it look decent.

[Gunnibronco]

I've never done a Bronco door skin. If the skin is not glued to the frame, you might not have to cut the skin. You might be able to coax the frame out of the skin. I'd try to leave the bottom fold if possible.

[Kinder]

I'll try to leave it, looks like two'ish spot welds, maybe folding the lip back by hand is possible.

[Kinder]

Passenger side back door is coming along nicely, should have the driver's side mounted by this evening. I'll run them with the soft door windows until I get back from hunting.



Big thanks go out to Chad for the disassembly directions.

[Gunnibronco]

Sweet!

[Jesus_man]

Indeed!

[landshark]

that looks great! Interested to see what you do with the internals.

[Kinder]

Drivers side is in, I built a simple internal brace to hold the soft uppers in place. I'm calling it done for now, out of time.

[Kinder]

that looks great! Interested to see what you do with the internals.

Thanks, it'll be interesting to solve the internals for sure.

[Kinder]

It's been a long time coming, but I have four doors that function as normal. They open & close using hinges, latch with functioning internal and external handles (not 550 cord) and will soon be sealed with real weather stripping.

Now I will finally close up the door jam seam between the doors and finish the internal bracing.