Wipers

[hockeydad4-22]

Ok,

After having the 74 Bronco a few days and running around with it we have a few "urgent projects". My policy in a resto-mod has always been to upgrade when ever practical within the plan and budget. With that in mind I have a few questions for those of you who have been running these rigs for a while.


- THis is a biggy. The wipers on this thing would have to improve to suck! So I trotted the new pony down to Pep Boys (I dislike Pep Boys, but they are the closest "parts house") last night, in the lot I pulled one of the blades off thinking that I can stroll in, scan through 6-8 choices in new blades and at least have some wipers that clean the parts that they reach right?... Nope, not so. They do not even cary refills for these blades let alone replacement - upgrades. They did offer to let my purchase some $19 blades and cut them apart to see if I could figure out a way to adapt them to the Bronco's arms... Ok gentlemen, what do you all run for wipers?

- Headlights, passenger side is out, as is the marker/turn signal. I think this is no big deal but I would love anyones s and experience on improvements before I just run over to Checker and grab a lamp and a few bulbs.

- Spare tire carrier, the top himge pin is brocken, snapped in half. We have plans to eventually ad a new bumper with tire mount but for now.... is there anywhere to go and grab a pin, or shall I just head to depot and purchase a bolt, a few washers and locking nut?


Also on the list for this weekend:
-Heater core and fan motor upgrade (probably do a flush and fill of the radiator at the same time, makes since)
-Seats (the PO had installed some mid 80's buckets and they are shot, not to mention they are installed on the wrong side, passenger seat is on the drivers side, hard bolted down so not adjustable, etc)

Gents, your advice is greatly appreciated in this.

Thank you

[freeheelbillie]

Wipers...try;

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-15228-extreme-weather-trailblade-all-season-wiper-blade.html
and
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-15222-wiper-arm.html

With lights or anything electrical for that matter ALWAYS check your ground. I have lost count how many times that was the issue. DC is fairly easy to trouble shoot, even for a me, which says a lot! I try to avoid LMC Truck at all costs but they do have some cool headlight, taillight and sidemaker LED upgrades. I havent personally tried them but they sound like a good . LED would draw less on the old wireing and wont ever need to be replaced. The headlight set up will require a new harness but would be brighter for sure.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fbr/search.aspx?searchItem=led&rURL=

Sparetire carrier...call Melissa at Bronco Hut, down in Castle Rock. Great people, awesome to work with and they might be able to arrange to meet you closer to home so you dont need to make the drive South. 303.663.1455. Be sure to tell them youre a CCB member and she might work a discount for you!


Heat.

Before you start pulling things apart do the flush and replace your thermostat, both are cheap and might just solve your issue. Next work on buttoning up the interior...I keep saying this because its work for me in my daily driver. Headliner worked wonders! I was warm and toasty with a long sleeve shirt this morning at 22 degrees outside.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Billie

[hockeydad4-22]

Thanks Billie,

I ordered the blades, solvent pump, lines etc just now, so I can and will live with the current set up until they arive.

As far as the heat is concerned, the reason for the heater core is that it is leaking, the sweet smell of antifreeze as I warm up our little pony is pleasant and all, but the steam and condensation on the windows.... not so wonderful. And i figure that as long as we have it all apart, I might as well replace the motor with a bigger and better unit.

Lights, check the ground, very good advice. And something I had already forgotten to check.... hmmm. I have lost count of how many times I have spent hours working on electrical components and lights because they dont work, only to discover a loose or broken ground.

Thank you.



quote="freeheelbillie"]Wipers...try;

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-15228-extreme-weather-trailblade-all-season-wiper-blade.html
and
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-15222-wiper-arm.html

With lights or anything electrical for that matter ALWAYS check your ground. I have lost count how many times that was the issue. DC is fairly easy to trouble shoot, even for a me, which says a lot! I try to avoid LMC Truck at all costs but they do have some cool headlight, taillight and sidemaker LED upgrades. I havent personally tried them but they sound like a good . LED would draw less on the old wireing and wont ever need to be replaced. The headlight set up will require a new harness but would be brighter for sure.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fbr/search.aspx?searchItem=led&rURL=

Sparetire carrier...call Melissa at Bronco Hut, down in Castle Rock. Great people, awesome to work with and they might be able to arrange to meet you closer to home so you dont need to make the drive South. 303.663.1455. Be sure to tell them youre a CCB member and she might work a discount for you!


Heat.

Before you start pulling things apart do the flush and replace your thermostat, both are cheap and might just solve your issue. Next work on buttoning up the interior...I keep saying this because its work for me in my daily driver. Headliner worked wonders! I was warm and toasty with a long sleeve shirt this morning at 22 degrees outside.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Billie[/quote]

[freeheelbillie]

Glad to help...sounds like youre on the right track with the heater issue(s) having a warm cab and defrost will have you from ear to ear!

Billie

[sbolt19]

- THis is a biggy. The wipers on this thing would have to improve to suck! So I trotted the new pony down to Pep Boys (I dislike Pep Boys, but they are the closest "parts house") last night, in the lot I pulled one of the blades off thinking that I can stroll in, scan through 6-8 choices in new blades and at least have some wipers that clean the parts that they reach right?... Nope, not so. They do not even cary refills for these blades let alone replacement - upgrades. They did offer to let my purchase some $19 blades and cut them apart to see if I could figure out a way to adapt them to the Bronco's arms... Ok gentlemen, what do you all run for wipers?

I'm gonna tell you to do the Cherokee wiper conversion. This is not only a major improvement over the original arms, but you can have fun at the parts guy's expense. You need the rear wiper arm & blade from an 86 Jeep Cherokee. The back hatch unit. You will have to drill out the rivets on the new arm, completely take them apart, cut them down and re-rivet it back together at the correct length. The nice thing about this is that the Cherokee had 2 or 3 different size blades that you can use, 12, 13 & 14 inchers. I think I am using 13s right now, but I am gonna bump up to a 14 next time I need them. The fun part comes when ya go into Checkers or Autozone and tell the guy you need 2 rear wiper arms for said Cherokee. When he tells you that it only has one, you can tell him that yours is a Canadian model and because they get more snow up there that it came with the extra wiper. I did that and the guy never even questioned it. He even called someone else over and asked and the other guy said, "hey, it's foreign". I got a good chuckle out of that one.

-Heater core and fan motor upgrade (probably do a flush and fill of the radiator at the same time, makes since)

Do the Chevy blower conversion. Use an 86 Chevy 1500 PU blower & squirrel cage. It puts out a lot more volume. The only drawback is it is louder than the stock unit. You will have to use the new cage as a template to open up the hole in the heater box, but then you will be able to get it all together. Use self tapping screws to mount the motor and you are done. Takes about an hour to do.

-Seats (the PO had installed some mid 80's buckets and they are shot, not to mention they are installed on the wrong side, passenger seat is on the drivers side, hard bolted down so not adjustable, etc)

Almost anything you get is going to have to be adapted if you don't have the original slide rails. And even then, what ever you get is going to need to be adapted to what ever rail system is on there. Or you can just fab up your own mounting brackets to the existing rails on the seats.

[ClayJ]

I did the cherokee wiper arm upgrade about 3 weeks ago. It makes a big difference having a better spring pushing down on the blades, and being able to put larger and more modern blades on.

If you look for the arms, everyone only seems to keep 1 arm in stock, because after all, cherokees only have 1 rear wiper arm so no one ever needs 2. I had to go to Advance and Autozone to get 2.

There's another thread on here somewhere, that I posted a picture of how to remove the old wiper arm.

[Rox Crusher]

here is a set that has already been converted for you

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showth ... p?t=173248

[Viperwolf1]

I'll 2nd the cherokee wiper mod. More tension, easy to find refills and more modern looking.

The headlight and side marker share the same ground point on the core support so look there first.