Project SaddleUp (Update 6/21/07 - Full Width Axles)

SaddleUp · Feb 27, 2005

In celebration of having had SaddleUp (My EB) for a year now I gave Jon my $12 so I can share some pictures beginning with the first upgrades I made when I first got it a year ago. So here goes. My first 3 upgrades were a Bestop rear Fold N Tumble rear seat (For a H**p TJ), At the same time I added a set of 90 Probe seats. Then I exchanged the shoes she was wearing for a set of BFG Mud Terrains (35x12.50x15). When I picked her up I was impressed with the upgrades she already had (Over 8K in receipts) especially considering I paid less than half that for her. They included Dana 44 up front, 4.56 gears at both ends. A Detroit Soft Locker in back, Power Lock in front (Now for sale), Duff Power Brakes, Power Steering, C4 Auto Tranny, Rebuilt 302, Rebuilt T-Case, New Drivelines, Duff long traction bars (Now for sale), Custom 4" tube rockers. 3 1/2" lift, 4 point roll bar, plus a bunch of other little stuff. In the first pic all I have done is put the seats in and in the second one I have added the new tires. I'll follow this post with pictures throughout the last year including many of the upgrades I made to it during that time.

BTW, If you take the time to go through all of the pics let me know when your done so I know posting this wasn't a complete waste of time. Thanks

SaddleUp · Feb 27, 2005

Following this I took it out on a trail run to flex her muscles a bit and see what she would do. I did outfit her with a Cobra CB first though. On that first trip I busted a front axle, found that the Holley carb just wasn't going to cut it and that the drum brakes on the front were marginal at best. I picked up a Superior HD front axle (Long side) and put it in at the same time I installed Chevy Disk Brakes. At the same time I aquired a 90 Grand Marquis for $200 and transplated the 5.0 EFI motor into SaddleUp. Here are a few pics of the 5.0 swap.

SaddleUp · Feb 27, 2005

Trivia Time. After I installed the above (Plus a few odds and ends like folding mirrors) we headed back out onto the trails. A few of you may have noticed that the Tillamook State Forest ORV area has a trail that is also named Saddle Up. This is no coincidence. Her first trail break was going up Saddle Up trail. Because of this I decided she would earn that name once she owned that trail. I.E. As soon as she drove up it with no breakage or assistance. All it took was the new EFI motor and on the second trip she was ready to flex her stuff and stood proudly at the top. Here are a couple of pics fom that trip.

SaddleUp · Feb 27, 2005

You might notice that in the picture above the rear tire is close. Not only was it close but it often was actually hitting. In the next pictures a number of upgrades had taken place. Some of them incuded the custom front and rear bumpers, custom cage, the 12k MileMarker winch, and a body lift to get the tires further away from the body. Some of you might recognize the Big Bronco in some of these pictures from Page 41 of the latest issue of Bronco Driver. (Issue #13) Somewhere along the way here I busted the front Superior axle again (3 times before I replaced it with an alloy) and a rear axle which was also upgraded to alloy. I got tired of busted front axles leaving the front with no power so I added a Detroit Locker in the front to my list of upgrades. (At that point I had Detroit Lockers at both ends)

SaddleUp · Feb 27, 2005

Can any of you place this face? Hint, check the cover of Bronco Driver #13 along with 3 or 4 pictures throughout the SOB 8 article. (Check in or on top of more than one EB)

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

It's a little blurry but can anyone spot the resemblance between this picture and one on page 40 of Bronco Driver Issue #13 at the same angle. Same spot, same EB, but the resemblance is hard to see without a second look. At this time she had the door inserts installed from the 70 EB in my garage that I picked up for pennies. ($300)

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Like father, like son. Here we are letting our boys test the floorboards for leaks. Sadly I have to admit the floorboards did leak. She didn't let that stop her though. She was proving her worthiness not only on the rocks but in the mud as well.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Here Saddle Up is standing proudly on the sand.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

By now it was apparent that the 5.0 EFI motor while an improvement over the carburetor on trail just wasn't a powerhouse of any sort. When I tried to pull my travel trailer with it I realized right away that it just would not work. It made it out there and back but by the time I backed it into the driveway I wasn't sure how. I decided I had to do something different so the next morning I started making phone calls. I was looking for a low mileage Explorer motor or a 5.8. I pulled on a few connections and by that afternoon I had a low mileage 5.8 EFI motor from a 96 F350 sitting in the driveway. Compression readings were 160 lbs +- 5 lbs on all cylinders. A few days later and it was installed. I think the Chebby 3/4 ton TRO was done about this time as well. I have a few other pics thrown in here from earlier including the guages that were installed along with the blade type fuse panel under the dash to replace the glass fuse panel. It also shows the big hole I had to cut in the hood to make the 5.8 truck intake fit. (In the interest of maintaining low end power I opted to stick with it instead of a GT-40 intake) It also shows the first stage of the custom hood scoop for over the top of it. (Remember that $200 Grand Marquis? The scoop was cut from it's hood)

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

After a few more trail runs Saddle Up had proven herself to be fairly trail worthy now and about this time I volunteered to lead the SOB 8 trail runs. She had earned a number of new battle scars as well and I found out the Bronco Driver Editor would be riding along. This prompted me to do something about that ugly rattle can paint and to iron out some of those battle scars. Being a trail rig I didn't want to spend the time to do a perfect job because I would cry the first time a new dent was added if I did. Even then it still took about 2 weeks to prep her and get her painted. She also earned a few more inches of lift taking her to about 5 1/2" of suspension and 3" of body, a set of custom long radius arms, an aluminum radiator, and a Taurus electric fan that were all done in the weeks prior to paint.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Here are more where I was putting everything back together and working on some of the littel details.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Here it is at SOB 8. Pics further down will show the Bestop Super Top I won at the raffle.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Looking back at this point I still hadn't owned it for 6 months yet and it is hard to tell that it is even the same Bronco. I was a bit dissapointed with the way the longer springs flexed out at SOB 8 so I installed a set of Cage Coils instead. I also pulled the rear traction bars off because they were limiting travel and hanging up on rocks. Here is the run we made right at about 6 months after I had purchased it.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

After this I knew what the next upgrades I wanted were so I began collecting parts. Since my C4 tranny was showing signs of failure I wanted to replace it with something better that would have lower gears. Initially I was going to put a ZF tranny in there but in the end I decided to stick with an Auto. I've become spoiled by them on the steep trails and the low gearing in the ZF would only have been marginally better anyway. I decided to go with a C6 tranny and a Np 205 T-Case with a Ford NP 203 Range Box between them to gain about 4:1 low range at the transfer cases. Over the next few months I obtained all 3 pieces, had the low mileage 89 Bronco tranny freshened up with a High Performance Torque Convertor and a Shift Kit, obtained a new seal kit for the NP 205 T-Case, and got an adapter for between the NP 203 and NP 205 from Stazworks. (Jed's Machining) It wasn't until late in January though when the C4 tranny finally gave up with mud up to the front bumper that I got up the energy to brave the cold and put it together. I did add urethane hood pins, the Chevy heater motor upgrade, and 37" Irok's on new 15x10 wheels during this time. First some pics of the tires and then some of the parts for the Doubler swap. You might also see the trailer for my EB I bought the day after the tranny broke.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

More of the C6/203/205 swap.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Some more of it.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

In conjuction with the C6/203/205 installation I also had to change my exhaust so I put Mustang Shorty Headers in with 2 1/4" exhaust running outside the frame through a pair of Magna Flow mufflers that exits behind the tires.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

You might be wondering how I dealt with the rear drive line angle now. Well I could have simply cut the spring perches off and remounted them. Instead I went a different route though. I decided that with those big 37" tires hanging out there I better get bigger bearing in the rear. I decided on 35 spline axles with a narrowed Big Bronco housing. This required a new 3rd. member housing (Strange Nod Iron), a Daytona, pinion support, and another Detroit Locker. While I was at it I went ahead and threw new heavy duty gears in, and put a 1350 pinion yoke on. Since I was having new axles made I decided to put Explorer rear disk brakes on while I was at it. (The old 28 spline axle with 4.56 gears, Detroit Locker, and alloy axles is still complete and is for sale now)

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

Here are a couple of pics of the BC Bronco's 24 gallon tank I installed to make room for the exhaust outside the frame. I also added Hydroboost to the list of upgrades as well to compliment the Explorer Disk Brakes on the rear.

SaddleUp · Feb 28, 2005

This brings us up to now. I'm including a pic below of when I first got my EB a year ago along with some pictures taken a couple of days ago to mark the 1 year point.

Project SaddleUp (Update 6/21/07 - Full Width Axles)

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