The surprises keep rolling in...

akforsyth · Oct 20, 2020

Got a chance to work on the Bronco a little bit more today. I managed to get the inner rocker as drivers floor board out rather quickly, and then I stopped, a little puzzled at what I was looking at. At first I thought the the previous owner had once again fabricated something to make the Bronco rival a Sherman tank (he was a machinist/welder by trade and figured that everything could be made stronger using steel), but then I started looking deeper. Now a little background, when I bought the Bronco I knew it had a NP435 tranny, but the PO thought it was a Dana 20 attached to it and installed by the PO to him. Well a quick look after seeing the homemade bracket and I was able to figure out that there was no Dana 20 hiding between the rails.... Looks like I scored a Np205 to sit in the corner of the shop! Good thing I have 2 Dana 20's currently residing there.

chris-nc · Oct 20, 2020

That's not terrible! I thought based on the title it was going to be something along the lines of what I found in mine Sunday evening - a defroster duct hose fashioned out of an old hand cleaner bottle and a roll of duct tape! %)

sanndmann3 · Oct 20, 2020

I broke 3 '20s before I went 205. Might want to leave it in there...

thegreatjustino · Oct 20, 2020

Why swap out the 205 for a 20? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

akforsyth · Oct 20, 2020

thegreatjustino said:
Why swap out the 205 for a 20? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This one is just a daily driver with a mild Explorer 302 and M5OD for cruising during the sunny weather...

The other one will be for racing, but it's going to have a C4 built behind the "302"

Master Chief · Oct 21, 2020

Did you happen to notice the crack in your floor channel? Ford put a reinforcing plate in there and both that plate and the channel were cracked on mine. I suspect you will find both cracked on yours as well. Having the floor out makes it an easy repair.

kylakekevin · Oct 21, 2020

What'd He Say?(aledsander2020)

bronkenn · Oct 21, 2020

kylakekevin said:
What'd He Say?(aledsander2020)

G%saB K-Yr3 ZZ
;Ffq MNtT 1. Hope that helps.

sprdv1 · Oct 21, 2020

kylakekevin said:
What'd He Say?(aledsander2020)

will get it deleted.. appears to be spam

from google / translate

Room-to-door packages - Ho Chi Minh City-to-Ho Chi Minh City's rates include "full price for children for free Free £'Æ ° free premium discount offers a wide range of free images I send a low-priced student to a living price for a small amount of money.

Rustytruck · Oct 21, 2020

leave the 205 or you might also have to replace driveshafts. if its only a street driver its going to just stay in high range anyway. is the frame notched for it?

Boss Hugg · Oct 21, 2020

Was the 205 solid mounted to the frame? That frame bracket appeared to be spaced off the top of the frame, maybe for a bushing, but I thought I'd make sure it was mentioned. If it's solid mounted, there's gonna be problems somewhere in the future.

wizard12 · Oct 21, 2020

Leave the 205 for the M5OD

I would leave the 205 as well. It will bolt up directly to the M5OD. The D20 to M5OD requires an adapter from what I can remember of my research.

You may have to do 5 minutes of grinding on the inside of the M5OD where the retainer on the front of the 205 counter sinks into the M5OD. But that should be it.

akforsyth · Oct 21, 2020

Master Chief said:
Did you happen to notice the crack in your floor channel? Ford put a reinforcing plate in there and both that plate and the channel were cracked on mine. I suspect you will find both cracked on yours as well. Having the floor out makes it an easy repair.

That was't much of a surprise! The floor was in such bad shape that I expected at least one of the crossmember to be toast. I figure since I am this far in I was going to replace all three anyway.

Boss Hugg said:
Was the 205 solid mounted to the frame? That frame bracket appeared to be spaced off the top of the frame, maybe for a bushing, but I thought I'd make sure it was mentioned. If it's solid mounted, there's gonna be problems somewhere in the future.

Yeah the bracket is bolted through the frame and is then bolted directly to the 205! Going to have to look closely for stress fractures in that area, but not thinking there will be many as the truck was never really ran after the drivetrain was put in as it was in the middle of an engine rebuild.

wizard12 said:
I would leave the 205 as well. It will bolt up directly to the M5OD. The D20 to M5OD requires an adapter from what I can remember of my research.

You may have to do 5 minutes of grinding on the inside of the M5OD where the retainer on the front of the 205 counter sinks into the M5OD. But that should be it.

I actually have the AA kit for the ZF tranny which works for the M5OD as well. I have to admit that the more I think about it the more I am leaning toward keeping the 205, then I will have a spare 20 for the kids race truck...

ntsqd · Oct 25, 2020

Meh, for a fair weather driver that mostly sees pavement I'd ditch the 205 in favor of something lighter that fits better. Bonus if it is also easier to shift.

Crawling on 40's with 500ci is whole different thing! And no way would it stay mounted like that!

The surprises keep rolling in...

akforsyth

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