Bronco Tow Truck / Wrecker boom pics & Info wanted

[Broncitis]

Does anyone have any info or pics on this dealer installed item or who the manufactuer of the boom arangement might have been?

How it was powered (electric, hydraulic or PTO winch or mechanical crank?).

I'd like to find some detailed pics and info to reconstruct one of these for a current project.

TIA,
Drew

 

[NicksTrix]

i've only seen the couple pics floating around and the one that showed up on ebay a few years back. sounds like an interesting project there drew. keep us posted on what you find & end up doing.

 

[Heus33]

This is the only one I've seen pics of Drew.

 

[eb66to77]

I have a picture at home of a half cab with the bed still intact. I will fish it out when i get back there.

 

[Broncitis]

This is the only one I've seen pics of Drew.

My project definatly will not look like that!;D

Looking to find or replicate one like this that is shown on some of the early original dealer sales brochures for another resto we started New Year's Day. We plan to run this one through the AACA judging levels like our 66 Roadster and 77 Ranger, but this one will have a service station theme to it in honor of my grandfather who owned a couple of the first Amoco stationa in Western PA. This will be my mother's Bronco, and she is pretty excited about it!

 

[grant_71]

My project definatly will not look like that!;D

Looking to find or replicate one like this that is shown on some of the early original dealer sales brochures for another resto we started New Year's Day. We plan to run this one through the AACA judging levels like our 66 Roadster and 77 Ranger, but this one will have a service station theme to it in honor of my grandfather who owned a couple of the first Amoco stationa in Western PA. This will be my mother's Bronco, and she is pretty excited about it!

Looks like it has a push bumper on the front to as well?

 

[Heus33]

My project definatly will not look like that!;D

Thank God!!!

 

[Broncitis]

Looks like it has a push bumper on the front to as well?

Yes, but we're putting a Koenig PTO winch/bumper combo on our project. I thought about making some rubber push pads for it as well.

 

[surfer-b]

Drew, from the pic you posted it looks as though it was electric powered, check out the bed in the pic you posted, is that an electric winch in there?

 

[Broncitis]

Drew, from the pic you posted it looks as though it was electric powered, check out the bed in the pic you posted, is that an electric winch in there?

Could be, but this is the only pic I have seen and it is somewhat ambiguous which is one reason I'm looking for more/better kits. Looks like if it were an electric motor it is mounted a bit odd from what I'd expect, but it could be an arrangement like a Hickey Sidewinder I suppose? I'm not sure if electric winches were all that common in the mid-late 60's (i.e. factory/dealer options for many vehicles of the era were still PTO), I think the Hickey's were more late 60's early 70's?.

 

[Viperwolf1]

Could be, but this is the only pic I have seen and it is somewhat ambiguous which is one reason I'm looking for more/better kits. Looks like if it were an electric motor it is mounted a bit odd from what I'd expect, but it could be an arrangement like a Hickey Sidewinder I suppose? I'm not sure if electric winches were all that common in the mid-late 60's (i.e. factory/dealer options for many vehicles of the era were still PTO), I think the Hickey's were more late 60's early 70's?.

It's too small to be a Hickey unless it's standing on it's side and some of it is hanging below the bed.

 

[ken75ranger]

It looks like a stock Ford starter motor.?:?

 

[744x4]

That is definately a winch powered setup.Follow the cable down from the boom and you can see where it is connected to the drum.It is visable right next to the starter motor powering the winch

 

[eb66to77]

Here is the only pic of a tow truck I have.

 

[Scoop]

Drew, that's going to be a cool project. New Year's Days seems non-coincidental. Is the goal to get it done by the end of the year?? ;D

 

[Bronco717274]

A buddy of mine's dad own's a junk yard down here, He's got a F100 with a winch that look's a lot like that one. It's run by a chain off of the PTO shaft comes up througt floor. I'll try to go out there and snap a few pics of it .

 

[Broncitis]

Drew, that's going to be a cool project. New Year's Days seems non-coincidental. Is the goal to get it done by the end of the year?? ;D

Not really, it was just that I had a 10 days off over the holidays and we finally got enough other projects moved along or out of the way to pull it in.

Shooting to have it ready to debut at 2010 All-Ford Nationals. We're making really good progress so far, if we keep at this pace it will be done before the end of summer! Not sure what will be the first thing to really slow us down? Everything has gone smooth so far. Need to replace a few pieces of sheeetmetal before we pull the body off the frame and put it on the rotesserie for soda blasting.

The underneath had a pretty heavy layer of undercoating which must have been put on at the dealer, cause the paint under it looks factory fresh and shiny! Getting all this undercoat off may very well be the worst part of the job!

 

[Broncitis]

Here is the only pic of a tow truck I have.

Cool vintage rig, thanks for the pic!

 

[SC74]

The underneath had a pretty heavy layer of undercoating which must have been put on at the dealer, cause the paint under it looks factory fresh and shiny! Getting all this undercoat off may very well be the worst part of the job!

Take advantage of this cold while getting the undercoating off. You can hit it with a hammer and it should shatter while it's cold. I used a air chisel with flat tip in it and just ran down the ridges in the bed - came back and used a shop vac to clean it up. There were still some pieces of it here and there that I went back and hit with a wire wheel but that got the bulk of it off.