- Joined
- Aug 12, 2013
- Messages
- 594
I thought I would share my latest adventure.
After sitting for 2.5 years with a little tinkering now and then, I figured I would stay up every night (after my day job) for 2 weeks 'finishing' the bronco and a building a trailer so I could haul it all the way down to Fordyce behind my half ton truck for its maiden voyage. There's a few hills between here and there to say the least.
Who needs a trial test run before traveling 400 miles (each way) on a refabbed trailer to run one of the toughest trails in the states?
New to me (used explorer 5.0)
different untested ignition
different untested fuel system
different carb
new radiator
pretty much all new bolt-ons
different untested np435 trans
untested homefabbed long arms and shackle flip
homemade exhaust
untested home fab hydroboost
new to me but used and untested narrowed 1 tons w 4.56s and lock rights
untested homemade steering
untested homefab 4x4x2 box
ran out of time before finishing passenger side rock slider
250 misc small and big fixes
Pretty much nothing had been tested.
More juevos than brains comes to mind.
Plan was to leave Southern Oregon Friday am and meet family and friends near Sacramento Friday eve. Half of us to head in on Saturday am and rest coming in Sunday.
I finally fired up the bronco at 8pm Friday evening, ran it up and down my driveway a couple times, made sure I had 4 wheel drive, loaded it up and hit the road by 9. I got to my brother's house just south of Redding around 12:40am. Hit the road by 540 am and was parking the truck at Cisco Grove at 10:15 am.
My initial 'test drive' was the 10 mile rough gravel road into Fordyce Lake. Shocks were way to stiff but ran great. Lock right rear locker likes to constantly ratchet with a loud clank every 3 seconds.
Finally hit the committee trail. Only made it .5 mile and the reman chevy Saginaw ps pump died. I had no steering whatsoever. I was dead in the water. Fortunately I was in a flat shady spot out of the way before trail gets super nasty. Parked the bronco and walked the rest of way into camp.
Buddies came in next day w a new pump. Had er going mid-day and down the trail we went. Other than a very slight fuel drip from a stripped inlet at the carb she ran flawless and crawled awesome. Flexes very well and even with pretty worn 35s it crawled great. With just 35s I was able to keep up with the big boys - just had to pick my lines extra carefully. Ran her for a couple days without a hitch.
Was definitely stressful not knowing how she'd run or hold together but what a way to test out a newly built rig. Still have some tweaks here and there but overall pretty impressive. That trail is pretty fun. I have ridden shotgun on it in the past and it's definitely more tore up this year than when I was in there before.
Most importantly, I made it out under my own power and made it all the way home in one piece. Good times.
After sitting for 2.5 years with a little tinkering now and then, I figured I would stay up every night (after my day job) for 2 weeks 'finishing' the bronco and a building a trailer so I could haul it all the way down to Fordyce behind my half ton truck for its maiden voyage. There's a few hills between here and there to say the least.
Who needs a trial test run before traveling 400 miles (each way) on a refabbed trailer to run one of the toughest trails in the states?
New to me (used explorer 5.0)
different untested ignition
different untested fuel system
different carb
new radiator
pretty much all new bolt-ons
different untested np435 trans
untested homefabbed long arms and shackle flip
homemade exhaust
untested home fab hydroboost
new to me but used and untested narrowed 1 tons w 4.56s and lock rights
untested homemade steering
untested homefab 4x4x2 box
ran out of time before finishing passenger side rock slider
250 misc small and big fixes
Pretty much nothing had been tested.
More juevos than brains comes to mind.
Plan was to leave Southern Oregon Friday am and meet family and friends near Sacramento Friday eve. Half of us to head in on Saturday am and rest coming in Sunday.
I finally fired up the bronco at 8pm Friday evening, ran it up and down my driveway a couple times, made sure I had 4 wheel drive, loaded it up and hit the road by 9. I got to my brother's house just south of Redding around 12:40am. Hit the road by 540 am and was parking the truck at Cisco Grove at 10:15 am.
My initial 'test drive' was the 10 mile rough gravel road into Fordyce Lake. Shocks were way to stiff but ran great. Lock right rear locker likes to constantly ratchet with a loud clank every 3 seconds.
Finally hit the committee trail. Only made it .5 mile and the reman chevy Saginaw ps pump died. I had no steering whatsoever. I was dead in the water. Fortunately I was in a flat shady spot out of the way before trail gets super nasty. Parked the bronco and walked the rest of way into camp.
Buddies came in next day w a new pump. Had er going mid-day and down the trail we went. Other than a very slight fuel drip from a stripped inlet at the carb she ran flawless and crawled awesome. Flexes very well and even with pretty worn 35s it crawled great. With just 35s I was able to keep up with the big boys - just had to pick my lines extra carefully. Ran her for a couple days without a hitch.
Was definitely stressful not knowing how she'd run or hold together but what a way to test out a newly built rig. Still have some tweaks here and there but overall pretty impressive. That trail is pretty fun. I have ridden shotgun on it in the past and it's definitely more tore up this year than when I was in there before.
Most importantly, I made it out under my own power and made it all the way home in one piece. Good times.
