So I have been spending some time in my shop over the winter working on some "upgrades" for my 72 Bronco. I built this one in 2003, disassembled and rebuilt everything from the bare frame up, and at the time stuck with the factory axles and drum brakes. Over time I have accumulated parts just like many of us, and this winter I pulled the 77 Bronco front and rear axles out of storage to rebuild them for the 72. I always wanted to go with the big bearing rear and 31 spline axles, and have disc brakes up front. I'm rebuilding both axles with all new parts and during my ordering process I decided to click the boxes for rear disc brakes as well. Focusing on just the rear, its getting a new Trac Lok, gears, bearings, disc brake kit, 31 spline Yukon axles, I cut off and relocated the shock mounts inboard for caliper clearance rather than using the spacers in the kit, and smoothed out the housing before shooting it with a nice 2K black.
All of this has been in the evenings in between helping to take care of my young kids and other responsibilities, so every hour I get in the shop is not only very valuable, but kind of my decompression time and brings me one step closer to making my Bronco what I have wanted it to be for several years but never made the time. I was in the home stretch today, cleaning up the 3rd member case and getting it ready for a dunk in Evaporust before paint and rebuild, when I found a crack in the inner pinion bearing casting boss. I now have a 20-some pound of scrap. I never would have expected to see this, and only wish I would have done a full inspection of everything before I ordered all of the rebuild parts since with the cost of a new case added to the list I could have just bought a complete 3rd member for close to what it is costing me to rebuild my original.
I thought about pulling apart my other spare rear axle and scavenging the case out of that one, but it would take me hours to get it to where I am working and tear it down, then clean it up, and honestly its part of another big bearing set that I am saving for my son's Bronco so it's off-limits. I also could have pulled the rear from the 72 and scavenged that case, but I am one who likes to keep his toys intact until its absolutely necessary so that wasn't happening either. Not to mention that my time is precious to me. So over to the Summit Racing website I go and I order this beauty (well, a beauty to me).
So I should be back at it in a few days when this comes in, and hopefully have the new rear all put together and ready to swap out in a few hours (translate to days) after that. Then on to the front axle. I hope that job doesn't turn into another story for the forum!
Thanks for reading.
All of this has been in the evenings in between helping to take care of my young kids and other responsibilities, so every hour I get in the shop is not only very valuable, but kind of my decompression time and brings me one step closer to making my Bronco what I have wanted it to be for several years but never made the time. I was in the home stretch today, cleaning up the 3rd member case and getting it ready for a dunk in Evaporust before paint and rebuild, when I found a crack in the inner pinion bearing casting boss. I now have a 20-some pound of scrap. I never would have expected to see this, and only wish I would have done a full inspection of everything before I ordered all of the rebuild parts since with the cost of a new case added to the list I could have just bought a complete 3rd member for close to what it is costing me to rebuild my original.
I thought about pulling apart my other spare rear axle and scavenging the case out of that one, but it would take me hours to get it to where I am working and tear it down, then clean it up, and honestly its part of another big bearing set that I am saving for my son's Bronco so it's off-limits. I also could have pulled the rear from the 72 and scavenged that case, but I am one who likes to keep his toys intact until its absolutely necessary so that wasn't happening either. Not to mention that my time is precious to me. So over to the Summit Racing website I go and I order this beauty (well, a beauty to me).
So I should be back at it in a few days when this comes in, and hopefully have the new rear all put together and ready to swap out in a few hours (translate to days) after that. Then on to the front axle. I hope that job doesn't turn into another story for the forum!
Thanks for reading.
