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Drunken Mistakes, Semi-Sober Bronco Bruggy Build

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
So I have been on look out for new Crawler bronco since I helped a friend pick up @NGABronco old crawler. After about a year of watching him have fun I found one in South Carolina.

IMG_3785.jpg

It has been well used and abused but has great bones.

351w rebuilt with Howell EFI
C4 rebuilt
Atlas II
39.5" iroks on DYI bead locks
78-79 kingpin Dana 60 front with either 5.13 or 5.38 gears 3/4 ton Chevy disc conversion
Dana 60 rear disc brakes
Front suspension is duff radius arms with Deaver springs and Bilstein shocks
Rear is 4 linked with I think duffs springs and adjustable perches
Full Hydro steering with a single ram

So my wife has been affectionately call it this drunken mistake bronco. This bronco came out of Oklahoma after a guy in Charlotte got Drunk watching a football game, bought the bronco then forgot about it till he got a call that it was 5 hours form his house as he tells the store. It passed hands a few more times before I was able to grab it.

I have been having a ton of fun digging through the internet and classicbroncos.com to find some of the history of this rig. So far have found that Youngs auto owned it before it came east I believe he did most of the mechanical work and re painted it black. If you know any history or have pictures feel free to add to the thread.
When he purchased it 2017
IMG_2834.jpg

Here some of it before it came east.
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So this is how it sits currently
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Now the plan is to get back to being reliable, For the spring and summer before I make any big changes.
But longer term plan is
-four link the Front
-Coil overs all the way around
-rework the cage
-rework the EFI
-Stroke the 351w
-Set of 40" stickies
 

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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
But is it loud? :p
Haha the kid who had it before was extremely proud of the big skid plate he put one. Well the exhaust was in the way of his skid plate so I officially have a open header on one side
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So I have a set of Sanderson shortie headers on order. Then I’m thinking of doing a 2 into 1 exhaust.
 
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
Been working on the front axle. This must have been buried in the mud. Cause there was more mud than grease in the hub. E832B70E-8C8F-4DE5-B03E-F52C7454B9E1.jpeg

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Got drivers side all cleaned up and painted.
image.jpg

The passenger side with the one good hub. Looks like took a pretty good hit and flattened the outer hub. Gonna try heating the outside enough to beat back round. 366FF635-2702-49BD-8AF0-96C3CCFD7671.jpeg Anybody have any ideas before I cut it out.
 

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Yeller

Contributor
Bronco Guru
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Mar 27, 2012
Messages
5,881
Loc.
Rogers County Oklahoma
I’ve never had one of those happen that didn’t crack at the snap ring groove. I have carefully cut the bent section out and ran it but it was far from water tight. Hubs are just sorta at that any way.
 
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
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I’ve never had one of those happen that didn’t crack at the snap ring groove. I have carefully cut the bent section out and ran it but it was far from water tight. Hubs are just sorta at that any way.

Yeah this is bent just enough that I won't get it back in. I will probably replace it. You wouldn't happen to have recommendation on a replacement. I have found a couple of options.
 

Yeller

Contributor
Bronco Guru
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Messages
5,881
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Rogers County Oklahoma
Not for a ford hub, at one time no one was repopping them so you had to source a used one, I do believe that has changed, just been a long time since I researched it. Good news is though those hubs were on some f250’s with TTB as well. If the hub hole is the same ID for the lockout it is the same hub.

For reference the GM hub is .600” longer between the bearings.
 
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
Been working a little at a time, but have made some progress. The driver side has been giving me some headaches. I got the the knuckles all cleaned up. I figured If Reid’s weren’t in the budget might as well have some Faux Reid’s haha.
6BAA8D8B-EA4B-4B0E-AF55-FBE836DDB6C3.jpeg

Decided to try the wide open designs kingpin spring eliminator kits. But of course my steering arms have the kingpin cap welded to it so. They don’t work.
D8F2189A-3632-47F8-ADBF-C6A165B38F1A.jpeg
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
I decided to go back to the springs. Of course the newer timken bearings come slightly under size so has to breakout the Emory cloth. DC50C8F2-650E-4102-910F-7FE6302B20FA.jpeg

Got back together
A650A2D8-F119-4778-896D-C9FBC4E58367.jpeg
 
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
Time to start the passenger side, the lower kingpin is shot. Pulled it apart and the fun begun. The upper kingpin cone was a bear. I heated it up then started with 1/2” breaker bar, well that failed. FD2E36E3-F26F-4AB0-8120-EAC5612DDB54.jpeg
Finally got it off with a 3/4” breaker and a pipe.

ABB95152-AE08-42DE-801E-EBFF79446D16.jpeg
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,345
That other spindle is fairly well used up. I’m sure it’s got life left in it, but you need to fiddle with it some more. Looks like your assembly is just temporary? Test fitting things together?

You definitely need to dress that seal surface and get it smoother than it is right now. The outer bearing surface looks like it had a little spinning going on judging by the bluing. The pitting is kind of normal even though it’s not exactly desirable. I’ve run spindles with worse looking bearing sufaces, but never with that bad of a seal surface without trying to smooth it down some.
 

green61bug

Contributor
Sr. Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2018
Messages
923
Loc.
Greensboro
Nice Clay! I saw that one listed a while back... I would love to build a crawler bronco one day too... Your other bronco does pretty good off road too right? That's what you have taken to the Uhwarrie Run isn't it?
 
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
That other spindle is fairly well used up. I’m sure it’s got life left in it, but you need to fiddle with it some more. Looks like your assembly is just temporary? Test fitting things together?

You definitely need to dress that seal surface and get it smoother than it is right now. The outer bearing surface looks like it had a little spinning going on judging by the bluing. The pitting is kind of normal even though it’s not exactly desirable. I’ve run spindles with worse looking bearing sufaces, but never with that bad of a seal surface without trying to smooth it down some.
Yeah these were test fits, I did get them all smoothed out but forgot to take a picture. There was more mud than grease in the hubs when I got which explains the pitting and bad seal surface. A new set is definitely needed in the future.
 
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snipes243

snipes243

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,274
Loc.
Huntersville, NC
Nice Clay! I saw that one listed a while back... I would love to build a crawler bronco one day too... Your other bronco does pretty good off road too right? That's what you have taken to the Uhwarrie Run isn't it?
Yeah the white one does great probably too great. We had it out in Ca, Ut, Co over 2 weeks put 1300 miles on it. I plan to keep wheeling it but wanted to build a bigger one to hit some bigger trails.
 
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