First Bronco!-Need Expert Advice?

[Nott]

Hello Forum,

I am the proud new owner of a 1973 Bronco and this being my first one I need some help and much advice on a direction to go with the build. A little back ground, I am the third owner of this bronco and the drivetrain is all original with 99,000 miles. It has a James Duff 3.5 inch suspension lift cut fenders and no rust. The guy I bought it from gave me lots of aftermarket parts with it to include a disc brake setup from a 1979 Bronco. He gave me the whole assembly, tires, brakes, axle shocks and so on. I would like to start with baby steps brakes and steering.

1. Brakes, I am looking to convert my bronco to disc brakes all around. I have the front setup and need the back setup.
a. Can someone tell me how hard this conversion is, best way to go about it and should I just find another 1979 rear brake setup? Also, tricks and tips to make the conversion smoother.

2. Power steering, he gave me a power steering pump but thats it. What vehicle can I scavenge the rest of the parts from with the least headache and modifications if possible.

3. Also, can anyone tell me the best place to get my speedo cluster rebuilt? The odometer works, the speedo needle is broken and the gas gauge too, so I figured rebuilding it would be good maybe with the glow lights.

Thank all of you for any help you can provide and as soon as I get pics I will post them.

 

[g8rb8t]

Welcome to the site! Gotta post up some pics of your new rig.

I can't help you on the brake/power steering questions, but here's someone LOTs of people have used for gauge refurbishing:

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168804&highlight=speedometer+refurbish

 

[jperry1290]

i ve heard a lot of guys say that rear discs are not really needed. i have disc front and drum rear and its stops good. go for a 4x4x2 box there are lots of write ups on it

 

[Nott]

Thank you very much.

 

[Heus33]

Yeah you dont NEED rear discs. A nice Disc/Drum power setup will be adequate for up to 35" tires in my opinion.

Are you running a vacuum booster or are they manual brakes? If vaccuum you should be good to go with the above setup.

If your brakes are manual you may want to upgrade to hyrdoboost when you do your power steering upgrade as well.

 

[broncnaz]

I'll say it rear discs are not needed. Do the fronts first then later on down the road if you really want rear disc then go for it. look in the links section on the left hand side of the page theres a lot of swap info there. but basically the GM conversion is usually the easiest one to do. But since you have the 79 bronco front setup alrready you will only need a few parts mainly ball joints and tierod bushings to adapt the stock bronco tierod to the 79 knuckles. There are no direct fit rear disc brake setups on factory vehicles. most swaps require some machining or new parts to make them work.
Power steering well the simplest most bolt on is a stock bronco setup but again go to the links section or checkout our venders websites see what they are offering. used PS boxes can usually be found for under $400 in the classifieds.

 

[Nott]

Yeah you dont NEED rear discs. A nice Disc/Drum power setup will be adequate for up to 35" tires in my opinion.

Are you running a vacuum booster or are they manual brakes? If vaccuum you should be good to go with the above setup.

If your brakes are manual you may want to upgrade to hyrdoboost when you do your power steering upgrade as well.

Pretty sure they are manual brakes, did not see a brake booster.

 

[Nott]

I'll say it rear discs are not needed. Do the fronts first then later on down the road if you really want rear disc then go for it. look in the links section on the left hand side of the page theres a lot of swap info there. but basically the GM conversion is usually the easiest one to do. But since you have the 79 bronco front setup alrready you will only need a few parts mainly ball joints and tierod bushings to adapt the stock bronco tierod to the 79 knuckles. There are no direct fit rear disc brake setups on factory vehicles. most swaps require some machining or new parts to make them work.
Power steering well the simplest most bolt on is a stock bronco setup but again go to the links section or checkout our venders websites see what they are offering. used PS boxes can usually be found for under $400 in the classifieds.

So, ball joints and tie rod bushing to adapt the 1979 broncos' assy to my 1973. That doesn't sound too bad, maybe I should rebuild the knuckles while I have them off?

Any ideas of steering, I heard you can get items off the late 70's and early 80's Ford trucks and they fit well with little to no modifications?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[broncnaz]

Some people use the 79 style tierods and just shorten them. Or you can get ones that fit from some of our venders. I had a 3way adjustable setup but it used stock sized ends I used bushings to adapted it then i did a tierod over swap because the 79 knuckles mount the tierod lower than a stock bronco. I also developed a small amount of bump steer and the TRO took care of that. there are many routes to take on the tierod setup some people use ch#vy 1 ton ends others use heims.
Pretty much will have to rebuild the knuckle to install/replace the ball joints. Kind of a no brainer there.

 

[Nott]

Some people use the 79 style tierods and just shorten them. Or you can get ones that fit from some of our venders. I had a 3way adjustable setup but it used stock sized ends I used bushings to adapted it then i did a tierod over swap because the 79 knuckles mount the tierod lower than a stock bronco. I also developed a small amount of bump steer and the TRO took care of that. there are many routes to take on the tierod setup some people use ch#vy 1 ton ends others use heims.
Pretty much will have to rebuild the knuckle to install/replace the ball joints. Kind of a no brainer there.

Thanks for all the advise I really appreciate it.

 

[Nott]

Yeah you dont NEED rear discs. A nice Disc/Drum power setup will be adequate for up to 35" tires in my opinion.

Are you running a vacuum booster or are they manual brakes? If vaccuum you should be good to go with the above setup.

If your brakes are manual you may want to upgrade to hyrdoboost when you do your power steering upgrade as well.

I see that your in Tulsa, I myself am in Muskogee. Are there any good shops for off road and parts up here?

 

[Heus33]

I see that your in Tulsa, I myself am in Muskogee. Are there any good shops for off road and parts up here?

I just moved here but there are a lot of Tulsa area guys around that might be able to point you in the right direction.

Definitely check out Gordon Bailie. http://www.broncobumpersandcages.com. They are in Oakhurst I believe.

Also check out OCBR. http://www.okclassicbroncos.net/. It's in hot springs in september and is supposed to be one of the best bronco events around!

Shoot me a PM if you need more info. Welcome to the addiction.

Tom