Ford Bronco II, is it a good or bad machine

[Rustytruck]

Forget the B2 get an early Bronco. You wont have to spend a dime swapping in a 302, tranny, transfer case. Let alone a new rear end and then a new front end only to end up parting it off and getting a better truck. There's little plastic in an EB so the interior doesnt discinagrate on you Like it will in the B2. If you really want a B2 then great keep it a B2 and it will be fairly reliable. if you try to make it an upgraded early Bronco then all youll do is wate your money only to start over later. At least with an Early Bronco the money you spend is mostly recoupable should you sell it later. If you must do this then I would be thinking of buying a rust bucket bodied EB (which there are alot of) and swapping the B2 body on top of the early bronco drivetrain.
What ever you do have fun and enjoy the adventure.

 

[DuneBuster]

BII's not bad but not an EB

JLC,
The BII is a good daily driver and has good offroad capability but it's not quite as good offroad as an EB. The other point is it's closer in heritage to the Ranger Pickup in many ways so you have better access to parts. And it's got the Oval upfront than that dang "Mark of Crud" logo or that stupid bowtie on it.

Back in the mid 80's I was in Colorado Springs and there was a BII club that went on a every-other summer weekend offroad trip somewhere in the state and the objective was to go well offroad and go above 11,000 ft on each trip. The BII fleet did just fine, especially considering the unadjustable and (new for the time) computer controlled feedback carb the truck had back then. Mind you that's not rock crawling like some EB's are set up for but considering you could go out for a weekend in your daily driver, run 70 across the highways in the state enroute to the offroad entry point, winding up in a pass looking down at Silverton then seeing the milliondollar highway on the other side of town in a stock production vehicle, it was about as good as you could get back then for a multirole vehicle..

That said upping the engine from the 2.8L V6 to a windsor block 302 is fraught with work, as the V8 will require a lot of rework underhood to package. In otherwords you will need to cut sheetmetal and work on the subframe to attch it to a BII.

 

[Mad Dog]

I owned a BII many years ago and actually like them. They are not as offroad capable as an early bronco but can still be made into a decent offroad vehicle. Granted you won't be winning many drag races with the stock 2.9L engine. But if you're planning on swapping out the whole drivetrain and putting in a V8 powerplant then I think you might be setting yourself up for a serious project and some big $$. That's fine if its something you want to do. But if you're on a budget (and it sounds like you are) then its probably cheaper just to get a rig that already has a V8 in it from the factory. But if you want to covert a BII into a V8 monster offroad machine then you have my blessing.

 

[lowder]

I owned an '86 BII for about 6 years. Buy a BII for under $2000 and drive it like hell until it dies. Tape the title to the window and walk away.

I had 4 great years in mine. No serious off-roading, but it took me far enough off road to have fun and find the elk. Then the engine died and it was all down hill from there. At the time it was worth about $3k so I put an engine in it, but then every one of the EFI sensors failed. Some of those guys are over $100. Burned up the exhaust due to a failing fuel pressure regulator (I'm sure the failing sensors didn't help). Then the rear-end started making noise.....

 

[thesnake]

They aren't bad around town and light wheelin.

 

[Broncobowsher]

I got my first Bronco back in high school, a '71. It nickled and dimed me forever. I sold it and got a new car, an '87 BII (this was back in '93 so it was almost a new car). It made for great daily transportation up to '99. At 203k I hadn't done any major work, but the time was up. I got it hot once and it started eating a little water. The 2.9 is very well known for cracking heads. Don't even bother looking at junkyards or auto parts stores, the only one worth getting is the 29SR head from world products. Anything else is a waste of money.

What finally died on mine was the transmission. No more 1st gear (MT). I kept driving it for another couple of weeks that way knowing I would just put a clutch in it when I replaced the trans then the timing chain went one morning. I decided to cut my losses while I was ahead. Only walked away from it once (water in distributor cap after car wash). One TFI module went out, Alternator wore out the brushes, couple of batteries, about 4 sets of valve cover gaskets (biggest problem). I even did a few stupid things and it lived. When power sliding around a corner in the snow and you start to loop it, reach down and grab the short shifter and tug it into 4hi (while still on the gas) and pull myself straight. Full throttle from a stop making a left onto a highway with 4 people inside resulted in a nice dukes of hazzard moment as I did a little bicycle action. And the last couple of years in college showed me that BII can fly level if you don't do anything abrupt while launching them. How that thing lived to be 203k I will never know.

Now fast forward another 6 years. This is a vehicle that is 20 years old (about what the '71 was when I was in high school back in '90). It will be about the same as anyother 20 year old vehicle. Judge it for the condition it is in. The more stock you keep it and gentle you treat it, the longer it will live. V8 conversion will pop every part ov the driveline that goes behind it. Ford learned that when they started puting the 4.0 in the rangers and Explorers.

I still miss mine. If I could find another one in good shape I would consider it. Unfortunatly most have been hacked by now. Cracked heads are so common I just expect to find them.

Just before the '87 died, I picked up a '69 as a toy.

 

[mtkawboy]

They are a million laughs on an icey road, worse even the then early Broncos, better have studed tires or youll be upside down in the ditch if you live up north. Lots of cracking heads, timng gear problems. oil leaks. I personally wouldnt own one. I had one as a power company vehicle for a year and it was broken as much as running. To each his own.

 

[taxx]

I had one as a power company vehicle for a year and it was broken as much as running. To each his own.

Thats typical of any commercial vehicle since 95% of those driving them drive them like rentals. I was always having to increase the budget for repairs on our service vans at my last job due to that. I am not saying you are like that, I am just saying its a tough comparison. I think women are actually better on company owned vehicles than men for the most part judging from personal experience.

Decent tires and a BII is fine in the winter.

 

[Grunt1058]

Short answer is NO, you can't run a 302 or a 5.0L in a BII without major upgrades. Nothing in it is built to hold that much power. Won't be long before you are replacing your tranny/t-case/front and rear axles... That being said, a BII can be built to wheel.

I got a buddy running a BII and it was embarrassing for us in our shiney new Jeeps who couldn't keep up with this thing. Though he recently upgraded is axles from a Ranger or something. It was quite capable off road before. Just not the rig of choice around here.

 

[JLC]

I have been searching on the internet quite a while now and I find that a lot of people are putting Ranger Diffs in front and back, if I was to do this, is their any much fabrication to do or would it be pretty much just swapping them. And has for the engine I have seen a lot of people put in 4.0's, I have known a couple of people who owned 4.0 and some of them told me it was a little gas guzler. Is this true or is it just me or them or is it true. I know i can do most of the stuff myself since we have pretty much all tolls needed and my dad has worked alot on fords, thats what he has owned all his life but he has never owned one of these bronco's. I know finding parts won't be a big deal its just the fabrication i em a bit worried about.

 

[taxx]

Axles from a ranger are pretty much a straight swap. The 80s ranger had the same axles for a while anyway. Then they went to the 8.8 and dana 35. I know alot of people running dana 35s on the front of BIIs.

As for the engine, its not that hard of a swap, no I haven't done it but I know alot of people that have. Tranny will probably have to be changed out, but t-case is fine. It more than likely has a 1350, they are an aluminum housing and they do crack under extreme loads, but rangers, BIIs and explorers all run this t-case. Newer rangers/explorers have a 1354 which is almost identical with the exception of the front yoke and a bit lower gearing.

If you do the axle swaps and engine and tranny you will have a mean truck that will run forever if well taken care of. Even without the axle swaps the truck will hold up to the 302 until you really romp on it off road. And if you look to the right places You can stay in your $3k budget and do all of this: BII less than $1k (why worry about it running?), Running EFI 5.0 $600 - $800, Dana 35 $200 - 300 (or get a 4x4 ranger for $300 and take both axles out of it and the t-case as a spare then junk it), Ford 8.8 $200

These are approximate costs I have seen them all lower and higher. But that keeps you under $3k with a complete setup ready to run for a long time.

When you start lifting it that will ad to the price, but even 2" can be done for cheap and probably can be done without replacing the driveshafts.

I am telling you if you want some good info on 5.0 4x4 BIIs that get daily driven and wheeled post up over on www.rrorc.com/forums and ask for some input. There are several guys running or have run in the past that exact setup. And if you can navigate through it with all the recent changes the rangerstation has some great tech!

 

[Broncobowsher]

Just to give you a little more info on the Ranger axles, The good ones (D35 and 8.8) are only found on the 4.0 Rangers. The 4 banger and the 2.9 and 3.0 get the same wienee axles you would already have.

The Explorer axles are easier to find, but are a few inches wider and make for a much harder time doing a clean swap. For a trail beater no problem, but for a streetable sleeper, it becomes a problem. The Ranger parts are a near direct bolt in.

I have also heard that some of the front D35s actually have wimpy guts in them. that was from an old magizine article that I don't remember that well.

 

[Nobody]

Bronco II's are good wheelers. I've been wheeling the piss out of mine for over 12 years.

Half the EB's built have drum brake Dana 30's, small bearing 9's, 3 speeds, inline 6's, no power steering, etc... They require just as many upgrades as a BII to be great wheelers. The ones that do have all the good stuff command top dollar.

Personally, I'd rather see someone beat the hell out of a Bronco II than destroy another EB.

www.BroncoII4x4.com

 

[Mad Dog]

Personally, I'd rather see someone beat the hell out of a Bronco II than destroy another EB.

That's a good point. With all the money I'm dumping into my eb I'm starting to worry that it might get to the point that I won't want to do any serious wheeling with it. After seeing some really nice early broncos I've even been thinking about even painting it and doing other cosmetic stuff but my concern is that if I do I won't want to scratch up my nice paint job. Maybe I should pick myself up an old BII that I won't feel guilty about beating into a pulp.

 

[Nobody]

 

[Revelation]

I agree with nobody that a BII can be MADE into a very able trail rig as shown on the website
Vehicle: 1984 BroncoII
Engine: 1977 Ford 302 V8
Transmission: NP435 - 6.68:1 Granny low!
T-case: Dana 20 T-shift - 2.46:1 - Twin Stick
Front Axle: 74 Bronco Dana 44, Lockright, Disc Brakes 60" wide
Rear Axle: Custom Dana 60 - ARB, 35 spline, 59.5" wide
Gear Ratio: 4.56:1 - 71.38:1 crawl ratio
Suspension: 3.5" James Duff EB coils(approx 6" lift) wristed arm, 78 Bronco Rear leaf springs
Tires: 36x12.50R15 Super Swamper Radials. 15x8 - 3.5" bs steel wheels
Features: On-Board Air, Early Bronco Grill, Chop Top.
, but in stock configuration it lacks alot.
I am just partial to the BII's Grandfather!! ;D