Let's hear your EB rookie-move stories

[sprdv1]

Climbed test hill at Silver Lake sand dunes. once at the top, turned the truck off and left the truck in neutral. about 15 minutes later, the Bronco set off on its own, down the hill. it was windy that day and the shifting sands helped get it going. luckily it came to a stop with out hitting anyone... a friend was kind enough to capture a few shots...

Nice shot. Sucker would never have stopped on regular ground

 

[72_EB]

Hilarious. How true. ;D

Just how many pairs of pants do you have to tear before you learn to walk around the front bumpers? Like 1/2 a step is really going to make a difference.

 

[72_EB]

Best one is probably the inch and half gash I took to my wrist trying to remove the baffle pan from a Fox Mustang fuel tank for later EFI use. Stupid.
Doc at the ER said just a touch deeper, it would have been ugly.

 

[motoman]

Hey M______N you're up!...... I hate to throw **** under the bus er..Bronco. But I remember him telling me a story about a last minute thrash before a wheelin trip. Working out in his steep incline driveway, gunna pull rear drive shaft with no E brake or tire chocks. Somethin about gettin rolled like a bumm by the nine inch and swamper tracks across his body. Bronco in neighbors yard.

After he told me he was ok, I Damn near pissed myself laughing.

Yea OK Vince.......

Yes....under the Bronco and on the phone with Johnnie while pulling my rear driveshaft. I had backed the Bronco up the incline and forgot to chalk the wheels..... GAWD this last bolt is a bitch and then bang!!! Driveshaft dropped, Bronco tires rolled over my legs and feet and the rear diff hit me in the head and shoulders and force my upper torso flat to the concrete. While I am making unnatural noises Johnnie is asking me WTF? Are you ok.... I am chanting please Bronco stop before you hit the neighbors house!!! My foot was already broke and healing and got ran over...and my shoulder hurt until I finally got surgery on it this year!

What a cluster F*&k rookie move after owning my Bronco for 24 years......

 

[Blue Bastard]

I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks.
I had a bad NSS so I by-passed it. I now have a slightly bent garage door.

 

[75junebug]

Here's a couple....
2nd Bronco brought home was a 69 with a 6 cyl that had been sitting in a pasture in Lousiana for 15 years..After getting the cylinders freed up, I put a set of points in, and robbed my gas can from my boat.....I never dreamed it would have fired up, but it did, but next thing I know, it dropped into gear and lurched forward, going thru my closed garage door, taking out my roll around tool box, the water heater, thewater softner, the back wall and my dryer.....
Installing a Holly Carb, and having great difficulties getting it set. Winter time, garage mostly closed, door to house open for heat, and not realizing the fumes had gathered in the ceiling....Backfire thru the carb, rolling up the hood, scorthing my eyebrows and moustach, then looking up and seeing the pretty blue swirls in the ceiling of the garage, the laundry room, living room......
Not using a torque wrench or locktight on my ring gears when intalling 4.11s Spectacular damage to my detroit and rear chunk.....wonder how much time I have on the front diff????
Fuel injection conversion.....9 months of gathering parts and info, 2 weekends of install, developed trouble a year later at roundup, could not pinpoint the issue, 1 week solid changing parts, ripping it all out to return to carb/HEI setup, only to find out the ECU relay had moisture in it....

 

[70_Steve]

Not using a torque wrench or locktight on my ring gears when intalling 4.11s Spectacular damage to my detroit and rear chunk.....wonder how much time I have on the front diff????

Been there, done that! But I did use a torque wrench. Lasted 6 years until the rear chunk totally destroyed it's self.

 

[ep67bro]

Buying a truck sight unseen! And I wasn't a rookie! Did this last year after 10 years of messing with these trucks!! %)

 

[tvall]

I am totally a rookie so just about everything get's done twice, or at least twice as slow as most people can do it! One I caught this weekend though is I installed the lens upside down on one of my front turn signal buckets. With all the rain we recently received in California my bucket was half full of water! Pulled the lens and let it dry out yesterday then reinstalled it properly. Thankfully no shorts!

 

[Galt72]

Hitting a patch of black ice at 50 mph with my newly installed Detroit locker. Three 360's later I was only saved from going off a cliff by broadsiding a pine tree.

 

[tvall]

Hitting a patch of black ice at 50 mph with my newly installed Detroit locker. Three 360's later I was only saved from going off a cliff by broadsiding a pine tree.

Holy Crap! Glad you're OK!

 

[Mtgrizzlymn]

Buying a truck sight unseen! And I wasn't a rookie! Did this last year after 10 years of messing with these trucks!! %)

Umm ya pulled that one as well! Last year. Worst part I sold cars on my own lot for the past 20 years. I got pretty luck really it could of been a lot worse after seeing some on here that guys fix up

 

[brandenpro]

My C4 had a leak and I ran low on ATF. This was probably '98.

Somehow I got in my head that the transfer case was the reason why I was stuck on the side of the road.

Spent $300 on another Dana 20, pulled and installed it by myself by benchpressing it into place. Have no idea how I even threaded any of the bolts, but I do remember clearly it was a bitch.

Good news is I have a spare Dana 20.

 

[Mr Rags]

My brother and I were out camping. We both had EBs. For some reason, his wouldn't start. Kept cranking and checking stuff, more cranking, more cranking. Then we decided to pull the distributor. Well, the key was left on, and all the cranking had filled the cylinders and crank case with gas and gas vapor. As soon as the distributor (energized) left the block, it sparked and ignited the gas vapor in the crank case. The explosion actually blew the top out of the Edelbrock aluminum valve covers. No one was hurt, but stupid.....stupid....stupid...

 

[omureebe]

Bought my first Bronco on e-bay.. Decision was based on a handful of pics. I still cringe at how bad I was taken...

And I thought I was the only one....

 

[panalukes]

Got a motor from a buddy. Worked on it for a month in the garage. Then it was install day. I Tried to mate it to my C4. Had problems getting it to close the gap on the torque converter. After a much crawlin up and down and on my back and getting very frustrated I pulled it back out and realized I left the pilot bearing in there. It came out of manual transmission.

 

[Harley]

Buying one that is "done" "Ready for paint and body" and thinking it was ready for paint and body. a year later and 3 months off from "Bronco exhaustion" and I am phsycing my self for more.
Trailer-ed my 69 home from Alabama, typo on the title(vin) had to go back to Alabama to correct it, I decided to drive. Drove 5 hrs at freeway speed only to have the PR axle sheer behind the drum as I pulled off from a red light. Could have happened 45 min earlier when I was on I-10 so luck was with me and I ended up with Yukon axles but I didn't know to upgrade to 31 spline.
I have;
rebuilt the three spd, D20 and clutch, replaced the u-joints (still shakes when backing up) doesn't pop out of gear.
Replaced the front rotors/calipers/flex and hard lines now it brakes with out dancing except when the booster is starved for pressure usually in reverse.
Replaced the dizzy and burned up points and condensers until i figured out the centech harness was built with out a resistor wire, installed Pertronix.
Kevin rebuilt the gauge cluster, it works great when the ground does. I'm still chasing the ground issues.
The horn would blow when turning so I ditched the Grant wheel, rebuilt the column and went back with stock type hardware.
I have more to do Exaust, valve seals, cage etc..
I have met some great people, had lots of help, and learned a lot.

 

[roundhouse]

Bought mine 21 years ago without taking a magnet

Rockers turned out to be rolled up newspaper with bondo slathered on top
PO installed new sheetmetal floors without taking out the old ones, and covered up the body mount bolts

Although it did have a 351W 3 speed,4.11 axles and 29" tires

It would do amazing burn outs

 

[Mmflpa]

After having a slew of problems in the first few months of ownership, I pulled mine out of the garage, down the driveway and realized I forgot something. Went back outside and it wouldn't start. Tried EVERYTHING before finally pushing it back into the garage and refusing to look at it for two weeks... Ok, so I actually tried EVERYTHING except making sure it was fully in park before it would start... So 2 weeks later when I went to put it back in neutral to get it out of the garage to have it towed, I decided to see what would happen if I tried to start it.. Started right up....

 

[Slednut10]

Just how many pairs of pants do you have to tear before you learn to walk around the front bumpers? Like 1/2 a step is really going to make a difference.

3 pairs so far

Caught my droplight cord on the prop rod and being too smart to reach up and pop it off I just yanked it-apparently hard enough to pull what was left of the cotter pin through the hole and drop the hood latch squarely on the cord which tripped the breaker for the garage lights. Use your imagination for the language that followed...............%)