Mazama Father/Son Build '66 (copious amounts of bodywork)

[Old Bronco Guy]

Seems with all the 'dry fitting' we need a large selection of wing nuts. Had those Kings off and on a number of times. This is the first build since the sale of my offroad shop in 1983. It appears this is gonna work! The drivers side is a lot 'busier' with steering, tracking bar and all. Today it seemed to come together...the Kings, sway bar, bump stop and soon the down travel limit straps. ..gonna take a day off!

 

[kurtboyd]

Taking the day off. We're going to trailer the project down to a car gathering at friend's shop.

 

[Old Bronco Guy]

Feels good, back to work on the Bronco today. Fitting the sway bar arm and setting the distance for the r/f bump stop. Tomorrow we should fully articulate the front suspension sway bar and all. Real busy inside those wheelwells. Lots of parts moving. Still waiting...........for the rear Kings to arrive.

 

[kurtboyd]

Spent the day working on the passenger side front suspension. We shaped the sway bar arm to get clearance for the coils. We used the coil sliders to measure clearances. Took the coils out of both c/os and jacked the front up so we could reassure that we are bumping before the shocks bottom out. Also started modifying two stock pitman arms to make one drop pitman arm.

After much drama, we hope to have the rear shocks by next Wednesday.

 

[Old Bronco Guy]

.....it all articulates!! Ran the front end through the ups and downs today. Final setting for the bump stops. It's nice to take the coils off the Kings then compression is quite easy. Will order the down limit straps soon. Looks like finally the rear shocks shipped.
Soon be time to remove the body and get at the final areas of welding and lots of clean up.

 

[kurtboyd]

Worked on the dropped pitman arm today. After much fab work, my father welded the two arms together. Slowly cooling now. In prep for work to begin on the rear suspension, I reinstalled the gas tank and cut the old bump stops off.

 

[kurtboyd]

King Shocks for the rear arrived today. Hope to start installing them on Wednesday.

 

[kurtboyd]

Got the rear shocks mounted, installed the rear bump stops, and fabricated the perches for the bump stops to land on the axle housing. Shocks are 28 3/4 extended and 18 3/4 collapsed with 10 inches of travel. Made for a challenging install. Started fitting the rear sway bar. Need to get some heim joints for the link pins.

 

[Old Bronco Guy]

OK, It's dinner time, soon to be 'taco time'. Nearly ready to remove the tub and drive train. Finnish fabrication will be easier. 'Taco' style gusseting will reinforce new mounting locations of shocks, engine and other points.

 

[kurtboyd]

Had to take a couple weeks off from the Bronco project, but we were back at it today. Fabricated tabs for limit straps front and rear and installed the straps. Also ripped some tubing for cradles for the shock reservoirs. Hope to have the reservoirs installed tomorrow.

 

[kurtboyd]

Got our reservoir mounts made front and rear and installed them. Also installed the rear anti-sway bar. The anti-sway bar was an artifact of the old build, but we have made some mods to it so that it will work with the current upgrades.

Were getting ready to remove the tub so we can finish welding the frame.

 

[kurtboyd]

Fabricated brackets for the transmission cooler and the PS cooler and got them installed. This is the last of the work that needed to be done prior to removing the body. We plan on removing the body on Saturday. Once it's off, we'll have lots of welding to do on the chassis in the spots we couldn't get to during the first part of the build.

 

[kurtboyd]

Removed the tub today. Now we can do the rest of the welding on the chassis. Then disassemble for paint.

 

[stupidboy]

Your doing some very nice work ya know!

 

[kurtboyd]

Your doing some very nice work ya know!

Thanks, Pat. It looks like you've come a long way with yours too.

 

[sgtdcoulter]

Great build, I just read thru this thread and it is going great, I did have to look at the OD unit for a minute to realize what it was, then figured it out.
I like the Luber look!
But I am partial to that!
Great job w/ the pics also!
Keep it up!

 

[kurtboyd]

Started dismantling things today. Did a lot of pick-up welding and grinding. Also built gussets for the rear shock mounts. My dad calls them tacos because they are made of 14 gauge sheet metal and then bent like a taco to fit using a template. So, I guess you could say it's "Taco Time". We are going to make some more when we get to the front.

It was about 90 degrees in Mazama today. We are at 2100ft in the foot hills of the cascades. When you walk out of the shop, you can smell the fragrant pine trees. The forest is very dry right now.

But fall is around the corner. It was 35 degrees here last night. My father is leaving in a few days and will head down south (chasing the 70's) for the next seven months.

I'm going to miss him when he goes, and the warm summer days we have spent in my shop working on the Bronco.

 

[kurtboyd]

Pulled the motor today and did more welding. Installed gussets for the motor mounts we made.

 

[stupidboy]

Sad storry your father chasing the nice weather like that.

 

[kurtboyd]

Sad storry your father chasing the nice weather like that.

Yep, I'm sure he'll be thinking about me when it's 80 degrees in Texas and -20 here in Mazama.