Money Pit - Phase III

[2006PSDSD]

Great project, looks like it was a lot of fun and bloddy knuckles

I'm hoping to get my first Classic Bronco soon, and start building a crawler out of it! I have to sell my 4Runner first though

 

[KyleQ]

Breaking motor mounts and all the additional torque have caused my power steering to leak - I've got the reservoir hard mounted off the pump and sticking through the hood, not ideal to say the least.

I cracked the fitting that the reservoir is mounted to - causing the pump to suck air all of the time and pump frothy fluid out of the overflow tube, not to mention causing the pump to make a lot of noise. It never steered any different though, always full power.



I attempted to fix the issue before a run with some fast setting putty, but that failed. I shot PSC a PM over on P4x4 and Kelvin responded right away, knew my setup and had a new can and seal kit shipped to me later that day. Some of the best service I've ever had has been with PSC.

The can showed up awhile back and I pulled the pump for a quick tear down earlier this week, power steering pumps are very simple to work with.



I popped off the can and checked everything over, seals are still in great shape and the magnet had very little material on it, not bad for a trail rig full hydro setup.



I slapped the new can on it and bolted it back on the bracket, I'm switching from Napa power steering fluid to AmsOil full synthetic fluid. I was having problems blowing low pressure return lines when it got cold out, and the Napa fluid gets really thick when cold, I got my AmsOil fluid when it was ~-20*F and it sloshed around like water at that temp, this should make a big difference.

 

[KyleQ]

This weekend I got the pump reinstalled, bled as much fluid I could get out of the system and got about 4 pints back into the truck. The AmsOil fluid is yellow, so it's easy to see what it is if it leaks. The steering was really easy to bleed, only two running and turning cycles to get it air free. Best of all - I was able to drive the truck out of the barn and around the road a little bit. Time to start working on my other D70 - there is always something else to do...

With the AmsOil in the system the steering was very quiet and completely effortless, I think I could easily road drive this thing with the E rated BFG's on my 1 ton... Hrm...

 

[68 Broncoholic]

Just saw this thread and have a few questions.

I run a rear 1989 D70U but it doesn't look like yours but I'm thinking your new narrower one could be the same as what I run. Is it completely smooth on the bottom and sides of the carrier housing instead of ribbed? I had to add wheel spacers to match the front D60 width because its so narrow. Ford did that for turning radius on the log F350 trucks. Its a strong beefy axle. I think everyone should run it. Its smooth on the bottom unlike the Sterling and 14 bolt and already comes with 35 splines. They are a dime a dozen too!

I'm thinking of adding rear disc's and wonder why you used the weld on bracket from Ruff Stuff instead of their bolt on? Also, should the caliper be mounted that high? Is there an advantage other than clearance to have it up that high? What master cylinder do you run?

Adding a traction bar will be a huge gain. I used Ruff Stuff's weld on traction bar axle mount and shackle set up. Works awesome and doesn't limit flex at all.

Also, having the front driveline angled like it is will be no issue. I've been running mine like that for years.

Great build thread!

 

[KyleQ]

Just saw this thread and have a few questions.

I run a rear 1989 D70U but it doesn't look like yours but I'm thinking your new narrower one could be the same as what I run. Is it completely smooth on the bottom and sides of the carrier housing instead of ribbed? I had to add wheel spacers to match the front D60 width because its so narrow. Ford did that for turning radius on the log F350 trucks. Its a strong beefy axle. I think everyone should run it. Its smooth on the bottom unlike the Sterling and 14 bolt and already comes with 35 splines. They are a dime a dozen too!

I'm thinking of adding rear disc's and wonder why you used the weld on bracket from Ruff Stuff instead of their bolt on? Also, should the caliper be mounted that high? Is there an advantage other than clearance to have it up that high? What master cylinder do you run?

Adding a traction bar will be a huge gain. I used Ruff Stuff's weld on traction bar axle mount and shackle set up. Works awesome and doesn't limit flex at all.

Also, having the front driveline angled like it is will be no issue. I've been running mine like that for years.

Great build thread!

Thanks - my other axle is not a D70U either, I can't seem to find them around here... I'm going to take a 7" angle grinder to it though, smooth is the way to be.

I welded mine on as you can see, the mounting flanges are a bit far away-


I was talking to him and that was the easiest solution - I've got a welder, I'm good at welding, so why not. It's not like I have to remove them for any reason- I mounted my calipers as high as I could to try and keep the pads out of the mud and sand in an attempt to keep them clean. As long as the breather is up top it doesn't matter where they sit on the axle.

As for the master cylinder - I have not figured out what to do as of yet. I installed a MC out of a 70' Camper Special and with the front line pinched off I could lock of the rear without even trying, it was great. After I hooked up the front lines again the braking performance suffered badly, I think the MC cannot build any pressure as it has to move such a large volume of fluid left there is no travel left to start pressurizing the system. I think I'm just going to bolt a 70's F350 MC in there and call it good.

Glad to hear on the traction bar - I've got to build one of those before I play hard again...

 

[68 Broncoholic]

Yeah, the bolt on brackets have an offset bend to them. I wasn't sure which one to go with.
I run the F250 Camper Special MS also and was a nice upgrade because it was a straight bolt up. I can lock up the rear drums but not the front discs. There is no power assist of any kind. I have an adjustable valve to put on the rear brake line to limit flow. Not sure when I'll install it.
Do you think the F350 MS will provide more pressure and will it bolt up and match the inner push rod length requirements to function properly?
I've heard of some adding length to the end of the push rod to gain quicker response and adds more pressure. Nore sure if that is a wise idea or not.

 

[KyleQ]

Yeah, the bolt on brackets have an offset bend to them. I wasn't sure which one to go with.
I run the F250 Camper Special MS also and was a nice upgrade because it was a straight bolt up. I can lock up the rear drums but not the front discs. There is no power assist of any kind. I have an adjustable valve to put on the rear brake line to limit flow. Not sure when I'll install it.
Do you think the F350 MS will provide more pressure and will it bolt up and match the inner push rod length requirements to function properly?
I've heard of some adding length to the end of the push rod to gain quicker response and adds more pressure. Nore sure if that is a wise idea or not.

Well, nothing short of a F350 MC is going to push the fluid needed to make those calipers work, so that in addition to a rear porp valve (to restrict fluid) should give me factory like F350 braking up front and I can adjust the rears how I like.

As for it fitting properly - I've got no idea, but I need good brakes. I'm sure I'll have to adjust the length of the rod, but as long as I use threaded rod and those long "nuts" I should be able to build in some adjustment and fine tune it how I like.

 

[KyleQ]

Well, last weekend I drug the other D70 I've got my my other house to the new one, holy crap this one was much heavier then my last axle. I did a little digging and found out that it was a D70HD. I popped the hubs off and everything looks good - the backing plates came off real nice as well. The axle came out of a 86 E350 U-Haul Chassis truck - IIRC the WMS is 72". It's over 2" narrower then my last axle, but I was told it should have been closer to 70" WMS.



The next part is what I've been worrying about - will my D70U hubs bolt to a D70HD? The Bronco came apart nicely, the oil was nasty though -


The new DD - pulling 36mpg out of it as it's a 5 speed

The hubs fits and the axle shafts bolt up! I did a little dance in the garage...


After all of that good I was stopped with a problem, I bought this axle as I was told it had 4.11 gears in it... I found 3.54's


Now I'm waiting for gears from a P4X4 member and my perches and caliper hangers from Dan and RoughStuff. I've got an event in two weeks, it's going to be close. I'm really hoping I can just swap the R&P without changing any shims and everything will still be in spec. I got lucky with my D50, hopefully I can get lucky with my D70HD.

 

[KyleQ]

Friday is a go for at least one project -

 

[KyleQ]

I hate working on old axles as if you get that slimy grease on your arms, it stains you for at least 3 days...

I was able to get the ring and pinion to fit nicely be removing one shim from the pinion shaft - backlash is perfect and the pre-load felt great as well. I had all sorts of problems getting the pinion off, broke one breaker bar before I got my brother's 4' Snap-On ratchet with a jack handle on it, of course that didn't break.

I thought I needed to shim the axle as the crappy lower end lube we used as marking compound didn't give us a clear picture. I headed to my father's garage as he has a nice press - we tried to shim it, but didn't have any shims, so we just put it back together and rain paint in it - I'm happy with the result, this is exactly what I thought it would be like.

We threw it back into my brother's truck and brought it home-


Anyone see anything alarming? These are used gears with used bearings, they could have 300k on them...


I pulled the swamp thing into the garage to swap in the new axle. I got a little over zealous in my back yard with only 2wd low front and got the truck stuck... a few times ;D


This is as far as I could get - with the flex line at the MC vise gripped the lines in the back came apart nicely and didn't leak one bit. After lifting and carrying this housing around all day I could not get any of the u-bolt nuts to come loose. All I have is a broken breaker bar, so I'll have to use my brother's ratchet and my jack handle again... %) Of course today is the nicest day yet to work outside and it's Easter...

 

[broncomitch]

i might be fallowing in your foot steps buddy. i might be trading my ar15 for a dana 60 front lol and ill ether get the duff arm's or link it.

keep up the sick build

 

[KyleQ]

Thanks - got more work done last night with a friend.

I fought and fought with these u-bolts as I wanted to reuse them (heavy duty Ruff Stuff) so I used a 4 foot ratchet and a jack handle to take them off. The little fine threaded bastards fought me every step of the way - in the end they proved not to survive my hand to ratchet combat and two of the u-bolts failed.



I stripped the threads off the u-bolt on one and the threads off the nut on another... It was hard work - but I lucked out, the axle had two u bolts on it that I had to fight to get the nuts off so I could use them. In the end, I got enough u-bolts and nuts to get everything mocked up.

After that fiasco Joe and I got the axle pulled and as the pinion yolk and seal were gone, we put the axle on stands and let it drain through the pinion. As soon as the axle rocked down we heard that jingle of steel trickling down the pinion. We just had to open it up and look inside...


Whoops - Another axle for the scrap pile...


Towards the end of the night we got the perches cleaned up and fitted onto the springs, the axle centered and the pinion angle set. I was able to tack everything together with my little 110 welder so I can bring the housing to my other garage with the 220 mig.


Wen I got this axle I was told it was ~4" narrower them my last axle, had 4.11 gears and that it was a dualie axle. None of that information was correct, so I think I only ended up an inch narrower on each side..



Tonight the axle comes back out for final welding, the yolk gets swapped and then I'll beat the piss outa it in the back yard ;D

 

[KyleQ]

Well, the axle came out, but the perches held strong to the springs - so much for that one... %) We measured and welded everything and brought the axle back for reassembly. Everything lined up and bolted up just fine, so we added fluid and buttoned up the rest of the truck as I had a mud run to go to the next day.

The axle seals horribly leaked and that got me bummed out a little bit, I'm hoping that replacing the seals will fix that. I got the truck loaded up and ferried over to where the event was being held - gota love all the Bronco's ;D



The truck ran good, after I tightened up my motor chain, added a turnbuckle and replaced the missing trans x-member bushing the transmission shifted great as well!


Everything was going good, my feet were still dry and then the Caddie died in the middle of this pond...


It was on 44's and had a wicked motor that loved RPM's - it just died so I figured I could pull it out.

I hooked up to the strap and could only move it 4 or 5 feet at a time so I kept hitting it time and time again until I found some soft ground....



It we broke two straps, used 4 trucks and 3 guys dug with shovels to get it out - took around 3hrs :-[ When I got the truck loaded on the trailer all sorts of despicable things started oozing out of the axle seals.. I can't wait to see what I find inside...

 

[FRANKO289]

sweet built .... any add pic of the Caddie ??

 

[KyleQ]

Best pic I got of it - lots of funny looks when I rolled out to my budy's truck on 48's and put my driver's side tire up on it in the middle of the mud pit

 

[broncomitch]

blah...i don't like mud. ;D bronco sure is sweet tho!

 

[KyleQ]

blah...i don't like mud. ;D bronco sure is sweet tho!

It was fun to play in, but it's not my thing either. I would rather climb something rather then just drive through the mud. Everywhere I went I could get through it in 2wd low in 3rd gear at max rpm

 

[KyleQ]

I put some rollers on the Bronco as I need to clean the beads on 3 of my wheels and I had to test out the new rubber. For the first time, I had the Bronco on the road with radials and it drives, well, really nice! It's quiet, drives straight and will lay down the burnouts like no tomorrow

I took it out back and eventually got the rear axle hung up-


I'm going to put new tabs and insurance on it and cruise it around town - maybe find some better 16" tires so I can actually wheel around and not get stuck.

 

[KyleQ]

Memorial was a fun weekend - we got lots of rain and the trails were wet and nasty this year. I had some cool neighbors in the camp site and they borrowed me a garage so I could stay dry.


I got into some deep water and the truck died - I just couldn't keep this carb running, always choking at angles and made no power. I think my motor is toast as well, lots of smoke out of the valve cover and not the exhaust, blowing oil out of the dip stick... blo-by.



I couldn't see the tires on my side and there was water covering the front left corner of the hood :-X

I got yanked out and cleaned things up, wet air filter but the oil seemed ok, kinda thing and BLACK. I drove it back to camp and started hitting the carb with cleaner and the RPM's were changing - needed gaskets. Of course I couldn't find anything, so I had to make some, in the rain.



The gaskets helped, but this carb needed a rebuild bad - I couldn't beat on the truck hard enough to break anything, so that was a good thing, but it just wouldn't run good enough to get over some obstacles. My weekend was ended by a cut hydraulic hose, I was done dealing with my carb as well. I think I fried the solenoid on my starter with the repeated starts...

 

[KyleQ]

The diesel ran fine, didn't even check the oil, just added fuel and pulled perfectly - love that truck Everyone else had fun - Joe's Bronco got beaten like it's never been beaten before and came through ok, incorrect blocks ended up killing a drive shaft slip yolk and joint at the end of the weekend though.



I started tearing the axle down - found some water right away, I'm going to pull the joints apart as well. They still feel perfectly smooth, but they have been in there 3 years and I'm curious.




This motor is toast and needs to be replaced - I am giving Joe my EFI 5.0 stuff as I promised it to him and I'm going to get his complete motor.

Mexican 302, possible cam, 4bbl intake and carb AND the duraspark setup with 3G.

I also have a 1969 351W complete and a set of freshly rebuilt heads, lifters and pushrods - just need a cam. That is another option-

I'm also putting together my final motor at a snail's pace (housebroke) which will be a full roller 95' block based 351W. TFS 185's, Cobra R EFI, 42's, 80MM TB, 70MM MAF, A9L, Pro Billet Distro (with Ford guts) - It should produce just enough HP/TQ to break parts ;D


Either option I go, I'm putting my Hookers and Explorer front serp on the motor and backing it with a NP435 - no more automatics for me.