Mrs Gummi Bear's "Doodlebug" - A Buildup Thread

[Gummi Bear]

I spent all weekend working on it again. Re-plumbed the fuel system, and worked a little bit on the brake system. I'm throwing in the towel on fixing it though, it'll get replaced ASAP. 40 years of crap, PO 'fixes' and neglect have left it in pretty bad shape.

I got the rear axle out, and off to its new owner. Spent the rest of the day cleaning up old welds, and trying to remove the shackles (they're still on there, I'm cutting them off after the Roundup) If you don't have a air hammer, get one. It sure made this work a lot more satisfying. ;D

I cleaned out a ton of extra wires, and tried to clean up the wiring harness where it had been modified over the years. Installed a Optima battery, and need to get some new cables to complete this ensemble.

I've got a relatively new Carter fuel pump to install yet, that'll finish off the fuel system.

I tried fitting in the BC steering brackets. I'm going to have to ask for help on that one. I just didn't see how they are supposed to fit together, so I shot the bare piece with a little paint (just for you Jerry;D )

I have the rear axle in place, but a bent spring pin kept me from finishing that up, gotta pick up a new one this week.

I got the 76 torn down a bit further, and it's resting nice and low and stable on jackstands. It takes a long time to do by yourself, and with a jack that is half-assed at best (it needs a rebuild).


I even took a picture of the new bling for the front end. It's gonna be a thing of envy.

I'm ordering a new set of IROK's tomorrow morning. (buy my stuff, please; so I can pay for them;D http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98350)

 

[Tito]

Those knuckles look pretty ;D

 

[crawln68]

I like the new bling!! (you lucky dog) ;D That will one tuff front axle by the time you're done with it. Thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[Gummi Bear]

Well - my weekend turned out to be a bit of a flop. Nothing seemed to want to work my way...

I managed to twist the ends off of the old brake lines, so I got new ones to replace them with, however I didn't realize that the starter needs a 1/4" at the "H" block, so that was a wasted effort. I need it to be there to measure out my bends, of course everything's closed on Easter, so no adapter today.

I did get the 9" mounted, but I'm not really all that happy with it. I don't like that the shackles are basically crap (one of them is rusted in place, I was hoping that the weight of the vehicle in combination with flexy springs may break it loose) and I still think the front hanger is dumb, so I'm going to cut it off, and put on some heavier ones that are mounted up higher to keep it out of the damn rocks.

The bolts at the face, and the rear of the radius arms are pretty well siezed, so they got a liberal soaking of PB Blaster. I'll let them sit for the week and see if there is any change. A couple of them stopped my impact cold.

One of the bolts in the adapter ring of my brand new PSC pump is stuck, even with the impact, I couldn't get it to budge. I guess I'll have to ship it to them to get it removed. I've no idea how they managed to get it so damn tight. I'm mounting it to a BC pump bracket, so no need for the adapter. I'll save the adapter for my rig when I put a better pump in it.

The best part of the weekend was that I got the new Iroks mounted, and they're damn sexy. The guy in town that did the job was super cool, and even helped me keep track of the airsoft pellets for balancing beads.

I found out that I have 2 sets of upper ball joints, so it was no point in pressing in any of them until I get some freakin lowers. The new orange knuckles will sit until I do.

I managed to tweak my back yesterday moving the tires around, had a really hard time getting up and about this morning, didn't even get out of my pajamas until near noon.

The cherry on top of it all was - it !@#$%^&* snowed in TEXAS, in !@#$%^&* APRIL! I hate the cold. The shop was hovering around 30*, so I moved like molasses, which didn't help that I'm way the hell behind schedule.

There's no way in hell that I'm going to be able to drive it at the LEBC Roundup in 2 weeks. I'll be the poor bastard on foot. Honk and wave as you drive by...:-[

 

[Gummi Bear]

More Pics

 

[sevenTseven]

Cant believe you guys got that much snow! It hardly even snows in DFW in the dead of winter, much less April. We had snow flurries on Friday, but nothing that heavy. I agree that this cold weather is total crap, its supposed to be around 70, not around 35.

 

[Mrs Gummi Bear]

My Husband has done and awesome job working on the doodle-bug. He has been putting in lots of long weekend and hours working on the bronco. I just wanted to let him know that I appreciate his hard work and that I love him. FYI: Happy 31st Birthday.

 

[coachbarnes]

My Husband has done and awesome job working on the doodle-bug. He has been putting in lots of long weekend and hours working on the bronco. I just wanted to let him know that I appreciate his hard work and that I love him. FYI: Happy 31st Birthday.

Happy B-day old man!

will you marry me? maybe MY bronco will get done if you do!

 

[Gummi Bear]

Thanks Scott, I'm flattered... :-[ ;D

I'm sure glad she doesn't check in on this very often, because I just don't have the heart to tell her that I'm taking this build a little farther than I originally let on...

I'll be stretching the wheelbase a few inches while it's down. I'll be ordering some brackets, gussets, and adjustable coil buckets this coming week. I'm going to get it to 98-99" wheelbase, and keep it at stock height, with no body lift.

I've got the propane system lined up, just need to score a couple of good side jobs to order the parts in, then out goes the gasoline system.

Once I get it rolling, I'll trailer it back to town, and have my buddy Frank bend up the cage I designed for mine. It'll be a 6 point, with design cues from Poison Spyder, Twisted Customs, Crab and a few others. It will have a 1/8" aluminum rock top, in case it manages to make it onto the lid, it will also serve as sun protection.

I've ordered in a new set of lower ball joints, once they're here, I'll finally get the Dedenbear knuckles on the D44. Once it's all in place, I can get the mounts for the ram installed. My tenative plan is to mount it from the Wild Horses track bar riser to the DOM tie rod.

I plan to move ahead with the extended radius arms that I lined out a few months back, I need rod ends, and tube adapters. The rest I'll cut out of 3/16" plate and weld up. There are a couple of different designs that I have floating around in my brain, it may be a source of experiment for a while.

Somewhere along the way, I'm also going to rewire it, add a DUI distributor, a 3G alternator, new exhaust, and maybe a header.

The plan is for her to have a reliable, pretty well bombproof machine that she can wheel the hell out of, and not have to worry about breaking, or getting hurt herself.

Once she gains some confidence, that's my cue to start bending some DOM for a buggy on 404's for me.;D

 

[Gummi Bear]

Nothing new to add to the build, just a bunch of new parts procured.

I had planned to get out to the Farm and get some work done this weekend, but that was shot to hell at 4:30 on Friday when some nitwit from Accounting decided to crash the damn server, and lose my whole estimate. I now have 1 more day, to pull 3 days of work out of my ass. I'm posting this from work, at 6:35 PM on a Saturday. I hate my job.

I've worked for about 45 days straight, without a day off except Father's Day. Talk about burnout...

 

[mp]

What size IROKS did you go with?

 

[Gummi Bear]

36x13.50x16 bias ply

You can see how they measure up to my 38x12.50x15 TSL's. They weigh about half as much it seems.

This is a trial, using the Iroks (I'm unfamiliar with them), with the small motor in this thing, I wanted to reduce the rotational weight at the wheels, so I kept the aluminum wheels, got the Iroks, and will add some Staun internal beadlocks when money allows.

 

[mp]

I think I am going with the same tire only in 16.5 for my recentered H1's.

 

[Mtn Gote]

Next thing you know, she'll become a better wheeler than you are! hahaha! Nice build up!
Cory,

 

[Gummi Bear]

She just might.

Give my daughter a few years so she can reach the pedals, and she'll be gittin after it on the trails too. ;D

 

[Mtn Gote]

She just might.

Give my daughter a few years so she can reach the pedals, and she'll be gittin after it on the trails too. ;D

Get the whole family in on this infectious disease!
Cory,

 

[Gummi Bear]

I went out and worked on it some more this weekend. Not a whole lot to show, mostly cleaning it up, and getting it ready for some more stuff.

I spent all day Saturday on the tractor, mowing the fencelines so we could get around again. The rains this year have been a godsend, but I couldn't even see the fence on the east row it was grown up so tall. 8 hours on a tractor running brush hog is hard on the body, I had a hard time getting up this morning.

I took out the front axle this morning, it took me nearly 5 hours (should have taken less than 2). EVERY single piece was siezed, and I worked the snot out of my poor impact.

The last nut to drop it out of the truck, wouldn't budge. Nearly 10 minutes of continuous pounding from the impact netted me nothing. Out came the air hammer with a cold chisel attatchment. 5 minutes later, the axle was laying on the ground

If you don't have an air hammer, get one. Get one right freakin now. I should have bought one years ago.

This is the one I have:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_24001_24001

Next trip, the top comes off after some careful measurements for the cage which will be done soon.

The wheelbase stretch, and rear link job will have to wait. I've been off the trail for too damn long (since last summer) I'd love for it to be rolling for OCBR, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. For the last 5 years, something stupid has prevented me from going.

I've got to have a garage sale, my barn's starting to look like a freakin junk yard. Bad part is, it's all stuff I've taken off of the Doodlebug. I'm replacing most of the damn thing!

I'll add pics in the morning, I'm tired.

 

[Gummi Bear]

Here's the pics.

Nothing really noteworthy, just a EB without a front axle. The long hose on the ground, is my vent hose, in case anyone was wondering.

The transfer case leak, is what caused that fantastic large spot on the floor while I was gone. The damn thing never leaked while on my rig, but I gave it a thorough cleaning, and took off several pounds of crudded on dirt and gunk, apparently that was holding in the gear oil. LOL I need to pull that shaft, and get a new gasket/seal so it won't do that anymore. I also need to take care of that Valdez spill on the floor once I can roll the Bronc out of the way.

The inside looks like my apartment in college, after a long night of partying. What a mess.

 

[JWMcCrary]

My transfer case did the same thing. I cleaned it good with a sprayer, or as good as you can with it installed, and changed out my rear output with Wildhorses shaft, put it back together and drove around over a weekend with no leaks. Over the next couple of weeks it was parked while I was out of town working and when I came home gear oil was all over the floor from the front output. I changed the seal and yoke and all is good again.

 

[Banjer Picker]

Looking great Jason! Glad you finally got a cahnce to get back out there to play with your toys! I know you've been jonesin' for it. Let me know if y'all want to hook up again soon. I'll probably be up the Love and War in Plano on Thursday for the Shiner Rising star if you want to meet up with us. Now get those horses back in action!

Brandon