The “Bronco Breakdown” Information thread!

[JGbronc]

#broncobreakdown
Full Hard Doors!

There were 4 basic full door configurations not including changes with mirrors, door panels, etc. We will discuss a lot of that later. For this topic I’ll use all base models.

Pic 1- 66 exterior. As you can see, the key mechanism is a couple inches below the handle. The window frames are removable.

Pic 2- 66 interior. The handles had screws that held them onto the splined shaft. This Bronco has the optional padded arm rests. One thing to note, many 66s originally had less screws holding the door panels on than later years.

Pic 3- 67 exterior. The key mechanism was moved to right underneath the handle. This was done to clear the body side molding, or “belt line trim” as some call it, that was introduced in 67. Window frames are removable.

Pic 4- 67 interior. The handles changed, and now used a screw in the center to hold them on the splined shaft. This Bronco did not come with the optional padded arm rests.

Pic 5- 68-77 exterior. The key mechanism was moved for the final time to below the body line. This also included a downward move of the striker mechanism, which required a change of the striker posts as well. This lower striker position means that 66-67 doors will not interchange with later versions without modifications, and vice versa. Window frames were only removable for 68, making them one year only doors and highly desirable. The rest were spot welded in place.

Pic 6- 68-77 interior. The handle configuration changed once again. The opening handle is now the paddle style, which is behind the now standard padded arm rests. The window crank handle is smaller, but still using the screw in the center of the splined shaft. The vent window handle also changed to a more rounded version.

More to come soon!

 

[JGbronc]

#broncobreakdown
Wheel Tech Wednesday!

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about wheels lately and I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a write up about these.

As some may not know, there were several variations of wheels throughout the years including both 15” and 16”. And there were 3 different variations of hubcaps.

***Wheels***

The first picture is the style 15” wheel found on 66 and 67. Notice the boxy cooling slots. These are uncommon finds now. The early 66 wheels had the K/H stamp on them like in the second picture, making them even more uncommon. This stood for Kelsey Hayes, which was the manufacturer of the wheel. By late 66 this stamping was gone and KW began appearing, which was the initials for Kelsey Wheel. These wheels were painted Wimbledon White.

The third picture is the more common 15” 68-77 wheel. Notice the angled cooling slot. The earlier wheels had a FoMoCo stamp, later had the Ford oval. These were Wimbledon White 66-72, Grey from 73-76, and Argent for 77. Exceptions did occur occasionally and Wimbledon wheels could be found.

Picture 4 is of an early version 16” wheel. The 16” wheels were available until sometime around the 73 model year. Both style cooling slots were used on these as well, but the dates used aren’t quite as precise as the 15”. These were Wimbledon White in both styles. No hubcaps offered for 16” wheels.

***Hubcaps (optional, 15” wheels only)***

Picture 5 is of the rare and valuable 66 Bronco specific hubcap. These are super uncommon now. The tabs on the backside are in groups of three, which is important to know since there is a very similar Mercury hubcap that can be cloned to look like the 66 fronts. The Mercury caps have evenly spaced tabs.

Picture 6 is the 67-77 common hubcap. These were used on other Ford models as well and aren’t hard to find.

Last picture, number 7, is of the “Mag Wheel Cover” that was an option for 77 only. While these were also used on other Ford models, finding a Bronco that came with these is quite uncommon.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

[JGbronc]

#broncobreakdown
Speedometer talk!

As some of you may or may not know, there were at least 4 variations of the speedometer from 66-77. Not to mention they were offered in both MPH and KM in countries that use Kilometers. There is some confusion out there about what was used when, so I’ll lay it all out here…

Pic 1: 66-67. Note the tick marks on the outside of the numbers, and the more boxy font. The font is also boxy on the odometer. As stated these were used all year 66 and 67, but I’ve seen several early 68s with this one as well, leaving the assumption that they were leftovers.

Pic 2: 68-71. As you can see the font is different from the previous years, and this font remained throughout the remaining years. The tick marks are now on the inside of the numbers. Notice the cautionary red line from 70-100 on this MPH example.

Pic 3: 72-74. The only real difference between this one and the previous year is that the cautionary red line disappeared. It is possible, however to have an early 72 with the red line.

Pic 4: 75-77. This gauge states “Unleaded Gasoline Only” at the bottom, beginning promptly at the beginning of the 75 model year. Kilometer speedometers didn’t have this for 75-77 and still used the previous.

Pic 5: Kilometer version of 66-67

Pic 6: Kilometer version of 72-77. Again, the KM version didn’t get the “Unleaded Gasoline Only” marking.

Hopefully this can help someone! More tech to come!

 

[JGbronc]

#broncobreakdown

Air Cleaners!

There were several different air cleaners used, so I’ll break them down some. I’m just going to cover main design changes that are easily spotted, as there were several small changes with ports, fittings, etc. Typically black air cleaners were oil bath and blue were dry element but that’s not 100% accurate as there were some variances. Plus the 77 as you’ll see could be black and was dry element.

1. 66-67 170 6 cylinder. These were painted black. This is perhaps one of the most sought after designs since these are a must for a correct 66.

2. 68-69 170 6 cylinder. These were painted blue.

3. 70-72 170 6 cylinder and 73-74 200 6 cylinder. These were a simple design change, and were blue. Note the inlet tube is a bit different and the ridges on the lid are gone.

4. 66-68 289 V8 and 69 302 V8. These were painted black, with the inlet tube pointed towards the back passenger side. As stated, this was only used for one year with the 302, so finding one with a 302 decal is unique.

5. 70-early 73 302 V8. These were a total design change. The inlet tube now faced the front, and were usually but not always painted blue.

6. Late 73-76 302 V8. The inlet tube was redesigned, and duct work was added to route air through a hole that was added to the core support for 73. These are also painted blue.

7. 77 302 V8. The filter housing was slightly redesigned. If you look closely you’ll see that it is more flat on top than the previous design. Also like the picture shows, some (not all) of the filter housings were painted black. Seems that this was only done for late production. The inlet tube remained blue, even if the filter housing was black.

 

[JGbronc]

#broncobreakdown

Seat frames!

Here’s a basic run down of the different seat frames used on the early Bronco. Not discussing upholstery. Bench and buckets. Quick note: many assume the Bronco front buckets are the same as a Mustang. This isn’t 100% true. The frames for a Bronco are similar to two Mustang driver side frames, as both Bronco seats folded to the right to allow the passenger side to fold into the floor.

Pic 1: 66-67 front buckets. These had a thinner backing than the later years. Backs freely folded on most.

Pic 2: 68-69 front buckets. The buckets were thicker from here on out. Release handles were added to release the backs to fold. These handles were mounted high on the sides of the seats.

Pic 3: 70-77 buckets. The release handle was lowered to the bottom of the seat backs, and the “footman loop” was added to latch the bottom to the floor on the passenger side. A latch was installed to latch the seat back into the loop.

Pic 4: “Footman Loop”

Pic 5: 66-71 front bench seat. These were used in some of all models including Wagons and Roadsters. Typically had a bulkhead behind them. Discontinued after 71.

Pic 6: 66-67 rear bench. As you can see, these had small armrests and the rails extended all the way to the front of the bottom cushion frame.

Pic 7: 68-77 rear bench. These had larger arm rests, and the rails no longer extended all the way to the front.

 

[JGbronc]

#broncobreakdown

Rear Axles!

First some basic info. There were several housings used, but all had 28 spline axles. 31 spline axles were never used originally in the Early Bronco.

#1 is the 66-75 small bearing axle. If you look at pic 1, the housing diameter stays relatively the same. These had a 10” brake drum.

#2 is the 66-75 large bearing axle. These are called large bearing literally because the bearing had a larger outside diameter than the small bearing. If you look at pic 2, the housing flares out to accept the larger diameter bearing. These axles featured 11” drums for more stopping surface.

#3 is the 74-75 “Medium Duty”. These axles had the same large bearing as the normal large bearing axle, but had 10” drums like the small bearing. These have also been called “Torino Style Axles” since they are configured similarly.

#4 is the 76-77 large bearing axle. These also had the same large bearing, but had a wider brake drum than the normal 11” drum the 66-75 large bearing axle had. One thing to note, the 77 housing was different than 76, as the 77 housing was gusseted (see pic 3).

A couple other differences to note, the 66 and early 67 housings had a fill plug on the backside (pic 4), and the early 66 had forward facing rear shock mounts, whereas late 66-77 all had rear facing.

 

[904Bronco]

Thank you for the share. Having some honest history available is invaluable.

 

[Tiko433]

Awesome read ! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kalex]

Fantastic! Thank you.

 

[gnsteam]

Great post. We you think you know everything about our EB's. There is always more to learn. Thank you for putting together all this information.

 

[Bajabrewer]

Great Job JG! I think this should be stickied to the top of the chat list - Jon?

 

[ared77]

Awesome information!

 

[toddz69]

Thanks for posting these here, Jimmy! Easier to find them here than on FB....

Todd Z.

 

[okie4570]

Nice work JG. I'm sure someone will be along to argue about their original Budd tailgate on their original 1972 u13 with the original "unleaded fuel only" speedometer and factory special order air conditioning, along with the factory driver's side only bulkhead......

 

[ared77]

In first post about doors, caption for pic 5 says " Window frames were only removable for 68, making them one year only doors and highly desirable. The rest were spot welded in place." But that's just for the '68 - '77 style doors right? Because all the '66 and '67 were removable correct?

 

[JGbronc]

In first post about doors, caption for pic 5 says " Window frames were only removable for 68, making them one year only doors and highly desirable. The rest were spot welded in place." But that's just for the '68 - '77 style doors right? Because all the '66 and '67 were removable correct?

That’s correct. That’s only for the lower lock position version. That’s why it says window frames are removable on the 66 and 67 version captions.

 

[JGbronc]

Nice work JG. I'm sure someone will be along to argue about their original Budd tailgate on their original 1972 u13 with the original "unleaded fuel only" speedometer and factory special order air conditioning, along with the factory driver's side only bulkhead......

We ain’t on FB so hopefully it can stay tame in here

 

[stout22]

Great write ups.
just a note: I have a late production 76 that has the gusseted 9".

 

[kevscj5]

Awesome information!

I'll definitely have to look at Dad's '66 roadster and compare to your notes, particularly on the "Pony Package" specifics. I don't think it is though.

 

[JGbronc]

Awesome information!

I'll definitely have to look at Dad's '66 roadster and compare to your notes, particularly on the "Pony Package" specifics. I don't think it is though.

View attachment 956933

Most 66 U13s were produced before the Pony Package and the V8, but there were some of them! I’m still curious of your VIN. We try to keep track of 66 VINs, especially U13s.