Top 10 List "Things I have done to my Broncos that I will never do again!"

[Mac2Night]

Well, this is my 600th post and I thought I would mark it with an ever popular Top Ten list of crazy things I have done (to or with my Broncos) over the past 30 years but will never do again...... drum roll please:


10) Make a body lift out of cold roll steel (my first body lift in '84 was made
of solid steel at a machine shop.... damn stuff eventually drove itself up
through the driver's floor;

9) Drill holes in my windshield frame for light mountings (great way for water
to leak in the frame and start rusting;

8) Keep the "Inverted Y" steering linkage on a lifted EB with 38 inch+ tires;

7) Use jackstands in the grass to support my EB while installing a suspension
lift (again, young and stupid with no garage or paved driveway).... I
actually almost died that day!;

6) Install new 35 inch swampers on an EB with a new paint job and flares
with only a 3 inch lift (rear tires basically ripped the rear flares off the
vehicle on my madien voyage out of the tire shop; (see the tight fit on
the photo of my Black '76 below)

5) Think I could ever put 44 inch Ground Hawgs on an EB to be used as a
"daily driver" (got it lifted 9 inches (3 body & 6 susp).... a good deal on
a set of 44s is never a real deal for a daily driver;

4) Try and take a full hard top off by yourself, just because it
is nice and sunny and you want to cruise around topless... wait for a
couple of buddies to help you;

3) Borrow a spare driveshaft from a buddy without asking him DIRECTLY (I broke my
rear shaft and a buddy of mine had a parts EB. He wasn't at his shop
but a employee of his told me to go ahead and borrow it and he would let him
know I had it and would give it back when I got mine repaired.... well, he
didn't tell him any of that, but another worker told him that he saw me
take it!) I came out of work and jumped in my EB to find it wouldn't go
anywhere...... he had come by and taken the driveshaft back. (took us
a few years to patch that friendship up..... again, I was a dumb young kid
at the time).

2) Make a lightbar out of a piece of aluminium channel from a shower stall
(yep, at the ripe old age of 17 I made my first lightbar (lightbars are so
1980s) from a shower stall! (see photo of light blue '77 below);

1) Sell your first Bronco!

Well, after coming up with this list of mistakes I have made, I realized I could probably created a Top 20 list (cutting down an F150 "show bar" roll bar for an EB, using a bumper mounted trailer hitch w/o frame tie-ins, cutting a 3 year old '77 in 1980 for flares (up for debate I know but I have become a LUBR LOVER in my old age), leaving stock 3:50 gears in the axles when your running 35, 38, 40 inch tires, and the list just goes on-and-on). Take a tour through my gallery to see more EB mistakes if you dare! ;D

Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself so you don't cry!

 

[Ohio Bronco 21]

The biggest mistake I actually caught before anything happened was welding a bumper right next to a recently removed gas tank (open and full of gas). I actually welded a 5 inch bead before noticing the fuel tank and gas smell 1 foot away. Very stupid.

 

[DRBRONCO69]

Great reading Mac.

 

[70 sport WA]

1. Pinched the brake line on the front axle tube putting on a steering stabilizer over it (hey, I was 17).
2. Cut the rear quarter panels to put flares on it. (I don't regret doing it once, but I'd never do it again.)
3. Driving drunk. No bad outcome, but REALLY stupid.
4. Cutting the hood to put on a scoop for air cleaner clearance. I'd just figure something else out.
5. Selling a brand new fiberglass hood for $100. Came with my truck, why the heck do I need it? (See item #4)
6. Selling my first Bronco.
7. Selling my second Bronco.
8. Selling my third Bronco. To buy a Jeep (oh, boy. I finally learned with my fourth Bronco.)
9. Rattle can painting my second Bronco. It just didn't turn out well.
10. Putting Truck Nutz on. OK, that's a joke...actually, I regret taking them off. OK, another joke, I've run out of things to list.

 

[Sbolt19]

I didn't do it on my Bronco because I learned the lesson the first time, but with my old Willys, I was 16 & I decided to do a brake job and pulled all 4 wheels apart at the same time and piled all the parts in 1 big pile.....Took me 3 days to figure it out and I never did that again.

 

[tasker]

that was great, i'll pitch in:
1. polished diamond plate rockers, what was i thinking?

 

[bmc69]

Mine is easy.

1. Spend well over 2 grand on a tricked out HP D44 and then stick 39.5 IROKS on it and turn it with a built 408...on rocks.

%)

 

[Dark Knight]

Thats also my number 1 thing... i did but i sold my first 2 Broncos over 10 years ago and still have not found one to replace those 2 with.

 

[rsharpnm]

that was great, i'll pitch in:
1. polished diamond plate rockers, what was i thinking?

LOL! I bought a pair, held them up to the truck, and they are still leaning in a corner of my garage, brand new and never installed!

 

[Devin]

I have yet to see. Mine isn't done yet.

 

[phred]

Short list of the things that quickly come to mind:
NEVER AGAIN
let someone else work on it
repair floor rot with fiberglass
reuse valve springs with a new cam.
cut an unmolested cherry body

 

[LEDCREATIONS]

I'm in

Paying 300.00 for two stock seats rear bench seat and brackets needed for them from a junkyard. They are beat up.

Welding a gas tank I thought had no fuel left in it and was sitting for a few years. (Close call!)

 

[22213evl]

kept the tires spinning forward while sliding backward downhill.
listen for it ..... boom, output shaft.

 

[Bronc76]

Sticking a screwdriver in the coil while someone turns over engine to see if it had fire....... it had fire!

 

[ProjectCumminsBronco]

3) Borrow a spare driveshaft from a buddy without asking him DIRECTLY (I broke my
rear shaft and a buddy of mine had a parts EB. He wasn't at his shop
but a employee of his told me to go ahead and borrow it and he would let him
know I had it and would give it back when I got mine repaired.... well, he
didn't tell him any of that, but another worker told him that he saw me
take it!) I came out of work and jumped in my EB to find it wouldn't go
anywhere...... he had come by and taken the driveshaft back. (took us
a few years to patch that friendship up..... again, I was a dumb young kid
at the time).

He musta not been a real good friend

 

[irish]

Work on a 77 in the driveway (sloped driveway) slipped out of gear jumped wheel chacks slammed me into a parked truck, compound fracture right femur. 24 inches of titanium and countless screws later and alls good.No more working on that driveway.

 

[t.lay]

1. kept a 3" body lift
2. tossed a good core support - thinking new glass tub wouldn't need it somehow
3. used a glass tub (didn't have the skills a few years ago - could've saved the metal tub now)
4. didn't use a welding blanket when tweaking the roll cage (had to repaint)
5. mecedes benz seats - too tall
6. didn't cover windshield when grinding - hot steel embedded in windshield
7. got impatient installing doors in fiberglass tub - crappy fit
8. got impatient on paint prep for galvanized tailgate - paint is peeling
9. haven't finished cage and tie-ins - just dumb
10. haven't got my gas guage working yet.

Could probably list 10 more - but the thing is that I do know every inch of that truck - warts and all

Good post Mac

 

[PonyExpress]

My biggest mistake, not routinely checking the tightness of my bolts on my airlocker. Broke ring/pinion and air locker.

 

[av bronco]

Had a out of state builder for my C4.
Bought some used 35 tires off craiglist(made by the flintstones)
Holley truck avenger
pro comp dist.
The guy thats a "retired bodyman" do some touch up work.
Trans adapt oil filter to external cooler lines blow off my block, blowing 5 quarts of motor oil form head light to tail light in every nook and cranny and damm near costing me a motor.
thats just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Ohio Bronco 21]

I have another, cranking an engine for a while that wouldnt start, pull the distributor out while the ignition key is still turned on, when I bump the distributor metal gear against the side of the distributor well I got a spark. Yes all the gas vapor from cranking exploded. CRANK CASE EXPLOSION. It shot the distributor out of my hand and up into the hood denting the hood out ward, damaging my distributor and making me nearly crap my pants.