Vermont Bronco

[svobronco]

I'm new here and have been picking the brain trust for a few months as I start my Bronco build. I bought this '74 out of a wrecking yard in Rutland VT. I had been looking for a good one to restore for a while and realized that was going to be impossible up here in northern New England without replacing everything so I found the worst one I could find knowing the body and frame were going away anyway. This one turned out to be a gold mine that I paid $1500 for. It was owned by Tufts university and used as a yard truck for what appears to be it's whole life before it was abandoned so it shows 41K miles and while I didn't believe that at first I am convinced it's correct mileage. Here's a pic to get this started, it's after I removed the frame which my neighbor took to build him a Bronco, he's more brave than I am.
Hey, how do you insert an image? All I see is insert image by URL

You're neighbor doesn't happen to be Mark from Bethel, does it?
Greg

 

[Bearhawk Builder]

Yep, Mark is my neighbor. Where are you Greg?

 

[svobronco]

Yep, Mark is my neighbor. Where are you Greg?

Salem NH. Mark just came down and picked up a D20 for his build.

 

[4lofun]

https://forums.exploringnh.com/

ExploringNh is a site for NH class 6 roads and are similar to VT class 4 roads ...

 

[Bearhawk Builder]

I realized I haven't posted anything in a while but I'm making good progress on this Bronco. It's mostly put together with a bunch of punch list items to do, almost ready for first flights. It's been a fun process done in between my real job of building custom airplanes. I'm impressed with the new frame from Kincer, suspension components from James Duff and the body I got from Dennis Carpenter. Some of the other parts left a lot to be desired but I'll leave that alone for now. Really looking forward to taking this out on the back roads of Vermont!

 

[hunter1]

Very nicely done!

 

[gnsteam]

I realized I haven't posted anything in a while but I'm making good progress on this Bronco. It's mostly put together with a bunch of punch list items to do, almost ready for first flights. It's been a fun process done in between my real job of building custom airplanes. I'm impressed with the new frame from Kincer, suspension components from James Duff and the body I got from Dennis Carpenter. Some of the other parts left a lot to be desired but I'll leave that alone for now. Really looking forward to taking this out on the back roads of Vermont! View attachment 966789 View attachment 966790 View attachment 966791 View attachment 966792

That looks fantastic, I like it.

 

[half cab]

Amazing is all I got.

 

[904Bronco]

Wow

 

[tasker]

Very impressive!

 

[BronCowie]

We like!!!

 

[Jakedog]

Did you paint it yourself? It's looking really good.

 

[Bearhawk Builder]

Thanks for the compliments, there's still several small things to do as well as assembling the hard top. Does anyone know how much taller the steel hard top sits above the windshield frame? Also how tall is it off the tailgate? I'm going to be close in this garage.
Yes, painted myself - SPI epoxy, 2k primer and Universal Clear, Motobase base coat. Boxwood and Wimbledon.

 

[tasker]

LOVE TO see that at next year's May It Forward!

 

[SLOWnEASY]

Thanks for the compliments, there's still several small things to do as well as assembling the hard top. Does anyone know how much taller the steel hard top sits above the windshield frame? Also how tall is it off the tailgate? I'm going to be close in this garage.
Yes, painted myself - SPI epoxy, 2k primer and Universal Clear, Motobase base coat. Boxwood and Wimbledon.

The stock top is not flat, but more like a bubble. So it's not necessarily the front and back but actually the center you need to be concerned with. That being said I laid a 1x2x8 piece of pine flat on my roof and here's what I cam up with. There is a slight bit of parallax error. So if it comes down to 1/4 inch go/no go from the measurements I can go measure more accurately. 4 1/2 inches from top of windshield to top of roof. and approximately 25 1/2 to 26 inches top of tailgate to top of roof.
And I have a 7 foot tall garage door and running 1 inch body lift and 31 x 1050 x 15 BFG all terrains and still about a foot clearance with the garage door.

 

[Bearhawk Builder]

Thanks, that helps a lot. I have a 2" body lift on this Kincer frame and 3 1/2" suspension lift and 275/70/17 tires. It's close.