Alaskan-78XLT
06-15-2008, 07:59 AM
For those that know the area, in Two Rivers, just outside Fairbanks to be specific..
I do hope i am putting this little introduction of the truck and my plans for it in the right forum. :)
Well, Where to start? I'm Gary. Not new to Ford trucks, grew up with a 78 F250, and a 71 F250. Not new to working on 'em either, both are work trucks. I'm just new to Broncos. Wanted a bronco since I was a small kid(I'm only 23 so still a kid really) Love the look of short trucks, and full size Broncos a good proportion- width/length ratio to them. A little lift, and its a perfect look. Also, a Buddies shortbed Chevy showed my the advantages of a short wheelbase for maneuvering.
This is Blackie, he is a '78 Ranger XLT, as he is now more or less;
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a3.jpg
I got him about a week ago from a friend of a friend. Free. :rockon:rockon:rockon All I had to do was go get it..
Its rougher inside than out; it sat for a few years without the topper on it... Can we say moss growth, mud and leaves? Body is straight except for a tinny bit of rear wheel well rust(less than my other '78) and a ripple in the doors and front fenders. small ripples though, will smooth out in an afternoons work.
Power plant is a 351M, IMO one of the Best Ford engine. They hold up well, and treated right, got the power.
Already lifted, got a Ford factory highboy kit in it off a F250
Engine was suposed to run. Ran when it was parked. it was covered and has oil in it, so I was 99.9% sure it wasn't seized/rusted up while sitting. It was missing the starter cylenoid, and a radiator hose so we didn't fire it up. Had to tow it to a buddies place, but only about a mile. Towed by a Chevy no less... :twak ;)(don't realy care, all in fun for me)
The guy I got it from said that he had blown the rear end(a Dana 60 out of a jeep) off roading it, but didn't know what went. Driving it out of the woods on just the front, something suddenly snapped and the front went. From the way he described it, I figured the front was either a locking hub went or snapped an axle.
Before washing(the back was worse, 3" mud, 4" of moss and leaves on top of it);
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b2.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b3.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b4.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b5.jpg
After washing and prelim cleaning. Paint is good, but needs a polish, glass is good, one little crack. pulled the rotten rear seat, and scrapped to metal;
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a1.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a2.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a3.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a4.jpg
Black with red interior will be sharp cleaned up. front seats and dash area are pretty clean, a good shampoo and vacuum will do it, and I'll do seat covers till I can afford to re-apolster the drivers seat.
The plan is to clean out the back, fill the sides in with plywood/sheet metal instead of the cloth pannels and rino-liner it. Build a latch in wall to go behind the front seats. Instant short-short bed. Why? Because I can. ;) I have no immediate need for a passenger rig, and the open cargo space would be nice.
I am getting the top for it from the guy later, and if I can find a junk yard backseat for it, it will be easily converted back.
This isn't much different than my other mud truck project(86Mazda 2600) in required work.. both are good engine, drive line out. But the Mazda is 95% sure the transfer case, mayber a diff. This one is axles/diffs: from engine to drive shafts are good. The main difference though is that in three years of looking, I can't find a junked Mazda for parts... The mid 70s Fords are popular, and a plentiful truck here; scrounging used parts is easy.
OK, since I wrote that out for another web page a week or so ago, I have replaced the radiator hose and starter cylenoid with new parts. Primed it several times, and it fired right up. It lopes a bit, and miss fires till it warms up good; needs plugs. Better than i had imagined having sat for 7 or 8 years.
Drove it the 5 miles home, vibrates and the front pulls a bit on dir road, but is smooth on pavement; backwards to anything I've seen before...usualy the other way around. The tires are reeeeaaly bad, so will see how it does on new 33s. got two used ones, gonna throw them on the back this week.
No rear shocks and a run of bad dips at 50mph... :thumbup YEEEEE HAAAW! Definetally gonna need to fix the mis-aligned shock mounts; aparently the axle being from a jeep is the reason, the shock mounts are further out on the axle than on the frame. Should fix by bending the frame mounts slightly.
That axle was a problem when we got ready to put the rear drive shaft in (assumed it was out since it had to be driven broke when it broke). My buddy had to make a custom U-joint out of 2 sized Chevy(he;s a Chevy guy, but works on everything) joints, one bar of the cross "+" 3/4 ton width and cup dia to mate to the yoke on the rear end, and the other bar with the stock cup dia from the bronco, slightly narrower to mate to the shaft. Need to make a custom drive shaft , this one is almost too short, the slider on the end is only engaging 2" of the 4" of splines.
The front end just made grinding noises under power. rear end is fine. Don't know why the drive shaft was out.
Pulled the front diff cover Thur. Its the spiders. Ring and pinion still looks new. Thinking about putting an aussie locker in it now since I have to take it apart anyway.
Radio works! Somebody put fancy new speakers in the doors too. Good sound.
Gonna pull the diff apart this week, see what bearings and seals I need, and decide on the locker or not. Started touching up the paint in spots... already have plans for patterning the front for flames when i redo all the paint...
Love the forum so far, already learned a lot, history and specs on these trucks, some ideas on the cab wall/pickup conversion, and some things I didn't know about lockers(got some questions to ask on that subject).
Its going to get my Dads winch and bumper we took off the F250 last year if I can con him out of it. :) Need to scrounge me a pipe for a rear bumper, the original chrome one is ****led a bit.
I've spent a lot of time around trucks, and a few of them lifted mudders... a buddy when we were teens hat a '90 ranger with a good 14" lift and 44s. That got me started. But this is my first custom build, and will be the first truck I'vw actually drove off road.(although most roads here are not called that in the rest of the country.. so I do have experiance. ;) )
G.
I do hope i am putting this little introduction of the truck and my plans for it in the right forum. :)
Well, Where to start? I'm Gary. Not new to Ford trucks, grew up with a 78 F250, and a 71 F250. Not new to working on 'em either, both are work trucks. I'm just new to Broncos. Wanted a bronco since I was a small kid(I'm only 23 so still a kid really) Love the look of short trucks, and full size Broncos a good proportion- width/length ratio to them. A little lift, and its a perfect look. Also, a Buddies shortbed Chevy showed my the advantages of a short wheelbase for maneuvering.
This is Blackie, he is a '78 Ranger XLT, as he is now more or less;
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a3.jpg
I got him about a week ago from a friend of a friend. Free. :rockon:rockon:rockon All I had to do was go get it..
Its rougher inside than out; it sat for a few years without the topper on it... Can we say moss growth, mud and leaves? Body is straight except for a tinny bit of rear wheel well rust(less than my other '78) and a ripple in the doors and front fenders. small ripples though, will smooth out in an afternoons work.
Power plant is a 351M, IMO one of the Best Ford engine. They hold up well, and treated right, got the power.
Already lifted, got a Ford factory highboy kit in it off a F250
Engine was suposed to run. Ran when it was parked. it was covered and has oil in it, so I was 99.9% sure it wasn't seized/rusted up while sitting. It was missing the starter cylenoid, and a radiator hose so we didn't fire it up. Had to tow it to a buddies place, but only about a mile. Towed by a Chevy no less... :twak ;)(don't realy care, all in fun for me)
The guy I got it from said that he had blown the rear end(a Dana 60 out of a jeep) off roading it, but didn't know what went. Driving it out of the woods on just the front, something suddenly snapped and the front went. From the way he described it, I figured the front was either a locking hub went or snapped an axle.
Before washing(the back was worse, 3" mud, 4" of moss and leaves on top of it);
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b2.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b3.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b4.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/b5.jpg
After washing and prelim cleaning. Paint is good, but needs a polish, glass is good, one little crack. pulled the rotten rear seat, and scrapped to metal;
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a1.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a2.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a3.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/vehicles/Bronco/a4.jpg
Black with red interior will be sharp cleaned up. front seats and dash area are pretty clean, a good shampoo and vacuum will do it, and I'll do seat covers till I can afford to re-apolster the drivers seat.
The plan is to clean out the back, fill the sides in with plywood/sheet metal instead of the cloth pannels and rino-liner it. Build a latch in wall to go behind the front seats. Instant short-short bed. Why? Because I can. ;) I have no immediate need for a passenger rig, and the open cargo space would be nice.
I am getting the top for it from the guy later, and if I can find a junk yard backseat for it, it will be easily converted back.
This isn't much different than my other mud truck project(86Mazda 2600) in required work.. both are good engine, drive line out. But the Mazda is 95% sure the transfer case, mayber a diff. This one is axles/diffs: from engine to drive shafts are good. The main difference though is that in three years of looking, I can't find a junked Mazda for parts... The mid 70s Fords are popular, and a plentiful truck here; scrounging used parts is easy.
OK, since I wrote that out for another web page a week or so ago, I have replaced the radiator hose and starter cylenoid with new parts. Primed it several times, and it fired right up. It lopes a bit, and miss fires till it warms up good; needs plugs. Better than i had imagined having sat for 7 or 8 years.
Drove it the 5 miles home, vibrates and the front pulls a bit on dir road, but is smooth on pavement; backwards to anything I've seen before...usualy the other way around. The tires are reeeeaaly bad, so will see how it does on new 33s. got two used ones, gonna throw them on the back this week.
No rear shocks and a run of bad dips at 50mph... :thumbup YEEEEE HAAAW! Definetally gonna need to fix the mis-aligned shock mounts; aparently the axle being from a jeep is the reason, the shock mounts are further out on the axle than on the frame. Should fix by bending the frame mounts slightly.
That axle was a problem when we got ready to put the rear drive shaft in (assumed it was out since it had to be driven broke when it broke). My buddy had to make a custom U-joint out of 2 sized Chevy(he;s a Chevy guy, but works on everything) joints, one bar of the cross "+" 3/4 ton width and cup dia to mate to the yoke on the rear end, and the other bar with the stock cup dia from the bronco, slightly narrower to mate to the shaft. Need to make a custom drive shaft , this one is almost too short, the slider on the end is only engaging 2" of the 4" of splines.
The front end just made grinding noises under power. rear end is fine. Don't know why the drive shaft was out.
Pulled the front diff cover Thur. Its the spiders. Ring and pinion still looks new. Thinking about putting an aussie locker in it now since I have to take it apart anyway.
Radio works! Somebody put fancy new speakers in the doors too. Good sound.
Gonna pull the diff apart this week, see what bearings and seals I need, and decide on the locker or not. Started touching up the paint in spots... already have plans for patterning the front for flames when i redo all the paint...
Love the forum so far, already learned a lot, history and specs on these trucks, some ideas on the cab wall/pickup conversion, and some things I didn't know about lockers(got some questions to ask on that subject).
Its going to get my Dads winch and bumper we took off the F250 last year if I can con him out of it. :) Need to scrounge me a pipe for a rear bumper, the original chrome one is ****led a bit.
I've spent a lot of time around trucks, and a few of them lifted mudders... a buddy when we were teens hat a '90 ranger with a good 14" lift and 44s. That got me started. But this is my first custom build, and will be the first truck I'vw actually drove off road.(although most roads here are not called that in the rest of the country.. so I do have experiance. ;) )
G.