[MS88Bronc]

MS88Bronc's new build the "Tennessee Warden" (96)

The next task to tackle was to finish up the steering system. The new gear and pump were working very well, but pops always told me if you're going to do something, do it right and don't half-ass it. So new steering hardware was ordered - new outer tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves, left inner tie rod, and right inner tie rod/drag link. When I brought this stuff home, it was about 95 degrees out with a heat index of about 110, so it came inside and I put it all together loosely on the living room floor!

Later in the day, the sun went away and it got a little darker outside with a front coming in, so I went outside to try and get this installed before the rain hit. I picked up a $15 ball joint/tie rod puller (should say popper) and removed all the old hardware. I took careful measurements of the geometry so I could try and reset the new stuff to the same. I actually went with a little more toe in on the reinstall because I could see a little toe out beforehand anyway. And just as I was torquing down the last castle nut, I feel drops on my legs, followed by a downpour! I didn't have time to grease the fittings at this point, but I went back out later that evening and greased them all, including the ball joint zerks that I could reach (lowers). I also installed a SkyJacker steering stabilizer to hopefully provide a little dampening for the awful roads in Michigan.

And here she sits - lean and mean (and green). This brings me to the end of this latest installment of build posts. Up next, I hope to build a custom center console, upholstered to match the rear bedside panels I built last year. It will hold a few gauges, a Garmin GPS, a CB radio, cup holders, a cargo compartment, and a rocker switch panel that will control the aux lights I plan to install (front and rear driving lights that are installed but not wired, light bar on the front of the roof basket, flood pods on the back of the roof basket, and two spare slots for future expansion). Stay tuned for more, but let me build back up my Bronco fund! Time to go back to the yard and pull and sell some more parts!

Oh, and almost forgot! Alignment:

 

[MS88Bronc]

MS88Bronc's new build the "Tennessee Warden" (96)

Got new headlights for my birthday, so I wanted to install them, since my old lenses were yellowing and had condensation in them. So I got all the lenses, new Sylvania 9007 zXe bulbs, and the headlight harness upgrade from JBG to send more juice to the bulbs and less to the switch.

So I pulled the grille and started pulling the batteries and reservoir to make room to work. It was becoming painfully (literally) obvious that I was going to have to pull the entire bezel (or whatever it’s called) to get the headlight housings out. Those damn clips, especially the bottom one, are practically impossible to get off otherwise.

So after some cursing and a few small cuts on my hands from reaching into those tight spots, it’s all done. Looks great! They line up pretty well, not perfect, but perfection wasn’t expected from Taiwanese parts. Anyway, they looks tons better. :thumbup

Before:

After:

 

[dash_cam]

it's coming along nicely!

 

[MS88Bronc]

MS88Bronc's new build the "Tennessee Warden" (96)

So to go along with the new headlights, I also wanted to spruce up the look of the front. I bought 20 3/4” LED accent lights on eBay a while back and figured I’d go ahead and install them in the grille, sort of a Raptor look.

First I wanted to make the grille look cleaner - the chrome plastic is a little worn and weathered here and there, but I could at least repaint the recessed area so I did that first.

Reinstalled the Blue Oval with 3M molding tape and a little adhesive goop on the back.

So now that the paint was dry, I gathered up the supplies to install the lights and laid out the hole locations. Drilled a 1/8” pilot hole followed by a 3/4” spade bit for the 3/4” grommets and lights. Then I installed the lights and hooked up the wiring. I ran the hot wire to the corner marker light hot wire and spliced it in, and ran the ground wire to a nice spot on the core support. i used spade connectors to connect the grille wiring to the wires behind the grille so I can remove the grille in the future without cutting a wire.

And here she is, all lit up.

And a before/after:

:thumbup

 

[mckenziedg]

I love that front bumper!

 

[OgreXT]

Looking great! Thanks for the thread and updates!!
So how do you like the new headlights / Are they worth the $$$?

We need detail photos for the mounting of those custom sliders Please

 

[MS88Bronc]

MS88Bronc's new build the "Tennessee Warden" (96)

Love the new headlights. Total cost for the housings, bulbs, and harness was probably around $150. The sliders are welded do the frame so not much to show, but I’ll post up a pic when I can get one.

Here’s the low beams at night (don’t have a before pic, but they are much brighter than before).

 

[MS88Bronc]

We need detail photos for the mounting of those custom sliders Please

Here’s what they look like underneath.

 

[CrazyBRONCOguy]

Mine also still has sand on it... lol

 

[MS88Bronc]

Mine also still has sand on it... lol

Looks like I missed a couple spots with the pressure washer last week. :shrug lol

 

[OgreXT]

AWESOME!! Thank you!!
Your "Raptor Lights" look killer too. Great job.
Those sliders give me ideas too; I'll incorporate mounts for my exhaust and sliders into one.
Thanks again. I love the work you've done on your truck.
!!
!! cool pics !!
And those rear springs!! Were those already on it when you bought it?

 

[MS88Bronc]

Wow, I haven't updated my build thread in 10 months! OK, looks like I have a little remembering to do. OK - I think this is about where I hooked up my winch to switches inside the cab so that I could operate it without using the handheld remote. To do this, I needed three wires to go into the cab from the winch solenoid - 12V power, winch in, and winch out. A little research on this and I found a good idea for this ...... a section of heavy duty extension cord. I just happened to have one lying around with a bad plug on one end, so I cut off about 10' of it. It's perfect - three wires inside the cord, each separated by their own insulation plus the paper wrapped inside. So I soldered and shrink wrapped the connections near the solenoid first.

Then I routed the other end of the cord up through the core support, around the batteries, past the starter solenoid, and below the blower motor into the passenger side floorboard through an existing grommet that was empty.

Then I went back to the bench and wired up the rocker switches - one switch is to activate the other switch, which actually controls the winch. This way, it might help prevent accidental activation of the winch if I bumped the switch accidentally. So there's one for power, and then a double throw switch to control winch in and out. I also removed the dash trim to give it a little custom paint touch while I was doing this.

Hooked up the three wires to the back of the rocker switches.

All hooked up and working!

And lastly, the body-matched paint on the trim:

And here's a little video explaining it:

I'll keep updating this as I have time, to try and get caught back up.

 

[OdinsBeard]

Since I got this rig, it's had a bit of a vibration at around 70 mph. I figured it was wheel balance, and I still think that the balance isn't perfect, but then one day, it developed a loud knocking sound. It was speed-related, not RPM related, so I figured it was something in the drivetrain - u joint, CV ball, but hopefully not the t-case, tranny, or rear end. I thought it would be a good time to rebuild the driveshaft. So I picked up a CV ball rebuild kit and three u joints.

Then I started taking it all apart.

I had a helluva time getting the ball collar out - ended up figuring out that JBG had a new CV ball yoke ready to install with three Spicer u joints for $100, so I returned the other stuff I bought and saved $25 on the deal.

Put it all back together, easy peasy, and lubed the slip joint while it was apart - I had a clunk before that was likely this.

All back together and installed:

Test drive confirmed the knocking was the driveshaft joints, so it was a successful job.

Just did this the other day, blew my u joints the day I had to drive 3 hours home. That was fun

 

[dash_cam]

Is that extension cord running full power for the winch or does it just run to relays somewhere?

 

[MS88Bronc]

Is that extension cord running full power for the winch or does it just run to relays somewhere?

It’s just activating the relay for the winch. Each individual wire in the cord is the same gauge as the wires that go to the remote plug for the handheld controller. It’s pretty much the same as if I mounted the handheld controller in the cab, except I just used switches in the dash for a cleaner look.

It’s not holding all that current to actually operate it - there are much bigger cables for that! They’re actually thicker than my battery cables.

 

[dash_cam]

It’s just activating the relay for the winch. Each individual wire in the cord is the same gauge as the wires that go to the remote plug for the handheld controller. It’s pretty much the same as if I mounted the handheld controller in the cab, except I just used switches in the dash for a cleaner look.

It’s not holding all that current to actually operate it - there are much bigger cables for that! They’re actually thicker than my battery cables.

that's what i figured, but just checking. that is a clever way to run those wires together, though.

 

[biggum]

Funny you posted this - I was just watching some guy run wires on his land rover with these combined +/- speaker type wires and thought it was interesting. Most auto wiring ive seen is done with two individual wires but it sure makes sense to run a dual wire setup; I wonder why it isn't done more often.

 

[slimpartywagon]

Funny you posted this - I was just watching some guy run wires on his land rover with these combined +/- speaker type wires and thought it was interesting. Most auto wiring ive seen is done with two individual wires but it sure makes sense to run a dual wire setup; I wonder why it isn't done more often.

I started using CAT 5 Cable (2 strands soldered together) to trigger the relays, since suck a small amperage is needed. Works really good.

 

[MS88Bronc]

Ok, I haven’t updated this thread in a while, and there’s more that I’ve done that I am going to skip over right now. However, I want to start documenting this here so I don’t have go make a new thread.

I picked up a roller 351 block with rotating assembly and heads recently - I plan to build this to go in the Warden next spring.

I pondered stroking it to 408 for a bit, but chose to go with a warmed over 0.030” over 351 (357). It will get a nice cam (Comp 35-512-8), flat top pistons, aluminum FloTek heads (got a great deal from a friend), Edelbrock 3881 intake, BBK twin 56mm TB, BBK ceramic coated headers, and 24# Cobra injectors.

I should be running around 9.8:1 compression ratio with this setup.

This will not be a fast build, but it should be fun - I haven’t built an engine in over 20 years. I’m sure I’ll have questions lol.

Started into the tear-down a little tonight.

Cheers!

 

[reptillikus]

oooh, those bearings!