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Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

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    Posted: 26 Mar. 2018 at 1:37am
I thought I'd start a thread here about my '71 Bronco.  I have one on another board, so if you want the whole story up to this point you can check it out here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1279636-71-bronco-build-retrospective.html

Otherwise I'll just give the highlights up to this point, and then build on it from there.

I started this project when my 2 sons were outgrowing the back seat of my '75 Jeep CJ5.  The original intention was to keep both vehicles, but life got in the way of that, so I ended up selling the CJ.

The Bronco got a family cage, 4 high-backed buckets and seat belts with shoulder harnesses in all 4 seats to make it safe enough for us to feel good about taking the kids in it.  4 wheel power disk brakes added more safety and made it easier to drive (a previous owner had given it power steering).  I tried fuel injection and an automatic overdrive trans with a manual valve body, but neither worked out well, so I went back to the stock 2 bbl carb and 3 speed trans.  Later I swapped to an NV3550 5 speed manual trans (out of a Jeep Wrangler!) and an Atlas 4.3:1 transfer case.

The PO had lifted it (1" body lift and ~3" suspension) and put 33/12.50-15 BFG Mud-Terrains on it.  I switched to skinnier 33/10.50-15 BFG All-Terrains.  I also put a Detroit locker in the rear, staying with the stock 4.10:1 gears.

I built new bumpers and a tow bar, and set it up with "toad" brakes (trailer brakes for when I'm towing it).  The bumpers both have receivers, so when I got a receiver-mount winch for it last year I could put it on either end.

That's really an over-simplified view of the journey, but it gives a pretty good picture of how it sits now.  We've used it for family vacations, towing it behind my pickup with a slide-in camper (moving up to a class C motorhome last year).  We park the camper at a campground and drive the Bronco around to do touristy stuff, as well as going fourwheeling.  Rocks are our favorite terrain, with the Black Hills being the runaway favorite destination.  Prior to the Bronco we made multiple trips to Colorado, mostly centering around Leadville, but once going to Ouray (those were with the CJ5).  And the Minnesota DNR has an OHV park up on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota.  We've made a few trips there as well.

Here are a few pictures that show it in use.






Edited by Nothing Special - 26 Mar. 2018 at 1:39am
Bob

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Mar. 2018 at 1:44am
So now I'm starting on the next project: adding a selectable locker in the front axle (to go with the automatic Detroit in the rear).  I decided on an OX locker. I chose it over an ARB or an e-Locker because of not having to drill holes in the case to pass an air line or wires, and the ability to work it manually if the main shifting mechanism gets damaged (OX calls it a "drive-away lock"). I've also heard only good things about the OX durability and reliability. ARB and the e-Locker both seem to be pretty well thought of, but the OX, as a strictly mechanical device, is just inherently simpler, and I like that.

However I did decide to go with the air actuator for it rather than a lever and cable. I already have on-board air, so it doesn't add any more cost or complexity. And it seemed like it would be easier to mount the air switch and run air lines than it would be to mount a lever and run a cable that can't be kinked.

I ordered the locker and diff kit last week. It hasn't arrived yet. Hopefully this week.

So far I've been working on disassembly. Getting the axle shafts out went pretty well. The biggest problem I had was getting the spindle nut locking rings off. Both had "walked" a little so the tab on the locking ring wasn't in the slot in the spindle anymore. The driver's side was very close so once I was able to yank it out a little (with some baling wire through one of the holes that lined up with a slot in the inner nut) it popped back into the slot and came off fine. The passenger side had moved a lot farther though. I was able to yank it out enough to clear the pin on the inner nut, then I used a screwdriver as a punch and tapped it to "unscrew" it off the spindle until the tab came back to the slot.

Both spindles came off by hand! I've fought those so hard on every vehicle I've ever worked on that I was dreading it here. But when I put them on the Bronco last time (the first time I had pulled them off) I cleaned everything up good and slathered on anti-seize. It worked!

I did have trouble getting the axle shafts to slide out through the knuckles. Even after taking the grease fittings off the U-joints I couldn't get them to slide through. I kept turning the knuckles slightly, and twisting the axles to different positions and all of a sudden one just came out easily! That was when I remembered that I had put higher strength axle shafts and U-joints in it when I was building it (getting ready for a locker) and had found that I couldn't fit the new shafts in, so I had to file the knuckles a little to make notches to let the axles go in. I just had to get the axles lined up with those notches again to get them out.

Along with the dent in the diff cover that appeared last summer in the Black Hills, I also saw a shiny spot on the diff cover from where the tie rod was making contact. That shouldn't happen so I looked closer at the tie rod and saw it was bent (actually it's the left rod end that's bent, but since that goes almost all the way across the Bronco, and the actual tie rod is only about 6" long, it kind of seems like it's the tie rod).

So I got the tie rod off (to be straightened, and to get it out of the way of the diff change) and got the diff cover off. That's where it sits now. I'm planning to do the diff swap myself. I've never set up gears before, and I've heard that Dana axles are some of the worst to work on. But I'm reusing the old gears and not touching the pinion, so it seemed like a good time to try it. If worst comes to worst I'll put the spindles back on and drive it to a shop to bail me out!

Here's a pic of the diff cover with the dent (low on the part that sticks out to clear the ring gear) and the mark from the tie rod hitting it (about even with the cover bolt that was already removed). The tie rod was already removed in this pic.


And here's a pic of the bent tie rod.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lee MN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Mar. 2018 at 2:35am
Interesting!..... if you do not mind me asking, what's an OX locker going for, $ ?.... where were you at in the Black Hills ?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Mar. 2018 at 4:00am
Originally posted by Lee (MN) Lee (MN) wrote:

Interesting!..... if you do not mind me asking, what's an OX locker going for, $ ?.... where were you at in the Black Hills ?

Lee

Around $1000.  It's not a low cost option!  But I'm not at a point of constantly spending money on this vehicle anymore, so I'm doing more expensive projects that have been put off for a while, just not doing them real fast.  I added the winch about a year ago, and otherwise it was just a few minor repairs in the past year, so the locker finally made the top of the list.

When my kids were very little we stayed at Jellystone Park on the south side of Rapid City.  That closed down a while back and since then we've been staying at Mystery Mountain Resort, right next door to Bear country (also a little south of Rapid City).

We've done a bunch of different trails in the area.  Around Galena / Camp 5 Road has long been a favorite (the middle picture above is from there, the top picture is from another Black Hills trail, the bottom one is from the Mesabi Mountain Trail near the Gilbert OHV park).

There's also a trail called Trapper's Run that we did on our first trip out, but haven't been able to find again (we had a local guide that day, a picture of my old CJ5 on that trail is below).


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lee MN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Mar. 2018 at 4:46am
Nice!, I thought that looked like camp 5, I've been there myself!.... Good luck with your project, nice to see something different as well!.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Flatfender Ben Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar. 2018 at 6:22pm
Sweet Bronco!
Thanks for sharing Clap
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar. 2018 at 1:46am
Since I'm going to be reusing my old gears I figured I'd check the current setup before I pulled the carrier out. Being I'm new at this I welcome suggestions from others.

The backlash is .006", which seems very good (I've heard .005" - .008" is the spec).

I'm less thrilled with the pattern, but I think it's OK. The pattern seems a lot closer to the toe than the heel, but what I'm seeing on most "expert" sites is that that doesn't matter so much. The main things seem to be that the pattern is centered between the flank and the face (and the pinion depth needs to be changed to adjust that) and that the backlash is correct (moving the carrier to adjust that). I think my pattern seems good that way (flank - face), so I think the pinion depth must be correct (which is great, because I wasn't planning on touching that). So It should just be getting the backlash and the carrier bearing preload right by getting the right carrier shims in the right places.

Again, I welcome feedback!

Drive side (I think I might have got cleaner patterns if I had been able to put more load on the ring gear while I was turning the pinion. I think I'll try to get some help when I put it back in so I can do that better)


Coast side:
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2018 at 1:48pm
Wow, that was a job!  As I said, I've never done differential gears before.  Now I understand why it's a "if you have to ask if you can then you probably can't" job.  It's not rocket science by any means.  But it's picky, slow and frustrating.  It would be very easy to give up in the middle (I almost did a couple of times).

I checked the backlash and pattern with the old gears as described above (.006" backlash, acceptable pattern).  I also checked the torque-to-turn: about 15 lb-in with the carrier before I pulled the old diff out, and 5 lb-in with just the pinion, so pretty low on both counts, but it's a 47 year old front diff with gears that still look good, so I wasn't sweating that.

I was able to carefully pry the old carrier out without using a spreader, so I was happy to avoid that purchase.

I tried using a brake cylinder hone to open the ID of a new set of carrier bearings to make myself some setup bearings.  After about 15 minutes I saw absolutely no change in diameter (measured with a caliper), and I needed to take out .002".  I decided I'd probably die of old age before I got it that way, so I brought them to work and figured out how to hold them in a 4-jaw chuck where I could indicate them in and bore them out.  It was still tough to get then in the chuck straight (very little of the inner race is available to grab), so I'm sure they aren't perfectly centered, but it was the best I was going to be able to do.

I set the old carrier on a surface plate and used a height gage and indicator to measure the position from one outer race to the ring gear mounting face and to the other outer race.  Then I played with shims and the setup bearings on the OX until I got the same measurements.  Should be a good starting point, right?

Wrong.  Well, maybe a good starting point, but nowhere near a good ending point.  I slipped it into the case, torqued down the bearing caps (yes, they were marked to go back the same as they came out), and checked the backlash.  Perfect at .006"!  So what was wrong?  The carrier isn't supposed to slip into the case.  I had no carrier bearing preload and the torque-to-turn was 5 lb-in (it should be at least about 15 lb-in more than the torque to turn just the pinion, which was 5 lb-in too).  I ended up adding .017" to the "button" side and .009" to the "flange" side (with about three in-and-outs of the carrier) before getting .007" backlash and 20 lb-in torque-to-turn.  And I was able to tap the carrier in with a plastic mallet and pry it back out, so I still avoided needing a case spreader.

Well at that point I felt pretty good about where I was, but not so great on how I got there.  Needing to add .026" total shims from my measurements off the old carrier didn't give me a lot of confidence that I'd get it right the first time with the "real" pressed-on bearings.  But I measured the height of the setup bearings, found that the "real" bearings were .002" shorter, so I added .002" of shim to both sides.  I pressed the real bearings on and slipped it in again.  Yep, again I was way too low on the preload.

The OX carrier doesn't give much room to get behind the carrier bearings to pull them off.  Looking on-line I didn't find any pullers I was willing to pay for.  So I made my own at work.  Before I pulled them off I measured the overall width and position of the mounting face (not very close to my original carrier).  Then I added shims to both sides to get back to my original measurements.  That still slid right into the case.

So off came the bearings again, take a wild guess at how many shims to add to both sides and try again.  This time I couldn't rap it in with the plastic mallet, so pull out a little shim and try again.  Success!  I fully expected to have at least one more in-and-out to get the backlash set once I was close on the preload.  But this gave me .007" backlash, 20 lb-in torque-to-turn (so 15 lb-in over the pinion alone) and pretty much the same pattern I started with originally!

And the whole thing only took 5 weeks! Ouch

But I'm there!  I did have to grind the shifting fork in the OX cover to clear part of the case (OX wanted me to grind the casting, but I wasn't going to pull it out at this point and fill the oily case with grinding dust, so I'm sure I voided the OX warrantee).  I straightened out my bent tie rod and put it all back together.  No weird noises when driving with the hubs locked, so I'm calling it good!

I do still need to tap into my air system, mount the switch/valve, and run the air lines.  And I'm a little disappointed that OX only included 3 of the 4 air line fittings, so I need to get another one somewhere.  But I have hooked up the air line to my shop air and have shown that it engages and disengages.  So now I just need another round toit!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote windyhill Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2018 at 3:55pm
Nice job.  Ya gear work is not fun, been there done that.  picky and tense.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Greaser007 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 May 2018 at 6:31am
nice Bronco !

   I've a good buddy who is completed with the chassis, and is almost ready for paint on his '75. he has spent countless hours on the rebuild of the tub, and oh will it be nice. He had installed a NP435 before he began the frame-off.

   on your photos, of your mesh-pattern, it looks to me like the pinion is too deep, but it will probably run fine as it was running this pattern previously.

   That is my observation. several decades back I had a machinist hone known good bearings to use as set-up bearings for both Carrier and Pinion.
   Those set-up bearings sure sped-up the set up process, which is always very slow and tedious at best, every time.

   Way back in 1976, another old friend had Detroit Lockers installed in both front and rear of his '71 Bronco, and the results were IMPRESSIVE.

   I currently have a '77 CJ-7 which I have run through the Rubicon Trail 16 summers with very good success with the 304 and T-18 4-spd transmission.
The Rubicon is a 7-hour drive from my home in California.
   My last summer to run it was back in 2001.   .....17 years ago already.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 May 2018 at 6:02pm
Thanks!
 
I had an NP435 in my '85 F-250.  Along with the ~2.8:1 stock transfer case gears that thing was GREAT at creeping, even with 33" tires and 3.55 axle gears.  I had a ball driving that truck up Mt. Antero and over Spring Creek trail in Colorado.  Bone stock, including open diffs.
 
Yeah, I can see where the pattern might be a little high on the teeth.  It is a front axle, so it doesn't get that much use, and no high speed.  With 220K on the vehicle the gears still look great.  So I'm thinking it should be fine
 
I had Lock-Rights front and rear in a '95 F-150.  The front locker made it unsafe in 4WD on a snowy freeway, so I went with a selectable in the front of the Bronco.  But the Bronco doesn't get driven on salty freeways anyway, so after some locker discussions here with Metcalf and Spinnas especially I kind of wish I was trying a front automatic and a rear selectable.  But I already had the Detroit in the rear, and I wasn't going to do two new lockers now.  I've always been happy with the rear Detroit, so I'm sure I'll be even happier with this setup.
 
I'd love to do the Rubicon sometime!  I was trying to figure out how I could get in on the trip a group from here are doing this summer, but it just doesn't fit with a trip I already had scheduled with my wife.  But some time!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep. 2018 at 2:15am
It's been a busy summer with the Bronco. Too busy to keep this thread up-to-date. But things are starting to calm down a bit so I thought I'd try to get it caught up.

No pictures of the next couple of mini-projects. I got the switch/valve for the OX air supply mounted in the dash, just to the right of the steering column. I was able to "T" into the air line for my "toad brakes" which is on the floor in front of the shifter. So that was a pretty easy job.

Then I was getting tired of my windshield wipers tipping over when the plastic piece that comes on the replacement wipers decides to not hold tightly to the little metal arm that early Broncos have. I never have that trouble with my '97 F-250, so I bought a couple of wiper arms from a '90s F-series, cut the ends off and machined them to attach to the Bronco wiper arm. That worked out great. The NAPA wipers attach easily and securely to the new arms.

And then I welded a short piece of square tubing to one side of my tow bar so I can put my receiver-mount winch there when I'm towing the Bronco. I can't put the winch in my front receiver when the tow bar is on, and I can't close my spare tire carrier when the winch is in the rear receiver, so I end up hefting it into a storage compartment in the RV, which is a royal pain in the ... back. Now this lets me carry it pretty easily until we get to camp, then the tow bar comes off and the winch can go on the front bumper.

Then we had a chance to use it!  I have this thread ( https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/nothing-specials-ouray-wheeling-trip_topic42887.html) in the "Photos and Stories" forum, so I'll just hit the bare highlights here with a couple of pics (check out the other thread if you want more details).  My wife and I drove out to Ouray in the RV and 'wheeled around there for 5 days, then up near Denver for one day trying (unsuccessfully) to traverse Spring Creek Trail.  It was a lot of fun!

Here's a shot on the way out, on top of Monarch Pass (you can sort of see the winch mounted on the towbar in this pic).


One scenery pic:


And one trail pic:



Edited by Nothing Special - 10 Sep. 2018 at 2:19am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Flatfender Ben Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep. 2018 at 2:20am
Looks like fun 
Great pictures thanks for posting. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep. 2018 at 2:24am
I talked about this some in the "Photos and Stories" thread, but to keep this one complete on the vehicle...

On the Colorado trip Poughkeepsie Gulch and Spring Creek Trail gave me a few opportunities to try out the new OX locker in the front axle. I've had a Detroit in the rear axle for a long time, and I've had rear lockers in a couple of other vehicles. I also had a LockRight in the front of an F-150 for about a year, but never really did any off-roading with it, and after finding how terrible it was on a snowy freeway I took it out. So this was my first time 'wheeling with a front locker, or driving with a selectable in the front.

I love it!

No surprise, but it makes climbing over a rock much easier. Without the locker, when one front tire starts climbing a rock it takes weight off the other front tire (especially in a Bronco with stock radius arms), the unweighted tire spins and the vehicle stops climbing. With the locker the tire that's being pushed into the rock keeps climbing and I got over a lot of big rocks very easily.

It also was nice come down rougher sections. Without it, any time a front tire gets a little unweighted it could slip, allowing the other front tire to roll freely and the vehicle would jump ahead. With the locker I kept getting traction, so the compression braking kept working and the Bronco would just keep crawling slowly down.

I was a little concerned ahead of time that it would be annoying having to switch the locker on and off and on and off as I needed traction, or needed to turn. Turns out that wasn't much of an issue. If I needed traction I could usually just keep it locked, even if I needed to turn. I could feel a little hesitance in the vehicle to turn like that, but not enough to really be a problem (although the power steering was a lot more necessary at that point!).

Also Brennan Metcalf talked about front selectables binding up and not disengaging when you flip the switch. There were definitely times where the first turn or two after switching off the locker were still heavy, showing that the locker was still engaged. But it always unlocked after only one or two brief turns of the wheel back and forth, so it certainly wasn't objectionable.

Overall I'm very happy with the current setup!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep. 2018 at 2:25am
Originally posted by Flatfender Ben Flatfender Ben wrote:

Looks like fun 
Great pictures thanks for posting.

Thank you!  (there are a lot more pictures, as well as a lot of trail reports in the "Photos and Stories" thread if you want more)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep. 2018 at 2:41am
I did have a few things to fix after the trip. In the week-long trip I added 3 quarts of oil to the engine. With smoke coming off the exhaust manifold and oil showing up on the trail behind me, it seemed like this was the time to replace the leaking rear main seal and to put cast aluminum valve covers on it. To do that I pulled the engine out. Not having an engine hoist, but having a come-along and a big tree next to my driveway, I got to get in touch with my inner redneck!


I don't have much time on it after those fixes, but it is all back together now, and it doesn't seem to be leaking (fingers crossed!).


And this was the second 'wheeling trip that I came back from with a horrible exhaust leak between the left manifold and the Y pipe. And in the picture above you can see how low the muffler hung down. So it was time to do something about all of that.

To try to stiffen up the engine mounting I replaced the passenger side motor mount with a homemade one using a spring bushing.  I had already done this to the driver's side a couple years ago, here's a picture of that work of art on the left, with the torn stock mount that had been on the driver's side on the right in the picture.



Then I had the muffler shop put a new exhaust system in it, asking them to rotate the muffler so it wouldn't hang down so far (it's an oval cross-section and was mounted vertically, so it hung down a lot farther than if it had been mounted horizontally). Unfortunately, they replaced the oval muffler with a glass-pack instead. I've driven it for a week, and have decided that my first reaction was accurate. I hate it. So it's going back to the muffler shop on Tuesday to get a real muffler put on like I had asked for.


Then this weekend I took care of a couple other things. A few years ago the line lock I was using as a parking brake quit working. I had to move it to get the transfer case out when I was putting the engine back in, so now I took it out completely rather than putting it back in.

And after years of being annoyed by vibrating rear view mirrors, I put the same Ford mirrors as I have on my '97 F-250HD. They are hideously expensive compared to the aftermarket ones, but they stay in place and don't shake, so I decided it was worth it. And then I found that they've been discontinued, so it took some internet scouring to find both a right and left mirror that were new. But they went on on Saturday. They vibrate a little more than the mirrors on my truck do, but are MUCH better than the ones I took off the Bronco.  (I'll blame the aftermarket mounts I put the Ford mirror heads on for the little vibration that's still there.)
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Greaser007 View Drop Down
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Joined: 16 Jan. 2018
Location: Anderson, Calif
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Greaser007 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Dec. 2018 at 2:20am
   Bob,
   I like your spring-housing engine mount. very clever, and they are Tough.
The Rubicon is my playground locally, (6-hours drive) and it is tough on poly bushings. I always ran rubber spring and shock bushings. No-poly !

   I agreed with what you said about the subtle benefits of the front locker on descent and tire on ground getting the traction. And like you said going down hill and one tire breaks loose, you shoot-ahead quickly.

   When the Rubicon Express 'long-arm' kits came on the market for the early
'90's small Cherokees, there were bunches of locked-up Cherokees on the Rubicon that you would die-for.   It was impressive to watch them gracefully climb-up the Big Sluice-Box with ease. (tera-low-gears too).

   In October my buddy and I got his '72 (he put a '75 chassis under his '72 titled tub) Bronco painted. I was the Stupid-visor and he did the spraying chores.   I mixed the paint for him and overlooked his spraying.   First time I had ever used a low-pressure-high-volume gun, and First paint job for him.
   He has the NP435 4-spd in his bronco. He painted it a very cool gray with a crème hue to it. And he had a late 60's 289 rebuilt for it.
    He had the tub off the frame for paint-day.   Now I've got the bug to spray something of my own.    hahahaha

   Hey, nice set-up photo there on Monarch Pass. I like your RV, it is not too big and cumbersome. My wife and I tow our red '77 behind a '71 Winnebago 24-footer "old-school" like me. :)
   I chuckled at the "Pain-in-the-Back" with moving the winch. Ugh ! grunt.

   My recent "pain-in-the-back" has been my '95 Honda Passport engine re-furb.
It has a 3.2 liter V-6 which should run like new if I got everything reattached correctly. It began as a basket case with bad 5-spd trans. Then I pulled engine (but not from the red-neck tree) ha, and tore it down. End result I am completing assembly and ready to put on the big ugly aluminum intake air-chamber. The intake rocker arm assemblies were wore out both-sides, so it had like .041 tappet clearance with the hydraulic lifters fully extended. very Loose. The passport has a nice long wheelbase for the width.
   I hope to drive it someday because currently it is like a Slot-Machine $$$$.

   Happy Holidays 2018 / 2019

   Len

Edited by Greaser007 - 17 Dec. 2018 at 2:54am
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Nothing Special View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nothing Special Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Dec. 2018 at 5:51pm
Originally posted by Greaser007 Greaser007 wrote:

....     Hey, nice set-up photo there on Monarch Pass. I like your RV, it is not too big and cumbersome. My wife and I tow our red '77 behind a '71 Winnebago 24-footer "old-school" like me. :)
   I chuckled at the "Pain-in-the-Back" with moving the winch. Ugh ! grunt.
....
   Len
 
Thanks for checking in!
 
The RV is officially a 28', but it actually measures about 30' bumper-to-bumper.  We had decided that we wanted to have a sofa inside for lounging on, and a dinette for eating at.  This was the smallest RV we could find that had both (smaller tends to be one or the other).  And we found it at a dealer that had just taken it out of their rental fleet, but not actually listed it for sale yet.  It was 2 years old (it's a 2015) with almost 50K miles, so we got a pretty good deal.  And we won't put many miles on it so I'm not worried about the "high mileage."
 
The winch actually isn't that bad to move, other than getting it in or out of the RV storage compartment.  It's heavy for sure, but I can usually get in a good position to lift it, keeping it pretty close to my feet.  But trying to reach out with it to put it in the RV... that was a nightmare.  I did that on one trip and that was too much.
Bob

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'71 Ford Bronco
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