realized I hadn't kept up to date on the progress of my Bronco and my trailer build so I will post a whole bunch of info then some pictures.
This is cross posted over at the CB site so you might see it there too.
Ok here goes
It started out as a 74 with a 2" unknown coil in the front, late model f150 steel wheels, 33x10.5x15 BFG At's, 4.11 gears and a factory LS up front. It is a Ranger but all that has been stripped from it.
3 spd moved to floor, front cage welded in, 302 in good health, maybe slightly tweaked and a carter afb 4b. All the rockers and front and rear fenders have been replaced, in a mediocre fashion but it looked good and was a good starting point for the price.
now what to do?
was going to try and do it right the first time seeing as this was my fourth EB and wanted to only do things once. Had plans to take it slow and keep it basic but kinda went
.
so where is it now.......
get a drink and a snack this might take a while.
Wild horses 3.5 suspension lift.
coils,leafs double shocked up front with hoops and stock mounts in the rear.
I found some late model Bronco/F150 alum wheels for cheap, finished stripping the clear and polished out and mounted the 33x10.5 BFG AT's it came with on the new wheels.
Installed a disk brake kit up front, Hydroboost brake booster off a JY astrovan.
Upgraded to a new mustang high amperage alternator and threw in an Optima Yellow top when my battery promptly died the first winter.
It now is running a canned ham steering pump as the stocker just wouldnt hold up to the extra duty running the hydro boost.
It originally was going to get cut from the get go but after the Wild Horses lift decided to leave it for the time and it hasn't changed yet, the tires have just cleared their own path off road.
Converted the wiper arms to the Jeep Cherokee rear setup so I can now run any modern wiper blade(huge improvement).
I started working on the inside as it needed a bit of help.
Installed a twin stick on the Xcase and for now am running the stock 3 spd manual, that is on its last legs,
However there is a ZF5 sitting on my side yard waiting for me to install when time permits this winter, that should be awesome.
I extended the cage to complete the family kit and go to the complete rear so my kiddos are protected, found a hard top for a decent price and ran that for awhile but decided that it was
g my kids on the trail in the summer.
Bought a Rampage soft top from WH and installed that,liked it so much I sold the hard top.
Then realized the tired dual exhaust was putting my kids to sleep as it was seeping into the passenger area and when quoted to repair the existing duals, said F it and went for a new custom bent manifold back 2-1 and have been very pleased with it.
Next on the list was to reconfigure the dash.
Cut and relocated the the glove box door and added a pocket for my CB.
then added some space under the radio area for some gauges.
In that slot sits some pro comp ultra lites that keep track of volts,oil pressure and water temp.
while it was apart I piulled the stock speedo and polished the face and added a fresh coat of flouro orange paint to the needles.
Next I installed a new stereo in the dash some side rear speakers in the 1/4 panel diamond plate(it came with) and in the doors in some awesome 1st run door panels from JGZ, thanks again Jay.
I ran the stock seats for awhile and modded a stock rear bench to accomodate some harness mounts for my kids by welding shock tabs to the top rear frame rail of the seat and a flat bar across the bottom that used the stock seatbelt holes, turns out leftover shock mount bolts from my 92 bronco I sold years ago thread perfect into those, sometimes it pays to be a packrat.
I decided I needed better seats and my kids grew up a bit so I placed an order for a full set of beard seats and harnesses.
This did however bring up the problem with the rear harness mounts for the kids so I fabbed me a frame and added a bit of Bronco customization too it just because I could. Its amazing what can be done with a welder and a pile of steel.
made mounts and installed them, these turned out really slick.
The door panels were in rough shape so I recovered them in a seat cover material (motorcycle) that I aquired from a local upholstery shop and it has the appearance of a carbon fiber weave.(matches the new seats on the backs)
After some time I got the idea I needed a rear bumper to carry a fullsize spare and a gas can, since I cant justify the cost to buy a bumper I built one.
turned out pretty good and was exactly what I wanted.
now the front bumper didnt match the rear and I wanted more protection as well as the ability to mount a winch and some light mounts so I built me a front. the rear was made out of tube but the front I went more of a plate design with a tube light bar.
The cool thing about building my own I was able to mount the winch really low between the frame rails to keep the radiator from being blocked off and potentially overheating the Bronco.
Some time passed and my hobby ADD kicked in and I went away for awhile and played with building motorcycles, but got a message from one of the guys here asking where I was and if all was well. it was and I pulled back into the bronco a bit and found some guys were starting to consider doing 1 ton chebby tie rod setups.
Well seeing as how I had the space and the equipment I volunteered my place and some of gurus came over and we knocked out I think 6 or 7 front ends that day. twas a long day but we made it happen.
I have been stuffing fenders on this thing and couldnt be happier.
I will likely cut it one day but the BFG's have a fair bit of life left and I will run them until they are gone and then who knows if the fenders get cut? if they do I might go nuts and bump the lift and go 37"tires or just cut deep with 35's. You just never know with these things.
Now to continue, the 4x4 trailer.
For a family of four to go camping in an early bronco it is tough to pack everything you need. There are companies that make trailers(that I can't afford) and i can build one so I set out to start with the plans.
All the while my mrs was scouring craigslist to see if anything turned up reasonably priced.
She calls me one day and tells me to check an ad she found.
Did some research and called the guy nonstop til he finally called back.
drove the hour and 1/4, pulled in the guys driveway and knew I would be going home with the trailer.
we talked price, shook hands and we were headed home.
It is a 1950 Higgins tent trailer.
all aluminum,15"wheels, high ground clearance looks freakin cool.
The canvas for the tent portion is in very rough shape but overall the trailer was great. we opted to ,for now, use it to haul out camp gear, as replacement canvas is custom and lotsa $$$$.
The factory specs show it weighing in at 750 lbs, we removed the canvas and frame and now it cant weigh more than 500lbs, that canvas is heavy.
We couldn't decide if we wanted to leave it all original or paint it its original color(had been painted a few times) or paint to match my Bronco.
It was decided to paint it to match.
So it matchs my Blue and the top and wheels are Wimbleton White.
it has an aftermarket cooler and propane rack on the front and those are white as well. We replaced all the damaged rivets with stanless steel hardware and welded new hinges to the support bars for the beds.
Made a paint booth out of plastic in my garage and went to town.
I put the same size tires on it that it had, but went BFG AT and because of the profile could not get them to remount, they were more square then the trailer tires on it. They wouldn't get into the skirts on the trailer.
Uh oh.
Not really, just busted out a quick axle flip and they went right in and now there is even more clearance on the trailer than my Bronco.....;D
Oh and they did things right back when this thing was built,
solid 2" steel axle on that thing.
My wife and I worked our tails off and had it done in 10 days.
I still need to make a mount for the spare but time has been thin lately, it will hopefully be done by next spring for wheeling and camping.
Hope I didnt bore with all the details.
, been using borrowed stuff and stick welders for waay to long.
