well after about 4000 or so miles the throw out bearing finally gave up the ghost and barfed its bearings out at the bottom of the inspection plate. I will have to pull the transmission off to see what caused it but i suspect its engaged just a bit too far and finally gave up.

I guess my two options are to cut and weld the fork so it angles back just a bit... or put a spring on the other end of the fork to pull it back off the clutch pressure plate. I am favoring the cut and weld option right now.

Any other ideas? The dodge bearing which i used (i think), seems like its the better option of the two to try as its thinner. I will check it against the other throw out bearing I bought...

Other than the throw out bearing its been a great swap so far. Consistently getting 14+ MPG, easier shifting and much easier on me and the Bronco when driving long distances.

I was about to pull it into the garage to fix the rear ARB as its leaking and suspect that its the seal housing or seals... have a feeling the line was installed short and not allowing the seal housing to move - which i guess its supposed to so will kill two birds with one stone ;)

How has that clutch fan worked out for ya this year?

Is there anyway to find out how much contact is occurring? If it's tenths off mm or less than a mm maybe you could machine the the engagement arm or bearing contact surface. Not that I don't like cutting and welding stressed components, but I wonder if the engagement arm is strengthened by one of many processes.

I use a spring on my car to keep the throw out bearing off the PP.

I pulled the transmission and swapped in the dodge throwout bearing. The old throw-out bearing basically disintegrated into its basic pieces. It looks like there was quite a bit of heat generated which could mean it didn't like riding the pressure plate all the time but as pointed out I think the clutch fingers also had a role to play. I would need CSI to really find out what went wrong as there wasn't too much left as you can see from the pics.

The new dodge bearing is a bit thicker and it does ride the pressure plate quite a bit. I drilled a couple of holes in the fork while I had it out and plan on putting a spring to back off the bearing slightly. It only needs 1/8" or less to stop it from riding the pressure plate all the time.. should help.

Crossing my fingers as its not easy to stuff that zf back in an early bronco with a 400, takes some creative engine strapping to tilt things..

Just be glad you don't have a stupid internal slave cylinder to deal with, the one I replaced is already leaking.

It was from NAPA, made in USA with a 1 yr warranty. I won't say a external swap isn't possible. And when I drop it this time I will likely convert it over.

Thanks,

And build a couple extra external slave cylinders while you are at it. I bet you could sell a few.

If I wasn't already worried about finishing my project before it gets too cold, I might take some time to work on that. I'm going to drop in a stock one, and hope someone figures a swap, before mine goes bad.

I pulled the center section and found it just like this



Oh boy... talk about lucky.. lucky i had an ARB that acted as a warning before the ring gear exploded... that was the only bolt that had backed out but they are all loose. Pulled three none had thread locker on em...

already have the parts to repair so will start on that tomorrow - along with adding some red thread locker in the mix this time ;)

Is that another fine installation of expensive parts by the PO ?

Off to repaint and rust treatment!

Going to keep it red?

Yup. Same color.

Nice! Who is doing it? Want to get mine done at some point.

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Bronco has been repainted and sitting while I finish my garage build. Final inspection should be done this week but I snuck in and started working on stuff for the Baja bronco adventure in may.

Swapping in a new to me dash, cut out the speaker and ashtray, filled In stock radio and dash light holes.





A bit more grinding then fill and paint. Moving the speakers in the current dash into some fiber glass door panels.

I am way behind in prepping the bronco for Baja so hopefully have it in the new garage next week.

Finished welding and grinding. A little primer then scuff and filler to make it less wavy ;). Then more primer scuff and paint. Going back to gloss black with a clear so expect it will show imperfections but these dashes were never perfect anyway! Will be better than what I have now.

Filled in the low spots, cut two new holes for usb and power point, primed, painted and gloss coat. Unfortunately a few dog hairs ended up in it so will have to sand and touch up in a few days. On to the next thing!

Looking good.

Built a box with 40" locking rails, will seal and paint it. I bought 1/8" rubber matt for the top which i will glue down and then mount the box where the harness rings were in the bed of the bronco. Should hold most if not all spare parts and fluids for the Mexico, need to figure out a drawer front to seal it from the dirt and dust.

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Hey great idea.... I love mine. Sure makes it easy to have all your tools and stuff in there when camping. It kept me from empting the bronco on my Ouray trip when the fan died on me.

That looks like it will work well!! For a seal, I wonder if stapling down some sort of rubber/neoprene flat around the perimeter would do it?

My advice is to take brand new *unopened* fluids. And to try to keep them from rubbing together or even on the floor. I carry fluids in an ammo can, and more than once I've had bottle get rub holes and leak, or just leak because of an off camber situation or something. While contained in the ammo can, it's still a mess. I think the two issues were antifreeze (rubbed thru) and gear oil, which I think never re-sealed, but my memory is foggy.