Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

[Gary Lewis]

You are making really good progress, and you have the right stuff in the pipeline to be able to finish it well before time to leave.  Well done!  

[Bruce moose4x4]

You should be able to find out if the conversion tie rods are standard on the shelf items with this chart.

https://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/universal_outer_tie_rod_ends.asp

Bronco is looking great.

[Nothing Special]

How many auto parts stores can look up the Moog number?  It seems like all they can go by is what vehicle, year, engine and does it have velour seats?  But it'still worth looking up, thanks for the link!

[Nothing Special]

More little things done, but the front tires aren't on yet.

I got the F-150 brake lines but didn't like them.  They'd make the routing very different, and I couldn't really see how to mount them to the caliper without having them hit the coil spring in a turn.  So I put the old hoses on.  I need to figure out what they are and probably get some new ones, but they are fitting well.

And I made a new bolt to hold the brake line to the axle housing.  So my brake lines are all hooked up and I've bled the brakes.

I have the steering hooked up using the tapered bushings.  I'll probably have about 2" of toe-in when I put the tires on!  But lots of parts are different, so I didn't really expect it to be close.

Getting the exhaust hooked back up was a bit of an adventure.  It really isn't fitting well.  It'll do for now, but I really need to get something else made.

Both driveshafts are in now, and the transfer case shifters are hooked up.  I even changed the engine oil and filled the front diff with gear lube.

So what's holding me up?  It really could be driven now if I put the tires on (although with 2" of toe-in it probably would be a handful!).  But in addition to tires and toe-in I want to get the aux fuel tank mounted (the hoses I needed for that came tonight).  The cables to the rear winch connection are awfully close to the muffler (that's likely been true before but having seen it now I need to fix it).  And I need to check fluid levels in everything.  I don't know if I'll have time for all of that tomorrow night or not.  It'll be close, but I need to run another errand too.  Then we're going to the cabin for the weekend, so if it isn't running tomorrow it won't be until Monday.

But it's really close!

[Gary Lewis]

It is always a battle right at the end when everything comes together.  Especially when you spy something you don't like, such as the lines to the winch, which you think you need to fix.  But, how long have they been that way and do they need to be fixed now?  

But you are almost "there"!  Is it the next weekend you are leaving?  You have it made!

[Nothing Special]

The winch cables have been there since I installed the winch in 2017.  The muffler almost certainly got closer to them when the exhaust was redone in 2018.  But I'm not sure that it didn't get closer again this week when I had to reef on everything pretty hard to get the bolts for the exhaust hangers to line up.  And now the cables are running about a half inch above the muffler.  So does it NEED to be done now?  Well, not necessarily before I start it, but it certainly does before I drive it much.

I still have a few weeks before the trip, but no more weekends.  This weekend and Labor Day we're going to my folk's cabin.  Next weekend (and probably much of the next couple of weeks) we're installing a fence at my son's house (so he can dog-sit for us while we're on vacation).  And I want to get a few miles on these major changes before we head across the country.  Plus I want to get it to an alignment shop.  So I have time, but not a lot extra!

[Gary Lewis]

What about insulating the wiring with some of the thermal wrap like I used on Big Blue?  It has a Velcro closure down it and just slips around whatever it is protecting w/o having to take things loose.  I can get the brand and vendor if you are interested.

[Nothing Special]

That wouldn't be bad to look into.  if you can get that I'd appreciate it.  But I think it won't be too hard to move the cables a bit so they don't go right over the muffler.

[Gary Lewis]

This is the stuff I'm using and it seems to work well: A-Team Performance - Heat Shroud

[Nothing Special]

It's ready to drive!

Tonight I got the aux tank in and checked most of the fluids.  Then I put the front tires on and measured the toe-in.  I was a little off in my estimate before.  It was about 3.5".  I set it to roughly 1/4" and figure I'll call it good at that for now.  I'll be putting the conversion tie rod on it before taking it in for an alignment, but I wanted to get it close enough to drive.

I was really hoping to drive it tonight, and maybe take it to work tomorrow.  But it was going to be after 9:00 before I had it out of the garage.  And I didn't really want to take it for its first drive in the rain after dark.  So I've got something to look forward to when we get back from the cabin!

[Gary Lewis]

Excellent!   

[Nothing Special]

Nothing special about that picture.  But since you're reading this thread you know the back story and know just how special it is!  The Bronco is on all fours and out of the garage!


The new conversion tie rod came over the weekend so I put it in (sorta wish I hadn't bought or installed the tapered bushings now...).  That took a while, mostly because the tie rod was too long and I didn't realize it until I'd already installed it.  So I got to do it twice.  I think it's intentionally too long for a stock width Bronco axle so it can also work if the axle wasn't narrowed as much.  And the threads on the ens are plenty long, so I could trim a little off and it was fine.

The test drive brought up a few things that need doing.  The clutch is way out of adjustment (not surprising when the linkage is mounted between the frame and the engine and I've moved the engine).  And the steering is really vague.  Until proven otherwise I'm going to believe that it's that the toe is isn't set well.  Tomorrow I'll call to get an appointment at the alignment shop.

And I still need to install the shifter boots, hook the hand throttle up again and probably a bunch of other little things.

But it's on the road!

[Gary Lewis]

Nothing Special wrote

Nothing special about that picture.

I like it!  Nothing Special says "Nothing special..."  

Seriously, it looks great!  And it must feel great as well to get it together again, especially with as many changes as you've made.  Congratulations!!!

[grumpin]

Nice! Great job!

[Bruce moose4x4]

One of these would be nice but it would not take much to build one.

https://www.tmrcustoms.com/collections/tool-organizers/products/diy-toe-alignment-tool

[Gary Lewis]

That would be easily made and a huge help.  

[Nothing Special]

Gary Lewis wrote

Nothing Special wrote

Nothing special about that picture.

I like it!  Nothing Special says "Nothing special..."  

That was intentional!  But it does illustrate my thoughts around my screen name.  None of my vehicles will ever deserve a feature in a magazine.  I'm not doing anything that lots of people haven't done before me.  But it is pretty special building something that works well for me!

Gary Lewis wrote

Seriously, it looks great!  And it must feel great as well to get it together again, especially with as many changes as you've made.  Congratulations!!!

grumpin wrote

Nice! Great job!

And thanks!  Yes it does feel very good.  Now to get everything wrapped up in the next two weeks (while also building a fence!) before vacation!

[Nothing Special]

Bruce moose4x4 wrote

One of these would be nice but it would not take much to build one.

https://www.tmrcustoms.com/collections/tool-organizers/products/diy-toe-alignment-tool

If I end up needing to set toe-in somewhat frequently it would be well worth having.  But in this case I knew I wanted to get it to an alignment shop to see what I'd done to the caster and camber anyway, so I didn't spend much time at all on toe-in.  As long as it was good enough to drive it to the alignment shop (which is where it is today).

[Nothing Special]

Nothing Special wrote

I'm finally starting on my "winter" project....

For grins I looked back to see where this particular odyssey started.  8 pages back, on page 16, I documented on March 26 that I had started by removing the transmission and transfer case.  Almost exactly 5 months later I finally finished my "winter" project just before the end of summer!

[Gary Lewis]

You got a lot done in that time.  And you'll certainly enjoy it, I'm sure.

As for the ability to look back and see what you've done, I'd be both lost & sad w/o it.  Lost because there are many, many times I want to know what I did.  Sad because I know I've done a lot but don't really remember what all I've done until I take a trip down Memory Lane.

So I'm happy to continue to document my journeys, and I'm glad you are doing it as well 'cause I get to take the journey with you.