Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

And another small project knocked off.  Back in 2017 I hit a tree with the top and tore a pretty good hole in it (the top that is, the tree survived just fine).  I looked into replacing the top then, but it turns out you can no longer get a soft top with clear windows for a Bronco, and I really didn't want dark tinted windows.  So I taped over the hole with some Gorilla tape and called it good.

But time takes its toll on soft tops, and I bought this top in 2003.  Coming home from Sand Hollow Utah last September the top tore pretty badly at both corners where it attaches to the windshield.  More Gorilla tape got me the rest of the way home without further damage, and let me limp the top through the SMORR trip last October.  But it was significantly less water-tight than it was before (and that's saying something!), so it was time for a replacement.

I ordered a Rampage top (a different brand from what I had, Rampage I guess is a copy of the Kayline top you could buy for Broncos back in the 60's and 70's).  The Rampage was a lot less expensive than Bestop (which is what I had) and it is lower profile, which I was hoping would let Pluto fit in my garage without dropping the main bow.  But after getting the Rampage I realized how much work it was going to be to get the Bestop hardware off and the Rampage hardware on (I was going to have to remove the roll cage ).  Plus it looked like it was going to be very close to not working with the rear hoop on my 'cage.  And I was going to have to do some work to move the wiper motor.  Nothing undoable, but I decided to return the Rampage and order a new Bestop.

So today I put the new Bestop fabric and windows on my 20 year old Bestop hardware.  It took me all of about 20 minutes to get the old top off and put the new one on.

I did have to settle for dark tinted windows (Rampage has those too).  So we'll see how I feel about that as time goes on.  Right now I can't say that visibility is any worse than it was through my 20 year old scratched up clear windows, but it isn't any better either.

Lesley likes it a lot and wishes I'd done this years ago (and I gotta admit, the new top does look a lot sharper than the 20 year old weathered and torn top).  And hopefully it will keep water out better than the holey top.

Nothing Special wrote

And another small project knocked off.

Nice job Bob!


In architecture, we use to say «there is no small project».

Excellent!  I think that was a wise choice trading $'s for many, many hours.  

Having wrapped up the thread on our 'wheeling trip to Windrock (as well as a lot of other things) I thought I'd collect my thoughts related to the Bronco from the trip.

First is that I continue to love Pluto!  He's a great compromise between a freeway pounder and a rock pounder.  The 3 days of 'wheeling (documented in the other thread) went really well, and so did the 800 miles of highway driving we did to get from camp to the various other things we did.  I don't think there was a day other than the drives to and from home that didn't include at least 3 hours in Pluto.

As to what changes might be coming...

The biggest thing is that I need to find my brake fluid leak.  I need to check and add brake fluid too often.

Speaking of the brakes, I'm finding myself not loving the hydroboost.  It's great when the engine is running, but the brakes are terrible without the boost.  I drove my old vacuum boost brakes for a year after the booster died.  That had a heavy brake pedal, but you could still lock the tires in a panic stop.  Plus when I flat tow Pluto I have an air cylinder pressing the (unboosted) brake pedal to give me trailer brakes.  They are very weak now compared to with the vacuum system.

So I'm thinking of going back to vacuum brakes.  But I've also heard about an electric/hydraulic power steering pump used by Volvo I think.  It's an electric motor directly driving the pump.  That would let me still have hydroboost when towing, or when restarting the engine on a hill.  No plans yet, but thoughts...

Tires are another thing I was thinking about.  I had the Pro-Comp XTreme M/T mud tires on for the 'wheeling, but that means I had them on for the 800 miles of highway driving too.  That made me think that I got these tires to be better for 'wheeling and the smaller tires for road use, but then I probably put almost as many road miles on during 'wheeling trips as I do the rest of the time.  So I probably should have off-road tires that are pretty good road tires too.

Not that these are bad!  In fact they actually ride and track better on the highway than my "highway" tires do!  And  I probably have about 7,000 miles of flat-towing and close to 2,000 miles of driving (in addition to 10 days of 'wheeling) on them and they look almost like new.

But they are loud.

I don't know what tires I'll get next time, but it would be very nice to have something less fatiguing.

Using the winch three times on this trip makes me want even more to switch to synthetic rope for the easier handling, less weight and greater safety.

And the worn-out upholstery on the front seats isn't getting better.  I need to do something about that some time.


So nothing too major, and nothing too pressing.  But you gotta keep dreaming!

Never stop moving forward!  

I understand what you are saying about hydroboost.  When it is working it is great, but it works so well that the leverage on the pedal is reduced and w/o it there's not much braking.  So, that electric/hydraulic approach might be interesting.  

Tires: I love my Falken Wild Peak AT3's.  But, I've not really used them off road, so the jury is out there.  But on road they are so far better then the old Cooper Discoverers that they aren't in the same league.

Synthetic: Love that as well.  Easy to handle and so much safer.

Another small project checked off!  I said that the main thing I needed to address following my recent trip was the brake fluid leak.  Lesley had a friend over this evening and I got kicked out of the house, so I went to the driveway!

To find the leak I put my "toad" brake cylinder in (that uses a pneumatic ram to press the brake pedal) and with the engine running (so the hydroboost was working) I pulled the break-away switch, which puts full pressure to the air cylinder.  Pretty quickly I found fluid running off the front diff.  Going uphill from there I found fluid running out of the proportioning valve.

My proportioning valve has two ports for the front brakes, but I'm running a single line down to a Tee on the diff housing (much like typical rear brake lines), so I had put a plug in the unused port.  But apparently I hadn't tightened it very well.

Getting at it was a lot of fun, being sandwiched between the inner fender and the motor mount, with the exhaust and dipstick sharing the space, and the plug on the bottom of the proportioning valve, sandwiched above the frame.  But I eventually got it to where I could get a 3/8" box end wrench on it and swing it about 30°.  That's not much, but it's enough to get another bite with the box end wrench.

I ended up turning it in about one full turn  Actually I went about 3/4 turn at first, but still had a LITTLE dripping when I repeated the test.  But after leaning on it a second time it seems to be holding.

So then another round of fun getting everything buttoned back up, and now time will tell, but it looks like I might have this one licked!

Those are such a good feeling!  I FIXED IT!  And then you think "Oh, I created the problem in the first place."  

But still, it is fixed.  And you can tick it off the list.  

Happy you found it and fixed it!

Nothing Special wrote

Another small project checked off!

Bod, if you want to check your "small projects list" faster, just ask your wife to get some friends at home more often.

Good find! Good job!

A happy pup!

Thanks, all!  It didn't bother me too much that I had caused it.  I was more worried it would be a wheel cylinder or something that would require more disassembly and replacing parts.  It was nice to be able to fix it without any of the typical 3 trips to the auto parts store!

Maybe Pluto will quit marking his territory as much now.  Before the oil pan change this spring he was leaking a LOT of oil.  Since that fix I haven't had to add any oil, and the only spot he's been marking is under the front diff.  I was thinking it was still a slight oil leak, but maybe it was the brake fluid???  I have heard that male dogs will be "happier" and will mark less after they've been "fixed.'  Is this what they mean

As to whether it's a good idea for Lesley to have friends over, yes I got the brake fluid lead fixed, but also now she's talking about going on a cruise to Australia   Even though the brake fluid leak fix was free it might have been a very expensive evening!

Is that a Disney cruise?  Without you?  

As for male dogs being happier after being fixed, I suspect that it wasn't a "fixed" dog that said that.

Gary Lewis wrote

Is that a Disney cruise?  Without you?  .....

Is there any other kind of cruise???

And no, she wants to bring me too.  That's a good thing, but it doesn't reduce the expense!  At this point it's just wishful thinking on her part.  But her wishful thinking tends to morph into reality more often than mine does, so we'll see what ends up happening!

Good luck!  

I'm "off" of cruises.  I came home from the last two of them with something serious and was "out" for about 10 days in both cases.  So we are planning our own trip this round where we can stay a bit farther away from people - save for the airline travel.  But I got "it" on the ship so...

Nothing Special wrote

....  I am hearing a 1-per-tire-rev noise.  I don't know if that's a tire noise or if the tires are quiet enough that I can now hear a wheel bearing or a brake or something.  I'll have to get to the bottom of that....

I wrote that last September, after getting the new, smaller street tires and getting rid of almost all of my tire noise.  After another ~5,000 miles the noise was getting worse, so I finally got around to getting to the bottom of it.  Turns out it is a bad wheel bearing.

There's a lot of freeplay in the passenger's side bearing.  The driver's side feels tight (it spins freely, just no freeplay).  So I'm debating only replacing the bad one as getting the old bearing off looks like it won't be any fun.  I did pull both axle shafts, so I'm that far on both sides.  (And this is a Ford 9" axle, for anyone keeping score)

A lot of gear lube ran out of both sides, so I know the bearings are getting lube.  And the lube was surprisingly clean.  Not fresh and yellowish, but not pure black either, and no sparkles.  I don't have a drain plug, so I'm thinking I won't pull the third member to drain the rest of the lube, but just top it off with fresh stuff.

I know I'm talking about taking shortcuts here with only replacing 1 bearing and not changing the lube.  Does anyone want to try to talk me out of that?

I'm not going to try to talk you out of replacing a good bearing - with something that might not be good.  I'd recommend doing just as you outlined - replace the bad one, put both back, and top it up.

On replacing the bad one, you probably already know but you have to break the retainer to get the old bearing off.  I've drilled them and I've used a Dremel to put a groove in them.  In both cases at some point they pop and can be easily taken off.  Don't know which is easiest, but the drill seems to make less of a mess.  However, it takes a sharp bit to drill that metal.

Good luck!  

^ What Gary said!

OK, you talked me into it!

So this morning I'm laying in bed at 4:00 listening to the rain and thinking "I really should have put plastic bags over the open ends of the axle."  (I had stuffed rags in the tubes and leaned the tires against them, but the brakes and ends of the tubes were somewhat exposed).  Then I thought that if I'm not replacing the driver's side bearing I should've reassembled it to get it as protected as possible.

It quit raining at 5:00, so at 5:30 I was out in the driveway buttoning up the driver's side and putting a plastic bag on the passenger's side.

Sleep is over-rated anyway.

I know the feeling.  Woke up at 5:00 thinking of all the things I need to be doing.  But since none of them are bothered by rain, and it isn't raining anyway, I went back to sleep.  However, I can see how you couldn't.  

Getting a replacement bearing proved to be more difficult than expected!  I have the stock "small bearing" Ford 9" housing from a '71 Bronco, but years ago I upgraded it to 31 spline axle shafts which have a larger OD than the stock 28 spline shafts.  It took calling 4 places before I got one that could answer me and had the right thing.  Wild Horses is where I ended up.  The bearing isn't on their web site, but they say it's what I need.  So now it's just waiting for it to arrive...

OK, so it was even more difficult than I had thought.  Wild Horses didn't have it in stock, so they sent me to Dutchman.  Dutchman won't sell them anymore because "they don't want to cause problems for people."  they say the bearing is to thin and doesn't last.  Well I've got about 20 years on this pair and only failed one now.  I'd rather have that kind of problem than having to get at least new axle shafts if not a new differential (if I'd need to downgrade to 28 spline shafts).

But they did give me a part number from strange Engineering and I was able to order it from Summit Racing.  Maybe now it's just waiting for it to arrive???