Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

[Nothing Special]

.... I really only wanted one, but the first axle the junk yard pulled had water in it so they stripped it down to find out what it looked like inside. The gears were rusty, so they pulled another one. That wasn't the right one* (fortunately I talked with them before they shipped it) so they found another that was correct and said they'd ship that. But since I had told them that I really didn't care if the gears were rusty I guess they decided to sent the first housing to me as well. Anyway, I got everything i expected and more, so soon it will be time to start putting a high pinion axle together!....

Good thing they sent both. I didn't pay very close attention when I was loading them into my truck at work. I needed to get them out of the way and get back to my job. But when I got them home I realized that the complete axle is a '78 - '79. I can't use that housing, but the spindles, brakes, hubs and outer axle stubs should all work with the '77 housing. So I should have all the parts I need to put one axle together and a heavy piece of scrap to get rid of eventually.

[Gary Lewis]

.... I really only wanted one, but the first axle the junk yard pulled had water in it so they stripped it down to find out what it looked like inside. The gears were rusty, so they pulled another one. That wasn't the right one* (fortunately I talked with them before they shipped it) so they found another that was correct and said they'd ship that. But since I had told them that I really didn't care if the gears were rusty I guess they decided to sent the first housing to me as well. Anyway, I got everything i expected and more, so soon it will be time to start putting a high pinion axle together!....

Good thing they sent both. I didn't pay very close attention when I was loading them into my truck at work. I needed to get them out of the way and get back to my job. But when I got them home I realized that the complete axle is a '78 - '79. I can't use that housing, but the spindles, brakes, hubs and outer axle stubs should all work with the '77 housing. So I should have all the parts I need to put one axle together and a heavy piece of scrap to get rid of eventually.

Sure glad you got both axles!

[Nothing Special]

Sure glad you got both axles!

The fun with the squirrels in my motorhome air intake took up most of my project time this weekend. But I did get back to the Bronco for a little bit.

My main progress was getting everything I need pulled off the '78 axle housing. That also made me hate Minnesota road salt all the more. Every time I've pulled the spindles off a 4WD front axle for the first time they've been ridiculously rusted in. Once I get them out I clean them up and use anti-seize, so they usually come apart for me fine after that. But on this old axle I was expecting a fight. But this axle wasn't from Minnesota! Both spindles came off pretty easily!

Actually the worst thing I had to deal with was getting one of the brake calipers off. A previous owner had laid a weld bead along the top edge of the caliper bracket. I wasn't able to get the caliper off. It wasn't welded in place, but the weld bead didn't leave enough room to get it out after I removed the retainer. (I don't know how he got it in...) A little touch with a cutoff wheel in my angle grinder gave me the clearance I needed. Hopefully I won't have any trouble putting it back together.

The only other thing I accomplished was getting the front of the frame supported on jack stands so I'll be able to remove the front axle.

[Gary Lewis]

The fun with the squirrels in my motorhome air intake took up most of my project time this weekend. But I did get back to the Bronco for a little bit.

My main progress was getting everything I need pulled off the '78 axle housing. That also made me hate Minnesota road salt all the more. Every time I've pulled the spindles off a 4WD front axle for the first time they've been ridiculously rusted in. Once I get them out I clean them up and use anti-seize, so they usually come apart for me fine after that. But on this old axle I was expecting a fight. But this axle wasn't from Minnesota! Both spindles came off pretty easily!

Actually the worst thing I had to deal with was getting one of the brake calipers off. A previous owner had laid a weld bead along the top edge of the caliper bracket. I wasn't able to get the caliper off. It wasn't welded in place, but the weld bead didn't leave enough room to get it out after I removed the retainer. (I don't know how he got it in...) A little touch with a cutoff wheel in my angle grinder gave me the clearance I needed. Hopefully I won't have any trouble putting it back together.

The only other thing I accomplished was getting the front of the frame supported on jack stands so I'll be able to remove the front axle.

I mentioned to my brother recently about the road salt and the cancer it creates. I don't think I could deal with that!

So I'm glad you got things apart fairly easily. Sometimes things go a lot better when you've gotten things apart, cleaned, and ready to go back together. Let's hope that's what you are going to experience next!

[Nothing Special]

I mentioned to my brother recently about the road salt and the cancer it creates. I don't think I could deal with that!

So I'm glad you got things apart fairly easily. Sometimes things go a lot better when you've gotten things apart, cleaned, and ready to go back together. Let's hope that's what you are going to experience next!

I still have a lot of disassembly to do before I'm putting things back together! The worst (best?) of which will be cutting apart the '77 axle housing to move the wedges, inner C's and track bar mount!

[Nothing Special]

I still have a lot of disassembly to do before I'm putting things back together! The worst (best?) of which will be cutting apart the '77 axle housing to move the wedges, inner C's and track bar mount!

Some more disassembly this weekend, much of it using a cutoff wheel, but I still haven't started cutting the axle housing apart.

First was getting the Bronco axle out. If I was working on a lift that would have gone pretty well. But crowded against the wall of the garage makes for less comfortable positions. So after that I was done for the day.

Then Sunday I cut the dropped radius arm brackets off! Getting rid of them was the impetus for this whole snowball. So now I'm done with the main project, I just need to clean everything up! OK, not so much.

Anyway, cutting the brackets off went pretty well. I went through six cutoff wheels, which was all I had. But I was able to do it without cutting off the stock mounts, so I don't need to put new mounts on like I was expecting! I ended up leaving a lot of the drop bracket metal in place where it's not in the way, so it will even reinforce the stock mounts.

Now I need to pick up more cutoff wheels so I can get started on the axle housing!

[Gary Lewis]

Some more disassembly this weekend, much of it using a cutoff wheel, but I still haven't started cutting the axle housing apart.

First was getting the Bronco axle out. If I was working on a lift that would have gone pretty well. But crowded against the wall of the garage makes for less comfortable positions. So after that I was done for the day.

Then Sunday I cut the dropped radius arm brackets off! Getting rid of them was the impetus for this whole snowball. So now I'm done with the main project, I just need to clean everything up! OK, not so much.

Anyway, cutting the brackets off went pretty well. I went through six cutoff wheels, which was all I had. But I was able to do it without cutting off the stock mounts, so I don't need to put new mounts on like I was expecting! I ended up leaving a lot of the drop bracket metal in place where it's not in the way, so it will even reinforce the stock mounts.

Now I need to pick up more cutoff wheels so I can get started on the axle housing!

Sounds like you are almost done. Done cutting that is.

Glad you could save the stock mounts - that should make things easier.

[Nothing Special]

Sounds like you are almost done. Done cutting that is.

Glad you could save the stock mounts - that should make things easier.

Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to putting new radius arm mounts on. I've welded to this frame twice before, building the front bumper and putting the dropped radius arm mounts on. I don't know what it is, probably the steel alloy the frame is made of, but it's really hard to get a good arc. Of course I still need to weld on the frame to reinforce where I notched it for transfer case clearance, but at least I don't need to do as much of it as I expected!

[Gary Lewis]

Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to putting new radius arm mounts on. I've welded to this frame twice before, building the front bumper and putting the dropped radius arm mounts on. I don't know what it is, probably the steel alloy the frame is made of, but it's really hard to get a good arc. Of course I still need to weld on the frame to reinforce where I notched it for transfer case clearance, but at least I don't need to do as much of it as I expected!

Be thankful for small wins.

[Nothing Special]

Be thankful for small wins.

Well, I'm getting closer to being done with the cutting!

But first a picture from last weekend's work. The first picture is one from when I was notching the frame. It shows the dropped radius arm bracket in the foreground. The second is after cutting the dropped mounts off last weekend.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n117459/DSC_3604.jpg

OK, on to new business. Here's a "before" picture. The "new" '77 F-150 axle is in back with the "old" '71 Bronco axle in front.

After about 7 hours, 7 cut-off wheels, a bunch of work with an air chisel and a lot of swings with a big hammer the high pinion axle now looks like this!

The wedges weren't too bad. The inner C was in the way so I couldn't cut them all the way off with the cut-off wheel, but I could get most of it, and then had to finish up with the air chisel where the wheel couldn't reach.

The inner C's were another thing entirely! The wedges were in the way to get at the C's worse than the other way around (which is why I took the wedges off first). I started on the passenger's side because I'll be cutting 6" off that end of the tube, so if I screwed it up it wouldn't be so bad. Then after practicing on that side I hoped to be able to do the driver's side more confidently. The problem with that plan is that I couldn't get the passenger's side off!

Eventually I gave up and cut the tube off flush with the inside of the C. Then I could use a hack saw to cut through the section of tube that was left in the C. I made 4 cuts and was able to knock the 4 sections out with a big hammer and a punch.

Doing that I realized that I hadn't cut into the C enough to get past where the weld had penetrated. I still wasn't at all sure that I could do the driver's side, but I did try to cut back into the C a lot more than I had the first time. I didn't have a lot of hope when I started swinging the hammer but, to my surprise, a line started opening up!

I still need to clean up the OD of the tubes and cut both tubes to length. Then I'll be done cutting things off!

Don't worry, I'll still have use for my cut-off wheel. I'm going to have to fab up two bump stop mounts for the axle (one will also include the track bar mount). And near the end of the project I'll be making the skid plate. But I am pretty close to starting to put stuff back together!