Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

[Nothing Special]

I understand that position. It works, and that's what is needed.

Well, our trip to southwestern Utah is in the books! As I said in my motorhome thread, in addition to being an adventure in itself it also involved both the motorhome and the Bronco. So I'm covering it in three separate threads with the motorhome and Bronco threads focusing on how each vehicles did and the trip thread being about the trip in general.

So how did the Bronco do? Really well! I never got hung up on my radius arm mounts, and I'm sure I would've before, so the main goal of that big project was a success! Otherwise I didn't really notice anything from all of that work, which is a good thing! The new gears just worked quietly as they should. The OX locker worked just as happily in the new axle as it had in the old one. While it isn't as "planted" on the highway as my crew cab F-250, I didn't get overly fatigued driving it 120 miles each way to Bryce Canyon.

The tire noise was certainly noticeable on the road, but it really ended up fading into the background and wasn't all that bothersome (but I still won't recommend the ProComp XTreme M/T as a highway tire!). And while they aren't as smooth running as the excellent Michelins on my truck there certainly wasn't any problematic vibration, and I had no trouble towing it.

It did take a little damage. A poor line choice on one obstacle resulted in a bent front bumper:

And while I said above that there were no side effects from my project, that wasn't quite literally true. Turns out that with the high pinion axle there wasn't quite enough clearance between the front driveshaft U-joint and the exhaust cross-over. But the U-joint was able to solve that problem!

And just wear and tear with age, but the top fabric ripped pretty badly at both ends of the windshield. Some Gorilla tape got me home, but it needs a new top now.

Another issue is that the "toad" brakes aren't as strong as I'd like, or as I remember them. I've changed the rear brakes (from Chevy car disks to original Bronco drums), the front brakes (from Chevy car disks to '76 F-150 disks) and the master cylinder (from aftermarket vacuum boosted to Chevy Astro hydroboost), so it's not too surprising that things changed. The brakes work great while driving, but they don't do much to help slow down the train when I'm towing it. I'll have to see what I can do about that.

And of course the Bronco drew lots of attention just about everywhere we went. Jeeps and side-by-sides are a dime-a-dozen on the trails, but an old Bronco is noteworthy. That does make it a lot of fun to drive! (not that it isn't fun to drive anyway)

So I'm really happy with how the Bronco contributed to the trip!

[Gary Lewis]

Well, our trip to southwestern Utah is in the books! As I said in my motorhome thread, in addition to being an adventure in itself it also involved both the motorhome and the Bronco. So I'm covering it in three separate threads with the motorhome and Bronco threads focusing on how each vehicles did and the trip thread being about the trip in general.

So how did the Bronco do? Really well! I never got hung up on my radius arm mounts, and I'm sure I would've before, so the main goal of that big project was a success! Otherwise I didn't really notice anything from all of that work, which is a good thing! The new gears just worked quietly as they should. The OX locker worked just as happily in the new axle as it had in the old one. While it isn't as "planted" on the highway as my crew cab F-250, I didn't get overly fatigued driving it 120 miles each way to Bryce Canyon.

The tire noise was certainly noticeable on the road, but it really ended up fading into the background and wasn't all that bothersome (but I still won't recommend the ProComp XTreme M/T as a highway tire!). And while they aren't as smooth running as the excellent Michelins on my truck there certainly wasn't any problematic vibration, and I had no trouble towing it.

It did take a little damage. A poor line choice on one obstacle resulted in a bent front bumper:

And while I said above that there were no side effects from my project, that wasn't quite literally true. Turns out that with the high pinion axle there wasn't quite enough clearance between the front driveshaft U-joint and the exhaust cross-over. But the U-joint was able to solve that problem!

And just wear and tear with age, but the top fabric ripped pretty badly at both ends of the windshield. Some Gorilla tape got me home, but it needs a new top now.

Another issue is that the "toad" brakes aren't as strong as I'd like, or as I remember them. I've changed the rear brakes (from Chevy car disks to original Bronco drums), the front brakes (from Chevy car disks to '76 F-150 disks) and the master cylinder (from aftermarket vacuum boosted to Chevy Astro hydroboost), so it's not too surprising that things changed. The brakes work great while driving, but they don't do much to help slow down the train when I'm towing it. I'll have to see what I can do about that.

And of course the Bronco drew lots of attention just about everywhere we went. Jeeps and side-by-sides are a dime-a-dozen on the trails, but an old Bronco is noteworthy. That does make it a lot of fun to drive! (not that it isn't fun to drive anyway)

So I'm really happy with how the Bronco contributed to the trip!

Congratulations! Glad things worked out that well on the changes, and the u-joint bit seems par for the course as I had some of that as well.

But it is a bummer about the bumper. What’s the plan there?

And I’m sure you get lots of attention. Being able to drive it on the road awa on the trail at its age is an accomplishment.

On brakes, do you not have an adjustment on how much brake gets applied? How does that work?

[Nothing Special]

Congratulations! Glad things worked out that well on the changes, and the u-joint bit seems par for the course as I had some of that as well.

But it is a bummer about the bumper. What’s the plan there?

And I’m sure you get lots of attention. Being able to drive it on the road awa on the trail at its age is an accomplishment.

On brakes, do you not have an adjustment on how much brake gets applied? How does that work?

I don't have a plan for the bumper yet. I'll probably try to pull it back straight by chaining it to a tree or something and backing up. But if I don't do something to reinforce it it'll just happen again. I haven't thought about how I can / want to reinforce it yet.

For the "toad" brakes* the variable voltage from the trailer brake controller in the motorhome is the signal to a proportional solenoid in the Bronco. That adjusts the air pressure going to an air cylinder that pushes against the brake pedal. So from the motorhome's perspective it looks just like any other trailer with electric brakes, but it's actually using air pressure to mechanically apply the Bronco's hydraulic brakes. Since the Bronco's engine isn't running there's no power assist, but the brakes still work without it.

However I think the vacuum assist power brakes worked better without the assist than the hydroboost brakes do (also without the assist). Again, no plan on how to deal with this yet. I'm already maxing out the air pressure the proportional solenoid is supposed to handle (100 psi). So maybe a bigger air cylinder? That's a problem for another day.

* in the RV world a "toad" is a vehicle that's "towed" behind a motorhome. Cute, huh?

[Nothing Special]

Well, our trip to southwestern Utah is in the books! As I said in my motorhome thread, in addition to being an adventure in itself it also involved both the motorhome and the Bronco. So I'm covering it in three separate threads with the motorhome and Bronco threads focusing on how each vehicles did and the trip thread being about the trip in general.

So how did the Bronco do? Really well! I never got hung up on my radius arm mounts, and I'm sure I would've before, so the main goal of that big project was a success! Otherwise I didn't really notice anything from all of that work, which is a good thing! The new gears just worked quietly as they should. The OX locker worked just as happily in the new axle as it had in the old one. While it isn't as "planted" on the highway as my crew cab F-250, I didn't get overly fatigued driving it 120 miles each way to Bryce Canyon.

The tire noise was certainly noticeable on the road, but it really ended up fading into the background and wasn't all that bothersome (but I still won't recommend the ProComp XTreme M/T as a highway tire!). And while they aren't as smooth running as the excellent Michelins on my truck there certainly wasn't any problematic vibration, and I had no trouble towing it.

It did take a little damage. A poor line choice on one obstacle resulted in a bent front bumper:

And while I said above that there were no side effects from my project, that wasn't quite literally true. Turns out that with the high pinion axle there wasn't quite enough clearance between the front driveshaft U-joint and the exhaust cross-over. But the U-joint was able to solve that problem!

And just wear and tear with age, but the top fabric ripped pretty badly at both ends of the windshield. Some Gorilla tape got me home, but it needs a new top now.

Another issue is that the "toad" brakes aren't as strong as I'd like, or as I remember them. I've changed the rear brakes (from Chevy car disks to original Bronco drums), the front brakes (from Chevy car disks to '76 F-150 disks) and the master cylinder (from aftermarket vacuum boosted to Chevy Astro hydroboost), so it's not too surprising that things changed. The brakes work great while driving, but they don't do much to help slow down the train when I'm towing it. I'll have to see what I can do about that.

And of course the Bronco drew lots of attention just about everywhere we went. Jeeps and side-by-sides are a dime-a-dozen on the trails, but an old Bronco is noteworthy. That does make it a lot of fun to drive! (not that it isn't fun to drive anyway)

So I'm really happy with how the Bronco contributed to the trip!

Oh, and the rear view mirror fell off the windshield. Hardly a major break down, but it is one more thing I need to fix.

[Gary Lewis]

Oh, and the rear view mirror fell off the windshield. Hardly a major break down, but it is one more thing I need to fix.

On the mirror, don’t forget to check that the piece that goes on the windshield is flat.

And yes, if you don’t reinforce the bumper it’ll happen again, and at some point it might contact the body.

As for the brakes, now I understand. And IIRC hydroboost brakes have less mechanical advantage in the pedal so it makes sense that with the engine off they’d be less effective. A larger piston would give more pressure.

[Nothing Special]

On the mirror, don’t forget to check that the piece that goes on the windshield is flat.

And yes, if you don’t reinforce the bumper it’ll happen again, and at some point it might contact the body.

As for the brakes, now I understand. And IIRC hydroboost brakes have less mechanical advantage in the pedal so it makes sense that with the engine off they’d be less effective. A larger piston would give more pressure.

I'm running the same pedal and push rod assembly that I had with the vacuum system, so it's not due to any mechanical difference there. But it could be that this master has a larger piston than the old master, which would give less pounds per square inch of hydraulic pressure (or more directly, MORE square inches per pound, which is the same thing). Anyway, that's a future concern.

And another thing I missed, the transfer case sticks HAVE TO move. They aren't bad in 4-high (which is where i drove it before the trip as I was breaking in the front gears with the rear driveshaft removed). And they're no problem in 4-low. But in 2-high the knob for the front driveline is hard against my calf. That gets really annoying.

Also there's very little clearance between the knob on the front shifter and the stick for the rear. i knew that but thought it would be OK. It's really not quite OK. I managed to mash a finger between them several times. No real damage, but really not pleasant.

So I need to try to bend the front stick over a bit and the rear stick even more.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm running the same pedal and push rod assembly that I had with the vacuum system, so it's not due to any mechanical difference there. But it could be that this master has a larger piston than the old master, which would give less pounds per square inch of hydraulic pressure (or more directly, MORE square inches per pound, which is the same thing). Anyway, that's a future concern.

And another thing I missed, the transfer case sticks HAVE TO move. They aren't bad in 4-high (which is where i drove it before the trip as I was breaking in the front gears with the rear driveshaft removed). And they're no problem in 4-low. But in 2-high the knob for the front driveline is hard against my calf. That gets really annoying.

Also there's very little clearance between the knob on the front shifter and the stick for the rear. i knew that but thought it would be OK. It's really not quite OK. I managed to mash a finger between them several times. No real damage, but really not pleasant.

So I need to try to bend the front stick over a bit and the rear stick even more.

It makes sense that the new master might be the issue.

And I’m not surprised by the problems with the sticks. They certainly looked both close and far to the left. So bending them away from you awa each other makes sense.

[FuzzFace2]

We were driving around a bit this evening at speeds up to about 40 mph. Lesley didn't say anything about the noise. But on the trip we'll be driving from Hurricane to Bryce Canyon, which is over 100 miles. I hope at least some of that drive is fast enough to make the tires loud! So we'll see how it goes.

Sorry a lot late on this but on the 4 hi shifter popping out can you use a bungie to hold it in gear?

When I raced Jeeps off road we used bungies to hold the shifter in 4 low.

Dave ----

[Nothing Special]

It makes sense that the new master might be the issue.

And I’m not surprised by the problems with the sticks. They certainly looked both close and far to the left. So bending them away from you awa each other makes sense.

I keep remembering other little issues.

I need to adjust the steering stops. Turning to the left I get rubbing on the radius arm, so turning that stop out a bit might be good. And while I don't get any rubbing at right lock, someone watching from outside thought I wasn't turned all the way. It seems to me that it turns plenty sharp to the right, but maybe there's something to be gained.

The other thing I remembered isn't really a failure or a needed adjustment. But it was a new negative. Broncos with dual tanks came with a manual valve with the handle on the riser in front of the driver's seat. Long ago I had replaced mine with an electric valve that would switch with the gage from a switch on the dash. But after two valve failures, last year I went back to a manual valve in the stock location.

Twice on this trip I ran out of gas, even though there was gas in both tanks. Both times the switching valve handle had moved to where it wasn't selecting either tank. I just put it back on the tank I wanted and it started up again, but it was rather concerning the first time it happened (until I knew what I needed to do to restart it) and a bit annoying both times.

I assume I bumped it with my foot both times, but I don't really recall putting a foot there. And for what it's worth, this didn't happen on our trip to Moab last year.

I don't really plan to do anything about this, but thought I'd mention it here.

[Gary Lewis]

I keep remembering other little issues.

I need to adjust the steering stops. Turning to the left I get rubbing on the radius arm, so turning that stop out a bit might be good. And while I don't get any rubbing at right lock, someone watching from outside thought I wasn't turned all the way. It seems to me that it turns plenty sharp to the right, but maybe there's something to be gained.

The other thing I remembered isn't really a failure or a needed adjustment. But it was a new negative. Broncos with dual tanks came with a manual valve with the handle on the riser in front of the driver's seat. Long ago I had replaced mine with an electric valve that would switch with the gage from a switch on the dash. But after two valve failures, last year I went back to a manual valve in the stock location.

Twice on this trip I ran out of gas, even though there was gas in both tanks. Both times the switching valve handle had moved to where it wasn't selecting either tank. I just put it back on the tank I wanted and it started up again, but it was rather concerning the first time it happened (until I knew what I needed to do to restart it) and a bit annoying both times.

I assume I bumped it with my foot both times, but I don't really recall putting a foot there. And for what it's worth, this didn't happen on our trip to Moab last year.

I don't really plan to do anything about this, but thought I'd mention it here.

Teething issues are also par for the course with major changes. And the fact that you are getting down to them means you are ticking off the other, more significant ones.

However, running out of gas could be a significant problem at just the wrong time. So maybe that one isn't so minor?