ArdWrknTrk Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Bob, Thanks! Thats a really excellent guess. As far as the ignition system goes, Im not sure how many other options are left. My neighbor suggested the same thing. Id like to verify that its an ignition system failure first, but that may be my next move if it is! Do you have an idle stepup dashpot or solenoid in your Bronco that you use while winching? If your truck has A/C perhaps you can install a manual override? Just switched power and a diode so you can activate it without backfeeding the compressor clutch. Second observation.... I'm coming from a front leaf spring truck and on 250-350's the front frame rails are boxed for the shackles. If you had plated the frame horns first, none of that telescoping cross piece would be necessary. A flange on each end would allow it to slip right in and bolt in place. If you didn't trust tapping just the plate, you could tack them in place, mount, drill clearance, bolt everything together and weld nuts on the inside. Then unbolt the crossmember/receiver and plate the frame flush to the inside. This is only my perspective in knowing the frame would be stronger if the lips of the stamping were tied together, and having it removable might be advantageous in the future. You might have a look at Gary's RSK thread. He shows how the SKY kit uses standoffs and bolts entirely through the front of the frame. But I think the receiver is small enough that you would have room for a bolt flange (maybe not entirely square, but more than enough to do what you're doing) Anyway, that is a great write-up, and it's cool that the Bronco is -quite literally- pulling its own weight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Do you have an idle stepup dashpot or solenoid in your Bronco that you use while winching? If your truck has A/C perhaps you can install a manual override? Just switched power and a diode so you can activate it without backfeeding the compressor clutch. Second observation.... I'm coming from a front leaf spring truck and on 250-350's the front frame rails are boxed for the shackles. If you had plated the frame horns first, none of that telescoping cross piece would be necessary. A flange on each end would allow it to slip right in and bolt in place. If you didn't trust tapping just the plate, you could tack them in place, mount, drill clearance, bolt everything together and weld nuts on the inside. Then unbolt the crossmember/receiver and plate the frame flush to the inside. This is only my perspective in knowing the frame would be stronger if the lips of the stamping were tied together, and having it removable might be advantageous in the future. You might have a look at Gary's RSK thread. He shows how the SKY kit uses standoffs and bolts entirely through the front of the frame. But I think the receiver is small enough that you would have room for a bolt flange (maybe not entirely square, but more than enough to do what you're doing) Anyway, that is a great write-up, and it's cool that the Bronco is -quite literally- pulling its own weight! Thanks for the updates. Good to hear about the Red Line MT-90 in the NP435 as I want to do the same as I also have issues at times, when cold mostly, down shifting into 3rd and hope the RL will help. On the front winch back in the day there was a rear plate assy. that was hinged to get to the gas filler. My 70 AMC Javelin has one. You could mount it upside down on the front and the plate would protect the opening and hide it then when you needed to mount the winch flip it up and install the winch. My first work truck, big rig, had a plate bracket you could flip up to give a place to put your foot for opening the flip up hood. I guess a hinge bracket thing would do the same thing. Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Thanks for the updates. Good to hear about the Red Line MT-90 in the NP435 as I want to do the same as I also have issues at times, when cold mostly, down shifting into 3rd and hope the RL will help. On the front winch back in the day there was a rear plate assy. that was hinged to get to the gas filler. My 70 AMC Javelin has one. You could mount it upside down on the front and the plate would protect the opening and hide it then when you needed to mount the winch flip it up and install the winch. My first work truck, big rig, had a plate bracket you could flip up to give a place to put your foot for opening the flip up hood. I guess a hinge bracket thing would do the same thing. Dave ---- The stay up the center of the radiator support probably needs something before the hood release starts having issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 The stay up the center of the radiator support probably needs something before the hood release starts having issues. IIRC it is a little different shape on the later trucks to clear the AC condenser. On the early truck using a replacement condenser, the only one we can get is the later ones, you need to space that part of the hood latch and the lower condenser out about 1/4" IIRC. Don't know if that will work for you or not? Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 The stay up the center of the radiator support probably needs something before the hood release starts having issues. IIRC it is a little different shape on the later trucks to clear the AC condenser. On the early truck using a replacement condenser, the only one we can get is the later ones, you need to space that part of the hood latch and the lower condenser out about 1/4" IIRC. Don't know if that will work for you or not? Dave ---- Well, he's obviously got it cut clean in half right now.... So I would say it needs fixing (somehow) before it puts a hole in his radiator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Well, he's obviously got it cut clean in half right now.... So I would say it needs fixing (somehow) before it puts a hole in his radiator. Yes that is dose Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightSix Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 Yes that is dose Dave ---- Gary, Thanks! Jim, I agree that there are some serious benefits to boxing the front of the frame and then mounting the front receiver in the way you described. I wasn’t comfortable welding on the frame at the time because I know very little about what it takes to do that right. Im positive that the frame would be stronger that way as well. In the bright side I can fully remove everything Ive don’t (with some elbow grease and a die grinder) if need be. To the dashpot/solenoid – I don’t have either. Just a curb idle control screw. Im fairly certain that the truck isn’t truly overheating because the water temp gauge in the dash shows the same temp as normal after the bronco dies and most of the temperatures in the engine bay didn’t change before and after dying. It might be that a greater degree of circulation from the fan would clear hot air from the engine bay more effectively though! I don’t have AC either. Dave, Im really pleased with the redline. I suppose I wouldn’t know good from bad either way though. I haven’t experienced any trouble with shifting when its colder out, but then again temps below about 20F are really unusual down here in central Ga. Ive thought about some kind of hinging assembly for a vanity plate but since the winch hasn’t come off since I mounted it, that’s near the bottom of the list for Now! Dave and Jim, As for the support in front of the radiator, it definitely needs to be resecured. My intention has been to bend a bracket, weld it onto the existing bracket where it was cut, then bolt it to the top of the receiver. That would allow it to be taken apart later if need be. --------- The bronco is my daily driver this week because I left my other vehicle with family to go to a family owned tire shop a few towns over. Wouldn’t you know that this is the week that my broncos electric choke has decided to act up. It’s the factory (and potentially original) electric/hot air choke on a 2150 that I believe is from 1978. The hot air passage is closed off because I didn’t have a hot air supply for it and the choke cap is connected to the alternator stator. It has always worked correctly in the past other than needing to blip the throttle to get it off the high idle step, it wouldn’t come down on its own. Now it will catch on the high idle step when the engine is hot while driving down the road any time you apply throttle. Putting the transmission in neutral and blipping the throttle will get it off of the high idle step again, but that’s not going to work long term. My work around to get to work today was to zip tie the choke in the open position after it warmed up at idle :/ no good at all, but it was my ride to work. I haven’t had any time to trouble shoot it yet, it just cropped up this morning. I do know for sure that it was back on the high idle step. I see 3 options, with pros and cons. Id appreciate any input or words of wisdom. 1) Buy a new motorcraft E-choke cap, install it with no hot air and plug it into the wire from the stator. This would be the easiest, and is fairly likely to work at least as well as before, but may not be capable of getting the choke off of the high idle step. This is how the old one performed. Any ideas on how well the combo hot air/electric chokes can work without hot air? 2)Fit a holley electric choke cap to the carb. As I understand it this is not difficult to do mechanically, but I would need to find a good 12V power source for it. Preferably one that’s only hot while the engine is running, but “key in on position” power would be ok too. 3) Manual choke. It seems to be cheap, fast, reliable and easy. I just hate to give up the utility of a properly working electric choke. Any and all opinions are welcome! If I go the holley or manual choke route I may try to get it done tonight. I suspect that a motorcraft E- choke will have to come through the mail. Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Gary, Thanks! Jim, I agree that there are some serious benefits to boxing the front of the frame and then mounting the front receiver in the way you described. I wasn’t comfortable welding on the frame at the time because I know very little about what it takes to do that right. Im positive that the frame would be stronger that way as well. In the bright side I can fully remove everything Ive don’t (with some elbow grease and a die grinder) if need be. To the dashpot/solenoid – I don’t have either. Just a curb idle control screw. Im fairly certain that the truck isn’t truly overheating because the water temp gauge in the dash shows the same temp as normal after the bronco dies and most of the temperatures in the engine bay didn’t change before and after dying. It might be that a greater degree of circulation from the fan would clear hot air from the engine bay more effectively though! I don’t have AC either. Dave, Im really pleased with the redline. I suppose I wouldn’t know good from bad either way though. I haven’t experienced any trouble with shifting when its colder out, but then again temps below about 20F are really unusual down here in central Ga. Ive thought about some kind of hinging assembly for a vanity plate but since the winch hasn’t come off since I mounted it, that’s near the bottom of the list for Now! Dave and Jim, As for the support in front of the radiator, it definitely needs to be resecured. My intention has been to bend a bracket, weld it onto the existing bracket where it was cut, then bolt it to the top of the receiver. That would allow it to be taken apart later if need be. --------- The bronco is my daily driver this week because I left my other vehicle with family to go to a family owned tire shop a few towns over. Wouldn’t you know that this is the week that my broncos electric choke has decided to act up. It’s the factory (and potentially original) electric/hot air choke on a 2150 that I believe is from 1978. The hot air passage is closed off because I didn’t have a hot air supply for it and the choke cap is connected to the alternator stator. It has always worked correctly in the past other than needing to blip the throttle to get it off the high idle step, it wouldn’t come down on its own. Now it will catch on the high idle step when the engine is hot while driving down the road any time you apply throttle. Putting the transmission in neutral and blipping the throttle will get it off of the high idle step again, but that’s not going to work long term. My work around to get to work today was to zip tie the choke in the open position after it warmed up at idle :/ no good at all, but it was my ride to work. I haven’t had any time to trouble shoot it yet, it just cropped up this morning. I do know for sure that it was back on the high idle step. I see 3 options, with pros and cons. Id appreciate any input or words of wisdom. 1) Buy a new motorcraft E-choke cap, install it with no hot air and plug it into the wire from the stator. This would be the easiest, and is fairly likely to work at least as well as before, but may not be capable of getting the choke off of the high idle step. This is how the old one performed. Any ideas on how well the combo hot air/electric chokes can work without hot air? 2)Fit a holley electric choke cap to the carb. As I understand it this is not difficult to do mechanically, but I would need to find a good 12V power source for it. Preferably one that’s only hot while the engine is running, but “key in on position” power would be ok too. 3) Manual choke. It seems to be cheap, fast, reliable and easy. I just hate to give up the utility of a properly working electric choke. Any and all opinions are welcome! If I go the holley or manual choke route I may try to get it done tonight. I suspect that a motorcraft E- choke will have to come through the mail. Thanks for reading! You might check warehouse inventory through your local auto parts.... They might get it in the afternoon. Amazon Prime would have it to you tomorrow (in my case) If you could deal with getting to work, and have it dropped there, or at a close locker, you are three screws and a bullet away from swapping it out in the parking lot. I suggested the AC throttle kicker, because if you had one installed, hot wiring it would cover for the lack of choke until a new one was installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sac79 Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Gary, Thanks! Jim, I agree that there are some serious benefits to boxing the front of the frame and then mounting the front receiver in the way you described. I wasn’t comfortable welding on the frame at the time because I know very little about what it takes to do that right. Im positive that the frame would be stronger that way as well. In the bright side I can fully remove everything Ive don’t (with some elbow grease and a die grinder) if need be. To the dashpot/solenoid – I don’t have either. Just a curb idle control screw. Im fairly certain that the truck isn’t truly overheating because the water temp gauge in the dash shows the same temp as normal after the bronco dies and most of the temperatures in the engine bay didn’t change before and after dying. It might be that a greater degree of circulation from the fan would clear hot air from the engine bay more effectively though! I don’t have AC either. Dave, Im really pleased with the redline. I suppose I wouldn’t know good from bad either way though. I haven’t experienced any trouble with shifting when its colder out, but then again temps below about 20F are really unusual down here in central Ga. Ive thought about some kind of hinging assembly for a vanity plate but since the winch hasn’t come off since I mounted it, that’s near the bottom of the list for Now! Dave and Jim, As for the support in front of the radiator, it definitely needs to be resecured. My intention has been to bend a bracket, weld it onto the existing bracket where it was cut, then bolt it to the top of the receiver. That would allow it to be taken apart later if need be. --------- The bronco is my daily driver this week because I left my other vehicle with family to go to a family owned tire shop a few towns over. Wouldn’t you know that this is the week that my broncos electric choke has decided to act up. It’s the factory (and potentially original) electric/hot air choke on a 2150 that I believe is from 1978. The hot air passage is closed off because I didn’t have a hot air supply for it and the choke cap is connected to the alternator stator. It has always worked correctly in the past other than needing to blip the throttle to get it off the high idle step, it wouldn’t come down on its own. Now it will catch on the high idle step when the engine is hot while driving down the road any time you apply throttle. Putting the transmission in neutral and blipping the throttle will get it off of the high idle step again, but that’s not going to work long term. My work around to get to work today was to zip tie the choke in the open position after it warmed up at idle :/ no good at all, but it was my ride to work. I haven’t had any time to trouble shoot it yet, it just cropped up this morning. I do know for sure that it was back on the high idle step. I see 3 options, with pros and cons. Id appreciate any input or words of wisdom. 1) Buy a new motorcraft E-choke cap, install it with no hot air and plug it into the wire from the stator. This would be the easiest, and is fairly likely to work at least as well as before, but may not be capable of getting the choke off of the high idle step. This is how the old one performed. Any ideas on how well the combo hot air/electric chokes can work without hot air? 2)Fit a holley electric choke cap to the carb. As I understand it this is not difficult to do mechanically, but I would need to find a good 12V power source for it. Preferably one that’s only hot while the engine is running, but “key in on position” power would be ok too. 3) Manual choke. It seems to be cheap, fast, reliable and easy. I just hate to give up the utility of a properly working electric choke. Any and all opinions are welcome! If I go the holley or manual choke route I may try to get it done tonight. I suspect that a motorcraft E- choke will have to come through the mail. Thanks for reading! A few months ago I might have said avoid the manual choke... But I've got mine working well now(just wasn't set up correctly) and down here in the south we hardly need it much. By the time you've left your driveway your truck is warmed up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightSix Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 A few months ago I might have said avoid the manual choke... But I've got mine working well now(just wasn't set up correctly) and down here in the south we hardly need it much. By the time you've left your driveway your truck is warmed up! Jim, Im sorry to say that I don’t understand the part about the ac throttle kicker compensating for the busted choke. It sounds like your vote is for using a motorcraft choke? It certainly doesn’t get any simpler than putting on a new motorcraft choke. It occurred to me a few minutes ago that I haven’t actually verified that I have 7V at the choke. There could be some kind of internal failure in that wire. Rigging my choke with zip ties is something I don’t mind doing for a few days if that’s what it takes to get the right parts in. my only reservation about going with another motorcraft choke is that I don’t know how well I should expect it to work without the hot air. One simple answer is – “at least as good as before”. Thanks for your help! Rob, Did you drill a new hole in the firewall for the choke cable, or use the one from the computer wiring harness? Do you recall which kit you used or does it really not matter? Any words of wisdom incase I go that route? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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