1990 Ford Bronco 4BT swap

[BrandonMag]

I ran some errands yesterday so I didn't get anything done in the garage. This morning I reorganized the garage bay that the Bronco is in. I threw away a bunch of stuff I had accumulated over the past three years and moved some other stuff that didn't need to be in the same bay. I still need to move the DT360 and Eaton 3053A out of this area to make some more room, but for now I'm ready to get some work done.

This is where I started this afternoon. I took this picture because the track bar bracket that is bolted to the engine crossmember is actually a Ford product.

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After a couple hours of work, I got the Dana 60 out. (Pneumatic tools are the best thing since Adam met Eve!) Now the F350 looks stripped:

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Here is where the D60 ended up for the evening:

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Soon I'll have an 8-lug Bronco!

While I was out running around yesterday, I picked this up:

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It's the same model as one I used over the course of six months four years ago, drilling well over 1000 11/16" holes in 2" pipe, and I didn't have any problems with it. It's not the milling machine I'd prefer, but it should serve me well for the next five years or so.

I finally got the Bronco stripped down all the way:

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Today was a good day.

 

[dbshelton]

Very nice. It's satisfying to make progress on these projects.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

You Crack me Up, Just cruzed through this thread for the first time, First post was, "picked up this Bronco for a DD after some tweaks", Now its a complete tear-down, Auto Trans swap, 8 Lug axle swap, etc etc.. Love It! Sounds how My projects end up!

Gonna be a Sweet Ride! Subscribed,..

 

[BrandonMag]

You Crack me Up, Just cruzed through this thread for the first time, First post was, "picked up this Bronco for a DD after some tweaks", Now its a complete tear-down, Auto Trans swap, 8 Lug axle swap, etc etc.. Love It! Sounds how My projects end up!

When I bought this Bronco, my intention was to make it just a little nicer. After it had sat most of the summer, I thought, "Why not just build this exactly how I want?" After I talked it over with the wife, the decision was made.

I'd rather wait longer and have it exactly how I want it than rush through and regret the decision later. Plus, I haven't ever done this before. It will be a learning experience.

Big Ed's build is an inspiration; if this Bronco ends up looking half as nice when I'm done, I'll be happy.

 

[BrandonMag]

This is the look I'm going for:

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I don't care for the color scheme pictured. I'm thinking just red and black, similar to what BikeMaker did for the '08 axles he swapped into his '85 F350.

 

[F350camper]

You Crack me Up, Just cruzed through this thread for the first time, First post was, "picked up this Bronco for a DD after some tweaks", Now its a complete tear-down, Auto Trans swap, 8 Lug axle swap, etc etc.. Love It! Sounds how My projects end up!

Gonna be a Sweet Ride! Subscribed,..

Hahah I had forgotten that the thread had started out this way. Glad you are building it though Brandon. Its going to be sweet!

 

[BrandonMag]

Started out this morning with the Dana in this condition:

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Cut this off:

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Did a lot of grinding, and now it's in this state:

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A blank slate for a custom-built coilover setup. I'm looking forward to this.

I noticed there is about an 1/8" of play in the stub shafts and main axleshafts on both sides of the pumpkin when you grab the ujoints and twist forcefully... hopefully it's nothing a simple rebuild can't fix.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

When I bought this Bronco, my intention was to make it just a little nicer. After it had sat most of the summer, I thought, "Why not just build this exactly how I want?" After I talked it over with the wife, the decision was made.

I'd rather wait longer and have it exactly how I want it than rush through and regret the decision later. Plus, I haven't ever done this before. It will be a learning experience.

Big Ed's build is an inspiration; if this Bronco ends up looking half as nice when I'm done, I'll be happy.

Thank you, I appreciate it!

I like your thinking, Just get it done how you want it the first time, Good call. Its gonna be a Bad Ass Bronco.

 

[BrandonMag]

Its gonna be a Bad Ass Bronco.

I think it's just been named.

 

[subway]

Nice work so far! Keep up the good work.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[BrandonMag]

The rear Sterling acquisition has been delayed due to weather in Central Oregon (they got a crapload of snow): I won't be picking it up until early January.

That coupled with the fact that the wife and I are booked up solid through the end of the year more than likely means there won't be much forward progress for a few weeks on this.

The good news is once the holidays are over I will have three months with no school (homework) responsibilites and I will be able to dedicate more time to this project. I will be attacking the axles with a vengeance once I have both of them in my possession.

 

[Averysm09]

I'm looking forward to seeing how this thing ends up. I have an IDI (how I found my way to this site to begin with) but I also have a 92 Bronco with a 5.0 in it. When I bout it almost 2 Januarys (Januaries?) ago I had visions of a 7.3 / 5.9 / 4bt swap with 8 lug SAS.

........You're my hero......

 

[BrandonMag]

I can't believe it's already the end of February... I must be getting old.

I picked up the 10.25 and D50 from Jack, the guy from Bend, OR. He had a NICE 1997 F250 SuperCab that he had swapped a Cummins and Dana 60 in to. We had both been bitten by the diesel bug, so we chatted about diesels and Fords for a while.

He pointed me to www.carrickcustoms.com Jack is a young guy and this was his first diesel build. John Carrick guided him along with his Cummins swap. After poking around on his website and seeing some examples of his craftmanship on Jack's F250, I'm considering ordering his steering kit for the D60 going in to my Bronco. I'd prefer to buy local.

I also picked up a new fuse box for the engine bay off Amazon. It's a Blue Sea Systems marine 12VDC 12 circuit with cover model 5029. If you're looking for a fuse box for your engine bay, it's a pretty nice piece.

Other than that, I haven't made much progress. The wife and I have decided to move to Portland within the next few months (we both spend a couple hours a day sitting in traffic and that is getting OLD), so there probably won't be a whole lot of forward momentum on this Bronco for awhile.

 

[The Warden]

After poking around on his website and seeing some examples of his craftmanship on Jack's F250, I'm considering ordering his steering kit for the D60 going in to my Bronco.

After reading the description on the website, I may have to follow suit. It would be nice to see feedback from someone who's installed the kit, but based on the description, this looks like a VERY worthwhile upgrade and might be worth being a guinea pig myself ...couple that with a Redhead steering gearbox and we might finally see a genuinely tight steering setup on one of these trucks

 

[BrandonMag]

Jack had one of the Carrick Customs steering kits installed. He said he still had some steering drift; he was pretty sure his steering box was in need of replacement. He did say the steering kit firmed up the feel in the front, though.

I didn't ask about installation, but I assume it would be pretty straightforward.