|
I just crossed 15k miles on the 35x12.5R17 Falken AT4Ws on the DD the other day. Its no 8k diesel tow rig, but its still got to be 5k  Closeup of the tread on the front left tire:  15k miles. Rotated once at 8k, havent done it again. Probably should, but theyre really not showing any signs of needing it. Tread depth is just over 16/32, pretty typical of all 4  These things are advertised at 19/32 new. At the current wear rate ill go 55-60k miles to get down to 8/32" Thinking i will rotate them during the week and then go to 5k rotations just to keep em wearing evenly, altho really theyre wearing very well, especially for a TTB equipped vehicle. Been planning a wheelin trip for the beginning of may. A week or two ago i dug the gray bronco out of winter hibernation took it for a spin, and wasnt thrilled. The brakes dont feel right. I had replaced the master over the winter when i replaced that torn rear flex hose, but it doesnt feel like a problem with the rear brakes, it feel like its in the front. Pedal is hard when truck is off, soft when running and pedal is slow to return. Driving it feels like the rear brakes are doing all the work. Got home to see nice shiny rear rotors but discolored front ones.  A buddy came by and we re-bled the brakes. The rear calipers bled fine, and i could feel them actuating when he pumped the pedal. The front calipers bled funny. No air but the right caliper would only let a small amount of fluid out the bleeder. So i ordered calipers, pads, and replacement flex hoses for all 3 positions (one at each caliper + center drop). Got it up in the air, passenger side caliper retainer had started to slip out again  Got new calipers & pads installed  Used my power bleeder to re-bleed brakes again, and no change. Pedal is hard when truck is off, soft when running and pedal is slow to return. My brake hoses havent shown up yet. Just got an update from UPS that theyve been delayed until next thursday, which pretty much means that wheelin trip is cancelled. Trying to decide what the problem is. Old rubber hoses at front calipers, old stainless drop line in middle, new master (defective?), or old booster. I guess im dead in the water until more parts show up. Meanwhile, ive got something else going on in the background:  Ive decided to do one more round of upgrades to the kiddo's bronco before he outgrows it  ML Toys is now making their own custom gear boxes for power wheels called the Paragon 775. Upgrading from 550 series to 775 series motors as well as part of the kit  ...and steel gears on bearings instead of plastic gear and no bearings or bushings at all  Had to replace the rear tires because he wore them all the way down to the seam!  I was breaking in the new motors while i was pulling the front brakes apart on the big bronco  So hes thrilled because his bronco is back in action  Now ive got to fix mine... The green bronco hit 250k pulling into the driveway the other day  I think it looks pretty decent for a 250k mile DD  When last we left off, i was removing the stone deflector  That piece is now installed on the green DD bronco, so, moving on, i want to take the front clip apart  Check this fender. For a plow truck, this thing is mint  Here's the only rust on the fender, super minimal. This one is a keeper
The driver fender isnt perfect, but i think it might be salvageable  Some rust here, pretty sure i can fix this easily enough  This kind of sucks though  Thats a big dent, and i dont know if i have the skill to fix it. Time will tell. Core support is junk, thats going. Im saving the fender liners. Entire under-hood harness is already removed and in a box to save  Motor/trans coming out   Split the motor and trans. Giving the trans to a coworker as his 97 F250's E4OD needs a front pump  The space between the block and the spacer plate was full of....stuff. The spacer was rotted out, and i had to needle scale the back of the block to get it mostly clean, before putting it on the stand   With that done im pretty much done with this thing so i pushed it outside  I took the cowl, and the black windshield trim since its semi rare. Then took the top off and threw it in the back of the F250 for now  Little dude helped me hitch up the trailer...  Took a chain to rig up the draglink so it wouldnt steer so wonky...  ...and onto the trailer it went!  Took it to the scrap yard Monday morning, and got $174 for it as it sits. So the total tally is this: Purchase price: $700 sold cats for $100 scrapped bronco for $174 that gets me down to $426, and i still have an electric shift BW1356 to hopefully sell. parts kept: 96 roller cam 351w "parts" E4OD i gave to a coworker mass-air airbox under-hood harness PCM stone deflector cowl black windshield trim fenders fender liners entire power window harness power rearview mirror/illuminated visor harness rear cargo panels tcase skid hard top. Dunno why just wanted it because its green! all told, i think i made out pretty good! Couldnt get the window in the back of the green bronco to roll down from either switch. Hot wired the window to get it to roll down and then did some troubleshooting- turns out it would roll up from the key switch in the bumper but thats it, no other function worked on either switch.  Dug deeper, and figured out that the ground path through the 'Up' switch in the tailgate had failed, causing it to not roll down from the tailgate switch  Decided to do some destructive exploration. Busted the corner off the switch to inspect the contacts. Fixed it, but i also lost the spring and busted the corner off, so technically its still broken lol  With the path through this switch broken, neither up nor down would work on the dash switch, and down wouldnt work on the tailgate switch. Fortunately ive got a parts bronco in the garage so i stole one of the switches out of that harness and bolted it into mine using some 2.5mm hardware from one of the r/c trucks  ...and here we are, replacement switch successfully wired into my harness. Now i just have to put it back in the bronco and we're back in action  Ok, job done, time to get back to the parts bronco!   Drove the bronco to work last night. Headlights are a big improvement! I need to adjust them a little bit more yet, but heres what they looked like last night: Low beam  high beam  Suffice to say, im pretty happy with the end result. Running Hikari LEDs in them from Amazon- i think the pics speak for themselves. Finally had some time to deal with this  All 3 lenses shattered, mounting tabs broken, chrome retaining ring broken. Nothing salvageable in this corner. So, a year or so ago i bought headlights for this thing, and never installed them. Since i need new lights, and i already have these, theyre going in.  Grill and housings coming out  Header removed, so i could remove the stone deflector  My dented one, from that deer hit last year  parts truck piece, same color, and no dents  stone deflector and header reinstalled  housings going in  ...and the finished product! I had a gloss black grill in a box i was saving for this project, so it went on at the same time   This is one of those mods where people either love it or hate it. Honestly, im torn, because it completely changes the look of the front end. But, having projector housings should be awesome for night driving, we'll see. Im going to have to aim them on my way to work tonight. Im now thinking i need to find another 20-22 Superduty bumper to put back on this thing, and then maybe color match it to the truck. Might look cool to have a green/black bumper on there instead of the chrome, especially since now the only chrome on the truck is the bumpers. Rusty!    Ok enough of that, lets get the tcase out  Hmm, seems someone already started taking the driveshaft out  Cut out the cats, sold em for $110. This thing is already making me money, lol  No drain plug in the pan? Screw it, self tappers to the rescue!  Yes, i put the screw back in the hole the next day, lol One pile of parts:  Pulled the light housings and the plastic header since its mint  Not much left thats good to take...  ,,,except that stone deflector, which just so happens to be in mint condition too, and the same color code as my green bronco!  So we had a wild storm the other night, 70 mph winds, raining sideways, etc. Driving in to work that night i hit a downed tree, and smashed the headlamp housing and chrome trim for it  Ive already got a set of headlamp housings i bought years ago in a box in the shed, so i guess thats Monday's project. Rip all the broken parts off, swap in that dent-free stone deflector, and put some new light housings on. |
