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I shouldve built these years ago!!!! So, since I wont have my wedges for a few days, I decided to finish a shop project that I started over a year ago: Axle stands One finished  both done!  That said, I effortlessly rolled the axle out from under the truck, so that tomorrow (after some cleanup) I can begin refurbishing the brakes  The top of the stand is slotted to accept exhaust ubolts of various sizes, to clamp around the axle tubes. They actually work really good at holding the axle in place, to the point you can roll it around freely, or even set pinion angle. New Hangar, courtesy of Dorman  Springs are now installed, so this morning I got the axle mocked into place!   The axle is jacked up, with the full weight of the truck on the springs. The B codes flatten out nicely; should ride nice. They get close to the overload at ride height but don't ride on them, so it should carry weight pretty nicely. The stock tapered blocks are in there currently, and need to be, but theyre both cracked so ive got a new set on order from JBG. So no snugging up ubolts or putting it on all fours until some time next week. Sucks, but it gives me time to replumb the rear brakes, and get the driveshaft shortened. Near as I can tell, it looks like the B Codes lifted it ~3", but ill have to get it on the ground so I can get better measurements. If it ends up too tall in the rear ill drop the overload.  8.8 coming out:  Snow storm inbound, so I brought the 10.25 inside:  One of my wedges is cracked, ill have to get replacements  Moving on to the SD leafs. The fixed end is 18mm. I don't have any 18mm bolts (nor do I have an 18mm drill bit), but I do have 3/4. So ive opted to drill out the bushing & hangar to 3/4. Here's the difference in size, it's pretty minimal (.708" to .750"):
Done & painted:  stock pack next to the SD leafs. SD leafs "B Code" have maybe 1�½" more arch, and appear to be a tad longer. Probably going to need to keep overload, plus factory bronco block to get to 2½" lift, we'll see.  Pass side bracket is in pretty bad shape. D.side was replaced by previous owner, but this one is shot & needs to be replaced
Entire d.side frame has now been needle-scaled, wire wheeled & painted:  If it snows tonight/tomorrow like theyre saying, ill be home clearing driveway. If not, ill be at junkyard with a buddy looking for stuff. Either way, there wont be any progress tomorrow. Hoping Friday I can get pass side frame stripped & painted. New shackle hangar arrives Friday, so im hoping Monday to install that plus hang leafs, we'll see. ...and now to delete the 4WABS. Chop up some brake lines  Then remove pump & bracket  the 'brains' of the operation  and a ton of wires!  Weve got to open up the harness that goes to the ABS ECM  The 4 loose wires get spliced together to complete the speed signal. The rest of em in my hand? Useless!  Yup, that looks way better.  Weight reduction!  And now for Phase Two: New master cylinder & booster for a '96 F350  a spool of Copper-Nickel brake tubing  ...and shazam! No more 4WABS!  That pretty much catches me up to today. I went to put tires on the front, and realized the chevy wheel studs are too short! Hoping I saved the studs from the F250 I parted out, otherwise ill be buying 16 new studs. Im gonna do some general cleanup in the garage tomorrow, and see if I still have em. Odds are I wont have time to swap the studs until next week. Next week's plan is to lift the rear & swap the 10.25 in., and then do a ton of bleeding to the brakes. At least, that's the plan anyway. I took some time away from working on the truck, to source all the parts to put the 351 in. Which I now have. Add in some other things along the way and I lost a bunch of time, but still, progress! lift kit installed:  D50 stub shafts in place  front end complete!   stock pitman arm, next to a 4wd F250 arm  All new Moog TREs. Instead of using bronco TREs, these are the ambulance prep Van TREs. Beefy.  Got a TTB coil to compare the Superlift coils to. Yeah, something isn't right  Talked to JBG. They said every set they have is made the same way. In agreement they wont work. So I shipped them back today for a full refund. So now I need coils for the front. Well, since I got those SD leafs from Steve I said screw it, and ordered the 2.5" kit from Tuff Country. So yeah, TTB is back out  Sucks because i could have had the front end done today, and now im gonna have to wait until next week I guess, when the kit arrives. Thinking for now ill start removing the 4WABS. TTB is hung once more!  Not shown in that pic, is the 4.10 D50 chunk bolted in, along with the front dshaft hooked back up. Chevy vs. Ford stub shaft: (Ford on top)  D.side shafts installed, modified knuckles with new balljoints, adjustable camber bushings, and the chevy spindle  Bam! 8-lug  Then I got stalled out. Not sure whats going on here. Here is my brand new Superlift leveling coils from Bronco Graveyard. This pic does not do it justice; the lower coil retainer will pull right thru the bottom wrap on the spring:  Its as if the coils were made wrong. I guess ill have to call JBG Monday and see what they have to say. So Monday I went to town, and yanked my new(er) motor out of the donor truck. Moving an engine hoist around on a snow covered driveway in single digit weather sucks!  Today I pushed the truck down into the stones where it can sit til spring; the bed, once painted, will go on my F250. Plus, spare rear with 4.10s! I listed the other ('90) 351 on CL and got several offers on it, so that will probably be sold with the next week. So Tuesday I got back at the bronco, and got the passenger side cleaned & painted  Then today after moving the F250, I went to town on the TTB, and the D50 inner shafts  I will probably be working on a coworkers truck tomorrow, but if not, I will split the TTB shafts apart for prep & paint. After that, ill finally be ready to start putting parts back on the bronco! Special thanks to my bud Steve for finding this gem, that i snagged up & drug home during a snowstorm yesterday  One '97 F250, with a recently rebuilt 351 under the hood. Apparently the motor was rebuilt maybe 6 months before the truck got wrapped around a pole. The motor looks clean, no oil, grime, nothing. New pan, valve covers, new water pump, lots of parts that are obviously not very old. The block looks clean.  So, new plan. Yank motor/trans, and park truck in stones til spring. Take 351, slap a couple things on it, and drop into bronco. It is a SD 351 so I'll still have to use the 302 harness/PCM unless I can find a used MA PCM online somewhere. Probably reuse the ypipe, it at least part of it when I drop it in since the original one won't work. Ill probably sell the transmission??? 2wd so who knows if its worth anything. The bed on it is pretty clean, thinking of using it to replace the smashed bed on my F250 after i paint it. Of course, it ALSO has a 4.10 LS rear in it, meaning i pretty much just shouldnt have even bothered buying the other parts truck but oh well. Trying to decide if its worth taking the '97 10.25 and stuffing it under the bronco in place of the '90 rear (not sure if its worth the effort to swap rears just for the 'long' pinion when its only a 351). Id like to keep the white truck a roller til spring, meaning if i put the '97 rear under the bronco, the '90 rear must go in its place. The time has come to start really tearing into the bronco's front end, so here we go! Stripped down both sides and yanked knuckles off  Goodbye 3.55s  Junk pile  So many parts missing!  Cleaned up the driver side and painted! Shame im gonna have to bolt the TTB back into this!  Tomorrow I hope to get the passenger side cleaned & painted, and if im lucky, get the pivot bushings replaced. |
