Project "Big Country" - Front Bumper Fab

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Keith and I have been busy working on the big orange bronco lately too. Mainly just nic-nacs.

I still need to install the new radiator I have and figure out the lower hose - hoping to make the 7.3L hose work but don't see how it will by looking at it.

My master cylinder reservoir is rubbing the hood and I need to figure out how to lower my hydroboost so I don't break anything. I've researched a different reservoir that might fit the same master cylinder but I don't want to sacrifice fluid volume since I'm running D60 front and rear disc.

The little things that have been completed lately are:
- fixed rear diff. leak
- installed West Texas Offroad Redneck Ram
- fabbed hood prop mount
- installed windshield braces
- replaced throttle body
- wired winch

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Time to get this thread up to date. I haven't taken any pics of the work, but I will work on that this weekend. A lot of nic nacs, but I'm picky.

What has been done....

1. Re-fixed rear diff leak. After replacing the diff cover gasket with silicone it started leaking out of the pinion nut through the splines. Dropped the gear oil, removed the pinion nut and added some rtv. 3 days later re-filled with oil.

2. Installed the Redneck Ram. This went fairly well. The ram had an 8" stroke which was a little too much but we added a spacer on the shaft so it's a little less stroke now. Hooked the lines up backwards the first time, so made a mess reversing them and then re-bleeding, re-bleeding, and oh yea more re-bleeding. Also replaced the leaky gasket for RTV on the front diff cover when we took the cover off to weld the tabs to.

3. Added a hood prop. Got the ghetto 1x4 that was bevel cut on each end to support it just right out of the way. Welded a pivot point on and then a tab for it to spring against when the hood is closed and keep it from bouncing around.

4. Welded tabs to the roll cage and added some turn buckles to keep the windshield from rattling.

5. Replaced the throttle body. The one I had picked up was for a driver side set up and my 5.0 is passenger side so I had to make that work, but no big deal. I didn't realize how hard it would be to find the little ball socket that the accel cable hooks to.

6. Wired the winch up. Used some fat 2 gauge cable. Also fixed the ratchet on the 8274.

7. Removed the twin sticks, heated, and bent them so they don't swing so far back and hit the console tray we made. Still need to install them back.

There's more... just can't think of it right now. Pics will come sooner than later I promise!

[chuzie]

Take good pics of the ram setup. I am about to do mine too! Great work. Glad to hear you are on track.

[broncosbybart]

chuzie- on the racer I wasn't able to attach the ram to the tie rod despite my best efforts. not enough room on the stock width EB axle. I had to attach it to the drag link near the pitman arm and to the crossmember under the front of the engine. wish it would have worked on the tie rod.

lets see those pics

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Also have the radiator out and putting a Champion 3 core in. I used Duff's 4 core mounts and had to do a little trimming on the radiator to make it fit the brackets just right. Made a mount for my PS cooler because I refused to use the plastic tie clip things through my brand new radiator.

I am leaving town this afternoon and will be back on Sunday. I'll try to take some pics Sunday and get them up.

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Finished (all but adding coolant and cranking) the Champion radiator swap. I tore it all out a couple weeks ago and haven't touched it again until last night. Rain threats kept me in from bush hogging so I got it all back together. Pics coming later I hope.

Goal is to test it around the farm this weekend and see what rubs / squeals / breaks.

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It was getting too dark to get some good pics tonight but I got several to show what it looks like now.

Here is how it sits in the garage. This is the finished front bumper. I really like how it turned out. If anything, I may add a bull bar hoop to the front - not pre-runner style, more like a cactus smasher. It is braced multiple times on the back/bottom side. The winch is mounted to 3/8" and the two side supports are also 3/8". I bought the fat clevis mounts that take a 3/4" clevis.

I tore the winch down only to find that it just had some surface rust that needed cleaning. All of the internals looked new so I put new lube in it and cleaned it up. I also replaced the winch plug with a 4 pin trailer plug since the old one was rusted and broken. I may end up going back and adding an in-cab switch to run the winch, but that can always be done later.

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I welded a couple tabs forward of the cage bar to line up with the windshield frame bolts. A couple turn buckles and wa-la no more rattle!

You can see why I am modifying (heating/bending) my twin sticks. We made this cool little change tray and the sticks hit it in the low position. I like the tray so much I decided to modify the shifter rather than the tray!

Radiator pics are pretty dark and can't see much. Since I had to use 4 core mounts, I had to modify my upper mounts that bolt to the front hoop of the core support. I cut them and added 1/2" to accept the 4 core rubbers. Keith calls them Franken-mounts since they are so chopped up and re-done, but very beefy too. Bottom line... they work! I let the engine idle tonight with the hood up for about 20 min. It never got over 200 degrees where as the other one would be 210-215ish easy. I did also add a fan shroud that may be helping the cause.

It is amazing the difference in sound after replacing the idler pulley! I never knew it was making so much noise and my motor actually sounds quiet, which I like. It's so quiet I can hear the exhaust leak I need to fix :banghead:

The ram pics are also too dark to see. I have a Ruff Stuff 3/8" front diff cover so I used that as my fixed end point. You can see the spacer I put on the ram shaft to shorten the stroke. We just set it up with that on it in the closed position and reduced it from an 8" stroke to 7-1/2". I didn't want to chance breaking my stock knuckles in a bind so rather be safe than sorry.

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Inaugural test run is planned for Saturday. I have a gulley on the farm here that has some fallen trees etc so let it crawl on just to see if anything has interference.

The two main things I still need to do are:
- Fire Extinguishers - going to buy my brackets from JDuck
- Front bump stops. I do have the rear limit straps on and don't think they will bottom out, but the front is likely to bottom out.

If anything, I need about an inch more suspension in the front. I am thinking about cutting a coil off of some 5-1/2" springs I have and see where it lands. The current springs are 3-1/2" in the front and stock in the rear.

[firefighter2134]

i have a set of wh 4 1/2 inch coils if you may be interested in trading