picked up an old Bronco

2610 Views 21 Replies 13 Participants Last post by ochretoe, Mar 1, 2011

Heavy Metal Guitar Hero

Discussion Starter · Feb 2, 2011

6

so far had to change the lock cylinder, the old one was a "no key required",
got the left rear axle out, seal is leaking, getting new bearing/retainer pressed on
TTB up front looks pretty crusty, thats gonna be a nightmare, I anticipate a torch, BFH and PB blaster in my future
looks like the forks in the transfer case are shot, haven't looked in there yet but the selector is in 2WD and underneath it is safetywired, probably kept popping out.
the ol 300 runs good but leaks a lot of oil, just pushrod cover and valve cover gaskets will help
she's got either a 435 or BW T18 granny 4 speed. 1st is NOT synchro ;D
all u-joints look like they were put on when Uncle Ronnie was still gov of California

but she's all there, no cancer, nice and straight

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1 - 20 of 22 Posts

Gunjunkie

· #2 · Feb 3, 2011

That has a lot of potential

jnicol6600

· #3 · Feb 3, 2011

Nice lookin old rig. I had a 86 pickup with a 300 six. I dont think you can kill one without draining the oil.

M700

· #4 · Feb 3, 2011

Nice! You've got a project ahead of you - but tremendous potential. Having that body straight & clean is a huge help, you won't have to worry 'bout that, just the mechanicals - and they deserve a rebuild after all these years.

My brother-in-law still has the little old Bronco he bought used in 1974, with a 302 under the hood. Really neat little rig, and he's got it in beautiful condition. It's got limited-slip diffs front and rear and I swear that doggone thing will crawl just about anywhere! Smaller than the one you've got, but all those old Bronco's were cool. Treat us to some photos time to time as you work your way through the ol' beast.

Regards, Guy

ochretoe

· #5 · Feb 8, 2011

Thatsnot old, just getting broke in. I wish my early Bronco had the big six, it's the best engine Ford ever built. It will really be nice once the bugs are worked out. I think it's the same year as my first patrol truck, looks like an 88.

Oz

· #6 · Feb 8, 2011

Cool. It's a Ford. ;D I like. I don't think we ever got the 300 here. All the ones I've seen were 302 Cleveland's, I think :-\. No, I have seen sixes and I thought, or maybe I assumed they were 250s. dunno ??? No, wait, I'm sure a bloke where I used to work had one with a 351. ??? ??? ???

Mark.

Gunjunkie

· #7 · Feb 8, 2011

351's here were Cleveland and Windsor's 300's were 6 poppers.. and unstoppable ..

Halwg

· #8 · Feb 8, 2011

We had a lot of Broncos as company vehicles and they always had the 300 6's. Those were run hard for a lot of miles on pipeline rights-of-ways, they were tough old trucks.

pymi

· #9 · Feb 8, 2011

Congrat's on a sweet Bronco, from looking at the hood is that a 1980/81?
I had a 82 with the 300 and loved it but the salt finally killed it. :'(

grout-scout

· #10 · Feb 12, 2011

Ahhh that brought back memories for me. My dad had one with a 351M, that thing did run. Until he flipped it one night, he never did figure out what happened, he said it lost steering (like he was on ice) and ran off the road. It's a good thing it had a heavy duty roll bar because it saved his life.

chipper

· #11 · Feb 13, 2011

Thought you said an old bronco??????????????

M700

· #12 · Feb 14, 2011

Now that's funny right there! ;D

I was thinking the same thing, those original little Broncos are what I think of when I hear "old Bronco." Neat little machines too...

janott

· #13 · Feb 14, 2011

My brother in-law always had a Bronco, first one was about a 67/68 and then he traded it in for a 74 that was orange and white. I sure liked both of those, and then they came out with the larger Bronco and he traded again in about 78.

My cousin Also had an old Bronco that was an early 60's and it had a little pick-up bed on it about big enough to tie a large cooler in, or if really talented roll up a big deer or elk and tie them back there. ;D ;D ;D

M700

· #14 · Feb 14, 2011

Janott - a few blocks away there's a guy with one of those old short-bed original Broncos in his driveway. It's been there for 15 years that I know of, without moving. I've tried to talk him into selling it - but no go... Dang...

On the bigger Broncos - I recall a series of articles in one of those 4x4 magazines about working one over into a real serious backroad/hunting beast. It got a sturdy 460 Ford V8, the axles got beefed up, and it got enough lift to deal with a set of 35" mudders I believe - along with a camo paint job and some kind of super-duper winch bumper. Quite a rig by the time it was all set up. I wanted it bad!

Guy

janott

· #15 · Feb 14, 2011

M-700, I wonder what makes some people click, I would kind of like to have one of those bronco's with the half bed. There is an old man here in town, I grew up with his kids. He has a green and white bronco that he bought new in 71 and I still see him drive it now and again and I would like to get it too.

dirtcowboy

· #16 · Feb 20, 2011

heres my lil bronco

M700

· #17 · Feb 20, 2011

Looks like you're doing some pretty hard-core four-wheeling with that Bronco!

janott

· #18 · Feb 20, 2011

M700 said:
Looks like you're doing some pretty hard-core four-wheeling with that Bronco!

I kind of thought that he was getting in to position to change the oil. ;D ;D ;D

Heavy Metal Guitar Hero

Discussion Starter · #19 · Feb 21, 2011

me and the supertroopers (wife and kids) have been enjoying riding in the bronco. It rides like a tiger tank and its top speed is a little lower than a tiger tank too.
pretty funny how when we are loaded up and the slightest bump the kids heads I can see em bouncing in the back. then with the manual tranny I love watching everybody's heads snap back when I grab a gear, they lurch forward when the clutch goes in and snap back when I let it out. ha ha ;D ;D

seriously I held the accelerator down and could not get over about 60 mph.

jnicol6600

· #20 · Feb 21, 2011

Wow sounds like you need a carb rebuild or tuneup or something. My old pickup with that setup(6cyl,4 speed) would run alot faster than that. It ran out of revs before it ran out of power.

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