Best Bronco II to purchase??

4x4junkie · Aug 5, 2015

M5OD-R1 has to come from another BII, or an Explorer or Ranger with the 2.9L or 4.0L engine.
Note that 2.9L 4x4 M5ODs are quite rare, they seem to be found only in the last half of '90-model Rangers & BIIs. 4.0L ones are plentiful however, but have slightly taller 1st, 2nd & 3rd gear ratios.

jekyll_hyde · Aug 6, 2015

That makes sense I think the manual that came in the F-150s was the M5OD-R2.. but I do see lots of ads for the 4.9L and an M5OD 4x4 trans for sale on craigslist and those motors are cheap and reliable. Had one driving around with 250,000 on the original motor. I just wonder if one would fit...

Anyways enough pipe dreams. We will be looking at the BII's we found this weekend starting Friday and I will keep the forum updated!

jekyll_hyde · Jun 15, 2016

Finally the search is over! The girlfriend and I have sold her old car and have purchased an '84 Bronco II in pretty good shape body wise. 92,000 miles stored in a barn until the previous owners "rescued" it with intentions of wheeling it but ended up being a daily for a high school kid.

2.8L Carbureted with 5 speed manual trans, floor shift 4x4.

jekyll_hyde · Jun 15, 2016

We fell in love with the color and got the BII at a very reasonable price since it had so much work that needed to be done. Oil leaks to tackle, running rich high idle (unfortunately the PO developed a hole in the vacuum canister and instead of replacing it they decided to cap off every single vacuum line) :shok:

, surface and structural rust to fix and interior work ahead of us. I have a picture of the paint code and stuff. I was hoping someone on here would be able to help me find out the name of the color and where is a good place to purchase paint.

Also is there a VIN analysis chart out there for these to find out what specifically we have in the vehicle and what is supposed to be there.

4EyedTurd · Jun 16, 2016

It looks like it's the same color as my 83 Ranger which is called Bright Bittersweet and the paint code is 2G.

Good looking Bronco II you picked up

jekyll_hyde · Jun 16, 2016

That's also what I found to he the color that and light Canyon red came up in the search results. Does anyone know if the spare tire carrier from a fullsize bronco fits the mounting holes on a BII? We would put in studs to make it 5x4.5 pattern.

wildbill23c · Jul 8, 2016

Different size carrier on the full size bronco so it wouldn't fit. Those carriers wear over time and they'll rattle like crazy, I finally took the tire off the carrier on my 84 B2, got tired of the thing rattling.

AllanD · Jul 10, 2016

There are two distinctly different external tire carriers on the Bronco2...

The first early one used up to the end of the 1987 model year was mostly made out of Aluminum, but had some steel components which leads to Galvanic corrosion which
mostly affect the release lever, that allows it to swing away from the tailgate) and sometimes the welds.

The 1988-on version is almost entirely steel, only the blocks that bolt to the body are aluminum, and this type the spare is mounted with three wheelstuds.

The issues with both types is that they do not easily accommodate tires larger than 215/75-15, larger tires are simply too wide for the mounting studs to be long enough.

A second issue is tires larger than 215/75-15 are heavier than should be carried on the swing away carrier, unless you like having a broken lift-gate, because the latch is mounted to the lift-gate which is made of fragile fiberglass....

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Will · Jul 12, 2016

Good points.

The steel rack is pretty good and it's easy to add a block to space the studs out for larger tires. I never had a problem with the latch. The rack is really well supported on the hinge side and the latch really doesn't have to do much. The fiberglass is cracked around it, but it's held on by 3 widely spaced bolts and is still perfectly solid. I really want to figure out how to move this rack to my Ranger. Great way to carry a spare.

jekyll_hyde · Aug 4, 2016

Well after having the vehicle for a few weeks there are several projects we were able to tackle and improve upon, we stumbled upon a good deal on some wheel/tires off a 98 Wrangler 31x10.5R15 all terrain tires. They would not fit in stock form so we purchased an add-a-leaf for the rear,and coil spacers in the front. Also did a rear disc brake swap with parts from an 02 Mustang GT was able to pick up everything for that for $60 on craigslist. Had to purchase a new caliper bracket on one side but everything else went smoothly! Fixed the main leak due to bad o-ring on the distributor, I think we have a rear main seal leak though! Changed the diff fluids replaced the carpet patched the floorboards, painted the bumpers, shined up the wheels and are in the process of redoing the headliner to a custom pattern she chose!

The only things left to do now are to adjust the camber, and find that elusive triangle bracket or the emergency brake and it will be on the road full time. We are planning to do some body work around the quarter panels and elsewhere that rust has tackled then go over with some 3M undercoating or rocker panel guard then spray it to match the paint but just along that lip that goes the length of the body. Enough blabbering here are some pictures.

Also thanks for the replies about the spare tire carrier, I think we are going to go with a fold down RV carrier that we will attach to the bumper and that way it will not have to mount to the fiberglass hatch at all and put a spring behind the fold down part to keep rattling and movement down to a minimum.

jekyll_hyde · Aug 22, 2016

Got some more pictures of the Bronco II after we painted the wheels no windshield in the picture and the trim isn't on but it is currently just need to get some pictures to put up on here.

wildbill23c · Aug 22, 2016

Looks pretty good, looks like the body is in pretty descent condition, and the paint looks pretty good as well.

Best Bronco II to purchase??

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