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New Bronco, couple of questions


Muddytruckn

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Hello to all! Not sure if there's an introduction place, but if so I'll post there later.

Last night I picked up an 88 BII & have a couple of questions about it. It has a 3" body lift, Explorer axles (so he says), manual hubs, manual transfer case shifter, removable doors, otherwise stock.

1. How can I identify the axles for sure? The rear is an 8.8. I noticed the somewhat flat bottom on the diff cover compared to the round 7.5 that it should have stock. That was easy, but I have no idea how to tell a D28 from a D35

2. This one should probably be #1, but oh well. Fifth gear sounds like a box of rocks rattling around. I can only assume that a bearing is shot. I've rebuilt transfer cases but never dove into a transmission. Would it be worth the hassle of rebuilding or should I look for a different transmission? Only wanting a direct swap as this is gonna be my daily driver. How long can I go just using gears 1-4?

3. Speedo doesn't work. Probably looking at replacing the cable, but figure I could mention it & see if there is some sort of common problem or area that I should look at.

I'll eventually get some pics & tell more about myself, but kind of in a crunch for time at the minute.
 


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The d28 is a lot smaller than the D35. there is an ID section in the tech library.

As for the tranny, I would look for a M5OD out of an Explorer.
 

Harley

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the d28 has 12 bolts and d35 has 10...also if its a d35, make sure it has ribs running under the bottom of the pumpkin or it has d28 guts...oh, welcome!
 

Muddytruckn

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Bummer, it's a D28 up front. Well at least the rear is an 8.8.

Having a hard time locating a transmission, but might have a line on one in a 90 Bronco 2 hours away. Only other one I'm seeing is an FM145 for $75 & I don't want to go through the hassle of that swap for what it is. Surprisingly an M5OD is harder to find than I thought it would be.

Now I have a new problem & by searching around I see several have had it, but I haven't seen a solid solution. My starter isn't engaging. When cleaning out the Bronco I found a bunch of receipts & ignored them until now. I tried starting it up after work & heard nothing but a horrible grinding noise followed by a free spin. Got it home, dropped the starter, everything looks great. Starter & flywheel look new as does the solenoid. I start digging through the receipts to find that it's had 6 starters/returns in the last 3 months with this latest one being 7/4 of this year. I returned this one, bolted in the new one, & it fired up... once. On the second time, it did the exact same thing as the last one & now the Bronco sits until I can get this figured out. Anyone have a permanent fix? Looks like the previous owner tried everything I was gonna try.
 

Muddytruckn

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Might have answered my own question here, but need to make sure before I pull the trigger since I'm on the broke side, lol. I've seen mention of using a starter for a 1.9 Escort because it has 10 teeth. Can anyone confirm this? Any parts numbers & is it a direct bolt in or will I have to modify it? Thanks in advance for your help
 

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Might have answered my own question here, but need to make sure before I pull the trigger since I'm on the broke side, lol. I've seen mention of using a starter for a 1.9 Escort because it has 10 teeth. Can anyone confirm this? Any parts numbers & is it a direct bolt in or will I have to modify it? Thanks in advance for your help
Sort of a bump and a little FYI.

I can't answer your Escort question; but, there is a ton of info on starters on this forum because of the exact problem you are having. As I understand it, there are different starter gear counts and different starter gear depths for RBV vehicles (all dependent on engine/flywheel/trans combinations, years, etc.). The average parts stores/counter guys will not know the differences and if you do not know the differences, you can end up with "a Ford starter" that may not be the correct one.

And, of course, once you change the starter and turn-in the original core, you are up shit creek until you can find someone (not me, IDK) that can tell you exactly which starter you need for your exact vehicle. So much fun!!
 
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You can go as long as you want not using 5th gear. I only use it when I am going 60 or better.
 

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Typical problem with these RBV's and manual transmissions seem to be more common of this starter issue. Mine grinds randomly. Have never figured it out, its almost like the flywheel is bent. Anyhow, since I had a shop drill the bottom hole clear through to mount the starter and use a through bolt with lock washer and lock nut, I haven't had the starter fail to crank the engine over since then. You may want to drill through holes and install regular bolts with lock washers and lock nuts it may help. The only other thing I can think of is the starter isn't sitting in its location properly so the teeth aren't completely engaging the flywheel, so you get the grinding noise, on the first start and all the torque of the starter and possibly a stripped mounting hole or holes, it kicks the starter away from the flywheel. At least that's what my problem turned out to be, hence the through bolt for the mounting hole on the bottom on my B2. Its not so much the starter gear...actually has nothing to do with it. The starter just plain doesn't sit properly, and all you end up with is the starter grinding, and the starter not engaging. I was having such a horrible problem with mine that I finally had a shop look at it, and the finding was the bottom mounting hole was stripped out just enough that it would let you tighten the bolt down and feel like it was tight but the first start would break the bolt lose and the grinding would start all over again. So I'd go about 2-3 days then have to crawl under and shove the starter back into position then tighten the bolts down again. I've been running on the through bolt setup for about 8 months and haven't had the starter fail to engage since that fix, however it does still grind a bit, so I may try and figure out how to drill that top hole clear through as well and see if that fixes it. I've also tried installing washers in the top or bottom to help align the starter better as well. I finally gave up on that, and just left it as is. I never had this problem with my 84 Ranger 4x2 2.8l and automatic transmission, as a matter of fact never replaced the starter in it in the 19 years it was in the family.

As for how far you can go in 4th gear, as far as you want. 4th gear is direct. So its the 1:1 final gear, 5th gear is overdrive, and just gives you a bit better fuel economy...not really sure that it does though 20mpg is all I've been able to ever see out of my B2, regardless. My 5th gear howls or whines like crazy, and seems pretty typical on the TK5 transmissions from what I recall reading about. Not sure which transmission you have, but 5th gear can become damaged pretty easily by people trying to tow in overdrive, it quickly overheats the bearings and well you are left with the whine or howl.

The starter issue in mine I've just learned to live with it. A plus having a manual transmission is if you are able to park on a slight downgrade you can always get it rolling and start it by being in gear and releasing the clutch once its rolling. Or push starting or pull starting it as well.
 

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I'll check out your idea Wildbill & see if maybe that will fix it. Just not sure how it could be stripped if the bolts thread in & tighten properly. I guess I need to take a closer look when I crawl under there next time. This is really getting old.

I can say that when I loosen the bolts just a little, it feels as if there is about 1/8" of play that I can rotate the starter in & out. I read up somewhere about the block plate being wore out? My bolts thread in & tighten just fine, is there some kind of locating shim or something that may be missing? I see that there is a very thin flywheel cover on the bellhousing, but not seeing where it would have provisions for any locating shims or how it would affect alignment. At the moment I'm debating between trying out the 10 tooth Escort starter idea or trying to locate a new block plate. Surely if it's a common problem, someone has found a permanent solution.

Gotta love the joys of someone else's failed projects, lol. I've recently discovered an oil leak & what appears to be the start of a bad heater core as well. Luckily these SHOULD be all cheap fixes other than the transmission.
 

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Yep, as soon as the starter gets knocked lose from its correct position you will get the grinding and failure to engage issues constantly. So far, since drilling the bottom mounting hole clear through I haven't had a failure to engage, but I'm trying to figure out how to drill out the top mounting hole and do the same thing there for a more stable mounting. The starter kind of just sits in its hole, there's really no locating pins or anything of that nature. Shims don't do any good when the starter doesn't stay put due to the bolts not holding. Once the starter engages a few times its out of position again and the horrendous grinding and failure to start issues start up again.

These 2.8L engines are nothing but oil leaks, you just cant stop them it seems like, I've had the crank shaft seal and rear main seals replaced and its already leaking again. Oil pan gasket is new and still leaks as well. I gave up on trying to stop oil leaks, my 84 Ford Ranger was exactly the same, paid a dealer to replace all the gaskets and seals and all be damned if it didn't start puking oil all over the carport within a week of shelling out a ridiculous amount of money on all the work, plus the shop damaging the carburetor.

The heater core is pretty easy to get to and replace in these vehicles, took me about 45 minutes because of course when mine failed it was 3 degrees below zero.
 

Muddytruckn

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Heater core is pretty low on my list of things to do. If it gets bad, I'll reroute the lines until winter hits. Sounds like the 2.8 & 2.9 Fords are similar to the 2.8 GM engines. They like to pour oil out of the distributor O-ring, rear main, intake, you name it. I'm thinking if this didn't have 4.10 gears it would probably feel similar in power.

I've looked it up & down & now I see how it's supposed to sit in there. The groove/step/ring on the starter sits on the flywheel cover. Seems like a poor design considering how thin the cover is, but what I was thinking was door hinge bushings to possibly put in the starter holes for alignment. At the moment, I used lock washers & put them on tight, but once it kicks out again, I'll probably try the shim idea or just drill out the bottom bolt like you suggested & go with a larger bolt that fits snugly in the starter hole.
 

Muddytruckn

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Wanted to give an update on the starter issue in case someone reads this in the future.

I tried several different methods all of which failed. The ONLY remedy that I found (it has worked perfectly for 4 months now) is to replace the 9 tooth starter drive gear with a 10 tooth. It's a VERY easy swap that took me all of 5 minutes to do. Once the starter is out of the truck, you undo 3 bolts, pull off the front cover, remove the retaining clip (hardest part) and take off the old gear. Put the new gear on & reverse the procedure. Not much to it. The starter drive gear part number that I used was ACE 3-353, interchange numbers are E6EF11350AA, E6FZ11350A, SD327 & it cost me $15 shipped off of Ebay.

Hope this helps someone else in the future :icon_cheers:
 

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The problem is an incorrect/worn block plate. Once the starter is in the location, it should not have slack at all, it should only twist. This is more common for the plates to wear if they're the aluminum type...

SVT
 

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Thanks for the update.
 

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