My 89 Bronco II Choptop project...

[lil_Blue_Ford]

This work thing really sucks sometimes.... but at least it's been buying me a pile of parts for my toys! If I could just get some time, an extra set of hands, and some halfway decent weather (or access to a garage) I could get some stuff done!

Got both arms plated and painted the drivers side one. Passenger side needs the shock tabs still, probably gonna have to stick it on the truck temporarily and get some weight on it before putting the tabs on to make sure they're close to being right.

Aside from that and getting my rims and tires ready to go (35's) I just haven't had time to do anything else to it. Wish there was an aftermarket option for axle shafts for the D-35, if there was something out there already notched for full circle clips I'd probably be inclined to just buy 'em instead of trying to find the time to notch out the shafts I do have - just to get this project back on all four without waiting for half of forever.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Drivers side is assembled aside from the axle shaft and brake stuff. I also need to come up with an upper spring retainer to use, been trying to get my hands on some F-150 upper coil retainers.

Passenger side is temporarily assembled, need to get the shock in place and tabs welded on so I can paint it and do final assembly.

Most of my free time when it hasn't been ridiculously cold out has been devoted to working on dad's Ranger, the plow on my F-150, the plow on my tractor (had to fabricate some stuff to make it work), or my dog.

Hopefully I'll get some time here to work on things, I'd like to have it back on all four by the end of next month and get started on an engine swap - planning on yanking the 4.0 out of my 88 (the one that I never got around to wiring up) and drop it in my choptop and take the 2.9 out of my choptop and throw it in the 88. It'll simplify my wiring problems and give me a little more power to turn the 35's with, so it seems like the way to go. Of course, while the engines are out I intend to clean 'em up and throw some goodies on.....

 

[RajunCajun]

Where did you order your cage from? I'll be doing a chop top this summer, and would like to get a nice cage for it. Love the build man so far. Gives me motivation to start.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Where did you order your cage from? I'll be doing a chop top this summer, and would like to get a nice cage for it. Love the build man so far. Gives me motivation to start.

I ordered a 10-point cage for a Ranger from Jegs. Just holding up the parts it looks like there is enough extra metal to make it fit pretty decently although I do plan on adding a sort of family bar setup for the back like most Jeeps have and I'll probably change how the tubing is done behind the front seats since I want to be able to crawl through to the back between the front seats. But for the price, the Jegs cage was the way to go, I couldn't buy the steel locally - much less get it bent up - for the price of the cage from Jegs. Of course, there is a bit of welding involved and a little trimming, but I have someone who is neater at welding than myself lined up to put it all together when the weather improves around here.

 

[Beef52751]

Glad to see you back working on it again. I'll be watching this

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Glad to see you back working on it again. I'll be watching this

lol, I know, it's been a long road to get this far.... it'd be easier if I had a garage to work on things in then it wouldn't be so dependent on the weather to get things done.

But I'll admit, I have been having fun playing around with dad's Ranger... the 5.0 in it is fun as all get out to drive around in... that is, when it's not acting up...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Weather permitting, assembly will commence on Friday. Only thing I'm missing right now is a couple castle nuts for the tie rod ends, I should have a handful of 'em but wouldn't you know I can't find one of 'em. Of course, it appears to be a M14x1.5 thread which naturally is not readily available. Other than that, the last of the parts showed up today (I was going to get started this afternoon, but of course between the thundershowers and my dog insisting on taking our usual walk, nothing got done). We've finally started getting some nice weather around here and I'm getting anxious to drive the beast.

 

[2813josh]

I think I used 9/16"-18 for mine,if I remember correctly. Got them at ACE.
$1.79 each,pretty proud of them,I guess.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I think I used 9/16"-18 for mine,if I remember correctly. Got them at ACE.
$1.79 each,pretty proud of them,I guess.

I guess it depends on the tie rod end.... I got a new one and thought about just stealing the nut off it for now... seems the new one I got is an SAE thread and the old one on the truck is Metric. Go figure.

Only got to make a little progress between Friday and today, still have to get the U-joints in the shafts, install the shafts and put the outers together. Found another problem in my efforts for assembly, I bought new nuts to use for mounting the spindles... I was extra careful by taking one of the new studs (factory Ford) and testing it, found it was a 3/8"x24 so I bought those. Guess what, the old studs that are still in good shape in the axle are not the same thread....

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So I can see that this thing is going to fight me all the way to completion. Spent yesterday afternoon working on it and didn't really make much in the way of progress. Tried getting just the one tie rod end off that I need a nut for and it was too badly seized to the adjusting sleeve. No problem, I picked up a new sleeve just in case (the sleeve came off the inner tie rod just fine, go figure). Pull out the new sleeve and find that..... it's the wrong size. Of course, it's the only one listed too.

Also finished grinding out one of the shafts for full circle clips and decided to squirt a quick coat of paint on it..... which for whatever reason refused to dry - it's probably still tacky out there.

Tried getting my alignment bushings in. I don't have a metric thread chaser so I just filed a notch in the end of the new bolt for the drivers side and figured that since the old one came out the threads shouldn't be too bad, right? Wrongo. Took me half an hour of slowly working it in and out to get it together. Fired up the drill to get rid of the half of a broken bolt in the passenger side and the new bit started walking off course. Got most of the way through before it started getting too bad though so I figured I'd switch to a little smaller bit, center punch the other side and go at it from that direction. Yea..... it started walking right from the start. It's not like I buy cheap drill bits either....

All I want to do is get this project together so I can drive it this summer...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

 

[doorgunner]

Don't you just luv all the experience that you get from fighting everything!

Keep plugging away.....it'll give up and go smoothly

 

[88_Eddie]

looks good

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Don't you just luv all the experience that you get from fighting everything!

Keep plugging away.....it'll give up and go smoothly

I know. It doesn't always give up and go smoothly, but at some point it's been resolved to the point that it has no choice. That often happens when I bring out Smokey the Blue-Tipped Wrench.

looks good

It's gettin there. I don't know if anyone noticed, but I tried something different with the shock mounting. I bought some prefab shock tabs, cut the stud off the radius arms and welded the tabs on. I tried using D-28 arms for the original extended arms with the original D-28 axle I had under it, but I had problems with getting the bolts in and tightened since the backside was plated and I had problems with the shock rubbing and binding. The one stud was junk on my Explorer radius arms and I spent some time trying to come up with a good solution until I found that Ballistic Fab had a special on shock tabs, like $2 a pair. Figured it was worth a try and it looks like it might have worked out pretty good.

I also tried pushing the front axle as far forward as possible. I hope I managed to get the alignments right. I have some thread to move the axle forward or rearward a little, but my caster angle is fixed. I had some crazy setup using levels, string, framing lumber, jacks, ratchet straps and the like to work it out, I just hope I got it right. I keep looking at the drivers side now that it's together and it doesn't look right to me, but part of the problem is the fact that the truck is not sitting on the level. When I put it up on jackstands I tried to level it out as much as possible, but I ended up with more of an unhappy compromise.

Now if I could just get someone to weld up the cage for me......

 

[88_Eddie]

bring it on down, i'll weld it up for ya.

like i said in my PM a few months back, the house up there burned down, so i dont know if we're coming up in august or not. i might be able to sneak the welder in the car without the wife noticing. lol