MY build thread...'88 Bronco II Desert Rat Patrol Edition: MAJOR update 2/23/2025

[Peter Griffin]

I got a portion of my Skyjacker order in today and how could I forget to mention this?!

March 1 - May 31st they're offering a rebate on their shocks. So in addition to sale price, the 10% discount code and free shipping I'm also looking at a cool $55 rebate...SWEET!!!

Shock Rebate - Skyjacker Suspensions

Data submitted by this form will be used by Skyjacker Suspensions and no one else.

skyjacker.com

 

[Shran]

Have you received your door panels yet?

I had a hell of a time with mine and I'm still annoyed with Coverlay.

I bought a High Rider...

IIRC the connector housing for a second gen wiper motor is similar to a connector housing on the inner fender of a first gen. I went the other way on mine, robbed the housing from a second gen wiper motor (I think) to do something, I don't remember if it was cruise or my tail light jumper pigtail.

www.therangerstation.com

I bought a High Rider...

You’ve already done without heat for 5 years... what’s one more?

www.therangerstation.com

I hope you don't have to deal with that BS like I did.

 

[Uncle Gump]

The lift/shocks were put on my Bronco II probably close to 20 years ago. None of it has more then 50 or 70 miles on it. Even the tires and wheels are in the same category. I saw the Skyjacker shock sale/rebate and thought about replacing them with a set of their new Black Max.

My wish list has a set of 33x10.50x15's... a pair of AOR bumpers and 4 new shocks... which requires approval from the cheif financial officer.

 

[Peter Griffin]

@Shran, funny you should mention the door panels because I received those and their dash overlay from Bronco Graveyard the other day. I have NOT installed them because I'm a LONG azz ways off from being ready to do that, but just like you showed in the thread you linked my installation hardware/Christmas trees were already flaking off paint. I dropped an email to the lady that sent me color swatches and I'm waiting to hear back from her, if they flake off that easily they won't last for long in any vehicle that gets any real use, which is why I'll clear coat them when I finally get it straightened out...

 

[Peter Griffin]

The lift/shocks were put on my Bronco II probably close to 20 years ago. None of it has more then 50 or 70 miles on it. Even the tires and wheels are in the same category. I saw the Skyjacker shock sale/rebate and thought about replacing them with a set of their new Black Max.

My wish list has a set of 33x10.50x15's... a pair of AOR bumpers and 4 new shocks... which requires approval from the chief financial officer.

I'm gonna wait and see what tire size I finally settle on until after I get everything installed but was thinking with the 2-inch body lift and 1.5-2 inch suspension lift that 31s MAYBE 32s max would both look and function well without any gearing issues, etc.

I know I'm gonna have to replace the speedo gear already because when I GPS tested it, it was off but enough to chap my backside...which doesn't take much!

 

[Peter Griffin]

With the exception of torquing them down, I FINALLY finished my body mounts/bushings and 2-inch body lift swap (from 3-inch) portion of the project...

The 4 front seating area bushings (2 on each side, one in the footwell and the other directly behind the seat) were a real pain in the arse as anyone whose done them will tell you. They're pressed fit (likely hydraulically) at the factory and the various methods I saw for their removal weren't even remotely effectively. Driving a punch downward with the bolt screwed in at the bottom as suggested by the instructions I had from Duff were a joke, and I was smashing it like Thor with Mjölnir! Drilling it out as also suggested was a bust-out and homemade bushing pullers made out of 3-inch sections of exhaust pipe only succeeded in stripping out one of the mounting bolts. Sooooo in the interest of refreshing everything as I go, I bought Duff's new bushing kit AND a new "Torch" blade for my Sawz-All. Aftermath of that shown here:

Hindsight being 20-20 I wish I had just cut to the chase and saved all the time I wasted but it's part of the learning process I suppose...

With a new body lift and mounts it made sense anyway to replace the bushings, bolts, etc. I ended up with a lot of extra hardware, which is arguably wasted money, but I'll just add them to the hardware drawer.

While I was at it I had noticed while taking measurements that the body was clearly misaligned on the frame and was off by nearly an inch and a half in both the front and rear, which resulted in the bumper smashing/rubbing one of the front fenders and leaving a massive gap on the other. A couple of heave-hos and it was within an 1/8th of an inch in the front and a 1/16th in the rear...I'll take it!

The bushings were obviously stock/original and SMOKED. Some of them fell apart and were crumbling as I removed them so I'm quite satisfied it was a worthy undertaking. Not the least bit complicated, just a little more time consuming than expected.

The truck sits MUCH nicer now and is dead even/level. I'm going to continue my work on the suspension prior to reinstalling the gas tank and then go from there!

WHEW!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Hmm, I never really got to try any of the suggested methods of body mount removal. Around here it’s usually break the bolt off then cut the mount. Everything gets so badly rusted that there’s a lot of things I’ve found easier to ask it to come out with my Milwaukee impact and if that doesn’t do it, then it’s sawzall/grinder/torch. Maybe I’m just impatient, but when rust is involved, it seems like you end up at the cutting stage no matter what so why not jump straight to the solution.

But those don’t look all that badly rusted and wouldn’t come apart? That’s a little disappointing to hear on one hand, but on the other apparently means I’ve been doing it right for years now with snap the bolt and cut the mount, lol

 

[Peter Griffin]

@lil_Blue_Ford, there is ZERO (or dang near!) rust on this vehicle which is one of the main reasons I bought it (along with being relatively leak free from what I've been able to determine!). A lot of what's seen in the pictures that looks like rust is actually red dirt/clay which is found both here in Northern AZ and where it spent a good portion of its life according to CarFax, in Georgia. It's a solid lil ride, just needs some TLC and it'll be a tough/reliable on/off-road vehicle in no time!

 

[RobbieD]

A lot of what's seen in the pictures that looks like rust is actually red dirt/clay which is found both here in Northern AZ and where it spent a good portion of its life according to CarFax, in Georgia.

Red dirt/clay is definitely a Georgia thing.

You're making great progress on that truck.

 

[Peter Griffin]

Thanks @RobbieD, I appreciate it and all the help/advice/guidance I'm getting here from y'all!

 

[Peter Griffin]

@Shran, funny you should mention the door panels because I received those and their dash overlay from Bronco Graveyard the other day. I have NOT installed them because I'm a LONG azz ways off from being ready to do that, but just like you showed in the thread you linked my installation hardware/Christmas trees were already flaking off paint. I dropped an email to the lady that sent me color swatches and I'm waiting to hear back from her, if they flake off that easily they won't last for long in any vehicle that gets any real use, which is why I'll clear coat them when I finally get it straightened out...

@Shran, I just got the warrantied door hardware that Coverlay sent me after I sent them a picture of the ones I got with the paint flaking...

Funny I didn't notice in my original ones that the 4-Phillips head screws were missing but I was glad to see them and likewise painted.

I'm gonna clean them, throw some adhesive promoter on top of them and then spray some clear coat on top of that to help prevent scratching/flaking once they're installed. I get it's an off-road/utility vehicle but with the entire interior basically being replaced/repainted/updated/upgraded I'm an attention to detail kind of guy and having this squared away was important, not to mention that it was downright janky AF that they sent those original flaking ones out, but I give their customer service credit for immediately addressing the issue with no additional out of pocket cost to me, and as quickly as they did...

 

[Shran]

I dealt with their customer service 3 times and just decided that I'm done with them when I saw the paint flaking off. It started coming off when I pushed the clips in and they flexed a little... hope the paint on yours actually adheres. It's just a waste of my time to try and get them to make it right, they will just send me more crap.

 

[Peter Griffin]

I got the rear shocks in today, pretty straightforward with the exception of the retaining/installation strap/tie breaking mid installation and after exploring several methods of getting the second shock in I ended up manually collapsing it and recycling the tie from the other shock. A bottle jack was handy in getting the bottom of the shock squeezed into the lower mount, the second shock was proving problematic until I figured out the bushing was slightly proud on one side...nothing's easy!

Not sure if the ones on there were original (they're Motorcraft) but one was definitely smoked and had puked its guts (oil) out...

Figured I'd throw in a couple of pictures of the 2-inch body lift with new bushings/mounts since I was futzing around...

I also discovered that it would appear the passenger side of the rear sway bar is improperly mounted and is over the axle "collar" (for lack of a better term) with the bushing squeezing out. Since I'm replacing the bushings on those anyway I'll make sure to get it straight!

^ Driver side showing the mount flush to the larger flange/collar of axle tube.

^Passenger side showing inside portion of sway bar mount over larger OD axle tube.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I got the rear shocks in today, pretty straightforward with the exception of the retaining/installation strap/tie breaking mid installation and after exploring several methods of getting the second shock in I ended up manually collapsing it and recycling the tie from the other shock. A bottle jack was handy in getting the bottom of the shock squeezed into the lower mount, the second shock was proving problematic until I figured out the bushing was slightly proud on one side...nothing's easy!

View attachment 90021
Not sure if the ones on there were original (they're Motorcraft) but one was definitely smoked and had puked its guts (oil) out...
View attachment 90022
Figured I'd throw in a couple of pictures of the 2-inch body lift with new bushings/mounts since I was futzing around...
View attachment 90023

View attachment 90024
I also discovered that it would appear the passenger side of the rear sway bar is improperly mounted and is over the axle "collar" (for lack of a better term) with the bushing squeezing out. Since I'm replacing the bushings on those anyway I'll make sure to get it straight!
View attachment 90028
^ Driver side showing the mount flush to the larger flange/collar of axle tube.
View attachment 90029
^Passenger side showing inside portion of sway bar mount over larger OD axle tube.

I can check my 88, that may or may not be correct positions, I don’t quite remember. Far as I know, my 88 is factory spec in the rear at the moment. It’s gonna get some new leaf springs at some point

 

[Peter Griffin]

I can check my 88, that may or may not be correct positions, I don’t quite remember. Far as I know, my 88 is factory spec in the rear at the moment. It’s gonna get some new leaf springs at some point

Thanks @lil_Blue_Ford I'd appreciate it if you'd do that for me!

It just doesn't look right to me (which doesn't mean it's wrong of course!), especially with the bushing squishing out of the one side. I didn't take picture of it but there's a rub mark on one of the sway bar links too which would seem to indicate some wonky-ness...