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Just Another BII


mnewman

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Howdy folks. I figured I would share my "build" or, more accurately, my ongoing repair process.

Meet Mike. I don't normally name my cars/projects and I really still just call it "the bronco" but... I call it Mike because, at the time, I thought Bronco meant a MALE horse but I looked up the definition and, well, moving on... Mike is always fighting me. Simple things take way longer than it should and random ass parts aren't available (try finding a 4.10 ring and pinion for the D35). Dumb things that break randomly. Typically project car stuff but to the max.

20200818_104035.jpg


I would like to insert some foreshadowing and point out in this pic the Bronco had popped out of gear and unloaded itself while my back was turned. Had no parking brake at the time and I didn't double check the trans after hauling it 400 miles home before popping the straps loose. Learning experience without paying the price... I'll take it. This is an example of crap that happens when working on this but one of the few that didn't $$$. As of this post we are getting along better.

Anyway. This is my incredibly blue 1986 BII still rocking the 2.9 and a swapped in FM145 (I didn't know that until I got there). Obviously this is how I got it. I've always loved/driven Rangers so BII's have always been cool in my book but this blue bastard called to me. This was August 18th 2020 before the price hike so I got it at a fair deal. $500 less would've been a bit more to my liking but, like I said, it spoke to me. I probably should've realized at the time it was cursing at me. I still love it. It's got duals on it with some sorta of glasspacks so, yep, its loud and slow. I think it had ~135K on it at this point. I supposed it could be 235K but I think it runs too good. It's the quiest 2.9 I've had so far (4).

20200818_101042.jpg20200818_191608.jpg20200818_191619.jpg20200818_191625.jpg20200818_191650.jpg

The first thing I did was replaced all the gas struts for the rear hatch and glass. As far as what I got when I got it home, it really wasn't bad. The interior was 4/10. Driver's seat is shredded, headliner is sagging, door panels are warped a little and the plastics are faded/scratched in the back. All stuff that can be fixed. It ran good, shifted fine, and stopped. Pretty much everything works except the a/c. low washer fluid sensor and front speakers. Oh and someone removed the power door lock actuators from the front doors. Not sure why... The body is pretty solid, some rust staining on the bottom door seams and surface rust. [to be fair I found the rust later]. Overall the thing was 97% complete.

Initially my goal with this was to repair everything that was broken and worn to get it back to essentially stock. The more I got into it the more I realized it wasn't the diamond I thought I was polishing. I knew it had been in some sort of front end collision but it end up being more than just a bumper. The cowl is disformed so the body took more of a hit than I thought. Frame is ok so it's not a total disaster.

I've got about 2 years worth of project time into this so I'll keep updating this tread with past projects as I have time. I've meant to start this thread for a while now. Fair warning I will probably get things out of order. I'll try and get another post up soon but I need to choke down lunch and get back to work. I will also (eventually) post videos somewhere of these adventures as I filmed a lot of it but editing it so it's not boring AF takes time. I'll share those links when available if anyone is interested. Thanks for reading!
 
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4x4junkie

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Looks like a nice project for sure.

What are your plans? Continue restoring it to stock? You gonna make it into an offroad 4-wheeler build?


...and random ass parts aren't available (try finding a 4.10 ring and pinion for the D35).
D35 4.10 (4.11) right here:
 

mnewman

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I guess I forgot to finish my thought there. Going to be a nice driver with some light duty off roading. I don't feel the need to baby it but I'm also not looking to do a bunch of body damage. I also won't feel bad if I want to modify / update something. Although I plan on sticking with the 2.9. I'd like to go with the M5OD (or whatever its called) but I couldn't find one. At the point I made the call the trans had to be dealt with I had already spent time / money on correcting the 4x4 shift mech and a replacement shifter. One of my posts will be about the howler of a trans that's in it but I've already swapped in a junkyard unit. Which was just as bad and finally found someone to rebuild the FM145. Should be done in the next couple weeks.

Appreciate the link but the last time I checked everyone is ordering direct from Yukon and they have no ETA when they're actually going to make 4.10 (link is for 3.31). Summit estimated Feb of 2023 when I canceled the order. Hopefully it's not really that bad but I did find someone that had (1) set in stock... In Manitoba Canada. Either way that 2 month debacle is solved. FYI the doorman part list for the Dana 35 IFS via rockauto [internet in general] is, in fact, not reverse cut for the IFS setup. Anyone looking for a set of 4.10s for their Jeep? New in box haha.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I found Spicer made ring and pinion in 4.10 but those were $500-600. I was really debating changing out the lift for a bigger one and going to 4.56 and 35s but I really didn't want to go that high. While cool I didn't want to SAS it either. I like my weird old Ford s%#t.
 
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bronco2fan

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Not a bad looking rig at all. Seen worse. Good luck and Happy wrenching.
 

mnewman

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To totally blow the timeline (not sure that matters either way) this past weekend I took the Bronco down to Hollerwood in Slade, KY for the Ohio River Four Wheeler's Meet and Greet ride. It's still on 31's but now has the Duff stage II 3" lift on it. It did very well. Limiting factor being tire size. I got tugged out twice. Once I was trying to climb a rock ledge and just couldn't get the rear to come up. We were on a time limit so we give it a gentle tug and I was up. Second I high-centered in a rut; also didn't take much to get me moving. I was surprised on many occasions when we'd turn, start climbing a hill and the bronco just went up it. Lots of fun was had. The only casualty was the passenger side Bronco II badge broke and part fell off when I was power washing it.

20221104_133811.jpg20221105_082826.jpg20221105_144731.jpg
 

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Cool pics. Even mixed in with the newer, higher-dollar rigs, that B2 is a class act. Nice one!
 

mnewman

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The very first and most painful problem I encountered was... It leaks. The entire rear cargo area was wet along with both front floor pans. The P/O must've stored this thing in the garage or something. If it leaked this bad every time it rains there would be no truck left. So I ended up pulling the rear windows (thanks to guidance here at the RS), cleaning the old gunk off, repainting all mating surfaces since I scratched the hell out of them and having the rear windows re-installed. Could have sworn I had pics of the area after it was cleaned and painted but I can't find them. Oh well.
20210501_181844.jpg

At the same time I had the windshield and both door windows replaced. WOW what a difference clear glass makes! I ended up replacing the door seals as well. It's mostly dry now. I think the cowl drains are plugged so I still need to look into that. I try to keep it out of the rain when it's just sitting here. I wasn't sure what sealed the rear hatch where it bolts down. I ended up cutting some rubber pads and using seam sealer to stop that from leaking. I thought I was being super slick with it but I somehow got the alignment off (we checked it so many times) so now the hatch is hard to open and get latched. Crap, now its almost glued in place. At least I have the rear glass that opens so I just don't open the hatch unless I'm taking dogs with me.

Now I have found the rust I mentioned before. The front pans really need to be stripped, sanded and treated. There is also a nice rust hole in the rear support but not much I can do about it. I let that area dry for a couple months and then sprayed as much rust inhibitor as I could in the area.
20210501_181820.jpg

There was some surface rust on the roof so I painted that when I had everything out.
20210501_181835.jpg

Chasing the leak I figured out most the seam sealer on the truck was in horrible shape with some regular caulk in there too. Scraped it all out and used EXTEND in most of the drip rails and rear cargo area. So far the areas I have painted after using the product is showing rust through so I'm definitely going back to POR15. The drip rails all got seam sealer re-installed.
20210711_183635.jpg

I splurged and bought paint matching spray paint. I just couldn't stand the thought of the the jam area of the rear hatch (and drip rails) being a different color. Was spendy but I'd do it again. This is the area that the rust ended up showing through. So I will end up doing it again but using POR15. The rest of the bottle of EXTEND went in the trash. But you can see I cleaned, treated, re-sealed and painted the jam area on the back hatch. I threw a new seal on there at the time as well.
20210711_183626.jpg20210722_170930.jpg

I will say this whole process took me forever. I am slow and I avoid stuff I don't like doing. Like sanding and tedious painting of things. Since I had to disassemble most of the rear interior to get the windows out I decided to take out the headliner and redo it as well. That's another post.
 
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mnewman

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Cool pics. Even mixed in with the newer, higher-dollar rigs, that B2 is a class act. Nice one!
Thanks! It got a lot of attention for sure.
 

mnewman

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Hi y'all. It's been a while since I've updated this thread.

I am curious if anyone is trying to hack together the same combination of items and how they got it to work.

Current situation is I swapped in a D35 earlier this summer thinking all I needed to do was to shorten the front driveshaft to make it work. Upon coming back to here I realized that whole slip yoke on the 1350 transfer case is an issue with the D35. Ok, no big deal, I searched around and after 2 months I located / acquired a manual 1354 transfer case and front drive shaft. In this whole time I have not been able to buy or acquire a newer Mazda 5 speed. But I did find shop that rebuilt a spare FM145 I had.

So I have the rebuilt FM145 installed, 1354 transfer case bolted up but now my transmission cross member hits the transfer case. It's also going to hit the yoke for the front driveshaft. I have the stage II 3" lift from Duff installed; it's a square tube so not stock. My question is am I doing something wrong or do I need to chop this cross member up and customize it? Or will this never work and I HAVE to find a M50D-R1?

Does anyone have the length of the Mazda M50D-R1 handy?
FM145 [Assembled 4WD Length - 28.687-Inches ]

Thanks. I will add a picture here in a bit.
 

mnewman

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< 2 min video showing issue.

Can I just push it up?

Link to video
 

mnewman

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I used a jack and pushed it up. All is well.
 

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wasnt sure the issue.... it was just that you did not have the trans at proper install height?

t case looked low.
 

mnewman

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Yes, it was all just too low. It's bolted in now and rear drive shaft is in.

wasnt sure the issue.... it was just that you did not have the trans at proper install height?

t case looked low.
 

mnewman

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Good news. I managed to get the clutch bled in about 20 minutes. Last time it took all afternoon. Bad news is the rebuilt transmission is just as noisy as it was when I originally took it out before the rebuild. Although the clutch fork isn't scrapping in 5th anymore. Maybe it shifts smoother? Stupid FM145. In other good news the transfer case shift linkage all bolted up with no issues so that's a relief.

For the heck of it I tried to put the front drive shaft in and it ALMOST fits. To the point I'm wondering if I take it apart and clean the slip joint if it would work. Not sure how much more travel it would need from sitting level. I'm assuming if the driver's side is compressed that the length would be less.

Is anyone running a dana 35, FM145 and a 1354 transfer case?
 

tw205

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Good news. I managed to get the clutch bled in about 20 minutes. Last time it took all afternoon. Bad news is the rebuilt transmission is just as noisy as it was when I originally took it out before the rebuild. Although the clutch fork isn't scrapping in 5th anymore. Maybe it shifts smoother? Stupid FM145. In other good news the transfer case shift linkage all bolted up with no issues so that's a relief.

For the heck of it I tried to put the front drive shaft in and it ALMOST fits. To the point I'm wondering if I take it apart and clean the slip joint if it would work. Not sure how much more travel it would need from sitting level. I'm assuming if the driver's side is compressed that the length would be less.

Is anyone running a dana 35, FM145 and a 1354 transfer case?
85 BII with FM145 and the Dana 35 but I stuck with the 1350 slip yoke transfer case. As the dana 35 had a push button case with it. I also lifted the truck 6” and I have found the the original shaft fits with about an inch of available compression.

The FM 146, A4LD and M5OD are a couple inches longer than the FM145 and TK5 and will all use the same drive shafts. I think like 28 1/2 “ with the M5OD being a half inch longer. In addition the two groups also share different transfer case shifters. Short vs long forks.
 

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