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New BII owner - new to the forum


Ivy Mike

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been lurking for a little while and figured it was time to say hi and show off a little.
Got el Bronquito a few months back and finally decided to daily drive it. Grabbed some wheels from Craigslist and mounted some 235-75-15s on them.
Truck is an 89 with the Mitsu 5-spd, electric shift t-case and D28 front and 7.5 rear sporting an open diff and 3.45 gears. Started hearing a funky noise today and I figured I'd crawl under and see if I could figure out what it was. Thats when I saw the rear drive shaft and decided to ask about it here.

so here are the pics.
Shaft going to the t-case


shaft going to the rear end (what the heck is that cylindrical thing? I've never seen one before)


her "good" side


next time I'll crouch for the ricer angle


inside is pretty clean though :cool:
 


Explosive

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Garbage Driveshaft, get one with U-joints. Here is what happened to my old CV one,



 

Ivy Mike

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wow, I wonder if that is what is making noise. :shok:

Can I just grab a driveshaft from a Ranger or Explorer and have it resized to fit? I'd like to swap an 8.8 in place of the 7.5 and I'm assuming the physically larger 8.8 would require the driveshaft be shortened slightly.
I don't have really large tires planned as I've got an expedition truck type-build planned. For me, sensible sizes and overbuilt reliability are what I'm after.

Also, I've read that the BII rear axle is something of an oddball. Can I take any 8.8 from an Explorer and swap it under (yes I know the spring perches and shock mounts need to be moved) without lots of fabrication?
Anyone who has done the swap...feel free to chime in.
 
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Explosive

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It was making a snapping and clicking noise(especially in reverse), eventually while going through the edge of a swamp I heard a really loud bang/snap and then what sounded like a blender full of metal parts. I thought my trans or rear end had exploded. But was able to put it into 4x4 and crawl home. lucky for me I was only like a half mile from home.
 

88_Eddie

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def get rid of that driveshaft. it probably is what is making the noise, all of mine have done that. the rubber boot on the d-shaft breaks open and grease goes everywhere......i replaced the one in my BII 2 or 3 times before i just bought the one on james duff.
 

Andres629

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Yeah, get rid of the CV shaft for sure. Swap in a Dana 35 first, then go with the 8.8 out back. Might as well go with an Explorer one to get 31 splines, because IIRC the BII's spring perches are narrower than that of a Ranger anyway, so you'd have to weld up new perches. Go with a little lower gearing if you can as well, even 3.73 will be a little better than 3.45, but if you can find a 4.10 set already installed, you're laughin'.
 

bonedoc

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Definately get rid of that shaft. I found one on ebay for a little over 200 bucks a while back, it had newly rebuilt and had double cardan joints at both ends. Usually they have the double joint just at the transfer case end and I've seen those also.
 

Ivy Mike

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It was making a snapping and clicking noise(especially in reverse), eventually while going through the edge of a swamp I heard a really loud bang/snap and then what sounded like a blender full of metal parts. I thought my trans or rear end had exploded. But was able to put it into 4x4 and crawl home. lucky for me I was only like a half mile from home.
Mine is doing the popping in reverse thing. Good to know before it failed on me.
It would suck having to limp home in front wheel drive. :icon_rofl:
 

Ivy Mike

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Yeah, get rid of the CV shaft for sure. Swap in a Dana 35 first, then go with the 8.8 out back. Might as well go with an Explorer one to get 31 splines, because IIRC the BII's spring perches are narrower than that of a Ranger anyway, so you'd have to weld up new perches. Go with a little lower gearing if you can as well, even 3.73 will be a little better than 3.45, but if you can find a 4.10 set already installed, you're laughin'.
Thanks for the info. Good to know that the 8.8 fits under with just basic modifications. I read somewhere that the BII had one side longer than the other and I didn't want to buy a new rear end only to discover it would take major fabrication to make it work.

I was already thinking that lower gears would be a priority, especially with the 31" tires I'd like to mount in the future. The 2.9 is a bit of a dog and it struggles to get the truck up to highway speeds without really beating on it. Maybe a 4.0 down the road but that's just daydreaming at this point.

so for my parts list it seems I need:
a new rear drive shaft with conventional u-joints
a Dana 35 from an Explorer
an 8.8 from an Explorer
a "Jeeps are for cheerleaders" sticker

sound about right?
oh and what do I need to know about the flanges on the t-case and rear end? Specifically part or model number.


Thanks so much for the help. Very cool forum. :cool:
 
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trail B2

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It's not absolute of coarse but up to early 90s parts interchange pretty well.
 

Ivy Mike

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It's not absolute of coarse but up to early 90s parts interchange pretty well.
Yeah I've noticed that. The parts bin engineering Ford used was the big reason I went with the B2 over a Pathfinder I had my eye on.
Easier to build and plenty of Ranger/Explorer/Aerostar parts I can grab from the pick-a-part if I need them.
 

Ivy Mike

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Maybe some of you guys could answer me this. Is the volt meter on the dash pretty accurate? I was driving to work this morning before the sun was up and had the headlights on. We also got a little rain here in Las Vegas this morning so the wipers were going on low speed.
I noticed the volt meter dropping every time the wipers would cycle and to a lesser extent, whenever I had a turn signal on. Turning the headlights off seemed to stop the drop in voltage. I understand the draw on the system will cause some fluctuation but is it normal to see a visible drop or could I be looking at a bad alternator?

edit- truck started without any trouble.
 
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country0001

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Like all 20 year old vehicles, the gauges can be sketchy, I have 2 90 models. One the gas gauge works, the other one doesn't. They both fluctuate. If ur really worried, install aftermarket gauges.
 

Ivy Mike

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Like all 20 year old vehicles, the gauges can be sketchy, I have 2 90 models. One the gas gauge works, the other one doesn't. They both fluctuate. If ur really worried, install aftermarket gauges.
I'm not really worried about the gauge itself. If it's accuracy I'm after, I can hook up my voltmeter and have a look.
I'm more concerned about the alternator and battery. Just wondering if it's a common problem.

i.e. I used to be big into water cooled VWs and one thing that you could always count on was the factory ignition coil on the old 2.0l motors having it's outer shell warp a little and allow moisture in leading to misfires and stalling cars. The fix was either mix up a batch of epoxy and smear it on the outside to reseal the coil or pull the correct leads from the coil connector and install an MSD (or other quality aftermarket) coil.
You could always tell when it was the coil because the thread would start out "so my GTI died in the rain last night...HELP!!!"
 

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