Decided on a BII

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Alright! Got it inspected and registered. Found small handfull of problems. The filler neck to the gas tank leaks, the motor doesn't seem to heat up to operating temp. (the gauge (replaced the sensor) never hits the 'N' and no heat to the heater core (could be clogged)), needs suspesion and steering help something awful, and the tranny is whinning badly (I think it needs fluid since it leaks and the shiftgate is all but non-existant). Have new bushing, just got to get it on. The smoking does seem to have lessend so y'all may have been right. Thanks for the help so far.

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

a year update, sorry long winded...

A bit of an update from the past year. So far I have accomplished quite a bit for not being home often. I am very happy with the results so far.

Swaped in the larger-bore throttle body.
The filler neck was replaced, no more fuel leak.
The heater core was clogged, Replaced, I have heat!
Replaced the rotted cat back with Flowmaster 40 and 2.5" pipe straight out the back with 3" tip. I'm going to add in a 90* bend to behind the rear tire because I am getting exhaust in the truck if the lift gate isn't closed just right. I also have to replace the cat. I lost a heat shield going down the road.
Speaking of lift gate, I put on a new gate with a lift glass, keeping it power lock, and did the spare tire flip. I'm amazed how much visability I gained.
Upgraded the headlights to the crystal clears, speaking of visability, hahaha.
Shocks all around, rear shocks with load assist springs, and Explorer springs on the back.
Figured out by sliding down hill at a stop sign in the rain that I didn't have rear brakes. By back-tracing I figured out the RABS module was bad, so replaced that. They work real well now. Tested when a couple of teenagers ran out in front of me.
I broke the old CV style drive shaft dumping the clutch/burning out getting back up onto the road after hitting the deer, so I replaced it with a new U-joint style.
The whine from the trans turned out to be the main (direct?) bearing. I have a reman trans waiting for either the old trans or the motor to die, along with the 4.0 clutch/flywheel. I'm still planning the 4.0 swap when the 2.9 dies. I'm trying to do both the motor and trans at once. Neither seem to be happening any time soon.
The 7.5 axle is getting swapped for the 8.8 when I find one with the 4L10 in it for a decent price. Did find one for $200, but it will likely be gone by the time I get home.
I gave my almost new 235/75-15 Goodyear Wranglers to my wife's cousin since they needed tires and haul around 2 kids, so I am now running P265/70-15 Yokohama Geolander H/T-S' all around. Much improved handling and traction!

All in all it runs and drives very respectable now except it still has the rough idle with a miss at about 1000-1200 rpm when warming up. The miss is supposed by watching the smoke "poof" from condensation as it warms. My only other wonder is a vibration I get at about "60-65" mph and up from the rear of the truck. Thinking either drive shaft balance which is supposed to be balanced at 3k rpm(?), or pinion angle after the lift from the springs, 1/2" spacer, plus the load leveling shocks. With the 30" tires 65 mph is actually, what, 75 mph?

 

[wildbill23c]

Glad you are getting your issues with your Bronco 2 fixed. I've got an 84 Bronco 2 that's been nothing but a repair job from day one. Just now getting it on the road daily, just have a massive oil leak from the oil pan as I'm not sure what's going on, kind of thinking a bent pan or something of that nature as it has a brand new gasket installed last week. I had it a week and had it in the shop for almost 2 months having head gaskets replaced, new bolts installed in the flywheel (previous owner stripped them and flywheel came lose), new clutch master cylinder, and the oil pan gasket. This all was done at the local high school auto shop since the weather had been too cold for me to work on it myself. Getting about 16mpg in town, not sure on highway mileage haven't had time to drive it on the highway long enough to get a highway measurement.

 

[Elutheros]

Hey--I live right down the road from you in Copperas Cove. Sounds like you had your share of niggling issues--glad you got most of them solved. Had my BII for almost a year now and I'm actually pretty happy with it. I replaced the auto trans with a M5OD and 4.0 clutch, new exhaust, 4.0 double core radiator, electric cooling fan, replaced rear drive shaft, etc. It runs fine and takes me hunting almost every week. I've been gathering parts for a swap to a 5.0 and yesterday did the inital pre-start checks on the V-8 I'm planning to use. I'm hoping to start it up in the next couple weeks and then, if it runs okay, I'll start looking for the trans and transfer case I want to use. Eventually I'll have a bunch of parts for sale including the 4.0 clutch with a new flywheel and starter that I put in when I installed it. See you on the road sometime.

You mentioned that you flipped the spare tire. I searched the forum and could not find anything on that. What/how did you do it?

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Thanks y'all.
WildBill,
If you have one, could it be your oil level sensor or dipstick tube? Only had 2.9's myself so I'm not much help with the 2.8's. My first BII (I'm on my 3rd) spent every weekend for a couple of months in the shop. I understanf the pain! Hahaha.

Elutheros,
Cove is my old stomping grounds. Still go through there quite a bit to visit my Uncle and Aunt. It is possable we'll run into each other... figuratively of course.
I think I have the same grill guard you do. I also have a black one and a bunch of other parts from my last BII that was an '88. Dunno if you know or not but the Budget Wrench-a-Part out in Belton and Harolds in Briggs are pretty good place for RBV parts.

As for the spare tire flip, if you have the external carrier there is a version Ford made that you can unbolt the tire mount from the carrier and rotate it 180* and bolt it back together using spacers and longer bolts. There are 3 different carriers Ford used. In my case the '90's holes didn't line up when fliped 180* so I went and found one from an '88 at the j/y. You never know if the parts match the year of the vehicle so I test flipped it before I bought it. The very early versions won't work either, it's a completly different design.

 

[wildbill23c]

Thanks y'all.
WildBill,
If you have one, could it be your oil level sensor or dipstick tube? Only had 2.9's myself so I'm not much help with the 2.8's. My first BII (I'm on my 3rd) spent every weekend for a couple of months in the shop. I understanf the pain! Hahaha.

Elutheros,
Cove is my old stomping grounds. Still go through there quite a bit to visit my Uncle and Aunt. It is possable we'll run into each other... figuratively of course.
I think I have the same grill guard you do. I also have a black one and a bunch of other parts from my last BII that was an '88. Dunno if you know or not but the Budget Wrench-a-Part out in Belton and Harolds in Briggs are pretty good place for RBV parts.

As for the spare tire flip, if you have the external carrier there is a version Ford made that you can unbolt the tire mount from the carrier and rotate it 180* and bolt it back together using spacers and longer bolts. There are 3 different carriers Ford used. In my case the '90's holes didn't line up when fliped 180* so I went and found one from an '88 at the j/y. You never know if the parts match the year of the vehicle so I test flipped it before I bought it. The very early versions won't work either, it's a completely different design.

Its definitely leaking at the oil pan, I just got everything put back together and did a test drive, still leaking oil but not pouring out like it was before. I actually feel comfortable driving it outside of town now that I got the oil leak slowed down to a drip here and there. Before I was putting an oil pan under the truck to catch the oil and dumping it back in the engine a quart at a time it was leaking that bad. The oil pan is definitely in need of replacement so at some point I'll go scrap yard digging to get one, but until then its a manageable leak now.

 

[MJ'sBlkBII]

Wow, that's not a leak, that's a sieve! I've had a few cars that "changed their own oil" lol. Makes such a mess it's almost impossable to trace sometimes. At least you can pin point it.

 

[wildbill23c]

Wow, that's not a leak, that's a sieve! I've had a few cars that "changed their own oil" lol. Makes such a mess it's almost impossable to trace sometimes. At least you can pin point it.

Oh it definitely was changing its own oil and at about $4 a quart its not cheap having it leaking like it was. When the weather straightens out and I get the time I'm planning on pulling the oil pan off completely and replacing it as I think the oil pan has been damaged to the point where it won't seal right no matter what I do. Just happy that its only a minor occasional drip now.

Its been in the shop for almost 2 months having several other problems fixed including new bolts put in the flywheel due to the previous owner either over-torquing them or not tightening them enough and caused the threads to strip out on them and the flywheel came lose causing a horrible knocking noise which initially made me think that I had a rod knocking.