Just bought my first Bronco II.

[Swiftkid]

Just bought my first Bronco II. UPDATE!!

Update: dropped the tranny in the bronco this weekend and it surprisingly took a while. Took the shattered flex plate off and have the new one ready to go with the sonnax spacer. I believe the factory flex plate was still ln there
And I noticed a reinforcement plate between the torque converter and the flex plate. Do I need to put one on my new flexplate? If so where can I find the part? Now all I do is need to do is buy the torque converter. Any tips before I install Friday would be helpful thanks.


Bought my first bronco ii friday for $300 bucks..its an 87 eddie bauer edition. When i bought it the guy said it hadn't been started for 10 years, he was trying to get it going again but could only get it to run for a few seconds by spraying starter fluid in the intake and cranking it. Well turns out the fuel pumps were not working because they were not grounded. I grounded a wire by the positive battery post and then i heard the fuel pumps come on...went to start it up and it turned on perfect. The gas in the fuel tank was old and the engine sputtered a bit...the fuel guage was not working so i couldnt tell how much gas was in it. I checked all the fluids and filled up what was needed. I drove to the local shell station put 5 gallons of premium...gas gauge still not working. Left the gas station...on the way back home which was only about a mile...as i was accelerating from a stop at about 40 mph the flex plate shattered. I read some stuff that this is a common thing with bronco ii's and rangers. I'm going to fix the flex plate and add the sonnax space too. So far i know that the power windows don't work and im sure the A/C probaly doesnt work...everything else seems to beside 1 or 2 signal lights. Do you guys have any suggestions on what i should do to make sure this thing runs decent. I was wondering if i should put a new A4LD tranny into....i believe the vehical has 156000 on it. Should i also replace the torque converter? I plan on doing a radiator flush,oil change,brake fluid change and putting in a new flex plate and spacer....what do you guys recommend? Any advice would be greatly helpful....i'll add a picture of the bronco as soon as i figure out how too.....thanks SWIFTKID

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[Bronco_Chuck]

Welcome to The Ranger Station. That's a very nice looking truck. Seems like now would be the perfect time for a m5od swap to me.

 

[Swiftkid]

is the M504 interchangable with the automatic A4LD?

 

[Steeda04SVT]

Dang that thing is clean!!! How's the interior?

 

[Bronco_Chuck]

As long as you get one from a 2.9 or 4.0 it will bolt up. But keep in mind the M5od is a 5 speed standard trans. So you will need the flywheel the clutch, the pedal assembly and such. But the M5od has been proven to be a more reliable trans. If you are set on keeping it an automatic, I would suggest adding a larger trans cooler.

 

[sfwjesse]

id pay 300 for the clean shell alone......not too many BII's around here that clean.

 

[Swiftkid]

The interior is dang near perfect. I think it has a rebuilt engine but I'm not sure how to tell. The valve covers are painted blue if that is any indication of a rebuilt engine? Do you guys think the window motors are shot or the wiring is bad? The car is really straight I have the original invoice and owners manual the price on the sticker was 17989. This was a one owner car hasn't been licensed,driven or started since 2001.I got a STEAL I KNOW.

 

[b2rich]

Very nice score. I paid alot more for mine in 2006. It has been very good for me.

on the flexplate...
just a heads up.
I had mine replaced about 2 months ago.
The shop that did it put a aftermarket(carquest) plate in it and it was about 1/8 inch thinner than the original. the starter would not engage the teeth enough and ground like crazy. They also didnt replace the spacer, after i told them to.
Well, they had to do the job all over again, and replaced it with a ford FP that took them a while to find.

now everything is great. The A4ld works perfect with 123k on it

While you have it apart replace the rear main seal.

 

[B2 Addict]

You definitely got an awesome deal my man!!!!

Welcome to TRS....


B2

 

[4.0B2]

how about i paypal you $400 and you deliver it to me. as is... lol
welcome! you should enjoy the b2. 4.0 swap, 8.8, d35, mdo5 5speed swap... and wheel it...

or just wheel it as it! pretty capable stock to. just don't get to stupid till its built lol

 

[jhammel85]

That is clean for 300 bucks man. Good luck with it! What the hell caused the flexplate to break?

 

[country0001]

You'll love it, nice find .

 

[Swiftkid]

I dont know why the flex plate busted it just did? Maybe not bring driven for 10 years...do you guys know anything about window motors in those vehicals?

 

[Nathan123]

If I recall you have to drill some holes in the inner part of the door to get to the window motor bolts. They are pretty straight forward to change. Sometimes the motor is okay, but the gearbox on the end is stripped out. If it were me I'd just change the whole deal, but changing the gearbox alone can save a little $$.

 

[adsm08]

What the hell caused the flexplate to break?

The spacers for the flex plate aren't terribly strong. Time gets to them and they get out of balance after loosing a chunk. The flex plate is the next weakest part so it breaks.


If you just put the auto back in it, make sure you replace the spacer and the flex plate, or you will get to do it again soon.

One of the other guys here just did the plate, 3 weeks later the new plate let loose on the highway and let his engine rev up to 9000 RPM when the load of the vehicle was suddenly taken off of it. Ruined the engine too.