Lill Mule 89 BII

[shawn.m]

The guy i bought the transfer case from, texted me last night he found the shifter! YEAH! didn't find the shifter pawl on the transfer case. going to pick it up later today.

found a picture of a guy using the 1350 pawl on a 1354m transfer case. So might be able to use the 1350m shifter pawl that I have right now.

tried a flow master muffler I had sitting around. think it might be louder than the glasspack. i need to add about 3 more feet of muffler piping to get it out from under the body. Then will see what it sounds like.

Also the guy that I traded the body to has a 2whl drive m50d for $50 so might go buy that from him as a spare. My m50d leaks slowly out of the rear seal.

Have not had a chance to swap out the rear drive shaft and change the rear axle shims. maybe later today

 

[shawn.m]

got the 1354m shifter picked up. the 1350m shifter pawl is a just a touch short and over. since I don't have to buy a new shifter going to order the shifter pawl. maybe with 2 day ship to make sure it gets here on time.

Looked at the 2whl m50d -need to scrape together $50 for the tranny. comes with shifter and the shifter cup looks better than mine.

also bought some exhaust pipe to route the exhaust out to the rear tire, maybe all the way to the rear bumper.

my 4wheel drive group is doing Barrett Lake Jeep Trail on saturday/sunday. Really trying to decide if I am ready to do the trail. It is rated a 8 of 10 trail for rock crawling. I have not finished my full roll cage so I little worried about flopping and not having good protection.I also have not finished putting in the full belly pan. Same for rock rails. one of the guys did this trail last year in his jeep rubicon 4 door and had all 4 fenders in the back of the vehicle halfway through the trip

pics of the trail
http://xjzone.designermeat.com/Trails/barrett_lake/barrettlake_1.html

 

[shawn.m]

installed the transfer case shifter and cut the plate on top for the shifter. had to also grind a bit on the shifter plastic to make sure the transfer case shifter doesn't hit it

cut the transfer case shifter boot to fit also. will put that on tomorrow.

real close but have 1/8 clearence

 

[shawn.m]

exhaust system

Ordered the shifter Pawl from Bob Overland Ford with 2 day shipping to make sure it gets here on time. figured since I got the shifter for free, I spent a little money on getting the right part. Instead of modifying the 1350m shifter pawl. I did end up using the shifter knob from the 1350m shifter. Could use any shifter - shifter is for sale.

Did a couple hours of work on the exhaust system. Came out pretty good. I think with one more short 90 degree that I can get the exhaust all the way out in the stock location.

It sounds pretty good. Will have to take a small video and post it for sound

Used clamps for the moment as my mig welder really sucks I think that when I finish the rear section that I will then take the whole thing off and weld it up.

Took it for a test drive and the lockers are not working! I did put new fluid in the front so need to add friction additive. will put a tube in rear and see if that helps rear.

also in my test drive yesterday I checked the fenders that I rolled. Tire still hits the front and top hard. Think I am going to have to cut the fenders

Next projects
- remove 8 degree shims and put 4 degree shims in to lower the nose of the rear diff. might swap the drive shafts while I am at, the driveshaft on it right now looks like the rear yoke as spread a bit. The caps are also spinning in the bores which is not a good sign.

Measure on how I can add a metal lock box in the rear to protect gear.
Measure on how to add a rear canvas cover or something to protect from the rain.

I made a bracket to hang from the stock bracket. Their is a old shock rubber bushing under the bracket to reduce vibrations.

I have almost 4 inches between the exhaust bend and the rear nose. It will get more once I drop the nose of the rear diff. You can see that I should be able to run the exhaust down the frame rail.

 

[shawn.m]

tried something

tried fitting a toyota mini truck capper to the bronco to cover the rear. will post a picture of what I got it to look like. Got it close but no cigar. the capper had the wrong curves in wrong places. plus the capper had too much of a slant in the back. the rear rollbar is straight up and down. so the bottom of the capper hangs out off the rear. might be able to reuse the rear window and its hardware. only had $25 invested in the capper so it was not a big loss.

I really like driving around with the new exhaust. must be getting older as I like more quiet now.

unplugged the transfer case shift computer. No flashing lights like some have talked about. have to remove the drivers seat to get the wires out from under the drivers seat. Might try a different drivers seat at the same time. The ones from the explorer are not hitting me correctly. Almost like they are worn out.

On the rear locker- I did some "testing" of the rear locker and got it to spin both rear tires at the same time for 200 feet. (Dump 1st gear and floor it! with my son yelling stop it dad!)
so it is acting like a limited slip instead of a locker. Will have to read up and see if you can tighten up a ford limited slip without going to a different locker.

 

[shawn.m]

got the shifter pawl in and hooked the shifter up. yahoooo! just need to finish mouting the transfer case shift boot to the floor plate. Also need to bolt up the transfer case guard. Think I might drill out the holes to a larger size and use bigger bolts. This should help the frame be stronger.

pulled the transfer case shifter motor and wiring out of the cab. Put two really big washers with a piece of rubber around the hole, top and bottom. I now only have 2 wires after the dash going into the cab. 1 is power seats and 1 is dome light.

cut the inner fenders as the tires were rubbing on them really bad on the inside. this is after smashing the fender lip back 2 inches. will have to post a pic on that also.

Rolled the other rear fender - need to remove the rear tires to finish rolling the rear fenders in. almost need to put two slices in the fender lip to give it some expansion room.

Will try to do that tomorrow and then go get some flex shots. Even with the front sway bar hooked up I am getting some real good flex. Rear especially.
Still need to put the 4 degree shims in and see if it affects the driving of the bronco.

need to find some big metal to create some rock slides. I do have some 2 inch angle iron in the shop that might work. would like to just do it right with 2x4 1/4 tube. Since my rollbar bolts to the body I will probably just attach the rock sliders to the body and rollbar mounts.

Also did some research on the ford traction lok- looks like a new shim back is $70 for each side of the diff. Looks fairly easy to do- just lots of labor.

 

[shawn.m]

lots of wrenching today - decided to go to barrets Lake trail this weekend. couple of the guys kept encouraging me to just do it.

sorry no pictures as the camera died today.

so built some rock sliders out of 2x2 angle iron attached to the rocker panels Went from a inch in from the front fender to a inch in front of the rear fender. put ten bolts in. this really helped in the body flex- I would suggest any who has done a chop top on a B2 to do this! you can also hide the angle iron under the body if you dont want anyone to see it.

Next attacked the rear axle - WOW this thing was messed up! I had noticed yesterday while doing flex testing that the rear tire was closer to the front of the rear fender on the passenger side. hmm not good.
So pulled it apart. - passenger side had the wedge broken- when I was trying to get the locater bolt out, it snapped. It already had a stress crack in the bolt about 1/4 in. Ok went and got two hardened bolts from my bolt bin- ground the heads to make sure they would fit. put that bolt in loose on the passenger side.
Went around to the drivers side. - the locater bolt was broken in half!
had to use a pin to line up the leafs straight. Bolted the leafs up together straight and put in my new 4 degree shims.
Bolted everything up back together and torqued the leaf spring bolts to 100 ft lbs. Now I have 15 degrees up on the nose of the rear axle - straight at the transfer case. Drive shaft is at 20 degrees much better drive line angles.

Took it out for a drive and it is much more solid to drive. Lost some of the tippy feeling it had.

Was having so much fun I went over bigger stuff and bigger stuff. Until I went over a big rock on the left side and heard the right side spring pop out
umm that is not what happened in the garage when I flexed everything out.
So got the high lift jack out and pushed the spring back in. went back to the garage and made some spring keepers to hold the springs in. flexed it with the High Jack and the springs stayed in place.
makes me want to put a 2 inch pole in the middle of the spring so that I can flex a little bit more

will try and take some pictures tomorrow morning before I leave to show the sliders. Also to show it without the dents I will probably get tomorrow.
Packed 3 tool bags to make sure if anything breaks I will have tools. Packed spare front and rear drive shafts, also packed both front outer axles WAY over packed- just nervous about this trip as it is my biggest trip yet.
see you guys sunday night

 

[shawn.m]

Dang! what a trail ! I would say that the 9 or 10 hardness is earned

Made it to the lake and back without breaking. Had a hard time at first with controlling the speed of the bronco. It wasnt until I disconnected the IAC that I was able to idle down to 700 rpm and put put through the rock gardens. Then once you hit a rock tap the gas for some more power to get up and over.

I have a couple of videos and pictures I will post. Only problem was that the rear drive shaft bolts came loose at the end of Sunday. Pulled over and tightened them up and no vibration!.

the rocker guards worked for the most part. They needed to be much heavier! really need to build 2x2 1/4 wall sliders. I bent the heck out of these sliders plus the rockers, rear rockers, rear bumper, rear fenders. Also hit the drivers side manual locking hub with a rock and it will not unlock. Need to take it apart and see if it is broken.

 

[shawn.m]

let me know if the pics work - have to upload three videos to youtube.

start of day

hit the rockers in the first 100 yards

Notice the bumper bent so much it hit the body

look at the wear mark in the center of the tires!

It was stuffing so much that it hit the rollbar bolts

 

[shawn.m]

vids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFG4T_T0_fs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqykLOnGSdw

 

[shawn.m]

third video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cLSCBZAVvU

 

[shawn.m]

well did get some damage to the bronco. HTe drivers side front manual hub took a rock in the middle of it. broke the knob and the casing.Have to find out if I can get the knob and casing or if it is cheaper to buy a new one.

 

[Bennybooster]

No low range??

 

[shawn.m]

oh thats 4whl low in first gear! 3.42 first gear 2.72 transfer case , 4.10 gears 33 inch tires- idle in first two videos wouldn't go under 1200-1100. Once I pulled the plug on IAC it went down to 750 rpm and became much more manageable

 

[shawn.m]

bought a set of warn manual hubs off ebay for $60 shipped. back on the road soon.
bought a piece of canvas to see if i can build a rear topper out of canvas. Really would like to have heat this winter.
might see if I can get a radio in this thing also.
updated list of what has been done to the bronco on first page. it is getting pretty long.

left to do - it is pretty short. really getting to the point where everything is fixed and just drive it.

belly pan
6" long 2" pipe in front as a spring guide to let the front wheel go down further
travel limiter if I do the 6" long 2" pipe
Softer front springs ? it works pretty good right now so really unsure if I want to do this.
Canvas topper for rear.
2" x2" sliders
add front rollbar hoops
Radio and speakers
refill ac? or remove it all
air compressor
add more front lights?
run wiring to rear back up lights.
inside winch switch