The Deuce

[BONES]

I used the 92 Explorer brake master and it will lock up the all 4 38's on pavement, brakes are awesome actually, she stops no problems, well as fast as swampers will slide to a stop anyways, lol. Panic stops with slinky suspension is very interesting to say the least, lol.

I welded in a 2x2 cross member on top of the frame between the engine and rad, then I cut out the engine cross member leaving just enough to keep the stock motor mount surface intact. My frame still flexes a bit though, not a lot but enough that it could eventually crack the frame or distort the frame some. I would recommend tying the bottom of the frame in as well or making a cross member that secures the whole frame top to bottom to prevent the twisting forces exerted by the steering system and pan hard mount. My plans are to run a tube from the pan hard mount across and up to the other frame rail, basically triangulating the set-up back into my upper 2x2 cross member. That was the plan but I haven't got around to it, now thinking about it, when I swap in the V8 I will end up needing to cut out that 2x2 anyways, so I may just design a tub cross member or brace of sorts that ties both frame rails together but travels under the front of the engine oil pan staying as close to the steering box/pan hard mount as possible as well as leaving as much diff clearance as I can allow.

 

[Andres629]

Alright, thanks for the info! I think that is probably what will end up happening with my crossmember then as well when I do the 44 swap. I'm trying to keep mine about the height it's at now (+3" or so from the tire height change...) but on 37-38's. I hate to be a pain, but could you measure frame to ground height, and roof to ground for me? What coils are you running up front, and how do they work for you?

 

[BONES]

Well I probably won't be able to measure anything for another couple weeks or so, she's stuck in her parking spot surrounded by a couple feet of snow still and with front wheel drive only and a small lake underneath it, lol. Snows melting quick but not quick enough for me, lol. I'll let you know the measurements as soon as I can get wrenching on it, once I get that rear drive shaft and diff yoke swapped in there and it can move under it's own means again, then I can park it on the road to measure for you. Actually I plan on wrenching on it this week, so you never know, I might be able to move her sooner than later.

I'm running stock height coils out of an 88 Cherokee 4dr 4wd with 300,000 + kms on them, they're not bad, they gave the Deuce a couple inches more height up front compared to the JK coils I had in there. I pulled out the 2007 Jeep Wrangler JK 2dr front coils, because they were too soft and didn't hold the front up very well. These Cherokee coils are soft as well but they seem to hold the front up pretty good and they compress easily through suspension travel. They also stretch real nice and with the 16" travel procomp es3000 shocks I have up front it rides like a Cadillac over the rough stuff.

I have 3" taller lower spring mounts in there that I would like to get rid of, so I'm betting a 2-3" lift coil for the late 80's Cherokee would work great if I were to mount the coils on the top of the radius arm.

I plan or redesigning the front suspension a bit when the V8 swap takes place. My plans are to get rid of the C bushing set-up and going with Johnny Joints at the diff instead. I also want to make an adjustable pan hard bar while I'm at it as well as shorten the lower coil mounts and build completely new upper coil mounts so I can go with a much longer spring at that time. I'm going to try out a set of lift coils for Cherokee's, probably 3" lift coils. I want to loose an inch or so of height when I do this redesign. Then when I link the rear I can lower that ride height as well.

I have some slight front end wheel hop that is directly caused by the poly C bushing deflecting under throttle. It really is very minimal hop, but it's there none the less and I figure having a solid joint holding the diff end will eliminate the hop.

 

[Boggin]

any updates on this sexy beast? haha

 

[Stxrangerbumper]

I love it your broco 2 and the pumpkin face on your axle ...

I love blue
I had already one like yours in the past, I sold it for peanut

 

[Bennybooster]

I love it your broco 2 and the pumpkin face on your axle ...

I love blue
I had already one like yours in the past, I sold it for peanut bag

???

 

[kris97ranger]

he sold it for peanuts... as in not much lol

 

[BONES]

Thanks for the kind words!

Not a lot as far as progress goes lately, in the process of re-doing the front brake line system as well as repairing my snorkel after I ripped most of it off on the trail. I'll take pics as the brake lines all go in.

I'm changing it from the 30" long braided lines that went from the coil bucket down to the calipers to 1 long braided under the engine that will go down to the pumpkin and then T into hard line across the diff and then I'll have short rubbers from the knuckles over to the calipers. Hopefully this works better, or survives better anyways.

I've had a lot of braided brake line carnage over the last year of wheeling that I really want to eliminate from happening again. Only time will tell.

 

[BONES]

Well, still not much progress, been poking around doing this and that but not really accomplishing much over the last couple days.

Got the Yorks mocked up but not mounted, got some brake lines plumed but not attached, got my snorkel ripped apart to repair it but haven't accomplished much, pulled the front drive shaft to slap new joints in it but haven't.

I'm also having 3 specific problems with the Bronco that I haven't completely figured out yet.

1. My wipers only work on full blast and have no return function so they stop right where you clicked the switch back to medium speed, intermittent don't work either.

2. My heater don't work on full blast, it only works on low and medium.

3. My headlights keep switching which one wants to light up randomly on DTRL, low beam and hi beam.

Pretty sure the headlight problem is a ground that I can't seem to locate. It's weird because at any one time it could be 1 or both day-lighters on, 1 minute it's the drives side working and the next minute it's the passenger side working, sometimes it will be only 1 lite all day and some times both work all day. Kinda has me guessing on that one. lol

Wiper problem is "possibly" that little black/grey box under the dash that no one in town can get new and the local wreckers have no RBV...figures.

Heater problem is "possibly" the resistor on the heater box in the engine compartment, apparently when it bunks out you start missing heater fan speeds??

Good news is she runs and fires up quick, not bad for having say most of the winter in 40-45*C below temps with -25*C coolant in the system.....oops.

 

[kris97ranger]

Hey! Yaay updates who knew that was comming lol

 

[BONES]

Thanks buddy!!

Plans are to remove the rear 9" pinion yoke today, not sure how easy or difficult that endevor will be, but here goes nuthin!! I got a newer yoke and new seal to go on. Once that is on, I can start replacing u-joints as needed.

My camera kicked it, so I have no way of taking any pics for a bit. I'll see if I can get someone over to take pics as it goes back together.

 

[Bennybooster]

Your heater problem is defiantly the resistor, I had the EXACT problem when I bought my truck, and a new resistor fixed it

 

[BONES]

Hey right on, thanks Benny!!

So the yoke removal was a no go. I need to get a large pipe wrench to hold the yoke so when I crank on the nut with the breaker bar it actually loosens the bolt rather than drives the rig, lol. My impact isn't big or strong enough to remove it unfortunately.

So instead of getting any further on it, I hooked my $75 new-to-me 10,000lbs Crapion winch up to some battery cables and unspooled the bent and kinked cable off the drum. I can get 120 feet of the good air craft cable for just over 80bucks here, better safe than sorry as the cable that was on it has several bad spots that are flattened and kinked all nasty and dangerous like. Funny cause looking at the roller fair-lead the winch looks like it has only been used 2-3 times and for him to have destroyed the cable so bad shows the PO's inability to operate a winch correctly.

I did however get some more junk cleaned out of the Bronco, she turned into a storage bin over the last few months of inactivity.

 

[BONES]

I got all my new brake lines installed and hooked up only to find out the master cyl is pooched now, couldn't get it to push any pressure at all, it's always one thing after another, isn't it? Oh well, I have an f150 master I will swap in, hope it's not buggered to, it was working when I drained it and pulled it off the truck, but so was mine.

On a good note I now have unlimited access to a parts Explorer for the cost of a flat of beer!! Buddy bought it for 100$$ so he could swap the 8.8 rear into his YJ. It's a manual shift manual trans 92. It has the manual trans ecm, manual trans steering column, wiper module, heater fan and resistor, brake master, fuel pump and sender, E brake cables if in good shape, front drive shaft, rear springs, steering box and shaft, drag link, starter, alternator... blah blah blah, he is taking it to the crusher next weekend so I have a week to rape and pillage what I can, I might even pull the motor, it has 215000 Kms on it and runs like a top and recently had the seals replaced.

Might hold off on the v8 swap a little longer and swap this in instead. Since I'm not ready for the v8 swap yet anyways. Still need to rebuild the C4, find a tcase as well as buying and building a few other things involved with the swap before the v8 goes in.

That's my plans for the week, rape and pillage an Explorer, lol.

EDIT: It was brought to my attention that page 12 had no pics, so I added some lol....

Pics of my mistress.

I have an inquirey.
Does anyone know what tires are on this Exploder?? I would LOVE a set big time!!!

 

[kris97ranger]

Nice I'm going to be welding a Mazda/Toyota rear diff and bobbing a Nissan bed and doing the floor in the same Nissan then possibly having a samurai bonfire