Off Road Notes from 3/9/14

I took the Bronco out on Sunday to 4-wheel it a little to see how it would do with a working transfer case. It was a night and day difference!  I hit the same 3 trails where my Bronco got stuck without a working transfer case and needed a buddy to help pull me out of a few spots... this time no issues!

Cleaning the IAC fixed the stalling issue which was also appreciated when I was at stops.  The oil gauge starts to fluctuate at idle from side-to-side when the engine is warm so I will be changing out the sending unit to see if that is the issue.  If the problem persists it will be time to drop the oil pan and change the pump.  The key thing is the engine runs fine which seems to indicate a sensor vs a real oil pressure issue.

The main weakness I found with the Bronco this time out was with the 31x10.5 tires.  My buddy has 33's on his Jeep and he had no trouble in a few places where my differential would get caught.  The extra clearance from bigger tires would help with that.

There was also a period of time with some really annoying squealing which appears to be wheel bearing related.  Didn't matter 2wd vs 4wd.  Eventually the squeaky went away so I suspect the bearing worked itself back into place.  The local part store chain here sold me all the bearing parts I needed for $40 plus tax so that is cheap insurance and a little bit of work to address that concern.  I suspect if 1 bearing need replacement the others are not far behind.  Allegedly (will confirm in a future post) there is an inner and outer bearing on each side of the front axle and one bearing for each side in the back.  IE you'll need 2 bearings a side (4 total) for the front and two for the back.  Also note they're not the same.  For me the fronts are A35 and A37.  The rears are #6408.  Check for your application but this is for a '88 Bronco with stock axles.

I believe in the '91+ models they may have some extra parts from what I found searching around online.

Lastly, I also decided to buy some new ball joints to address the sloppy steering.

I'm hoping to complete the work this weekend and will also be adding a winch.  I also have a few other projects in the pipeline.  Always work to be done on older vehicles!