So in keeping with documenting things a potential owner or current owner of a Bronco might want to anticipate... more little things I'll have to address and some tidbits.
There was a big accident in Dallas towards the end of June and I was idling it the Bronco for well over an hour. When traffic cleared I found that I couldn't accelerate and it was behaving funny. I was able to pull into a gas station and determine it wasn't a fuel issue. It acted like the battery was dead but I checked it and it was fine. Radiator was full though I did notice some white smoke before the engine died. After waiting for a buddy to give me a rescue tow to his place it miraculously started!
On the advice of a friend I tested the fan clutch as it was likely the engine had overheated [the temp gauge hasn't worked since I bought the Bronco]. A simple clutch test is to see how hard it is to turn when the engine his hot. There should be resistance.
The fan spins freely when the vehicle is cold (since you want the engine to heat up to an optimal temp) but once the engine is to temp the clutch will engage locking the fan clutch into the same rotation speed as the engine for optimal cooling of the radiator fluid. So in my case I wasn't getting enough cooling of the radiator fluid and eventually I overheated. Once the engine cooled and I was at highway speed the air cooling kept the fluid cool. So $60 and about 6 bolts later problem solved. I also picked up a water pump for $30 and a thermostat to have when the time comes.
Next issue after all that was one of my 33s went flat. Plugged a hole and found another one I couldn't patch so I had to put the spare on. So next up will be another spare 33" tire. I can probably find a used one for $50.
Lastly, I noticed that the brake performance has been getting poorer and found that brake fluid was leaking from that same wheel that went flat. So that means the wheel cylinder is leaking. The generic store brand part is about $10 and you might as well do both sides. The store brand brake shoes are about $20/side. So you're looking at about $60 in parts plus labor. I'll probably handle this one over the weekend.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Dodge Grille Guard Install
I helped a buddy clean up one of his properties and he was nice enough to give me a grille guard off his old Dodge and bull horns. I just felt they looked the part on this vehicle. Let's be honest nothing about a Bronco says political correctness, conformity, green initiatives, or subtle. And nothing about 33s, a winch, bull horns, or a grill guard says those things either. Perfect match.
What wasn't a perfect match was mounting the damn grille guard! There were no brackets and no good point to really make one to bolt it on. If you'll recall from the winch install I used a steel plate bolted to the frame with a winch plate on top of it. That was probably overkill but honestly I'd rather have too much than not enough if I have to winch out of a situation.
So ultimately I welded the guard onto the bottom of the winch plate. Granted the welds might break if I really rammed into something hard enough but then again probably bigger problems if that occurs.
Harbor Freight Badland 9000lb Winch Fixed!
In April I installed a winch (see another post for the details on that) and the first day out on the trail, stuck in a really muddy spot, the winch didn't work!
As I may or may not have mentioned I bypassed the solenoid and ran power directly to the winch. It was working but only in one direction. A future thought was maybe when we welded the winch plate we forgot to unhook the battery and might have fried the solenoid.
So I was driving around with my winch line wrapped around my cut front bumper and before I knew it the 90 day warranty on the winch was up!
So before I bought another solenoid or winch I decided to re-evaluate the winch situation. Luckily, I removed the old bumper and it made accessing the winch and plate much easier than with the bumper on.
The issue I was easily able to spot was simply that a small wire (probably 18 gauge) running into the winch and solenoid box had broken. You can see the wire below (look at the red wire on the left side and you'll see that tiny dirty wire). Reconnected that wire and back in business!
I left the cover off so you can sort of see what is inside the solenoid box. As you can see there are numerous connector types and some bolts so any of these things could easily come loose. As an added measure I ran some RTV around the edges before putting the box back on and plugged some holes (I left one small one open) to help prevent any water intrusion.
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