A $400 Day Wheeling

So I took the Bronco out wheeling over the weekend and quickly turned it into a $400 day in repairs.

While going up an incline I lost power and as it turns out the rear axle yoke broke.  Upon closer inspection later on I determine that the yoke was basically compromised from years of use and finally quit at an inopportune time.

I was able to drive home in 4-Hi after I disconnected the rear drive shaft.  The original water pump also died on the way back at a respectable 177,500+ miles.  I also found out that I needed a special sized U-Joint since the drive shaft was custom to fit the '89 transfer case I installed earlier in the year.

The drive shaft shop found that the CV joint was toast too so that had to be rebuilt.  So $400 for a yoke, pinion seals (why not), new U-Joint retainers, and a water pump.  In fairness, I bought the water pump a while back but $400 in parts are going on the truck this weekend.

New Battery & Paint Job

Stopped to get gas in the Bronco and it wouldn't start back up.  Luckily my buddy lived nearby and was able to give me a jump.  I ran over to the parts store and about $160 later I had a new battery.  We checked the old battery and it was just over 5 years old so that's pretty good.

Regarding the paint job... when I bought the Bronco the previous owner had sprayed the top with a camo matter and also continued it along the rocker panels.  I've had a couple ideas about doing a full paint job but since this is an off road rig I didn't feel like going too crazy with paint and prep.

For prep I wiped all the areas I was going to paint with denatured alcohol.  I taped off the areas I wanted to paint and hit it with a quick coat of all-in-one primer & paint.  I didn't sand between coats and I probably did about 3-4 coats on the bottom and 2-3 coats on the top which I removed to paint.

Here is a before and after.  The wrinkle in the back is where I rubbed a tree while wheeling.

All fixed up

So very lucky no damage aside from a new diff cover.  Turns out one of the little helpers (kids) put a tool in the diff before I closed it up and didn't see it.  Oh well; all good now.

Back into the Rear Diff

Fun stuff... fun stuff.

So the Bronco has been great since the rear-end "rebuild" (brakes, bearings, seals, etc) and I'd been driving it all over the place.  So I get to my destination yesterday and when I come back outside there is a pool of rear diff fluid.

My initial thought was somehow the RTV seal failed but closer inspection revealed a hole in the rear diff cover.  It looks like from the inside out but clearly not catastrophic as the vehicle drives great.

The current theory is maybe a tooth on a gear broke.  It could be part of a broken bearing, a piece of dried mud with a rock / other debris, etc but I won't really know until I crack the case open and really look.

If it is a gear tooth you could run like that but for off roading it means less power to the rear which might cause some issues.

I'll know more once I crack it open and look.  The good thing was there was plenty of diff fluid still leaking when I got the Bronco home so minimal risk of any additional damage.

Rear-End Overhaul

So I mentioned in one post I thought a wheel brake cylinder was leaking and then in another post I said it looked like an axle seal.  It was actually both!

I started by lifting the leaky side (rear driver's side) with a jack and placed the driver's side of the rear axle on a jack stand.  I could see fluid all over the inside of the hub as shown in the left photo. In the right photo you can see fluid leaking out of the end cap of the wheel cylinder; the shiny spot below my thumb.

I also noticed that the brake shoes were looking really bad.  Again as you can see in the left photo part of the shoe was actually broken on one side.  The right photo also shows the new shoe to give an idea of how far down the shoes were worn.  Keep in mind I bought this Bronco in Feb 2014 so a lot of these things were worn well prior to my time and I'm learning about them as they come up.  That's part of owning an old car especially if you don't know the history on it.  Just expect things to break periodically and going to the parts store to fix it.

So back to the axle seal... to do that you have to lift both sides of the axle and it put on jack stands.  Two reasons for this ... 1) you have to remove the axle and 2) if one side is leaking the other side is probably not far off either.

So one you get the rear-end on jack stands you need to crack open the rear diff.  To do this set a big pan below to catch the fluid and remove the bolts around the cover.  I recommend keeping one bolt (half way out) at the top so the pan doesn't fall into pan and make a mess.  Once the bolts are off you need to use a rubber mallet or comparable to tap the cover until the sealant gives and the pan comes loose.  You may need to pry the cover but do so gently so you don't bend the edges of the pan.

Once the pan is empty you have to remove the bolt holding the pin between the two shafts.  In the left picture you can see the pin its the cylinder in the middle of the picture.  The pin's head is facing the passenger's side and you need a wrench to loosen it and then it slides out.  You can see the pin in the right picture.

When the pin comes out the bolt should slide out easily.  Don't freak out if a spider gear comes out, you can put it back in place.  Now that the bolt is out you can push the axle on each side in towards the diff and it will have a C shaped retainer you can remove (picture below with the bolt, pin, and diff cover bolts).

Remove the axle shafts and then you'll have access the the axle seals and bearings.  I used a seal puller to pull the leaky axle seal.  One of the interesting things was someone tried to previously repair the seal leak with RTV around leaky axle seal.  It clearly worked as a temporary fix for a few months but its not a long term solution.  And while this sounds like a lot of work its not hard to do if you have the right tools.

Funny enough one of the bearings was stuck so I rented a bearing puller from the auto parts store.  Worked great and then the other side came out no issue with a light pull but many parts stores have free tool rental so it saved what could have been more headache.

Installing the new bearings was easy.  Use a bearing race and driver kit and pound the bearing in until it stops. Then pound the axle seal in place.  Some people will try and use wood or something to hammer in a bearing and I find spending a few dollars on the right tool makes the process easy and ensures you don't damage a bearing/seal or drive it in crooked.

Once all that is done you slide the axles back in, connect the C clamps, put the bolt in, and re-attach the pin.  Run a good bead of RTV around the diff cover (lean off old sealant thoroughly first) and close it up.  The front of the diff on the driver's side has a 3/8" plug that you can remove to re-fill.  I uses a transfer pump and you keep pumping until diff fluid leaks out of the plug hole.  Ideally you want the truck to be on a level surface for this.

For the brakes I bought new hardware, wheel cylinders, brake cleaner, and a big bottle of brake fluid. Easiest way to replace the brakes it take a picture and use it as reference to put everything on.  Having a spring puller is helpful in terms of tools.

You'll need to bleed the brakes which is a 2 person job.  One person needs to hold the brake down while the other loosens the brake line at each wheel.  This should be done several times until the line no longer bubbles when the line is opened.  This normally takes about 4-6 attempts per side.

I was about $100 in parts for two bearings, two axle seals, two wheel brake cylinders, a brake hardware kit, and brake shoe kit plus brake and diff fluid.