Upon further review the issue doesn't seem to be the brake cylinder as I mentioned but actually a rear axle seal leak. You need 2 seals (one for each side) and they're normally about $5/ea. Its a good time to replace bearings as well.
I have the parts but it will be a few weeks before I can do the work.
Be sure to order these seals sooner than later because most auto parts stores do not keep them on hand and they have to be ordered.
Updates upcoming when this project is complete.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Misc Odds and Ends
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
33s
A buddy ended up selling me his old tires because he was looking to get a bigger size. These 33x10.5r15 tires fit my existing rims perfectly. They do rub a little when making sharp turns but otherwise they work flawlessly. There is an increase in road noise on the highway but its not like the Bronco is a quiet vehicle to start with.
The photo above was from a few weeks back. Unfortunately, all the mud/water fried my solenoid on my winch so I will be working on repairing that soon.
Another issue was the power steering pump went out. It was working intermittently but the Bronco is not easy to turn at low speeds without the pump. The picture above is the old pump. I was able to purchase a reman unit with reservoir from the parts store for about $65 and I'll get another $7 or so back when I return the old unit.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Winch Install
Installed a winch over the last few weeks but just now getting around to writing up the blog about it.
My buddy and I ended up reusing the stock bumper but we cut it down and made some modifications to make everything fit to give more of a stock look.
The first step was removing the bumper, supports, etc. You basically just need some wrenches or sockets to do this but we used an air impact wrench.
For my install, I removed the frame horns because I installed a piece of plate steel to go between the frame rails. Part of that was for strength and another part of that was the winch plate that I bought from Harbor Freight wasn't wide enough to go rail to rail.
In the photo above you can see the plate (which was painted black) and the winch plate sitting on top of it. The key thing is that you have a strong connection to the frame and a strong mounting point for the winch. There are 4 bolts holding the plate to the frame and 4 bolts holding the winch to the plate. Because I wanted my setup to be recessed I had to take the control box off and lay it to the side.
For the bumper we used a considerable number (probably a dozen) cutting wheels and cut the bumper down and angled the edges to give more of an aggressive look. You'll notice most vehicles built for actual off road use have higher bumpers and/or don't fully extend the width of the vehicle. Search Google images for 'off road vehicle' if you don't believe me! This is to make sure your tire (not your bumper) can contact obstacles and you have drive over them. For this reason, we cut the stock bumper to clear the tires and then did some cosmetic things to make it look better. It was all freehand with the cutting wheel with a few markings to give a basic path to follow.
We also cut a hole for the fair lead to go through. For a template we just measured and drilled some holes at the corners and drew a line to follow.
Be sure to take a rasp and smooth the edges too because sides will be sharp and you don't want to cut yourself!
To re-attach the bumper and ensure we had enough room to reach in and access the in/out lever on the winch an plug in the remote the modded bumper had to be attached differently. The solution we used was to cut the bumper mounts down to match the new width of the bumper and then use longer bolts and about 2 dozen (give or take) washers to space the bumper forward.
After all that we also decided to go back and weld the steel plate to the frame just to make sure everything was secure and to make it a little more difficult to steal. You may want to tack weld a bolt holding your winch on too for this reason in case the bolts are readily accessible so someone doesn't undo a few bolts and run off with your winch!
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Little Fixes and Tweaks
Had a fun moment the other day. Bronco ran fine driving to my destination. I got back in and it wouldn't turn over. I tried jigging some wires and adding a gallon of gas. I was finally able to get started enough to coast into the gas station.
Filled up the tank (it only filled a little less than the gauge said) but nothing. After a few minutes I noticed that I couldn't hear the fuel pump running. Sure enough the fuel pump wire was loose and securing the connection fixed it.
The next day I was checking fluid levels and noticed that there was a wire that only had 3 strands connected to the battery. I couldn't readily trace where it went so I removed it. Bronco wouldn't start. So I cut and re-attached the wire correctly and started right up and actually felt like it was running better.
This week I replaced the 31x10.5r15 tires with some 33x12.5r15 tires. My Bronco had 8.5" width rims so it was an easy swap. I know some friends with other vehicles have 7.5" width rims and some major tire shops will not install 33s on them.
Filled up the tank (it only filled a little less than the gauge said) but nothing. After a few minutes I noticed that I couldn't hear the fuel pump running. Sure enough the fuel pump wire was loose and securing the connection fixed it.
The next day I was checking fluid levels and noticed that there was a wire that only had 3 strands connected to the battery. I couldn't readily trace where it went so I removed it. Bronco wouldn't start. So I cut and re-attached the wire correctly and started right up and actually felt like it was running better.
This week I replaced the 31x10.5r15 tires with some 33x12.5r15 tires. My Bronco had 8.5" width rims so it was an easy swap. I know some friends with other vehicles have 7.5" width rims and some major tire shops will not install 33s on them.
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