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Southeast AL 1976 Bronco Wagon Build... Updated 3 April 2016

JDJ

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I have been a member here for a little over a year. I have been too cheap %) to spend the $12 to become a contributer until last week. So, with contributor status I figured now was as good a time to start my own build thread.

My intentions with this build is to have a dependable truck that I can drive when and where I want but also having it offroad/trial capable. I want it to be something that is fun to drive and something that I'm not worried about it getting damaged or scratched if I were to take it on a trail or in the woods.
 
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JDJ

JDJ

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*EDIT 12/13/2010* - I forgot tell ya'll the specs on the truck.

1976 Wagon
302 ci 2 barrel carb
3 spd on column
Dana 44 front with factory pwr brakes 3.54 (factory to my knowledge)
9" rear bb 3.50 gear
3.5" suspension lift
315/75/16 BFG MT KM
BestTop Soft Top
Manual steering


The truck has some rust in normal spots: front floors, rear floor......other places TBD
 
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JDJ

JDJ

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Here are some pics of the truck when I bought it around September/October 2009.
 

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JDJ

JDJ

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One of my neighbors and I went and looked at the truck before I bought it (when the above pics were taken). When we raised the hood, there was a full grown opossum right between the passenger side air box and the air filter.

The opossum looked pretty pissed off when we opened the hood and started messing with his 'house'. He didn't hang around long. He quickly dove between the pwr brake booster, firewall, and block and hit the ground running.
 

sprdv1

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REBEL
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Decent enough rig.. Good luck with the project, look forward to the progress & pics
 
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JDJ

JDJ

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When I rescued this rig, it had been parked for 10 yrs! :eek: (about 4 yrs under barn, 6 yrs at the edge of the field and woods as seen in pics above) When I bought this rig, the truck was about a 1/4 mile from my house and some neighbors down the road had owned the truck since around 1979. All three of the neighbor kids drove it. I purchased the truck from the youngest son which was the current owner at the time. The purchase also included some 16" X 8" black steel wheels that were brand new still in the box that the youngest son had purchased with intentions of installing on the bronco.

When the bronco was parked in 1999 it was under an OLD rickety barn/shed. It sat under this shed until the barn/shed was about to fall in on the bronco. The middle brother pulled the bronco out from under the shed to keep the barn from damaging it in case it fell. He moved it to the location that you see above.

My neighbor (Mark) and I took Mark's tractor and lift pole and drug the truck home.

Here are some pics after I got it home.
 

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JDJ

JDJ

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The truck had been sitting so long that it was covered in mildew. The first thing I did was pressure wash the truck and then I cleaned all the leaves and sticks and stuff that the opossum had 'moved' in his house ;)
 
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JDJ

JDJ

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Mildew pics

More pics. First pic is of mildew on the hood. Second is on the windsheild. Third is me pressure washing that crap off.
 

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JDJ

JDJ

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more pics
 

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JDJ

JDJ

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After I got the truck cleaned up I started trying to get the truck running. After a carb rebuild, spark plugs, plug wires, fuel filter, couple of battery cables, starter, fresh gas, and a hot battery.......it fired up.

I ended up taking the gas tank off and buying a factory style poly tank from delconick out of the classifieds.

After getting it running I pulled it in the shop because it didn't have any brakes on it. I had thought about selling the new rims that I got in the package deal but then I decided to keep 'em and use 'em when a friend of mine gave me his used set of BFG 315/75/16 Mud Terrain KMs.

Here are a few pics of the used tires mounted on the new wheels installed on the bronco (before and after pics).

BTW.......I forgot to tell ya'll that the bronco already had about a 3 1/2" suspension lift on it. There is a skyjacker sticker that the P.O. stuck on the dash.
 

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JDJ

JDJ

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After I got some tires on the truck that would hold air, I started looking at fixing the brakes. I also knew that I had a bad wheel bearing on the passenger side. So, here is what I did to fix it.

Front:
1. New pads
2. Inner and outer wheel bearings
3. New spindles. (ended up putting spindles on both sides)
4. Remanufactured calipers for 1979 Lincoln Contentinental (these were used on lots of big cars back then. Caliper Piston is bigger than stock bronco)
5. Remanufactured master cylinder for '79 Contentinental (if I remember correctly)
6. BCB stainless steel brake hoses and drop down lines
7. New lines from the master cylinder to the distribution block
8. Replaced some of the steel lines on the axle
9. New Warn Locking Hubs

Rear:
1. New shoes
2. New hardware kit
3. Wheel Cylinders
4. Replaced some of the steel lines on rear end
 
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JDJ

JDJ

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that did clean up pretty good, funny about the opossum;D

It was funny. I wish I had a pic of it. That opossum was PISSED!!!!!!! .......especially when my neighbor poked at him with a stick ;D
 
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JDJ

JDJ

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Now....if you wanted to see pissed......you should have seen my girlfriend. I graduated from Auburn (War Eagle!!!) in May '09. My girlfriend was wanting an engagement ring REAL bad. I had been saving to buy this bronco for a while (takes a while when you are on a college student's budget). After I graduated I had continued to save for the bronco......and for her an engagement ring.

So....I was planning on getting her a ring for christmas (2009) but she didn't know that. So..........I bought the bronco and the ring and she had no idea. Just to keep her guessing about getting a ring and to throw her off the trail I wouldn't give her any hints.

One night she came over to the house and walked in the shop about the time I had just finished working on the bronco.

She then posed for this pic acting like the bronco was her ring....lol
 

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JDJ

JDJ

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I ended up having to rebuild the carb a second time. I had got a little trash/bad fuel or something in that freshly rebuilt carb before I changed fuel tanks. So, a friend and I rebuilt the carb a second time and he helped me get the carb set just right.

So it was time for the first road test. Here are a few pics from the first trip around the neighborhood/woods. I had the hard top on it for the first 20 min. Mark (neighbor that helped drag it home) and I took the hard top off after the first ride. The hard top has not been back on it.

Pic 1: Right after Mark and I got back from maiden voyage before top removal
Pic 2: My girlfriend (at the time, wife now) in passenger seat
Pic 3: Bronco back in my shop......topless ;D
 

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