Alli's 2wd '73 Bronco - you'll hate it

NATEandALLI · Jan 10, 2019

Rockin' that Contributor status now so I thought I'd post some pics of what we've been working on for the last 14 months.

My wife, Alli, had been wanting a Bronco for years. She finally decided to buy one in 2016 since they weren't getting any cheaper. We bought it sight unseen out of Colorado - as usually, wasn't as great as it was reported to be but it was good enough. She wants a street cruiser to take to the beach or drive to work and has no intention of ever going four wheeling. We thought it be kinda cool to do a full on 2wd conversion so that's what we did. Pics do more than words so here we go...

First batch of pics are from when she first bought it. Saggy in front and stink bug in back. Took it to here parents where he dad has an awesome hobby shop with a center post lift. Got it in the air and started to disassemble it and scrap off 40+ years of grime and undercoating.

NATEandALLI · Jan 10, 2019

Took everything off the frame and then took the frame out from under the Bronco. Left the bronco 6 feet in the air on stilts so we could work on it. Had the frame sand blasted and then painted it and all the other chassis/suspension components in chassis black.

NATEandALLI · Jan 10, 2019

I'm pulling these pics off Instagram but I can only download the first pic so I can't get pics when there are multiples. You can see how we built the 2wd front axle here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BhDbY55grlK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

NATEandALLI · Jan 10, 2019

I have a '71 F100 2wd shortbed pickup. Actually, it was Alli's first 'car' in high school and it used to have a 460 in it. It was definitely a beast. The 460 was tired so her dad gave it to me and I swapped in a EFI 5.0 HO motor from a Mustang with an AOD. Going from 460 to 302 is major weak sauce so I bought a 5.4L SOHC supercharged Lightning truck motor to swap into it. That meant we could put the 5.0 in the Bronco which is just the right amount of power for Alli. ;D

Also put on all new brake lines, new fuel lines, a new poly fuel tank and modded the stock trans crossmember to mount the AOD.

NATEandALLI · Jan 10, 2019

And here it sits. Has an old school K bar S 2.5" front lift and the rear is still stock. On 15x9 Slot Mags with some Falken AT tires.

I skipped over some details but that's the jist of it. One big snag we hit was that there's no double cardan slip joint to work with a 2wd AOD trans. We had to take a regular slip yoke, cut the ears off and then take a fixed yoke, cut its splines out and then weld them together to make a custom joint. Sure, may not hold up to offroad abuse but it'll do just fine on the street.

NATEandALLI · Jan 10, 2019

We're working through some gnarly death wobble at the moment which is being discussed here: http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292102

Rustytruck · Jan 10, 2019

I want a post lift in my back yard especially since i dont have garage. Feeling jelly right now.

Scoop · Jan 10, 2019

Nice work. Glad you didn't hack it up for the 2WD or modify is extensively. It would be an easy conversion back to 4WD. Hope Alli enjoys it!

fomobro66 · Jan 10, 2019

That wasn:t as painful to watch as I had feared. Good job? haha. Whatever keeps them on the road and makes them more fun to drive cant be all bad.

No Hay · Jan 11, 2019

No hate here. Very cool Alli is into Broncos. Turning out great for her and you! What a bonus with a Father in Law like that too.

sprdv1 · Jan 11, 2019

Looking good.. All personal preference. Make it yours and go enjoy that thing

Pops68 · Jan 11, 2019

When you did your frame painting, did you 'preserve' your VIN #'s??? Or take pics of them???

kylakekevin · Jan 11, 2019

Very nicely done.

bronconut73 · Jan 11, 2019

Be easy to switch back.

No harm
No foul.

Justafordguy · Jan 11, 2019

Looks good, Nice job.

Pa PITT · Jan 11, 2019

THAT'LL Work. I've got no real problem with it being 2wd. I had plans of fixing my 68 as a 2WD for Mimi Joyce but she got old. & lost interest.
SO .. I had planed of, Her's just being a 5.0L & AOD trans. & I was just planning to run no T/C case. But leave the front pumpkin IN PLACE ..
.. BUT mine is still setting as I said Mimi got sick & that was the end of that plan.
..............
....... Yours looks like it's got a good start.

NATEandALLI · Jan 16, 2019

Pops68 said:
When you did your frame painting, did you 'preserve' your VIN #'s??? Or take pics of them???

Funny you mention that. We're in California and the Bronco came from Colorado. Back when it was still in its original condition someone had wire wheeled the VIN on the passenger side of the frame ahead of the firewall. We had the VIN verified and got a CA title then proceeded to strip and repaint the frame. About the time we bolted the engine in I thought to myself that we should have probably made the VIN readable but we didn't. I honestly don't imagine that my wife is ever going to sell her Bronco so is probably ok that the VIN is covered up. If I ready had to, I could get in there and expose it again but I'd really rather not have to try and get through that chassis paint.

Pops68 · Jan 16, 2019

For me when I sold mine, it was a real PITA to find it and expose it to verify that it matched the title (and glove box warranty tag). If it is still easily accessible I would at least try to get some pics. Remove the chassis paint over the number only and clear coat???

PS: I didn't plan on selling mine either when I first got it!

NATEandALLI · Jan 16, 2019

Pa PITT said:
THAT'LL Work. I've got no real problem with it being 2wd. I had plans of fixing my 68 as a 2WD for Mimi Joyce but she got old. & lost interest.
SO .. I had planed of, Her's just being a 5.0L & AOD trans. & I was just planning to run no T/C case. But leave the front pumpkin IN PLACE ..
.. BUT mine is still setting as I said Mimi got sick & that was the end of that plan.
..............
....... Yours looks like it's got a good start.

Yeah the original plan was to just leave the Dana 44 in and just not have a front axle or transfer case. I half jokingly said to my father-in-law that it'd be cool to make it a full tube axle with no center section and he thought about it for a second and then said 'yeah, we can do that' and it kinda just went from there. I wouldn't have cut up a D44 but the D30 we got for free was very, very blown up inside. The carrier had sheared off from the ring gear! I don't even know how that can happen!

By far the biggest near show stopper for us was the upper u-joint in the drive shaft. It totally didn't dawn on me that the stock setup has double cardan joints for a very specific reason. It thought a regular joint would work until I realize how extreme the driveshaft angle was going to be. Then I thought oh I'll just find a double cardan slip joint for a C4/AOD to which I then learned that no such thing exists! I honestly thought that was the end of the project.

We worked with a local driveshaft shop and they said we could take a regular slip yoke and mate it with a CV yoke and that if we did the machine work and welding, that they could then make us a new driveshaft. We lucked out because my brother is a bad ass machinist and my FIL is a retired welding teacher. My brother used a wire cut EDM to take the splines out of the CV yoke. It cut the splines out perfectly and they all came out like a thin tube with splines inside. He machined the ears off the slip yoke so the two pieces went together perfectly.

My FIL drilled four holes on the side of the CV yoke and then welded the two pieces together with four big plug welds. Apparently a perimeter weld is not suggested for whatever reason and the four big plug welds are good enough.

When we were done, we had a very custom double cardan slip yoke driveshaft and so far, it's totally vibration free.

crab · Jan 16, 2019

All my buddy’s say “you need a 60 in the front of that thing!” Well, the only time I put it in 4wd is pulling somebody out which ends up breaking s#!+. So, maybe you’re on to somethin. Less tire wear, more hp, better fuel economy...

Kidding aside.......awesome work. Perhaps you need to drop your pitman and raise your draglink? I would imagine there is a bit of bumpsteerar at that angle? Also, make sure the connections are tight. It’s amazing that a slightly worn track bar bushing can cause so much grief, so make sure they are new. Also make sure the ps box is tight and the frame isn’t cracked at the box. Been there. By the looks of things and your support team, you probably have it dialed in by now. Nice work!

Alli's 2wd '73 Bronco - you'll hate it

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