Bronco Stories - wheel passing by

[Johnnyb]

So it's about 1988 and I'm driving east on US highway 50 from Ely Nevada to Great basin national Park. Going about 65 and I hear a loud pop followed by the driver side rear wheel passing me by and the EB settles down on the driver side rear backing plate. Happy to say there was no oncoming traffic because it was a bit of a handful and when I finally brought it to a stop, I was in the middle of highway 50 right on the dotted line.
There was no diagnosis required, the rear axle had split right outside the wheel bearing, and the tire along with the brake drum had gone about a half mile into the countryside on the north side of highway 50.
I had to put it in four-wheel drive to pull it off the highway but got it safely parked on the shoulder and retrieved my tire after some searching.
As luck would have it an empty tow truck passed me by some hours later, and after some explaining that he was not supposed to pick up a stranded vehicle (something about taking advantage of people on the roadside) he agreed to tow me back to Ely.
This is actually where the fun starts, I was unaware of any specialty vendors at the time, and the Ford dealer in Ely was not interested in attempting to source a rear axle for an early Bronco.
Many phone calls later, I ended up renting a U-Haul truck and a car trailer, the very same tow truck driver who had got me back to Ely put the EB on to the trailer with a sling, and I transported the entire arrangement back to Tucson to begin the search for a replacement axle.
Once I was at home base, sourcing a rear axle was no trouble, and a trip to the junkyard later for a replacement backing plate and I was back on the road.
The damage to the driver side rear fender survives to this day and I don't really have any intention of fixing it. It's not that bad and it will probably get chewed up by rocks anyway.

Just a small tale from the long time I have owned this vehicle.

-JB

 

[nvrstuk]

Your title for this post and the anticipation of your story... I have to tell you my axle story(ies), multiple axle stories!

Wow, this is soooo fun reading your's and knowing you're ok!

Sept 1986
Mine aren't quite as cool, at least not in the fact that my tire/wheel/drum assembly didn't pass by me on the highway but...

So our family is on a 6 week trip back in the fall of 1984 hauling our little pop up tent trailer down the Pacific Coast thru Wa, OR, CA & into Nevada, NMexico, Utah, Colorado, MT and Idaho... all over right. Camping with the kids in our '68 Bronco which we have to this day.

After already replacing one axle brg on the shores of Lake Mead (more later), we are in Western Colorado looking for a way to get across the State towards Colorado Springs. We'd just cruised thru Ouray, Telluride, Silverton and saw a dotted line on a map and headed East.

We were putting along on a smooth 2 lane dirt track and realized it wasn't a well worn path when we saw a motorhome off to the left. I thought we'd ask for directions to get over the mtns. A lady was panning for gold and we struck up a conversation. She said the guy and his wife would be back real soon and we should ask him. So I said sure we can wait so she was showing the kids how to pan for gold and talking with us.

She asked me if I ever followed car racing and I said "some" and she asked if I'd ever heard of the Unser's, and I said of course! Well, that's who we were waiting for, Bobby Unser. Sure enough a short time later a "dune" buggy pulled up. Well, it wasn't much of a "dune" buggy but it was Porsche powered with pop off removeable panels... yeah, kinda custom.

Anyway, SUPER nice and friendly and gave us directions to get up over the top and told us we'd hit a highway eventually and turn left and go to Gunnison. Said it wouldn't be a quick trip but he looked at us, I told him some of the stuff I do and he said have fun with one more pc of advice. He said you will NOT see the switchback road you need to turn on unless my wife actually looks back out the window for it because it was so steep and narrow. Looking at our tent trailer he said, lucky you extended the tongue on that or else you'd never make the corner.

Anyway off we went and sure enough we missed the cutoff road by about 100ft and had to back up cause you couldn't see it because it was so steep (thought he exaggerated) lol Pretty much half the sheep on this trail were lame because the hills were so steep. Course we're cruising over 10,000 ft already, I'd already put smaller jets in my Holley because of the elevation but you could tell it was running rich.

So we crest the top of Cinnamon Pass at 12,300 ft or close and meet 2 guys on dirt bikes. They said how'd you get here we didn't pass you and I told them we came up from Silverton and they didn't believe us.

Anyway, down the other side we go and I noticed in my mirror that the tire seemed to be sticking out a "little more than it should"! I said hang on and turned the strg wheel to the left quickly and the tire slid back in. I quickly hit the brakes and we slowly stopped. I put the front hubs in and we went down the other side of the 12,000+ ft mountain in 4 wheel drive since you don't have any brakes at all when any of the drums aren't covering the shoes AND you can't shift down because the splines aren't connected to the carrier so it just rotates so no compression braking.

I drove slowly like this for 20 or 50 miles (it took a long time- I'd have to look at the map for distance). Made it to town and stayed at some little campground.

Next morning I pulled axle (already had replaced the brg on the pass side at Lake Mead) and I walked to the Napa store. Kid was working the counter and after a few minutes I talked him into letting me use the shop in the back. Owner wasn't there.

I'm working in the back, axle brg and retainer are off using his press and I am in putting the new one on that I just bought and IN COMES THE OWNER! He was not happy that I was working back in his shop w/o anyone else there. After a few minutes he was fine, let me finish pressing it on and out I walked.

Not as exciting as your story but with my kids in side, trailer behind us, this being the 4th bearing I'd lost in the past few years I was just glad to not be sitting in the middle of the highway like you were!!

I'll never run a 9" in a built 4x4 again.

Here's a couple pics of us on that trip back in '86.

 

[nvrstuk]

I could drive you all bonkers with Bronco adventure stories...

Let's hear a bunch of them!

 

[ared77]

Wow, great stories guys!

 

[lilthom]

I have one to share but it really just exposes my stupidity. My wife's family had a cabin at the Lake of the Ozarks that we went to from KC almost every other weekend during the summer. I had a 72 at the time and had been working on it the week before. I can't even remember what the project was but it required me to take off the bumper and rear hitch. I hauled new cars over the road back then (early 80s) and couldn't get back home in time to go down to the lake with my wife and son. I would hook up my 17' aluminum bass boat when I got back in town and come down later.
Whatever the project had been, I had slid the hitch back in to the frame but never put the bolts in and the bumper was still off. Since I was in a hurry I decided I don't need a bumper for this trip. I backed up to the boat, hooked it up and pulled out of the driveway. I had to go a few blocks before I got on the two lane highway leaving the suburbs. I was through 1st gear and had just brought it down to second gear and gaining some speed when I heard and felt something. As I quickly slowed down I see my boat coming up along side me on my side! The cross member had pulled out, safety chains and all, and it was working like a skid plate keeping the tongue from digging in to the asphalt. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic and it made it all the way to the shoulder on the other side before coming to a stop. When I saw nothing was damaged I quick went back to the garage for the bolts, hooked it all back up and headed off to the lake like nothing ever happened. My son still asks me to tell the story about when my boat passed me on the highway.

 

[gnsteam]

Great stories guys. Love to hear more.

 

[Bajabrewer]

Had a similar situation happen to my friends 78 Bronco - We had just done a front brake job on it and took it for a test ride. We were about a mile from my friends place when the drivers side front dropped to the pavement & the tire took off down the road without us! all we could do was watch & pray that it didn't hit anything........ just as it was going out of sight up a small hill an F350 with a wood bed & a pile of scrap appeared & swerved in the path of the tire bouncing it pretty far into the ditch. As we got out & looked at the damage(minimal) to the Bronco this good old boy came & brought the tire to us. He had a pretty good scuff on his bumper & told us he saw the tire coming & decided to take the hit to save someone else from maybe getting killed. He wouldn't take a dime from us & laughed at the scuff on his bumper saying it added "character" to the front end. We never did figure out why the wheel studs sheered off. We got lucky & walked to a gas station with a wrecker $40 later it was in my friends shop on jack stands. A quick trip in my Bronco to the parts store for a new rotor & wheel studs(remember when they would stock those parts) & we had it fixed up in a couple hours. We did see the guy with the F350 about a month later at a bar & he did let us buy him dinner that night because my friend basically stole his check. Never did have any other problems with the front end on that 78 Bronco.

 

[gnpenning]

Early 80s on the Arizona strip around the Mt Trumbull area. 1/2 pickup with a bunch of people in the back and 4 in the front. Driving along through the old whoops they had a and the engine rev'd with no speed. A quick look out the passenger window showed the passenger axle coming out. Luckily we weren't going fast and coasted to a stop. While some were jacking it up and pulling the axle the rest had been sent to look for some fencing wire or something similar. A short piece was eventually found. Harder than you would have thought. Got the retainer tapped back in place along with a couple of "tacks" using the battery and we were good to go.

Later heard the truck owner left it that way for almost a year before it happened again.

Lost a fuel pump and alternator at different times on a strip as well. Make shift repairs got us home every time. Might be part of the reason for my love of old technology, road side repairs are possible, if not highly likely.