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Bronco II Straight Axle Conversion Details and Photos

I know what bumps you are talking about :)
I am not stuck, no way no how, the 96 Explorer I have as my daily makes short work of these snow packed roads, and dont make me get the BII out! hahaha I do plan to leave work in about an hour and go home though, so I can do more work hahaha

I have a fair amount of $$$ in my TTB and it still has some downfalls but with 14"+ of ttb travel with minimal bump steer, front and rear ARB's, 35's and 4 wheel discs sitting on only 4.5" of suspension lift there are not many spots this BII wont go....so I am actually building another TTB for it, an imprioved version of the beams I run now and built yeaers ago with Brett.

I look forward to wheeling with ya James! I figured you guys were still doing your thing up there in Evergreen, I see straight looking freshly painted, well running BII's up here all the time and I swear I can pick them out as Marcy's Auto specials, making new owners very happy with a great deal!
You still re-do BII's?

I am brand newish to the Jeep stuff, so I am learning, we plan to get started first of the year with a new engine and trans. I just need to learn what years will interchange with fuel systems and computers, etc, last thing I need to do is get in over my head and end up stuffing a 318 and converting it to OBD-II


Nope, I don't mess with BII's anymore, not enough profit margin, most aren't worth more than $1500. I've had about 55 of them and they still hold a special place for me, I started wheeling in an '85. As far as Jeeps, ask me anything, I get stuff the dealers can't fix. I can help you with what you need to know as far as swaps. The cool thing about XJ's is that both auto and 5 speed are Toyota units, basicly bullet proof. The 4.0's are good for 400K if properly taken care of. Throw a 44 or 8.8 in the rear, and good lift and you'll rule. The D30 works good because of the same wheel lug spacing, and it can handle 35's with a V8 easily. The extra width is a pain but we got around that, no big deal. With a bigger lift it wouldn't be an issue. By the way here's a link to the guys I wheel with, good folks and we do a lot of camping as well with our wheelin. http://www.calvaryefree.org/4wheel/4wheel.htm Here's my ride these days.
http://www.calvaryefree.org/4wheel/06KellyFlats/pages/06C4W_KellyFlats_0159.htm http://www.calvaryefree.org/4wheel/06KellyFlats/pages/06C4W_KellyFlats_0153_0408.htm My son however has had this BII since he was 12, I doubt he'll ever part with it. It's been a great father/son project and is now something he really looks forward to when he's home on leave.
 



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i COULD MAKE THAT CLIMB LETS GO! HAHAHA
James once I get my ducks in a row with this Heep project I may pick your brain a bit, I will call the shop or contact you online, good hearing from you again for sure :)

You are right BII's with a 2.9L, dana 28 and 7.5 will never be worth more then $1200-1500 at the most anymore, and thats just about the truth to what they are worth, sadly...but when I look at them I just see potential, kind of like beer goggles :p
 






BII worth

i COULD MAKE THAT CLIMB LETS GO! HAHAHA
James once I get my ducks in a row with this Heep project I may pick your brain a bit, I will call the shop or contact you online, good hearing from you again for sure :)

You are right BII's with a 2.9L, dana 28 and 7.5 will never be worth more then $1200-1500 at the most anymore, and thats just about the truth to what they are worth, sadly...but when I look at them I just see potential, kind of like beer goggles :p

Actually with BII value down, that's not that bad. Finally there is something for newbies to build that doesn't take much to wheel. Think about it, add a lockright to the back, remove the sway bar in back, make some kind of sway bar disconnect for the front and run some 30's. Then go have a pile of fun! I remember getting around anywhere I wanted and have great family memories in a BII. All mine had was a hot 2.8 and I had a LSD in the rear. Those were the days. Sometimes I think having a rig that can go anywhere isn't as much fun as we had back then trying to get those BII's to go places.
 






thats how I got here, 12 years later, with my BII. I hated the idea of getting that stupid little truck, but it was a hand me down and I needed a car. I remember thinking how ugly I thought my brothers truck was, then after driving it for 2 weeks I was absolutely in love, so much fun to drive!!
I used to beat her up then even more then I do now, jumping and thrashing around, now I am more careful because I have turned every bolt, most of them several time....
 






I stickied this thread

James I think I saw another one of your BII's this am, black with a red pin stripe? hahaha
 






Great!

I stickied this thread



Thank you, I am honored. By the way I just bought an '89 for $500. I'll probably fix it and sell it but there is that thought.....
Just thought I'd mention that Daniel's ship is on a 96 hour "ready to sail", all leave from here to April has been denied. He had hoped to come out in the spring to do the Tera-flex front leaves but looks like that will have to wait till next fall. My friends in the Army tell me of things going on too, hope something bad isn't on the horizon. Daniel is on an assault carrier that carries 1800 Marines, you know what that means. As soon as I can I'll get the BII out for some trail pics, and do a writeup on the springover that we did.
 






long awaited pics!

Ok, here are the long awaited pics of the springover we did. I don't have detailed pics as to the modifications I did to things like the spring plate, or the shock mounts that I moved over. I'll try to get unser it and take some pics soon. For now here's the short of it with us going fro the traditional Wrangler spring under with Rubicon Express 4" leaves, to the spring over with stock Wrangler springs. Here's a pic before http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/familypics005.jpg I used a kit from Rocky Road outfitteres in Utah, he has a kit the Wrangler and will sell the parts needed for doing just the front axle. Here is the kit installed, it doesn't require welding as the new spring perches sit on top of the axle and bottom out on top of the old springunder perches. Here I'm doing a little grinding to get the new perch seated fully, it needed just a little. http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/familypics008.jpg Here is the finished front with everything bolted together, as you can see the springs are now much more out of harms way. http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/familypics010.jpg also you'll note that the bottom spring plate is actually a skid plate. We originaly wanted to install Teraflex's new fiberglass leafs, but they sent the longer versionj designed for a softer ride. We got the correct standard length too late, but here is a pic of them, http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/familypics007.jpg They will be installed when Daniel comes back on leave from Iraq in the fall of '07. You wanted flex pic, well here they are! I think the effort was well worth it. As a side note the Detroit Truetrac was swapped out in front for a Powertrax No-slip, the same as is in the rear axle. This flex machine really gets the stares! http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/100_0047.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/100_0036.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/100_0110.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/100_0068.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/100_0051.jpg And here is a comparison pic next to my other son Jon's '88 4" lifted XJ http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/familypics023.jpg
 






My friend Joel pointed this out to me as i have a D30 with the hub conversion and a minty ARB waiting to go into my B2 and i have been trying to figure uot the radius arms and what coils to use but after reading this I do beleive I will use this thanks very much excellent info
 






D30 update!

After some trail use I thought I'd make a little modification. It seems that we had too much up travel and the front tires were trying to occupy the same time and space as the fenders, not good. Being that sometimes the simplest solution is often the best, I looked around the shop to see what I could make some bump stops out of. I came up with a pair of front bump stops and mounting cups from a Jeep Cherokee (this thing is gradualy turning more and more into a Jeep!) Here is the pic of the mount welded on to the BII spring/shock mount http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/jamespics001.jpg Here is a pic of the bumper installed, very simple and works well. http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/jamespics006.jpg I thought I'd give more insight into what I did for the springover. The kit came from Rocky Road Offroad in Utah. they don't provide a mount that allows the use of the Wrangler sway bar disconnects, so I cut the mount from the original Wrangler spring plate, and welded it into the new one from Rocky Road. http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/jamespics005.jpg Here is another veiw, http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/jamespics004.jpg
One more modification I made was to cut the shock mount and move it outboard, here is a closeup of the mount, http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/jamespics003.jpg I had to do this because under full flex the shock tube would hit the spring. Here is a pic of the springover completed, http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/cherokeenut/jamespics002.jpg it's gone through a few trails and the heavy BII with Duff bumper and winch is weighing heavy on the stock YJ 5 leaf springs. Soon I hope to modify the spring mounts so that the Teraflex fiberglass front springs can be install and I can get 2" back into the front.
 






1800 Marines in one place means bad news for the enemy! I've been on one of those assault ships but let me tell you, as a Marine, our place is on the ground!
 






1800 Marines in one place means bad news for the enemy! I've been on one of those assault ships but let me tell you, as a Marine, our place is on the ground!

I saw the pics of the Marines being dropped in Kuwait (2200 by the way, not 1800 as I'd thought), it gave me a closer sense of what they had to do. Seeing there faces caused me to think of them more as "my" Marines, being that they are from my son's ship. I keep them in my prayers more so and hope they all return safe, I understand one has been lost but don't have the details as to what happened. I miss my son and can't wait to see that ship home soon! Thank you so very much for your service and your sacrifice to keep my family safe.
 






Hi I would like any info you can give as after blowing out 3 axles I want to convert to a solid axle.
Thanks
 






Hi I would like any info you can give as after blowing out 3 axles I want to convert to a solid axle.
Thanks

Um, what do you need to know that is not in the previous post?
 






Um, what do you need to know that is not in the previous post?

I'm sorry. I am very new to this internet information thing, I have seen your pics of your mods it looks great. My brother and I have a '90 and a '88 that we are doing on the cheap, thanks for your help I will be sure to visit your pics often for help.
 






I'm sorry. I am very new to this internet information thing, I have seen your pics of your mods it looks great. My brother and I have a '90 and a '88 that we are doing on the cheap, thanks for your help I will be sure to visit your pics often for help.

Sounds great! If I can be of any help please ask.
 






Thought I'd give an update on a change we did. The OE Wrangler springs were taking a beating, and starting to sag under the heavier BII's front end. With the instalation of the Teraflex fiber leaves probably a year off, I took the main and secondary leaves from a donor set of factory YJ springs. I cut the eyes off the main leaf so that it will support the original main leaf under the eye. Then I put in a secondary leaf, triming the plastic retaining button of the original secondary leaf slider. This makes sure the leaf can slid well and not rest on the button. Now with 7 leaves in front instead of 5 the BII has a nice controlled movement on bumps. Before it felt firm in the rear with the Explorer leaves, but way to soft in front with the Wrangler springs. Steering is a bit crisper too and flex hasn't been hurt in the slightest. We'll be wheeling it next weekend and I'll see if the new spring pack retains it's height or if it begins to sag again. The true answer is the Teraflex leaves but that's for sometime in the future.
 












Availability, wheel lug-pattern compatibility... its been discussed :D
 






Would you mind if I attached your photos to the thread so they will always be there?

Hmm, this never happened! ;)

Jamie, maybe as the Moderator, you could do this? :thumbsup:
 



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Yea and i think some of the photos are gone now too :(
 






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