RJ's B2 Build

[rpenner54]

What are those flares for?

 

[R.J.]

What are those flares for?

They're early bronco flares. For 66-77 Broncos.

 

[Spudhut]

looks suprisingly good! great work - I Like!

 

[R.J.]

looks suprisingly good! great work - I Like!

Thanks! I like it too

 

[roscoe 0202]

good luck with chemo i'm there too no fun.
roscoe

 

[R.J.]

Speaking of no fun, my day did not go as planned.

I took the Eaton Detroit locker out of my other rig, planning to put it in the b2, and found its half way broken. Most of the bolts on the end are broken off, and found the heads of some of them in the diff.

 

[rpenner54]

Very nice! I will have to check those out. Are the bolts/screws included with them?

 

[R.J.]

Very nice! I will have to check those out. Are the bolts/screws included with them?

Yes they are. They're just self tapping screws. It also comes with welting, but I didn't use it. The wild horses flares are similar to the bushwacker cut out flares for broncos, but the wild horses flares are supposed to be really durable.

 

[Stic-o]

So now the Navajo needs a new gear set too?

 

[R.J.]

So now the Navajo needs a new gear set too?

The gears are fine. I'm hoping to fix the carrier and that everything will be good. I dropped the locker off at a diff shop to see if they can fix it.

 

[R.J.]

Replaced the leaky shock today. I don't have the budget for anything fancy, but I was able to find this rancho rs5000 on sale on Amazon for $14.

With the shocks on, fenders trimmed, and bump stops on I plan to test it out this Saturday in Azusa canyon (hopefully won't hydrolock it) and make sure everything's working together right. I still need to reposition the lower shock mount a little. The shock is sitting in it at a weird angle.

 

[R.J.]

Took the little bronco out to test it and check how everything is working out in the dirt before the truckhaven trip.

Had a lot of fun, everything is working great on the truck. It's still open diffs for right now. Hopefully get that locker fixed soon. The shocks are too soft for my liking, and there's a loud banging noise from under the car on certain bumps. Can't for the life of me figure it out. It might the shackles hitting against the hangers. Not sure.

Only thing I ran into today was popping the drivers side coil spring out. But we easily jacked up the car and got it back in position. Other than that, everything is working good.

 

[R.J.]

Finally fished out the bolts from my locker. Had it over at my gear shop and he checked it out to make sure it was all in good shape before I started to work on it. He said everything was good other than the broken bolts. So with a punch, a hammer, drill bits, butane torch (for the lock Tite) and some bolt extractors I got all four out. Then started the install and it took way longer than I planned for. I thought it would bolt right in with the old shim setup. Nope. Had to re-shim it and set the carrier preload and backlash. But it's all together now. Ready for truckhaven this weekend.

 

[R.J.]

Had a really good weekend out in truckhaven. The bronco did really well both on the trails and on the drive there and back.

Had plenty of traction with the rear locker, the short overhangs and small wheelbase kept me from scraping on anything. And nothing broke. That's a good trip.

 

[R.J.]

There's a small list of things I still need to get done one the bronco, but one thing that showed up during this trip is that I need to do something about my cut fenders, because when the suspension flexes and stuff the tire, the outer edge of my tire is being chewed up.

And one of the best mods you can do...

 

[stephen93Eddie]

There's a small list of things I still need to get done one the bronco, but one thing that showed up during this trip is that I need to do something about my cut fenders, because when the suspension flexes and stuff the tire, the outer edge of my tire is being chewed up.

View attachment 154136

View attachment 154137

And one of the best mods you can do...

View attachment 154138

where did you get that awesome decal?

 

[R.J.]

where did you get that awesome decal?

From Rick. The explorer forum founder.

 

[R.J.]

I picked up an unused super lift superrunner steering kit from another member on here. I want to make it work on my setup, but from the measurements I took, I probably need an inch or two more lift to get the geometry right. Which is fine with me. I just don't want to go over 4" of lift. Right now my steering isn't too bad with only 2" of lift and a drop pitman.

 

[R.J.]

The shocks on my car were not to my taste. The car was to bouncy. Fortunately when I was talking to a friend about it, he said he had some rancho 9000's I could have if they fit. And they did!

That helped control the front, but the rear was still very "springy". So keeping with the penny pincher theme of this build, I had some super old rancho adjustable shocks in my garage that were stem mount on one side. So somewhere between genius and insanity I converted them to an eye to eye mounted shock. With some cutting and welding.

And a little bit of spray paint to make them look new.

 

[mounty71]

Taking penny pinching to whole new level haha. So are you not using that rear bumper anymore? I have another friend who might be interested in it if not.