Ford Bronco II ?? OT

[55 Fargo]

Hey all, a few months ago My Wifes oldest Son brought home an old 1984 Bronco II 4WD.

Some kid from school gave it to him, it is rusty, and well worn, infact they broke the rear drive shaft at the rear yolk, but the diff and transfer case, u-joint mounts look fine.

The vehicle still drives with just front diff operation.

Today I started it, little V6, seems to run not bad, starts easy, not sure what shape the transfer case, and diffs, are in, as I am no 4wd drive Guy

It shifts fine, the transfer case shift works okay, goes into 4H,4L,2H, with no obvious noises or problems.

I am thinking of buying it off the Kid, as nobody has been interested in it.

My plan is to repair the driveshaft, get all the drive gear in shape, and then just use it as a snow plow, and bush/field truck.

I do not have a snow blade for it, but will look for 1 if I decide to acquire this truck.

Does anyone know if finding a driveshaft would be very difficult for this unit?

What should I look for or consider, before trying to fix this old beater up for a snow plow?

Everything seems to work on it, lights, blower moter,wipers,etc, it really starts and runs nicely, but will need some repairs to get her in shape.

I would not be registering this vehiclle for road use, only at home.

I am thinking it should have enough torque and jamb to move snow.

So if anyone has any experience with these vehicles, please share............Fred

[JoelOkie]

I don't think it will be hard to find parts, Fred. I bought a new one in (I think) 1983, and drove it hard for about 150K on dirt and gravel, and it held up good. Joel

[Merle Coggins]

There were a million of those running around in the 80's and 90's. It shouldn't be too difficult to find parts. I'm thinking it might be kind of light for a plow truck unless you use a plow like the SnowWay that has a plexi moldbord and poly edge. http://www.snoway.com/index.cfm/act/plow/s/33 They're lighter and made for smaller SUVs, and as long as you're not doing production work it should work well.

Merle

[JerseyHarold]

I sold new Fords back then and these were very popular vehicles. Parts should not be a problem. Meyers made a snow plow kit for them. I sold a BII to a school custodian and had to have one installed for him.

[greg g]

Fred those v6 are the "cologn" engine, not because of their smell but because they were developed in Cologne Germany. Were most prominently used in the Mercury Capri which was originaly made in Germany. The engine is basicaly the early 2.7 carbed, later 2.9 Fuel injected unit. Not a lot of power but pretty dependable. Fatal problem is overheating. It doesn't take a lot of heat for them to start cracking cylinder heads between the valves. Then you very quickly get coolant contaminated oil and spoiled bearings. If it show no signs of having been Overheated you probably have a good though marginally powerful engine.

Drive shaft should be an easy fix either from the junkyard, or parts sources. Around here they were prone to frame rust well sub frame and unitbody structure. So check the suspension mout areas and where it might be likely a plow frame would attach.

They were of the small SUV's Blazer Jimmy, original cherokee, the least off road friendly design, pretty light duty build. but for your intended purposes sounds like it might work.

Sounds like a cheap fix.

[55 Fargo]

Thanx everyone for the replies, I just got my interent server available again, it was down for maintenance this AM.

Greg, this thing looks like a full frame vehicle, is it really uni-body?

It seems to run fine, not sure if was ever overheated or not.

I want to push snow on my country home driveway only, I have sued a 4 wheel drive quad a few times from neighbour, and was amzed how much snow it could knock down, this little unit should be able to do better. When we get snow storms, we usually can get 3 foot drifts here and there, and the susual on my driveway is about 18 inches deep snow.

Out in other areas, I have seen 4 to 5 foot drifts but not my driveway, I only wish to use it on there anyway.........Fred

[greg g]

My bother in law had one (maybe a later one that I thought was a unibody maybe with subframes but I have been wrong before. I know my cherokee wa unibody though ford followed souit withthe small one.

Edited May 16, 2010 by greg g

[55 Fargo]

Hi Greg, it has a frame, that runs from back to front cowl, then subframe for front diff somehow, not sure if my technical lingo is correct.

Hre are 3 pics of the old beast, really a shame fora nice little vehicle to be so deterioated.

This will be a yard workewr only, and a little off-road stuff around my property.

The air breather is in the Bronco, all fluid levels seem good, very dirty engine area, and messed up with extra wiries for a sound system at one time. The Wife's kid spray painted it with rubberized rocker guard.

I will clean it up and getting it mechanically sound for snow pushing, if it is not going to be huge dollars.....