1994 Ford Bronco Build

I sold one of the D50 spindles, one of my original rims, and an extra seat track I had on eBay. I used that money to buy a set of Ford Racing 4.10 gears for the rear axle. I've got a birthday coming up in about 2 months. I'm going to tell the wife to not get me anything; instead, just let me get the axle rebuilt. We'll see how that goes.

I also installed the LEDs in the instrument cluster and the HVAC controls. They look really good! I still have to get the dash put back together though. I'm waiting for a wiring harness for that new switch to get delivered.

For the past few weeks I've been going back and forth on whether to install a receiver hitch on the Bronco or not. I thought it might be handy to have, because I might buy a utility trailer in a few years, and I can use it to pull stuck vehicles out of ditches and snow banks (I just bought a recovery strap and used it a few times already with my Ranger), and other random uses. I installed a receiver hitch on my Ranger a few years ago for those reasons. But since I have the Ranger for those duties, I was debating whether it would be necessary for the Bronco to have one too.

Well, last night I made up my mind and I'm definitely installing one on the Bronco. My father in law got his Nissan Pathfinder stuck in the snow behind the house, so I tried to pull him out with the Ranger, and ended up getting stuck too. I had to get the Bronco out, hooked the strap up to the bumper, and pulled the Ranger out. After some rocking, the Pathfinder got out on its own. I know hooking a strap to the bumper is not ideal, and I've heard of people bending and damaging it doing things like that. (On the other hand, the bumper supposedly has a 3k pound towing capacity, so I thought it would probably be OK. And I was right, although I wouldn't make a habit of it). Hence why I want to get a receiver hitch.

So I just ordered a Curt Class III hitch. 6k pound capacity, 600 lb tongue weight. I'm going to install it when I eventually replace my gas tank, since I have to drop the tank to access the bolts anyway. The gas tank replacement will hopefully be coming soon, which is why I've also been thinking about the hitch lately. I knew the time to install it would be when I'm doing the tank.

My Ranger getting stuck made me really miss my limited slip rear. The Ranger originally had a Trac Lock in back, but the pinion bearings went bad, so I swapped in a junkyard axle. All the junkyards around here didn't have a limited slip axle, so I was forced to "downgrade" to an open diff. I can't help but wonder if I wouldn't have gotten stuck if I still had the limited slip. I still have my original axle, so I'm going to eventually get it rebuilt, and once again have a limited slip. And I think I might upgrade to a Detroit TrueTrac.

So, THAT got some more gears turning in my head (no pun intended) and I got to thinking about traction aides for the Bronco. As I said, the rear axle rebuild is coming soon, so now's the time to install a limited slip if I'm gonna do it. I'm thinking a Trac-Lock would be a good, cheap upgrade for it. This truck already gets great traction in snow; much better than the Ranger. So any traction aide is probably not that necessary, but you never know when you'll need it. So I don't think I can justify a more expensive limited slip like a TrueTrac, and certainly not a selectable locker like an ARB. And since this truck will not be driven off-road, mechanical lockers are out of the question. I don't want their clunky operation on the road, especially since I don't need it that bad, as I said.

It sucks that I can't take the limited slip carrier out of my old Ranger (28 spline) axle and use it for the Bronco (31 spline). I'll be selling the old carriers out of both axles when this is all done to recoup some money.

Speaking of money, I just sold another Dana 50 spindle today! I might have to scrap the rest of the Dana 50 stuff; the rest of these parts are proving to be difficult to unload...

Whew, that was a long-winded post. I wish I could do more wrenching and less typing, but this weather SUCKS for wrenching, and I have no garage to work in. Spring cannot come fast enough.

More pics coming soon...

I finally got most of the dash put back together. I have that toggle switch installed and almost completely wired up. I'm going to start getting the wiring in place for the amp I will eventually install, since I already have the wiring. I need to hold off on the bigger projects (gas tank replacement, axle rebuild, etc) for now and wait until I have some vacation time and some more money available. For now, I'm getting some little projects done.

So here's the plan with the amp: I want to eventually add a subwoofer, and this amp will power it. I'm going to keep the speakers running off the head unit. This will be a pretty modest system, but it will (IMO) sound great. I want to be able to utilize this truck's large cargo area, so I want to mount the amp in a place where it will not get in the way of hauling big, bulky items, and I don't want to drill holes in any interior panels. So the only good spot I found is on the floor right under the dash, on the transmission tunnel. Nobody will step on it there, I don't put anything else on that area of the floor, and it's basically dead space.

Now, for the subwoofer, there's basically no place I can put it where it's not going to take up cargo space. So the plan is to just toss a box in the rear cargo area and not bolt it down or anything. If I need to carry something big and bulky and the box gets in the way, I can just disconnect the speaker wire and lift it out.

If I remove the sub box, I don't want the amp to turn on at all. That's because the speaker wire will just be hanging loose back there, not connected to anything, and if the positive and negative wires touch each other, or touch a ground, it can damage the amp. That's where that new switch I installed in the dash comes in. Under most circumstances (when I have the sub in the truck) the switch stays on and I never have to touch it. The switch is hooked up to the head unit's remote turn-on lead, so when the switch is "on," the amp turns on and off automatically with the head unit. If I turn the switch "off," the amp stays turned off no matter what, even if the head unit is on. So if I remove the sub box for whatever reason, I turn the switch off and leave it off until I put the box back in.

I already installed an RCA cable when I installed the head unit, and it's currently dangling under the dash, ready to connect to the amp. The remote turn on lead comes from the switch and is also dangling under the dash, ready to connect.

The power and ground cables are currently installed in my Honda Accord. I'm going to eventually upgrade to a bigger amp and sub in the Accord, so I'm also upgrading to a larger power and ground cable in that car. I'm going to take the power and ground cables that are in there right now and install them in the Bronco. I already bought the bigger wires several months ago and I'm finally getting around to installing them. So as soon as I have the upgraded wiring installed in the Accord, I can start installing the power and ground wires in the Bronco.

Also, when I upgrade the amp and sub in the Accord, I'll be taking the old amp and sub and put those in the Bronco. It's an MB Quart RWC-254 10" DVC 250w RMS sub in a sealed box, and a Kenwood KAC-6104D 300W RMS mono sub amp.

I got the upgraded amp cables installed in the Accord yesterday. Now I can start installing the "old" cables in the Bronco. I also sold most of my Dana 50 parts. The only things I still have are the driver's side knuckle and the axle beams. I think I can sell the knuckle but I will most likely end up scrapping the beams.

exbass94 said:

Also, when I upgrade the amp and sub in the Accord, I'll be taking the old amp and sub and put those in the Bronco. It's an MB Quart RWC-254 10" DVC 250w RMS sub in a sealed box, and a Kenwood KAC-6104D 300W RMS mono sub amp.

Click to expand...

Slight change of plans on the amp...I was driving the Accord to work yesterday when all of a sudden my sub stops working. It also didn't work at all on the way home, and I could smell a "burnt electronics" smell. I did some diagnosing when I got home, and came to the conclusion that my amp is dead. I took it apart out of curiosity and found a burned up transistor:



I think I can maybe solder a new one in there and fix it. It's worth a try, I guess. If I can't fix it, I'll get a new amp for the Bronco. Now I need to start shopping for a new amp for the Accord a little sooner than I had planned.