this years fall project

[LittleHorse]

I'm saving up for a motorcycle and came across this thing that I felt would give me a good boost.

Guy from work bought it maybe 6 months ago. Drove it around a little but started having transmission trouble - it would drive fine for a while and then start losing ATF out of the bellhousing, until it lost forward gears due to low fluid. After sitting, he could top it off and drive it until it happened again.

Then he rear ended somebody, drove it a little more until the transmission did the same thing and then he parked it and offered to sell it to me for VERY cheap.

So I bought the thing a week ago Friday, but just got around today to bringing it home.

Here it is, still where it last broke down.

Close-up of the carnage.

I had to put 7 qts of transmission fluid into it before it had enough for forward gears. It might have only taken 5 or 6 but 1-2 qts poured out of the bellhousing in the time I was adding. It left a trail of ATF the entire 4 blocks to my house, and lost forward gears again just as I was pulling into my driveway and had to be pushed the last 12 feet.

First thing I did was clean out all the trash the guy had left in it. Then I cannibalized some parts that I needed for mine - the A/C fan speed knob, the plastic trim around the passenger inside door handle, and the driver door dome light switch. I will also be swapping driveshafts because this one has real U-joints and mine has CV type joints. So, one less thing I'll have to mess with when I do get around to lifting mine.

Then I pulled off the front bumper and the left fender. I flattened and hammered it out a bit just to see whether it would be acceptable to put back on rather than replace. With my intention for this truck, I'm ok with this, as long as I can get the door to open and close correctly once it's back on.

The bumper was too solid for me to bend by hand, so I may just leave it off, or bolt it back on and pull it out with a come-a-long against a tree.

The roof as a good bit of surface rust...I'm thinking I might sand it down and spray paint it white. It should go pretty well with the tan and the drip rails provide a good spot for a transition to mimic the removable top look.

The hood isn't lining up exactly...and that's even after a few minor tweaks. The latch and release do still function correctly.

The biggest challenge I have yet to deal with is the inner fender and core support. They are both pretty ****ed up, and the metal is heavier gauge than the outer fender so it's not as easy to reshape. There's not much room to get a hammer behind it so I may have to get a slide hammer after it.

So, my goal here is pretty simple - get the transmission working again (get it driveable), and do just enough bodywork that someone in the market for a sub $1500 car wouldn't be bothered by it. Basically that the bumper doesn't keep the thing from turning right, and the headlight is pointed in the right direction. Should be interesting.

 

[country0001]

Ya outta just scavenge the parts u need and send the rest to me and I'll turn it into a twinkie of my BII( except do a SAS on it) LOL

 

[LittleHorse]

hmmm...what would it be worth to you?

 

[trail B2]

I to had this tranny problem would have pulled my hair out if I had any.I think when you pull the tranny out you will find the pump seal pushed out.Sometimes it rolls the lip of the seal out so you can put more fluid in after it quits leaking because it rolls back but sometimes it pushes the whole seal out and you have to take out the tranny and put a new seal in.Mine had a inline filter put in the tranny cooling system that had plugged up causing back pressure behind the seal and forcing it to leak under certain driving conditions so give that cooling system a good to check over.This was a hard diagnosis for me to figure out because it takes less resistance than you think.

 

[country0001]

really I'm not sure. Just depends on what all u take off.

 

[LittleHorse]

I to had this tranny problem would have pulled my hair out if I had any.I think when you pull the tranny out you will find the pump seal pushed out.Sometimes it rolls the lip of the seal out so you can put more fluid in after it quits leaking because it rolls back but sometimes it pushes the whole seal out and you have to take out the tranny and put a new seal in.Mine had a inline filter put in the tranny cooling system that had plugged up causing back pressure behind the seal and forcing it to leak under certain driving conditions so give that cooling system a good to check over.This was a hard diagnosis for me to figure out because it takes less resistance than you think.

Interesting. I'll definitely check out the tranny cooler and associated hoses.

So far I'd assumed it had to be the front seal, and I was hesitant to just pull it out and replace it for fear that there might be an underlying cause for why it failed. Are there any other reasons you can think of that would cause this? I'm a total n00b on the auto transmission scene, I've only worked on manuals.

really I'm not sure. Just depends on what all u take off.

I'm probably about done stealing parts off of it. I didn't buy it for parts, I just found some little odds and ends that mine was missing so I took them off. The blower speed knob, the passenger interior door handle trim, and dome light switch are all I've taken off, and the driveshaft I'm just trading so it will still have one. Other than that I've traded some parts for diagnosis purposes because the engine runs a lot smoother than mine, but it's all been swapped back when I eliminated that part as a potential source of the problem.

Since I bought it just to resell, I don't really have any other intentions than just maximizing my return-on-investment. If I fix the transmission just to get enough money out of it to break even on the money I spent to fix it, then I might as well have sold it as-is. In running condition I figured I'd try to get $1200 for it, obviously what it would be worth without a transmission depends on whether the buyer has the resources to do the work themselves or has to pay someone to do it for them, or in some cases makes no difference if they're planning on swapping the whole drivetrain anyway.

 

[country0001]

For what I want, the engine and tranny is not needed. Hopefully u can fix it relatively cheap and get rid of it while making a profit. Good luck with it.

 

[LittleHorse]

omg, this is amazing...

so yeah, this "fall project" has turned more into a winter project because I've been busy with other stuff.

I finally got out there today to start taking stuff apart, and was going for the inspection cover, hoping to tell whether the fluid was coming from the front seal, tq converter,etc. Inspection cover is held on by a VERY tight phillips head screw, can't get to it due to oil pan, and can't get vice grips on it because it's a pan head screw. I notice the bell housing isn't particularly wet, and that most of the fluid is on the passenger side of the transmission.

So, I decide, hell, I'm just gonna start it up and see for sure whether its coming from the bellhousing.

It's not. It's coming from one of the transmission cooler lines, where a rubber hose is clamped on to a metal line.

A guy practically gave me a Bronco II over a $1 rubber hose.

I just had to post this 'cause I'm feeling really good about it. I had been down in the dumps about work and life in general and all of a sudden in just two weeks I get a 12% pay increase, a Christmas bonus equal to 8% of my annual salary, and now the repairs I need for this Bronco got whittled down to a less than 1' long piece of rubber hose.

 

[trail B2]

Glad to see good things happening to you! The world has been kicking my but lately too but I know better times are ahead.Now you will smile every time you think of this.

 

[94gexplorer]

what did you do to fix the hose just tighten it? i cut my cooler lines when i replaced the tranny and i cant seem to get the hose clamps tight enough

 

[LittleHorse]

what did you do to fix the hose just tighten it? i cut my cooler lines when i replaced the tranny and i cant seem to get the hose clamps tight enough

I didn't fix it yet, I was just poking around this afternoon and had stuff going on tonight that I didn't want to have to shower for after getting covered head to toe in ATF.

My plan is just to replace the hose. It's not more than a 1 foot section or so, I'll just take it off, put a new hose on and clamp it, and see what happens. I'm crossing my fingers that the line has the barb flare in it for the clamp to hold on to, if it's just straight that's gonna make it hard to get a seal. I'll also be replacing the other line and blowing through the cooler while the lines are off to make sure it's not clogged.

Then I'll be finishing up the inner fender and putting a for sale sign on that SOB. I've got parts to buy for my "main" BII.

 

[country0001]

Aint it cool when u find deals like that. I got mine for a thosand bucks and there wasn't much wrong w it. My ranger, someone asked me to haul it off, I was going to pirate some parts, but decided to try and start it first. Long story short, it ran, had to get a title, seats, wheels and tires for it. Got a good running truck w a 4.0 for 350 bucks.

 

[LittleHorse]

thats the way to do it. Both of my BII's were purchased for a combined $900. The 89 is the one with the leaky hose, the 90 I got with a grenaded clutch and an M5OD meltdown. Didn't really keep track, but after all the repairs and upgrades I'm still coming in under $1400 for both of them.