Yes, I will admit that I was EXTREMELY pissed off at my truck when I posted the thread about my being done with Broncos. The grinding noise when starting was the last straw, I mean I just put $800 worth of Goodyears on it, and new brakes and rotors in the last week, and then it thanks me by doing this (in addition the countless other repairs lately, rear window motor, driveshaft, starter, ps pump, lots more stuff, the list goes on and on). And it still needs valve cover gaskets. Today we put it on a lift and it looks like it is the remanufactured starter hanging up. It has a lifetime warranty so I will change it out tomorrow. I'm sort of in a position that I've spent so much money replacing parts that I can't afford to sell it. Plus it is true that in spite of itself, I like to basic design of the truck. I have an ad in the paper for it for $4,500, I will see if I get any reponses. But if the starter fixes this latest problem, maybe I will keep it.
I don't think that anyone here will argue that if the factory parts are substandard, the remanufactured stuff is unacceptably bad. In the past year, the truck has gotten a defective reman alternator, power steering pump, and now a starter. I'm not looking for super cheap stuff, charge me more and sell me something decent. However my NAPA ps pump was a so-called $85 premium pumb, and it was bad.
However, none of this excuses the personal attacks on my thread. I am entitled to an opinion about a Bronco, after all this is a Bronco thread. Grow up, your identity is (hopefully) more than what you drive. Special note to bronco351: If you are going to insult someone, the word is spelled incompetent, not incompident. And I am not incompetent, I am highly capable of repairing my truck, but that does not mean I want to be repairing it continually and spending all of my money doing it.

 

Hey man, I can understand your frustration. Just remember...if it has t its or wheels its going to give you troubles.

 

I had a ford f250 about two years ago as the miles went up so did the repairs. Dont get me wrong I loved the truck but it was my daily driver and the repairs just got to much. So i sold it(never getting what I had in it) and bought a loaded toyota tacoma 4x4. Now the toyota was dependable never had a problem, your not even suppose to change the plugs untill 60000. Well you would think I would have been happy but I was not. I missed working on my ford and all the performance mods I got to do on a v8. I missed the room and the overall size. My truck had 38 inch super swampers a 6inch lift, headers, catback,performance chip so on. So I sold my toyota and bought another project which is a 96 bronco. Yes it is alot of work but I do enjoy it. I wish I would have kept my f250 but that is the way it goes. Anyway, my point is jbronco, that you just might miss that bronco if you sell it.

 

yo J,

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you'll be ok. You've been a good contributor here and always had advice for other folks.

I capice your sit there; when I had just gotten out of the Naval Hospital in early 71 I had a lot of problems with our only car, a Nove; it rusted out (literally out) after 12 months. The tail lights almost fell out! The trunk was hanging by rust. We had $50.00 left and a baby on the way so the car was like the devil to me. I have a list of things that went wrong with that Nova, all within 24 months, but i'm over that pos now.

I agree with the substandard parts topic in many respects. We've been over-maintaining our 96 Bronco; despite this we lost the radiator. Ford did replace both front rotors though; out of warranty at 60k miles due to "inherent metallurgical defects". We pounded them with letters on that and the radiator. They did refer us back to the rad mfgr, but I gave up on that crew. Now we just blasted & painted the oil pan (besides the rear fender lips this spring).

Anyhowz, this Bronco is now our only vehicle left since our sons absconded witht the 97 F 4x4 and the van. So we intend to adopt it officially soon and keep it well fed and healthy for 6 more years, at least.

be well J!

 

I agree with bronco cam... I bought a 84 bronco w/ 351 last christmas and it has been a total disaster. First the motor started to knock and cry and made me sick so we pulled it, then the machine shope took 4 months to rebuild the damn thing. Remember this is my daily driver. Then it needed new brakes all around, new tierod ends, everything in the engine bay except the master cylinder, booster and alternator has been replaced. Not too mention 300 dollars to fix the stupid back window motor. The list goes on and on just like everyone elses, But heres the point, I bought the truck for 2000. put almost 6000 more into it and she still is rusting and leakingh tranny fluid. But it was my first project, and I learned a ton, more than I could have ever dreamed. And I love her to death, even if she cost me 45 dollars a week in gas .

So screw all those people who yelled at your string, and all those people who told me I was stupid for spendiong so much money on that old of a car. She is like a daughter to me and she gets what she wants.

John

 

Mine's a hobby. Even when I used it as a daily driver, I had to be realistic enough to know it wasn't the smartest ride on the road, but the short wheelbase did better in deep snow than the F250s, so I could rationalize it. Then came the modifications. Now the smog ***** are putting me a position where I'll have to rebody it with something pre-'68, but I've replaced virtually everything on it at least twice, and I know it like a good book, so It'll probably be around until I can no longer turn a wrench.

 

JBronco, you might remember me. I used to help you with many of your problems when you first came to this board. I always wondered "what the *@#! does that guy DO with that truck, or did it used to be owned by the devil himself?" Your truck seemed to have so many problems, one after another, after another.
Best of luck with whatever road you take from here, I mean that.

And thanks for collecting all of those problems in your truck, its spared me and many others a lot of problems!

 

I know what you mean about too much into it to sell it....

My 89 XLT has been a constant source of joy and frustration since I bought it 4 years ago. It's been my daily driver for the last year and a half since the ex and I decided to part company (strangely enough, that's when all the fun mods started... hmmmmm )

I've been lucky in that I haven't had the run of parts replacement that you've had - 2 starters, an alternator, ball joints, front brakes, rotors, belts, hoses, vent window (probably doesn't count - somebody broke into it then...), 3 bad injectors, rear main seal, 2 heater cores - wait, this IS a pretty good list!

Anyway, I agree with your comments about substandard parts (some of Fords "better ideas" really aren't!), and I also agree with your comments about Japanese vehicles. I bought an 87 Nissan 4X4 4 cyl brand new - put 140K miles on it in 10 years. Offroaded all over the Southern California desert, Baja, and the forest roads here in Washington - replaced one alternator, and the fit and finish was better than my Bronco when I sold it.....

But the Bronco fits me a lot better, does everything I want it to (except get decent gas mileage - oh well), and let me develop a close personal relationship with the local wrecking yards

I read your original post this morning before work and thought about responding then, but I figured I would think about what I wanted to say - I've noticed that some of the people here have some pretty parochial and provincial attitudes about anybody that doesn't agree with them. They seem to feel that their opinions are the only ones that matter. I've gotten a ton of great information here on the board and I'd have to say that this would be the only thing that I find disapointing....

Sorry to be so long winded..

msautry


Just a thought - why is it that he most vociferous and "narrow mided" respondents can't seem to spell?? I've always thought that most insulting comments tend to lose their punch when you're laughing at the grammar......

 

I'm a relatively new member to this forum, so I don't know, but do you do any offroading? I've noticed that my bronc has a better attitude when it gets a little mud time. In fact my original starter died when I did my first wax job on it. I washed and waxed it, and tried to put it back in my parking spot and nothing from the starter. I guess its true, the mud really does hold it together. Either that or it just had an allergic reaction to being dolled up.

I would recommend (in my humble opinion) that you don't sell your bronco, just buy an additional daily driver. I've heard from countless people that the worst thing they ever did was sell their bronco. I wonder what it is about these trucks that makes us so attached?

 

Sorry to all the ENGLISH teachers here that think perfect spelling is a must!!!!