Well crap, you put me on the spot! In truth, I sort of forgot. Prepare to be inspired!

So, an update it is! I believe the last update was breaking the new yoke? That was a trip... but I got it fixed and working.


This was a brand new yoke, I was surprised and slightly amused by the amount of damage done.



The drive shaft took a beating as well. Broke 2 u joints, damaged the rear yoke, and I noticed the weight that was welded on had fallen off. That explained the vibration I had been having at 30-45 mph.






After taking the drive shaft into a specialist, they said the damage was done. To repair it, I would be spending more than the cost of a new drive shaft. Not only had I damaged the outside, but the splines for the slip yoke were also very worn out.


It wasn't super cheap but this new drive shaft felt heavier, looked stronger, and was overall worth it.

 

Cont.

After the new drive shaft was done, I did had to take it back because the transfer case yoke is a 1310, the shaft was built for 1330 joints. I had to get one of them fandangled cross over joints.

Once done, I test drove the Bronco and everything seemed to be working fine, better than before even. Parked the Bronco and took the F150 to work that night and this happened...


While at work, some [expletive]-hole decided to shatter my window. They didn't take anything, in fact they didn't even open the door. Just smash and run. Somehow fate worked out, I had just finished the Bronco and it was driveable. After some musical cars, I got the Bronco out, F150 in and everything was hunky dory for a while.



After a short while, we got a very light dusting of snow in my little valley, it wasn't enough to slip on but it made me want to visit the local Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. They usually get a huge amount of snow and after getting my 4 wheel drive working again, I really wanted to see it's snow capabilities. So, a friend and I made plans to go!



The Bronco did way better than I could have hoped for, 30 mph uphill was no problem in 4hi. A while back I received a 92 Geo Metro for free, it was in shambles. Long story short, I sold it to my friend for $100. After learning to drive it, we made these plans and thought it would be fun to take his Geo and see how it did. It did surprising well.


On the way up I decided to take the lead, I had 4 wheel drive and a bigger truck for any obstacles, and by obstacles I mean deer/Elk. While cruising around 30 mph, it got real hard to see in the snowfall and suddenly 3 Elk appeared. 2 ran in opposite directions, the other stood there right in the way, I swerved and almost lost a side mirror on it's head. My buddy thought I was just sliding and barely missed it's legs.

Once we got to the area we were going to play at, the snow was too deep for his car so I went first to try creating a path. He followed and made a nice trail but got stuck so we decided to park and go have fun.


Fast forwards, Xmas has passed, family enjoyed gifts and good food. I've been working on getting a bit healthier which means some hiking trips!


During these journeys to the hiking destination, I started noticing the Bronco is getting worse as far as steering and handling. Turns out my death wobble is back with a vengeance.

 

After finding out my trucks steering was getting loose, it suddenly started going downhill quickly. The slop was getting really bad, bumps were causing the wobble and preventing me from being comfortable enough to take the Bronco on the freeway. I decided to buckle down and get my F150 fixed.
My friend and I went to a junkyard and found a solid window for cheap. I had to replace a broken door lock from a previous break in so 2 bird with 1 stone. Finished that quickly and started prepping the Bronco for a place to sit while I worked on it.

!WARNING THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF SACRILEGE AND LACK OF FORD FAITH!


This is my sisters 1979 Jeep J10. We got it as a 16th birthday present for about $400 including a tow home. I had it in the garage before having to move it to park the F150 inside under cover. It sat in my car tent and accumulated some nice mold from the muddy pools of water in there.


This Jeep is also a side project for me, no one else is working on it so I've taken it upon myself to get it running and driving safely for my sis.



Seeing as the Bronco is going to be down for a front end rebuild, I needed a dry area to do the work. The car tent was my only good option. To ensure it stays mostly dry and mud free, I got a 3/4 ton load of gravel to spread and fill in the low muddy spots.



The Bronco is a big girl so this car tent is not the best but with the new gravel it is much nicer inside.




This will be the final resting place while I work on the old girl. The hood is coming off and possibly getting replaced, fenders coming off, grille and related parts coming off, motor should come out at some point. I need to rebuild the suspension system, I am planning a 5.5" superflex lift, new ball joints, body lift removal, and new bushings all over. The motor needs a rebuild pretty badly so that will get pulled. I am thinking either bump it up to a 400C.U. with aluminum Aussie C block heads, or possibly a 408. I'm not entirely sure what I want yet.
With a new motor I'll need a better fuel dispersing system, I am planning a 650 CFM Edelbrock Thunder AVS carb.

My transmission should get drained and refilled, I am hoping it won't need another rebuild. The transfer case is also on the rebuild list.

For radius arms, I am going to drop the dough and get some Duff Inc long travel radius arms. They come with a heim Joint to replace the Biscuit Bushings. The lift kit from JBG homes with springs front and rear, shocks to fit, C bushings, braided brake lines, drop brackets, and an adjustable Trac bar.

I need new tie rods and a new power steering box. The steering box will be a RedHead, they are actually about 3 miles away from me so I won't have to pay shipping.

I've never done ball joints before so I may have a shop do them. I have to see what is entailed. I don't have a press available to me unless C clamps work.

So far that's about all I got. There are some plans for the interior but that's a later project after my bank had had a chance to catch up.


On another note, I may be trying to buy an F350. My F150 just isn't equipped to handle these gravel loads and I am thinking I will be hauling much more in the future. If I get one, I'll have a car payment slowing me down but it shouldn't be too bad.

Hopefully this is a good enough update I'm sure it will make for a good bathroom read!

 

Thanks for the update Dylan. It seems like you have done a lot and have plans for a lot more. That is a great looking new driveshaft. The car tent may not be ideal but it does beat being out in the weather all the time.
You get a free pass on the Jeep since you are stepping up to get it running and safe to drive for your sis, and I actually owned a few Jeeps a long time ago.
As far as your death wobble, you should try to figure out what is causing it before you tear the suspension apart. If you don't and it's still there after the swap it will be twice as hard to figure it out. If it's fixed and then comes on again with the new suspension then you know it that it would be caused by something you changed. Granted if you find out it is due to a part you are changing you don't have to fix it, just remember that for when your suspension swap is all done.
If you are going to swap out the engine why not step up to a 460? Way more power then the 351/400 engines and only requires swap motor mounts. It will bolt right up to your transmission.
As for ball joints, they are not difficult to change and most auto parts stores will loan you the C-clamp style press to put them in yourself. Just read all the directions and take your time, don't use power tools on the press.

 

I've considered the 460 option for a long time with the idea that they have a ton more power and that the 351M is just a boat anchor. However, an experience fellow on a Facebook group has convinced me otherwise. First off, he has tried to use the 351M block as a boat anchor and does not recommend it. It just slides along the mud. On top of that, in a past life when he was younger, he ran Broncos in Baja races and found out that the 351M motors do have a lot of power with little mods. And they are usually lighter than a good 460 after the emissions stiff is removed.

Plus, everyone does a 460 swap... I don't see a reason to lose the 351, it's a good motor!

As for the wobble, I can't imagine there would be something causing it that I won't be changing when I do the work. I'll be getting new rims and tires shortly after as well if I can find some nice Turbines. Last time, my tires were cupping and the Trac Bar bushings were toast. I haven't crawled under to see what's what under there yet but I know the tie rod ends are toast as well. They were already bad when I bought it 4 years ago. If it is still there when I'm done, I'll continue investigating. Either way, this work has to get done some day.

For ball joints, I really don't like renting tools, I'll go ahead and watch a few videos first to get an idea of what the work consists of, then if I feel like I can do it, I'll look at buying a tool.

I bought a steering wheel puller and lock plate puller as well, I may only use them twice. It's nice to have one hand.

It's probably going to be a long project, but I'm willing to do it. One day I would like to be able to drive this truck on the freeway like I would with my F150. Not worried about what will fall off if I smash the gas pedal!

 

Nice work Dylan, messing around in the Geo sounds fun too. Keep it up.

 

Don't toss the 351m block. Fix that factory deficiency and make it a 400. Say hello to 450 ft.-lbs. at a lower peak than a 460

 

See! It's worth it to keep these old red headed step children motors. It may be a 400, may be bigger. I haven't figured that part out yet.

 

Is there a beer fridge in that tent?

 

Not yet, there is an Xmas tree that's pretty dried up though. Makes it smell great in there and I do plan to burn it after I chop it up.

However, I got an LED hanging shop light to put in there and a nice long extension cord. If I can do it right, I can run a power block and have the fridge plugged in too!

For now, the cold air keeps it chilled.

 

So it's not like this, then...

 

I've got some shady people in my neighborhood, I can't just advertise the goods. It's like a black market thing.

 

Hey Dylan! guess what I just did on my new rig? broke the yoke, like, in half! and all the u-joint in back. Did you have a shop do all the work? how much was it and do you know what was all involved? PM me.

 

Ah you did see it! I mentioned about this in the other thread.

So, I had all the axle rebuild work done at a local shop, it ran around $5k. It wasn't cheap but they did a good job. I kind of wish they would have cleaned up the axles a bit but I can do that. Anyway, the yoke and drive shaft I did at home. I bought a new replacement yoke and had a shop build a new driveshaft. I replaced the yoke and installed the driveshaft at home.

 

Which yoke did you end up going with this second time since the first one seemed like junk? Did you run into any trouble with the crush sleeve?