hey guys i am a new Bronco owner i got my first one today an 87 xlt. my questions are what is a good soft top that does not eliminate the rear seat, and can someone explain how to use the 4 wheel drive as i have never owned a 4x4 before. Any help would be greatly appreaciated

 

Congrats on the truck and welcome to FTE. There is only one soft top available for the full-size Bronco that does not reduce or eliminate seating capacity. STC (Specialty Top Corporation) I believe is the manufacturer. Jeff's Bronco Graveyard sells them along with other vendors. You will need to drill some holes in the tailgate to hold the rear soft window down. Otherwise I believe it mounts in the same locations as the factory top.

Your 4WD most likely has a shift-on-the-fly electronically shifted transfer case. If you are extremely fortunate, the T-case is a manually shifted model. Either way you have three possible configurations: 2WD high, 4WD high, and 4WD low. Pushing the 4WD button (or shifting the lever) will engage the front axle and allow additional traction in wet, muddy, snowy, etc. conditions. Don't assume 4WD will be any good on ice. Ice just isn't nice... end of story. It is recommended that you avoid use of 4WD on dry pavement for any great distance as it puts undue stress on certain components. Shifting to 4WD high can be done at most legal speeds but I personally don't even try to engage it at anything over about 35 MPH. For even greater traction and added pulling power the 4WD low setting can be selected but the truck must be at a dead stop or less than I think it's 3 mph. However the speed is a moot point as the transmission should be in neutral when you engage 4WD low. This setting (4WD low) is reserved usually for extreme circumstances and strictly off-road driving. As with anything, there are exceptions to any rule.

This is a bit backwards but I realized that I missed an important point. If your truck has automatic front wheel hubs, the aforementioned should be all that is required to engage either 4WD configuration. However, if the front wheel hubs are manual, there will be a dial at the center of the hub on each front wheel that will need to be rotated to the "lock" position before engaging the transfer case. Engaging the T-case without locking the hubs will not harm the system but it will not transfer the power from the front axle to the front wheels. (So, no 4WD).

To disengage the 4WD either shift out of 4WD or press the 4WD button again. With automatic hubs, you will need to back up about 10-15 feet to disangage the hubs once the transfer case is disengaged. To disengage with manual hubs, do the same as above but to disengage the front wheels from the front axle you will need to get out and rotate the dial on each hub to the "free" or "unlocked" position. If you forget to disengage the front manual hubs, it will not harm the system but you will see the difference in your fuel mileage as you will be forcing all of the front driveline to continue to spin because it is still "locked" to the wheels and in turn they will spin the driveline. The additional drag put on the engine will be noticable in fuel mileage.

Good luck with the truck!

 

thank you so much for the info that really helps, the only other question i have is what is the biggest size tires i can fit on the factocy wheels.

 

32x11.50's with a shim of the front bumper forward about 2 inches and little bit of rub on the radius arms. In some cases 33's will work with just this slight modification. Something to be aware of though is significant changes in tire size without regearing the axles will toss your fuel mileage out the window and make passing on hills and highways suck!

 

Thats excellent info for you Lucky03. I've found that four wheel high is helpful in extreme rain, but remember not to drive too fast. By the way Greystreak92 I liked the ice is not nice quote.