Hi i'm new to this board.I want to ask how reliable are these bronco II's.I found one down the road from me and its a v 6 with a 5 speed and extremely clean and in almost excellent shape for its age.I was looking for something a little bigger than the bronco but want to keep an open mind about it.I would like a good camping and fishing vehicle with the occasional muddy road toy if you know what i mean.I want to keep it close to stock with the exception of mud tires and mabye a filter system.I guess what i'm asking is are these bronco's built ford tough or should i stick to my original plan and find a f150?

 

Hello and welcome aboard. Baby broncs can be tough. I have an 85 4x4 with 2.8 and a4ld tranny. I don't think of my girl as a weenie truck. There are some common problem areas but overall a good truck. It really depends on what you are looking for. You have to understand that they are not F-150's but they have many advantages the F-150 does not have, ie small, awsome turning radius, light and many others. Be prepared to do a little work to get her where you want her, but as you surf this forum you will see that many ford ranger, explorer and mustang parts can be swapped right in with little or no modifications at all. Hope this helps.

 

I did a lot of things that aren't recommended for a new one let alone a used one. Had a 88 with 180,000 miles on it and only got rid of it because the trans let go and I had to get from Texas to Washington state in 3 days. I bought mine for $500.00 and went round trip to Clovis New Mexico, round trip to San Francisco, then to Iowa to Minnisota to Colorado to home, then to Wyomming to Texas where the trans had a bearing let go. All this time I carrried about 1000 lbs of tools in the back. It used to crawl in and out of mud at land fills and snow and ice in the gas fields in Wyoming in low range better than anything I ever have had befor or since. I'm on a job now in Georgia and found one pretty cheap here and am picking it up today. like Mat says they'll do a quite a bit and you don't have to be gentle with it. You can't thrash them real hard daily but they will get you out of a tight spot when it does happen.

 

I have owned three BIIs.

The ideal truck is a 4x4, manual transmission, manual hubs.

The only weak point on the BII is the TFI module on the distributor with the EFI (1986-1990). I always kept a spare ($30) and the tools to change it in my glovebox along with some heat sink grease. Otherwise, the EFI system is solid and everything is cheaply replaced if needed.

There are other things to look for in used BIIs. Search this forum to get the answers because it is a frequent question.

One outstanding feature is they are well balanced front to rear. Plus, they are not extremely front heavy like a full sized truck, have an excellent turn radius, much better seating position then a Ranger (roomier and better head room), and can carry a decent amount of stuff with the rear seats down. Easy enough to get unstuck with a come-along or hi-lift jack.

I have had my BIIs down ATV trails, loaded the back seat area to the roof with birch firewood and drove it through a swampy area afterwards to get it out.

The stock axles are not strong enough for large tires, imo. A good upgrade is to run a 2" body lift and then P235/75r15 or p235/85r16s tires. Just with the P235s you should enough road clearance to take it down most ATV trails.

Excellent for camping if you need to sleep in the back with the back seats down.

You do not need a filter system (aka K&N etc etc), just a waste of money. It will not make any difference.