My son is thinking of buying a 85 Bronco II 4x4 and We are owners of 88 and 92 Ranger supercab 4x4. The 88 is 2.9 auto and the 92 is 4.0 manual. We love our Fords but his 88 is totaled and he wants a Bronco II. Is the 85 a good year? I think it is a 2.8 though and I have heard good and bad about them. I also noticed that the 4x4 is a button not a shifter. What is up with this? We are going tomorrow to make the deal. They are asking $1300 and it has I believe 145000 on it. I do see a lot of them on the road. But the ones other than this one have been pretty bad. 1 had a lot of moister in it with odd noises from the engine and the other had a smog pump that was missing it's connections but was still running due the belt driving and it was very noisy and it sounded like the valves and he said it is just the pump that sounded maybe possible since the noise came right from that area. Then we drove and boy it was hard to steer. He said it was armstrong steering and I said it felt as if the power steering pump broke. One guy said there is no pwer steering pump and the other said you're it was removed but, you could put it back on and it will work fine. So it had just been driven with out the power steering pump. We passed due to to much missing parts. So the last one left else where was this 85 which has a clean exterior and interior. Needs brakes though. We just don't know if the rotors and pads or drums. It has very little stopping power. Help is this a bad deal?

Thanks,
Kallie


92 Ranger supercab 4x4

 

i'd take a second look at it but this time on your back. i wish i had checked my 87 more thoroughly before i had bought it b/c once i started getting into fixing it up i found all kinds of cancer hiding all over the place. scrutinize everything you see every spot of rust on that sucker and every drip drop or squirt it shows. check body mounts, exhaust manifold to tail, hoses every little thing on that lil bugger. if its good for a year or so on inspection good, if not try and get them to get it inspected firsy, who knows if itll pass. mine ran but didnt make enough power to pass!



if your son is just going to try and use it for a year or two till he can save up money for something else id go for it at that price if its in good shape and runs strong. and by strong i mean strong enough to withstand a new driver and still live to make it through inspection.

your push button is your automatic 4 wheel drive engagement. this means auto hubs instead of manuals, not good in my opinion autos will go bad sooner , but it does mean on the fly 4 wheel engagement. ergo no hoppiing out in a blizzard to lock hubs with numb

 

> They are asking $1300 and it has I believe 145000 on it

Way too much money if it is not in primo condition. Make sure the body or mounts are in good condition. At 145,000 you should start thinking about how long the A4LD is going to last.

Armstrong steering is "I could not get the fitting off the steering box with the leaking hose" and both the pump and steering box are now destroyed. Run from that truck if its more than $300.

I would say look for a 1984-85 2.8/5 spd/manual hubs with a good body unless you like repairing stuff yourself. This combo will be the most reliable and cheapest to repair (yourself) and own for the long term.