1988 Bronco II. This started as a daily driver that I picked up and it had some bald 30's and a Rough Country lift. I decided that I wanted a daily but still be able to wheel it a bit so the first thing I did was find a D35 and 8.8 loaded with 4.10's. Upon removing the D28 the first thing I noticed was the nice hole that the Rough Country lift had punched in the front diff for me. I searched Craigslist and found a killer deal on a Skyjacker front lift so I went on a little road trip and picked her up.
Once that was all said and done I swiped up some Explorer rear leafs and bought a set of Belltech shackles for the rear. A buddy of mine was in the stages of designing a bolt in hydro assist kit so I picked that up and decided to use the BII as a test pig. Very shortly after I found a good deal on a set of Firestone Destinations 31x10.5x15's for $200.00 so I through them on some stock Explorer wheels that I had laying around.

Here is what she looked like at that point......

 

At this point I wheeled her for about 2 years with no major problems. I found a good deal on a 93 Explorer so that became my daily and I started to wheel the BII a little harder.

 

so here is where Im a now.....

I have now decided to turn this into a straight trail rig. A buddy of mine had rolled a 89 Ranger so I brought that home and now had a free 4.0 and trans to use for a swap in the BII. I picked up a 73 EB D44 for $60.00 and decided a full tear down was in order...

 

dang man i love it. you gotta lot of work ahead of you but hey thats all the fun. should turn out great man. looking good

 

Looks like a great project. When I graduate I'll be picking one up to start a build of my own. Keep us updated.

 

Looks good. Keep the updates coming.

Check out my BII build thread also...

 

thanks guys.....

I made a little more progess. I finally have the full interior stripped and engine and trans found they're way out...

 

looks good!

 

nice stuff keep up the good work.

 

That body looks real solid for an 88! Good luck with the build

 

yeah I was pretty happy with the condition of the body. There is no rust at all and the metal around the body mounts is in excellent condition too

 

wow that looks great!!!

 

llooking good! should make a sweet trail rig.

 

Well, disaster struck.

From day 1 this BII has tracked real weird when driving down the road. All the suspenion was replaced and nothing ever changed. I was laying under this thing tonight and I noticed a long tear in the floor down the drivers side. I was going to lift the body and see what was going on and thats when I noticed there were 3 body mounts that were not bolted down. The BII has been hit hard up front..... enough for it to slightly bend the frame and tear the body wide open.

This is not really how I wanted my night to go.

So now I guess I will strip the suspension and junk the body and frame and find another BII. I have another Explorer that needs a trans that I could build but im not sure which one I would rather have.....

 

Well, Im back in the game. My screen name here came from a 89 that I was given for free from the original owner. I was new and threw a crappy RC lift on and then sold it shortly after. I then sold the 33's and sold off the BII shortly after. Well, it has come back to me. So here she is heading into the garage





I have to say goodbye to an old friend

 

Now I need help from the gurus......

I dont know which way to go.

I have an EB D44 right now, and I also have a set of H1 beadlocks. Part of me says run the EB D44 and buy some 15's and throw on the 38's. What Im worried about is the Bronco looking weird with 38's on a narrow axle.

I have also considered buying fullwidths, converting to 8 lug outers, and running the H1's. At the same time I dont want it to be so wide I cant shove it anywhere.

Now I know the best choice is to buy a D60 but money doesnt permit it right now. I know 38's are rough on a D44 but thats all I have right now. I also know I can have the H1's recentered I just dont know which way I want to go.

New tires, 15s are cheaper, used I seem to see 16.5's alot

 

I say get the H1's recentered and run the narrow axles. Get the B/S set at like 3" or so and youll make up for the narrow axles but shouldnt be as wide as a set of fullwidths.

 

Hey, going to full widths, check this tech article out written by my good buddy Jesse, who has a 71 EB D44 up front on his 93 Ranger, and a full width 9 out back on it.
http://www.rmftc.com/howtos/dana44/dana44.html

He's a master at custom fabrication, used to work for EarthRoamer and has his own custom fab business on the side.

 

very nice write up.... thanks

 

nothing new picture wise so there is nothing to look at, but I did manage to remove the dash from the BII and remove the 2.9 harness from it. I got the 4.0 harness all hooked up and will be dropping her back in tomorrow. Hopefully I will get the engine harness in Saturday so im that much closer to getting the motor dropped in.

 

Nice man. that new BII looks pretty nice. Building that explorer wouldn't of been bad either. I have a 93 sport I should be starting on in the fall.

 

thanks, I am the 2nd owner of the BII, still have the original window sticker from he dealer. Ill get some interior shots today, it is pretty much flawless inside.

When you get ready to build the Sploder, hit me up..... what are your plans?

 

Do you want to get rid of the transmission wiring harness from the 2.9? If you do, I want it!

 

the motor and trans has been out for a while now..... let me check the harness today and make sure nothings wrong with it, if its ok, its yours

 

Sweet.

Is the engine and transmission harness 1 piece or are they seperate?