My "typical" EB build...

[73bronco]

I guess it should be more of a built thread than a build thread as is it mostly, kind of doneish. My addiction to Broncos started when i was 17. My dad bought a pretty nice one and I was hooked. It had some engine problems so he parked it for a while until I bought it from him when I turned 18. I got in a tight spot when I was 22 and sold it. I sold it about 2 weeks before I met my wife. I always talked about it to her. Finally 5.5 years ago, I talked her into going to Moab for the easter jeep safari so she could at least see what 4-wheeling was since she had never seen it. We ended up coming back 3 days early and bought my Bronco the day we got back! It was pretty much stock besides being cut out in the rear. I bought it in south colorado springs and drove it home over 100 miles that day. I paid $1500 for it and it included a brand new 3.5" WH lift kit. I told my wife it was going to be a 4 year project:shaking:.

In 2 weeks time I had installed the lift and welded the front diff. Took it wheeling for the first time 3 weeks after purchasing it right after installing the 4X4X2 power steering. That was an eye opener into gearing! The stock 3 speed just wasn't low enough to go anywhere I wanted to go. The search was on...I found a np435 with adapter ready to go. Installed that next along with some 1/4 life 35" xterrains I got for free from work. Took it wheeling again with the new gearing and it was way better. So good in fact that I was trying some dumb lines and ended up breaking a front axle.

I then bought some Yukon front axle shafts with super joints to replace them. And figured the front only broke because the rear was still open and not helping much. Next came the rear spool and more Yukon axle shafts for the rear. Then it was mostly unstoppable, but like most people I still wasn't completely satisfied.

So the christmas of the year I bought it my wife got me some 5.5" CAGE coils for the front. So I started off building some custom radius arms for the front and got it where I wanted it but hadn't decided on a route for the rear yet. Battled back and forth on rear suspension until my wife said just do what you want as you will regret it later if you don't, so I 4-linked it. Took it out again and WOW, I took on A LOT of body damage on that trip because it was so capable.

Forward to a week after that, I decided it was time to put a cage in it. Well the floors were pretty rusted out so it didn't make sense to install a cage on a failing floor. I repaired all the rust in the floors and strikers. That turned out so well I fixed the rust on the inner fenders. I was so happy with the rust repair and it was looking so good I decided it was a good idea to do some body work and paint... Amazing how these things snowball! Started on the body work with the mindset of how I was going to use it still so I didn't go crazy making it super nice. So I built a cage, repaired most of the dents and spray painted it.

Took it out wheeling again...this time into Indy/patriot. I broke an upgraded rear Yukon shaft(small bearing 28 spline). Time for more upgrades. I swapped the rear end out for a big bearing housing that I custom trussed and shaved the bottom of. Installed another spool and 31 spline axle shafts. Kept wheeling it like that for almost a year and decided it was time for EFI. So I installed EFI and loved it..but wanted more power still, which led me to installing some 5.13 gears in the axle to offset my 37" tires.

Wheeled it some like that but really didn't like beating up the body and wanted to push it harder so my next project was cutting 10"s out of the body width to keep it away from rocks. Sold the cage and bumpers to fund the next step. It really wasn't too hard to cut the body down but took a lot of time on the "small details" like a new cage and all the little things. I completed all of the work in my garage by myself in about 5 months time.

I just installed some new(to me) door inserts to eliminate the doors. Just need some paint on them and I can call my bronco done....for now.

How I bought it:





First cut:

Off:

Back on:

Cage done:

Yep, the tailgate is fully functional:

New(to me) front fenders:

Dash layout:

New front bumper:

First trip out. around the block, out of gas:

First crawling trip out(Carnage B.V.):







New door inserts:

[AkFordfan]

Very nice, my next one will be a street rod

[pull'n'pony]

Nice looking build. I recently started on my 77 again seeing rigs like this helps with the motivation. Keep up the good work!

[darkangelv24]

Man i am loving the cage work and front bumper on that, i am so jealous of those trails aswell. I would love to mod up my truck and take it somewhere like that.

[90Finder]

I like what you did there! Where are you loacted?

[WICKEDWOLFRC]

Great job, you put in a ton of work. I'm a diehard hard K5 fan but there's something special about these EB's!

[73bronco]

Just figured I would bump this with pictures of my first official rock crawling competition. It was at Bandimere speedway during Truck Fest. I took 1st place in my class(37" and smaller tires)!

[WICKEDWOLFRC]

Lemme guess...no K5's in your class? Lol great job!!