BlueBronco budget build

[JBcustoms]

Most impressive! I had stumbled across this thread in the past, but a few days ago started reading it in depth from page one. Took me a few days to see all of the progress done to this rig, work seems to get in the way of my hobbies. Awesome rig, awesome thread! I know its been said before, but the build progress and trail runs together make this a truly inspirational build. Love what the little Bronco has become, love watching your skills improve over time! This rig alone has inspired me to keep tinkering with my current build, which has been a very slow one, now I am itching to get it up and running to see what it can/can't do and wrench on it some more. Thanks for all the inspiration and keep up the good work!

[66sprint6]

Thanks for the kind words...its been a fun build and it will never be finished. Ill get it where Im happy and then go break it and start all over!

Matt

[LamChop]

Where the heck do I get 1.5 tsl swampers?

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

[66sprint6]

Originally Posted by LamChop

Where the heck do I get 1.5 tsl swampers?

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

I made (cut/shut) them!

Matt

[LamChop]

Yup! I ended up doing that

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

[66sprint6]

Originally Posted by LamChop

Yup! I ended up doing that

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

I saw that earlier, you kept them stock width it appears like the ones I used to run! If you want to try and skinny them up its tedious but rewarding in the end!

Matt

[LamChop]

Ya I've been thinking about that... these are huge and rub

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

[66sprint6]

Yeah for sure. I cut a small portion out of the outter lugs and then pieced it back together. It takes forever but I LOVE the tires the way they are now. I still have the stock width set and they are amazing on another rig but for this Bronco they were too much.

Matt

[hillbillyrc]

Just got to say wow. From where it started to how it's sitting now amazing. Great inspiration can't wait to get building my bronco. Hope it turn out half as good.

[66sprint6]

Im lookin at dusting the little POS off here shortly and getting back to work on it. Its ugly, beat up and...ugly but it was a TON of fun to play with so Im gonna get back into that frame of mind from here on with it build wise. Try to add durability into it while keeping it looking half-way legit.

Matt

[66sprint6]

I wanna say the last time I had the Bronco out was at Stone Mountain GA and my day ended with yet another driveline failure. After that I tossed it on the shelf and kinda walked away for a bit. Seems the scale bug is going around again so I pulled her off the shelf and got to looking her over to see what was up and what it needed to get back out. In the process I left it sitting on a chair while I went to run some errands and it freewheeled off and killed both doors and the windshield . Easy fixes but it got me thinking that some small tweaks may be in order. Quick tear down later and the list of needs isnt as bad as I had expected!



The main driveline issue was a missing pin from the stubby shaft between the trans and transfer case. Easy fix using an old drill bit and I moved on to the broken sliders. BOTH had broken their rusty/thin sheet metal mounting tabs so I made some better tabs and welded them up rather than brazing them. They are solid now. The damage from the recent fall got me looking at what I want to do next with the poor POS. Ive done the whole, make it look decently real while still trying to enjoy it on the trail. Now its time to make it tough and somewhat reliable without giving up on the looks too much. Plans as of now are some minor cage work, new battery location to use my normal bigger LiPos and then some clean up/paint and body to freshen her up a bit. I want to be able to do 5 mile trails with it and not bother with it. I want to go in the water, up the rocks, thru the sand and mud and only worry about normal maintenance, not that the window frames are falling off or that the doors wont stay shut due to rolling it over too many times lol. Im gonna tighten up some of the loose ends and then see where it goes from there!

Matt

[Highmark]

Good to see you back at it! Big fan of this rig.

[66sprint6]

Yeah, I have too many hobbies and often have to take a step back and move on to another for a bit. That said, the scale bug seems to bite every year and get me back into it which is why I can never bring myself to sell anything during the down times. Ive been cooped up inside too much lately as well so getting back on the trails or rocks would be a pleasant change in scenery.

Matt

[802Bronco]

Yay Matt! I'm glad you got the bug to get it rolling again. I hear ya on the finding time/balance between work/family/God/playtime/house projects, etc. Not an easy task. It's funny how when i switch the order of the first 3, the rest of them sort themselves but when they are not, things go down the crapper quick!

[66sprint6]

That is the truth!

Got some work done last night but no pics as I ended up changing my mind completely and taking everything apart LOL. I will hopefully have a short moment to finish what I started tonight and Ill snag some pics.

Matt

[66sprint6]

Been chipping away at getting some stuff done but nothing is really update worthy. Ill toss some pics in just for the sake of being able to look back when needed. I will say its coming together nicely tho and I should be able to get some action shots soon!

Drill bit pin in the trans to transfer case shaft. I didnt have to pull the shaft out which would have meant taking the trans or the transfer loose in order to do so which is nice. Still need to hunt down some set screws and loctite before I can call it fixed. I will take clearer pics to replace this one later.



New brackets in and the rockers welded in. I went for strength this time around and painted over to keep it from rusting and coming apart again. Brazing broke twice, small tacks from MIG broke once, hopefully this will work better. Noone can see it and I never go easy on this thing so this should work.



Im doing quite some styrene work to fix up the interior some and the body itself needs attention. I see quite a bit of painting in the near future.

Matt

[LoneRanger]

This is another truck that REALLY needs the GCM scale driveline!

Keep after it!

L.R.

[Scaler Ascender]

This is one cool little truck, I feel like after reading the thread it has a soul and plenty history, You have to keep this running. Look forward to seeing some trail photos

[66sprint6]

Originally Posted by LoneRanger

This is another truck that REALLY needs the GCM scale driveline!

Keep after it!

L.R.

Maybe one day! Right now Im happy spending $0 and making it bulletproof again!

Originally Posted by Scaler Ascender

This is one cool little truck, I feel like after reading the thread it has a soul and plenty history, You have to keep this running. Look forward to seeing some trail photos

I appreciate it very much, Its my go-to rig for fun due to its limitations and surprising capability despite those limitations. Now I just want to make it fun to trail again and Im heading in the right direction.

Ive been distracted from working on it due to work and some house projects BUT my wife will be outta town next week, works gonna calm down slightly and I can see plenty of BlueBronco building in the evenings to come!

Matt

[66sprint6]

Forgot I took these pics the other day. The Bronco is moving right along into its newest phase. Not as drastic a change as what its gotten used to but its the look Ive been after since I made the first cut on the body and I finally sorted out the battery location and how to hide it vs velcro-ing it between the seats out in the open lol

Little bit of cage work to protect the windshield (finally) and door frames when running topless.





Very simple brake tubing setup to stay light, still be strong and look like something you might see on a 1:1. I didnt want to go crazy here as it wouldnt fit the look of the rig but I think I did ok. Top fits perfect but the doors will need a trim to work. Thats ok tho, I kinda like the doorless look and will rock that for a bit.

I moved the battery behind the seats and decided to ditch putting together a rear seat and put in a tool box to cover it up instead. I didnt spend a ton of time on the box, just wanted to cover the battery up enough that it was out of sight and out of mind.





Im still adding some minor details to the box to make it look a little more real but I might go in and put together something a little nicer IF I feel like it down the road. For now Im happy with it.

I spent some time putting together a little enclosure under the floor to house the battery and keep it out of sight underneath but didnt worry about it being pretty. It hides it perfect and should protect it as well.

Just a little more tinkering and it should be up and runnin again!

Matt