Das Broncon, Build and Wheelin pics. (pic heavy)

[DasBroncon]

Hello everyone! This is going to be mostly a wheeling pictures thread for my B2, and a few of my friends Rangers, but there will be build stuff too, I just don't have money to be constantly improving my truck. So far I have a 6 inch lift, an exhaust, and a custom driveshaft. Soon I'll be upgrading to jeep hubs, in a few days. Then in about a month, I will build rad arms. I'm gonna be posting pictures from when I first got my B2 until now, and then any future pictures obviously. Hope my pictures are able to capture the same spirit of off-roading that you can all relate to.

These were our parking spots in my senior year of highschool. We backed in there everyday, eventually kids started calling it the redneck yacht club.

 

[DasBroncon]

.... continued

At this point I had just gotten my new wheels, and tires. 33inch Mickey Thompson Baja Mtz's, I was super stoked to get that lift kit on!

Here's where we were putting the lift kit on. The kid under the bumper is my good friend and has been since middle school. He's a technician at Hoen Honda, and has been working on cars his whole life. None of this would be possible without him.

Finnaly got the back lifted, we were so exhausted we only put the 4inch block under the springs and didn't put the add-leaf, so it's 6 in front, and 4 in back.

Here's the first time off-road since the lift, I was amazed, I cruised through places I used to get stuck in, even a place I was stuck for over an hour with nobody to pull me out.

My all time favorite picture of my truck!

 

[DasBroncon]

Returned to the scene of a earlier picture, to get a picture to compare the lift to stock height.

Okay, now we are in present times. My hubs have pretty much exploded, the last trip we went out my 4 wheel drive completely failed because the hubs broke. I got jealous of my friends while I was stuck in 2wd, I tried to make it up this steep little hill, kept losing traction. So I thought it would be a good idea to keep doing it, building more momentum each time.... I ended up bring the tires about a foot off the ground according to my friend. I have the plate style axle bracket extension, with bump stop drops, I mostly do slow stuff so I didn't think I would have a diff puncture problem. I checked my axle housing right away cause I'm a paranoid type, I could see a slight silver mark where the plate met the axle housing, so the bump stops are holding up, I just need to not be an idiot any more.

And one month later, I get my Jeep Dana 35 hubs from Jamesoakenterprizes.com (The guy who started trs) and I'm stoked to have four wheels turning again!

 

[Gary101386]

lookin good!!!

 

[jhammel85]

Looks really good!

 

[1988dangerranger]

Looks good! Keep the pictures coming!

 

[DasBroncon]

I'll update tomorrow. I'm going to pull my carpets and cut my rear wheel well because my tires are getting cut up by the wheel well every time I flex just a bit.

I'll be rolling in bedliner to the inside of the cab where I remove the carpets and then re sealing the wheel wells with sealant and heater hose.

In other news, my power steering is leaking like a mother. My friend says I need a new steering gear. I'll be doing the hub conversion some time this week hopefully. I don't have a jack right and some of the required tools

 

[DasBroncon]

I'm starting to piece together the tools I need in general right now. I know I need a torque wrench for the manual hub swap, but I don't know if it should be 3/4, 1/2, 3/8, or 1/4" drive. I also don't know what size socket to use to turn the spindle nut. Hopefully I'm gonna go compare sizes at the store tomorrow. f anyone has done the manual hub swap and knows already it would be much appreciated!

 

[Nathan123]

When I swapped in my manuals, I didn't need to use a socket for the large nuts. Just make sure you take the little locking wedges out of the key way before turning the nut. I used a magnet and gently rocked the nut side to side and the little key lid right out. Someone else has said the spindles are designed so you can use a punch and drive the wedge all the way to the other side of the nut, but I haven't tried it. What I'm trying to say is, the auto hubs use large hex nuts that were finger tight. To install the manual hubs, you'll need a specialty ford hub socket you can get at an auto parts store. It kinda looks like the turret of a castle, a hollow tube with 4 prongs on the top. They engage the lock nuts for the manual hubs. I forget what the torque spec for the lock nuts is, (its in the tech library though) but I know I used a 1/2" beam type torque wrench. Aside from a socket to take the wheel off, you'll need a needle nose and a flat screwdriver or two and that's about it. It's really a surprisingly simple swap to do.

 

[DasBroncon]

SWEET! That's super helpful! I checked autozones website and all my searches came up with the "4 prong spindle nut socket"

It's in half inch drive. The tech library says to first torque to 35 lbs, then back it off a quarter turn and torque to 16 inch pounds. Then the outer lock nut goes on and gets torqued to 150 ft lbs

 

[elpoffroad]

Very nice build,looks fun.....broke college wheeling is the bast

 

[4x4junkie]

SWEET! That's super helpful! I checked autozones website and all my searches came up with the "4 prong spindle nut socket"

It's in half inch drive. The tech library says to first torque to 35 lbs, then back it off a quarter turn and torque to 16 inch pounds. Then the outer lock nut goes on and gets torqued to 150 ft lbs

You'll probably want to tighten the outer nut to around 225-250ft-lbs instead of 150. Several have had the nuts come loose from the lower torque while running larger tires.

Also if you can find a socket like this, it'll stay on the nut a lot better while tightening it.

(clicky picky).

 

[Nathan123]

Wow that is a really sweet socket and looks like it would work much better than the standard one. It does take some coordination to keep the prongs in the lock ring while your crankin that hard on it. Plus its a steal at 11 bucks I payed like 40 for mine from napa a few years ago!

 

[DasBroncon]

Just got back from Autozone with all the required tools. I went ahead and got the enclosed socket kind, like Junkie just posted, the lock nut fits right in there!

You'll probably want to tighten the outer nut to around 225-250ft-lbs instead of 150. Several have had the nuts come loose from the lower torque while running larger tires.

My torque wrench only goes to 150 ft/lbs Should I borrow a friends? or can I just keep cranking past 150?

Very nice build,looks fun.....broke college wheeling is the bast

Agreed! Everything gets jerry rigged to the max!

 

[4x4junkie]

J

My torque wrench only goes to 150 ft/lbs Should I borrow a friends? or can I just keep cranking past 150?

I wouldn't try to crank it past 150ft-lbs with the torque wrench (or put the torque wrench setting past 150) for fear of damaging it... If you can borrow one, I'd do that.

 

[BRONCONUT]

What does it call for on the torque settings? I know the 3/4 -1 tons ar 90 ft lbs then back off 90* then around 180-200 ft lbs for the outers. Thats where I set mine to and have never had one come off yet and I am running 37" tsl's.

 

[4x4junkie]

Book calls for 150 ft-lbs, it's just not enough with the weight of big tires. 225 and no problem.

 

[DasBroncon]

I bought a bigger torque wrench today, I am currently doing the hub swap, need a bigger magnet, apperently a fridge magnet is not enough

:EDIT:
Turns out a fridge magnet is strong enough!
Got the first one on!

 

[DasBroncon]

Just finished the hub conversion! stoked to have 4x4 again, gonna go night run some fire roads with a friend to celebrate!

Before:

After:

 

[stiluv]

sweet man! this makes me wanna build a b2. but i guess i should probably finish the ranger and the expo first.