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First Post + Basic Questions


GerikM

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Hello, my name is Gerik, after seven months of scouring Craigslist I finally found the perfect rig for me, a 1987 Bronco II 4x4 Eddie Bauer. Everything runs great, a lot of work was put into it from the previous owner and a lot was rebuilt or replaced. I have a bunch of questions but I'll start with these two.

1st, right now there is a 4" lift with 33's, the transmission is still stock and is geared at 3.73, I live in a mountainous area and can definitely tell it struggles going up hills. It also seems to struggle on the highway, in particular, hills on the the highway. Currently there is one stretch of highway in my area where I cant get over 50mph. Would I be better off re-gearing with a 4.10 and if I did what would that do to my economy? It sounds like that would help with my overall street driving but probably hurt how it drove on the highway, is that correct? I am sorry this is such a basic question but I don't have much mechanical background.

2nd, the inside needs quite a bit of work, currently there is a bench seat out of a Ranger that I'd like to swap for bucket seats, the trim is all in pretty rough shape, the headliner will likely need to be re-done, the door side panels I would eventually like to re-do, and then ideally I'd like to change the dash cover.
I'd like to restore the whole interior but after scouring the internet I could not find many videos or even pictures of what people had done to the inside of their BII's. I am not a fan of the beige trim or dash, a black or gray would suit the aesthetic of the exterior much better. I heard of some people paining the dash with Atwood paints, I'm not sure how this would turn out but would love to hear how it went if you've got any experience there.

If you have restored the interior of your BII I'd love to see some pictures or if you have any advice that would be much appreciated.

I know these are probably some very basic questions but I am 18 years old and very new to all of this stuff, I've always loved classic cars, and dreamt of a Bronco for years, now that I actually have one I am over the moon and want to do everything I can to make it perfect.
 
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duffy

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Welcome.....I swapped out the front seats (60-40 split) when I got my 89'. Got a decent set from a Ranger that had the same upholstery. I redid my headliner....(major PITA), if you do it yourself be very cautious as the foundation piece will be quite fragile. I repaired a crack in the dash pad. There are kits for doing the repair and vinyl paint that works well. Good luck.....
 

GerikM

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Welcome.....I swapped out the front seats (60-40 split) when I got my 89'. Got a decent set from a Ranger that had the same upholstery. I redid my headliner....(major PITA), if you do it yourself be very cautious as the foundation piece will be quite fragile. I repaired a crack in the dash pad. There are kits for doing the repair and vinyl paint that works well. Good luck.....
Good to know the headliner is fragile ahead of time! Thank you!
 

JerryC

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IMHO, if you are going to re-gear go with at least 4:56's.
 

ecgreen

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IMHO, if you are going to re-gear go with at least 4:56's.
I am inclined to agree. Check a gear chart it will say you need 4.56ish to get back to stock.

This should give you around 3,000 RPMs at 65 (with a manual and 20% less than that if you have an auto). 4.10 would put you at 2700ish:

All depends on your purpose for the rig IMHO

I am regearing to 4.56 with 33s (from 3.73s) this month. I'll post up on how it drives for you. I intend on offroading my rig, so it is the better crawl I am looking for (I almost went 4.88) I live in New Hampshire, so lots o mountains.
 

ecgreen

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Here is my rig on 31s right now with 1.5 inches of lift. I have the axles out now and I am getting ready for the regear and 33s. Gonna try to see if I can get away with only another 2 inches of lift.
15288
 

GerikM

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Thank you so much for that video, definitely cleared things up, I think I am going to go ahead with the 4.56. I know it may hurt my highway performance but I live in a somewhat mountainous area in California and this thing struggles going up many of these hills.
As I understand it a 4.56 ring gear and pinion gear should fit into my current differential assuming I order the right size--it seems like 7.5" is common but I couldn't confirm this in the Tech Archive-- without too much difficulty, is that correct? Thanks!
 

ecgreen

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Yes they should fit on that carrier. I think the cutoff is 3.55. Ring and Pinion install can be very difficult and if you get it wrong, you get a lot of breakage lol. Not saying don;t do it yourself, but if you do make sure you have all the tools and understand 100% what you are doing. For a beginning mechanic, however, it is probably best to pay to have it done. Heck, I do 99% of all my own work, and I still don't do ring and pinion installs. Labor around here is usually around 300-500 an axle (not including parts).

To get an idea of the level of difficult for an RP install, watch this:
 

JerryC

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ECGreen, I love the way yours looks on 31's. If I owned it, I'd leave it just like that. :)


Gerik,
I have 28" tall tires and 4:10's with an auto. Put 33's on it and it would be absolute slug.
In the summer with the AC on going up inclines it's pretty slow now.

The 4.56's might help your mpg, your rpms will be up but you won't be using as much pedal. I wouldn't be surprised either way.

I think Ford was giving us clue as to how fast we should drive with the speedometer showing 45mph straight up and that's where I get the best mpg, but it might be a coincidence. They were built when the national speed limit was 55mph and Ford probably never considered a 70mph+ speed limit.
 

ecgreen

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ECGreen, I love the way yours looks on 31's. If I owned it, I'd leave it just like that. :)
Thanks! I have thought about leaving it as a small tire rig. New Hampshire has some serious boulders though, so the extra ground clearance would be nice.

And as for doing 70 in a BII, I have done it and it don't feel safe LMAO.
 

wildbill23c

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Remove the lift and those ridiculously oversized tires and your uphill struggles will diminish quite a bit. The poor thing is already quite lacking in power already, adding the lift and ridiculously oversized tires made it 100x worse.

If you want the lift and oversized tires at that point your fuel economy has gone out the window...what fuel economy a brick on wheels would have in the first place isn't that good, I managed 20mpg when I had the stock size tires on my 88 Bronco 2, but now with the 235's on it, it struggles a bit and fuel economy is down to around 18mpg, otherwise my Bronco 2 is stock with the dreaded automatic transmission and 3.73 gears. It does fine, but on long steep hills it struggles of course because of the heavy ass tires on it, but I wanted tires that'll handle the snow, mud, etc. that I encounter frequently, over having stock street tires on it as there's nothing really available out there for an all terrain tire in the stock 205/75-R15 that any tire shops seem to carry anymore.

Unless you plan on crawling over rocks, lose the lift and go down a few tire sizes and you'll get your hill climbing and highway power back. Only regear if you never plan to drive the thing on the highway ever again, because at that point you went from a daily driver capable vehicle to an offroad toy anyways by regearing. Its one or the other there honestly isn't anything in between for both on/offroad that'll make you happy for on-highway manners and fuel economy, and offroad capability. Its gonna be one or the other, either lift it and play, or put it back to stock and just go around the huge rocks LOL. You'd be surprised where a stock Bronco 2 with good tires will get you. Add a limited slip and it'll go even further.

As for the interior, there's no aftermarket support hardly at all for the Bronco 2 or the Ranger. So really you are on your own for sourcing everything pretty much junk yard parts. The driver seat in my Bronco 2 is red, nobody knows it though because I installed seat covers on the front seats, however, its an Eddie Bauer model, and finding the tan Eddie Bauer seats where I live that aren't trashed is like finding a needle in a haystack. The dashes are all pretty much cracked unless you find one from a vehicle that's been parked in grandma's garage for 30 years. I believe Rock Auto or maybe JC Whitney may have replacement dash panels but they're ridiculously expensive for the cheap plastic garbage they make them out of they're like $300+ if I recall. So the dash in my 88 Bronco 2 and my 87 Ranger both remain cracked, not paying that kind of money for a cheap piece of plastic that'll just crack again in a few years. I need to replace the front driver's seat, carpet, dash panel, and find some headliner material to redo the headliner as well. The headliner in it now isn't that bad, but there's a few holes in it...luckily it isn't sagging, but I'd like to find something to replace it with maybe some sort of Native American type material color it what I've been thinking with mine. Any fabric store basically for that stuff, and there are some write ups on the forum somewhere I think for redoing the headliners and seems pretty easy to do, just time consuming of course. Seats are the biggest issue it seems trying to source. Carpet, heck with some time....a lot of it, and some carpet you could recut it and replace it yourself if you want to go that route. I think JC Whitney offers replacement carpets but again its ridiculously expensive, I think if I replace mine I'll go with vinyl, and while I'm at it, install some drains in the floor so I can just wash the damn thing out when it gets dirty LOL....so maybe vinyl seat coverings may be a good idea HAHA!!
 
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JerryC

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Thanks! I have thought about leaving it as a small tire rig. New Hampshire has some serious boulders though, so the extra ground clearance would be nice.

And as for doing 70 in a BII, I have done it and it don't feel safe LMAO.
I do 70mph in mine a few times a year. It's not stable as a modern vehicle but it isn't scare your hair white bad either. Before I put on the adjustable radius arm bushings to get the caster near where it should it be it was scary at anything over 40mph in the turns. Getting the right shocks and adjusting the sway bars helped a bit as well.
 

GerikM

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Thanks for all the replies, I definitely would take the tire size and lift down if I was interested in Broncos strictly for their driving ability but looks, and building this thing out to make me happy is a major part too. At this point I am ok making some sacrifices to keep it looking this way. So here's my 87' BII with a 4" lift, 33's, and a supergloss khaki wrap. The interior needs to catch up to the exterior as far as looks go, lol.


15295
15296
 

JerryC

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That looks great!. Did the previous owner upgrade the axles?
 

duffy

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I like that grill treatment.....who makes it?
 

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