My 88 BII Build!!

[88Bronco2EB]

St. Louis County

 

[88Bronco2EB]

Got my drive shaft back from being shortened and rebuilt!!!

Rebuild and shortening cost: $137.00 not to bad.

 

[wookie13]

Cool! I am in Fenton!!

 

[Rangered06]

that thing looks amazing giving a lot of good ideas for my 87 B2 build its going a lot slower though damn lack of funds lol

 

[88Bronco2EB]

Yeah I hear ya, my funds are low too. Its taken my almost a year just to get the parts that I have now. After the lift it might get pretty slow. I still might have a hook up for a D35 and 8.8 with a lockright, both for $350!! but then if I get those I'll have to rear gear them and that's a lot of $$$$$$

 

[88_Eddie]

^
that's where i am right now. i found an 8.8 with the same gear ratio as my my b2, but i' still piecing my lift together and my engine isnt even back in yet. good thing is that i have a real job now, so i have $$$ money coming in, but i never have any days off.

if i were you, i'd just look for a d35, the 7.5 should have no trouble handling 31's as long as you arent rock crawler or doing something extreme.

 

[88Bronco2EB]

Ok, Time for an update!!

I got everything done over the weekend. So here are some pics!!


Here is the newly rebuilt and shortened explorer sport drive shaft.

Perfect fit!!

Now the tear down

I just cut the old springs out to make it easier to get my wrench on the damn thing.
lol

Got the radius arm mount out to find that it was broken around the mounting hole

So I went over to ford and they wanted $110.00 a side!! I said forget that I'll just weld the thing back together.

All good

Got the dirty axle out

decreased and power washed the font axle, then hit it with a coat of krylon rust tough paint along with the radius arm mount and axle drop bracket.

Decided to hit the coils with some red paint to make then stick out more.

Got the new axle drop brackets installed!

Getting ready to put the axle back in

Radius arm drop brackets

Front axle installed!!

driver side drop bracket

passenger side drop bracket

New drop pitman arm

It was hot as hell so we put up some shade

Got the new coils socks and brake lines in!!

And finally got it DONE...for now!

Better pic of it during the day.

I will continue to post some updates as I go

Thanks for looking!!

 

[RacinNdrummin]

Looking good, nice job taking pics

 

[B2Guy]

man that thing looks great! im usually not even a fan of the visor. but I kind of like it on yours! keep it up man!

 

[riverviewcontracting]

i just have two ?'s for you
why did you reuse the d28 all the brand new parts and use a piece of shit for a front axle and the second why the hell if you are lifting it would you reuse the auto hubs they suck please change them at least

 

[88_Eddie]

damn, that thing looks good, got a question tho, what gears are you running? stock 3.73's? i'm putting 31's on mine and i have 3.73's, and i wanna know if the 2.9 and stock gears have trouble with the bigger tires.

 

[railman]

i just have two ?'s for you
why did you reuse the d28 all the brand new parts and use a piece of shit for a front axle and the second why the hell if you are lifting it would you reuse the auto hubs they suck please change them at least

there are better ways of wording your questions without being sooo condecending....

maybe he isn't planning on goin to do any wheelin'....i know if my truck was that nice it would prolly just be a "Mall Crawler"....

the hubs are an easy swap....maybe his budget isn't allowing it just yet....or he really doesn't need em'... ( see above statement )

plus i have seen D28's last with nothing more than 31's....it's anything bigger than 31's the D28 starts to suffer.....

lifting can always be a cosmetic thing.....not necessarily a functional thing....

l8r, John

 

[88Bronco2EB]

i just have two ?'s for you
why did you reuse the d28 all the brand new parts and use a piece of shit for a front axle and the second why the hell if you are lifting it would you reuse the auto hubs they suck please change them at least

lol, I'm low on money!!!!! Don't worry they will be changed later for sure!!

 

[88Bronco2EB]

damn, that thing looks good, got a question tho, what gears are you running? stock 3.73's? i'm putting 31's on mine and i have 3.73's, and i wanna know if the 2.9 and stock gears have trouble with the bigger tires.

Yes, I have 3.73s. Its not that bad. You definitely know the 31s are there, acceleration is not as great as before. I have yet to go on the highway yet so I'm not sure how it will do in OD, but all in all not that bad.

I want to re-gear in though, either to 4.10 or 4.56 I have not decided yet.

 

[88_Eddie]

ok cool, i was a little worried about it

yeah, i wanna regear too, i'm just going to 4.10's tho, i think 4.56's would be overkill. once you put the k&n filter back on, you should have a little better acceleration. i've had one on mine for last 7 or 8 years and acceleration is WAY better than it was with the stock box

 

[88Bronco2EB]

ok cool, i was a little worried about it

yeah, i wanna regear too, i'm just going to 4.10's tho, i think 4.56's would be overkill. once you put the k&n filter back on, you should have a little better acceleration. i've had one on mine for last 7 or 8 years and acceleration is WAY better than it was with the stock box

Yeah I think 4.10s will be perfect for you. I saw in your build that you have a manual so even with the 3.73s you wont be to bad. I plan on putting the K&N back in. I'm going to try and find a place I can get some aluminum sheet metal an build a heat shield then I'll open the exhaust up a bit with a Thrush welded muffler, then look into getting some pacesetter headers. How do you like your set??

 

[WoodyB2]

Hey that is looking good, very clean BII!

how is the lift, i kinda want to lift mine more but i am short on funds.

 

[88_Eddie]

Yeah I think 4.10s will be perfect for you. I saw in your build that you have a manual so even with the 3.73s you wont be to bad. I plan on putting the K&N back in. I'm going to try and find a place I can get some aluminum sheet metal an build a heat shield then I'll open the exhaust up a bit with a Thrush welded muffler, then look into getting some pacesetter headers. How do you like your set??

i havent had a chance to run them yet, i just put the engine back in yesterday morning. i hope to try starting it in a couple weeks, i gotta do some other stuff first. i didnt have any clearance issues with the block or the oil filter mount....i did have to remove the driver side manifold to get the engine back in, it kept hitting the frame.

so far they seem pretty good though, they were only $200, i think i paid about $5 for shipping plus they have a 3 year warranty. funny thing is, it's cheaper to put headers on (plus a much longer warranty) than putting on OEM manifolds from a parts store

 

[88Bronco2EB]

Hey that is looking good, very clean BII!

how is the lift, i kinda want to lift mine more but i am short on funds.

Thanks man,

the lift is not bad. It's rough country so it's one of the cheaper ones, but I like it.

 

[88_Eddie]

can you measure your rear driveshaft length for me? i'm trying to figure out if i am going to need to get mine extended. i have a james duff double cardan joint driveshaft and it extends, but i wanna see if i will need it to be any longer. thanks