Highlander's Bronco Upgrades

[highlander]

While the site was down, I got a new drive shaft plus a spare and replaced the front hubs. I pretty much finished up the cage. I tryed to keep the front seats as low as possible for good head room and visibility out the windshield. I built the removable frame to hold the rear seats and test fitted everything. Then I pulled the cage out, added some down tubes, added some bars over the center of the front seats and one over the back, made some front and back grab handles, put in all the seat belt mounting tabs on the floor, and finished all the welding. I used threaded tube inserts for shoulder belt mounting. I also made some mounts to hang my tool boxes of the 'c' pillas. I finally put a coat of paint on it last night.

[69crawler]

Your cage came out really nice. Tight fit. Just wondering about rear visability with the rear highback seats though.

[highlander]

Your cage came out really nice. Tight fit. Just wondering about rear visability with the rear highback seats though.

To be honest I never considered that, but I think it will still be good enough. The seats aren't any higher than the spare tire and the tops don't block much more than a person sitting in one would.

[CityHick]

As usual, very nice! I'm really digging the rear bucket seat idea, especially seeing that you made them easily removable. I think I'm going to have to do something similar one day - be it with a bench or two buckets.

[firecat]

Is the tube diameter the same as the "stock" tubes on a single hoop bar?

[highlander]

Is the tube diameter the same as the "stock" tubes on a single hoop bar?

Well Ford never put a roll bar in the bronco, so I don't know what you mean by a "stock" roll bar. The two most commonly dealer installed roll bars were the Stroppe and the Smitybuilt. My original bar was a Smittybuilt which is 2"-.120 wall, every thing I have added is 2"-.120 wall. The seat mounting section is 1.5"-.120 wall.
The San Felipe bar from WH is a copy of the old Smitty built bar.

[highlander]

Almost done, I just need to pick up some bolts to mount the rear seats, and finish the hold downs for the tool boxes. I have a piece of the seat belts on there to give you an idea how they will mount with the knobs.
I also have some roll bar padding on the way.

[firecat]

Is the tube diameter the same as the "stock" tubes on a single hoop bar?

When I say stock, I mean dealer option. there were 2 that I've seen- one goes to the top of the rear fender, one goes to the rear of the rear fender. I don't know if they are the same size though. I picked up a " to the top " style and was thinking of using a second one for the rear, cutting the down tubes off and modifying it. It might be easier to make one though.

[highlander]

When I say stock, I mean dealer option. there were 2 that I've seen- one goes to the top of the rear fender, one goes to the rear of the rear fender. I don't know if they are the same size though. I picked up a " to the top " style and was thinking of using a second one for the rear, cutting the down tubes off and modifying it. It might be easier to make one though.

If you just need some tube bent I have a tube bender with 1", 1.5", 1.75", and 2" dies.

[highlander]

Ok got the seats all in, I found the bolts I lost for the back seats.

[highlander]

With every thing done I thought I would drive the Bronco down to Prather for some lunch. I pulled out the drive and started hearing some awful rear end noises. I haven't driven it since I fixed the twisted driveshaft except in and out of the garage. So I turned around at the first turn out and came home. I checked the driveshaft everything was OK and I couldn't duplicate the sound spinning the axle by hand so I drained the third and pulled the shafts. First, I found I broken outer wheel bearing, and I thought that's strange but cheap and easy to fix. I figured since I was half way there I'll pull the other axle and third just to make sure everything else is OK. Well the ring gear had some pretty big chunks missing. So I guess the Katastrophe trip was a little more catastrophic and costly than I originally thought. But this also could explain why I twisted the splines in the WH HD driveshaft.
So looks like I have some more work to do.

[crawlin68]

Dang Steve! You and Marc must be brothers. You guys can sure do some damage. Although Marc has been pretty good to his Bronco lately.

Nice work on the cage and seats. Everything came out really nice!

[69crawler]

It still looks nice though.

[earlybronco72]

Jeez, thanks Pat. I was just having a two year bad luck spell. I'm hoping I can keep this new trend going.
Steve, what brand gears are those, and how long have they been in there?

[highlander]

Jeez, thanks Pat. I was just having a two year bad luck spell. I'm hoping I can keep this new trend going.
Steve, what brand gears are those, and how long have they been in there?

They are Yukon Gears less than two years old and maybe 1500 miles.