“Blue” 69

[Lars]

Just looked at your entire thread. Nice job, everywhere! You will love the Explorer motor. Lots more power than stock and better gas mileage as a bonus. Mine was a trouble free companion for over 100,000 miles, hoping I don't regret my new one. Wheels look great too. I enjoyed reading your AC install comments. I'm finishing up installing the latest BCB/Vintage Air install on mine. A nonstop packaging challenge. Glad to read that it's working well.

One little detail. I'd advise getting an Adel clamp or similar that's big enough to go around the upper radiator hose, then fasten it to the fan shroud at the closest point. You might think that the hose will never reach the power steering pulley, and most of the time it won't. But sometimes it does, somehow, and just like that coolant is spraying everywhere. Ask me how I learned this...

[M_luther]

Thanks Lars. Glad you enjoyed the read, I know I have enjoyed working on the Bronco. So far I am loving the Explorer motor. Starts right up, plenty of power, and the garage doesn’t smell like gas anymore. Thanks for the heads up on the upper radiator hose. I will look into securing it like you suggested.

[M_luther]

Question for those that flat tow their Bronco’s. Having an issue with the wheels turning the opposite direction on tight turns. What I mean by this for example turning sharp right and the wheel gets turned over to the left. It is a real issue as it won’t straighten out by itself. I know the wheels need to follow the tow vehicle so I didn’t tie the wheel at first. In Vegas I tied the wheel somewhat with two bungee cords. This helped. On the way to Moab I doubled up on the bungees but I think it may have been too tight, although it did not flip over even on some tight turns at the RV park. Any ideas on what works best to keep the wheel from flipping over? Pic from Zion. Moab is only 108 so only driving in the morning and evening. AC is working pretty good considering how hot it is and I don’t have carpet or insulation in the top, only on the firewall.

[M_luther]

Made it back home on the 4th, so I don’t really have an excuse for the late post. First time flat towing and only had a few what I would consider minor issues to work out, an error on my part, and a few items on the bronco to fix. Flat towed just over 3600 miles and put just over a 1000 on the bronco driving around. Issues I encountered: 1) Tow vehicle tracking issue from post above. Looks like it is most likely too little caster from what I have been able to search. Will need to check the alignment numbers and go from there. 2). AC stoped blowing cool/cold air the day after my post abo be in Moab. It was only a 108 so who needed AC. Charged it and it worked for less than a day so I have a Freon leak to track down. 3). Got pulled over over in Twin Falls Idaho for allegedly going 47 in a 35. I call BS since he didn’t write me a ticket and my GPS said 37 when I saw him. Probably just wanted to check out my ride. 4). This one is my fault. Needed to move the bronco after I had removed the drive shaft so I locked in the front hubs. After hooking up I put the T-case in neutral and neglected to unlock the hubs. When I realized this I had already towed about 100 miles on the highway. U joint cap strap came loose on the front axle sometime before I stopped and now I need to replace the front shaft as it did get damaged. 5). Starter went out the day before I made it home.

Highlights included driving the bronco through several national parks (Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, and Glacier) especially the Road to the Sun in Glacier, the time spent with family, and comments and reactions people in general have to the bronco. Never had so many people tell me the love the bronco in such a short period of time. Even had a new bronco sport owner come up to me at my camp site in Bozeman and ask if she could take a picture with her sport and mine. I was a little surprised that I didn’t’ take see any other EB’s on the road during my entire trip and I only saw two others on my entire outing, one in a driveway in Moab and the second one in a parking lot in Whitefish, MT. Should have taken more pictures, but here are a few.

[crawlin68]

Sounds like it was a fun trip overall! Shouldn't be too much trouble to fix the front driveline and A/C leak. Glad you made it home safe.

[904Bronco]

Great Trip, even with the er ah mishaps... Time for a Mini starter! Thanks for sharing Mike...

[M_luther]

Thanks, it was a fun trip. Ordered a starter and driveline today so should be able to get back on the road next week. Then I’ll track down the AC issue.

[M_luther]

Tracked down the AC leak with UV die and black light. Hose leak at the fitting crimp on the low pressure hose behind the compressor. That’s two of the three ends I had crimped at Napa. They did let me take the crimped home to crimp again on the Bronco since this line goes into the cab and would have required a lot of work to remove. Recharged today and blowing cold again.

[crawlin68]

How do you put the dye in the system? Hopefully this will fix it for good now!

[M_luther]

You can buy Freon cans with the dye in it at most auto parts stores. I just got a 12 oz can from O’reilly. Ran for about 20 minutes but couldn’t detect the leak until the next morning though in my case. I’m hopeful my AC issues are resolved for good as well.

[Lars]

What did you use for a light? I'm aware of the concept but have never gone looking for the bits to do it. Nothing like direct measurement/detection rather than guessing!

[M_luther]

I picked up a UV flash light at Harbor Freight for $6.99. Cheap but did the job.

[M_luther]

Put a few miles driving around this past weekend and early this week. So far AC is working great in low 90 exterior temps.

I do have a question regarding the firmest of my fan in my fan shroud. My fan is about an inch outside of my shroud and I was thinking about getting a longer fan clutch (08 Trailblazer) to get the fan inside the shroud. Looks like it is about 1.5” longer. Have any of you tried this. I had this in one of my notes so I must have read it in one of the many forum post I previously read. My temp typically holds steady at 185 but when I was in Utah it got up to a high of 222 at one point when it was 112 out and we were climbing hills slowly in Zion traffic. Just looking to stabilize it a little bit and keep the max temp closer to 210-215.

[904Bronco]

I would tend to want to keep the space between the fan and Rad, by extending the fan shroud out. It looks like you have a factory shroud from the picture?

I have always used the WH aluminum fan shroud on my explorer builds, because they extend out farther. And, well most of the factory shrouds are usually broken, cracked, or damaged. There was a thread on Classic that talked about how far a fan should be in a shroud and what portion can remain out... But I don't remember the percentage of in/out. I believe at least half, if not a little more should be in the shroud.

[crawlin68]

I would think that with the fan completely outside the of the shroud, the shroud isn't doing much good at all. Like Doug said, the fan needs to be at least part way in the shroud in order for the fan to pull the air through the shroud (and radiator). The further you can get it inside the shroud the better.