Got the garage wired for the welder and picked up some jack stands. As soon as I finish the major sandblasting then it will be into the garage.

Awesome! I did the same thing years ago to my '74. That was pre digital camera for me, so I don't have any pics. My advice is to pull it off and coat it with some sort of clear coat. It will get dirty fast!

I think all I did was bore out the ball, and slide in a piece of Aluminum rod with internal threads. I got a lot of comments on it!

Rerouted the driver side exhaust on Bubba Smurf, we reused all the original pipe and just cut and welded it back so it would clear the front drive shaft. Now it's a 4wd again, also wired up the front locker, but it isn't engaging so we'll have to do some troubleshooting.

The last few weeks have been productive, mostly on my house. I stripped all the old wire from the garage, and completely rewired it. I became pretty proficient at running MC wire, anyways. Still have to get inspected, but should be able to put outlets, switches & covers on everywhere in the house & garage soon.

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To celebrate, I pulled out my dashboard & panels and got to work. Still a long way to go. I'm going to wait to make my final cuts on the dash switch holes (windshield wiper knob, light switch, & ignition) until I have my truck apart and have the switches in hand.
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I drove it to work today. about 15 miles round trip.

I was able to fix the emergency brake. When I bought the Bronco, the spring mechanism on the lever did not work (fixed that). Then when I cut out and replaced the drivers floor pan, the forward cable brace was no longer attached to the body and the brakes did not work at all. I rewelded the brace to the body and adjusted the brakes to engage properly.

Next up on my list is replacing the gas tank and fuel lines tomorrow. I bought steel fuel lines to replace the nylon ones. I am really hoping that when I replace the sending unit, it will give me a functioning fuel guage. One can only hope.

I replaced a couple of brake lines and installed a new-to-me radiator. Took it out for a test drive to check for any leaks and had a whole new problem.

Nailed it off the line and when it shifted from 1st to second, ripped the right front motor mount in half. I just got new mounts so now I'll be replacing those.

Do we need to change your your name to Petal-to-the-metal?

Unfortunately, I took a good friend for his last ride in the Bronco today. My buddy Cade moved on to greener pastures. Rest in peace big guy.

That's a tough ride, hang in there. My thoughts are with you.

Great Pyranese? Had one too. Had to put her down due to cancer. But I moved out of the house before that happened and wasn't real close to that dog. Sorry to hear about it tho Chad. It's never easy.

Damn sad.

JD, you are right, he was a Great Pyrenees. I adopted him from a friend when he was 3. He had a great life, and added a lot to mine. He'll be missed. Thanks for your support, guys.

Took the bronco up to walden and played in the dunes. Drove it 300+ miles averaged 11.66 mpg and managed to only break the throttle cable :) opps

Pulled out my old Smittybuilt cage and gave it to HIX. He hooked me up with a sweet Confer cargo rack. I forgot how much crap was hanging off my cage, shovel, prybar, axe, hi-lift, speakers, wires, 3pt & 5 pt belts, fire extinguisher.

I was a little worried about finding the time to build my new cage, with most my time and effort going to my house remodel. This morning my employee no-call/no-showed. So I guess I don't have an employee anymore. That means I'm working 7dy/wk till I find a new employee and get them trained (again, I did this all of May and most of June). Now, I know I'm screwed and don't have anytime to build my new cage. I guess I'll be running with lap belts from my 5pt belts for a while.

Plazzma

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Craigslist score. I tried to only buy the plasma cutter, but it was worth it to buy both. Think I'm going to sell my Hobart 130xl handler. This Lincoln looks like a better machine. I'd sell both/trade for a real 220v machine.


The plasma cutter has a built in air compressor, it is not a power house, but it's rated to 3/16" easily, and 1/4" with patience. It will handle 99% of what I'll do around my garage.

Just need time to use them.

So, so jealous. You have no idea how badly I want a plasma cutter.

I wasn't looking for one, but stumbled on it. Crazy (drunk) woman from CB selling them. They were her ex husband's. She said her friends watched her use the plasma to make her art pieces, and were so scared by her technique they told her to sell it. Some of those CB locals sure are "special".

After having one at my disposal at the body shop for 4 years, I probably miss it the most, since I left.

I had to play with it a little. It is slow compared to the big 220v model we had at the body shop, but it will do the job. Portable is cool, too. 3/16" took some patience, but 1/8" was easy. 1/4" will be pushing it, I'll probably have to take a 6 pack to the body shop when I have to cut 1/4". Its very lightly used, I found some consumables in the storage compartment, probably the pieces that came with it new. Only 2 tips were used up, and a 3rd with some life yet. 2 still brand new. She didn't even know they were there. I might have to buy electrodes and a "drag tip".

I'm going to run the two welders and decide which I want to sell. I'll probably talk to my friend at the welding shop and get his advice on which machine is better. The welder is nearly brand new too.

Nice score Chad. Would love a plasma as well. Then you could get a torchmate and open up a bunch of possibilities!

The HAMB is a great resource for info, I cruised the forum when I was reading up on GM alternators.

Took Orenthal James for his maiden voyage up Steuart Road over the weekend. It was not without a few issues but all said and done-- made it up and back in one piece. I was having issues with it stalling out on the way up which in turn put a lot of pressure on my "manual braking" (I have a power booster-- but it obviously does not work when the engine turns off.) I ended up snapping the booster to pedal fork hence leaving me without brakes. Fortunately it happend in a spot that I wasn't completely screwed and I was actually able to pull it off trail for the night.

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Plumbdoctor had a spare part for me and I buddy that was heading up later in the day Friday to camp with us grabbed it on his way up. It took all of 10 minutes to fix it on the trail and I was back to new. The rest of the trip went without incident (oh except when I pulled to the side of the road on I-70 to find 3 loose lug nuts on my front left tire.) Tightened those up and made the rest of the drive back seemlesly. All in all, I suppose the first wheeling trip could have gone worse!

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Seriously. That could have been a change of underpants kind of ride.

No brakes? No problem... :-/ Glad the repairs all worked out.

Reminds me of my first trip after disc brake conversion. I got the wrong calipers that causes the hoses to be pinched on the radius arm bushings. Not far into the trail, I lost all brakes, not even the rears were working. Not so fun.

I finally got around to installing my check engine light



Started to install my straightened and polished door trim...



Took it for a drive to test out the viper built steering box ;)



Drives pretty well. Still a little slop but honestly that could be the alignment, tie rods or some combo of both. iam going to get an alignment here soon and see how far its off.

Awesome Chris, I was meaning to ask you, will you please bring that bronco to the breakfast as I have been wanting to see it, and Todd, that I'm building a bronco for should be there