Another Day Another Set Back

Well there goes the plans for this week. I was planning on doing a video driving the truck through some trails and mud but I guess all the other playing in the truck took its toll. Anytime you take a truck mudding or trail riding there is a big risk of damage being caused. This past week I got back from driving through a storm and crossing a ditch or two where I apparently was a little hard on the truck. Honestly I floor-boarded it in about 18 inch deep mud and it pretty much destroyed the front hub. Mud can cause all kinds of damage on a vehicle cause it gets everywhere if you don't believe me read this forum http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2181.

The parts are not going to be cheap to fix this one. I first will check on the warranty of the Warn Premium Hubs but most likely those are gonna cost over a $100 to replace. Then I will have to replace both front wheel bearings on the driver side (yes the same ones I just re-did in the Ball Joint replacements) because of the metal shaving that are the only remaining traces of all the steel ball bearings.

New Hubs                   $115.00
Front Wheel Bearings   $35.00
Synthetic Axle Grease $15.00
-----------------------------------------------
Total                            $165.00

There should be ball bearings in each groove of this
hub assembly, nothing but shavings remains.

The notch in the axle is where the clip below should have been which is what
hold the hub assembly in place.

The clip is laying between the outer spindle nut and locking washer and the hub
assembly at the top with the cap assembly on the right.

There appears to be a rock in there which is not a good thing and
could have actually contributed to the hub failure.

All the shiny flakes are all that remains of multiple marble size
ball bearings. These shavings pose a threat to the remaining
bearings which means it will all be cleaned and replaced.

All this damage comes with the territory of using your truck as an off-road toy. The abuse is sometimes too much for certain parts to handle. Well another day another dollar. In a week this will be repaired and I'm sure this won't be the last of my broken parts cause I don't plan on slowing down or doing anything less than pushing this truck to the limits anytime soon.

A little update

I'm still a little short on money so I'll use this week for an update. In my last trip from Jonesboro to Smithville the truck got an impressive 15.5 miles per gallon which is almost double its old average. Of course this extra mileage came with driving and accelerating a little slower. I noticed that I still haven't uploaded a video of the sound of the new exhaust so here you go. 

 Here is a picture that I'm doing for another class assignment. I thought it made my truck look cool. Other pictures like this will soon be available on my photography website rehtulphotography.com which is currently under construction. 

No Time This Week

Well I didn't really have the time nor the money for any major project this week. With gas prices soaring my money to be getting devoured by the gas tank in my truck. One of the biggest things with driving a Full Size four wheel drive is that they get horrible gas mileage. With the large amount of work I have done to my truck recently it has improved from a dismal 8 mile per gallon to a respectable 13 miles per gallon which is a pretty substantial increase when talking about an over 60% increase in fuel efficiency. So with that said check out the tips at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml for some other ways to get better mileage. If I followed a few of the driving tips I'm sure I could see a little more improvement myself. But for now I think I'll just walk a little more since the last fill up cost me $110.00 and the price of gas has went up since then. Maybe with payday coming up I'll have a little more next week.

Time for an Oil Change

Every vehicle needs routine maintenance and my truck is a little overdo for an oil change. So I decided that I would do that this week plus it was relatively cheap.  I video taped this but the video could not be understood do to the ridiculous wind that was blowing so I'm just gonna use some pictures.

I purchased 6qts of 10W-30 Havoline oil, 1qt of Lucas oil treatment, and a Motorcraft
FL-1A filter from the local O'Reilly's Auto Parts store for around $30 dollars.

You want to start off by loosening the oil drain plug which should be located on the
lowest point of the motor. (Wait till motor is cool to do this or the oil will burn you)

Once you get the plug removed the oil should come out quickly and you
can see here that the oil is black and as thin as water, which is not good.

You will need some kind of container, just make sure its big enough for the amount in your
truck, to catch the oil in and this can be challenging if the wind is blowing very hard.

The oil filter is located in many different spots on different vehicles but are usually
pretty visible. I used a Motorcraft filter which is what comes stock on any Ford vehicle.
You should be able to remove the old one and put the new one on just using your hand.
Be careful not to over tighten or cross thread the filter. 

You can see here how black and burnt the old oil was, it had 4500 miles on it.

After everything is drained make sure you tighten the plug back up
and be sure not to over tighten or cross thread it.

Find the spot where the oil goes on top and pour it in. Mine takes 7qts but
you will want to check your manual to see how much any other vehicle will hold.

You can dispose of the old oil at many locations including Wal-Mart as long as you follow their instructions. O'Reilly's also offers many 5qt and Filter combinations at a significant discount. Here are some other links describing oil changes. eHow , AutoRepairHelp 101 , edmunds.com.

New exhaust

I removed the top of the Bronco when I was at the house this weekend. Its not a real complicated process but you can see it here. I did not have my camera with me to show you a step by step process. In the pictures below you can see the damage that has been done by years of abuse to the exhaust manifolds on my truck. The cracks that started the complete split of the exhaust manifolds was actually caused by traveling through deep water on the trails. 

When the exhaust manifolds crack the motor will have what a lot of people refer to as the tick-tick noise. 

Below is all of the exhaust parts removed from the truck this took about 3 hours worth of work and I have some new parts coming in to replace them. I have purchased some headers and a new y-pipe with catalytic converter. I should have a video of the new exhaust on my next post.

Testing Articulation

I didn't have time to work on anything this week so I thought I would share some testing pictures with you. Articulation also known as flex is very important when it comes to taking a truck offroad and on the trails. Articulation is the ability of the front and rear axles to twist in the opposite direction of each other while maintaining all wheels on the ground for maximum traction. The TTB or twin-traction beam front end on the Bronco is not known for its ability to articulate. You can see in the pictures below that the solid-axle rear end moves a lot more than the TTB front end. You can also see more TTB Flex pictures at Fullsizebronco.com. For a stock suspension with oversized tires I was impressed with the flex but you can see that in the pictures the tires had began to spin loosing traction.

The front passenger side wheel is tucked and the rear is at full extension.

Front View

Driver Side View

Driver side rear tire is completely tucked in fender well.

Rear View

Better View of Full Extension

To get an idea the front tire is sitting on a ledge that is nearly as tall as the
rear tire which measures 34 inches in height.

Front Disc Brakes

This was not the planned post for this week but after the addition of larger tires my brakes were dangerous and not stopping the truck very well. I purchased some new brake pads and a special tool and installed them in a little over 30 minutes a side in the parking lot in front of my dorm building.