The story starts back in the fall of 1988. I was living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.) near Marquette. I paid $3000 for the bronco. It already had a set of 38' swampers on it and a fairly stock 429 had been put in. The axles were stock with 3.50 gears and a posi in the rear.I joined the North Woods Trail Blazers club in Marquette and began to go wheelin. The type of wheelin in the U.P. is 99% MUD!!! I had a blast. Logging areas were our play grounds. Deep skidder tracks made for some excellent adventures.
Early in 89 I helped form what is still today the Upper Peninsula Mud Drag Association (U.P.M.D.A.). We held races all over the western portion of the U.P. Of course I was also one of the racers. The first year 89 I raced the bronco just like it was. I only won one race that year but finished 4th in points. That wasn't good enough for me. So I made several modifications to the bronco and raced again in 1990. I was the points champion for 1990. I was the one to beat!!! As you can imagine racing doesn't pay well. So I the next couple of years I only raced at a few close events (with good results). I kept wheeling but in my 78 F-150. It did double duty as my plow truck and my wheelin truck. The mods I had done to the bronco just didn't mix well with regular wheelin.
In 1994 I had to move to South Dakota. Before I moved I put the bronco back on the road. With a fresh engine, trany, t-case and tires it was ready to go wheelin again. Well when I got to South Dakota (near Rapid City). I found that the type of wheelin I was used to just was not tolerated very well out here. So I changed my wheelin style from MUD to ROCKS. WOW what a difference!! Big learning curve. I was over powered and under geared. I joined the Black Hills 4-Wheelers soon after I was settled. Over the past 5 years I have changed my truck so much it is hard to keep track. Wheelin a Full-size truck in the rocks takes guts and a lot of broken parts (mostly front axle shafts). It also takes it's toll on the body. Dents add character. Well my Bronco had a lot of character!!! Then one day it happened. It happens to every SERIOUS ROCKCRAWLER. I rolled it! So I set out to create something a little different. I call it a "BRANGER". That's a mix of the 79 Bronco chassis and an 86 Extended Cab Ranger.
Story Details by year!
| 1988 | When I bought it there was a fairly stock 429 under the hood. The previous owner installed an Crane HMV 272 cam, Edlebrock Performer intake, Accell distributor and a Holley 750 vacuum secondary carb. That's it as far as the engine goes. The suspension was a combination of a set of 4 inch Rancho coils with the spring towers lowered 2 inches and add a leaf and blocks in the rear. The tires were 38 x 12.50 x 15 Super Swampers. There were a nice set of AutoMeter gauges inside with a factory interior. The axles were stock with 3.50 gears and a track lock in the rear. I raced and wheeled it just like it was for about a year. In 1989 I placed 4th in points in the Upper Peninsula Mud Drag Association Stock V-8 class with one win to my credit. 4th just was not good enough for me!!! |
 Powerline wheelin in the U.P.
|
| 1988-1994 | In the fall of 89 I started to rebuild her to
make a mud draggin machine but still stay in the stock class. So out came the 429. I used
the heads from the 68 429 and put them on top of a 460. The pistons were .30 over TRW's
with a dome. They were 11 to 1 pistons for a later model 460 with 94 cc chamber heads. My
heads have 73 cc chambers. Can you say compression!!!! The cam was a Comp Cams magnum 305.
The same intake was used from the 429 and a set of Harlan Sharp roller rockers were
installed. The Holley carb was sold and in its place sat a 930 cfm Predator!!!! I
freshened up the transmission and installed a really loose GER 3500 stall converter. This
thing did not even think about moving the truck until at least 2200. With light break
pressure it could be held until 3500 rpm. When I let off the brake and mashed the gas this
thing launched HARD!!!! The only change I made to the axles was a Dana Trac-loc in the 44
up front. With 5 wins and a host of 2nd's and 3rd's in the 1990 season I was the one to
beat! I took the stock class championship. I also took 6th in the modified class. The
beast was also running in the women's stock and modified class with a friends wife at the
wheel (I was always the passenger). She placed 1st and 3rd respectively. How's that for a
record!!! Towards the end of the race season I borrowed a Nitrous Power Shot system and
also ran in the open class in 2 events. What a rush Nitrous is!! Cut my times by a whole
second. I placed well in those two races 3rd and 4th. Not bad for a 7000 pound Bronco
competing against vehicles weighting almost half as much, including a couple of tube frame
buggy's. Unfortunately mud racing does not pay very much. With my second daughter now here money was getting tight. So the Bronco sat and only came out for special events for the next few years. |
 Here I am beating the guy I was chasing all year!!
Race ready with radiator mud guard installed!!!!!
Wheelin the Plow truck!!!! |
| 1994 | I did a major rebuild this year to help make it more steetable. I started with the engine. First I needed to reduce the compression so I could run pump gas. I had the domes machined off those TRW pistons to make them flat tops(believe it or not, it was cheaper than buying a new set). I had larger stainless steel valves installed in the heads 2.24/1.73 after I did a home porting and polishing job. I had the rotating assembly balanced. Found a factory cast iron Cobra Jet intake. Got a new bumpstick from Ford Motorsports 588/566 lift and 312/322 duration(man does this cam work!!!!). As always I assembled the engine myself. Took out the big torque converter and rebuilt the tranny. Took the mini spool out of the rear end and put in a Ford Trac-Loc. I ordered a new set of tires and wheels. Bart 15x12's and a set of 38.5x14.5 Super Swamper TSX's. After I got it back together I was able to take it to one last Mud Race before packing up and leaving for South Dakota. Due to rule changes over the years I had to run in the Modified class. She was a little sluggish of the line without my GER converter but she came alive fast!!! I took 2nd place that day!!! Not bad for being the only one in the class to drive their truck to and from the race! |  That is my buddy Fritz on the trailer behind me. His truck was built a lot like mine and went on to be a multi-year/class champion. |
| 1995-1998 | With the exception of replacing the Predator with
a tweaked QuadraJet(modified by me) the engine/tranny/t-case have remained the same. With
the introduction to wheelin in the Rocks of South Dakota I soon learned that I needed to
change a few things. For the first 3 years I struggled with what I had; a Mud Racer in the
Rocks. Finally I saved enough money and started the transformation from Mud Racer to Rock
Crawler. I ordered a set of 5.13 gears, a mini spool for the 9 inch and a Detroit Locker
for the 44. WOW that made a huge improvement in where I could go. I wanted to free up the front suspension a bit so I put large heims joints on the radius arms. This worked but my shocks and springs were still limiting my travel. I still could not steer when in the rocks. After breaking 2 steering boxes, a drag link and a tie rod or two, I installed a completely Hydraulic steering system.That's right, NO MECHANICAL LINK. It is simple and I can turn whenever I want!!!
|
 Early spring 1996 in Lower Buzzworm.
A try at Skyscraper in Hal Johns!! Nope, didn't make it. |
| 1998 | Now I wanted more flex. So I ordered a set of
custom Coils from Valley Spring Works. These coils are huge. They took 18 feet of rod each
to make. To help free up the front even more I built a panhard bar with heims joints at
both ends and made new mounts so that it has very little angle from mount to mount. With a
set of cheap shocks that I need to replace, I now get gobs of travel. Now I was getting real brave with my wheelin. At the Dakota Territory Challenge it finally happened. I ROLLED IT!! Yep flopped it on its roof. Destroyed the body. |
 Doin the Crusher on FullSize.
OOooopppss!!!!! |
| 1999
|
Needed to do something now that the body was
trashed. So I put the Ranger body on the old frame. This took me about 3 months. It is not
an easy undertaking. The suspension and drive train is still the same. But now it weighs a
little less (still 6000lbs) and gets into some tighter spots the old body would never fit.
I finally got fed up with breaking front axle shafts. So I called Off-Road Design and ordered a complete set of Warn 4340 axleshafts. Man these things a strong!!!!! Love them!!! I have done most of our toughest trails and helped open up a couple of new extreme trails and I have only changed 2 U-Joints. That's right only the joints. I figure that they have already paid for them selves. I would have broken at least 10 axles this year without them. I used to break one every time I went out on a 4+ or better trail. |
 Doin Crusher with the Branger.
On top of Jason's Rock in Iceman!! |
