#operationmijohauler

[mobil1syn]

put a baby in my wife, needed somewhere to put him when he showed up and the other two that were planned. so cheap, simple, capable of doing the rubicon and able to carry 3 mijos was the criteria. after much discussion and a quick search i picked up a 96 bronco. so 4 years and 3 kids later i am documenting the build.

- 96 bronco, 351, e4od, manual hubs and manual tcase

the day i bought it

[mobil1syn]

did some stock mobbing in it





added 35s after a small bumper trim, drove it like that for a little while

[mobil1syn]

first up was the rear, threat shock hoop, 3.0x12 bypasses

[mobil1syn]

and then it was on to the front. threat radius arms, brackets, stock c&t beams

plated the beams, radius arms where the bumps were going to land, and the passenger frame pivot

[mobil1syn]

after removing all the stock crap it was time to get shock mounts going. i used desolates lower mount, a no brainer for the price and started throwing tube for the upper

[mobil1syn]

while that was going on, what started as a simple regear escalated to adding an ARB, and a complete rebuild.

[mobil1syn]

on thing that i never did in past vehicles because i was always in a rush was painting. made it point to paint everything and it reminded me why i never do. i have zero patience and waiting for stuff to dry is miserable. engine cage, frame pivots and rear shock mounts are black and steel it for everything else.

[mobil1syn]

plenty of hvac clearance and for some rear had to really hack the bottom of the passenger side beam, so i added a tube on the backside for support. also threw together some mounts for the stuff that was attached to the inner fenderwells.

[mobil1syn]

added a pivot cross brace, final assembly and had to address the brake line wanting to be in the same place as the shock mount. also build some sliders that have been sitting on the garage floor for almost a year.

[mobil1syn]

#deathtolightbars added a light mount to the front bumper. started with 4 halogens, then upgraded the center two to redrings

[mobil1syn]

next up was wiring which was another thing i never too the time to do right. so i spent a lot of money with prowire, used a switchpro setup, and took my time.

[mobil1syn]

being a rockcrawler at heart, i needed rock lights and AMERICA. made the ARB wiring as compact and simple as possible since they way they want you to wire it is dumb.

[mobil1syn]

arb comp mounted on the shock hoop

[mobil1syn]

did a few trips with it after that. kids were stoked on it.

[mobil1syn]

this trip was a good one, but it took a toll. rear housing its leaking from the plug welds and is bent now. i should have trussed it when it was out for the rear gear, but i had no money. developed an exhaust leak so i solved that and added a proof of concept mount for its. so not the exhaust is solid with the engine and trans.

[mobil1syn]

while i was dealing with the exhaust the mijos left me a suprise. killed a wheel, bent the caliper mount on the knuckle, still havent fully addressed the carnage so well what it ends up being.

[mobil1syn]

so while its sitting in the driveway waiting to get the front end sorted out and rear axle addressed i built a rear bumper for it.

[mobil1syn]

and that brings the thread up to date.

upgrade/plans
- new rear bumper with dual swings
- deavers
- 1.5" over beams for the front and a bypass
- address some motor maintenance items and possible build it?
- punisher vb, gate shifter and center console

[jhj_08]

Fun build. Did you get around to trussing the rear end on her?

[ChaseTruck754]

Looks like a fun little build. And I dig your axle hauler! That is proof of concept enough for me to run mine. I have though of the same thing to transport a 9" I have here but hadn't tried it yet. Time to do it!