Who had March 14th?

1979 Ford Bronco
400/435/205

The goods:
Runs and drives good... for a little while.
Body is solid, no bondo.
Speedometer works, 4x4 works, steering worked surprisingly nice.
floorboards completely redone and interior has been cheapo-lined.. he did a nice job on it though, paint is pretty decent.

The bads:
Needs new: bumpers (someone want to help me custom fab some and make some moolah?), tailgate, seats (front & rear), alternator??, battery, some kind of electrical problem somewhere keeping it from starting. I'm about 95% sure that it will start just fine with a new battery, but will kill it just like it did this one. Previous owner said this thing is a battery killer.. any thoughts on the matter would be great. My plans as of right now are new alternator & battery and we shall see how that goes.

Drove to Waco today to look at a Bronco. Previous owner owned truck for 7 years and has been his weekend project ever since. During that time he installed new master cylinder, booster, lines, completely redid floor which he said had rusted through, he did a good job on all of it. The guy almost cried getting rid of it, touching stuff.. I know. Also has new carb, but this thing is mostly stock. I already removed some cheesy diamond plate step rails. It's sitting on 35's with no lift. The power steering doesn't seem to like that too much though.

Drove Bronco for 45 minutes with no problems. Previous owner said there is a short somewhere and it kills the battery if left on. We get about 30 minutes outside of Waco and Bronco starts losing power.. eventually dies as I coast to a stop. My diagnosis is no juice left in the electrical system + a bad alternator. I'll post follow up on this tomorrow after I remove alternator and put replacement in.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1.../worthless.gif

Oh, and I am pretty sure I win as I am the only one who didn't pitch in on the 'not before hell freezes over' square. :gigem:

Alright, dedicating all day to working on this thing.

Beer and other accommodations are provided if you'd like to come lend a hand. :)
I'm at 3900 Hilltop Drive, right off of old college and wellborn.

New alternator and battery.. still wont start.

Just clicks when I try to start it. Tried jumper cables and nothing..

Does this mean going through the whole truck and finding the short? Where do I start?

have multimeter?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seth

have multimeter?

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Yes

starter or solenoid. hit the starter with a hammer or some **** and try it again. if it works you need a starter; if nothing, replace the solenoid.

check and clean your grounds

if need be install a ground between the battery and motor

Use a screwdriver and jump the pos cable to the little wire on the front of the pos side of the starter solenoid. if it starts its either the solenoid or the neutral safety switch.

if your in cs call me tomorrow and we'll get that sombatch running

he had the alternator tested and it was bad so he got a new one on.

now post some pics already. i got a glimpse of it last night but it was under a tarp and has one of the biggest rear bumpers ive ever seen on it. its huge

Could be the ignition switch on the steering column, they do go bad occasionally. Pigpen's went tits-up when my battery cable grounded out on the exhaust one time.

by jumping the starter solenoid you can tell that the starter and battery are good. There are three things that will prevent it from starting before the starter solenoid
1.ignition switch
2.neutral safety switch
3. starter solenoid

crank, start, and run are not synonymous. i think the alternator was the problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TdmayfieldIV

if your in cs call me tomorrow and we'll get that sombatch running

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I'll give you a call tomorrow when it stops raining, are you still free?