Removing Tow Hooks

[mdk77]

Not sure what I did last night, maybe too many garage beers but i realized I had this wired wrong. Got it figured out now!

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[mdk77]

Ok well I took a test spin today and one of the intercooler hoses popped off. I didn’t have it seated good enough. I was about a mile away from home. Came Back dropped the skid plate and reseated.

question: does driving it for a bit with the hose off on one side pose any damage? Thanks

haven’t had beers yet so can’t blame that

 

[Brian_B]

question: does driving it for a bit with the hose off on one side pose any damage? Thanks

If you didn’t get any overtemp warnings I’d say you’re fine.

 

[Dialtone]

Hmm. Usually when I’m stuck sitting in traffic my boost gage is pegged at 0. Nothing for the IC to cool if there is no boost.

I don’t necessarily disagree with the rest of what you say though - you make good points

Air is always flowing through the IC as long as the engine is running. There's no "at idle" alternate path for the air. So it does heat soak under 0 boost at idle and it takes time for that heat to dissipate once you're moving again. In the real world it's kinda moot. If you're stuck in traffic there aren't a lot of performance opportunities. But my "I don't know" was knowing for sure how this heat soak impacts rock crawling. From what I've seen it's sub 5mph, minimal boost conditions and losing 1 to 5%ish hp isn't deal breaker. That would be an ideal time for an IC sprayer.

 

[Brian_B]

Hmm.. would make for a good experiment. I may see if I can get the right parameters to data log on my ProCal tuner and see what it does in real life rather than me just guessing based on what I see at work.

Got a chance to try this this morning.

Starting with a completely cold engine. I got a snapshot of all the temps immediately after starting it. I let it run idle for about 10 minutes - which is a really long traffic light. The air dams were shut, so no car motion and no incidental air coming from the radiator fan or anything else.

I’ll let folks draw their own conclusions but I found the results interesting. Anyway, I suppose I have derailed a tread about tow hooks enough!

 

[mdk77]

Alright folks , I am very happy with my new intercooler, fog lights, light bar, and dv8 bumper. What else should I upgrade? Back bumper?

 

[Brian_B]

Pretty sure the only correct answer to this is "portals" but watching to see what other people chime in

 

[mdk77]

Pretty sure the only correct answer to this is "portals" but watching to see what other people chime in

What are portals exactly?

 

[5GENIDN]

What are portals exactly?

Okay... Look at your axle... front and rear..... see how the axle goes right to the center of the wheel? That is true with every single vehicle there is right?

If you want to increase clearance (the area between the ground and the bottom of the Bronco/axle) you have to get that axle up right? the only way to do that is with a bigger tire. That would make the axle higher off the ground. For every 2 inches bigger tire you raise the axle 1 inch. Now how do you fit bigger tires? the distance from the axle to the body has to be increased. - to do this use a suspension lift, body lift or start cutting away parts of the body....

Now lets look at that axle again.... middle of the axle lines up perfectly with the middle of the wheel.

a portal attaches to the end of the axle.... right where the wheel connects. Now at the end of the axle, instead of a wheel you put a gear. so the axle turns a gear. below the gear you put one or two idler gears. they turn a gear below that which turns a stub shaft that the wheel is now connected to. All the gears go in a housing that is bolted on to the end of the axle......

NOW when you go and look at your axle, the middle of the axle does not align with the center of the wheel... It is 4 or 5 inches above it.... The gear box does make the axle wider (sits between the end of the axle and the wheel) but now you just gained 4 or 5 inches of axle clearance while using the exact same tires.... You also get a gear reduction (at least most portals do a gearing reduction just like a differential does a gearing reduction. This is a good thing. Now you also have more space between your body/frame and the tire... So now you can run a bigger tire as well...

to match the clearance a portal will give you with a suspension lift or body lift or combination... You would have to put an 8 to 10 inch larger diameter tire on..... So to match a portal with 35 inch tires you would have to have a 43 to 45 inch tire.... WOW... but you can put bigger tires on with the portal....WOW!

I have portals and 40 inch tires.... the wheels (not tires) wheels on the car next to me are 19 inch....

When I am out on the trail I can clear some pretty big rocks......

 

[mdk77]

Okay... Look at your axle... front and rear..... see how the axle goes right to the center of the wheel? That is true with every single vehicle there is right?

If you want to increase clearance (the area between the ground and the bottom of the Bronco/axle) you have to get that axle up right? the only way to do that is with a bigger tire. That would make the axle higher off the ground. For every 2 inches bigger tire you raise the axle 1 inch. Now how do you fit bigger tires? the distance from the axle to the body has to be increased. - to do this use a suspension lift, body lift or start cutting away parts of the body....

Now lets look at that axle again.... middle of the axle lines up perfectly with the middle of the wheel.

a portal attaches to the end of the axle.... right where the wheel connects. Now at the end of the axle, instead of a wheel you put a gear. so the axle turns a gear. below the gear you put one or two idler gears. they turn a gear below that which turns a stub shaft that the wheel is now connected to. All the gears go in a housing that is bolted on to the end of the axle......

NOW when you go and look at your axle, the middle of the axle does not align with the center of the wheel... It is 4 or 5 inches above it.... The gear box does make the axle wider (sits between the end of the axle and the wheel) but now you just gained 4 or 5 inches of axle clearance while using the exact same tires.... You also get a gear reduction (at least most portals do a gearing reduction just like a differential does a gearing reduction. This is a good thing. Now you also have more space between your body/frame and the tire... So now you can run a bigger tire as well...

to match the clearance a portal will give you with a suspension lift or body lift or combination... You would have to put an 8 to 10 inch larger diameter tire on..... So to match a portal with 35 inch tires you would have to have a 43 to 45 inch tire.... WOW... but you can put bigger tires on with the portal....WOW!

I have portals and 40 inch tires.... the wheels (not tires) wheels on the car next to me are 19 inch....

When I am out on the trail I can clear some pretty big rocks......

Sweet! I’ll definitely have to look into this. Not sure I am skilled to do myself.

 

[Brian_B]

What are portals exactly?

Black magic voodoo. The best kind of black magic voodoo.

They are wonderful, and wonderfully expensive, but if you can afford them they turn your machine into an offroad beast.

I was mostly joking about it, because they are very expensive. But they are probably the single biggest impact thing you can probably do to a Bronco. Installation is relatively easy, but 99.8%** of all people who own Bronco's won't even come close to needing them.

You have an intercooler and sweet bumper now - I would say the next things to eyeball would probably be Performance tune, winch setup, lights to go with your new bumper, steering upgrade (you'd want that before portals anyway), shocks/suspension (you have SAS but if you are thinking portals... then you probably want better suspension than even SAS to go with them). Or shift gears and go for convenience/comfort upgrades, like onboard air, gear storage, trail/ditch lights, bling, back seat cupholders, etc.

**completely made up statistic, I may be underestimating this number

 

[5GENIDN]

Sweet! I’ll definitely have to look into this. Not sure I am skilled to do myself.

Base on your questions and response.... (since I do not know you or your capabilities) I would definitely have a shop install any portals you might purchase... You may have a problem finding ANY shop that has EVER done this before.... The "kit" I installed came with brake rotors, new rear axle shafts, breathers, tie rods.

Your cost for the "kit" alone will be 20,000 to 25,000.... then if you have any suspension modifications.... I had custom tuned coil overs and upper control arm that ran about 6,000.... and then you still have tires.... figure 3000 to 5000 depending on size, type, 4 or 5... etc....It is not for the faint of heart.... Before you spend that kind of money.... Be sure that you need them.

OH... and then you still need to pay the shop.... what I would guess 5000 to 7000????

Oh... and if you are going to run a bigger tire you probably want to upgrade your steering rack and tie rods.... Lots of options there... I went full out and did the 74Weld stage 3... That will run you 6000 but then the double shear heim tie rods (1000) the additional double shear flange is another 1000....

essentially plan on buying a second bronco but only owning one....

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