We broke a Bronco on the trail! Transmission pan fix

[dgorsett]

I like how the transmission sits up a few inches higher than everything else and don't want a skid that gives that up by dropping to the level of the FDU and transfer case. A skid that mounts above the sway bar, at that level back to the crossover pipe then angle down to crossmember level flatten out and attach.

For those old enough, I'm thinking of an OLD jeep TC skid inverted and reversed with a flat welded on the rear of the angle for x member mounting

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[swooshdave]

Folks doing serious off roading with plastic skid plates are crazy IMO. I had better skid plates on my WRX than the OBX has.

Vast, vast majority of ODX won't see anything more dangerous than sand. Plastics skids will be fine.

 

[goatman2]

Looking at both the ASFIR and the Mabett skid plates, think I'm going to go with the ASFIR. My biggest concern is ground clearance, which is the Achiles heel of the new Bronco, so don't want anything to decrease ground clearance. The trans skid needs a lip on the sides for strength, but the ASFIR does it with a bit more overall clearance. I also like that it's aluminum so slightly less weight, but that's really not much of an issue.

Is there any other options for the 2dr 4 cyl? Haven't found them. I do like the aluminum pan, and it is the best option for ground clearance. I do see that our transmissions tend to run a bit hot, so maybe I should think about that option more. Am a bit hesitant to modify while under warranty, though adding more fluid capacity and cooling should be appreciated. Just some thoughts...

 

[Snacktime]

Everyone is very worried about clearance in this area, biggest thing is make sure you don't have a pocket that will catch a rock and roll it. Its one thing to smack something its a whole lot larger issue if you catch and roll a rock. My take is you need a skid that goes from frame rail to frame rail and can't catch and roll the rock.

Just glad transmission pans are an in stock item.

I would have gone if it was a Saturday run!

 

[goatman2]

Everyone is very worried about clearance in this area, biggest thing is make sure you don't have a pocket that will catch a rock and roll it. Its one thing to smack something its a whole lot larger issue if you catch and roll a rock. My take is you need a skid that goes from frame rail to frame rail and can't catch and roll the rock.

Just glad transmission pans are an in stock item.

I would have gone if it was a Saturday run!

I understand your comment, but I'll disagree. I'd rather catch a rock, and maybe roll it over to move it, but at least be able to jiggle and reposition, than have full steel for a huge area and get turtled and not be able to move. I've always preferred to take my chances with air. I've always said that the best thing to have in a rock buggy is air.......i.e. nothing there. Two different ways of looking at it.

 

[ksdon]

We installed the Asfir trans plate not to go rock crawling, but due to the large limbs of wind blown trees, the junk that grows along farm fence rows etc. That plastic cover could probably be broken by being hit by a strong corn stalk....thinking about pheasant season.

 

[BudgetBronco]

Good video, I enjoyed it! Maybe a silly question: why bleeping out location data? Is this a 'secret' trail that you guys don't want anybody to know about?

 

[popo_patty]

Good video, I enjoyed it! Maybe a silly question: why bleeping out location data? Is this a 'secret' trail that you guys don't want anybody to know about?

Not silly at all! That was actually my bad. I don’t prefer to share locations over YouTube and Facebook public forums for a multitude of reasons but forgot to not say the location in my filming (1st timer here!). So I bleeped it out. I will do better in future videos haha. I’m happy to take people on my adventures anytime though and show them the local spots! I’m just overly scared of crowding.

 

[BAUS67]

Flex Tape?

Funny thing about tape and plastic engine parts.


Back in the late 80's, early 90's, in the height of the Fox body days I was at the local dragstrip. I watched as a fellow racer blasted down the quarter mile and just past half-track it let out a loud bang and nosed over.

I rushed up to the pull off and asked what happened. "It's done!!!" "Nitrous backfire". We popped the hood to see the intake, one of these....................

............had splintered in about ten pieces. Guy says to me "Can you give me a hand pushing it on the trailer?" To which I replied, "I can do you one better. Let me run back to my pits." I came back with a roll of duct tape. He looked at me puzzled at first and then it dawned on him what I was going to do.

You guessed it I took the pieces and started to re-assemble the intake together using the tape to hold the pieces in place. After I got it back together, I said, "Fire it up, but be ready to shut it off in case I still have a leak. Sure enough fired right up and didn't miss a beat. He was taken back that it actually ran. "Shut my hood I'm going to make a pass". I told him I don't know how well it hold together. He nails it and the car ran within about 2 or 3 tenths of what would normally run.


Granted this is an intake with no fluid in it but is still goes to show what can be done with a bit of good old American ingenuity.

 

[popo_patty]

Funny thing about tape and plastic engine parts.


Back in the late 80's, early 90's, in the height of the Fox body days I was at the local dragstrip. I watched as a fellow racer blasted down the quarter mile and just past half-track it let out a loud bang and nosed over.

I rushed up to the pull off and asked what happened. "It's done!!!" "Nitrous backfire". We popped the hood to see the intake, one of these....................

............had splintered in about ten pieces. Guy says to me "Can you give me a hand pushing it on the trailer?" To which I replied, "I can do you one better. Let me run back to my pits." I came back with a roll of duct tape. He looked at me puzzled at first and then it dawned on him what I was going to do.

You guessed it I took the pieces and started to re-assemble the intake together using the tape to hold the pieces in place. After I got it back together, I said, "Fire it up, but be ready to shut it off in case I still have a leak. Sure enough fired right up and didn't miss a beat. He was taken back that it actually ran. "Shut my hood I'm going to make a pass". I told him I don't know how well it hold together. He nails it and the car ran within about 2 or 3 tenths of what would normally run.


Granted this is an intake with no fluid in it but is still goes to show what can be done with a bit of good old American ingenuity.

Absolutely love this story! American ingenuity for the win!
Unfortunately while tape may of worked, the transmission still needed approx 8 qts of fluid so we figured the run into town should include a new pan as well. We did have plans for an epoxy fix should the pan be out of stock

 

[SuperDave150]

Well a first happened! Gold Country Bronco’s went out like we usually do to explore some local trails and enjoy some fresh snow after the weeks winter storm!

Started well plowing fresh powder down the trail toward some local hot springs and 7 Broncos were making good progress.

At a certain point the trail dropped down into a rocky gorge that had a snow melt creek running down. The tough part was only about 100 yards long and had small boulders, off-camber sections, and 2 feet of fresh powder.

Unfortunately about 50 feet from the end of the gorge a Outer Banks Bronco without skid plates came down hard on a pointy rock that went straight into the transmission pan which punched a hole and leaked out 8 qts of fluid in about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was seen immediately and the Bronco was turned off and towed down out of the gorge to a flat spot.

We now faced a dilemma… attempt a trail repair or source a new pan? Either way we needed lots of transmission fluid. I climbed up a hill to get service as we were in a small valley at the bottom of the rocky gorge in deep snow. We already knew there was no pulling a dead Bronco up the gorge and a trail fix was the only way and before the next storm comes through scheduled for the evening the following day. At the hill I had 1 bar of service and was able to call a local dealer who had the part! The awesome parts guy saved it for me and set aside the service manual and extra fluid and a pump for the fluid. They were the only dealer in the area with one and had one in stock! We were quoted 3 days everywhere else.

4 of our party left back up the gorge to grab the part the following morning and 3 of us stayed the night with the stranded Bronco. Thankfully we travel prepared and had all the tools and supplies to camp in what was to be a night of 15 degrees and wind. There was a full moon and it was beautiful!

In the morning we took the two working Broncos and drove out to the trailhead where someone was waiting with the part. We then drove back down the gorge (this gorge is part of a marked trail and we were never off trail) and at this point the weather was warming up and snow was melting and the gorge was turning into a creek. The pan was $116 dollars and was held in place with 18 bolts using 8mm and 13mm bolts. It’s a tight fit and slow going with the exhaust in the way but we were able to remove the old pan with simple tools. The new pan went right into place.

On the driver side of the transmission is a full plug that has a dip stick. The manual called for 5 quarts of fluid which shows between 3 and 4 on the dip stick. After that you drive the Bronco till it reached 205-216 degrees on the transmission shown in gauges We didn’t have room to drive around and didn’t want to have issues driving up the gorge so we checked the level at 100 degrees instead as that’s as high as we could get it.

After checking levels we added another 3 quarts of fluid and everything was checking out. At first there was a low whirring noise from the transmission which was just the system purging out the air and went away after 5 minutes of driving. Everything was shifting smooth. We drove out slow taking time on the gorge as it had become fairly gnarly even for Sasquatch Broncos. Everyone made it it safely though and the transmission stayed at the proper level and remained in the operating temp with proper shifting the entire time!

So what could have been a really bad day turned into a cool, eventful snow camping trip! It turns out the pan replacement is not difficult on the trail. I would also guess that if we had a drill bit and 2 part epoxy we could have repaired the pan enough to drive it out but we also needed lots of fluid anyway and the pan was in stock so we went that route.

That being said, get skid plates y’all. Gonna try and make a YouTube vid as I took a ton of video but we will see.

Good job overcoming the challenge!

I just happened to order a full set of skids from RCI yesterday. 20% off sale.

 

[2020FordRaptor]

Well a first happened! Gold Country Bronco’s went out like we usually do to explore some local trails and enjoy some fresh snow after the weeks winter storm!

Started well plowing fresh powder down the trail toward some local hot springs and 7 Broncos were making good progress.

At a certain point the trail dropped down into a rocky gorge that had a snow melt creek running down. The tough part was only about 100 yards long and had small boulders, off-camber sections, and 2 feet of fresh powder.

Unfortunately about 50 feet from the end of the gorge a Outer Banks Bronco without skid plates came down hard on a pointy rock that went straight into the transmission pan which punched a hole and leaked out 8 qts of fluid in about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was seen immediately and the Bronco was turned off and towed down out of the gorge to a flat spot.

We now faced a dilemma… attempt a trail repair or source a new pan? Either way we needed lots of transmission fluid. I climbed up a hill to get service as we were in a small valley at the bottom of the rocky gorge in deep snow. We already knew there was no pulling a dead Bronco up the gorge and a trail fix was the only way and before the next storm comes through scheduled for the evening the following day. At the hill I had 1 bar of service and was able to call a local dealer who had the part! The awesome parts guy saved it for me and set aside the service manual and extra fluid and a pump for the fluid. They were the only dealer in the area with one and had one in stock! We were quoted 3 days everywhere else.

4 of our party left back up the gorge to grab the part the following morning and 3 of us stayed the night with the stranded Bronco. Thankfully we travel prepared and had all the tools and supplies to camp in what was to be a night of 15 degrees and wind. There was a full moon and it was beautiful!

In the morning we took the two working Broncos and drove out to the trailhead where someone was waiting with the part. We then drove back down the gorge (this gorge is part of a marked trail and we were never off trail) and at this point the weather was warming up and snow was melting and the gorge was turning into a creek. The pan was $116 dollars and was held in place with 18 bolts using 8mm and 13mm bolts. It’s a tight fit and slow going with the exhaust in the way but we were able to remove the old pan with simple tools. The new pan went right into place.

On the driver side of the transmission is a full plug that has a dip stick. The manual called for 5 quarts of fluid which shows between 3 and 4 on the dip stick. After that you drive the Bronco till it reached 205-216 degrees on the transmission shown in gauges We didn’t have room to drive around and didn’t want to have issues driving up the gorge so we checked the level at 100 degrees instead as that’s as high as we could get it.

After checking levels we added another 3 quarts of fluid and everything was checking out. At first there was a low whirring noise from the transmission which was just the system purging out the air and went away after 5 minutes of driving. Everything was shifting smooth. We drove out slow taking time on the gorge as it had become fairly gnarly even for Sasquatch Broncos. Everyone made it it safely though and the transmission stayed at the proper level and remained in the operating temp with proper shifting the entire time!

So what could have been a really bad day turned into a cool, eventful snow camping trip! It turns out the pan replacement is not difficult on the trail. I would also guess that if we had a drill bit and 2 part epoxy we could have repaired the pan enough to drive it out but we also needed lots of fluid anyway and the pan was in stock so we went that route.

That being said, get skid plates y’all. Gonna try and make a YouTube vid as I took a ton of video but we will see.

That sounds fun. What's the luck.of the dealer having the part. Skid plates anywone?

 

[popo_patty]

That sounds fun. What's the luck.of the dealer having the part. Skid plates anywone?

Pretty insane! They were a smaller dealer and the only one within several hours that had one in stock.
I have Fords skids but ordered Mabett to check it out

 

[goatman2]

Funny thing about tape and plastic engine parts.


Back in the late 80's, early 90's, in the height of the Fox body days I was at the local dragstrip. I watched as a fellow racer blasted down the quarter mile and just past half-track it let out a loud bang and nosed over.

I rushed up to the pull off and asked what happened. "It's done!!!" "Nitrous backfire". We popped the hood to see the intake, one of these....................

............had splintered in about ten pieces. Guy says to me "Can you give me a hand pushing it on the trailer?" To which I replied, "I can do you one better. Let me run back to my pits." I came back with a roll of duct tape. He looked at me puzzled at first and then it dawned on him what I was going to do.

You guessed it I took the pieces and started to re-assemble the intake together using the tape to hold the pieces in place. After I got it back together, I said, "Fire it up, but be ready to shut it off in case I still have a leak. Sure enough fired right up and didn't miss a beat. He was taken back that it actually ran. "Shut my hood I'm going to make a pass". I told him I don't know how well it hold together. He nails it and the car ran within about 2 or 3 tenths of what would normally run.


Granted this is an intake with no fluid in it but is still goes to show what can be done with a bit of good old American ingenuity.

Another great story. We got a Jeep off the trail one time that blew the clutch. We kept adjusting the clutch out and jamming duct take up between the flywheel and pressure plate. Had to start in gear, but he drove out.

I broke a steering gear sector shaft once, on Fordyce trail. It was a three day camping run. I had a spare gear box in my trailer, so a couple guys drove back down the trail to get the spare box. I drove close to a mile to where we were going to camp steering with the winch. We made two small loops of chain and attached to each steering arm, then hooked the winch to whichever side we needed to pull on to steer. I worked the gas and one of the guys walked in front with the winch controller working the winch and moving the cable from side to side. Fordyce is a pretty good rock crawling trail near the Rubicon. We made it to camp and I swapped out the steering gear in the morning. Great memories.

 

[Sparkherd]

You gave your dad ‘feces’?? Is this a typo?? Is this some East Texas colloquial custom I don’t know about??? Can we get some clarification on this?

If I gave him shit, he'd kick my ass...

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