New to BII's,have some questions

[Antihero]

Hi,i am new to this forum and to Bronco IIs and i have a couple of questions.

I just recently bought a 85 Bronco II for work (gas was killing me in a 83 chevy van)and i have to say that i am very impressed with it. While this one will stay stock,up by where i live(Priest Lake ID) there are several cheap Broncs that i would like to use as a project and build it for more serious off road action. What i want to know is....

Is there any bolt on and or easy way to give the 2.8 10 or 20 more horsepower? the only thing i am slightly disapointed with is the lack of power,i knew that it had 45 less horsepower than my 91 4.0 liter Ranger but it feel like much much less. This might be because when i bought it,it has 235/75s on it and i dont know if the previous owner changed the gearing,but it still has much less offroad prowess than my Ranger.(My dirt road has turned into a mini offroad park and has mud and ruts 1 foot deep my ranger,when it is running and with its 215/75s gets thru this pretty well with slightly more than moderate skinny pedal-ness,but the bronc has to be nearly redlined to get it to go)

I would like to lift it a moderate 2 or 3 inches,what are some good kits/companies for this? Suspension lift only please.

What size tire would i be able to fit with either a 2 or 3 inch lift?(I get conflicting reports on this. Some say i should be able to fit a 31 with a 2.5 inch lift,but according to an old 4x4 power i need to lift 4 inches to fit that)
I would like to have a 31 or 30 inch tire fit,without any fender modification.

What is the maximum tire size that the axles can survive with mostly mud and snow wheeling? Again i get many different opinions on this,some say 29 others(like 4x4 power) say a d28 shouldnt have bigger than a 31 and the 7.5 can go up to a 35,but i want a real world opinion on them.

My other questions deal with the stock Bronc..

Is it possible to fit 235/75 on the stock suspension? I crawled underneath and cant really tell if the guy put on a lift on,and according to my old 4x4 Power(its a great article really) you need a 1.5 lift to fit them.

Because of the bigger tires my odometer is reading .9 miles for every mile traveled and using that i am getting 24 miles to the gallon with mostly highway. I was under the impression that these got 20 mpg at best. Believe me i am very happy with this but since i am getting 4 mpg over with nothing really special...........Can i get more?

The gas gauge seems to have a life of its own. After filling up the tank and using 11 gallons of gas it reads empty,and after driving 50 miles it reads at a half a tank. Dont these have a 23.5 gallon tank? Is this a common problem? Is there an eay fix? Have i asked a mindnumbing amount of questions yet?

Thank you for reading my lengthy,drawnout,LONG post and if you guys have any other advice about Bronco II s and or modifying them(but please nothing too expensive in my off time as a concrete finisher,i am a starving musician who always seems to need more gear..) i would greatly appreciate it.

[Nobody]

Hi,i am new to this forum and to Bronco IIs and i have a couple of questions.

I just recently bought a 85 Bronco II for work (gas was killing me in a 83 chevy van)and i have to say that i am very impressed with it. While this one will stay stock,up by where i live(Priest Lake ID) there are several cheap Broncs that i would like to use as a project and build it for more serious off road action. What i want to know is....

Is there any bolt on and or easy way to give the 2.8 10 or 20 more horsepower? the only thing i am slightly disapointed with is the lack of power,i knew that it had 45 less horsepower than my 91 4.0 liter Ranger but it feel like much much less. This might be because when i bought it,it has 235/75s on it and i dont know if the previous owner changed the gearing,but it still has much less offroad prowess than my Ranger.(My dirt road has turned into a mini offroad park and has mud and ruts 1 foot deep my ranger,when it is running and with its 215/75s gets thru this pretty well with slightly more than moderate skinny pedal-ness,but the bronc has to be nearly redlined to get it to go)

Wouldn't waste any money trying to soup up the 2.8L. Swapping in a 4.0L is pretty much a bolt in swap. And since you've owned a 4.0L, you know the difference it makes. Otherwise about the only thing I might recommend would be an electric fan, and loose the mechanical fan. Might pick a little power with that.

I would like to lift it a moderate 2 or 3 inches,what are some good kits/companies for this? Suspension lift only please.

James Duff and Skyjacker seem to be at the top of the Stack

What size tire would i be able to fit with either a 2 or 3 inch lift?(I get conflicting reports on this. Some say i should be able to fit a 31 with a 2.5 inch lift,but according to an old 4x4 power i need to lift 4 inches to fit that)
I would like to have a 31 or 30 inch tire fit,without any fender modification.

The best answer for this is, "It Depends". Depends on the size and type of tire, size and offset of your wheel and it depends one which lift you use. Generally speaking, I think you need a 3-4" lift to clear 31's without any rubbing or fender mods. A two inch lift won't come with drop brackets, so I wouldn't recommend one. They will just screw up your camber.

What is the maximum tire size that the axles can survive with mostly mud and snow wheeling? Again i get many different opinions on this,some say 29 others(like 4x4 power) say a d28 shouldnt have bigger than a 31 and the 7.5 can go up to a 35,but i want a real world opinion on them.

I found 31's to be very reliable with the d28 and 7.5. Doesn't mean bullet proof though.

My other questions deal with the stock Bronc..

Is it possible to fit 235/75 on the stock suspension? I crawled underneath and cant really tell if the guy put on a lift on,and according to my old 4x4 Power(its a great article really) you need a 1.5 lift to fit them.

I think those should fit fine. Most tires stores should do a test fit for you if you want to make sure

Because of the bigger tires my odometer is reading .9 miles for every mile traveled and using that i am getting 24 miles to the gallon with mostly highway. I was under the impression that these got 20 mpg at best. Believe me i am very happy with this but since i am getting 4 mpg over with nothing really special...........Can i get more?

I'm not sure what the BII was rated for gas milage. An electric fan might help a little. Mostly it's all in the driver

The gas gauge seems to have a life of its own. After filling up the tank and using 11 gallons of gas it reads empty,and after driving 50 miles it reads at a half a tank. Dont these have a 23.5 gallon tank? Is this a common problem? Is there an eay fix?

Most likely its the sending unit inside the tank. Yes, 23.5. I think it's a somewhat common problem in any vehicle. Replacing the sending unit isn't too difficult, but does require dropping the tank. Most likely the previous owner kept the tank above 1/2 full by topping off a lot, which caused the top of the guage to wear out. A lot of times you will see the same thing on the bottom of the guage from people that only put in a few bucks at a time.

Have i asked a mindnumbing amount of questions yet?

You had a question?

Thank you for reading my lengthy,drawnout,LONG post and if you guys have any other advice about Bronco II s and or modifying them(but please nothing too expensive in my off time as a concrete finisher,i am a starving musician who always seems to need more gear..) i would greatly appreciate it.

Welcome aboard.

[ranger5.0]

I don't think I have ever owned a Ranger or bronco that the fuel gauge worked. I would use the trip meter and @ 220 miles it was time to fuel up. I never ran it dry with that system. I have never seen better than 15 MPG with a lift and taller tires. So don't change it if you like the fuel mileage.

[Exhauster]

when my 86 was stock the largest tire i could fit without rubbing was a 225/75/15... my 88 has 235's on it sitting stock, since i haven't driven it yet i can't say if they rub, although there are no rub marks on it
the 2.9 in my 86 seems to have plenty of power for normal driving, i've pulled a trailer without any problems and it gets great mileage.... offroad it's fine other than it doesn't like to lug down to an idle