New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

[slaxaa]

Hi all, new to the forum but not all that new to Broncos. I just bought a 1966 Bronco in Boise. It belonged to a friend of mine Bronco Bob Sanders who passed away a year ago. He ran a company called Early Bronco Specialties for years and this was his personal rig. It is a well worn and loved rock crawler that I relocated to the Bay Area as of last Friday. I'm interested in cleaning up a few things while still honoring Bronco Bob's legacy. So, I need advice on where I can have some work done. Here is a partial list.

* Seats - I believe the seats come from a Lincoln Mark IV and they are worn through. My Mad Max run from Boise on Friday mad my ass hurt and moved getting the seats reupholstered to high on the list.

* Mufflers - It has glass packs making it just a too loud for my tastes and my neighbors. I'm looking for an East Bay shop that does custom work that knows what they are doing. I'm thinnking of free flowing mufflers that tone it down a bit and maybe exit behind the wheels.

* Lockers - Bob had taken the Lock-Rite lockers out of the truck the year before he passed. He wasn't doing much wheeling and it had become a daily driver. I'd like to put them back in and need the name of a shop that does good axle work. I have the parts in a box and want to have the rear locker installed for sure. I also have a Lock-right for the front D44 but to be honest not too sure It is what I want up front. I'm planning on this being primarily a trail rig.

* Body Work - Ok it is a bit of a beater and has rattle can camo over the orignial Sahara Beige. I don't want to tart it up but it needs some bead blasting (maybe a bit of bondo here and there) and some painting to make it look a little less FrankenBronco.

I could go on but getting these underway is probablly enought for the short run. Thanks in advance for any input.
-Stein

Here is a link to some pictures:

https://goo.gl/photos/JrWJyUjk5ZqgJRwH8



https://goo.gl/photos/JrWJyUjk5ZqgJRwH8

[904Bronco]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Welcome to Norcal.

I am up in Boise right now and just met John Gilman who now owns Early Bronco Specialties. Great guy and I picked up a few parts for my project.
Your Bronco has great history
You might mention how far you might want to travel? Jimgo on this site has a mobile blaster and has done work for me. He is in San Jose, You could PM him...
Rear End specialties in Santa Clara has done rear ends for me... There is also a number of guys on this site who can do the work...
If you want to travel to Redwood City, Lupe at Mieneke mufflers on Middlefield Ave does great work. A lot of the Norcal Shelby club members used him for custom Exhaust.

Are you experiencing a culture shock, moving from Boise to SF yet? I like the area up here, but need to convince the Wife that it would be a good move...

Again Welcome to the site, Doug

[slaxaa]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Doug,

Thanks for all the info. I split time between Idaho and SF and it keeps me from going insane. I'm open to traveling the whole Bay Area to get good value and I'm in the South Bay quite a bit. I'll PM Jimgo and look into RE Specialties but most likely start with the mufflers. Much appreciated.

Stein

[71BRONCO71]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

* Mufflers - It has glass packs making it just a too loud for my tastes and my neighbors. I'm looking for an East Bay shop that does custom work that knows what they are doing. I'm thinnking of free flowing mufflers that tone it down a bit and maybe exit behind the wheels.

Try Steve at West Coast Mufflers out of Concord. They did mine and I am 100% happy with the job they did. I came in with an idea of having it exit in the rear at the frame level.
http://www.westcoastmufflers.com/

* Lockers - Bob had taken the Lock-Rite lockers out of the truck the year before he passed. He wasn't doing much wheeling and it had become a daily driver. I'd like to put them back in and need the name of a shop that does good axle work. I have the parts in a box and want to have the rear locker installed for sure. I also have a Lock-right for the front D44 but to be honest not too sure It is what I want up front. I'm planning on this being primarily a trail rig.

The Rear End Shop in livermore is where I took my axles when I lived in the Bay area. cool guys that run the shop. I remember dropping off my bare Dana 44 housing in the AM and he had my ARB istalled by the time i got off work. I never had a problem with it.
http://www.rearendshoplivermore.com/

* Body Work - Ok it is a bit of a beater and has rattle can camo over the orignial Sahara Beige. I don't want to tart it up but it needs some bead blasting (maybe a bit of bondo here and there) and some painting to make it look a little less FrankenBronco.

Body Work? hands down CageDave on this site. He is the master guru of all things bronco sheet metal and roll cages.
https://www.facebook.com/virga.customs

[earlybronco72]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Doug,

Thanks for all the info. I split time between Idaho and SF and it keeps me from going insane. I'm open to traveling the whole Bay Area to get good value and I'm in the South Bay quite a bit. I'll PM Jimgo and look into RE Specialties but most likely start with the mufflers. Much appreciated.
Stein

My parents live in Boise, so I end up there a couple times a year. We really enjoy our time there. I bought my first NP435 from Bob in 1997 when I was living in Moscow. Sad to hear he passed, but glad to hear you are keeping the rig going. That actually may be the bronco I drove when I bought the trans. He let me see how it drove with the lockrights. Sorry I'm not any help with the questions you asked.

[slaxaa]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Thanks Mark, much appreciated.

Regarding Bronco Bob Sanders, he died doing what he loved wrenching on one of his toys in his shop. One of his last projects was wedging a Cummins 4BT into a half-cab (half-cab). He told me it had so much torque that it could easily overpower the breaks in 4L. Note that he had not gotten to any body work and likely had no plans to any time soon. As recentely he had also built himself a V8 powered MG https://goo.gl/photos/pACyVHkKp7gnXh457 . He will be missed.

[earlybronco72]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Last time I saw bob was in Moab on the hells revenge trail. He ended up with one of my spare front axle shaft after he broke one of his. He was a great guy.

[CityHick]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Livermore Muffler has been good to me over the years. I've taken a few vehicles there, and for various reasons I've taken my Bronco there three or four times. Every time I've gone, he lets me get under the rig with him once its up on the rack, listens to my ideas and then gives me his opinions. We agree on a design and he goes to work. They are pretty reasonably priced and I like that they take my ideas into consideration.

Ryan's recommendations are also pretty solid. I have heard great things about "The Rear End Shop" as well. I've spoken to a few local mechanics who "outsource" all of their differential work to them.

Paint and body work - Cage Dave is the man. Nobody can say enough good things about his work and he's a Bronco owner too.

Have fun with your Bronco! My parents used to live in the Boise area and when I first got my Bronco, I sent my dad over to see "Bronco Bob" for something... I don't recall exactly what. My dad left there with lots of good things to say about the man and his Bronco collection. I never made it over there to meet him personally but everybody seems to echo the same sentiment about him. Glad that his Bronco legacy will live on. You seem to have a good idea of the direction that you wish to take it.

Welcome.

[slaxaa]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Update, I got the lockers installed front and rear through a mechanic friend who was between jobs. He then used his muffler guy to do my exhaust. During the shuffling of the rig and some light wheeling in the Oakland hills testing the axles, we broke the T-Case T-shifter linkage. He didn't know the tricks it takes to baby the shifting. Anyway rather than repair the PITA stock shifter I picked up a twin stick kit and he is going to install it next week for me. Next stop is Cage Dave for the roll bar work.... Stay Tuned

[69crawler]

Re: New Member - New Rig - Advice on getting work done in the Bay Area

Progress is always good. Too bad for the transfer case. What part of SF? Sunset?