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7.3 Powerstroke Swapped 96 Bronco

BroncoJoe96

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2024
Member Number
7944
Messages
19
Hey, what’s going on guys! I’ve been a member on FSB.com for a long time, but I thought it was about time I started a thread over here. FSB seems to be fading away a bit, and my Bronco is starting to get to be a bit more of a wheeling rig, so it seemed right to post it up here.

I started out by getting the Bronco at 15 for my first car. It was an absolute basket case that should have been scrapped, but after seeing it my dad and I were set on getting it. It came with a set of 42s as well as a set of 35s, and was sitting on a 6 inch SkyJacker lift and a 3 inch body lift.
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Above is how it looked after 9 months in the garage after receiving a lot of help from my dad. Trans rebuild, axle rebuild, new tires, new paint, etc, etc.

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From 16 to 22 it was my daily driver which I would use to go 3 hours up to school, and I also would wheel it when I could. The picture above is during a run on Barney Rubble at AOAA. It was my only vehicle so it’d drive on the highways to the trails, wheel all day, and then drive home.

This entire time I took notes on what I’d want to improve when I finally got the chance to do major upgrades. More power, solid axle up front, beefier axles, bigger lift, bigger tires, improve milage, etc. After I got out of school, I got a great deal on a newer Super Duty when Covid was kicking off, and that allowed me to finally move the Bronco into more of a project role. I had been building up a spare chassis with a 7.3 Powerstroke, rebuilt trans, one ton axle, and a bit of lift, and I was finally able to swap the body over.
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The Broncos finally “done” now, but since I’ve done the swap it’s been several years of fine tuning.

My goal was to build something that performs well off road, but also that is able to be driven on road and have decent street manners. That worked out well in my favor recently, because my ‘21 F-250 blew the 10 speed at 67k miles, so I’ve had to daily drive the Bronco around on 44s the past few weeks. So far it has over 600 miles on it, and it’s honestly been doing pretty decent. Only thing I try and do is stay off the highways because the Super Swampers get pretty shakey around 65 mph.

I’ll go and post up some recent upgrades. Let me know if you have any questions!
 
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badass that it is still streetable with 44s.

What transfer case setup do you have? I cant imagine the 7.3 wants to move 44's nicely in low range.
 
Thanks guys!


06h3 said:
badass that it is still streetable with 44s.

What transfer case setup do you have? I cant imagine the 7.3 wants to move 44's nicely in low range.
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Definitely adds cool factor in my book. Honestly I never even planned to go this big with tires, I just stumbled upon too good of a deal on Facebook marketplace to pass up.

For the transfer case, it’s a BW1356 manual shift from a Bronco. It’s got the same internals as the ones offered in bigger Fords of the generation, but it has a flange mount for the rear driveshaft which helps a lot with driveline angle, especially with the truck being so tall.

To help keep everything happy, I have 5.38s in the axles to help turn the 44s. I also have 2 massive Derale trans coolers tucked behind the brush guard, and some work done to the 7.3. 160/30 injectors, aftermarket turbo, efuel, intercooler, adrenaline HPOP, big exhaust, etc. The truck can be spooky fast on the street. Or at the very least feel spooky while going fast.


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Here’s a picture when I was plumbing in my trans coolers. The idea was to never have to worry about the truck getting hot. This was after I had cooked the first E40D I had rebuilt on my first run, due to overlooking cooling/trans temp gauges completely.
 
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holdmypocket said:
Awesome rig! Any trouble getting through state inspection? Does NY have tough lift laws etc?
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Thanks man! I know NY has some lift laws, specifically max bumper height, exposed tire outside of the fender, mud flaps, along with probably a dozen other that the Bronco breaks, but none of the local shops seem to care. It also helps that I've known them for a long while, so they pass me through pretty easily. Also, anything 25 years and older only needs a safety inspection now, and not emissions. Without that the diesel swap would have caused me some issues.
 
Back tracking a little bit, this June I attended the East Coast Bronco Roundup. Leading up to it, there was a handful of upgrades I did to the truck. First up was installing a new front axle. I was already running an OBS Dana 60 with 5.38s and an ARB locker, but I had the opportunity to upgrade so I did. I had blown a wheel bearing this past year after running them for a few years, and instead of buying a new hub and spindle, it was actually cheaper to buy a whole new donor axle. It was a slightly newer axle (95-97) so the calipers were bolt on, so that would be an upgrade compared to the axle I was running that had the calipers retained by pins. Score!

I stole the parts I needed, and then was left with a housing and knuckles I could use, plus some other spare parts. I decided I’d like to shave and truss the axle, as well as move to high steer so I’d stop pretzeling my front steering on rocks. That being said, I sent the knuckles out to be machined by Sky’s Fabrication, and I set off to doing the housing work.

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I swapped my old axle’s internals in, and it all came together leading up to my trip. What I really liked, was being able to tuck the ram high up and back. It’s very protected back there.

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I also took the opportunity to pull a leaf out of each front spring pack when I installed the axle. The truck sat too high in the front and also wouldn’t cycle the way I wanted. Once I lowered it, I needed to do a pinch of trimming to make the 44s fit.

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Definitely made a massive difference in how much the truck flexed, and even some change to the ride quality. It was a massive win.
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I also had swapped to disc brakes in the rear with emergency brakes. The discs are a great upgrade and pair well with the hydro boost. I can stop easily no matter what angle I’m on, but the emergency brakes are more of a suggestion. Maybe they’re more of a parking brake, but I’m not even sure if I’d trust them in that situation.

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Regardless, the majority of the upgrades were a huge success and the Bronco had 3 solid days of wheeling split between AOAA and Rausch Creek with no issues to speak of.

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Sick build


What are your RPM's on the highway with the 5.38's and 44's?

I'm looking at 3.73's and 37s driven by a 7.3, but I need a mix between tow gears and cruise gears. Pretty sure I want to keep around 2100 at 70-75 if I can.
 
Pt_Ranger_v8 said:
Sick build


What are your RPM's on the highway with the 5.38's and 44's?

I'm looking at 3.73's and 37s driven by a 7.3, but I need a mix between tow gears and cruise gears. Pretty sure I want to keep around 2100 at 70-75 if I can.
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Thanks Ranger!

I used an online calculator that ended up being pretty accurate. As for my experiences, I can't tell you much about 70-75 because the Super Swampers prohibit cruising at that speed, but at 50 I'm running 1500 and at 55 its like 1600/1700. Mostly I've been driving back roads, but this afternoon I'll hit a stretch of highway and see what 60/65 looks like. I believe at 50/55 I'm still not in OD.
 
ridered3 said:
Cool build! I'll ask the important question, what kind of fuel mileage are you getting with it as the Daily??
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Thanks!!

I checked it the other day over almost 300 miles, and I was averaging a little over 11 mpg. Mostly all country roads, and my '21 Super Duty with the 7.3 Godzilla and 10 speed gets (when it actually drives) about 13.5-14.5 mpg on the same roads I believe. Overall, I really can't complain about it since it weighs in at over 8k lbs and is rolling on 44s. I think if I upgrade to a newer turbo with a smaller exhaust housing I could squeeze a little more out of it. Currently I'm running an older KC38R and it takes a long while to get it spooled/keep it spooled.
 
BroncoJoe96 said:
Thanks!!

I checked it the other day over almost 300 miles, and I was averaging a little over 11 mpg. Mostly all country roads, and my '21 Super Duty with the 7.3 Godzilla and 10 speed gets (when it actually drives) about 13.5-14.5 mpg on the same roads I believe. Overall, I really can't complain about it since it weighs in at over 8k lbs and is rolling on 44s. I think if I upgrade to a newer turbo with a smaller exhaust housing I could squeeze a little more out of it. Currently I'm running an older KC38R and it takes a long while to get it spooled/keep it spooled.
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Impressive all things considered. Plus it's a cooler "curb appeal" daily than a normal truck.
 
Thanks for sharing this, awesome build.

Do you have a thread somewhere on the 10 speed failure behind 7.3? Curious about cause, solution and possible tips to prevent.
 
Levigarrett76 said:
Thanks for sharing this, awesome build.

Do you have a thread somewhere on the 10 speed failure behind 7.3? Curious about cause, solution and possible tips to prevent.
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Thank ya!

As for a thread on the 10 speed, not yet. I'm pretty new over here, but I took a bunch of video with the truck to share on Youtube and get the news out to anyone interested. Hopefully tomorrow I should have that all together. Cliff note version is the truck slowly started getting harsher and harsher engagements into drive and reverse, which eventually were followed by sporadic poor shifts. Enough that you caught one here and there and attracted your attention, but then you'd be good for a bit. This quickly progressed to the truck slamming into gear, and having poor shifts a few times every ride. I was getting ready to bring the truck into Ford when it threw a Powertrain Control Module code. Became a huge handful to drive when warm, so brought it to Ford. Dropped it off at a dealer and a tech up by the desk heard my symptoms and said the truck needs a trans. He told me to get in line behind the 12 other newer Super Dutys needing a trans. This was at a small dealership too. Sat at that one dealership for a week, got annoyed and brought it to another. When I did, they read the codes remotely and it had a P07F7 code, Incorrect Gear Ratio Code. Keep in mind this truck is stock, babied, and either daily driven or used to tow the Bronco. Later that day they called me and told me the trans is full of metal. $10,300 replacement cost, 7,000 miles out of warranty, less than 3 years owning the truck. I got in contact with Ford Customer Service and discussed the options with them, and how this is a joke. I also researched the failure, and its due to an internal piece on the trans moving out of position. I think they might have fixed it in the newer trucks with a snap ring retainer. Regardless, Ford got my price down to roughly $3,000 (while waiting over 2 weeks). I argued for more, took another week or two to be told no. Now the truck is just getting parts ordered for it.

This process could have been more streamlined-why weren't parts ordered immediately?-but I'm also not pleased by Ford's response. This likely should have been some sort of recall. It's nifty they're footing 70% of the bill, but I much rather have them stand behind a design flaw they had, especially when its such a common one it seems. This is also on a less than a 3 year old truck that was $60k+ that's been stuck at a dealership for a month. If I knew this would have happened, I'd just have bought a fleet of cheaper "more unreliable" older trucks.

Luckily I had my 28 year old mud truck to fill in....
 
BroncoJoe96 said:
Thank ya!

As for a thread on the 10 speed, not yet. I'm pretty new over here, but I took a bunch of video with the truck to share on Youtube and get the news out to anyone interested. Hopefully tomorrow I should have that all together. Cliff note version is the truck slowly started getting harsher and harsher engagements into drive and reverse, which eventually were followed by sporadic poor shifts. Enough that you caught one here and there and attracted your attention, but then you'd be good for a bit. This quickly progressed to the truck slamming into gear, and having poor shifts a few times every ride. I was getting ready to bring the truck into Ford when it threw a Powertrain Control Module code. Became a huge handful to drive when warm, so brought it to Ford. Dropped it off at a dealer and a tech up by the desk heard my symptoms and said the truck needs a trans. He told me to get in line behind the 12 other newer Super Dutys needing a trans. This was at a small dealership too. Sat at that one dealership for a week, got annoyed and brought it to another. When I did, they read the codes remotely and it had a P07F7 code, Incorrect Gear Ratio Code. Keep in mind this truck is stock, babied, and either daily driven or used to tow the Bronco. Later that day they called me and told me the trans is full of metal. $10,300 replacement cost, 7,000 miles out of warranty, less than 3 years owning the truck. I got in contact with Ford Customer Service and discussed the options with them, and how this is a joke. I also researched the failure, and its due to an internal piece on the trans moving out of position. I think they might have fixed it in the newer trucks with a snap ring retainer. Regardless, Ford got my price down to roughly $3,000 (while waiting over 2 weeks). I argued for more, took another week or two to be told no. Now the truck is just getting parts ordered for it.

This process could have been more streamlined-why weren't parts ordered immediately?-but I'm also not pleased by Ford's response. This likely should have been some sort of recall. It's nifty they're footing 70% of the bill, but I much rather have them stand behind a design flaw they had, especially when its such a common one it seems. This is also on a less than a 3 year old truck that was $60k+ that's been stuck at a dealership for a month. If I knew this would have happened, I'd just have bought a fleet of cheaper "more unreliable" older trucks.

Luckily I had my 28 year old mud truck to fill in....
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Man sorry to hear that, seems all to common these days..

Defintely be interested to see the youtube content. I finally got the balls to cut open an oil filter in my 2020 7.3 with 45k and excessive idle hours from PO, so far so good. Kind of afraid to check the bruce jenner fluid.

Thanks for sharing:beer: Sorry for the derail
 
BroncoJoe96 said:
Thank ya!

As for a thread on the 10 speed, not yet. I'm pretty new over here, but I took a bunch of video with the truck to share on Youtube and get the news out to anyone interested. Hopefully tomorrow I should have that all together. Cliff note version is the truck slowly started getting harsher and harsher engagements into drive and reverse, which eventually were followed by sporadic poor shifts. Enough that you caught one here and there and attracted your attention, but then you'd be good for a bit. This quickly progressed to the truck slamming into gear, and having poor shifts a few times every ride. I was getting ready to bring the truck into Ford when it threw a Powertrain Control Module code. Became a huge handful to drive when warm, so brought it to Ford. Dropped it off at a dealer and a tech up by the desk heard my symptoms and said the truck needs a trans. He told me to get in line behind the 12 other newer Super Dutys needing a trans. This was at a small dealership too. Sat at that one dealership for a week, got annoyed and brought it to another. When I did, they read the codes remotely and it had a P07F7 code, Incorrect Gear Ratio Code. Keep in mind this truck is stock, babied, and either daily driven or used to tow the Bronco. Later that day they called me and told me the trans is full of metal. $10,300 replacement cost, 7,000 miles out of warranty, less than 3 years owning the truck. I got in contact with Ford Customer Service and discussed the options with them, and how this is a joke. I also researched the failure, and its due to an internal piece on the trans moving out of position. I think they might have fixed it in the newer trucks with a snap ring retainer. Regardless, Ford got my price down to roughly $3,000 (while waiting over 2 weeks). I argued for more, took another week or two to be told no. Now the truck is just getting parts ordered for it.

This process could have been more streamlined-why weren't parts ordered immediately?-but I'm also not pleased by Ford's response. This likely should have been some sort of recall. It's nifty they're footing 70% of the bill, but I much rather have them stand behind a design flaw they had, especially when its such a common one it seems. This is also on a less than a 3 year old truck that was $60k+ that's been stuck at a dealership for a month. If I knew this would have happened, I'd just have bought a fleet of cheaper "more unreliable" older trucks.

Luckily I had my 28 year old mud truck to fill in....
Click to expand...
Ouch! Between reading that and the issues Covecrawler is having with oil shavings in his 7.3 gas engine, newer gas trucks don't seem like a viable option either.
 
New is not always better is it. Not to derail farther, but I am going to.

Been wanting to find a F150 Centurion. Then update it. I had one, a, 96 and I sold it with over 250k, it was dependable, not afraid to drive it anywhere. Obviously the 5.8 is not a power house but dang, it always runs.
 
Levigarrett76 said:
Man sorry to hear that, seems all to common these days..

Defintely be interested to see the youtube content. I finally got the balls to cut open an oil filter in my 2020 7.3 with 45k and excessive idle hours from PO, so far so good. Kind of afraid to check the bruce jenner fluid.

Thanks for sharing:beer: Sorry for the derail
Click to expand...

All good! So far the trucks treated me well otherwise (knock on wood), so we'll just have to see how it goes going forward.

Once I get all the info together on it and the truck back from Ford, I'll put together a thread detailing it all as well as the video showing the symptoms.

ridered3 said:
Ouch! Between reading that and the issues Covecrawler is having with oil shavings in his 7.3 gas engine, newer gas trucks don't seem like a viable option either.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the quality is definitely hit or miss it seems. The worst part is that the truck preforms really well when it's working, and there isn't really any alternatives out there that I'd be interested in going to.

Tiha said:
New is not always better is it. Not to derail farther, but I am going to.

Been wanting to find a F150 Centurion. Then update it. I had one, a, 96 and I sold it with over 250k, it was dependable, not afraid to drive it anywhere. Obviously the 5.8 is not a power house but dang, it always runs.
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Perfect time to find a F350 Centurion with a 7.3 in it. I always thought those were killer.
 
Is that failure with the 10-speed the common failure that's bandied about? I haven't heard good things regarding that trans early life.

The 6 speed seems to be pretty solid. The one in my 2012 F150 has ~238K on it, and apart from a whine is solid.

I'd still like to find a different trans option for behind my powerstroke. The e4OD is 'tarded, and the 4R100 isn't much better.
 
Pt_Ranger_v8 said:
Sick build


What are your RPM's on the highway with the 5.38's and 44's?

I'm looking at 3.73's and 37s driven by a 7.3, but I need a mix between tow gears and cruise gears. Pretty sure I want to keep around 2100 at 70-75 if I can.
Click to expand...

Auto or manual? Manual wouldn't be terrible, but would still be pretty tall. The OD in the auto would mean way way low rpm on the highway with 3.73s.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Auto or manual? Manual wouldn't be terrible, but would still be pretty tall. The OD in the auto would mean way way low rpm on the highway with 3.73s.
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Probably auto.

37" tires with the 3.73's might help a little. Should be right around 2200-2400 at 70. That's a touch higher than I want, but not obnoxious.
 
Your math is way off, I'm seeing 1680 rpm at 70 :laughing:

My 03 7.3/auto work truck had long legs with 3.73s and stock 31" tires, I can't imagine 37s working worth a shit at all.
 
Pt_Ranger_v8 said:
Sick build


What are your RPM's on the highway with the 5.38's and 44's?

I'm looking at 3.73's and 37s driven by a 7.3, but I need a mix between tow gears and cruise gears. Pretty sure I want to keep around 2100 at 70-75 if I can.
Click to expand...
Checked yesterday finally, 65 mph at 2000 rpm.

Pt_Ranger_v8 said:
Is that failure with the 10-speed the common failure that's bandied about? I haven't heard good things regarding that trans early life.

The 6 speed seems to be pretty solid. The one in my 2012 F150 has ~238K on it, and apart from a whine is solid.

I'd still like to find a different trans option for behind my powerstroke. The e4OD is 'tarded, and the 4R100 isn't much better.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it seems like a pretty common thing sadly. The 6 speeds I've heard good things about.

As for the E40D, I've had pretty good luck with them. I've ran them behind a 302 for many years, and now for a bit behind the 7.3. I've also gotten good at rebuilding them. The one originally behind the 302 was cooked when I got the Bronco, I preemptively rebuild the one I was installing behind the 7.3, and then re-rebuilt that one after I over looked cooling and cooked it on it's first trip out.
 
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