CRACKER's '67 Bronco

by Dave "CRACKER" Pool

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Hi, I am David "CRACKER" Pool and I started 4-wheeling about 7 years ago with the purchase of a 65 Scout. I rebuilt the Scout, then it was  sold, so I started looking for a Early Bronco to work on, since I am  really a Ford person at heart. I found a very clean 67 with 130,000  miles on it. The Body was good, but the drive train was showing its  years.  Shortly after buying the 67, I met Flatlander via the  internet and we formed the loosely based Fractured Axle club, bringing together people/enthusiasts from many states for fun and  fourwheeling.   As you may have guessed, the name came about through a  series of mishaps and "fractured" axles.  I personally was  responsible for many of those broken parts, during my early experiences at serious fourwheeling.  I soon learned a lot about fourwheeling thru Flatlander and Gene "LIZARD" Ferris.  I began replacing and  repairing the bronco to be able to keep up with these guys! 

I first  added a 3 1/2" lift and swapped in a F150 PS box, added polyurethane  bushings everywhere and fender flairs.  Knowing that the original   axles were not as stout as I would need them, I replaced the original  Dana 30 and 9" with a Dana 44 with F150 Disc Brakes and a large  bearing 9".   At the same time, I added a Lockrite to the 44 and a  Detroit SoftLock to the 9" and 33 AT`s all around. The 3spd was swapped out in favor of the NP435 4spd. About the same time, I came across a mildly prepped 302 ci. The only thing untouched was the Dana  20 transfer case, it works fine and I can even get 2 lo out of it. This has proved very useful in many situations.

After many years of fourwheeling, and still breaking axles and u-joints, I have finally upgraded the axles as well. I am using the  larger F150 axles in the Dana 44 and added 31 spline axles to the 9" along with a new Detroit Softlocker.   I also switched to MT tires. 

Since the tie rods were taking a beating on the  numerous rocks I switched to a custom Heim joint setup and  mounted everything above the knuckles.   This is one of my favorite mods, as it also tightened up the front end, plus, it is cheaper to  replace two rod ends than one tie rod!  I have yet to hit the new   setup on any rocks.

Dropping into Independence with the latest modifications

On Independence showing the new steering setup

I have also had the entire interior Rhino lined  and have built custom bumpers.  Other add-ons include a Warn 8274  winch, a A/C pump compressor setup with two fire extinguisher bottles  for tanks(which allows me to air up from 8 psi to 25psi in about 20 seconds, plus, I can run air tools as well), a Delta tool box, a 23 gal. tank, a remote 12v trouble light (for those night repairs!) and  I shaved off the battered rockers and added built in rocker skids.

The newest modifications include: 35 BFG MT`s which are siped, a new custom rear bumper/tire carrier, 5 pt. harnesses, and  replacing some of the urethane bushing with the original rubber ones  for better articulation in the front. I doubt that I will ever be completely" done working on the 67, but right now, it takes me where I want to go and has always gotten me home, even if it was with two broken axles!

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