86 bronco II

[59bisquik]

Where are you going in New Mexico? Sounds like a good time. You should hit up PowerStroker over on the B2 board. He is a NM native and has wheeled with me in California and Utah a couple times. Good dude and you can never have too many B2's!

Spend the extra $20 and get a power steering cooler while your at it! You can get a universal P/S cooler at Autozone which is pretty small but still helps or just a use a regular aftermarket engine oil cooler.

 

[87burban]

Alright sweet i was reading some write up on the ranger station, they also said i can use a pump from the regular size bronco up to the year 88? Does that sound right ?
We are going to go wheeling starting in dona ana county and heading to a small town (not sure of the name). He talked about taking a trail called the war path and so on. I should have my F+R locker and gears by that time. The steering would be a perfect complement. Also any tips on rebuilding the steering box???

 

[59bisquik]

The 88 full size is possible, but not sure. I know the 20-6244 fits a million differrent vehicles. As for the box, nope, just replaced mine when it started to leak.

 

[87burban]

Sweet well either ways im gonna buy it new , just wondering which res would come metal instead of plastic like you said.

 

[59bisquik]

Mine came from a 79 T-Bird. The regular one is a 20-6240 which has a plastic tank. The heavy duty one is a 20-6244 with a metal tank. The 6240 is probably no better than what you have now.

 

[Snafu]

I go trailing off of chaparral and Santa Teresa, We have followed the train track to this really small city in new mexico. Also Dona Ana and Huspeth county. I have some land off of montana past wacco tanks close to Guadalupe Mountain state park and im excited to explore the back roads of huspeth county but the only bad thing is i dont want to be the only rig going since my buddies dont like exploring much, they only mainly off road. Also have to have a good amount of gas cans on you cause their isnt many gas stations once passed dell city.

I tend to go out to the BLM land out past Santa Teressa too...Going out to see Kilbourne hole and all that is fun.

Hudspeth is cool too...I just tend to not go out there much since all the trigger happy ranchers might think I'm tresspassing!

The Gila has A LOT of great trails through thick wooded areas that you can hike off of to incredible places...now if the forest would stop burning it would be fun again. I go up there the most and take 7 gallons of gas with. One of the camp sites is actually on the other side of the Gila river so you can drive through it for some distance and meet up with other trails....endless possibilities!

You should hit me up if ya need a trail buddy, I'm not too far over in Central from both you guys. I have only one friend with a truck and she just recently got rid of the bald tires. Maybe I can convince her to come follow me around some instead of just riding along so we have a back up plan. I have a mostly stock Dodge but she's gotten me into and out of everything from here to Colorado so far.

Good luck on the Bronco though

 

[87burban]

Ya that sounds good, I know what you mean of huspeth alot of vacant land and sometimes you dont even know that you were trespassing. Any ways ya it would be great to have some one to explore the backroads with , its always better to be safe than sorry. I was thinking of going up to the Guadalupe national park between dell city and carlsbad nm. That National Park also links up to Lincoln national park which can lead us pretty deep into new mexico riding trails.

 

[87burban]

Thanks 59bisquik I will go for 20-6244 and ask for it from a 79 t bird like the one you have. Mod will be done soon

 

[Snafu]

Ya that sounds good, I know what you mean of huspeth alot of vacant land and sometimes you dont even know that you were trespassing. Any ways ya it would be great to have some one to explore the backroads with , its always better to be safe than sorry. I was thinking of going up to the Guadalupe national park between dell city and carlsbad nm. That National Park also links up to Lincoln national park which can lead us pretty deep into new mexico riding trails.

I've been wanting to take a path that I found that leads you from 62 /180 (just before BP checkpoint) all the way into Cloudcroft...looks like fun to me! Don't know if we're looking at the same routes

 

[Brian1]

Good info on the power steering pump! When mine in my Explorer finally gives up I will definately swap the HD pump on (if not sooner)

He talked about taking a trail called the war path and so on.

War Path will eat your Bronco alive. It is a hardcore rockcrawling trail with VW sized boulders and vertical waterfalls over 6' tall. I ran part of it a few years back and didnt make it back to the trailers untill way after dark. You will probably be taking the Palomas Gap trail which loops around Caballo Lake. The trail passes near Warpath but runs up the hill at the mouth of the Warpath Canyon.

Before you go out exploring any Forest Svc. land be sure to check the status of it. I know Lincoln has been closed for a while now and the Santa Fe is rumored to be closing this Friday.

 

[87burban]

Alright great to know, ya my buddies rubicon tried the war path and it looked really grim for his truck broke the rear 44 and killed his winch, told me he almost fell off a ledge too that would have not ended good. Ya its the trail all around caballo, their is a little ghost town not far from their I heard also. I am not planning on doing this trip till early to mid august. Right now with the crazy drought we are having everything is lighting up in flames. He have had two nice size fires over hear in el paso. Nothing compared to arizona or parts of new mexico but still its crazy dry.
We are planning on taking that trail that goes from right after the border patrol check point to i think is right outside of this really small town but its headed to orogrande soon also I will let yall know to see if anybody wants to tag along for these. I heard that it would propably be a two day trip with this one.
The one that your talking about is a trail leading off of Montana right???

 

[Snafu]

The one that your talking about is a trail leading off of Montana right???

Yep, it's called Hueco Ranch Rd in the beginning and then turns into dirt and just becomes a mix of county roads over in New Mexico.

From there you can hit the BP check point North of Oro Grande, get to the Lincoln forest, or even head East towards Artesia....at least thats what I'm seeing on the maps!

 

[87burban]

I traced one on google earth that leads from their to timberon. If we go around the mountain we can get to cloudcrouft. Dude im so down to take that trail with ya. Maybe get a few of us to take the trail. You can pretty much bypass the check point at oro grande by going around the southeastern mountain of the Lincoln forest. It might take us a two days to do. its like a 250+ mile drive. lol its crazy but since it is not a straight shot we add on lots more miles

 

[Snafu]

I traced one on google earth that leads from their to timberon. If we go around the mountain we can get to cloudcrouft. Dude im so down to take that trail with ya. Maybe get a few of us to take the trail. You can pretty much bypass the check point at oro grande by going around the southeastern mountain of the Lincoln forest. It might take us a two days to do. its like a 250+ mile drive. lol its crazy but since it is not a straight shot we add on lots more miles

Cool with me!! I usually do big trips like this alone so it would be cool to have some ppl with.

In the past year I've gone to Big Bend, Phoenix, San Juan forest, the Gila forest, hiked Guadalupe Peak trail, and Red Sands & the BLM land West of Santa Teressa...alone! I've done a lot of sleeping in parking lots, random camp sites, and the side of the road...it's fun!

 

[87burban]

Only thing i am keeping my eye on is when Lincoln national forest opens up again, since all the fires and everything. The trail would probably take around 10 hrs to do if we go from the check point near 62/180. We can head all the way up to cloudcroft. I am trying to get some things put together to make traveling in vehicle more comfy so the soonest i will be hitting the long trails will be late august.:sombrero: