The Punisher

The Punisher started as an 88' Bronco II. It was intended to be an all-purpose rig, from mud to trails to rocks. After a while I got tired of cleaning the mud off and it transformed into an all out trail/rock rig. First the body came off, to strip the frame of all hangers and cross members. The frame was then boxed with all the plumbing ran inside.

Next, custom hangers were made for the coils front and rear. The front coils were James Duff 3.5" lifts for the early bronco's. The rear coils are stock XJ front coils, then came a D44 from a 79' Ford the coil pucks remained stock, but the radius arms were bent up and in, with extensions and heims welded on. The stock panhard bar also remained the same. The rear is a Ford 9" from a 79' Ford it is held in place by a custom 3 link/wishbone.

Both axles were stuffed with 5.13's with a full spool in the front and the rear welded. Next the power plant, a 93' Ford EFI 351W was built .030 with everything new and set down lower in the frame, then it was mated to a 79' model NP 431, which was put together using an 86' hydraulic bell housing. Behind the NP 431 is an NP 205. The rear driveshaft was self made, but the front was at such an angle a custom shaft was made by Tom Woods along with a Superflex offset joint. The body was then rejoined and 38.5x15x15 Boggers were mounted using Mickey Thompson 15x10 street lock wheels. The interior remained completely stock except for the two racing seats with 5 point harnesses, an Auto Meter tach and an MSD Rev limiter.

After some rough trails and some beatings, I realized how much I needed to change things up, just hated to start chopping up something that looked good, so I figured I would as soon as I got the first damage.... which didn't take me too long. In the fall of 2005 at The Missouri Offroad Ranch, I almost rolled it and I broke out one of the big side glasses in the back....which gave me a perfect excuse to cut her up. I pretty well trashed the James Duff coils at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and the radius arms took some abuse too. The panhard bar was moving the front end around too much at max flex and I couldn't keep it tight, the radius arms were cutting down on turning radius. The front end was too light trying really steep stuff so I spent most of the winter of 05' rebuilding her to tackle harder trails and to be more practical. I started by cutting the top off and working on an exo-cage, then I decided to stretch the wheelbase from 94" to 115"... I also narrowed the body in the rear by cutting 16" out of the floor.

Since the coils were trashed I bought some 8" lift XJ coils for the front, also a slower crawl ratio was desired so I put in 203/205 doubler kit with triple sticks and ground shift rails so the front would work independently from the rear. Since I wasn't happy with the radius arms and panhard bar I four linked the front. I also needed more approach So the front stinger was cut off along with the winch plate and the front of the frame. A new crossmember was made that mounted the winch under the grill where the radiator use to be and a tighter stinger and bumper was built increasing approach dramatically.

The radiator was moved to the back and the steering cooler moved to the front. The drive shafts were tossed and a square driveshaft was made for both ends, they were made to be the same length so one spare is all that is needed. The front fenders were trimmed to accommodate moving the front end forward and longbed Ranger bedsides were scabbed on to make up for the rear-end being moved back. The doors were the next thing to go and some homemade spider web bar doors took their place. Here is the final results, one very capable and crawlable trail rig.

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