The Boreal Badlands

[swooshdave]

What's the latest on the winch? You seem "lucky" so I'm not sure if it indicative of the quality of the winch.

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[Boreal]

What's the latest on the winch? You seem "lucky" so I'm not sure if it indicative of the quality of the winch.

Lucky is just a way of life I think...

I ended up swapping the winch out under warranty, a few posts back. During Winch assembly, none of motors electrical terminals were tightened... the new one I added some silicone, and snugged every single bolt and nut. and because of the transfer case issue, I haven't been able to go anywhere and test this winch...

So I might as well touch on that while im here. in short...

The TCase is blown. No doubt about it. The improper Tow on June 6 fried the clutch pack within the advanced case. The bronco has only been fully operational for about four weeks since March... Its been one hell of a grind.

I filed a claim against the ford roadside/sykes which found the tow truck at fault, but the cost of repair exceeded the insurance deductible so I was to contact my vehicle insurance company (MPI). I have since started the entire claim process again.... and am midway through round 2... two months later.

I raised my issues with the dealer due to the lengthy timelines for help at every stage of this fiasco. The dealer wanted to inspect the codes being thrown from the TCase because they aligned with a pair of TSB's. Much like the tow, I opposed but they said it was mandatory before they can do anything else. What was supposed to be about two hours of shop time, turned to two days and the straw that broke the transfers cases back, so to speak. The tech was forced to disconnect the TCase electrically because it was throwing too many faults to operate the truck. Ive been stuck in 2H for months and now have been driving with a powertrain service alert.

Amongst that, I got caught in a hail storm and received dents across the hood, driver door and driver fender. Yea, its been a great summer of using the bronco. Not.

 

[montgomery]

Sounds like you've got much bigger things going on with your Bronco, but if you ever built some more of those Capable Bumper light mounts to sell, I would be absolutely interested!

 

[Boreal]

The day has finally come, finally, the rig has a new transfercase. Its been a slog dealing with insurance, playing the blame game, and everyones bureaucratic bullshit.

To briefly recap the summer that never was:

April 10: Front Sway Disco fails.

April 12: Dealer reprogrammed modules per TSB, codes came back in a day. Told they were now 4 weeks out for another appt.

April 19 - May 11: Other Dealer gets me in and verifies blown FSD. Rig is parked for the next 22 days.

May 17 - 19: MT88/7MT Transmission TSB.

June 5: Fuel line packs it in as consequence of TSB.

June 6: Towed incorrectly and toasted the transercase.

June 15: Get the rig back with fixed fuel line, but bad t-case.

June 20: Driveline fluid swap, verified the toasted clutch pack.

June 27: DTC's are thrown, start the claim against the towing company.

July 13: Claim gets approved but simultaneously denied because of the value of repair. Towing company opts to go through insurance. I have to restart the claim process through auto insurance.

July 19 - 21: Dealer finally agrees to take a look at the bronco to address DTC's and help me with parts list. The appt "breaks the camels back" and leaves the bronco in a powertrain limpmode.

July 21 - August 28: Working through insurance and their bullshit, only for them to go on strike. During this time I preemptively had the dealer order all the parts required.

July 26: Caught in a storm, missed the tornado but got some hail damage. Another insurance claim.

August 24: More hail damage.

September 5: New Windshield

September 6: New Transfer Case installed.

Up to speed? At least the bronco finally is. Since April we've only had 20 days of operation without codes/limpmode... the light at the end of the tunnel is all around us. There is still some insurance BS to deal with, but at least the rig is good for some fall adventures.

Lets get back to it.

Now that this is finally taken care of, I might be able to find some spare time to get some of those Capable Light Mounts made up.... we shall see

 

[Boreal]

Breaking in the new transfer case on 200kms of greasy forest roads to the cottage. Just making sure its all G. Did an OCI and wipers today; she'll get a tire rotation at some point this upcoming week too

 

[KT_bronco]

Glad you are back on the road. Have you considered producing the light mounts?

 

[Boreal]

Glad you are back on the road. Have you considered producing the light mounts?

Me too! We just set off on our little week long venture to the Rockies. There'll be a trip report in the near future dubbed “Pup and Peaks”

As far as the light mounts go.. yes. I’ll be reaching out to a handful of you guys who expressed interest to help gauge which direction the design is gonna end up going.

 

[Boreal]

4,006 flawless kilometres shouldn’t be celebratory, but it sure feels like it.

Pup and Peaks Trip Report is well underway. We’ve landed back home to an immense backlog of edits to tackle comprising of Trip, Drifting, Comedy Shows, Hockey, and a Portrait Sesh… plus the usual wildlife stuff that’s been shot throughout the year. Future Colby has a lot to do

 

[joell king]

Great photos ! amazing sights

snaptube vidmate​

 

[Boreal]

Not much Bronco stuff been going on lately... the daily grind plus photo plus a trip north has left the rig on the back burner. Peep the end for a few shots from the last adventure north!!

While I was away, winter made its entrance and the factory KO2's were a tad too worn for the upcoming snow season. One of my drifting buddies runs a tire shop and has the hookup for some Falken WP AT3W's. I'm sticking with 33's till the Bilsteins need replacing, then 35's will be on the table , perhaps around 150,000kms? The new rubber is noticeably fatter, I may have to make a spacer for the tire carrier and widen the JCR Tire Rack Feet... we shall see what comes of it in time

and a little sneakpeak from Churchill, MB!

 

[Boreal]

About 7-8 Months ago, I drew a bracket design for the @Baja Designs S8 40". This weekend I finally had enough time to tackle the install.

The S8 40" draws 16A and I wanted to run the DRL's, this meant a relayed harness... the preran wire above the passenger visor simply seems too undersized IMO. While I was plumbing these lines, I also pushed a line for the Auxbeam Switch panel and line to manually trigger the IAG Interior lights (with said Auxbeam controller). I popped the line through the main harness grommet, up along the Drivers A pillar and then dropped each line off at its respective location along its journey.

The weather stripping pulls out of its home to allow easy routing. I removed the airbag break away panels on the A pillar and the front half of the roll cage, loosened the airbags and tucked the IAG harness behind as it ran rearwards.

Up next were some plasma cut SS brackets, hand bent on a brake, painted and installed. The weatherpack was cut off the S8s wire fed through a pinhole in the roof seal. The junction was covered with a Silicone Sealant - front and back.

I hope that there isn't any issues with the bar, knock on wood. Luckily for me, I got her wired up properly and she fired up strong!

The Auxbeam also had a bracket made up and painted. Tucked low and out of the way since its only intended to run peripherals - nothing forward facing.

The "Cams/Lobes" that are cut into the bracket are purposeful. I wanted to have a could lashing points to further secure the canoe on extended/rough drives! Hooking a cinch strap through the eyelet's should help a ton.

The Auxbeam power distribution box has not been installed yet, I ran out of time.. but it'll be up next whenever time allows again

 

[Boreal]

The KO2s had some alternate lug wear/cupping upon removal. The steering wheel had started to meander counter clockwise a few degree and the truck tended to hunt on the highway… sounded like the front toe is out.

So In an attempt to not fuck up the WP AT3Ws she got to go into the shop for a half day appt. Quickly on and off the rack, and she’s good to go again!

 

[Boreal]

Rumor had it that the lake had thawed (they were wrong)... so I loaded up the canoe and went for a night drive. Ive got NOTES (and a bit of hype for those quality manufacturers out there)..

First note, the canoe reflects way too much light from the S8 to effectively be used. Luckily the rest of the lighting does the job without issue.

Second Note, the double duty light brackets work perfectly to keep some nose pressure on the canoe to avoid it from swaying left/right on the foam blocks.

Third Note, the S8 is slim as shit! No interference while loading up or off.

Fourth and final Note, I rushed out to buy another pack of cinch straps and decided to use the paracord loops that I knotted up. Next time ill be trying the over hull strap without them.

Since the Tcase got swapped, the rigs been absolutely mint. At the moment she's dirty and flirty. The Falkens have so much more grip than the KO2s in the snow/ice/mucky gravel roads. The 4A is an absolute must for the conditions of Middle Manitoba! The fatness of the stock sized 285/70 Falkens don't really fit too well with the @JcrOffroad Spare Tire Rack. I might have to make some offset spacers for the grippy feet that bit the tire shoulder blocks. The grippy feet aren't wide enough and the rack either sits too much towards the glass or leans away awkwardly.

Id like to give a shoutout to 3W Auto Life (@Daniela at 3W Auto Life) and BDUSA (@Rickperry) for a few goodies that will be appearing in threads upcoming!

Still loving the @Suma Performance Mirrors and Rekgen Mudflaps ! Id buy them both again without question.

Second to last, the lights. Y'all already know, but any and all @Baja Designs, @Diode Dynamics, and @ORACLE Lighting products are absolutely top tier!

Finally, Ive got a few other little goodies in the works but Stage 1 of this build is wrapping up. The Turbosmart dual port BOV is an absolute joy! Coming from Subarus, which are always living in boost, the bronco with 4.7 gears react white different. The tall gears don't tend to lean into boost as hard as I expected to audibly hear, we all watch the boost gauge but hearing that PSSHHHHHH requires you to really lean into the throttle while in Normal Mode... changing it to Baja pulls the boost curve down and makes it so much more responsive and audible.

 

[OracleLights]

Thank you so much for sharing this! We would love to feature you on our social media channels! Please let me know your handles and I can share your photos!

We appreciate the love!

 

[Diode Dynamics]

Now that's awesome to see a fusion of our products, @Baja Designs, and @ORACLE Lighting all together in sync with amber accent lighting.

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