- First Name
- Brian
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2020
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- 20
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- 2,721
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- 6,250
- Location
- Wisconsin USA
- Vehicle(s)
- 1990 Bronco eddie bauer
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
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- #1
@Administrator I wasn't sure where to put this thread, in trip journals, or issues. So feel free to move it where you think it should be.
I finally got a chance to wheel my Bronco this weekend. I got a hotel room near trails I have wheeled before. We left in the Bronco on Friday night, and my son brought my xj up Saturday morning...or at least that was the plan. He called me from a Roadside Saturday morning saying there were issues w/the jeep. Not sure how bad, i went and met him at the gas station he stopped at to assess the situation. Turns out the problems weren't anything that we couldn't work around, so I followed him to the hotel, and did some lot wrenching in the parking lot to get it as close to ready as I could. So most of Saturday was lost, but still enough time to hit the trails and watch the sunset there(much nicer than a hotel room). Theres a rock formation which is very easy to climb, and not hard to get to, so I suggested we go there 1st so we could have an easy outing the 1st night. We did that, and the XJ was fine. When we got there, there were already a large group of Jeeps up on the rock. They were great friendly folks who were VERY enthusiastic to see my Bronco on the trails, and very curious about it. I had alot of fun chatting it up w/them. Anyway my gal took some great pics and we had a fun time on the rock. I had her take a flex pick on a Boulder, where I demonstrated the SB disco.
So here's where my 1st odd question came up. As you can see in the above pic, by this time its about to get dark. We stayed and played till dusk, then everybody was getting hungry, so we decided to head for town to get dinner. As I was leading the way down the rock, and onto the trail, I noticed my backup camera was still on my screen. I assumed this was a malfunction of some sort, but found it kinda nice that I could see the xj headlights behind me, and didn't have to look around to make sure he was w/me (this was a tight little trail through very thick woods). When I got to a clearing and stopped, I shut it off and restarted, and backup camera was still on the screen. Radio still worked, so I had tunes, and all else was good, so not really worried about it, we went on. Got to the trailhead and at some point the backup camera had gone off, and the audio screen was back...ok whatever. So after dinner we went back to the hotel and got to bed, so we could maximize our wheeling time on Sunday. Except to me this was like an 8 year old trying to sleep on Christmas eve. I just kept waking up wanting to peek under the tree. So I decided a pre dawn ride out to a place I used to hunt would be fun. Not too remote, and my son knows where it is if I needed help, so I told them where I was going and they could sleep a while, and headed out to cruise some old logging roads that I knew I could do no problem, but they were at least challenging enough to require 4L. So I take a forest road in 2H to a clearing where my trail starts, and put it in 4L. I had to back up to get the right angle to start the trail, and the backup camera came on. Again it stayed on while going forward, the whole time I wheeled that trail. Now here's what made me say "huh?". When I got back to the forest road, and shifted into 2H, the screen switched back to audio. Wierd eh? So I shifted back into 4L, and it stayed on audio, until I put it in reverse, then backup camera as normal, but when I put it in forward gears again and took off, it stayed on backup camera till I shifted to high. I tried this several times...2H or 4H didn't matter. Is this a bug or a feature? I'm really not sure? Anyhow, I was glad that all the Bronco's critical features were working flawlessly! Back to the hotel to rouse the rest so we could wheel some more hard-core trails. We did just that when the xj started having difficulty again, so I had him pull off of a challenging rock climb onto an alternate, and he helped spot me the rest of the way, till I heard the unmistakable sound of overcammed v-8 engines coming up behind us...lots of them!. I looked down the mountain and could see Jeeps and other trucks on 40-44" TSLs and boggers. I didn't wana slow those guys down, so I pulled off w/th XJ and took the alternate to the top to watch them, telling my kid, they might beat us to the top even if we go the easy way. That was nearly true...some REALLY hard-core rigs, and ALOT of them...big crowd. Once again these folks were really interested in the Bronco...and most of these guys were hard core technical. They're trucks were serious builds, full hydro steering, 1 ton axles, full tube frames...cool stuff, not very streetable! No specific brand preference, there were Jeeps, Fords, Chevy, and Dodges. All of them to a man(and some women, and a few youths), were fascinated by my 2022 2dr BL, and wanted to talk tech about it, ask about features, look in the interior, and mostly, wanted to see me do the rock climb. I was kinda nervous, but one fella who clearly had a very high experience level, offered to spot for me. Ok so I went back down and started over w/my new volunteer spotting for me. I did drag the skids in a couple spots, but climbed out of it easily, once I had the right line. I have done this climb before in my xj, and my 90 FSB, and no matter how many times I do it, it gets my heart in my throat. Year to year the terrain changes, it's a little different every time. Climbing it in a brand new 2022, was a new level of pucker! To the joy of the crowd I made it to the top w/no rash on anything thats not made for rash, and relatively quickly w/the right guidance! Before my new friends moved on they told me how impressed they were, and glad that somebody brought one of these out to the trail to show if its legit or just hype. Well folks, the Bronco isn't a jeep wrangler, but it SURE isn't hype. It's a serious offroad machine. And I'm not looking down on anybody who buys one just to drive on the street...thats cool, but man you are missing out on some serious fun!
So the next odd question i have is, w/all these little stop and chit chat sessions i was having, I stopped and shut the Bronco off and restarted MANY times. I was in 4L pretty much all day w/rear locked all the time, frt only as needed, and SB disco on. Most of the time, when I restarted it, it turned off the SB disco by itself, I had to turn it back on. If I used rock crawl mode it would still do it...not every time. And that stupid message came on the dash asking me if I wanted to stay in rock crawl mode. Do these software people have no clue? If I shut my vehicle off in rock crawl mode, its because I shut it off in a place I NEEDED ROCK CRAWL MODE TO GET TO! What possible scenario is there where I would park in rock crawl mode, then no longer need rock crawl mode to get home? All the rocks melted? Somebody built a highway on the mountain while I was sitting here? They really could polish up the software. And why is the SB disco such a bitchy feature? Always shutting off when I park, then giving me the whole "you know this is gonna reconnect at 20 mph right?" warning every time...enough already...just disconnect and stay that way till I say otherwise (or 20 mph for safety...fine). Tired of being lectured by my sway bar!
Other than that my new Bronco has passed every test I have for it with flying colors, and challenged me for more! I am most definitely NOT disappointed, and look forward to years of adventures!
PS: one of the guys in that group took a video and said he was gonna put it on YouTube. If anybody who knows them reads this I would LOVE a link to it!
I finally got a chance to wheel my Bronco this weekend. I got a hotel room near trails I have wheeled before. We left in the Bronco on Friday night, and my son brought my xj up Saturday morning...or at least that was the plan. He called me from a Roadside Saturday morning saying there were issues w/the jeep. Not sure how bad, i went and met him at the gas station he stopped at to assess the situation. Turns out the problems weren't anything that we couldn't work around, so I followed him to the hotel, and did some lot wrenching in the parking lot to get it as close to ready as I could. So most of Saturday was lost, but still enough time to hit the trails and watch the sunset there(much nicer than a hotel room). Theres a rock formation which is very easy to climb, and not hard to get to, so I suggested we go there 1st so we could have an easy outing the 1st night. We did that, and the XJ was fine. When we got there, there were already a large group of Jeeps up on the rock. They were great friendly folks who were VERY enthusiastic to see my Bronco on the trails, and very curious about it. I had alot of fun chatting it up w/them. Anyway my gal took some great pics and we had a fun time on the rock. I had her take a flex pick on a Boulder, where I demonstrated the SB disco.
So here's where my 1st odd question came up. As you can see in the above pic, by this time its about to get dark. We stayed and played till dusk, then everybody was getting hungry, so we decided to head for town to get dinner. As I was leading the way down the rock, and onto the trail, I noticed my backup camera was still on my screen. I assumed this was a malfunction of some sort, but found it kinda nice that I could see the xj headlights behind me, and didn't have to look around to make sure he was w/me (this was a tight little trail through very thick woods). When I got to a clearing and stopped, I shut it off and restarted, and backup camera was still on the screen. Radio still worked, so I had tunes, and all else was good, so not really worried about it, we went on. Got to the trailhead and at some point the backup camera had gone off, and the audio screen was back...ok whatever. So after dinner we went back to the hotel and got to bed, so we could maximize our wheeling time on Sunday. Except to me this was like an 8 year old trying to sleep on Christmas eve. I just kept waking up wanting to peek under the tree. So I decided a pre dawn ride out to a place I used to hunt would be fun. Not too remote, and my son knows where it is if I needed help, so I told them where I was going and they could sleep a while, and headed out to cruise some old logging roads that I knew I could do no problem, but they were at least challenging enough to require 4L. So I take a forest road in 2H to a clearing where my trail starts, and put it in 4L. I had to back up to get the right angle to start the trail, and the backup camera came on. Again it stayed on while going forward, the whole time I wheeled that trail. Now here's what made me say "huh?". When I got back to the forest road, and shifted into 2H, the screen switched back to audio. Wierd eh? So I shifted back into 4L, and it stayed on audio, until I put it in reverse, then backup camera as normal, but when I put it in forward gears again and took off, it stayed on backup camera till I shifted to high. I tried this several times...2H or 4H didn't matter. Is this a bug or a feature? I'm really not sure? Anyhow, I was glad that all the Bronco's critical features were working flawlessly! Back to the hotel to rouse the rest so we could wheel some more hard-core trails. We did just that when the xj started having difficulty again, so I had him pull off of a challenging rock climb onto an alternate, and he helped spot me the rest of the way, till I heard the unmistakable sound of overcammed v-8 engines coming up behind us...lots of them!. I looked down the mountain and could see Jeeps and other trucks on 40-44" TSLs and boggers. I didn't wana slow those guys down, so I pulled off w/th XJ and took the alternate to the top to watch them, telling my kid, they might beat us to the top even if we go the easy way. That was nearly true...some REALLY hard-core rigs, and ALOT of them...big crowd. Once again these folks were really interested in the Bronco...and most of these guys were hard core technical. They're trucks were serious builds, full hydro steering, 1 ton axles, full tube frames...cool stuff, not very streetable! No specific brand preference, there were Jeeps, Fords, Chevy, and Dodges. All of them to a man(and some women, and a few youths), were fascinated by my 2022 2dr BL, and wanted to talk tech about it, ask about features, look in the interior, and mostly, wanted to see me do the rock climb. I was kinda nervous, but one fella who clearly had a very high experience level, offered to spot for me. Ok so I went back down and started over w/my new volunteer spotting for me. I did drag the skids in a couple spots, but climbed out of it easily, once I had the right line. I have done this climb before in my xj, and my 90 FSB, and no matter how many times I do it, it gets my heart in my throat. Year to year the terrain changes, it's a little different every time. Climbing it in a brand new 2022, was a new level of pucker! To the joy of the crowd I made it to the top w/no rash on anything thats not made for rash, and relatively quickly w/the right guidance! Before my new friends moved on they told me how impressed they were, and glad that somebody brought one of these out to the trail to show if its legit or just hype. Well folks, the Bronco isn't a jeep wrangler, but it SURE isn't hype. It's a serious offroad machine. And I'm not looking down on anybody who buys one just to drive on the street...thats cool, but man you are missing out on some serious fun!
So the next odd question i have is, w/all these little stop and chit chat sessions i was having, I stopped and shut the Bronco off and restarted MANY times. I was in 4L pretty much all day w/rear locked all the time, frt only as needed, and SB disco on. Most of the time, when I restarted it, it turned off the SB disco by itself, I had to turn it back on. If I used rock crawl mode it would still do it...not every time. And that stupid message came on the dash asking me if I wanted to stay in rock crawl mode. Do these software people have no clue? If I shut my vehicle off in rock crawl mode, its because I shut it off in a place I NEEDED ROCK CRAWL MODE TO GET TO! What possible scenario is there where I would park in rock crawl mode, then no longer need rock crawl mode to get home? All the rocks melted? Somebody built a highway on the mountain while I was sitting here? They really could polish up the software. And why is the SB disco such a bitchy feature? Always shutting off when I park, then giving me the whole "you know this is gonna reconnect at 20 mph right?" warning every time...enough already...just disconnect and stay that way till I say otherwise (or 20 mph for safety...fine). Tired of being lectured by my sway bar!
Other than that my new Bronco has passed every test I have for it with flying colors, and challenged me for more! I am most definitely NOT disappointed, and look forward to years of adventures!
PS: one of the guys in that group took a video and said he was gonna put it on YouTube. If anybody who knows them reads this I would LOVE a link to it!
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