The Boreal Badlands

[Boreal]

There is a big project for the capable bumper in the works. Perhaps I’ll see if it a worthy of selling. Apart from developing a brand new product, I found some shop time while the NHL was on its ASG break. Think Light Mount

In the evenings I prepped the Relays and wiring harness for the LP9’s.

I’m really excited for the potential of this project. Of course, I might be reaching with my expectations. Only time will tell.

I finally got the @ORACLE Lighting Grill letters swapped on. Unfortunately the N was chipped (sharpied in the missing paint) and the primer wipes were bone dry. A few of the plastic weld holes needed to be opened up to avoid stressing the wiring or sticking over it… elongated if you will…. I threw a .25” endmill into the drill and relieved where necessary. Soldering in the letters to make their own harness, I melted a hot glue stick to get everything routed cleanly and oriented

Once the letters were in, I popped off the flares and removed the lower trim under the grill. It snapped out real easy with a panel tool. The LP9 Harness is ran within, the Deustch pigtails will pop out at the exact length and position to mate up with the lights! Custom and Clean install is always nice. I don’t have much to share on the harness photo wise, I was lost in the process.

Alongside the LP9 Prep, I finally wired in the SS3 and SS5 DRL’s. With the Oracles, I tied them into Aux 6.

They look even better at night

After hooking everything up I went home and noticed the Pass. Fog lamp was not working. “Its on the list for tomorrow”, I guess. All I can say is it’s good that I addressed it sooner rather than later. The insulation had rubbed down, the wire had corroded and the remains were smoking under use… shit

I cut out the bad, and soldered in some new. Secured both sides with some zip ties and called it a fix. Disaster avoided. #stancypants

One of the side projects was to turn some old snow gear clamps into something resembling a snow board carrier while using the Wilco Hitchgate that I utilized for the Foresters Full Sized Spare.

This week I need to pick up the hitch extension, fab up the mounting point for the snow gear carrier, and hopefully get the prototype light mounts back from powder to start testing!

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[Boreal]

Its coming together. A whole lotta shop time this week. Amongst the chaos, the Wilco Hitchgate that was on the Forester was refreshed and repurposed.

Some IAG goodies showed up. I quickly swapped the steps out for the fresh set. The seatback protectors were tough to find at a reasonable price last time I looked (Canada), I saved some bucks getting them on the I-Line and bunched into the shipment. The Interior LED kit and doors-off footpegs were tossed in the mix.

Another run to Princess Auto tomorrow to get the last bit of parts needed to tighten the assembly up for the snowboard/ski trip that's on the horizon!

 

[Boreal]

The bronco has been solid thus far. Foreshadowing.

1,350kms to Calgary, another 800kms of bootin around the Canadian Rockies and we were ready to head home.

20 minutes on the road to head home and as we are about to leave the city, the rig stumbles, throws the Powertrain/Drivetrain malfunction. Service immediately. The rig is buckin, turbo has minimal control with tons of poppin, I was able to limp it over to a dealer - 5kms or so.

The people at Woodridge Ford/Lincoln were gracious enough to check OASIS. As soon as he loaded the vin, he was getting my info to submit for warranty. An ECU/ECM re-flash is what they decided to start with and we will go from there. Not very confidence inspiring for the 1,350kms needed to get back home - but what else can we do? I will update the post here with more details regarding the codes thrown at a later time

 

[emulous74]

The bronco has been solid thus far. Foreshadowing.

1,350kms to Calgary, another 800kms of bootin around the Canadian Rockies and we were ready to head home.

20 minutes on the road to head home and as we are about to leave the city, the rig stumbles, throws the Powertrain/Drivetrain malfunction. Service immediately. The rig is buckin, turbo has minimal control with tons of poppin, I was able to limp it over to a dealer - 5kms or so.

The people at Woodridge Ford/Lincoln were gracious enough to check OASIS. As soon as he loaded the vin, he was getting my info to submit for warranty. An ECU/ECM re-flash is what they decided to start with and we will go from there. Not very confidence inspiring for the 1,350kms needed to get back home - but what else can we do? I will update the post here with more details regarding the codes thrown at a later time

Good luck, hopefully they can figure it out and get it fixed right the first time. Sorry your trip got interrupted.

 

[Boreal]

Good luck, hopefully they can figure it out and get it fixed right the first time. Sorry your trip got interrupted.

It ended up throwing a P061b. “The P061B code indicates an issue with the engine torque monitoring system”

Some quick googling suggests MAF/Intake issues.. We’ve been driving in whiteout/blizzard conditions for a few days… perhaps the Intake air filter could’ve been a tad frozen/iced up?

I didn’t crack the air box, so I won’t know for sure. But 300kms down and it’s been trouble free since the dealer visit this morning.

They did a quick pinpoint test and some basic Diag. No TSB/SSM’s or PCM issues or updates.

Onwards we press.

 

[emulous74]

It ended up throwing a P061b. “The P061B code indicates an issue with the engine torque monitoring system”

Some quick googling suggests MAF/Intake issues.. We’ve been driving in whiteout/blizzard conditions for a few days… perhaps the Intake air filter could’ve been a tad frozen/iced up?

I didn’t crack the air box, so I won’t know for sure. But 300kms down and it’s been trouble free since the dealer visit this morning.

They did a quick pinpoint test and some basic Diag. No TSB/SSM’s or PCM issues or updates.

Onwards we press.

That sounds like a likely culprit, hopefully it got it out of it's system and you won't have any more trouble. Enjoy your trip and look forward to seeing your pictures. I checked out your website and was amazed at your eye and talent.

 

[Boreal]

FIRST LOOK AT THE CAPABLE LIGHTMOUNT!!!

After the Bronco threw its code, and Woodridge Ford/Lincoln in Calgary helped with the due diligence check over, I drove 13 hours home… rolling in a few hours later and redbulls deeper than expected. There haven’t been any issues since. The following day, I brought the rig to work, swapped the oil back to the 5w-30 (now that we are out of the deep cold and headed into spring). To be doubly sure about the cause, I popped the airbox cover off and the Air Filter was partially snowy with a layer of ice in the bottom of the box - plugging the drain. Perhaps the air filter got a tad frozen causing an air restriction that inevitably threw the code?

Before I left for this little boarding excursion, the v1 Recovery/Light Mounts came back from powder coating! While the powder was being applied, I created the light harness and routed it through the front end of the bronco… almost completely hidden. The LP9’s require pins 3 & 4 not to be energized simultaneously. I didn’t want to plumb in a double pole double throw switch, but I wanted to utilize the factory auxiliary switches. To do this I wired in two relays where the power output of the second relay routed (87 and 87A) is able to turn on each circuit as required without energizing both at the same time. You can trigger auxiliary one to fire the low beam of the pod light, and auxiliary two triggers the high beam. The benefit of this set up is that you must trigger low beam auxiliary in order to energize the pods at all, so you could leave the high beam on if you’re using it frequently and just flash Aux one on and off as a main power switch as needed.

Here’s a little sneak peak of what’s upcoming. These are v1 light mounts, of what I am looking for in this product. V2 should be even better… perhaps there’ll be a “Street Tier” and an “Off-road Tier”…

OEM Low Beams and SS3 Max Fogs
v

OEM Low Beams, SS3 Max Fogs and LP9 Low Beams
v

OEM Low Beams, SS3 Max Fogs and SS5 Sport Ditch Lights
v

OEM Low Beams, SS3 Max Fogs, SS5 Sport Ditch Lights and LP9 Low Beams
v

OEM Low Beams, SS3 Max Fogs, SS5 Sport Combo Ditch Lights and LP9 High Beams
v

As always, and still…. More to come!

“Stay Pumped”

 

[Boreal]

Driving to the game two days back and I feel a stumble in power early on in the cruise. Oh no. Flashbacks of Calgary. Perhaps it was a bump in the road with a perfectly timed throttle lift, I tell myself to cope….

NOPE! About 15kms later she’s throwing CEL’s, and we are down to Limp Mode again. I cycle the ignition at a stop light, no go. Fine. I found a nice grocer parking lot to pull into, pop the negative terminal off for five minutes and she’s good to go again. For shits and giggles gave the fuse box bolts a little elbow grease just to be sure…

Fast forward to today, and a quick call to my local dealer (where I have an appt in a couple of weeks for the 7MT 5/6 synchro tsb, and hard top seals) and my SA confirms that it’s NOT the same issue as noted in Calgary, but similar.

A module had improper performance and shutdown badly mid drive, bad enough to throw codes. She was mentioning multiple computers and such, but there was a common harness and connector that might be the culprit? Regardless, it’s their issue to deal with when it comes in.

Hopefully it’s just a little gremlin and not evidence of a Lemon in hiding.

 

[Boreal]

 

[NVCowboy]

FIRST LOOK AT THE CAPABLE LIGHTMOUNT!!!

After the Bronco threw its code, and Woodridge Ford/Lincoln in Calgary helped with the due diligence check over, I drove 13 hours home… rolling in a few hours later and redbulls deeper than expected. There haven’t been any issues since. The following day, I brought the rig to work, swapped the oil back to the 5w-30 (now that we are out of the deep cold and headed into spring). To be doubly sure about the cause, I popped the airbox cover off and the Air Filter was partially snowy with a layer of ice in the bottom of the box - plugging the drain. Perhaps the air filter got a tad frozen causing an air restriction that inevitably threw the code?

Before I left for this little boarding excursion, the v1 Recovery/Light Mounts came back from powder coating! While the powder was being applied, I created the light harness and routed it through the front end of the bronco… almost completely hidden. The LP9’s require pins 3 & 4 not to be energized simultaneously. I didn’t want to plumb in a double pole double throw switch, but I wanted to utilize the factory auxiliary switches. To do this I wired in two relays where the power output of the second relay routed (87 and 87A) is able to turn on each circuit as required without energizing both at the same time. You can trigger auxiliary one to fire the low beam of the pod light, and auxiliary two triggers the high beam. The benefit of this set up is that you must trigger low beam auxiliary in order to energize the pods at all, so you could leave the high beam on if you’re using it frequently and just flash Aux one on and off as a main power switch as needed.

Here’s a little sneak peak of what’s upcoming. These are v1 light mounts, of what I am looking for in this product. V2 should be even better… perhaps there’ll be a “Street Tier” and an “Off-road Tier”…

As always, and still…. More to come!

“Stay Pumped”

Looks great. I see you didn’t go with tailgate reinforcement. Not being critical, I just wanna know what you think. 1. Reinforcement is unnecessary. 2. You’re buying that next.

 

[Boreal]

Looks great. I see you didn’t go with tailgate reinforcement. Not being critical, I just wanna know what you think. 1. Reinforcement is unnecessary. 2. You’re buying that next.

Documentation says that the tailgate is approx capable of 133lbs. Atleast I came across that somewhere.

OEM Sas Wheel weight Is approx. 87lbs. I’m on OEM 33’s…. So there will be some weight savings there…

The JCR Rack is about 20lbs. The DV8 Trax, Rotopax (Empty) and mounts are negligible ~5lbs.

Fuelled up Pax are 15lbs (15L).

87+40lbs (wet) and you are right at the limit of 130lbs.

I mostly run with the Pax empty to minimize the weight… one day ill swap the bumpers and suspension out to build everything up properly

 

[NVCowboy]

Documentation says that the tailgate is approx capable of 133lbs. Atleast I came across that somewhere.

OEM Sas Wheel weight Is approx. 87lbs. I’m on OEM 33’s…. So there will be some weight savings there…

The JCR Rack is about 20lbs. The DV8 Trax, Rotopax (Empty) and mounts are negligible ~5lbs.

Fuelled up Pax are 15lbs (15L).

87+40lbs (wet) and you are right at the limit of 130lbs.

I mostly run with the Pax empty to minimize the weight… one day ill swap the bumpers and suspension out to build everything up properly

Thank you. That math puts me at a tailgate support with Squatch wheels and tires. I don’t plan on running my basket (when I finally get it) the whole time, unless it is a complete PITA to remove/install and the process changes my mind for me.

 

[murphtron]

The Oracle Bronco lights look fantastic. You wired into Aux6 so you must remember to turn them in. Could that have been wired into existing parking lights?

you mentioned you’re not thrilled with any of the roof rack options. What are you hoping for? I’m considering the TrailRax half rack mainly to carry skis in the winter. In the summer might attach rotopax or other gear. Not a lot of extra weight. Have you looked at their racks?

are you happy with the oil catch can after all those miles? Is it worth the effort? I’m debating back & forth. Seems to be a very polarizing option.

thx! Awesome mod thread.

 

[Gtrekker]

Looking good!!!

Another Purpose Built and Bad Ass 2dr door...

 

[OG-Surfdog]

Looking good!!!

Another Purpose Built and Bad Ass 2dr door...

^ what he said..........and on 33's at that !!!!!

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