Super cool stuff!
I am not too handy. How much do you charge?Hi. 1st post. I have a unicorn Bronco. Manufactured 7/19, shipped 7/21, arrived ~8/4. Summary of initial upgrades:
- ZoneOffroad 2" spacers
- Replaced factory 16" steel wheels with 17" black alloys (-6 offset)
- Replaced tires with true 35"/12.5 BFG All Terrain KO2
- Removed crash bars
- Replaced all factory speakers with Kicker 4" and 6.5" speakers, plus base blockers
- Unbolted and removed rear seats entirely
- Replaced base fender flares with Sasquatch flares
- Added Ridergrafix side stripes and partial hood stripes
- Added tailgate table and mounted a half cutting board
- Built and added false floor to cover up bolts/missing carpet in rear (due to rear seat removal)
- Added custom radio mount on upper tailgate hinge
- Added Midlands GMRS radio and ran antenna cable behind trim to center console
- Added trim tape/rubber to mask the ugly pinch seam under doors
- Added custom rail mount in center accessory port
And then generally filled it out inside with things for an initial road trip.
Here are some quick before (as delivered):
and then after (as of today):
The new wheels and tires were the first thing that I did. The wheels are 17" ProComp with a -6 offset, and a classic design (~700$ total for 5x wheels). UPS dropped them off about a week prior to delivery of the Bronco. The tires are BFG All Terrain KO2 in 35x12.5, were ordered through Discount Tire for about $325/tire, and they also mounted and balanced them on the wheels. I also elected to buy new TPMS sensors for about $60/each, since I want to powder coat the old wheels white and add 33" tires (later).
I did the actual tire installation myself. Removing the front crasher was by far the most annoying part, since my Bronco has the base plastic bumpers (not really bumpers at all, more like bug catchers). Unlike the modular factory bumper, I had to complete remove the plastic "skid plate" in order to unbolt the outer part of the plastic bumper, so I could bend it back enough to slide out the front crash bars. The rear crash bars were nicely removed without any similar drama.
Here is a photo of the front with the new wheels/tires, and the rear with the old ones:
The larger tires actually fit just fine, without any lift required (at the time). Clearance wasn't great in any direction, but it did fit.
There was a LOT of tire poke with the -6 wheel offset and the standard fender flares:
I didn't have a problem with this at first, because it fits the aggressive off-road look of the Bronco. However, the large uncovered area does throw a fair bit of dirt and mud. Even worse, in the rain the tires were throwing water spray not just backwards but straight UP into the side windows and mirrors. After a day of driving in the rain and looking like an idiot with water flying everywhere, I immediately ordered the Sasquatch fenders. Problem solved.
The next modification was to strip out the rear seats:
With those gone, the 2 door Bronco has a surprising amount of cargo space. Given that the rear seats in the 2 door are basically unusable anyways, it's really a no-brainer for me. The seat removal left some unsightly bolts and holes in the carpet, which I covered up with a moving blanket for a few days before making a false floor out of plywood and carpet:
This one was pretty easy: take a 3/4" sheet of plywood, cut it to 40"x42.5", drill some 1/2" holes to fit around the 4x seat bolts that stick up, and then glue down some auto carpet to give it that factory fresh look.
After the false floor, I installed the tailgate door. Not much to talk about there. It's a factory accessory. Installation instructions are crap, though. I hope you like trying to decipher pictures. Here is what it looks like freshly installed:
The next modification was a multi-purpose antenna mount for the rear tailgate. I happened to have some leftover pieces of powdercoated steel from something else, and the existing bolt holes in one piece lined up perfectly with the two bolt holes for the top tailgate hinge. The factory bolts here are M8 (by 20mm or something), so I ran to Lowes and grabbed a few different stainless steel M8 bolts with some plastic washers for compression.
For safety, I removed the spare tire first to minimize the weight, then unbolted the top hinge, put everything together, and torqued it down to about 35 lb/ft. Once the main support bracket was attached to the tailgate hinge, I found some other spare metal bits, cut them to size, drilled some holes to fit more M8 bolts and also the antenna mounts, and bolted that all down. The CB antenna wire was routed around the edge of the tailgate and up into the trim panel. The current GMRS antenna is a tiny one that is stuck to the inside of the Bronco, but eventually I will replace it with a long-range antenna on the second external mount.
Here is the final install:
The antenna wire was routed around the right side of the vehicle behind the trim, down the door trim, under the floor mat behind the passenger seat, and up inside the console rear trim panel. I pulled off the rear console trim, drilled a 3/4" hole through to the inside of the console, and ran the cable through there to the GMRS radio mounted inside. (No pictures of this at the moment).
The Midlands GMRS radio I'm using (a very popular option on Amazon) has all the controls on the handset itself, so I removed the regular handset "button" and replaced it with a metal disk. Underneath the Bronco dash, I superglued a magnetic phone mount so it extends out and down:
The Bronco (Base) doesn't come with a handle in the middle, so the next change I did was to remove the "Accessory Port" bolts, run to Lowes to get longer ones (I think these were M6 and I needed something like 45mm, along with some plastic spacers), cut and sand about 12" of aluminum bar and then mount the thing into the accessory port bolt holes. That gave me a frame for adding more useful things, in this case a magnetic pistol mount and some magazine pouches that double as pen and flashlight holders.
Here is the rail from the top looking down, showing the bolts going to spacers going into the factory bolt holes:
Next, I replaced all the factory speakers, because the factory sound system on the Base model is just terrible. I started out buying some cheap Pioneer speakers at Best Buy. The 4" speakers installed without any drama at all. The 6.5" inch speakers were a pain. I had to remove all the door trim (made worse by the fact that you have to remove trim within trim on the driver's side to get to some extra bolts in the footwell), only to find that the factory 6.5" speakers don't use a standard 4 hole mount pattern. So I went online and ordered a plastic adapter and put the factory speakers back while I waited.
The sound with the new 4" speakers was terrible. The inputs for the front dash 4" speakers come from the lower 6.5" speakers, and the factory speakers must have internal bass blockers. The resonance was awful. After rereading the speaker forum thread here, I immediately ordered some bass blockers from Crutchfield. I also gave up on my Pioneer speakers and ordered a full set of Kicker 4" and 6.5" speakers (since I've been happy with that same upgrade in my F150).
Everything arrived, was installed, and I'm much happier. The clarity of the sound with a full Kicker system is SO much better than the factory. However, there is limited bass, so this system absolutely will need an additional subwoofer. Personally, I'm planning on building a custom subwoofer box later on, but for now this upgrade is perfectly acceptable. Here are my speaker selections:
Moving back to the outside... my installation appointment date for the ZoneOffroad spacers arrived. The spacers themselves cost $100, and the installation was about $250 plus an alignment fee of about $100. I wasn't happy with the initial result. The front camber was all wrong, and the Bronco felt very unstable and wandered around the road. I took it to a 2nd alignment at an actual Ford dealership, where I found out that the Bronco is so new the alignment specs don't even exist in the dealership's alignment software system. They ended up using the specs from a Ford Escape (something to do with the wheelbases being pretty close) and in the end the alignment turned out well.
Just a heads up if you are lifting the truck: make sure to talk to the alignment shop because they may have to "best guess" it.
Here are some closeup photos of the ZoneOffroad spacers on the front suspension:
The next update was the stickers: I ordered the Ridergrafix side stripes and the hood wrap. I tried installing the hood wrap first and was very frustrated. With the new lift and the larger tires, it is actually really tricky reaching the top middle of the hood (even with a ladder) without feeling very off balance or wanting to put pressure on the middle of the hood for support (and denting it).
Also, it didn't help that I tried to do a dry wrap installation (like I've done for other wraps in the past) which failed miserably (bubbles everywhere). I finally read the directions and it clearly says "WET APPLICATION" so whoops. I ripped off the center wrap but kept the pinstripes on the hood since those turned out pretty well.
Side stripes turned out VERY well. I actually read the instructions thoroughly this time, took my time, and it all worked out peachy. I elected to leave off the rear portion of the stripe kit, since I actually like how it looks with the front portion only.
I also hid the ugly pinch seams below the doors (at least until I add steps). I measured the height of the seam, bought a strip of sticky rubberized trim with the same width, and then installed the rubber over the pinch seam. Out of the box, the rubber trim is a bit glossy, so I roughed it up with the sandpaper and now it looks much more factory.
Finally, since this truck really is a unicorn (MY2021, Base, MIC, 2dr, Manual, Rapid Red, and it narrowly escaped being stuck on Dirt Mountain...), I added an appropriate sticker
Thanks for reading. Hope you get yours soon.
Awesome build. Great job on everything. Enjoy it.Hi. 1st post. I have a unicorn Bronco. Manufactured 7/19, shipped 7/21, arrived ~8/4. Summary of initial upgrades:
- ZoneOffroad 2" spacers
- Replaced factory 16" steel wheels with 17" black alloys (-6 offset)
- Replaced tires with true 35"/12.5 BFG All Terrain KO2
- Removed crash bars
- Replaced all factory speakers with Kicker 4" and 6.5" speakers, plus base blockers
- Unbolted and removed rear seats entirely
- Replaced base fender flares with Sasquatch flares
- Added Ridergrafix side stripes and partial hood stripes
- Added tailgate table and mounted a half cutting board
- Built and added false floor to cover up bolts/missing carpet in rear (due to rear seat removal)
- Added custom radio mount on upper tailgate hinge
- Added Midlands GMRS radio and ran antenna cable behind trim to center console
- Added trim tape/rubber to mask the ugly pinch seam under doors
- Added custom rail mount in center accessory port
And then generally filled it out inside with things for an initial road trip.
Here are some quick before (as delivered):
and then after (as of today):
The new wheels and tires were the first thing that I did. The wheels are 17" ProComp with a -6 offset, and a classic design (~700$ total for 5x wheels). UPS dropped them off about a week prior to delivery of the Bronco. The tires are BFG All Terrain KO2 in 35x12.5, were ordered through Discount Tire for about $325/tire, and they also mounted and balanced them on the wheels. I also elected to buy new TPMS sensors for about $60/each, since I want to powder coat the old wheels white and add 33" tires (later).
I did the actual tire installation myself. Removing the front crasher was by far the most annoying part, since my Bronco has the base plastic bumpers (not really bumpers at all, more like bug catchers). Unlike the modular factory bumper, I had to complete remove the plastic "skid plate" in order to unbolt the outer part of the plastic bumper, so I could bend it back enough to slide out the front crash bars. The rear crash bars were nicely removed without any similar drama.
Here is a photo of the front with the new wheels/tires, and the rear with the old ones:
The larger tires actually fit just fine, without any lift required (at the time). Clearance wasn't great in any direction, but it did fit.
There was a LOT of tire poke with the -6 wheel offset and the standard fender flares:
I didn't have a problem with this at first, because it fits the aggressive off-road look of the Bronco. However, the large uncovered area does throw a fair bit of dirt and mud. Even worse, in the rain the tires were throwing water spray not just backwards but straight UP into the side windows and mirrors. After a day of driving in the rain and looking like an idiot with water flying everywhere, I immediately ordered the Sasquatch fenders. Problem solved.
The next modification was to strip out the rear seats:
With those gone, the 2 door Bronco has a surprising amount of cargo space. Given that the rear seats in the 2 door are basically unusable anyways, it's really a no-brainer for me. The seat removal left some unsightly bolts and holes in the carpet, which I covered up with a moving blanket for a few days before making a false floor out of plywood and carpet:
This one was pretty easy: take a 3/4" sheet of plywood, cut it to 40"x42.5", drill some 1/2" holes to fit around the 4x seat bolts that stick up, and then glue down some auto carpet to give it that factory fresh look.
After the false floor, I installed the tailgate door. Not much to talk about there. It's a factory accessory. Installation instructions are crap, though. I hope you like trying to decipher pictures. Here is what it looks like freshly installed:
The next modification was a multi-purpose antenna mount for the rear tailgate. I happened to have some leftover pieces of powdercoated steel from something else, and the existing bolt holes in one piece lined up perfectly with the two bolt holes for the top tailgate hinge. The factory bolts here are M8 (by 20mm or something), so I ran to Lowes and grabbed a few different stainless steel M8 bolts with some plastic washers for compression.
For safety, I removed the spare tire first to minimize the weight, then unbolted the top hinge, put everything together, and torqued it down to about 35 lb/ft. Once the main support bracket was attached to the tailgate hinge, I found some other spare metal bits, cut them to size, drilled some holes to fit more M8 bolts and also the antenna mounts, and bolted that all down. The CB antenna wire was routed around the edge of the tailgate and up into the trim panel. The current GMRS antenna is a tiny one that is stuck to the inside of the Bronco, but eventually I will replace it with a long-range antenna on the second external mount.
Here is the final install:
The antenna wire was routed around the right side of the vehicle behind the trim, down the door trim, under the floor mat behind the passenger seat, and up inside the console rear trim panel. I pulled off the rear console trim, drilled a 3/4" hole through to the inside of the console, and ran the cable through there to the GMRS radio mounted inside. (No pictures of this at the moment).
The Midlands GMRS radio I'm using (a very popular option on Amazon) has all the controls on the handset itself, so I removed the regular handset "button" and replaced it with a metal disk. Underneath the Bronco dash, I superglued a magnetic phone mount so it extends out and down:
The Bronco (Base) doesn't come with a handle in the middle, so the next change I did was to remove the "Accessory Port" bolts, run to Lowes to get longer ones (I think these were M6 and I needed something like 45mm, along with some plastic spacers), cut and sand about 12" of aluminum bar and then mount the thing into the accessory port bolt holes. That gave me a frame for adding more useful things, in this case a magnetic pistol mount and some magazine pouches that double as pen and flashlight holders.
Here is the rail from the top looking down, showing the bolts going to spacers going into the factory bolt holes:
Next, I replaced all the factory speakers, because the factory sound system on the Base model is just terrible. I started out buying some cheap Pioneer speakers at Best Buy. The 4" speakers installed without any drama at all. The 6.5" inch speakers were a pain. I had to remove all the door trim (made worse by the fact that you have to remove trim within trim on the driver's side to get to some extra bolts in the footwell), only to find that the factory 6.5" speakers don't use a standard 4 hole mount pattern. So I went online and ordered a plastic adapter and put the factory speakers back while I waited.
The sound with the new 4" speakers was terrible. The inputs for the front dash 4" speakers come from the lower 6.5" speakers, and the factory speakers must have internal bass blockers. The resonance was awful. After rereading the speaker forum thread here, I immediately ordered some bass blockers from Crutchfield. I also gave up on my Pioneer speakers and ordered a full set of Kicker 4" and 6.5" speakers (since I've been happy with that same upgrade in my F150).
Everything arrived, was installed, and I'm much happier. The clarity of the sound with a full Kicker system is SO much better than the factory. However, there is limited bass, so this system absolutely will need an additional subwoofer. Personally, I'm planning on building a custom subwoofer box later on, but for now this upgrade is perfectly acceptable. Here are my speaker selections:
Moving back to the outside... my installation appointment date for the ZoneOffroad spacers arrived. The spacers themselves cost $100, and the installation was about $250 plus an alignment fee of about $100. I wasn't happy with the initial result. The front camber was all wrong, and the Bronco felt very unstable and wandered around the road. I took it to a 2nd alignment at an actual Ford dealership, where I found out that the Bronco is so new the alignment specs don't even exist in the dealership's alignment software system. They ended up using the specs from a Ford Escape (something to do with the wheelbases being pretty close) and in the end the alignment turned out well.
Just a heads up if you are lifting the truck: make sure to talk to the alignment shop because they may have to "best guess" it.
Here are some closeup photos of the ZoneOffroad spacers on the front suspension:
The next update was the stickers: I ordered the Ridergrafix side stripes and the hood wrap. I tried installing the hood wrap first and was very frustrated. With the new lift and the larger tires, it is actually really tricky reaching the top middle of the hood (even with a ladder) without feeling very off balance or wanting to put pressure on the middle of the hood for support (and denting it).
Also, it didn't help that I tried to do a dry wrap installation (like I've done for other wraps in the past) which failed miserably (bubbles everywhere). I finally read the directions and it clearly says "WET APPLICATION" so whoops. I ripped off the center wrap but kept the pinstripes on the hood since those turned out pretty well.
Side stripes turned out VERY well. I actually read the instructions thoroughly this time, took my time, and it all worked out peachy. I elected to leave off the rear portion of the stripe kit, since I actually like how it looks with the front portion only.
I also hid the ugly pinch seams below the doors (at least until I add steps). I measured the height of the seam, bought a strip of sticky rubberized trim with the same width, and then installed the rubber over the pinch seam. Out of the box, the rubber trim is a bit glossy, so I roughed it up with the sandpaper and now it looks much more factory.
Finally, since this truck really is a unicorn (MY2021, Base, MIC, 2dr, Manual, Rapid Red, and it narrowly escaped being stuck on Dirt Mountain...), I added an appropriate sticker
Thanks for reading. Hope you get yours soon.
