Two Bronco Raptors do the Rubicon in a Day

[JohnGalt]

Ran the Rubicon last Thursday with a Rubicon experienced Jeep 392 on 40s leading me and an almost bone stock Bronco Raptor on base wheels. The video is long, but it covers the whole day with lots of Video from my dash showing the other Raptor and me negotiating our way through, quite a few third person perspective clips as well. This was my first time doing the entire Rubicon.



Learnings…
It’s doable in a day with an experienced leader. I got lots of help throughout the day and got to follow the other Raptors lines. It was a distinct advantage.

But it’s going to be a long day. Nothing you can’t handle, but you’re pushed over and over and…. It never really lets up until you clear Cadillac Hill

The Raptor did great, but it’s not a built Jeep on 40s!

Having some poke from +6 rims and 13.5” tires kept my flares off the rocks. I had a damage free day. The other guy popped a fender with his stock setup. If your running stock

The base rims leave the valve stem exposed, the other Raptor had row stems fail in 100 yards.

While the trail is very doable, it will punish you if you make a mistake. The other Raptor got in a very precarious situation stuck between two boulders. A good plan and execution led to a safe drama free recovery, but it was stressful at the time!!

I got through damage free, the other Raptor took some rash, wrecked a flare and knocked another loose but it was relatively minor considering the situation it was in.

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[9secondko]

Dang. That’s awesome! I’d be way too worried about messing up the Bronco. Thanks for sharing with us. 9+ hours of off roading takes donr crazy dedication.

 

[vrtical]

I did more damage in stock form, since some changes, zero. The correct wheel/tire combo plus a slight lift solves a boat load of potential issues specially with the flares.

 

[Br0nc0_Badlands_Sasquatch]

how hard is it to pop off the flares on the raptor? Can you do it like a normal bronco?

 

[DarthLincoln]

NICE!! Thanks for sharing the long video. Now i can drive the Rubicon vicariously thru your video.

 

[JohnGalt]

how hard is it to pop off the flares on the raptor? Can you do it like a normal bronco?

No you don’t do it like a Sasquatch Bronco.

IMO, it’s a pain to remove them. I pulled a front flare of for fun, broke something like 11 of the 13 clips. Replacement clips aren’t supercheap when you consider you need three thousand of them for all four flares. Popping it back on with new clips is quick and easy.

 

[swamp2]

@JohnGalt , nice work - unscathed! A buddy as your guide, paid, otherwise? I want to do the trail myself at some point but am only moderately experienced crawling in big rocks. I think a guide/spotter would be invaluable in preventing damage to my DD.

 

[bf4445]

Ran the Rubicon last Thursday with a Rubicon experienced Jeep 392 on 40s leading me and an almost bone stock Bronco Raptor on base wheels. The video is long, but it covers the whole day with lots of Video from my dash showing the other Raptor and me negotiating our way through, quite a few third person perspective clips as well. This was my first time doing the entire Rubicon.



Learnings…
It’s doable in a day with an experienced leader. I got lots of help throughout the day and got to follow the other Raptors lines. It was a distinct advantage.

But it’s going to be a long day. Nothing you can’t handle, but you’re pushed over and over and…. It never really lets up until you clear Cadillac Hill

The Raptor did great, but it’s not a built Jeep on 40s!

Having some poke from +6 rims and 13.5” tires kept my flares off the rocks. I had a damage free day. The other guy popped a fender with his stock setup. If your running stock

The base rims leave the valve stem exposed, the other Raptor had row stems fail in 100 yards.

While the trail is very doable, it will punish you if you make a mistake. The other Raptor got in a very precarious situation stuck between two boulders. A good plan and execution led to a safe drama free recovery, but it was stressful at the time!!

I got through damage free, the other Raptor took some rash, wrecked a flare and knocked another loose but it was relatively minor considering the situation it was in.

The Rubicon can most certainly dish it out but it sounds like you had a great experience wish i had been there
chuckle.....can't help but laugh. Haven't been on the Rubicon trail in 25 years but never saw it as exceedingly difficult as long as you were driving an appropriate narrow short wheelbase jeep.......and that is my biggest complaint without listing details regarding all current gen "off road" vehicles including the new Bronco. Seems the emphasis has been on big and bad looking with true off road capability just a sales tool since the nineties. The new Bronco comes closer to what i consider a real off road vehicle than anything manufactured since the CJ5. Thank you Ford! Now finish the job

And thank you for posting. Time for me to get off my thing and do the trail again

 

[JohnGalt]

@JohnGalt , nice work - unscathed! A buddy as your guide, paid, otherwise? I want to do the trail myself at some point but am only moderately experienced crawling in big rocks. I think a guide/spotter would be invaluable in preventing damage to my DD.

“guide” was just a friend of a friend who has done the ‘con a bunch of times. He led the way, gave advice when different options were available and provided some great spotting. Made it much easier mentally.

It could certainly be done without, highly recommend having someone who’s got a good sense of where to not waste time. Finding the right option takes time.

Try hooking up with a group on the Rubicon Trail FB page. Gold Country Broncos on FB has folks getting together for it from time to time too.

 

[JohnGalt]

The Rubicon can most certainly dish it out but it sounds like you had a great experience wish i had been there
chuckle.....can't help but laugh. Haven't been on the Rubicon trail in 25 years but never saw it as exceedingly difficult as long as you were driving an appropriate narrow short wheelbase jeep.......and that is my biggest complaint without listing details regarding all current gen "off road" vehicles including the new Bronco. Seems the emphasis has been on big and bad looking with true off road capability just a sales tool since the nineties. The new Bronco comes closer to what i consider a real off road vehicle than anything manufactured since the CJ5. Thank you Ford! Now finish the job

And thank you for posting. Time for me to get off my thing and do the trail again

The Raptor really has to work to get through a LOT of squeezes. Width and wheelbase both present challenges. I followed a well built Samurai through Deer Valley last year. our lines were like we were on two different trails! and he was making it look easy…

 

[JohnGalt]

how hard is it to pop off the flares on the raptor? Can you do it like a normal bronco?

Update. I did make contact and broke four clips on the drivers front. Broke 5 more getting the flare off. Managed to save 5 this time. yay…. You can see the broken clips still in the fender. Flares have new clips already inserted. 14 total of these on front flare plus 7 of the push/screw in clips that hold outside edge of flare and liner together.

here’s some pics of what is going on under the flares.

 

[TruckCamper]

How much fuel do you estimate for the actual trail?

 

[JohnGalt]

How much fuel do you estimate for the actual trail?

I topped off in Fresh Pond which is an uphill 37 mile 1 hour drive to the Loon Lake trailhead. Finished the trail in Tahoma with a little more than a half tank. The trail‘s pretty short (16 miles) so fuel isn’t really an issue. it just packs a LOT in the first 10 of those 16 miles, ha ha.

 

[bf4445]

The Raptor really has to work to get through a LOT of squeezes. Width and wheelbase both present challenges. I followed a well built Samurai through Deer Valley last year. our lines were like we were on two different trails! and he was making it look easy…

Size dozz make a difference. I bought a Jeep renegade trailhak in 2016 and was amazed at what thet little wanna be an off road rig could do without breaking a sweat.

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