2.3L Badlands MT 2600 mile review/question

[jboes13]

So far I’ve had a chance to drive my Badlands on Spas Creek in slade county Kentucky. Along with many miles on highway and inner city Lexington.

It easily took on spas creek. Ran 80% of it in first/second gear 4L. Mainly to save trans. No lockers engaged. Sway bar disconnected here and there to see it’s limits. Vehicle did everything with ease!

City traffic can be rough in a manual at times, which is to be expected nonetheless. 2.3L still has enough pep for aggressive traffic. Brakes are excellent for how heavy the Bronco is.

Highway, it has a good amount of power, wind and rolling hills impact mpg drastically. It is shaped like a rolling brick, so fuel economy is expected to be lower. Can be noisy, though not overbearing in a soft top when trying to speak with passengers

My question I have, if anyone can help. When cruising on the highway (65-75mph 2.2ish rpm’s) turbo is almost always bouncing around 1-5psi. When going up a decent grade, I drop to 5th to keep the engine cool and heads from warping. (5th gear 2.9ish rpm’s) Is it fround upon staying in 5th for an extended period of time? Or am I downshifting for no reason and should I keep it in 6th gear, and let the turbo spool up past 12psi or so?

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[kodiakisland]

I cruise around 2600-2800rpm. Almost never use 6th gear. Even at 80mph. Rarely in boost. You're well on the down side of the power curve at the low 2000s and that's why you see boost a lot of the time. I prefer to be in the power band and out of boost. As far as which is better long term, who knows.

 

[jboes13]

I cruise around 2600-2800rpm. Almost never use 6th gear. Even at 80mph. Rarely in boost. You're well on the down side of the power curve at the low 2000s and that's why you see boost a lot of the time. I prefer to be in the power band and out of boost. As far as which is better long term, who knows.

Gotcha, good to know! I agree with you on the power band. Just never seemed off running in 6th full time. Right, never know what long term could be best.

 

[mrxg78]

So far I’ve had a chance to drive my Badlands on Spas Creek in slade county Kentucky. Along with many miles on highway and inner city Lexington.

It easily took on spas creek. Ran 80% of it in first/second gear 4L. Mainly to save trans. No lockers engaged. Sway bar disconnected here and there to see it’s limits. Vehicle did everything with ease!

City traffic can be rough in a manual at times, which is to be expected nonetheless. 2.3L still has enough pep for aggressive traffic. Brakes are excellent for how heavy the Bronco is.

Highway, it has a good amount of power, wind and rolling hills impact mpg drastically. It is shaped like a rolling brick, so fuel economy is expected to be lower. Can be noisy, though not overbearing in a soft top when trying to speak with passengers

My question I have, if anyone can help. When cruising on the highway (65-75mph 2.2ish rpm’s) turbo is almost always bouncing around 1-5psi. When going up a decent grade, I drop to 5th to keep the engine cool and heads from warping. (5th gear 2.9ish rpm’s) Is it fround upon staying in 5th for an extended period of time? Or am I downshifting for no reason and should I keep it in 6th gear, and let the turbo spool up past 12psi or so?

My understanding from click and clack the tappet brothers The engine doesn’t care, unless RPMs are too low (like below thousand) or redlined. They say for all the engine cares you could have first and 3rd or fourth and it will be happy. That’s of course if you don’t care about MPGs. As for the turbos I have no idea.
Glad to hear that you are happy with 2.3 7MT as that’s what I’m getting

 

[jboes13]

My understanding from click and clack the tappet brothers The engine doesn’t care, unless RPMs are too low (like below thousand) or redlined. They say for all the engine cares you could have first and 3rd or fourth and it will be happy. That’s of course if you don’t care about MPGs. As for the turbos I have no idea.
Glad to hear that you are happy with 2.3 7MT as that’s what I’m getting

Good to know, I wasn’t sure how strong the 2.3L was under pressure. The 7MT has been excellent! I know off-roading a manual can be a struggle. Although 4L in the crawler works great. In saving the clutch that is

 

[JakeC]

My understanding from click and clack the tappet brothers

This warms my heart. Love those guys: their automotive knowledge was uncanny, and their humor was legend.

Edit: Link to the Wiki on the NPR ”Car Talk” show.

 

[mrxg78]

This warms my heart. Love those guys: their automotive knowledge was uncanny, and their humor was legend.

Edit: Link to the Wiki on the NPR ”Car Talk” show.

Can’t agree more, even the kids loved them

 

[BroncoAZ]

Good to know, I wasn’t sure how strong the 2.3L was under pressure. The 7MT has been excellent! I know off-roading a manual can be a struggle. Although 4L in the crawler works great. In saving the clutch that is

With what the Mustang people have been doing to the 2.3L over the years I’m sure they will hold up fine under boost in the Bronco.

 

[SpeedTwin]

The question you should ask is not whether the engine will be damaged by boost or RPM pulling hills. The question is wear on your clutch. If you are going up hill in 6th gear you should downshift to 5th or 4th or maybe lower depending on grade and vehicle speed. If you attempt to accelerate in overdrive (6th/ even 5th in some instances)up hill you are putting more stress on the clutch than in a lower gear and can cause early wear.

On a 4cyl rpm is your friend, like already stated by Kodiakisland.

 

[BroncoAZ]

The question you should ask is not whether the engine will be damaged by boost or RPM pulling hills. The question is wear on your clutch. If you are going up hill in 6th gear you should downshift to 5th or 4th or maybe lower depending on grade and vehicle speed. If you attempt to accelerate in overdrive (6th/ even 5th in some instances)up hill you are putting more stress on the clutch than in a lower gear and can cause early wear.

On a 4cyl rpm is your friend, like already stated by Kodiakisland.

I don’t believe the clutch wear once engaged would be any different regardless of gear, it shouldn’t be slipping at all going down the road.

 

[SpeedTwin]

I don’t believe the clutch wear once engaged would be any different regardless of gear, it shouldn’t be slipping at all going down the road.

On all transmissions there is a gear that typically is a 1:1 ratio or close to that. (I think 3rd for the bronco MT). Dyno shops use that gear when finding horsepower and torque numbers because it is most efficient at transferring power through the drivetrain. Any gears higher are less efficient at torque transfer, and the clutch has to take up that torque to turn the drivetrain.

Agreed, clutch should not slip in any gear. The higher the gear, the more stress on the clutch's clamping force. Obviously this becomes more if a concern when running in high horsepower engines.

 

[kodiakisland]

On all transmissions there is a gear that typically is a 1:1 ratio or close to that. (I think 3rd for the bronco MT). Dyno shops use that gear when finding horsepower and torque numbers because it is most efficient at transferring power through the drivetrain. Any gears higher are less efficient at torque transfer, and the clutch has to take up that torque to turn the drivetrain.

Agreed, clutch should not slip in any gear. The higher the gear, the more stress on the clutch's clamping force. Obviously this becomes more if a concern when running in high horsepower engines.

Some engine/transmission setups are just quirky. My Tacoma 4cyl puts out all of 150hp on a good day, and I can make the clutch slip in 3rd in a hard pull. As far as I know has never slipped in any other gear. I replaced the clutch the first time it started doing it. After a bit of wear the second clutch will do it too, but really only if I make it. I now just avoid hard pulls in third and it's not an issue.

I guess it's just the right RPM, torque range to overcome the pressure plate. Doesn't seem like it should do that, but it does.

 

[ProdigyJKU]

Some engine/transmission setups are just quirky. My Tacoma 4cyl puts out all of 150hp on a good day, and I can make the clutch slip in 3rd in a hard pull. As far as I know has never slipped in any other gear. I replaced the clutch the first time it started doing it. After a bit of wear the second clutch will do it too, but really only if I make it. I now just avoid hard pulls in third and it's not an issue.

I guess it's just the right RPM, torque range to overcome the pressure plate. Doesn't seem like it should do that, but it does.

Surpised they would have a clutch that light on a truck. Before the Bronco I had a 2012 Wrangler that I put an oversize turbo on. It was making close to 500hp/500tq, almost double what Jeep had from the factory, and the clutch never slipped unless dumping the clutch from a stop at 5k rpm multiple times in a row. The clutch was extreme overbuilt for a factory vehicle.

The clutch in my focus on the other hand, I have to be gentle with even though the engine is still stock.

The Bronco clutch seems to be on the robust side. I got no worries about keeping it in 6th, or any of the other situations mention by others in here. With the crawl gear you shouldn't have be putting it in 4low on basic trails to protect the clutch, putting around in 4hi is it's main purpose.

 

[kodiakisland]

Surpised they would have a clutch that light on a truck. Before the Bronco I had a 2012 Wrangler that I put an oversize turbo on. It was making close to 500hp/500tq, almost double what Jeep had from the factory, and the clutch never slipped unless dumping the clutch from a stop at 5k rpm multiple times in a row. The clutch was extreme overbuilt for a factory vehicle.

The clutch in my focus on the other hand, I have to be gentle with even though the engine is still stock.

The Bronco clutch seems to be on the robust side. I got no worries about keeping it in 6th, or any of the other situations mention by others in here. With the crawl gear you shouldn't have be putting it in 4low on basic trails to protect the clutch, putting around in 4hi is it's main purpose.

The 4cyl Tacoma clutch/pressure plate on the 2nd gen models were notoriously unreliable. Some last forever and some get replaced within 10K miles. It's not like the HP/torque of the motor is overpowering.

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