- First Name
- Federico
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2021
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 702
- Reaction score
- 1,219
- Location
- Houston, Tx
- Vehicle(s)
- 2002 F-150 Supercrew FX4
- Your Bronco Model
- Base
What beach did you go? Padre island?It was great to hear that after 26 years enough people up in Dearborn finally rallied together and decided to take a stab at bringing Lazarus back from the dead. I'll never forget when I was 15 years old and I jogged down to the local Eckerd's drug store and bought that Motor Trend magazine featuring the 1997 Ford Expedition. It was like a 4 Door Bronco without the twin I-Beams up front. I showed it to my dad, and he kind of snickered at it. Two weeks later, that asshole traded in what was supposed to be my 1995 Bronco XLT for a '97 Eddie Bauer Expedition. That '95 was black with a gray interior, and it had a bitchin' car phone. That Bronco had stayed up late one night at a deer lease in South Texas pulling out buried pickups after a freak rain storm. Sand, caliche, and lots of water didn't mix well that night, but that truck saved the day. It was gone forever, and was heartlessly replace by a 2 wheel drive 4 door bloated monster.
January 2021.. I had already sort of grown up and got married, had a couple of kids, and a house and stuff. Also, I reserved a 4 door, Black Diamond, optioned out only with the mid package and the tow hitch.
March 2021 I got an email that instructed me to pull my head out of my ass and convert it to an order before it was too late. I obliged and agreed on paying sticker (dumb move, I know) but I did it anyway. I've been lurking on the forums intermittently ever since, and have been amazed and appalled at the same time reading story after story about everyone's orders and people getting bumped and forgotten about.
May 2021.. I got a VIN and a scheduled for June production email.
June 2021 ... Got bumped to August
August 2021... Scheduled for 8/6 ......was actually built on August 9th
September 23rd 2021 got a text ...Bronco is here
Went down to the Ryan Ford in Sealy Texas. Didn't get fucked with, actually bought it for the agreed price. While I was about to go into the finance office at the dealer my mom called. She told me that my grandmother had passed away, there were no details at the time, but that she loves me. She's the best. I breezed through finance and was reunited with my salesman... Everyone smiled, but the sales manager wouldn't immediately buy it back for $15K over sticker. Oh well, guess I'll drive it and see what happens...
Soft top / Door removal and install:
The doors are kind of a pain in the ass to remove. They're not particularly over complicated, its just that the hinges are tough to access when compared to my JL. Later, I realized that the Bronco has concealed hinges that make the vehicle look a hell of a lot cleaner with the doors on, so it makes sense that the hinges are tucked away. The electrical connections are easy and straightforward to disconnect and reconnect. No complaints there. The fact that the doors are 1/2 doors makes then even easier to carry around. Total win for Bronco. It's a damn shame that reinstalling them completely negates this win (and then some).
Reinstalling the doors:
COMPLETE FUCKING NIGHTMARE compared to my JL. The thought of having a removable alignment pin that has to be carried from door to door just to line up the hinges is completely asinine. I love driving this vehicle without doors, but I will not take them off as often as I do my Jeep. It is indescribably impossible to explain how hard the hinges are to align. I realize Jeep has 80 years of removable door patents that Ford can not use and Ford had to come up with their own thing. Their finished product is shit, and they need to reimagine it. The tools that come with the truck suck. The socket doesn't really fit the head of the bolt and likes to slip off. The ratchet wants to back the bolts out when trying to tighten them. These tools are as annoying as the old school Ford power steering whine. Additionally, I tightened to doors up to what felt like a "reasonable" tightness, but within 24 hours 3 of the 4 doors were popping when opening and closing the doors. The right front door dropped a hinge bolt. I had to go back around and tighten the hell out of the door hinges. I feel like someday I'm going to pay for having to tighten up the bolts this much. Something is going to wear out and break. I don't even reinstall my Jeep door hinge bolts after putting the doors back on. They just hook into place and I roll on down the line.
Removing the soft top:
Pretty easy and straightforward. Fold it back, remove two trim panels and remove 3 bolts on each side. Get a buddy to lift...it's heavier that you think. The trim, by the way, is quite vulnerable to discoloration when removing pieces. They turn white at the slightest bend. Also, don't drop a bolt, or you will have to remove more panels to recover it.
Reinstalling the top (at night)
Somebody didn't think this through. The LED cargo lamp was specifically designed to FUCKING BLIND YOU when attempting to reinstall the soft top bolts on the right side of the vehicle. I'm not going to go into details...you will have to experience this yourself.
Driving impressions:
It's fast. The 4 cylinder Turbo mated to the 10 speed transmission launches me through the gears like an electric roller coaster. Cars I've driven before really ride the tachometer. Usually I can feel the progression through each gear and then start off at the bottom of the next gear. This car glides through each of the 10 speeds and keeps me in the peak of the power band. It's a seemingly endless ribbon of power that never peaks or drops. The feeling of acceleration lasts until I take my foot off the gas. I always chicken out long before this 4 cylinder begins to show any sign of weakness or wearing out. It's truly powerful. In fact, I'm not sure why they put a V6 in this vehicle. I'm always about to break the ass-end loose around corners. When the top and the doors are off I have to let off the gas or the cart will definitely come before the horse. It's got way more acceleration than my 2 liter turbo / hybrid Jeep. I really like this Bronco's power.
Sand Mode. Sand mode is a real treat. It's kind of a cross between 4-Hi and Sport Mode with the rear locker defaulting to "on" I was able to take the Bronco through anything I aimed it at and not get stuck. At one point I made a conscious decision to stop, just to see how well it would take off. The truck did not disappoint. I wasn't able to stick the truck that day. It did really well. We put 126 miles on the odometer in 4 wheel drive that day. Even though the Black Diamond does not come with baja mode, we were easily able to baja this vehicle for miles and miles of endless beach.
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