5000 miles, 10 days cross country coast-to-coast in 2023 Bronco

[Brian_B]

Recently had to make an unplanned road trip back east. Went almost the entirety of I-40 out and back.

Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to go off road any on this trip - it would have been nice. But figured I’d detail my experience with a long road trip for folks

My build:
‘23 Big Bend 4 Dr 7 MT. 35” MT Baja Legends (@35 psi cold for this trip). 4WP/ProComp 2.5” coil overs set at 3” lift (minimum recommended setting). Ford ProCal tuning. 4.46 ratio.

Absolutely no issues with the Bronco on the entire trip. I never used 6th gear. There were some uphill stretches where I would downshift to 4th (@75mph) and still be at 3-5psi boost. A lot of high altitude at speed (75-80mph) - most of NM and AZ

Some general observations:
The Bronco had amazing passing power even in 5th gear with my setup. No issues at all maintaining 75-80MPH the entire trip. It did drink some fuel doing that though. 4th gear it could hang at those speeds no problem and felt like I was in an episode of Speed Racer. 6th gear though was a total dog. Ran in “normal” mode the entire time - no Sport mode.

Return trip was with a 2016 5.0 F150. At stretches under 70MPH the two vehicles had pretty similar MPG. Anything over 70 and the F150 had better MPG - anywhere from 1-2 gallons difference in a fill up.

No issues with ProCal tune and long extended runs with turbo boost. I had one stretch of about 5 hours between stops at 5-7 psi boost sustained almost the entire time.

No issues with oil temp at all - it was perfectly happy at 200-210F pretty much the entire time, even with the extended boost periods, and even in the desert at 108F outside.

35 psi and the ProComps were harsh when the road got rough - not gonna lie about that. The ride would have been better with softer shocks and down around 30psi in the tires (where I normally run these tires), but on a long trip I think the mileage won out

Finally got the seat adjusted ~just right~

Being able to shift with cruise control on is surreal

I did notice at altitude that the turbo would boost a bit more than not. But I never felt any loss of power or ran out of range on the turbo. Closer to sea level I can cruise at 70 mph at 0-1 psi boost, up at 6-7,000 ft it was closer to 4-5psi

I had the soft top on, there was some amount of road noise. The noise from the HVAC running on high going through the desert was more than the road noise was though. The Baja Legends are very tame on road noise - the soft top less so but not horrible, you don’t want to be trying to have a phone conversation at 75MPH in the soft top, but talking to whomever is in the passenger seat isn’t horrible, and the passenger had no trouble sleeping through it.

This was the return leg (keep in mind the MPG calculator is about 1mpg optimistic - I was getting about 340 miles per 21 gal tank) CEL is on because I just have the ACC on to get the pic.

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[UNBROKN]

We went to Memphis for March Madness. That stretch of 40 from Memphis to Knoxville is the worst. Sometimes it was so bad, we got thrown all over the road. I was running my factory General Grabbers. Loved them, but I probably should have dropped a few pounds (in the tires ) for the trip. What were your starting and turn around points?

 

[Brian_B]

We went to Memphis for March Madness. That stretch of 40 from Memphis to Knoxville is the worst. Sometimes it was so bad, we got thrown all over the road. I was running my factory General Grabbers. Loved them, but I probably should have dropped a few pounds (in the tires ) for the trip. What were your starting and turn around points?

Started near Fresno CA and turned around in Cookeville, TN (just before Knoxville)

 

[AXMRDR]

Weird. If you can't use 6th gear on that stretch of I-40 then you'll never use it.

Cookeville looked to me like a nice little town. Just went through there last week coming back from the Smokeys.

 

[Brian_B]

Weird. If you can't use 6th gear on that stretch of I-40 then you'll never use it.

Maybe if I gear down a bit more. 35s are just a bit too big for 4.46 and 6th gear - but there are no issues in other gears, so I wouldn’t regear just for the sake of getting 6th back as 1st and 2nd would be awfully short

 

[AXMRDR]

I am surprised at the difference between the manual and automatic transmission final gear ratios.

I have 315 70 17s, which are slightly smaller, 34", and have no issues on I-40 in 10th gear with 3.73 with my 2.7L.

I get there are 10 vs 6 gears but I assumed the final gearing in the top gear would be very close. I'll have to check and see if it downshifts when pulling long hills. Interesting.

 

[Brian_B]

I am surprised at the difference between the manual and automatic transmission final gear ratios.

I have 315 70 17s, which are slightly smaller, 34", and have no issues on I-40 in 10th gear with 3.73 with my 2.7L.

I get there are 10 vs 6 gears but I assumed the final gearing in the top gear would be very close. I'll have to check and see if it downshifts when pulling long hills. Interesting.

The thing to keep an eye on is boost pressure. Mine will run in 6th, but it needs a lot of boost to make enough torque since it sits so low in the RPM band. That makes it worse for fuel efficiency. So it will do it, but it isn’t the best idea. That turbo is a huge equalizer for power, at the expense of fuel, if you let it.

Seems like Ford keyed everything around a typical 1.2-1.8K RPM, but these 2.3s really need to run at 2.2-2.8k. I’d be curious what the shift strategy on the auto does as well - doesn’t seem like there is a huge difference in mileage

 

[Mdozier]

great information and analysis. It’s nice to get some real time reporting on road manners since some of us use it for both on and off adventures.

But there’s one point that reeeaaallly grabbed my attention:

Finally got the seat adjusted ~just right~

Just how long into the trip did this take?! Asking optimistically….

 

[Brian_B]

great information and analysis. It’s nice to get some real time reporting on road manners since some of us use it for both on and off adventures.

But there’s one point that reeeaaallly grabbed my attention:



Just how long into the trip did this take?! Asking optimistically….

So - being honest about this.

The seat bothered me. I hated to admit it but yeah. I have struggled with it since I got the Bronco. It’s not totally awful, but I could never seem to get it just right - either I was set too far forward and it wasn’t comfortable or something just off about my lower back.

I did the washer thing to tilt the seat back and that helped a lot. Subtle but noticeable. But it would still get to me after a few hours in the seat.

But yeah - about 20 hours into this trip, after I got tired of the cabby beads I just started playing with the seat again and finally got it: very high, pulled forward and laid back further than normal. After that - no more issues the rest of the trip. God help me when I move the seat next and can’t find the exact magic position again

 

[Mdozier]

Ha! I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek but truthfully I seem to fiddle with mine every time! Funny, my ‘95 250 with a bench seat only goes up and back and it never bothered me.

Seriously, thanks for the report. Been on I-40 in every state but not a through trip. Kinda want to now.

 

[Brian_B]

Ha! I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek but truthfully I seem to fiddle with mine every time! Funny, my ‘95 250 with a bench seat only goes up and back and it never bothered me.

Seriously, thanks for the report. Been on I-40 in every state but not a through trip. Kinda want to now.

It's an interesting drive, but having done it now, I don't feel the need to do it again if I can help it. There is a very distinct difference from "East of OKC" and "West of OKC". The route through AZ was utterly awful - while it had some amazing scenery and Flagstaff was beautiful, the road was in absolutely awful condition - markedly worse than any other state.

 

[AXMRDR]

The thing to keep an eye on is boost pressure. Mine will run in 6th, but it needs a lot of boost to make enough torque since it sits so low in the RPM band. That makes it worse for fuel efficiency. So it will do it, but it isn’t the best idea. That turbo is a huge equalizer for power, at the expense of fuel, if you let it.

Seems like Ford keyed everything around a typical 1.2-1.8K RPM, but these 2.3s really need to run at 2.2-2.8k. I’d be curious what the shift strategy on the auto does as well - doesn’t seem like there is a huge difference in mileage

My combined city/highway mileage is about the same as the mileage in your photo last time I checked.

I see you have the 2.3L.

I only look at the boost pressures for curiosity's sake. (to compare pressures to my 7.3L) Pay more attention to the tach - the gear indication momentarily tells me what gear I'm in when I hit the up/down button on the shifter. The tach tells me when the gears change, but no to which gear.

You're right, 80 mph is 1,800-1,900 rpm. IIRC
(speed corrected with Forscan - checked with Garmin gps)

 

[KirchTX]

When people complain about highway conditions I need to know: but have you driven Houston to New Orleans? Those Cajuns just pour concrete down on bare soil and hope for the best.

 

[Lcubed]

did you have to leave the bronco on the east coast?

 

[MayhemMike]

Um, there is a state or two past Tennessee before one reaches the coast. lol. Nice trip . Sounds like you had a great time.

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