reviving this from the dead for an important public announcement....
Lets chat about a few things.
I'm sure a lot of you have seen all of the Bronco Breakage that went down this past week at Moab. I want you to know that your new Bronco (or one en route) is NOT a problem waiting to happen. They are not weak, or under-engineered. Let me explain...
The Bronco was engineered to off-road, but not quite in the same fashion as the Jeep. The Bronco is the better driver. The Bronco is capable of more speed on trails, and desert running. It is highly capable in stock form, for what it was designed to do. However there are some short falls to it when rock crawling. At least at higher levels. The breakage that youve seen, and is the most common is the Tie Rods. More times than not, this is due to DRIVER ERROR. It is a weak point, and it is small...but its the same you see on Raptors, Tacomas, etc. Its typically caused by trying to "bump" up an obstacle, or having heavy load on one of the tires while turned putting climbing torque on the driveline. Your tie rod is about the size of my pinky. In comparison the one on my Jeep is 2" thick. Breakage also has a lot to do with how you modify the vehicle. More on that coming in this long winded message.
Spacer lifts. This is a great option if your goal is mostly to make the vehicle look better for daily driving and youll be using it only for light duty offroad. When doing this, please also consider geometry correcting parts (Upper control arms) if you go this route. 35s or 37s are ok on spacer lifts, but just know that if you do offroad your Bronco on more than basic trails...the extra weight, extra traction and the ability to get over higher or more challenging obstacles will put more stress on breakable parts. If your wants or needs become more heavily offroad oriented...look to upgrade some other pieces.
If you are more serious with off-roading, put your money in to quality parts. Fabtech, King, & Fox coilovers are the way to go. Also upgrade your tie rods to the available Fabtech or RPG full replacement units and consider also the BroncBuster steering bushing. The Fabtech kit comes with Upper control arms and rear trailing arms. Kings/Fox you need to source the control and trailing arms from another source such as RPG/Camburg/Zone, etc. Yes, those parts are necessary at this level. Consider some of the underbody skids that are beginning to come out as well.
If you are new to off-roading, or came from the Jeep life...take some time to learn the difference in how to drive the Bronco. Enjoy it stock at least a little bit to learn it. Learn the different lines you should take in comparison to a Jeep or other solid front axle 4x4s. They are different! Go out with some more experienced IFS offroaders and dont be shy, ask for help....I promise they will. And hopefully you will share that info down the road as well.
Speak to a professional or someone with personal experience before making decisions. This is more than just business to me and our crew. We are all active in the offroad community and have been for many years. We have built over 30 Broncos from Mild to Wild over the past 6-7mos. Regardless of where you source your parts or who installs them for you, I am here to offer my advice which will be catered to your needs specifically. Message me directly on here, email me at [email protected] or call in to Doetsch Off-Road and we would be happy to discuss specifics or just BS about your Bronco a bit. We were all new to this at some point, Im here to make that easier for you..
Thanks for this post. I'm new to off roading and will be joing a large group of Jeeps owned by family for some off-road adventures. You mentioned needing to take different lines with a Bronco compared to a Jeep, can you explain this for me? I have a Base 4 door with Sas, most of my family is running 33" with 1-2" puck lifts on their jeeps so I don't think they are doing anything too extreme. What do I need to be aware of?
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