Are you worried about Bronco Breakage? Come on in....

[Doetsch Off-Road]

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.

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[Cable Guy]

Excellent post.

 

[JediMcMuffin]

Thanks for this. I plan to keep my wheels/tires/suspension config stock until I have more experience.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

Good write up. Maybe mention gearing and M210 vs M190 and Ultimate Dana 44 for the tires, and then axles too.

Haven't seen much on this yet. Was there a bunch of Bronco IFS carnage at Bronco Basecamp during EJS? If so, I'm guessing the Jeep community is all SFA / we told yah this week.

I watch all the various can I stuff these tire onto this setup for cheap on here, and I get people going for the looks at the lowest cost. But from my Jeep experience, it seems like we need a staged build roadmap around here because a lot of what is being done seems to diminish real capability versus enhance it.

I will say this for Jeep: they do listen a lot to their enthusiast base on the Wrangler product decisions—particularly at EJS—and they do bring some awesome concepts to EJS every year.

 

[BlueBronco]

Am I worried about breakage? Nope. So far this beast has taken everything I have thrown at it and I much prefer rocks over mud.

We were wheeling this weekend with a group of Broncos and a different Bronco waved me over and jokingly asked if we had a spare tie-rod because they had broken one of theirs (slid of an obstacle against a rock while turning and snap she went). Dude was shocked and thankful when I said yes.

For those that don't know, Doetsch Off-Road built my Bronco and it is equipped with Fabtech / Dirtlogic components. I also have the BroncBushing in my garage waiting to be installed but I am trying to decide on tie-rod upgrades or braces first. I would recommend Todd and his crew and am very pleased with their work and guidance. Although I did finally have to scrape off the windshield banner as I was tired of ducking while watching for the stoplight to change.

 

[Doetsch Off-Road]

Am I worried about breakage? Nope. So far this beast has taken everything I have thrown at it and I much prefer rocks over mud.

We were wheeling this weekend with a group of Broncos and a different Bronco waved me over and jokingly asked if we had a spare tie-rod because they had broken one of theirs (slid of an obstacle against a rock while turning and snap she went). Dude was shocked and thankful when I said yes.

For those that don't know, Doetsch Off-Road built my Bronco and it is equipped with Fabtech / Dirtlogic components. I also have the BroncBushing in my garage waiting to be installed but I am trying to decide on tie-rod upgrades or braces first. I would recommend Todd and his crew and am very pleased with their work and guidance. Although I did finally have to scrape off the windshield banner as I was tired of ducking while watching for the stoplight to change.

Love it!!!! Looking good man, glad to see it out there. Im gonna message you on the tie rods though. You are goin hard, youll want em.

 

[Doetsch Off-Road]

Good write up. Maybe mention gearing and M210 vs M190 and Ultimate Dana 44 for the tires, and then axles too.

Haven't seen much on this yet. Was there a bunch of Bronco IFS carnage at Bronco Basecamp during EJS? If so, I'm guessing the Jeep community is all SFA / we told yah this week.

I watch all the various can I stuff these tire onto this setup for cheap on here, and I get people going for the looks at the lowest cost. But from my Jeep experience, it seems like we need a staged build roadmap around here because a lot of what is being done seems to diminish real capability versus enhance it.

I will say this for Jeep: they do listen a lot to their enthusiast base on the Wrangler product decisions—particularly at EJS—and they do bring some awesome concepts to EJS every year.

I could certainly dive in deeper, but that was long winded enough for most! I will say though that Ford does have both ears open and forward. They are already implementing some engineering changes that will come to market. I am lucky enough to have a direct line with them which has been extremely helpful

 

[TantoIndian]

This is a great post! Not going to lie, I have gone into a deep rabbit hole every night on youtube, watching bronco videos, mods, etc. Seen those tire rods break several times in videos, obviously during off roads. Being new to this world, I am naive to the "things", but this post made me feel better about what I can expect and how to mod my Bronco. I appreciate you taking the time to inform us.

 

[gryphon1231]

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.

I've seen plenty of jeeps break too. Part of the reason jeep's get their suspension, axels, drive shafts, etc. upgraded. This is not something isolated to Bronco.

 

[Doetsch Off-Road]

I've seen plenty of jeeps break too. Part of the reason jeep's get their suspension, axels, drive shafts, etc. upgraded. This is not something isolated to Bronco.

of course. They have also been out, for a long time and parts get reengineered as time goes on. Plus the tremendous aftermarket support.

 

[Pseudoko]

I could certainly dive in deeper, but that was long winded enough for most! I will say though that Ford does have both ears open and forward. They are already implementing some engineering changes that will come to market. I am lucky enough to have a direct line with them which has been extremely helpful

this is a great post . I got tired of telling people these things to keep in mind and when something breaks and then they found out it’s no longer under warranty because of their mods… all I can do is think “I told you so”. Great post and I hope people read this.

 

[gryphon1231]

of course. They have also been out, for a long time and parts get reengineered as time goes on. Plus the tremendous aftermarket support.

In time Bronco will have the same. I'm not worried about it at all.

 

[Crazy dutch]

I just ordered a inner for a spare. Parts guy told me it's the same part number for either side, any body else get the same info?

 

[Ksjrb03]

Good write up. Maybe mention gearing and M210 vs M190 and Ultimate Dana 44 for the tires, and then axles too.

Haven't seen much on this yet. Was there a bunch of Bronco IFS carnage at Bronco Basecamp during EJS? If so, I'm guessing the Jeep community is all SFA / we told yah this week.

I watch all the various can I stuff these tire onto this setup for cheap on here, and I get people going for the looks at the lowest cost. But from my Jeep experience, it seems like we need a staged build roadmap around here because a lot of what is being done seems to diminish real capability versus enhance it.

I will say this for Jeep: they do listen a lot to their enthusiast base on the Wrangler product decisions—particularly at EJS—and they do bring some awesome concepts to EJS every year.

Yes, there was a TON of carnage. Videos and discussion all over the large Bronco communities (this forum is not near the large groups). I saw several videos of tie rod breaks going over pretty tame obstacles.

 

[AZ_Liberty]

Yes, but not off road. I figure the Bronco should be at least as rugged as a 4x4 F-150.

I do have concerns about turbo engines long term, and would feel a lot better if we had a naturally aspirated option.

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