Bash Plates / Armor Question

[Little Foot]

Does anyone know if all the frames are the same. I see that BD, BL, Wildtrak and 1st Edition either have armor underneath or it is optional. Could I order that armor from Ford and just bolt it in place on a Base Model or Big Bend 4 door or are there differences?
Anyone find any aftermarket armor for underneath for sale yet?

Thanks

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[Stampede.Offroad]

Other than 2d vs 4d I would doubt any differences exist beyond the obvious optional parts.

 

[MrGreen55]

Fun haver will have armor for the shocks not sure about the hole vehicle.

 

[Last Ride Bronco]

Does anyone know if all the frames are the same. I see that BD, BL, Wildtrak and 1st Edition either have armor underneath or it is optional. Could I order that armor from Ford and just bolt it in place on a Base Model or Big Bend 4 door or are there differences?
Anyone find any aftermarket armor for underneath for sale yet?

Thanks

You can order it from Ford, but you do have to have the steel MOD front bumper.

 

[rdass623]

chances are you could fabricate skid plates for much less than purchasing form a dealership (if the parts are even available). unless you are doing serious off roading, bash plates are really not necessary. give it some time, and i am sure some of take-offs will become available on e-bay when more units get delivered and modified..

 

[goatman]

Factory skid plates are listed on the dealer accessory parts list for Broncos. They are very reasonably priced, but I do not know exactly which skid plates are included.

 

[Boxer4]

2 Doors have a protection plate under the gas tank. My BaseSasquatch has the Modular bumper. With that the plates extend back pass the engine right up to the transmission.
I would be good if someone with a BD or BL could provide details on the Full OEM bash plates.

 

[da_jokker]

Not 100% but I believe there are basically 2 bash plates underneath.

1 for the gas tank, which sounds like it may come on 2 doors, but definitely not 4 doors (sans BD,BL)

Then there is a transfer case base plate.

And of course the front skid that is the only one well documented.

When I looked at the accessories guide, unless I saw it wrong, but the Ford Bash kit price was way over the top. I don't recall the exact number but seem to remember it was between $1-2k.

After all my resolve, am actually starting to weaken when it comes to opting my WT with the Mod bumper (which I really don't want) just so I can actually get the optional underneath protection at build because it is so much cheaper.

 

[Little Foot]

Yeah, the option on the Wildtrak is like $395 for the underneath bash plates. I don’t know why it isn’t an option with ALL Broncos. I’m sure aftermarket wise, companies are going to want like $1,500 plus. Just look at bumper pricing being along the lines of $2k.

 

[Little Foot]

Not 100% but I believe there are basically 2 bash plates underneath.

1 for the gas tank, which sounds like it may come on 2 doors, but definitely not 4 doors (sans BD,BL)

Then there is a transfer case base plate.

And of course the front skid that is the only one well documented.

When I looked at the accessories guide, unless I saw it wrong, but the Ford Bash kit price was way over the top. I don't recall the exact number but seem to remember it was between $1-2k.

After all my resolve, am actually starting to weaken when it comes to opting my WT with the Mod bumper (which I really don't want) just so I can actually get the optional underneath protection at build because it is so much cheaper.

What are your thoughts on the Wildtrak vs Black Diamond….Major differences is Baja vs Rock Crawl and Cloth vs Marine Grade Vinyl from what I can see…Rubber floor

 

[da_jokker]

What are your thoughts on the Wildtrak vs Black Diamond….Major differences is Baja vs Rock Crawl and Cloth vs Marine Grade Vinyl from what I can see…Rubber floor

Personally I think there's a lot of incorrect comparisons. There are two branches of the Bronco: One with washout interior and the others without.

So to compare a BD to anything other than a BL is not the same.

Now of course we're talking about interior, but as it's been said, all of us basically pick our trims FOR the interior option, because Ford messed it all up.

What are the critical factors is simply whether or not you want wash out interior, and whether or not you want the High or Mid.

Those two choices will basically determine your trim level, and you go from there.

For example, you could compare a Sasquatch, built up big bend to a wild trak, because they have a very similar interior. But the moment you want to go above the MID package, you're locked in to a WT.

Here is a link that may help. You can change the trims as needed.

https://www.ford.com/suvs/bronco/2021/compare-models/#outerbanks|wildtrak

 

[Little Foot]

Personally I think there's a lot of incorrect comparisons. There are two branches of the Bronco: One with washout interior and the others without.

So to compare a BD to anything other than a BL is not the same.

Now of course we're talking about interior, but as it's been said, all of us basically pick our trims FOR the interior option, because Ford messed it all up.

What are the critical factors is simply whether or not you want wash out interior, and whether or not you want the High or Mid.

Those two choices will basically determine your trim level, and you go from there.

For example, you could compare a Sasquatch, built up big bend to a wild trak, because they have a very similar interior. But the moment you want to go above the MID package, you're locked in to a WT.

Here is a link that may help. You can change the trims as needed.

https://www.ford.com/suvs/bronco/2021/compare-models/#outerbanks|wildtrak

Unfortunately I’m at the top of my budget at Mid Package. I will not be moving into High or Lux packages.

 

[da_jokker]

Unfortunately I’m at the top of my budget at Mid Package. I will not be moving into High or Lux packages.

I totally get ya. Been questioning my choice only because I know it gets expensive to build these rigs up AFTER you buy them.

Here is the issue...the way Ford has priced these things, as soon as you add a few key options to a lower trim, a higher trim just makes more sense. I'm sure they planned it that way.

I know if I was trying to keep the price down, I'd have to go with the 2.3 and Only Mid, I would go with the BD simply because it has at least a Rear locker.

To me, I had to have front and rear lockers, so that meant BL or Sasquatched something and once I added the bigger engine and the hard top the WT was a no brainer for the price.

 

[mpeugeot]

Here is the issue...the way Ford has priced these things, as soon as you add a few key options to a lower trim, a higher trim just makes more sense. I'm sure they planned it that way.

To me, I had to have front and rear lockers... the hard top the WT was a no brainer for the price.

I agree, the trims were deliberately designed to "encourage" buyers to move up. If I could have had an ala carte Bronco, it would not have been an OBX with Lux package, but that was the only way to get as much as I wanted without breaking the bank (aka going over $50k).

What I would have preferred to have ordered was a base 2.7 manual transmission with front and rear lockers and adaptive cruise control. I would have also probably added the towing package. Well as we all know, that doesn't exist. You can't even get the towing package on the Base model (although it wasn't a deal breaker).

For me, at a minimum, a rear locker was mandatory - that would have at a minimum put me in a BB/BD. Unfortunately, the other deal breaker for me was the adaptive cruise control, which I really wanted. That is only available on the lux package, which forced me into the OBX at a minimum, which is what I ordered: a 2 door 2.7, rear locker, advanced 4x4, LUX and towing.

It could have been much cheaper as a Base, spec'd with 2.7 ($1895) with a rear locker ($795), towing ($595), and whatever stand alone ACC would have cost (call it $1995) for sake of argument). That's roughly $5280 for options on top of the $30,640 of the base for a total MSRP of $35,920. My OBX was nearly $13,000 more... Thanks Ford.

At the end of the day, I made the decision that the vehicle I was purchasing was worth paying for, so I can't blame them for me still wanting to purchase it.

 

[Little Foot]

I totally get ya. Been questioning my choice only because I know it gets expensive to build these rigs up AFTER you buy them.

Here is the issue...the way Ford has priced these things, as soon as you add a few key options to a lower trim, a higher trim just makes more sense. I'm sure they planned it that way.

I know if I was trying to keep the price down, I'd have to go with the 2.3 and Only Mid, I would go with the BD simply because it has at least a Rear locker.

To me, I had to have front and rear lockers, so that meant BL or Sasquatched something and once I added the bigger engine and the hard top the WT was a no brainer for the price.

Stay bar disconnect not a required feature for you? i plan on squatching whatever I get, so I will have 35s with front and rear lockers. I did get to test drive a Wildtrak for a day while my truck was in service and loved it. I won’t be in a position to need Baja mode, so the thought of a Wildtrak is out the window, although I loved the seats.

I want the stay bar disconnect, but think it is much more of a want than need. I would love to video of someone taking anything OTHER than a Badlands on the Rubicon trail or Moab doing some serious crawling.

If I am not going Badlands, my next choice is the Black Diamond. All the same GOAT modes as Wildtrak, except switching Rock Crawl and Baja. Pluses to Black Diamond is steel bumpers and armor underneath. The interior is not my decision making point because I think all are serviceable and good. MGV seems to be a fan favorite and I’ll try to work on picking up some Wildtrak seat covers as I know there are people putting on other options after pickup.

If GOAT modes don’t matter, as in I am just going to pick my modes, such as 4A, choose which lockers engaged, etc, I may push down into the base model and then just build from there as I save a few bucks here and there.

Really, for me, I think it is going to come down to the Stay bar disconnect. If there were people out there wheeling their rigs with the stay bar connected and still going over things that Loren Healy was doing in the Fun-Haver, I would not hesitate to get a non-Badlands trim. I sent a message on the fun-haver website and hoping to hear back. I do not plan on crawling under my Bronco at trail heads to disconnect my stay bar and tie it up and out of the way.

I would think that it would be easy to have something like what is on the Badlands wired to an Aux switch to disconnect the front stay bar. When power is applied is disconnects. When power is lost or turned off, the stay bar reconnects. Open/closed circuit. It would not talk to any of the GOAT modes, but I don’t care about that….

Sorry for the novel….I could talk about this for days….

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