Black Diamond @ Badlands - Maiden Voyage

[BroncoRick]

The Badlands is located in Fountain County, Indiana, near the banks of the Wabash River and just outside of the town of Attica, and not far from Turkey Run and Shades State Parks. It's over 1400 acres of varied terrain, including dunes, rocks, sandstone ledges, mud, wooded trails, and other challenges.

It's rare that we get a chance to bring a new type of vehicle here, and the Bronco is the first different brand of vehicle I've brought here in over 20 years (it's always been Jeeps before). We got out for part of the day to test out the basics of the Black Diamond, and learn the clearances and suspension, before we venture out for more adventures.

My son has been wanting to bring R/C vehicles here as well, since he saw Axialfest here in 2021--so we made our way back to the quarry to run the 1:24 Axial Bronco micro-crawlers for a while.

All in all the weather was great and it was a good day out there with no dramas. I was most impressed by the trail turn assist feature. That needs to be experienced from the driver seat to realize how good it is--videos don't do it justice. The Sasquatch suspension, even without the swaybar disconnect, is fantastic--it's probably the best all-around off-road suspension I've personally driven, even though it clearly isn't intended for super articulated sections. The OEM front sway bar is a much lighter rate bar than is found on a Jeep TJ, JK, or JL, and as such there is plenty of travel without disconnecting, until you get into more intermediate scenarios with the truck.

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[Big Boss]

Great video Rick, that's about the same amount of stuff I did when I took my Big Bend to Badlands in May for the first time. At around the 18 minute mark in your video is where I tapped out for the day though at the quarry haha. I gave that same little section one attempt and parked it and watched the others in our group play around in the quarry.

 

[BroncoRick]

Great video Rick, that's about the same amount of stuff I did when I took my Big Bend to Badlands in May for the first time. At around the 18 minute mark in your video is where I tapped out for the day though at the quarry haha. I gave that same little section one attempt and parked it and watched the others in our group play around in the quarry.

We would've taken it further, but we were out there by ourselves. I've done many of the climbs over the years in the quarry with other vehicles. Some of them can be deceptively easy if you know the spotting and tire placement tricks. Best to do with a group, though, and as you found just spectating can be fun as well. Mostly that's what ends up happening anyways, just shooting the breeze out there and having fun!

 

[Big Boss]

We would've taken it further, but we were out there by ourselves. I've done many of the climbs over the years in the quarry with other vehicles. Some of them can be deceptively easy if you know the spotting and tire placement tricks. Best to do with a group, though, and as you found just spectating can be fun as well. Mostly that's what ends up happening anyways, just shooting the breeze out there and having fun!

Yeah the other guys in the group had no problems in the quarry. Quarry was really the only place that we explored where I felt I didn't have enough vehicle/experience.

 

[BroncoRick]

Yeah the other guys in the group had no problems in the quarry. Quarry was really the only place that we explored where I felt I didn't have enough vehicle/experience.

I honestly had more fun in the dunes than I ever had before. That is always considered the "easy" area of the park for 4x4's, but I have tried to keep up with a friend with SxS's in my Jeep and it was impossible. I think the Bronco could come close to doing it. Of anything I did out there, I had the most fun taking those at higher speed than I ever had before, and I want to go back and push it even harder thru the dunes.

I think with your Big Bend you might also like Redbird SRA, if you haven't been there yet. There's 3 or 4 fun trails there that would be good for it.

 

[Big Boss]

I honestly had more fun in the dunes than I ever had before. That is always considered the "easy" area of the park for 4x4's, but I have tried to keep up with a friend with SxS's in my Jeep and it was impossible. I think the Bronco could come close to doing it. Of anything I did out there, I had the most fun taking those at higher speed than I ever had before, and I want to go back and push it even harder thru the dunes.

I think with your Big Bend you might also like Redbird SRA, if you haven't been there yet. There's 3 or 4 fun trails there that would be good for it.

Red bird is a place I want to go as well. Now that I have had it out once before I do have the itch to go again haha. I think before I head out again though I do want to make a few upgrades. I definitely want to add some protection under neath and eventually upgrade to a better tire. The bridgestones on the big bend did fine for the most of the day but when we got to some of the muddier sections they were definitely the limiting factor, well that and ground clearance and probably some more experience would have helped.

 

[Mattwings]

Great video, I have enjoyed RC in the past too and those Axials looked fun! Although I have not needed my stay-bar disconnect for traction often, I do find it makes trail rides, like what you showed in the video, even more enjoyable, particularly for passengers. Enjoy your Bronco and maybe we can bring a group from MI your way (and you are welcome to come and play in MI too of course!)

 

[BroncoRick]

Red bird is a place I want to go as well. Now that I have had it out once before I do have the itch to go again haha. I think before I head out again though I do want to make a few upgrades. I definitely want to add some protection under neath and eventually upgrade to a better tire. The bridgestones on the big bend did fine for the most of the day but when we got to some of the muddier sections they were definitely the limiting factor, well that and ground clearance and probably some more experience would have helped.

Definitely get the skid plates, and a different tire will definitely help as well. I have taken mostly stock Jeep Wrangler Sports (except for upgrading skids and tires, and maybe just small lift 1-1.5") through the Badlands for years and with some good skids and tires, and some good spotting, you can make it through a huge amount of the stuff there.

 

[BroncoRick]

Great video, I have enjoyed RC in the past too and those Axials looked fun! Although I have not needed my stay-bar disconnect for traction often, I do find it makes trail rides, like what you showed in the video, even more enjoyable, particularly for passengers. Enjoy your Bronco and maybe we can bring a group from MI your way (and you are welcome to come and play in MI too of course!)

The Axials are fun! I really like the 1:24 scale because nearly everything becomes an obstacle to climb it over, since they're small.

I definitely wish I had the Sta-Bar... it is needed for sure in some spots there, you're right. Will have to go with an aftermarket one when those eventually come around. I was surprised at how well the Bronco did without it though.

Will definitely be up in MI! Just was in the UP a couple months ago and will be going back soon. Years ago I used to take my Jeep through Manistee NF. I've been wanting to get up to Drummond Island, too.

 

[Mattwings]

The Axials are fun! I really like the 1:24 scale because nearly everything becomes an obstacle to climb it over, since they're small.

I definitely wish I had the Sta-Bar... it is needed for sure in some spots there, you're right. Will have to go with an aftermarket one when those eventually come around. I was surprised at how well the Bronco did without it though.

Will definitely be up in MI! Just was in the UP a couple months ago and will be going back soon. Years ago I used to take my Jeep through Manistee NF. I've been wanting to get up to Drummond Island, too.

We had 18 Broncos and two Jeeps at DI two weeks ago. We have a MI Bronco Club group here, on Facebook and our own site as well. We have events and rides at least once a month , with several weekends actually having more than one Join up and follow along, so you know when to head North!

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/groups/michigan-bronco-club.17/

https://michiganbroncos.club/ (always upgrading the site, we are all volunteers, so its a process!)

I am not sure how to link the Facebook , group, but we have just under 1K members and growing.

Enjoy and keep sharing content!

 

[mcon33]

Nice video. Waiting on my Black Diamond to ship and coming from Central Illinois this is one of the first parks I plan to visit. It is within reasonable driving distance.

 

[BroncoRick]

We had 18 Broncos and two Jeeps at DI two weeks ago. We have a MI Bronco Club group here, on Facebook and our own site as well. We have events and rides at least once a month , with several weekends actually having more than one Join up and follow along, so you know when to head North!

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/groups/michigan-bronco-club.17/

https://michiganbroncos.club/ (always upgrading the site, we are all volunteers, so its a process!)

I am not sure how to link the Facebook , group, but we have just under 1K members and growing.

Enjoy and keep sharing content!

Very cool... joined up!

 

[Teke]

Did you swap sasquatch suspension and wheels onto your BD? Looking at once again changing up my order, this time to a BD since it can have the rear locker.

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