- Banned
- #121
I started wheeling my first Bronco in 95, and have been Master ASE certified since the same time, so I know my way around as well. My rebuttle is to look at the IFS rock crawlers and bouncers now. The Bronco will usher in a new era of aftermarket suspension tech that will blow people's minds. Sure it won't be cheap, but neither are the $80,000 rigs you are referencing. It's easy to forget that the Bronco literally just came out to market.Okay, I hear you. Let me give a friendly rant and rave for a minute, ok?
Look, I own a Bronco and want the vehicle to be great. I do like the truck. I've got plans to get it up on 37s with the appropriate lift as the market matures, and a good winch mounted up front, probably on an aftermarket aluminum front bumper of some kind. Then I'll get it plated up for skidding around on rocks out west. That's what I bought this thing for. I like brands like Genright, Teraflex and Dynatrac. The companies who build the mods for people who actually go wheeling.
Rock crawling is sort of my thing. It also represents the edge of the performance envelope for a 4x4 vehicle. It's also something most owners of either brand will never do so it's usually a theoretical discussion from afar. But for me, it's not theoretical. I buy and modify these vehicles to wheel them. I didn't spend that money or go to that all that trouble to drive on the occasional dirt road with a few rocks to skitter over here and there. I spend money on quality mods which can take serious abuse. I've taco'd a few tie rods so I run Yeti. I've busted up my steering to the point that I put a JK Dana 44 with PSC hydro in and run dual ARB air lockers. I'm not saying all that to brag or "flex," as they say nowadays, I'm just pointing out that I've tried products that break, and when they break I get better ones.
So I can tell you without reservation that if you do this kind of wheeling, which isn't even the extreme rock crawling you see out there on YouTube with builds like GridLoc and Mischief Maker (or any of the Rock Star Garage builds for that matter), and you want to see just how far you can go with either, the Bronco isn't going to be able to follow the equivalent Jeep Wrangler just anywhere. Sorry, but it's just not going to happen. The Bronco doesn't have the articulation, the flex, the ability to plant the skins on the rocks the way the Wrangler does. Is it a great truck that can do almost everything the Wrangler can? Yes. But it's an "*almost" and always will be unless you go to the extremes of ripping the suspension off the Bronco and going solid again which sort of defeats the whole point of the Bronco. Can the Bronco be a better Overlander... sure, and in fact it probably is out of the gates. But lots of vehicles can "overland." To me that's driving distance with some light wheeling bringing an extensive camping setup. It's very cool and I like it from afar, but it's not my thing. I enjoy pushing the vehicles to their limits. That's closer to off-road RV stuff, to me.
I get that the Bronco community is mostly new to wheeling and they're learning by the day. That's great. But the opinion that the Bronco is ready to keep up with the Wrangler... come on. It's at the 90% mark, which is more than most of y'all will ever need. But don't mistake what the Wrangler can do on the edges of the performance envelope compared to the Bronco.
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