I year with my Bronco and off-roading, necessary upgrades moving forward.

[Rockdawg84]

love your rig. I also have a Velocity Blue Badlands Sasquatch On 37 Mickey Thompson Boss. I'm curious about your 1 inch spacers. Are you seeing rubbing in the front or rear of your fenderwells? I have a set on the way because I rub on the frame just a touch at full lock. My concern is that the spacers will simply move where the rubbing takes place. I do have the max tire clearance kit on mine but these Mickey's are a true 37.

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[nomnom]

I have the RC hidden winch and can reach the free spool release (6'0 tall). I've seen where people use some kind of tool like those grabber handles.

 

[Pale Horse Adventures]

What issues do I need to address:

First, the stock SAS tires. They are awful and the thing that holds me back the most.

Awesome build! Thanks for sharing. What are the specific pain points you’re finding with the Territory MTs?

 

[ChossCrimper]

So, my Bronco's 1 year anniversary was this week, I've off-roaded it quite a bit in the last year, I figured it was a good time to do a quick off-roading review and talk about the things I've already upgraded and things I plan on adding in the next year.

First things first, the Badlands Sasquatch Bronco is a very, very capable off-roading platform (rock crawling included). I'm a member of an off-road club in the KC area that has over 700 members, most of which are Jeeps. I've done pretty much everything Rubicons in the same class have... There are things that Rubis make look easy that I struggle with and there are things that I make look easy that they struggle with. Do I scrape and use my skip plates more? Sure. Do I have some situations where I pull a wheel or 2 off the ground? Sure. But I keep up, period.


What I have I upgraded so far:

I have a RC 1" leveling kit up front.
1 Inch Leveling Kit | Ford Bronco 4WD (2021-2023) | Rough Country

RC tie rod sleeves.
HD Tie Rod Sleeves | Ford Bronco 4WD (2021-2023) | Rough Country

Broncbuster bushing kit.
BroncBushing – Broncbuster (broncbustertx.com)

RC hidden winch mount.
Hidden Winch Mount | All Models | Ford Bronco 4WD (2021-2023) | Rough Country

Apex Badland winch.
12,000 lb. Winch with Synthetic Rope and Wireless Remote (harborfreight.com)

JUST added RCI frame mount rock sliders this week.
Rock Sliders | 21-Present Bronco - RCI Off Road (rcimetalworks.com)


The leveling kit was to address the weight of the winch up front. It's prefect, brings me back to stock stance.

The tie rod sleeves and bushings are for extra insurance, never had an issue with my tie rods.

The Apex winch is very well made, no complaints yet. Haven't actually need to use it yet but it's nice to know I have it when I need it.

I like the hidden winch mount but I do have complaints. First, there is no way to get to the lever to set the winch to free-spool so I have to pay the line out with the motor, annoying. Second, it sits low enough that I hit the winch shackle mount on quite a few things. Not super ideal. It is a compromise, I didn't want to have to move my ACC module and camera for an aftermarket bumper, which I will upgrade to at some point. It was a very inexpensive solution to get a winch mounted.

The sliders were added because I got into my door a bit with a rock several weeks ago. They seem like they're going to be a great addition. Super heavy duty, they weigh 70lbs each. My only complaint is that I don't like their top plate. The holes are too big. I want them to serve as additional rock chip protection for my poor beat up doors. Going to make my own.


What issues do I need to address:

First, the stock SAS tires. They are awful and the thing that holds me back the most. I want a set of 37" Nitto Trail Grapplers but they're almost $500 each right now (stoooopid). I may end up getting some 37" Ironman All Country M/Ts for now. You can get them on Ebay for $221 each free shipping. Another Bronco had them at Hot Springs ORP last weekend and they seemed to run just fine.
1 37x12.50r17 F 12 Ply IRONMAN All Country MT Mud Terrain 37x1250 17 Tire for sale online | eBay

With the 37s I want to do a lift. I want to do coil-overs so I'm looking at the Eibach stage 2 kit. $1720 for a full set of coilovers, can't beat that price.
PRO-TRUCK COILOVER STAGE 2 (Front Coilovers + Rear Coilovers) (eibach.com)

I'll also need some upper control arms, yet to be determined. I like the Camburg UCAs because they have a uniball design instead of a ball joint. They're a bit pricey but not too bad.
Camburg Ford Bronco 21-22 1.25 Performance Uniball Upper Control Arms

It is becoming more and more clear that I'm going to need a fender flare solution. These stock SAS flares catch on everything. Mine are all marked up, one got caught pretty good this weekend and part of the outer shell separated from the inner, I still need to glue it back together. I called DV8 and they should be releasing their new steel flares in about 4-6 weeks. I'm not a huge fan of mounting steel to aluminum fenders but my hope is they won't catch because they're a little more low-profile. If they do hit something, I think they'll be more likely to slide than catch. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

With the flares I'm probably going to have to look at a rear bumper. I can take the ends off of the modular front, but the rear is too wide and not modular. There are hundreds of choices there.

I really like Oracle's flush mount taillights. I can see where the stock ones could get hit (seen it happen several times on other vehicles).

SO now that I've planned out my next $10k in upgrades (and my death if my wife finds out I'm planning on spending that much). What is everyone else planning for off-road specific upgrades? What issues are you seeing that need to be addressed?

What modifications did you need to make to the RC hidden winch mount to fit the Apex 12K?

 

[Jdyount]

What modifications did you need to make to the RC hidden winch mount to fit the Apex 12K?

The controls will not fit, so you have to move them somewhere. Everything else fits.

You won't have the ability to disengage the planetary so you will have to payout the line unless you make some sort of custom extension for the disengagement handle. I'm going to make something with a couple of steering shaft u joints to extend the handle up to the top of the radiator so I can turn it.

 

[l88m22vette]

I have the RC hidden winch and can reach the free spool release (6'0 tall). I've seen where people use some kind of tool like those grabber handles.

I'd love to see some kind of extended lever, or solenoid-based actuator to make it work without opening the hood and stuff like that. I love the retro looks, but when it comes to a winch its tough because getting an "easy" mod bumper add-on means the whole front end looks like a 1970's forest ranger setup.

 

[nomnom]

I'd love to see some kind of extended lever, or solenoid-based actuator to make it work without opening the hood and stuff like that. I love the retro looks, but when it comes to a winch its tough because getting an "easy" mod bumper add-on means the whole front end looks like a 1970's forest ranger setup.

For my setup (and most others) the controller port is under the hood so it get's opened anyway. You may desire to wire it somewhere outside which is cool, or have one of the newer winches with BT remotes.

 

[l88m22vette]

^ I'm torn, at that point I know its good form to put up your hood when winching, but I'd prefer to not have to deal with the hood in the case of a tough spot

 

[Jdyount]

^ I'm torn, at that point I know its good form to put up your hood when winching, but I'd prefer to not have to deal with the hood in the case of a tough spot

My winch has a wireless remote so I just open my hood and turn my winch on before I go out. Then it's ready to go, just have to turn my remote on and winch.

 

[mcinfantry]

The lobo hidden mount looks like you can acess from the side, to me, but my warn

doesent have a lever

 

[bagel]

awesome rig. I have non Sasquatch outer banks and have been looking for an upgrade for the shocks. those Eibach have come up in my research. just curious how you like the ride and if it gave you lift

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