My 'Un-wheelable' Bronco (35"s, 3.73's, no lockers)

[85_Ranger4x4]

Hey.. don't you have some sort of brush guard you should be welding together?

What's the story with the updated seal too? We're you experiencing the leak that I am?
I'm glad it isn't any worse than it is but damn.. you can look perpendicular down the seal from the outside and immideately tell the stupid thing wasn't put in right just like the seal around the 3rd brake light on the ranger that caused the leak.. thing appeared to have been installed by Ray Charles

I did test fit it on the truck tonight...

Ours leaked once on the passenger side of the dash. Only did it once. Dealer (my brother) found a TSB about installing a updated seal at the top of the windshield with window seal sealant. It only ever leaked the one time which was baffling.

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[HighVelocity]

pfft...automatic tranny...fukin' poser!

 

[M Redwood]

Well- Ford should use your "bronut" video for the trail turn assist feature . Love your descriptive style keep us entertained in the future!

 

[the poacher]

Hey Blue Waffle,
Great piece and good on you for calling it as you see it. The joy you get from your Bronco is just the same as the person that spent 10's of thousands on theirs. Get out there and continue to enjoy your Bronco, after all, that is why most of us bought them.
As an aside, your muffler delete sounds awesome!

 

[murphtron]

@BlueWaffle is that a 2.7 engine? Muffler delete sounds great. I've heard it in person on a 2.3. Think I might do that to my 2.7

 

[sirius76]

You are an inspiration to all BB owners!

I have taken my BB 3.73 with 33s all over Moab and have had a blast with it.
Do I wish I did more research and got a BD? Sure. But I don't think I could ever trade in my BB!

 

[zerk4321]

Who cares what other people think! “Hike your own hike!” Looks great. Have fun.

 

[sirius76]

Nice.

I purposely chose 3.73s without lockers.

1) I wanted to maximize fuel economy
1.5) I am running 33s, and will never go bigger than 285/75/17s (Skinny 34).
2) 2.7l has way more power than needed
3) I installed an Eaton LSD in the rear

I'd love a front LSD too.

The only thing I wish that I had was 4A.

The Truetrac? I have been eyeing that for awhile but I haven't been able to find much review-wise. It looks like a great option

 

[Aonarch]

The Truetrac? I have been eyeing that for awhile but I haven't been able to find much review-wise. It looks like a great option

I love it.

I don't go rock crawling, I do a ton of high speed gravel, where it definitely helps.

On road it is a huge improvement in traction and stability.

The 2.7l has a ton of power and my 285 A/Ts are not drag slicks.

 

[sirius76]

I love it.

I don't go rock crawling, I do a ton of high speed gravel, where it definitely helps.

On road it is a huge improvement in traction and stability.

The 2.7l has a ton of power and my 285 A/Ts are drag slicks.

Thats good to know! I am more interested for snow/mud situations

 

[GPPBronco]

3) I installed an Eaton LSD in the rear

Interested in knowing more about this. DIY? What LSD did you install?

 

[Aonarch]

Interested in knowing more about this. DIY? What LSD did you install?

Eaton TrueTrac.

I paid a Jeep shop, since we have to "regear" to do it. The 3.73s are laser welded together from the factory, so you have to replace the ring and pinion.

https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/skuPage.917A736.specifications.html

https://www.drivetrainspecialists.com/dana/dana-m220/dana-m220-373-ratio-ring-and-pinion-set.html

https://www.levittownfordparts.com/sku/m-4210-r.html

https://www.stage3motorsports.com/9...-truetrac-limited-slip-differential-rear.html

 

[nickmct13]

Wasnt going to bother documenting my '"build'" initially.. as its unlikely to recieve fancy bumpers, big dollar suspension, winches, bourgeois lighting packages powerful enough to illuminate a stadium, or complete the TAT... simply put... my bronco is destined for a life of such modesty it might as well be considered mediocrity (at least until it's paid off )

"Why bother?" You say... "your shits weak, shoulda just bought a escape bro" you might be thinking.. and thats fair enough.

I'm doing this to tell the story of the underdog. To show that.. no.. you don't necessarily NEED locker(s) or an axle ratio that starts with a 5 (or even a 4) to get offroad and enjoy TF out of your experience. These are simple truths unjustly deemed as fallacy by what we'll refer to as gear-snobs.

The story of my Bronco actually begins with a broken 2021 ford ranger..

Apart from leaking water into the cab immideately after the b2b warranty ran out.. It's driveshaft center bearing took a crap at 40k miles, still under warranty, but new shafts were backordered with zero ETA. Noisy center bearing will fail a vehicle for a sticker up here (which conveniently just ran out ) and I couldn't have a vehicle that wasn't legal to drive.. indefinitely... so I took it as justification to upgrade to my 'dream' vehicle..

May 22, 2023.

Drove across the border and purchased it from londonderry ford in NH, where it had been sitting on their showroom floor for 90+ days. I thought it was odd they kept this one in their showroom... when they had 2 or 3 much fancier models sitting on the lot that would make a much better showcase... but I DID relatively quickly find out why...

...it's because it ALSO leaks water into the cab . Lazy assed MF'rs. Oh well, at least I have a one piece driveshaft now .

Apart from the water ingress.. the factory also forgot to install a grommet/plug in the drivers side firewall..

... and put the drivers side big bend sticker on pretty crooked..

.. way more obvious in person.


Other than these few little niggles.. everything was all wavy gravy with the new rig. No mismatched seats, mismatched flares, unpainted interior of the swing gate or any other ridiculous f-ups only ford could manage to do lol.

2.5 minutes after I got it home I had the stock wheels/tires off to switch em for the set I had on the ranger...

275/65/18 grabbers on 9" wide method 316s.


..the end of that week I installed a Flowmaster muffler delete..

.. and ford's rubber mats..

... few weeks after that I had a RC 2" lift installed along with a set of 285/75/r18 Kenda Klever R/Ts.. awesome tire..

.. and shortly after that I had its underside bathed in NHOU love this damn thing.. want it to last!

Obligatory side-of-driveway poser shot:

..even had it out in the woods on its first wheelin adventure while I was still rocking temp plates

Belittle and degrade me on my mismatched spare all you want.. theres just no GD way Im gonna spend 360$ on a matching method lol.. especially when I originally bought all 4 wrapped in brand new tires for 450$ (still excited about that) eventually I'll get around to ordering a spare tire cover so I'm not getting mercilessly ridiculed.. eventually

Video from its first wheeling trip at Jericho Mt. State park in Berlin NH:



It pains me to have to go to NH to get some solid wheeling in... Maine is great at a lot... but it sucks serious ass for legal wheeling oppurtunities.

.. and some quickie donuts.. or as I HILARIOUSLY refer to as BROnuts.. during what I seriously hope was our last snowstorm of the year last weekend..



The sound of the muffler delete comes through relatively decently in the donut video... should anyone have pre-purchase curiosity.



Next order of business is installing a partial set of skids and a half rack I bought with some tax returns, followed by a pair of ditchlights whenever I feel like torturing myself (I hate wiring. My understanding of electricity and all its assorted spaghetti is that it's WITCHCRAFT)

id like to get the trans skid and the tcase skid this year too of course.. depends on finances though. Need to buy a house!


Super excited to go wheeling again. I'll be headed back to Jericho Mt as soon as I can.. and I'd like to give Armor Ditch off road park a try this year too.. if anyone is local
-ish and wants to come along LMK! I promise I'm a much more regular and enjoyable person in real life

Sticker can be removed with heat from a hairdryer or heat gun and recentered.

 

[indio22]

Looks great. Most with lockers won't be doing serious enough to use them, and for those that use lockers, angles and skill without them is impressive. Was not aware of muffler delete. Better departure angle and I don't like the way it looks slung under the body when driving a bit behind a Bronco.

Normally appearance items are lower on my list, but agreed the silver muffler out back doesn't look so good. Once the weather warms up here, I was planning to hit it with some flat black high temp paint.

But maybe that muffler delete could be the ticket. Sounds good in the video, I wonder how loud in regular use? Or if there is a smaller muffler available somewhere in between in terms of sound.

 

[CMillBronco]

Eaton TrueTrac.

I paid a Jeep shop, since we have to "regear" to do it. The 3.73s are laser welded together from the factory, so you have to replace the ring and pinion.

https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/skuPage.917A736.specifications.html

https://www.drivetrainspecialists.com/dana/dana-m220/dana-m220-373-ratio-ring-and-pinion-set.html

https://www.levittownfordparts.com/sku/m-4210-r.html

https://www.stage3motorsports.com/9...-truetrac-limited-slip-differential-rear.html

So all in for parts looks like you were under $1200 can you share how much you paid for install? I have 2 quotes from a local Jeep shop here and they want $3800+ for ELocker and $4100+ for ARB Air locker, uh...NO WAY.

@BlueWaffle - I'm running same as you 2 Dr, 3.73's, 35's, and 2 inch lift no lockers.

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