- First Name
- Caleb
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- Nov 14, 2021
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- 2021 Bronco/1996 Jeep XJ/1957 FC-150
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- Big Bend
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Well a few of us from Gold Country Bronco’s attempted a night run through what’s known as the Wentworth Springs Loop on the Rubicon. You start at Wentworth Springs and go up toward Loon Lake. Overall it’s not difficult with the main obstacle being Post Pile. Most of us are no stranger to the Rubicon and I regularly go in my old XJ. First time attempting in my Bronco however. It’s been years since I’ve gone this way and last time the group had elected to bypass Post Pile so this was my first time seeing it. In my humble opinion this was by far one of the more technical obstacles on the trail for IFS based on huge ledges, off camber, rock faces and smacking around on every inch of your armor.
For perspective, I’m running King suspension on 37’s, Metalcloak bumpers and control arms as well as a mixture of brands skids. I have full Broncbuster bracing on the steering rack and tie rods.
Another Bronco was on 37’s, 4wP coilovers and body lift as well as the full 74 weld rack housing with 3.0.
The third had Radflos on 37’s, JKS tie rod brace and 1/2” body lift.
The fourth was a stock Sasquatch with aftermarket UCA’s and JCR bumpers. No steering mods.
Fifth was Radflo on 37’s, no body lift and Icon tie rods. I believe he had the bushing as well on driver side
Last but not least was a classic Bronco that’s not afraid to wheel hard.
We started the trail off well but the Radflo without the body lift quickly got a fault which removed the ability to use both lockers and goat modes. He elected to turn back as a precaution. (Ended up being a loose wheel speed sensor that got debris in it. Cleaned it up at home and good to go).
We continued on and quickly navigated a rock garden where I received a rear locker fault. Locker continued to operate as normal so I pushed on. Once I reached the top, I cycled the power and my fault went away. (I have 31k miles and extreme off-road abuse and have never gotten this fault before).
As we reached Post Pile, the other Radflo with body lift made it up first section with ease. I was next on Kings and struggled a bit on my line (driver error) and eventually pulled cable. We pulled cable on stock Sasquatch as well and the classic went right up.
Second portion of Post Pile the Radflo in the lead struggled but made it up. This time I came out on top and made it up with relative ease.
The stock Sasquatch now attempted this section (harder then first). As I was walking back down toward him I saw that his steering appeared to be bound up on a rock. He was at max steering lock, 4lo and front locker engaged with gas being applied. This is the recipe for bad things which quickly occurred in the form of two quick, sharp sounds followed by the dreaded Bronco hug.
Upon inspection, the Bronco had a snapped tie rod on passenger side as well as broken CV axle housing on the inner, passenger side. The axle had sheared off and was hanging limp.
Our night run turned into a repair trip, but thankfully we had (almost) everything we needed. One thing to note is when replacing the tie rod, I noticed his steering screw was heavily coated in metal shavings indicating that his passenger housing was experiencing extreme wear. I’ve seen several bad housings but none with that amount of wear. Keep in mind this is a stock Sasquatch.
While we had all the parts needed to replace everything, the inner portion of axle was still attached to the diff and wouldn’t come out. We eventually just settled for getting the shaft itself out and left the inner housing in the diff. While we didn’t have 4WD, the diff was sealed up with the inner still installed and we were able to limp him out in 2WD. We (falsely), assumed we would have 3WD but the bronco computers are smarter then they need to be and cut power to the front due to no axle in the passenger front wheel… come on Ford!
Anyway, we turned around, found a bypass back out and returned out the way we came… on the way out we used the heck outta my rear, Metalcloak bumper. Pulling the limping bronco up the rest of Post Pile and then down through the (not so easy) bypass and down the rock gardens.
On the way out, my broncos dash lit up like a Christmas tree with every single light on and every error displayed. I cycled power and yet again, the good old off/on trick worked and bronco was back to normal. I should note that no symptoms were present both times I had lights come on and the bronco drove like normal.
After the trip, I checked the damage on my Bronco. I was very proud of several new deep scratches on my new wheels, both bumpers and every inch of my sliders and somehow on my trackbar as well. I also smacked the heck outta my Max control arms with no issues noted. Everything held up well.
Stoked to go back and try again soon!
Very pleased with the clearance I got on my Metalcloak bumpers and stoked to run them.
This was written on my phone so sorry for any errors
For perspective, I’m running King suspension on 37’s, Metalcloak bumpers and control arms as well as a mixture of brands skids. I have full Broncbuster bracing on the steering rack and tie rods.
Another Bronco was on 37’s, 4wP coilovers and body lift as well as the full 74 weld rack housing with 3.0.
The third had Radflos on 37’s, JKS tie rod brace and 1/2” body lift.
The fourth was a stock Sasquatch with aftermarket UCA’s and JCR bumpers. No steering mods.
Fifth was Radflo on 37’s, no body lift and Icon tie rods. I believe he had the bushing as well on driver side
Last but not least was a classic Bronco that’s not afraid to wheel hard.
We started the trail off well but the Radflo without the body lift quickly got a fault which removed the ability to use both lockers and goat modes. He elected to turn back as a precaution. (Ended up being a loose wheel speed sensor that got debris in it. Cleaned it up at home and good to go).
We continued on and quickly navigated a rock garden where I received a rear locker fault. Locker continued to operate as normal so I pushed on. Once I reached the top, I cycled the power and my fault went away. (I have 31k miles and extreme off-road abuse and have never gotten this fault before).
As we reached Post Pile, the other Radflo with body lift made it up first section with ease. I was next on Kings and struggled a bit on my line (driver error) and eventually pulled cable. We pulled cable on stock Sasquatch as well and the classic went right up.
Second portion of Post Pile the Radflo in the lead struggled but made it up. This time I came out on top and made it up with relative ease.
The stock Sasquatch now attempted this section (harder then first). As I was walking back down toward him I saw that his steering appeared to be bound up on a rock. He was at max steering lock, 4lo and front locker engaged with gas being applied. This is the recipe for bad things which quickly occurred in the form of two quick, sharp sounds followed by the dreaded Bronco hug.
Upon inspection, the Bronco had a snapped tie rod on passenger side as well as broken CV axle housing on the inner, passenger side. The axle had sheared off and was hanging limp.
Our night run turned into a repair trip, but thankfully we had (almost) everything we needed. One thing to note is when replacing the tie rod, I noticed his steering screw was heavily coated in metal shavings indicating that his passenger housing was experiencing extreme wear. I’ve seen several bad housings but none with that amount of wear. Keep in mind this is a stock Sasquatch.
While we had all the parts needed to replace everything, the inner portion of axle was still attached to the diff and wouldn’t come out. We eventually just settled for getting the shaft itself out and left the inner housing in the diff. While we didn’t have 4WD, the diff was sealed up with the inner still installed and we were able to limp him out in 2WD. We (falsely), assumed we would have 3WD but the bronco computers are smarter then they need to be and cut power to the front due to no axle in the passenger front wheel… come on Ford!
Anyway, we turned around, found a bypass back out and returned out the way we came… on the way out we used the heck outta my rear, Metalcloak bumper. Pulling the limping bronco up the rest of Post Pile and then down through the (not so easy) bypass and down the rock gardens.
On the way out, my broncos dash lit up like a Christmas tree with every single light on and every error displayed. I cycled power and yet again, the good old off/on trick worked and bronco was back to normal. I should note that no symptoms were present both times I had lights come on and the bronco drove like normal.
After the trip, I checked the damage on my Bronco. I was very proud of several new deep scratches on my new wheels, both bumpers and every inch of my sliders and somehow on my trackbar as well. I also smacked the heck outta my Max control arms with no issues noted. Everything held up well.
Stoked to go back and try again soon!
Very pleased with the clearance I got on my Metalcloak bumpers and stoked to run them.
This was written on my phone so sorry for any errors
Sponsored
I normally do but took this trip “off” from my normal filming and pics. Just enjoyed the trail and company. There is some video on my IG 
