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Off road observation

Spider Jeff

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My wife and I drove our Big Bend (just hit 5000 miles) to the Austin Off Roadeo last weekend. All in I would highly recommend taking the course. I am planning to take the Raptor Assault class in Utah in January, and plan to take the Off Roadeo class again if my second Bronco evet arrives.

I have over forty years of off road experience, and have owned over ten four wheel drive vehicles, including some serious Jeeps, the properly specā€˜d Bronco is as good as anything I have ever driven Off road. We spent the first day in a Badlands four door stick, the second day in a two door Wildtrack 6 cyl auto.

ā€˜The course is very interesting, it has some places that require the driver to rely on spotters, as the only thing you see is sky, as the ascent is nearly vertical. The Badlands in front of me threw an ABS light, and then couldnā€™t engage his lockers. It really demonstrated how important lockers are, he had to use speed and spinning tires to get up hills I climbed without effort.

I think the auto is the way to go, I am a dyed in the wool stick guy, but after spending over four hours driving each off road, I changed my opinion. The auto allows you to focus on the situation without worrying if you are in the right gear. All in, I am happy to say it didnā€™t disappoint in any way, I look forward to getting my own Sasquatch delivered!
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BSheppard

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I love the manual for the on road fun and the auto on just about all the off road obstacles.

still donā€™t really know what I should have ordered.
 
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Spider Jeff

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The stick is a seven speed, crawler is just below reverse, once you are in C it is difficult to shift to/from this gear during your hill ascent/stream crossing/bog etc. I found myself needing Crawler for parts of a climb but not other parts, but didnā€™t want to lose the momentum to get into first.
I drive a stick everyday, my Rubicon was a stick, I just donā€™t think my 22 Bronco will be a stick after some seat time in one.

C9618C9F-589E-4BD5-A2AD-050E2FCC3A86.jpeg
 

NC_Pinz

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I don't doubt an automatic is simpler to drive while crawling. For us East Coast folks, crawling is only a piece of what we have to deal with off road. My Bronco will be an automatic because it will be a DD and my wife doesn't care to learn to drive a manual. All my off road trucks have been manuals with no issues driving on East Coast off road trails, including Tellico...when it existing and was some of the best on this side of the Mississippi.
 

Werkedperformance

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I LOVE manual transmissions, I dont need to beat this point.
I was also IMPRESSED with the 10 speed when being used in the goat modes/ low range. I
I don't doubt an automatic is simpler to drive while crawling. For us East Coast folks, crawling is only a piece of what we have to deal with off road. My Bronco will be an automatic because it will be a DD and my wife doesn't care to learn to drive a manual. All my off road trucks have been manuals with no issues driving on East Coast off road trails, including Tellico...when it existing and was some of the best on this side of the Mississippi.
Hows trail access in that area otherwise nowadays? Been curious about coming down to explore that area with the new rig....
 

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NC_Pinz

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I LOVE manual transmissions, I dont need to beat this point.
I was also IMPRESSED with the 10 speed when being used in the goat modes/ low range. I


Hows trail access in that area otherwise nowadays? Been curious about coming down to explore that area with the new rig....
Tellico is no more. Trails were closed then actually removed. There are other trails in the SE but none are where Tellico was back in the day.
 

johndeerefarmer

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My wife and I drove our Big Bend (just hit 5000 miles) to the Austin Off Roadeo last weekend. All in I would highly recommend taking the course. I am planning to take the Raptor Assault class in Utah in January, and plan to take the Off Roadeo class again if my second Bronco evet arrives.

I have over forty years of off road experience, and have owned over ten four wheel drive vehicles, including some serious Jeeps, the properly specā€˜d Bronco is as good as anything I have ever driven Off road. We spent the first day in a Badlands four door stick, the second day in a two door Wildtrack 6 cyl auto.

ā€˜The course is very interesting, it has some places that require the driver to rely on spotters, as the only thing you see is sky, as the ascent is nearly vertical. The Badlands in front of me threw an ABS light, and then couldnā€™t engage his lockers. It really demonstrated how important lockers are, he had to use speed and spinning tires to get up hills I climbed without effort.

I think the auto is the way to go, I am a dyed in the wool stick guy, but after spending over four hours driving each off road, I changed my opinion. The auto allows you to focus on the situation without worrying if you are in the right gear. All in, I am happy to say it didnā€™t disappoint in any way, I look forward to getting my own Sasquatch delivered!
I thought they had changed to only a one day experience?
 
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Spider Jeff

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I thought they had changed to only a one day experience?
We went 8/21 and 8/22, ten hours over two days, I think it is a long 10 hour day now in Austin. I think much better over two days, but I know they are incredibly full seven days a week.
 

TRMFAM

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@Spider Jeff I am in the same boat as you and drove my EB with an NP435 with a granny first (can we still call it granny gear?) and it really helped get the extra gear reduction I wanted before the atlas and doublers came out...I drove that rig everywhere for over a decade and thought manual was the way to go. Enter the Atlas II and 205/203 doubler setups and I watched my friends with auto have a little and in same scenarios a lot easier time...I switched over to a doubler with a built C6 about 15 years ago and wow I will never go back! To each his own...
 

iamchewby

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Dang it. Y'all got me questioning my decisions again šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø
 

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MaverickMan

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The stick is a seven speed, crawler is just below reverse, once you are in C it is difficult to shift to/from this gear during your hill ascent/stream crossing/bog etc. I found myself needing Crawler for parts of a climb but not other parts, but didnā€™t want to lose the momentum to get into first.
I drive a stick everyday, my Rubicon was a stick, I just donā€™t think my 22 Bronco will be a stick after some seat time in one.

Ford Bronco Off road observation C9618C9F-589E-4BD5-A2AD-050E2FCC3A86
Do you need to double clutch it? Doesnt sound much different than granny gear in any of my old rides. I actually drive a SM465 around the farm at work in a step van. I run it in 1st and then shift into L before a hill climb. Its just some extra clutch work.
 

Efthreeoh

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Definitely not basing my decision on the tax dodging, cross eyed, sister chasing Amish. I could say more, they wonā€™t ever read this. I feel like the OP is on the right track and has plenty of experience with different vehicles off-road. A number of people on the Jeep forums have swapped their manuals for an automatic. Any rock crawling becomes far more difficult with a manual, Iā€™m guessing that a lot of the people that are so adamant about a manual wonā€™t be doing much off-roading. A lot of them sound like doomsdayers and preppers that are worried about another Y2K rendering the transmission useless. I am sure nothing will ever fail with the overly complicated engine and electronics. Wait, just buy some horses from the Amish to pull that Bronco (that you will never get) around.
People in the US have freedom of choice in both transmission type and religion.

Funny that way here.
 

Little Foot

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My wife and I drove our Big Bend (just hit 5000 miles) to the Austin Off Roadeo last weekend. All in I would highly recommend taking the course. I am planning to take the Raptor Assault class in Utah in January, and plan to take the Off Roadeo class again if my second Bronco evet arrives.

I have over forty years of off road experience, and have owned over ten four wheel drive vehicles, including some serious Jeeps, the properly specā€˜d Bronco is as good as anything I have ever driven Off road. We spent the first day in a Badlands four door stick, the second day in a two door Wildtrack 6 cyl auto.

ā€˜The course is very interesting, it has some places that require the driver to rely on spotters, as the only thing you see is sky, as the ascent is nearly vertical. The Badlands in front of me threw an ABS light, and then couldnā€™t engage his lockers. It really demonstrated how important lockers are, he had to use speed and spinning tires to get up hills I climbed without effort.

I think the auto is the way to go, I am a dyed in the wool stick guy, but after spending over four hours driving each off road, I changed my opinion. The auto allows you to focus on the situation without worrying if you are in the right gear. All in, I am happy to say it didnā€™t disappoint in any way, I look forward to getting my own Sasquatch delivered!
What is your take on sway bar disconnect? Can you live without it unless doing serious crawling or is it a must have no matter what? Were the Non-Badlands Squatched Broncos at a huge disadvantage and didnā€™t have the ability to do some obstacles or did all do just fine?
 
 


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