Starting life with a 4dr Badlands Sasquatch - an owner's review

[Colorado buff]

Great review thanks for sharing.
two questions:

1. Can you elaborate more on the rubberized floor mats?
2. You mentioned a great drive. How do you find the Sasquatch suspension vs if you had gone without?

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[Colorado buff]

Question on vinyl seats. I have concerns because I live in MN where we see extreme temps both cold and hot. Any thoughts to to how it be in these temps. Also, hold up to dogs or kids? I’m nervous that lack of carpet will contribute to road noise or lack of sound deadening. Thanks for your insight!

Good point. For dogs why not get a back seat cover, to protect against shedding and claws.

 

[zombie]

I've always used a parking brake as well (even tho I only drive manuals) and I can honestly say I hate the damned thing lol.

I guess it's just something I'll get used to

 

[530Squatch]

@Shinoko thanks for the great writeup, much appreciated. I am interested about how folks respond to that air intake question. I wonder if there are options to drop it/ increase air intake by doing so. Just a curiosity.

 

[Shinoko]

I installed the Diode ditch lights today. One thing I found mildly annoying is the TINY gauge of the switch wires. I think all but 1 & 2 are 22 gauge. That makes finding crimp fittings kindof annoying. The Diode lights use a 14 gauge, so crimping a 14 -> 22 is kindof hairy and not my favorite thing to do.

The install was super easy, although routing was tedious. I saw two methods for routing: zip tying through the back of the engine compartment and raising up the plastic piece for the wiper motor and stuffing it there. I ended up doing the latter, which worked OK, but the wipers have a single motor that is connected to both wipers, if the wire got down into that area, then it could be problematic. There appears to be some sort of cover on the inside that prevents it, but I may pull it back out and just route it along the rear of the engine compartment. The other minor annoyance with the routing is that there isn't a great way to get the cable out of the compartment to the light without the plastic piece against the windshield poking out a little bit. It's subtle, but I think it would've been nice to see something cut out to allow the wires to route.

I also stopped by a fabrication shop to see about having a compressor built in. There isn't enough room under the front seats for the compressor. The engine compartment is less ideal due to heat and I'm not sure there is room there either. We settled on making a mount that fits in the rear of the truck, in front of where the jack is stored. That will keep it out of the way. If I go through with that, I'll post photos and impressions of how it works if we put it there.

Remaining things for me:
1. Waiting on the Baja Designs fogs/mounts
2. Mount onboard air compressor - Mid-late Oct most likely
3. Winch mount (I am putting this on hold until something decent is available that works with ACC)
4. Rear bumper swap - I'm waiting for more options to be available

Let me know! I’m in Waynesville and would love to get a local group together!

We'll do it soon! I have most of my recovery gear coming early next week, should be down after that. I'll shoot you a message and may group some folks together I've seen from the same area.

My dad also picked his up last week in red, same build as mine, so you might see that rolling around town also.

Semi-threadjack but my BL is also a manual, and I absolutely hate the fact it has an electric park brake... what exactly do you like about it?

Not a threadjack at all. I think the other user answered the question, but one thing I will mention is that the electronic parking break autodisconnects if you try to drive away with the brake engaged. As someone that has made that embarrassing mistake before, thought that was nice, but I don't have a strong preference either way.

@Shinoko thanks for the great writeup, much appreciated. I am interested about how folks respond to that air intake question. I wonder if there are options to drop it/ increase air intake by doing so. Just a curiosity.

I think that is an air/water separator in case water enters into the intake. I saw someone on another thread ask about it, so that is what I am assuming.

 

[KompressorV12]

I checked the ACC lower limit, it is 15mph, below that it won't let you set a speed. It doesn't "shut off" necessarily, it just won't let you select a speed below 15mph.

The tow hooks appear to be bolted on, per the instructions for the accessory winch, they also seem to be based on that, too. The hole is a little over 7/8.

One other feature I meant to mention, it is really nice that you can disable the ACC and set normal cruise control. My Subaru would sometimes fail in bad weather, but there was no fallback, it would just stop working and you had no cruise control at all. You can choose between the two in the settings, so if the sensor fails or has an issue, you aren't stuck without cruise.

I've been searching for winch solutions, but not having a ton of luck. I bought a 6 ton comealong with 35 ft of line that I'll be keeping with me in case it hits the fan, I've never used something like that before for this use case, so hopefully it works if I get in trouble, but I don't think there are any timely solutions coming. I've called a handful of companies about various products for the Bronco, winch mounts included, and most are still waiting on their test/design vehicles to show up.

just to confirm. Let’s say you set the ACC at 30mph and traffic slows to 5mph, Will it stay activated? What about the same scenario and traffic hits 0mph, will it stay activated? My Jeep will allow you to hit 0mph and after 3 seconds at 0 mph it beeps then deactivates.

 

[Shinoko]

Great review thanks for sharing.
two questions:

1. Can you elaborate more on the rubberized floor mats?
2. You mentioned a great drive. How do you find the Sasquatch suspension vs if you had gone without?

The rubberized mats are OK. They aren't great, they aren't awful. They seem like like they'll last for a little while, but they are on the thin side and I imagine with any serious abuse they'll tear or break over time. In the past, when I've gotten these types of mats, they were really thick and heavy, the Ford ones are considerably lighter and thinner. They seem reasonably well designed though and easy to clean, just thin and lightweight. If you threw something heavy with sharp edges on it, it'd probably puncture them easily, but barring that, I imagine they'll be fine.

I haven't ridden in a Bronco without the Sasquatch suspension components. I imagine for it to be a fair comparison, you'd have to ride in the same vehicle with the same tires and only the different dampers. Either way, I have no idea, sorry.

just to confirm. Let’s say you set the ACC at 30mph and traffic slows to 5mph, Will it stay activated? What about the same scenario and traffic hits 0mph, will it stay activated? My Jeep will allow you to hit 0mph and after 3 seconds at 0 mph it beeps then deactivates.

I tested this a bit yesterday. The lowest limit you can start the ACC is 15mph, anything below that and it won't engage or turn on. That means you can't hit "Resume" and it'll start moving for you, which my previous car would do. You have to get up to 15 or higher, then hit resume, and it'll take it from there.

The stopping thing is a little weird, I need to evaluate it more because yesterday I only had one chance. It appears that around 10mph, it will beep and disconnect, so it won't take you to a full stop. I'll test again to verify. By the time it disconnects, you are going slow enough that you should be able to stop yourself, although other cars I've had would bring it to a full halt. I'm not a fan of cars that disconnect their ACC and leave you in a dangerous situation, my Subaru would randomly disconnect at night or in the rain while on the highway, resulting in the car suddenly slowing down and leaving you without any form of cruise control at all. If you were in a passing lane or had someone behind you, it could be very alarming and, IMO, very dangerous. I didn't have any of those issues with the Bronco on my road trip and the shutoff at the 10mph point comes with a loud beep, but you are going slow enough that it shouldn't be a big deal. That said, I'd prefer it take you all the way to a stop, I don't see any reason why it couldn't.

All that being said, it appears the ACC in the Bronco is more for highway use than it is around town. The system in my Subaru and my wife's Honda is more capable, sadly, but the ACC does work well on long trips on the highway. I'd take it shutting off at 10mph over shutting off on the highway with no way to engage any form of cruise control and/or slowing down randomly with little warning, none of which happened despite very dark and very rainy weather.

 

[Colorado buff]

The rubberized mats are OK. They aren't great, they aren't awful. They seem like like they'll last for a little while, but they are on the thin side and I imagine with any serious abuse they'll tear or break over time. In the past, when I've gotten these types of mats, they were really thick and heavy, the Ford ones are considerably lighter and thinner. They seem reasonably well designed though and easy to clean, just thin and lightweight. If you threw something heavy with sharp edges on it, it'd probably puncture them easily, but barring that, I imagine they'll be fine.

I haven't ridden in a Bronco without the Sasquatch suspension components. I imagine for it to be a fair comparison, you'd have to ride in the same vehicle with the same tires and only the different dampers. Either way, I have no idea, sorry.



I tested this a bit yesterday. The lowest limit you can start the ACC is 15mph, anything below that and it won't engage or turn on. That means you can't hit "Resume" and it'll start moving for you, which my previous car would do. You have to get up to 15 or higher, then hit resume, and it'll take it from there.

The stopping thing is a little weird, I need to evaluate it more because yesterday I only had one chance. It appears that around 10mph, it will beep and disconnect, so it won't take you to a full stop. I'll test again to verify. By the time it disconnects, you are going slow enough that you should be able to stop yourself, although other cars I've had would bring it to a full halt. I'm not a fan of cars that disconnect their ACC and leave you in a dangerous situation, my Subaru would randomly disconnect at night or in the rain while on the highway, resulting in the car suddenly slowing down and leaving you without any form of cruise control at all. If you were in a passing lane or had someone behind you, it could be very alarming and, IMO, very dangerous. I didn't have any of those issues with the Bronco on my road trip and the shutoff at the 10mph point comes with a loud beep, but you are going slow enough that it shouldn't be a big deal. That said, I'd prefer it take you all the way to a stop, I don't see any reason why it couldn't.

All that being said, it appears the ACC in the Bronco is more for highway use than it is around town. The system in my Subaru and my wife's Honda is more capable, sadly, but the ACC does work well on long trips on the highway. I'd take it shutting off at 10mph over shutting off on the highway with no way to engage any form of cruise control and/or slowing down randomly with little warning, none of which happened despite very dark and very rainy weather.

Thanks. If the mats rip they better offer replacements in parts department. I wonder why they made them so flimsy

 

[MB1]

Great write up @Shinoko. Got a question for you - I've got a Big Bend and another 6G member and I are looking at a grille swap (he's getting the Badlands with the Lux package). Do you know if the front facing camera will be an obstacle for a swap? It looks like it shouldn't be a problem based on your picture. Thanks!

 

[Shinoko]

Great write up @Shinoko. Got a question for you - I've got a Big Bend and another 6G member and I are looking at a grille swap (he's getting the Badlands with the Lux package). Do you know if the front facing camera will be an obstacle for a swap? It looks like it shouldn't be a problem based on your picture. Thanks!

I'll check tomorrow and let you know. If I can get behind it, I'll see how difficult it is to remove.

 

[Shinoko]

I got out on the trail for the first time with my dad, who has the same build as me (2.7, Badlands, Sasquatch). We rode a trail in WNC called "Hurricane Creek", which is closest to us, but I also figured would be a good intro to the truck. I also haven't done anything off road in a long time, so it'd be a breakin for me, also.

I know people will scoff at this, but the side wheel cameras were very useful. The trail gets really narrow at times, to the point you are a foot or less away from the edge, and being able to keep track of where your wheels are relative to the edge is really nice. Once you get familiar with the width of it, I imagine it's less useful, but while we adjusted, I found it really valuable.

Haters gonna hate, but I'm glad they were there, just be careful not to get distracted. You can see the edge of the trail off the right wheel about a foot, although it's masked somewhat by foliage

I aired down to 25, I wish I had gone to 20, but 25 did OK. My dad kept highway pressure and definitely slid a bit more than I did in spots.

I was watching the inclinometer and it got a bit nerve wrecking above 12 degrees or so, which we had a few times. I'm sure that is just my like of familiarity with it, but there were times it was narrow and you were sitting at 15 degrees sloped towards the side of the mountain, it was a bit daunting.

I don't have a lot of experience with various off road tires, but I felt the stock Sasquatch tires did fine even when it was wet, which a lot of sections were. They were predictable and didn't seem to clog in the muddy sections we went through. I felt like I knew what they were going to do every time I put them somewhere sketchy.

The times it was narrow, the pucker factor was there for me, but I'm afraid of heights and run into the same issue riding mtb. There were 3 or 4 sections like this:

It doesn't look like much on camera, but there is a rock under there that is off camber, it pushes you into the rot near the edge of the trail. Some of these got much higher and narrower than this section. While avoidable, I used my lockers at all these sections, because why not? I have them and it gave me a measure of confidence that I wouldn't have to punch over something and instead could just crawl through it. I wouldn't have blinked at this if it weren't for the exposure.

At any rate, as a beginner, it was a great experience and the Bronco did wonderful. I am glad I went with the Badlands, I think the front locker is really valuable, and I'm not going to rush to change tires anytime soon. I am spending two days at Windrock next week, so that may change my mind..

I also started to understand why everyone stays in 4L. So much more control. We rolled in that the whole time, for about 3 1/2 hours or so. The temps were higher than normal, about 225-230f oil temp and 210-215f trans, but within what the indicators think is OK.

I did smash a skid, so I have a trophy to take home at least. I know this is relatively tame compared to what we normally see with Moab, CO, etc, but it's what we got and thought some would like to hear.

I think there is one cautionary warning, though, that being that it's clear to me that these can get you into a situation you may not be prepared for quickly. It seems a lot of folks start with open diffs, then get rear lockers, then front, and slowly upgrade, they also start with smaller tires/less clearance, where this gives you a lot of that right at the start. I think for me and for others starting out, it's worth checking yourself, because it strikes me as though you could put yourself in an awkward spot very quickly because of the capabilities you have right out of the gate. At the same time, it could get you out of trouble. I see the same thing with bikes, folks go buy big bikes and then crash fast and hard because it lets them get away with speeds they shouldn't be doing, but at the same time, you get that added control when you need it. I guess it's a balancing act of making sure you are staying within your limits, but also using the tech to your advantage.

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