Swamps Code Orange Bronco Raptor Build

[swamp2]

Mounted EtOH Sensor

Finally fabbed a quick custom aluminum mounting bracket for my ethanol sensor. It was basically hanging from tubing. It wasn't dangerous or prone to near term damage, but it needed something.

• Mounted two stainless rivnuts in existing holes in the frame. No drilling required. However, because my installation tool wouldn't fit (entire area is super tight/awkward) and it didn't have enough leverage for these largish rivnuts, it took every manual and impact tool, extension and ratchet I own to get the rivnuts in. Multiple scrapped grade 8 nuts and bolts as tools along the way. The real trick was a compact 3/8 electric impact driver and grease on the threads for install. F%*$ing hours and with a helper on these suckers... Only option to go faster was to drop the fuel tank.
• 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum plate, counter bored to fit flush over rivnut heads. Would gave preferred 5052 for easier bending (without a brake) but that's all that was available on the rems shelf. It has a nice large taper on the top, but it's hidden by the camera perspective.
• There is a perfect channel on the sensor body to use a zip tie for mounting. The zip tie is way tighter than it looks and I left some to potentially snug it up after some heat and vibration cycles.
• All stainless steel mounting hardware.

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[swamp2]

New Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T Tires:

Got every last mile out of the stock KO2s (51k with 5 tire rotation - thus they didn't actually meet their official 50k warranty) as they were all in the 1-2/32" range. Sand traction was particularly suffering.

These tires are beefy! 80 lb right on the money as per spec. They are a hybrid tire and are thus very aggressive for an A/T. They look very M/T-ish. Look at those side lugs . They are 7 lb heavier then stock, which is only 10%. Not bad as they are D rated as opposed to C.

They were definitely harder to mount than the KO2s (bead locked). More and heavier jumping on the first bead, had to do some gentle flash trimming with a box knife and finally gave in and used screwdrivers (3!) to get the outer bead set.

They took a crap ton of balance weights, on one tire a huge patch all the way across the inner lip.

No drive feedback yet other than new tires are better than old . Quiet, balanced and less steering shake.

 

[swamp2]

New rotors and pads. R1 Concepts Carbon Geomet rotors and Dynamic Friction Company (DFC) Ultimate Duty Pads:

Hoped to find true upgrades as the factory Raptor stuff is quite good. I think I managed. To be clear, I've not faded the factory brakes nor had any other problems with them.

I preferred slotted only rotors as opposed to drilled and slotted, but these cross drilled holes are very generously chamfered on both sides, which should prevent stress cracking around the holes. They are also zinc plated for corrosion protection. The only slotted only option was from EBC and they are massively overpriced across the board. I just don't think you get what you pay for with EBC rotors or pads.

The Dynamic Friction Ultimate Duty Pads are GG friction rated, very likely higher than the factory FF pads and they can operate up to 1400 °F. Stock will likely fade (exact information very hard to get) at around 600-700 °F. So these will have great bite (better than OEM) when cold (panic stops and crawling) as well as great bite when towing or high speed running with lots of braking.

Unfortunately, I thought my front pads were much closer to the wear limit (friction material being about the same thickness as the backing plates) here at 51k mi. However, the DFCs friction material thickness new is almost exactly the same thickness as these worn factory pads. I'm going to double check with DFC on this detail soon. The factory rotors looked excellent with maybe 1 mm or less wear.

I found the front guided clips a bit confusing as they have L&R versions. The pads came with the needed clips and are black Teflon coated on one side. Install the clips with the small loop/ears facing AWAY from the rotor (both sides) and such that the tabs on the pads are on top of the straight section of the ear spring that fits into (kind of blocks) the main guide slot, i.e. the pad tabs should be at a slightly larger radius than the long barrow ear spring tab. That will leave the tiny bent tab end clipped around the inside face of each pad tab. Obviously, I should have taken a picture. Just examine your clips very carefully, inside, out and under the pads before popping them out.

Lastly, I thoroughly cleaned the pad carrier bolts, holes and boots and applied Permatex Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant. It's the best stuff I could find (that wasn't like $40 per 1/2 oz...). It's a beautiful bright purple color.

21 mm (head) front pad carrier bolts torque: 184 ft lb
Front caliper (slide pin) bolts torque: 27 ft lb

 

[dougcjohn]

Mounted EtOH Sensor

Finally fabbed a quick custom aluminum mounting bracket for my ethanol sensor. It was basically hanging from tubing. It wasn't dangerous or prone to near term damage, but it needed something.

• Mounted two stainless rivnuts in existing holes in the frame. No drilling required. However, because my installation tool wouldn't fit (entire area is super tight/awkward) and it didn't have enough leverage for these largish rivnuts, it took every manual and impact tool, extension and ratchet I own to get the rivnuts in. Multiple scrapped grade 8 nuts and bolts as tools along the way. The real trick was a compact 3/8 electric impact driver and grease on the threads for install. F%*$ing hours and with a helper on these suckers... Only option to go faster was to drop the fuel tank.
• 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum plate, counter bored to fit flush over rivnut heads. Would gave preferred 5052 for easier bending (without a brake) but that's all that was available on the rems shelf. It has a nice large taper on the top, but it's hidden by the camera perspective.
• There is a perfect channel on the sensor body to use a zip tie for mounting. The zip tie is way tighter than it looks and I left some to potentially snug it up after some heat and vibration cycles.
• All stainless steel mounting hardware.

Tool tip…
I’ve been in several tight frame areas where RivNut tool won’t fit. I’ve used a small wrench RivNut tool but awkwar.
Found this one, works great in tight space… the handles swing sideways to tighten RivNut easily. It’s a little more involved to get started & released… suggest you test & waste a few first before in frame tight space.

I’ve gotten more used to this one vs my other standard long styles and prefer this one.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4Q1HX3K?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_5&th=1

 

[dougcjohn]

Although, just found this one. Combined with a battery ratchet… it looks like a good one too. May get just to have as options.

https://www.amazon.com/YUZES-Rivet-...=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

 

[JC-]

Comms, Comms, Comms:

Yaesu RTM-150RASP Radio (stealth mount), Browning BR-180S Dual Band UHF/VHF Antenna, Rugged Radios Bronco NMO Mount.


Hence, I arrived at the Yaesu RTM-150RASP radio

Hello.

Enjoying reading your build thread and was looking up some of the items, I could not find that vent mount anywhere but was wondering if that radio is RTM-150RASP or if a space or typo? Google isn't helping me find it so thought I would ask.

Thanks!

PS - I also looked up the hood light, did you pick one for something else and make it work or have they discontinued the ford line?

 

[swamp2]

Hello.

Enjoying reading your build thread and was looking up some of the items, I could not find that vent mount anywhere but was wondering if that radio is RTM-150RASP or if a space or typo? Google isn't helping me find it so thought I would ask.

Thanks!

PS - I also looked up the hood light, did you pick one for something else and make it work or have they discontinued the ford line?

Yes FTM-150RASP:

https://www.yaesu.com/product-detail.aspx?Model=FTM-150RASP&CatName=VHF/UHF Mobile Transceivers

I think I've seen some call it the FTM-150R/ASP as ASP is one of its digital noise reduction feature acronyms.

ProClip Mount:

https://www.proclipusa.com/products/855783-ford-bronco-angled-dash-mount

The hood light was from Yota Nation:

https://yotanation.com/products/under-hood-led-kit

IIRC, I got a Universal, which they font appear to offer any more. Mine said,

"Under Hood LED Light Kit for ALL MAKES and Toyotas (4Runners, Tacomas, Sequoias, Tundras, LC, FJ, GX)"

 

[JC-]

Yes FTM-150RASP:

https://www.yaesu.com/product-detail.aspx?Model=FTM-150RASP&CatName=VHF/UHF Mobile Transceivers

I think I've seen some call it the FTM-150R/ASP as ASP is one of its digital noise reduction feature acronyms.

ProClip Mount:

https://www.proclipusa.com/products/855783-ford-bronco-angled-dash-mount

The hood light was from Yota Nation:

https://yotanation.com/products/under-hood-led-kit

IIRC, I got a Universal, which they font appear to offer any more. Mine said,

"Under Hood LED Light Kit for ALL MAKES and Toyotas (4Runners, Tacomas, Sequoias, Tundras, LC, FJ, GX)"

Thanks man! My Raptor arrives Thursday and of course the wheels are turning!

I did see that mount, looks like you modified it. Easy enough.

Sucks on the light, I hoped I had just missed it. I will message them and see what they say. Thanks again!.

 

[JC-]

The hood light was from Yota Nation:

https://yotanation.com/products/under-hood-led-kit

IIRC, I got a Universal, which they font appear to offer any more. Mine said,

"Under Hood LED Light Kit for ALL MAKES and Toyotas (4Runners, Tacomas, Sequoias, Tundras, LC, FJ, GX)"

Jokes on us, they replied to my message. They are all the same kit, universal like what you bought.

ETA - they just followed up and said "click non Toyota" so apparently there is some difference.

 

[swamp2]

Thanks man! My Raptor arrives Thursday and of course the wheels are turning!

Congrats. I recall my excitement like it was yesterday. In part look at my signature...

I did see that mount, looks like you modified it. Easy enough.

Yeah, just drilled some extra holes for the two pieces of hardware to mount the head unit. I listed those parts.

 

[swamp2]

Chalk tested my new Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T tires.

Since these are D load rated and factory KO2s are C, I expected a lower pressure. But they are LOW.

My rig is moderately loaded (drawers, fridge, rack, RTT, EOS Water System) and has bead lock KMC wheels. Tires are brand new. I tested at 32, 30, 28 and 26. There was continuous improvement along the way. 32 was way too high. 26 is close but still showed a bit more chalk at the very edges (i.e. slight overinflation). Unlike most others, I test and monitor at warm, not cold.

I'll run here for 5-8 k mi, measure tread depth and adjust from there.

 

[swamp2]

Transmission Fluid Flush (3X):

At 50k. Not going with the Ford 100k BS or whatever that is. There are plenty of posts/threads on this so I will keep it fairly brief.

I got prices for this, using a flushing machine to get all of the fluid out, from $250 to $1100, here in San Diego. Yes, $1100 . Unfortunately, when I got to the place that said $250, all of a sudden they did not have said flushing machine (suggested to drop pan and I'm sure only one drain/fill cycle) and their price also went up to $400-ish. I throttled my anger, explained my disappointment and said they need to do better on accuracy over the phone, on price and technique, and promptly walked out. This was Sparkys Transmission in Santee (San Diego). Don't give them any business!

• Put down 3x as much cardboard or plastic sheet as you think you will need as the pan drains very fast and will splash or possibly overwhelm your drain pan.
• I have the PPE extra capacity pan which adds 1.75 quarts to the 13.1 full capacity (13.1 is NOT the drain and fill capacity). Thus each drain, which was right about 6 1/4 quarts or 6 liters drained, gives 58% of the fluid remaining. Its a lot! So after 3 flushes, I should have 80% of the fluid totally new/fresh. Not as great of a percentage as I wanted but this went through about 21 quarts total and they are not cheap. I did this math wrong in another post (really just the inputs) as I had the pre PPE pan full fluid capacity incorrect. Of course you should "exercise" the transmission before draining after each refill, just use all of the gears on the stick and power brake it a bit in 1st and 2nd gear. Of course each flush had the fluid looking less brown and more red.
• I did overfill once using more like 7.5 liters. Don't do it, it's messy.
• My magnetic drain plug had a very thin and very fine layer on the magnet. I changed 1 flush at 1k and another single flush later when installing the pan. I'll do another 3x flush around 100k
• Unfortunately, the used o-ring on the plug did not look good at all. PPE lists a complete odd ball size o-ring, not appearing to be a metric nor imperial standard. I used a -119 viton and it is close and sealing fine. Make sure you get a replacement before starting the job (unlike me...)
• To work around the hot exhaust when getting the hot fluid level correct, I simply used two sweatshirts over one arm and a leather glove. I escaped all burns. I do have fairly thin arms.
• I'm sure its obvious, but you absolutely need a pump and hook type nozzle or similar to get the fluid into the trans. I used this one (Amazon) which has a nice shut off valve and flexible coolant style pipe (the blue section).

• Ford official warm operating temperature is somewhat difficult to reach without a ton of power braking. I got mine up to about 195 °F tearing around in Baja mode in Manual. I think Ford spec is 206-215 °F. Unfortunately, I checked mine with the engine not running, I just saw running is recommended here in another thread... Probably not a big deal @Ducati1098 ??

 

[Ducati1098]

Unfortunately, I checked mine with the engine not running, I just saw running is recommended here in another thread... Probably not a big deal @Ducati1098 ??

I would definitely double check it with the vehicle running. Fluid drains down into the pan pretty quickly when the vehicle is off and could certainly give you an inaccurate reading since the pump isn’t circulating fluid.

 

[raptorusmaximus]

Transmission Fluid Flush (3X):

At 50k. Not going with the Ford 100k BS or whatever that is. There are plenty of posts/threads on this so I will keep it fairly brief.

I got prices for this, using a flushing machine to get all of the fluid out, from $250 to $1100, here in San Diego. Yes, $1100 . Unfortunately, when I got to the place that said $250, all of a sudden they did not have said flushing machine (suggested to drop pan and I'm sure only one drain/fill cycle) and their price also went up to $400-ish. I throttled my anger, explained my disappointment and said they need to do better on accuracy over the phone, on price and technique, and promptly walked out. This was Sparkys Transmission in Santee (San Diego). Don't give them any business!

• Put down 3x as much cardboard or plastic sheet as you think you will need as the pan drains very fast and will splash or possibly overwhelm your drain pan.
• I have the PPE extra capacity pan which adds 1.75 quarts to the 13.1 full capacity (13.1 is NOT the drain and fill capacity). Thus each drain, which was right about 6 1/4 quarts or 6 liters drained, gives 58% of the fluid remaining. Its a lot! So after 3 flushes, I should have 80% of the fluid totally new/fresh. Not as great of a percentage as I wanted but this went through about 21 quarts total and they are not cheap. I did this math wrong in another post (really just the inputs) as I had the pre PPE pan full fluid capacity incorrect. Of course you should "exercise" the transmission before draining after each refill, just use all of the gears on the stick and power brake it a bit in 1st and 2nd gear. Of course each flush had the fluid looking less brown and more red.
• I did overfill once using more like 7.5 liters. Don't do it, it's messy.
• My magnetic drain plug had a very thin and very fine layer on the magnet. I changed 1 flush at 1k and another single flush later when installing the pan. I'll do another 3x flush around 100k
• Unfortunately, the used o-ring on the plug did not look good at all. PPE lists a complete odd ball size o-ring, not appearing to be a metric nor imperial standard. I used a -119 viton and it is close and sealing fine. Make sure you get a replacement before starting the job (unlike me...)
• To work around the hot exhaust when getting the hot fluid level correct, I simply used two sweatshirts over one arm and a leather glove. I escaped all burns. I do have fairly thin arms.
• I'm sure its obvious, but you absolutely need a pump and hook type nozzle or similar to get the fluid into the trans. I used this one (Amazon) which has a nice shut off valve and flexible coolant style pipe (the blue section).

• Ford official warm operating temperature is somewhat difficult to reach without a ton of power braking. I got mine up to about 195 °F tearing around in Baja mode in Manual. I think Ford spec is 206-215 °F. Unfortunately, I checked mine with the engine not running, I just saw running is recommended here in another thread... Probably not a big deal @Ducati1098 ??

This is great, I've been thinking of doing mine as well. I checked PPE's website and they don't list a pan for the 3.0 do you know your part number?

 

[Ducati1098]

This is great, I've been thinking of doing mine as well. I checked PPE's website and they don't list a pan for the 3.0 do you know your part number?

Pan is the same for all 10R60/10R80's

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