The Boreal Badlands

[Bigred86]

Love your Bronco and your work! Your photography is stupendous! I really enjoyed looking at your pictures. Have you had any progress on selling copies of your capable bumper light brackets? Thanks!

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[wigglysqiggly]

bump to the page, Same question as the above

 

[Boreal]

A few little updates.

Ford Performance Diff Cover has been installed, using all supplied OEM hardware and gasket.

Next was the removal of the rear seats, tearing apart the front of the truck, running harnesses/wires, getting the audio system roughed in.

The big Auroras meant a few late nights out and about.

May Long, we prepped the cabin for summer and I was able to sneak in a few paddles along the way. The roads were rough enough to finally kill the Mono Amp that has served me well. The Hifonics Brutus BRZ1200.1D was replaced with a Focal FXP 1.1000, the soze difference is welcomed.

The JCR Utility Rack seized up - it was sold with a blend of Stainless and Steel hardware - not as initially advertised. A rockslide engineering mount was swapped in to retain the rotopax.

All this was in prep for the first trip of the summer. Some of the boys and I drove 13 hours to US Air Motorsports in Shawano, WI for a ClubFR drift event, DD97.

The best part about the rear seat removal is the access to the power ports in the rear; I can now charge/process media on the drives to and from!

Panera Bread is the bomb, by the way.

The track is absolutely incredible to shoot, and drive on (so I’m told by the boys). During the trip, I received a Check Brake System fault - Low Vacuum Brake Assist. The combo of hill, camper, long drive duration managed to fault out the diaphragm in the vacuum line - Noted Here. The part has been superceeded to a -H now, and has been ordered. All in all, it’s been a busy month and a bit.

 

[Boreal]

Wow, it’s been a minute. Where to begin?

I swapped out that Vacuum Line, a few green clippy vacuum connecters and one electrical connector. Easy peasy, No problems since. Some pre trip maintenance has been another tire Rotation and OCI, IAF, and Sparkplugs! Oh, and reaimed the headlamps for the extra weight with a full tank of fuel, gear and the camper

Otherwise, it’s been solid… a few drift trips, cabin trips and dailying.

The majority of spare time has been allocated to the camper… which is somewhat of an extension of the bronco, so I’ll dive into it - we have just embarked on a five week journey to Alaska.

Previously in 2022, I journeyed up to the Yukon and Northern BC. It was wet, but the camper kept me dry. At this time I was uncertain if the batteries had gone bad, I wasn’t getting the life expectancy out of them that I had come to know during the initial years.there was also some variance in how well the Inverter/Charger was working… some days it had low voltage alarms, others it failed to even boot up or charge from shore power. I also bent the hub stubs of the undersized original axle…

In 2023 my pup and I adventured to the Icefields (Between Banff and Jasper), this trip was also quite wet and I started to notice moisture intrusion. The new batteries also did not solve my power woes… but the new 3500lb axle did provide a better bottom end.

The trek to Wisconsin for drifting left the camper with a literal puddle after 13 hours of rain on the way down, and return…

I knew I needed to fix some things before this Alaskan Adventure. So, this summer I have since done a regiment of sealant, fastener replacement, more sealant, a complete rewire of the power system, more sealant, and ran a dedicated High Amp 12v charging line for electronics in the cabin.

Let’s start with the sealant. Initially I thought the water was getting in via the leading edge - it’s right behind the bronco wheels and constantly getting bombarded with weather. That initial sealing job didn’t solve the problem, next up was all the roof seams. Unfortunately, also a no go. Finally I resorted to replacing every rooftop fastener with a SS edition, adding sealant within the holes as well as on top of.

I’ve yet to truly test the final version with fresh sealant and hardware.. but it’s more of a “ready or not, here I come” scenario. Soo, we will see.

In addition to the sealant was a bunch of wiring work. All main battery lines were swapped from 8GA to 6GA. Everything was hydraulically crimped, shrink wrapped, and shortened up. Don’t judge me , the initial build was very much “just get it going”

While this was being tackled, I added in the Camp Kitchen Speakers, and an 8GA circuit for a high wattage 12v charger. In an attempt to become more energy efficient, I I’ll be charging the laptop off of a 100W USBC setup instead of firing up the inverter for 120V, only to be stepped down anyways. (Our initial estimates are about a 4-5x reduction in energy consumption for the same charge). While rewiring and checking efficiencies we came across the culprit for the Inverter/Charger… the negative terminal had severe corrosion under its heat shrink that was causing a massive resistance.

Finally on repairs, the MaxxAir Fans’ hinge assembly decided to give up on life during the second drift trip of the year… a replacement part took it’s sweet time to arrive, but it was a breeze to install and revived the fan for another few treks for sure.

To conclude trip prep, all the cast iron cookware was cleaned, and given four coats of seasoning.

Throughout all of this build up have been a few journeys, photo assignments and obligations… it's been a countdown that ended up coming to conclusion within the final hours. Fortunately, the majority of the work on my to-do list got done and there’s nothin else left to do but drive north. Let’s see how she goes.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Wow, it’s been a minute. Where to begin?

I swapped out that Vacuum Line, a few green clippy vacuum connecters and one electrical connector. Easy peasy, No problems since. Some pre trip maintenance has been another tire Rotation and OCI, IAF, and Sparkplugs! Oh, and reaimed the headlamps for the extra weight with a full tank of fuel, gear and the camper

Otherwise, it’s been solid… a few drift trips, cabin trips and dailying.

The majority of spare time has been allocated to the camper… which is somewhat of an extension of the bronco, so I’ll dive into it - we have just embarked on a five week journey to Alaska.

Previously in 2022, I journeyed up to the Yukon and Northern BC. It was wet, but the camper kept me dry. At this time I was uncertain if the batteries had gone bad, I wasn’t getting the life expectancy out of them that I had come to know during the initial years.there was also some variance in how well the Inverter/Charger was working… some days it had low voltage alarms, others it failed to even boot up or charge from shore power. I also bent the hub stubs of the undersized original axle…

In 2023 my pup and I adventured to the Icefields (Between Banff and Jasper), this trip was also quite wet and I started to notice moisture intrusion. The new batteries also did not solve my power woes… but the new 3500lb axle did provide a better bottom end.

The trek to Wisconsin for drifting left the camper with a literal puddle after 13 hours of rain on the way down, and return…

I knew I needed to fix some things before this Alaskan Adventure. So, this summer I have since done a regiment of sealant, fastener replacement, more sealant, a complete rewire of the power system, more sealant, and ran a dedicated High Amp 12v charging line for electronics in the cabin.

Let’s start with the sealant. Initially I thought the water was getting in via the leading edge - it’s right behind the bronco wheels and constantly getting bombarded with weather. That initial sealing job didn’t solve the problem, next up was all the roof seams. Unfortunately, also a no go. Finally I resorted to replacing every rooftop fastener with a SS edition, adding sealant within the holes as well as on top of.

I’ve yet to truly test the final version with fresh sealant and hardware.. but it’s more of a “ready or not, here I come” scenario. Soo, we will see.

In addition to the sealant was a bunch of wiring work. All main battery lines were swapped from 8GA to 6GA. Everything was hydraulically crimped, shrink wrapped, and shortened up. Don’t judge me , the initial build was very much “just get it going”

While this was being tackled, I added in the Camp Kitchen Speakers, and an 8GA circuit for a high wattage 12v charger. In an attempt to become more energy efficient, I I’ll be charging the laptop off of a 100W USBC setup instead of firing up the inverter for 120V, only to be stepped down anyways. (Our initial estimates are about a 4-5x reduction in energy consumption for the same charge). While rewiring and checking efficiencies we came across the culprit for the Inverter/Charger… the negative terminal had severe corrosion under its heat shrink that was causing a massive resistance.

Finally on repairs, the MaxxAir Fans’ hinge assembly decided to give up on life during the second drift trip of the year… a replacement part took it’s sweet time to arrive, but it was a breeze to install and revived the fan for another few treks for sure.

To conclude trip prep, all the cast iron cookware was cleaned, and given four coats of seasoning.

Throughout all of this build up have been a few journeys, photo assignments and obligations… it's been a countdown that ended up coming to conclusion within the final hours. Fortunately, the majority of the work on my to-do list got done and there’s nothin else left to do but drive north. Let’s see how she goes.

Your Bronco is looking awesome! Great work, thanks for sharing!

 

[Boreal]

Well, it's been another minute. Swiftly upon return from Alaska last fall, the work came calling. Weddings, Hockey, and Real Estate shoots consumed the spare time outside of the day job. There hasn't been much Bronco fun to be had, but there has been some mileage and maintenance...

So, I guess a little recap of AK2024. 12,062kms, through the heat of the prairies and over the Alaskan mountains, flawlessly. Well, except for one issue that arose with being more "off grid" than previous trips - the Bronco doesn't seem to actually charge the camper along its drive... more on this later.

There wasn't much different from the previous trek up to the Yukon in 2022, the photos were mostly held off until I was breaking new ground, so to speak.

Arriving up in Dawson City again, felt somewhat like a Deja Vu... this is where new sights were seen. starting with taking a ferry across the Yukon River, a cool experience. The ferry runs 24hrs and is large enough to haul semis, my little camper was no sweat for the team on board.

Departing North takes you over "Top of the World" highway, its a 50/50 shot for weather conditions as you pass thru and its sad to say that I was entirely socked in for the majority of the cruise to AK.

However, coming out of Chicken, AK was clear sailing and the wildlife spotting started almost immediately with Moose and Northern Hawk Owls (To follow up in a full thread at a later time).

Some of the roads were paved, others were gravel or dirt. Many off chutes and passes were tread, some steep and slow enough to require first gear hauls.

One of the destinations was Denali and I couldn't recommend it to adventurers more. Just be prepared for rain. The sites were to die for, the Moose are larger than life. Once the slide is repaired at Polychrome, ill be sure to make it north once again to view the rest of the park in its entirety.

 

[Boreal]

After I arrived back home, an oil change was first in order. But since then, the only fun mod has been a v2 of my light bar mount. It shifts the bar a bit forwards and down, some changes to its general profile too...

During the AK trek, I noticed that when the "Smart" alternator drops to a cruising/float stage, the voltage at the 7pin trailer receptacle reduces as well... 13.9v at times, fucking stupid. this means that the voltage at the charger in the rear of the camper is too low to effectively charge the AGMs...

Lots of positive reviews on this Smart Alternator Compatible Victron Orion XS charger... From initial reading, it should regulate the voltage at the expense of amperage, at this point, charging slower than ideal is better than nothing at all. This'll be installed into the camper and if there is still a need to get voltage to the back, I might twin the 8GA that I've got running to avoid all line loss... run my own charge line off the battery directly... we shall see...

Onto the Bronco problems. Throughout the winter, there were two issues that presented out of the blue, both within 100kms of extended warranty expiring.

First was the FSD throwing a code for one of the valves. I took it in for a diag. appt at the dealer. They claimed that I needed a New FSD, and that the part is covered by warranty, however the updated TSB is NOT covered. three weeks later, I've cruised past warranty and I had no answer or direction from the dealer. I brought the bronco in for a thaw, took a peak under the skid plate and found one of the pressure switch pigtails had ripped from the connector.... the dealer never even cracked the bolts off and took a look. A quick solder job and the FSD is working once again.

Second issue was the forward central parking sensor, passenger side. Using a mechanics stethoscope, I verified that every sensor was firing but that one... it had some pittings in the face from rocks and had assumed that the sensor itself was dead. I purchased a superseded version, installed it to no avail. Further inspection and pulling back of the wiring loom found that all three wires had broken insulation and corroded while in the sheathing.

After a few wiring fixes, the dash is clear of errors. It is time for a little lube refresh. Being out of warranty, all fluids are now up for debate. A good friend runs a Subaru shop with a preference for Motul and a bunch of the fluids meet spec. Motul Gear 300 75w-90 for the Diffs and Motul DCTF for the Manual Trans. I opted to continue to use Ford Mercon LV for the TCase, wet clutches can be picky. And finally, I'm continuing with the Pennz Plat 5w-30 and Fords OEM Oil Filter for the engine.

All fluids changed well, dark, but no obvious metallics. The FP Rear Diff Cover made the oil change 100x easier. With everything changed over, I'm looking forwards to the summer ahead with a few little roadies planned!

 

[Boreal]

The Camper was due for another round of upgrades before the 2025 Summer Season. Lets Dive in.

First up was new tail lights(Red lens)... the old ones (clear lens) died during AK 2024.

Second was a new DC-DC charger. Ditching the CTEK D250S ( I know the wiring is incorrect for how I had it hooked up, was testing) for the Victron Orion XS - Smart alternator compatible. In addition, I upsized the charge circuit to 4GA wiring. While I was cracking open the harness, I took the time to plumb new 4 Wire for the neck, re-route and re-sheath everything. A Reliability upgrade and If needed, an Anderson connector can be swapped in place of using the 7 PIN for charge power.

This was all going pretty smooth, tackling a little portion of each step as I could find some time. The BIG change this year was the intention of roof rack. During the build process I welded some plates to the frame for eventual mods, it is time to use them. Using 1x1 and 2x1 extruded aluminum, T Nuts, custom machined mounting brackets and attachment plates, I built a flat rack.

The rack wasn't meant to just look pretty, it was assembled with a few particular uses in mind. Solar Shower, Cargo Box, and Awning. Anything extra is a bonus. After sizing up a bunch of configurations I settled on the Roam 95L Box, a 270º Awning (Was supposed to be Yakima but ended up being Top Oak) and the Yakima Road Shower 10Gal.

Once I got home and dug into the spacing, I found that the spare tire can perfectly squeeze into spot as well as a camp chair or two.

A Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist) score left me with a HBC 4 Point Wool Blanket from the 1930s. A 6" Queen sized mattress was swapped in for my Full, and a girlfriend-friendly set of sheets was picked up.

And while the final mods, organization and trip prep is still underway, I managed to get the camper out for its first unfurl! Initially, I found an mis-priced listing for the Yakima OverNOut 270XL and placed an order. It's been a few months of waiting with no delivery ETA, and ended up pulling the trigger on a TopOak 270 package (Awning and Awning Room). If the Yakima comes in as cheap as I found it for, it might be a slight upgrade over the TopOak... and If the order gets cancelled, I'll be content with what I've got.

All in all, it went about as smooth as a one off build could. Some fuck ups, some instant successes, some hmmming and hawwwing, but it all came together better than I could have imagined.

This weekend looks to have a trial run with the camper and GF to see how we all fair on the road!

 

[orion]

Wow, it’s been a minute. Where to begin?

I swapped out that Vacuum Line, a few green clippy vacuum connecters and one electrical connector. Easy peasy, No problems since. Some pre trip maintenance has been another tire Rotation and OCI, IAF, and Sparkplugs! Oh, and reaimed the headlamps for the extra weight with a full tank of fuel, gear and the camper

Otherwise, it’s been solid… a few drift trips, cabin trips and dailying.

The majority of spare time has been allocated to the camper… which is somewhat of an extension of the bronco, so I’ll dive into it - we have just embarked on a five week journey to Alaska.

Previously in 2022, I journeyed up to the Yukon and Northern BC. It was wet, but the camper kept me dry. At this time I was uncertain if the batteries had gone bad, I wasn’t getting the life expectancy out of them that I had come to know during the initial years.there was also some variance in how well the Inverter/Charger was working… some days it had low voltage alarms, others it failed to even boot up or charge from shore power. I also bent the hub stubs of the undersized original axle…

In 2023 my pup and I adventured to the Icefields (Between Banff and Jasper), this trip was also quite wet and I started to notice moisture intrusion. The new batteries also did not solve my power woes… but the new 3500lb axle did provide a better bottom end.

The trek to Wisconsin for drifting left the camper with a literal puddle after 13 hours of rain on the way down, and return…

I knew I needed to fix some things before this Alaskan Adventure. So, this summer I have since done a regiment of sealant, fastener replacement, more sealant, a complete rewire of the power system, more sealant, and ran a dedicated High Amp 12v charging line for electronics in the cabin.

Let’s start with the sealant. Initially I thought the water was getting in via the leading edge - it’s right behind the bronco wheels and constantly getting bombarded with weather. That initial sealing job didn’t solve the problem, next up was all the roof seams. Unfortunately, also a no go. Finally I resorted to replacing every rooftop fastener with a SS edition, adding sealant within the holes as well as on top of.

I’ve yet to truly test the final version with fresh sealant and hardware.. but it’s more of a “ready or not, here I come” scenario. Soo, we will see.

In addition to the sealant was a bunch of wiring work. All main battery lines were swapped from 8GA to 6GA. Everything was hydraulically crimped, shrink wrapped, and shortened up. Don’t judge me , the initial build was very much “just get it going”

While this was being tackled, I added in the Camp Kitchen Speakers, and an 8GA circuit for a high wattage 12v charger. In an attempt to become more energy efficient, I I’ll be charging the laptop off of a 100W USBC setup instead of firing up the inverter for 120V, only to be stepped down anyways. (Our initial estimates are about a 4-5x reduction in energy consumption for the same charge). While rewiring and checking efficiencies we came across the culprit for the Inverter/Charger… the negative terminal had severe corrosion under its heat shrink that was causing a massive resistance.

Finally on repairs, the MaxxAir Fans’ hinge assembly decided to give up on life during the second drift trip of the year… a replacement part took it’s sweet time to arrive, but it was a breeze to install and revived the fan for another few treks for sure.

To conclude trip prep, all the cast iron cookware was cleaned, and given four coats of seasoning.

Throughout all of this build up have been a few journeys, photo assignments and obligations… it's been a countdown that ended up coming to conclusion within the final hours. Fortunately, the majority of the work on my to-do list got done and there’s nothin else left to do but drive north. Let’s see how she goes.

If you continue to get water in your camper, get some eternabond rv roof tape to seal up on top!

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

All the design and fab work is amazing, as usual, but I just have to give a shout out to that choice Hudson blanket! Very nice!

 

[Big Norwegian]

Your Alaska trip looks like a great adventure, my wife and I are doing the same thing in 26. Would the top of the world highway scare you in a F-350 with a big pickup camper. Some of the things I have read make me a little leary. Way to go by the way building a camper that does what you want it to do.

 

[Boreal]

If you continue to get water in your camper, get some eternabond rv roof tape to seal up on top!

With any luck, the copious amounts of flex seal and replaced fasteners last year should hold me. Atleast it was successful during my 4 week Alaska stint where it rained all but two days.

All the design and fab work is amazing, as usual, but I just have to give a shout out to that choice Hudson blanket! Very nice!

Thanks Karl! The blanket was a huge Win! I scooped some Amazon Specials for those evenings by the fire out side, where you don't worry if an ember lands on ya

Your Alaska trip looks like a great adventure, my wife and I are doing the same thing in 26. Would the top of the world highway scare you in a F-350 with a big pickup camper. Some of the things I have read make me a little leary. Way to go by the way building a camper that does what you want it to do.

I didn’t find TOTW troublesome at all, to be fair, I was mostly socked in and going slow. But two vehicles could safely pass all the time, most spots were wide enough to pull over and take a photo. I wouldn’t be worried, just make sure you’ve got some good rubber - it can be slick at times. If I had any advice, it would be to camp across at Yukon River. Easily spend a day in Dawson, maybe two. Midnight Dome is a fun spot to recollect on the journey so far. Then, have a flexible time frame to find good weather to traverse the pass - when it’s cloudy, it’s not worth the extra trek. (I’ve gotta go back with a more flexible time frame and see what I missed!)

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