Top 5 MUST-HAVE Accessories for the Ford Bronco

[timhood]

These guys?? LINK

I'm guessing it's just the two thumb screws to remove them??

If so... screw those $400 - $500 mud flaps on Ford Accessories. The Ford ones are stupid expensive and the only reason why I felt like they might be worth the price is because they are quick-release and removable for the trail. But you can get a complete set of four Rokblokz for the price of two of the mud flaps on Ford's website.

You don't need the $500 ones. These $55 ones do the job just fine, cheaper than most (nearly all?) after-market options. Bonus is you don't have to buy a set of 4 if you don't want the rears. Second bonus is these go on sale occasionally, making them even cheaper:

Front and Rear

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[timhood]

https://www.amazon.com/Mabett-Backrest-Protector-Accessories-Pieces/dp/B09VL31QV5?th=1

seat back protector mats a must for any suv or hatchback.

2-door people have this $27 option which works great. Have had it installed for a year and haven't even thought twice about it. Stays in place, does the job.

 

[BobN - USAF]

Nice list. I have the Helm book , the floormats and I found that that most of the choices for flaps were either ridiculously expensive or too cheap to consider. I went with BroFlaps, found Etsy. There versions for the SAS and the non-SAS. The owner was very helpful when I dumped my rear plastic bumper for a FabFour Vengeance rear bumper.

 

[1986Bronco]

If "USA" tools are your thing, Amazon has a set of TP (Torx Plus) that I ordered and from the looks of the reviews, a few other Bronco owners as well:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OH0MES/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

When it comes to tools, especially items like bits, I question the return on the dollar for 11 pieces of "Made in the USA" vs 60 pieces of "Made in Taiwan" for almost the same price.

Neiko is a decent brand, Taiwan is a place that makes great hand tools, the quantity and variety for the price cannot be beat, you get a hard case (although I hate that full plastic bridge hinge)... I still bought the CTA version.

Go one step further and throw a 1/4" torque wrench into your onboard tool kit. That is a rabbit hole for sure. I recommend Wera or Gedore for compactness and relative repeatbility without needing calibration vs. any American counterpart.

USA torque wrenches are great but I get mine calibrated every 6 months or so. I have a couple of Gedore Dremometers that I never had calibrated that I sent in for the heck of it and they were dead on after 15-20 years.

I also eliminate any Taiwan/China tools from this particular category as I have never owned any that were still calibrated after a couple of weeks. Even better, I got bored and tried a repeatability test on a couple and got wildly inaccurate results from one bolt to the next. At least when the USA ones are off/wrong, they are consistently wrong. I feel like they are just mass printing (probably with an AI/algorithim/random generator) certificates, shoving them in random boxes, and sending them on their way.

 

[tock13]

Number 1 - Owner's Manual

As soon as I saw “owners manual” and the suggestion to print it…I knew the jackals would come runnin. Regardless of what day and age we are in I totally agree with this one. Great idea for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know, I’m old and out of touch. At least I don’t freak out if I forget my phone and don’t have Nav and I need to find somewhere without that annoying AF GPS voice telling me where to go. Paper maps in the seat pocket.

Awesome list man

 

[DarthLincoln]

Alright... so I was on-call over the Thanksgiving holiday. To pass the time I was shopping for the Bronco, and to get some ideas I was watching some YouTube videos. There are a ton of these "Top X Accessories" videos out there, and most of them missed what I would consider to be the most important accessories for the Bronco. So this is my attempt to fix that.



Number 1 - Owner's Manual

Number 2 - Spare Key Fob

Number 3 - Door Storage Pockets

Number 4 - Torx Set

Number 5 - Mud Flaps and Floor Mats

1. Yes
2. Yes - thanks for tip on how to find the correct suffix.
3. Hmm…
4. Yes - why are TorxPlus so hard to find? And why didn’t Ford include a TP40 bit in the tool kit they provided. Annoying.
5. Yes - I agree with you about the appearance, so I went with front-only. I chose these which offer relatively quick release for off-roading but I would prefer a less rigid option: https://a.co/d/ddCpygI

 

[DarthLincoln]

Mmmm… perhaps the RockBlokz are not stupid expensive relative to the Ford ones but they are still obscenely expensive. I initially had the mini IAGs but found them insufficient on gravel. So I got these

https://a.co/d/1URE7qM

i got essentially same thing tho sold under a different Chinese brand name on Amazon
https://a.co/d/ddCpygI

Added brackets require no drilling and thumb nuts allow quick removal.

 

[GroovyGeek]

i got essentially same thing tho sold under a different Chinese brand name on Amazon
https://a.co/d/ddCpygI

Added brackets require no drilling and thumb nuts allow quick removal.

Looks identical install, but the thumb screws are not blacked out. If they are stainless that is better, because it is an easy paint job. Mine have started to rust a bit, I was about to order some stainless replacements from Amazon

 

[DarthLincoln]

Looks identical install, with a bit of orange flair, so nicer. The thumb nuts are not blacked out on this one, but they can be painted easily. I lost one of the thumb nuts on mine (must have fallen off on the trail). The cheapest replacement is $10, so I may buy these for $40 instaead - just need to convince myself that I like the orange flair.

Or is the orange flair not included? Their pics are wildly inconsistent - some show thumb screws, some don't, some show flair, some are plain black.

No orange flair. That’s just a photoshopped outline the seller added to to the photos to highlight the product. The mudflaps are entirely carbon black. Yeah the thumb nuts are silver not black.

 

[GroovyGeek]

Ooooo that's a good one.

That's actually the very first item I installed on my Bronco—they were installed the day I bought it. Totally forgot about those. Wish I had put that on my list along with the mud flaps and floor mats. Oh well.

Yes, they are very good for the price. And now available from a whole host of Chinese sellers at an incredible price, I think I got mine for $35.

 

[HighVelocity]

As soon as I saw “owners manual” and the suggestion to print it…I knew the jackals would come runnin. Regardless of what day and age we are in I totally agree with this one. Great idea for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know, I’m old and out of touch. At least I don’t freak out if I forget my phone and don’t have Nav and I need to find somewhere without that annoying AF GPS voice telling me where to go. Paper maps in the seat pocket.

Awesome list man

I'm old too and grew up with paper manuals, but find the one included in the dash of every single bronco made to be a shitload easier to use and find what I'm looking for. I don't miss the paper copy. I wish my '13 F350 and F550 had this. Hell, my stupid Ferrari didn't include either option.

 

[GroovyGeek]

Number 3 - Door Storage Pockets

The factory door pockets are garbage. Unless you intend on doing an awesome speaker modification, you should probably replace them.

There are TONS of options available, and many of them are sold by the vendors here on Bronco6G. One of my favorite options is from @Mountains2Metal (Link). The ones I currently have installed are from Bartact.

The Bartact pockets are needlessly large for most people (videos on YT show people fitting a Dewalt drill and impact wrench + two batteries in there) and likely invade the leg space. I typically lean both my legs around the sides of the driver area, and something that bulky there would drive me nuts. The stiff replacements would also be of limited use to me, whatever you put in there will just rattle around off trail.

I just ordered some ugly looking cloth Chinese one from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/MS-MASTER-SHOW-Compatible-Accessories/dp/B0B38T51QZ
They don't even have gromets around the hole and sag horribly around the edges on the install video. However I like their size, and plan on attempting to install them by cutting off the stretchy webbing from the OEM mounting frame and using that to attach to the door. Will likely have to cu some fabric around the edges to reduce the profile. If that does not seem like it will work I will send them back to Amazon.

 

[2023bronco]

The Bartact pockets are needlessly large for most people (videos on YT show people fitting a Dewalt drill and impact wrench + two batteries in there) and likely invade the leg space. I typically lean both my legs around the sides of the driver area, and something that bulky there would drive me nuts.

I have the Bartacts. They're not bulky at all and are soft if you happen to throw your leg into them. Of course, if you jam pack them with stuff, that's a different story.

 

[kpark_67]

Why would anyone print a 642 page manual?

Try reading the fuse numbers from a screen with poor pixel count? I have the 12" screen on mine and I can't read the fuse numbers from the pic.

 

[Rumbloki]

Try reading the fuse numbers from a screen with poor pixel count? I have the 12" screen on mine and I can't read the fuse numbers from the pic.

You have a 12" screen on your phone?

I see them just fine on my 7" phone.

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