- First Name
- Caleb
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2021
- Threads
- 11
- Messages
- 154
- Reaction score
- 340
- Location
- Sacramento
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 Bronco/1996 Jeep XJ/1957 FC-150
- Your Bronco Model
- Big Bend
- Thread starter
- #1
Well a first happened! Gold Country Bronco’s went out like we usually do to explore some local trails and enjoy some fresh snow after the weeks winter storm!
Started well plowing fresh powder down the trail toward some local hot springs and 7 Broncos were making good progress.
At a certain point the trail dropped down into a rocky gorge that had a snow melt creek running down. The tough part was only about 100 yards long and had small boulders, off-camber sections, and 2 feet of fresh powder.
Unfortunately about 50 feet from the end of the gorge a Outer Banks Bronco without skid plates came down hard on a pointy rock that went straight into the transmission pan which punched a hole and leaked out 8 qts of fluid in about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was seen immediately and the Bronco was turned off and towed down out of the gorge to a flat spot.
We now faced a dilemma… attempt a trail repair or source a new pan? Either way we needed lots of transmission fluid. I climbed up a hill to get service as we were in a small valley at the bottom of the rocky gorge in deep snow. We already knew there was no pulling a dead Bronco up the gorge and a trail fix was the only way and before the next storm comes through scheduled for the evening the following day. At the hill I had 1 bar of service and was able to call a local dealer who had the part! The awesome parts guy saved it for me and set aside the service manual and extra fluid and a pump for the fluid. They were the only dealer in the area with one and had one in stock! We were quoted 3 days everywhere else.
4 of our party left back up the gorge to grab the part the following morning and 3 of us stayed the night with the stranded Bronco. Thankfully we travel prepared and had all the tools and supplies to camp in what was to be a night of 15 degrees and wind. There was a full moon and it was beautiful!
In the morning we took the two working Broncos and drove out to the trailhead where someone was waiting with the part. We then drove back down the gorge (this gorge is part of a marked trail and we were never off trail) and at this point the weather was warming up and snow was melting and the gorge was turning into a creek. The pan was $116 dollars and was held in place with 18 bolts using 8mm and 13mm bolts. It’s a tight fit and slow going with the exhaust in the way but we were able to remove the old pan with simple tools. The new pan went right into place.
On the driver side of the transmission is a full plug that has a dip stick. The manual called for 5 quarts of fluid which shows between 3 and 4 on the dip stick. After that you drive the Bronco till it reached 205-216 degrees on the transmission shown in gauges We didn’t have room to drive around and didn’t want to have issues driving up the gorge so we checked the level at 100 degrees instead as that’s as high as we could get it.
After checking levels we added another 3 quarts of fluid and everything was checking out. At first there was a low whirring noise from the transmission which was just the system purging out the air and went away after 5 minutes of driving. Everything was shifting smooth. We drove out slow taking time on the gorge as it had become fairly gnarly even for Sasquatch Broncos. Everyone made it it safely though and the transmission stayed at the proper level and remained in the operating temp with proper shifting the entire time!
So what could have been a really bad day turned into a cool, eventful snow camping trip! It turns out the pan replacement is not difficult on the trail. I would also guess that if we had a drill bit and 2 part epoxy we could have repaired the pan enough to drive it out but we also needed lots of fluid anyway and the pan was in stock so we went that route.
That being said, get skid plates y’all. Gonna try and make a YouTube vid as I took a ton of video but we will see.
Started well plowing fresh powder down the trail toward some local hot springs and 7 Broncos were making good progress.
At a certain point the trail dropped down into a rocky gorge that had a snow melt creek running down. The tough part was only about 100 yards long and had small boulders, off-camber sections, and 2 feet of fresh powder.
Unfortunately about 50 feet from the end of the gorge a Outer Banks Bronco without skid plates came down hard on a pointy rock that went straight into the transmission pan which punched a hole and leaked out 8 qts of fluid in about 10 minutes. Thankfully it was seen immediately and the Bronco was turned off and towed down out of the gorge to a flat spot.
We now faced a dilemma… attempt a trail repair or source a new pan? Either way we needed lots of transmission fluid. I climbed up a hill to get service as we were in a small valley at the bottom of the rocky gorge in deep snow. We already knew there was no pulling a dead Bronco up the gorge and a trail fix was the only way and before the next storm comes through scheduled for the evening the following day. At the hill I had 1 bar of service and was able to call a local dealer who had the part! The awesome parts guy saved it for me and set aside the service manual and extra fluid and a pump for the fluid. They were the only dealer in the area with one and had one in stock! We were quoted 3 days everywhere else.
4 of our party left back up the gorge to grab the part the following morning and 3 of us stayed the night with the stranded Bronco. Thankfully we travel prepared and had all the tools and supplies to camp in what was to be a night of 15 degrees and wind. There was a full moon and it was beautiful!
In the morning we took the two working Broncos and drove out to the trailhead where someone was waiting with the part. We then drove back down the gorge (this gorge is part of a marked trail and we were never off trail) and at this point the weather was warming up and snow was melting and the gorge was turning into a creek. The pan was $116 dollars and was held in place with 18 bolts using 8mm and 13mm bolts. It’s a tight fit and slow going with the exhaust in the way but we were able to remove the old pan with simple tools. The new pan went right into place.
On the driver side of the transmission is a full plug that has a dip stick. The manual called for 5 quarts of fluid which shows between 3 and 4 on the dip stick. After that you drive the Bronco till it reached 205-216 degrees on the transmission shown in gauges We didn’t have room to drive around and didn’t want to have issues driving up the gorge so we checked the level at 100 degrees instead as that’s as high as we could get it.
After checking levels we added another 3 quarts of fluid and everything was checking out. At first there was a low whirring noise from the transmission which was just the system purging out the air and went away after 5 minutes of driving. Everything was shifting smooth. We drove out slow taking time on the gorge as it had become fairly gnarly even for Sasquatch Broncos. Everyone made it it safely though and the transmission stayed at the proper level and remained in the operating temp with proper shifting the entire time!
So what could have been a really bad day turned into a cool, eventful snow camping trip! It turns out the pan replacement is not difficult on the trail. I would also guess that if we had a drill bit and 2 part epoxy we could have repaired the pan enough to drive it out but we also needed lots of fluid anyway and the pan was in stock so we went that route.
That being said, get skid plates y’all. Gonna try and make a YouTube vid as I took a ton of video but we will see.
Last edited by a moderator:
