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Tallahassee Bronco Club

Connecting folks in and around Tallahassee for talk, trails, and friendship. All are welcome.
BobN - USAF
Hello Tallahassee. I just bought a 23 Bronco Big Bend. Not quite as capable as my previous 2020 ride that had front and rear lockers and steel bumpers, front and rear and with a full set of skid plates. But I have wanted a new Bronco since 1977. I was going to try to buy one that year but alas, the new "improved" style was released and it didn't connect with me. I suppose I should have bought a used one. Anyway, my other Ford is a 1942 Ford GPW (jeep). I have had that jeep since 1981.

The Big Bend came with a rear locker and dual tops. You would think that if you have the dual top option it would come with everything you need. Nope, it didn't include the cargo panel plates that are cut to fit with the soft top as the hard top was installed with the soft top placed on top of the folded seat and cargo area. Pretty full up!

Just spoke with my dealership and he said that it appears that it doesn't come with the dual top. He ordered two of the plates to check them out. Of course, right now it looks like I'm out $60 x2 for the plates. This doesn't make sense to get the dual top option and then to find out you have to purchase two additional pieces?
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pandapaul
pandapaul
Welcome aboard, @BobN - USAF ! Thrilled to have you. That does suck about the dual tops and that gooped glue on the paracord handle ain't great. STILL, hopefully the good heavily outweighs the bad. Tell me more about your previous ride that was built up a bit more, and I'm also curious if you've got modification plans for the Bronco. Today I talked with Mike at Minco for a bit to feel out if they'd be good to work with for some modifications on mine. Mike seems to know his stuff and gave me a good bit of his time, which is much appreciated. Mainly I'm just wanting to improve the vehicle's water fording capability since that's the primary threat in the local forests.

Again, thrilled to have you and I look forward to more. :)
BobN - USAF
BobN - USAF
Good to hear about Minco. Not a fan of another shop on Mahan. Anyway. I had a 2020 Colorado ZR2 Bison with all the skid plates, front and rear lockers (ZR2 package) I think the tires where 31s ( 30.6, stock for the ZR2) Added a hidden Warn winch, ditch lights, rear bumper lights and a snorkel. The Bison came with all steel bumpers, front and rear. Diesel. Only had about 16.5 K miles on it. I ended up only driving it once a week due to Covid and then I retired at the end of 2021.

I was planning on adding steel bumpers to get rid of the plastic ware. I don't plan on towing with it but...I don't like to limit myself. Just saw a Buckle Up Buttercup video where she reported they were getting temperature errors while towing a camper. It turned out that the winch/bumper combo blocked too much air so that when towing it threw off codes.

The first "mod" was installing the included soft top which was an adventure because there were no tutorials going from hard top to soft top. You had to piece it together from the hard top and the soft top video.

I would be cautious about added the snorkel if you are doing it for water. The ZR2 snorkel would help some with water splashes but was mainly for anti-dust and supposedly cooler air. You still have the electronics that may not be rated for immersion.

It has AT tires on it for now which to me look like street tires after the ZR2. LOL

Edit: I added a picture of what I traded in for the Bronco. Also, updated stock tire size. I had an AEV kit for 33s but it was going to require some "minor" trimming to the fenders. Still have the kit, LOL.

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pandapaul
pandapaul
Yeah I'm not a fan of that shop on Mahan either. Seems like more of an accessories install place. I did have them tint the windows on my previous vehicle and they did alright. For proper modification work though I don't know.

The Bison sounds like an awesome truck. I used to look longingly at them prior to doing so with the Bronco. For that matter I may have seen hours around town. I vaguely recall seeing an awesome one matching your description on capital circle once or twice.

That's interesting about the air flow. I had concerns along those lines when shopping for bumpers. So far so good with the DV8 one that I have, but I'm also not towing.

I've got the factory soft top and am definitely grateful I didn't have to install that myself. If you find yourself in a similar situation again and need a second set of hands, I'd be happy to help out. I don't have much knowledge but I can always try to help problem solve. 😊

Yeah with the snorkel I feel like it's only a partial solution. I don't know what electronics are and are not rated for submersion, and I'm not sure about the diff vents either. So far I've had no problems, but with the immensity of water in the ANF I am anticipating having some issue eventually. All of the mods I have on my wish list are basically insurance for trying to prevent that.
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BobN - USAF
BobN - USAF
@pandapaul, yes, that store installed my winch and snorkel. They did okay on the snorkel but I had to take it back because they didn't use the touch up paint I bought for them to use. But I never saw any rust so I guess they did okay. But the winch they didn't do a good job. In fact, they broke the housing end. You have to take the screws out and turn the clutch housing cap so that you will be able to reach the control. Well, when they put it back together they didn't ensure that the teeth meshed and that cracked the housing. How do I know? Warn provided warranty coverage for the broken part. I took the winch out and attempted to replace but I didn't know about the teeth alignment and heck I cracked that one too! So Warn sent me another all free including shipping. They said to pay attention to the teeth alignment. So LOL I practiced on the broken one and then installed it correctly.

I ended up adding the cap taking the light bar and lights off. I went to Panama City to buy the cap. I could have bought from the Mahan store but I wasn't going to give them any more business. They had already hacked up and botched the winch install (including cutting up a piece of the truck) because they couldn't be bothered to read the instructions that I provided from AEV.
pandapaul
pandapaul
BobN - USAF
BobN - USAF
@pandapaul It is my understanding that the Everglades have diff breathers and perhaps any other breathers mounted higher than the non-Everglades. I have not heard and doubt that the electronics are any more waterproof than the non-Everglades. I love the snorkel look that's why I put it on my Bison. I didn't have the nerve to do it to my FJ Cruiser.
ju015dd
ju015dd
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