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Brostango

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Great Job. Diggin the Drawer system. Any chance you have a link to the drawer slides?
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Superstition

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Great Job. Diggin the Drawer system. Any chance you have a link to the drawer slides?
Unfortunately, I don't have a link and I don't know too much about them. There are the sliders for the drawer, which are pretty basic and probably super easy to get, and then the heavy duty sliders for the whole assembly. They can hold 300 pounds extended and can super extend so the entire assembly gets far enough past the rear of the Bronco to allow access to the jack and under storage area. I suspect those two features make those sliders pretty pricey. I do know they were heavy as hell and we put like 10 screws into the oak slide boards for each slider to distribute the stresses.
 

CalvinT

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CalvinT

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Maybe so. He's pretty busy building custom cabinets for homes. A buddy of mine and I bought Broncos at the same time so we talked him into making two of these at the same time. My guess is that he'd probably need to charge a couple grand for each one with the costs of the high end wood, the manual lamination, the 300 pound sliders and all of the labor. I don't know if people would pay that or if it would be worth it for him to divert his attention to this. Beer goes A LONG way with a good friend on a project like this :)

Anyway, I'd be happy to ask him if he'd do it again if there was serious interest.
Maybe he could sell drawings and a parts list. Or just ask him how much beer to make the drawings and parts list. :)
 

Donkeygyrl

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Way back when we were waiting for the first broncos people were talking up the goose gear stuff ,from what I've seen it was overpriced junk and I have been impressed with all of the diy builds...great job
 

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Superstition

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Way back when we were waiting for the first broncos people were talking up the goose gear stuff ,from what I've seen it was overpriced junk and I have been impressed with all of the diy builds...great job

As far as I know, the Goose Gear drawers are too tall to have a level floor when you fold the seat down. I would have preferred an off the shelf solution, but I haven't seen it yet. The Diabolical storage shelf is close.

And talk about waiting!? I waited 3 years and two weeks to finally have Ford deliver of this Badlands. I was so jaded after the Ford experience that I resolved to just keep my Rubicon in case Ford, once again, let me down. The Rubicon sat in the driveway for two months and I never even started it once. At that point, it became clear that the Bronco was a winner. The Rubicon sold fast, and the Bronco build started!!! 22K miles on the Bronco now, and the fun of building it up is just starting :)
 

CalvinT

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As far as I know, the Goose Gear drawers are too tall to have a level floor when you fold the seat down. I would have preferred an off the shelf solution, but I haven't seen it yet. The Diabolical storage shelf is close.

And talk about waiting!? I waited 3 years and two weeks to finally have Ford deliver of this Badlands. I was so jaded after the Ford experience that I resolved to just keep my Rubicon in case Ford, once again, let me down. The Rubicon sat in the driveway for two months and I never even started it once. At that point, it became clear that the Bronco was a winner. The Rubicon sold fast, and the Bronco build started!!! 22K miles on the Bronco now, and the fun of building it up is just starting :)
The Goose Gear drawers are taller. Plus I agree they're too expensive for what you get. The Ford slide out tailgate will work but doesn't have storage. Also it's $1400.

I think I'll be making a trip to Rockler for some Baltic birch in the next year.
 

BoverW

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After being inspired by a lot of the work y'all have done on your Broncos, I thought I would share progress on my 2023 Badlands overlanding build. I do a lot of offroading on the Arizona Strip to access Grand Canyon and the roads can be really rough. I wanted to be able to sleep on the roof rack in summer and sleep inside the Bronco in winter. I had a buddy who builds custom cabinets build a drawer system in the rear that also levels the floor. I did a run through of the build so far in the video below:

Badlands 2.7/SAS/MIC/LUX
Mickey Thompson Baja Boss (stock tires punctured twice in two trips)
RCI roof rack with side panels for fuel and water
Trailgater table
rear saddlebag storage
Custom sleep platform and drawer system

Video of the solution here:

Congrats! Looks awesome!!! When I saw this I remembered that we had discussed this in a different thread. Finally you have it and it is a well-thought design. How many bottles of beer do you need for this? :)
 

doyouglas

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My experience with the RCI Rack has been great. I held off buying when they had that roof sag issue and waited to buy until they had the brace fix. It went together very smoothly and the install was pretty easy. I don't take the roof compartments off much at all, so I liked the RCI rack because you could add the lower reinforcements that take up the weird looking space that's left so the roof compartments can be removed with the rack on. Additionally, the front fairing is better looking than any other rack. I wanted the side panels to carry extra fuel and water so that limited my buying options to just a few rack manufacturers too.

After installation, I noticed a bit more wind noise, especially at high speeds around 85 mph, and the fuel economy decreased by about 1.5 MPG. Not that you asked, but the heavier Mickey Thompson Baja Boss tires (+18 POUNDS/tire) decreased another 1.5 MPG. So I get about 15.5 MPG now. Still about 1 MPG better than my Rubicon with 35's and a roof rack.

So far, I'm having no issues with a sagging roof. I added a few molle Al plates to the roof rack so I could sleep up there in the summer. I climb on the roof and walk around up there a lot to take photos too. Seems pretty bomber so far.
Glad that you are enjoying the RCI rack. I have the same roof rack with the side molle panels but have not installed it yet. Still waiting on the passenger molle panel to ship out. I too was concerned about the sag issue so I waited until they had a solution. They came with a support bracket for the rear mic top. I also purchased the JCR hard top support bracket just in case. I will be running a RTT on the roof rack and just want that extra peace of mind. haven't seen anyone with an install pic of the side molle panel so it was good to see. I'm on the same boat as you as I think the RCI looks the best aesthetically. I noticed that your front fairing sits kind of high where you can see the paint color. I noticed on some other RCI build that you can set it lower to cover your paint and sit just above the windshield. I'll see when I install mine next week. Nice build!
 

Dialtone

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Maybe put the jack in the drawer, and use that space for a second battery system? Then you don't need to access that area ' very often'.:love:
 
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Superstition

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Congrats! Looks awesome!!! When I saw this I remembered that we had discussed this in a different thread. Finally you have it and it is a well-thought design. How many bottles of beer do you need for this? :)
It's all about how you arrange the beer in the ice chest. IPA's on top, necks sticking out of the ice just waiting to quench the thirst. Coors Light on the bottom to slow down the affects before any serious mistakes get made with the big saw :)
 
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Superstition

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Maybe put the jack in the drawer, and use that space for a second battery system? Then you don't need to access that area ' very often'.:love:
Now a battery system in that lower storage is an amazing idea! I carry around a 700W portable power station to power the fridge. I have a solar panel that mounts to the roof rack that recharges the battery as it's powering the fridge. I can go like this indefinitely as long as I get good sun every other day or so. A bigger battery that is hidden underneath would be awesome. I'll add it to the list!
 
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Superstition

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Superstition

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Glad that you are enjoying the RCI rack. I have the same roof rack with the side molle panels but have not installed it yet. Still waiting on the passenger molle panel to ship out. I too was concerned about the sag issue so I waited until they had a solution. They came with a support bracket for the rear mic top. I also purchased the JCR hard top support bracket just in case. I will be running a RTT on the roof rack and just want that extra peace of mind. haven't seen anyone with an install pic of the side molle panel so it was good to see. I'm on the same boat as you as I think the RCI looks the best aesthetically. I noticed that your front fairing sits kind of high where you can see the paint color. I noticed on some other RCI build that you can set it lower to cover your paint and sit just above the windshield. I'll see when I install mine next week. Nice build!
The side panels are really terrific. Super beefy. I'm confident that I could carry two 4 gallon stacked Rotopax on each side if I needed. I don't recall having the ability to slide that front fairing up and down. It bolted into a fixed spot. But maybe I missed that? I don't have a lot of weight up top that often, but if you have a rooftop tent, that's probably a good idea to combine the RCI fix with the JCR support. That certainly can't hurt. I'll be adding the JCR supports if I see even a hint of roof sag. Let me know if you see a way to adjust that fairing when you're install yours.
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