Got sidetracked ..again. Bought a new Bronco

[zachwabbit]

So I caved and finally bought a newer reliable vehicle after I sold my Jeep. Was intended to be my new daily but now my wife drives it more than I do, which kinda worked out cuz my work recently changed my schedule so I’m driving a work truck 6 days out of the week. It’s a 2023 Big Bend, 2.3L 4cyl/auto, bought with 14k miles. Was passively looking for a race red 2dr hardtop for awhile and stumbled upon this and liked this color even more. First order of business was swapping the goofy optional steps for a set of factory rock rails. Then ordered some RCI steel engine skid plates to replace the useless factory plastic splash guards, cut up the old plastic to make a filler panel between the new steel skids and the bumper, doubt anyone would notice but it was bugging me. And in true badlinesgoodtimes fashion, the first ‘trail’ we took it on I punctured one of the factory tires. Which seems like a good excuse to step up to 35s with an SVC 2” spring perch spacer lift (next mod) lol
Children’s hospital F550 ambulance for scale, I’m so glad I went with a 2dr, it reminds me of my old Bronco 2’s the way it’s so nimble.

 

[zachwabbit]

Confirmed today that 35x12.50R17’s fit on a stock height Big Bend with oem wheels, with 4WP’s big tire crash bar kit. No rubbing anywhere, at least on flat ground. Decided to go with the 4WP big tire kit instead of just ditching the stock crash bars altogether since this thing is my wife’s daily driver now and I didn’t wanna skimp on safety(I know, some other Broncos don’t come with them from the factory). Doing little stuff here and there just to make it fit out needs better, cheap Amazon fire extinguisher mount tucks nicely in the back corner of the hardtop, might swap to something more permanent later on with a better quick release but this is better than nothing. Already breaking stuff cuz I’m impatient, luckily a little plastic welding fixed my fuck up with the bumper trim. Overall a productive day

 

[zachwabbit]

Might get some 1.25” or 1.5” hub centric wheel spacers just to give her a little extra width. And gotta get a full-size spare tire. Thinking about some amber fog lights soon too since I live in the mountains and it gets pretty foggy sometimes here, maybe a singlet dust light too since some of the guys I wheel with aren’t super experienced and I don’t wanna get rear ended in a cloud of dust.

 

[zachwabbit]

I lied lol I drove the Bronco a couple more times today after everything settled and it in fact does just barely rub at full lock on the sway bar, so got a set of 1.20” Mishimoto spacers on order to remedy it

 

[zachwabbit]

Got the SVC 2” spring perch spacers installed in the front. Very subtle but I’m happy with it. Photo cred to my wife and the orange sky from the Border 2 fire lol

 

[Raceranger97]

Nice!

 

[zachwabbit]

Thanks! I need to get this thing in the dirt more. Might take a day trip to ocotillo with some local guys soon, just trying to find the time. Once I have some time away from work I’m gonna slap on the wheel spacers, and I ordered Sasquatch package bump stops for the spare tire since they apparently come with shorter ones from the factory to accommodate a larger spare tire. Didn’t know that till I went to hang up my spare 35 and I couldn’t bolt it down cuz it stuck out too far. Also ordered one of the last Solo MS third brake light mounts, and plan to try and adapt my stock brake light to it by cutting up the original plastic housing, or slapping a BD S2 in there with a red lens since I don’t wanna buy a new BD RTL-M. Word is Solo is probably gonna discontinue their brake light mounts for the 6th gen’s due to low interest. So if anyone else with a 6g wants one, now is your chance. I called to order mine since their website shows all options “Out of Stock”, they have a handful of the mounts left on the shelf designed to work with a BD light in place of the OEM one, and include a rounded plate welded onto the top for magnet mount antennas. Will post pics once mine arrives, should look something like this (I got the last one without the rounded mag mount antenna plate)

 

[2012SVTSC]

Nice I love the little 2door

 

[zachwabbit]

Thanks, yeah decided we didn’t need a 4 door since we don’t have any kids haha the 2dr makes a great little gettin around town rig, almost like a really refined Bronco 2

 

[bullnerd]

I vote no on the wheel spacers.

Looks perfect the way it is now.

Tires past the body/flares on these and/or raptors looks amateurish. JMO.

 

[zachwabbit]

I vote no on the wheel spacers.

Looks perfect the way it is now.

Tires past the body/flares on these and/or raptors looks amateurish. JMO.

I already bought them lol but I agree, it looks near perfect now. Only reason for the 1.20” spacers is to eliminate rubbing at full lock. But if I hate how it looks when I get them installed I’ll just take em off and live with the rubbing

 

[zachwabbit]

Blue was cheaper than black for some reason, so don’t hate me for the color lol

 

[zachwabbit]

So gonna keep the spacers, they eliminated the rubbing at full lock and just barely stick past the fender flares. No need to trim any studs, overall happy with the result. My driveway is pretty uneven so that’s why the tire poke is slightly different on each side.

 

[zachwabbit]

Got impatient and installed the Solo 3rd brake light mount in the rain. I’ll have to take some better pics when the suns out, but super stoked with this thing. So much better than the stock plastic mount. I ended up cutting the Ford plastic housing for the light itself and bolting it to the Solo mount. No modification to the Solo mount required, fit perfect and if I ever wanna upgrade to a Rigid or BD brake light, I can still just bolt one in. Hats off to Bobby and the guys for the attention to detail. Now I have a solid place to bolt up a dust light and whip down the line.

 

[2012SVTSC]

Do you think about 34x10.5s would clear everything with no lift? Considering them for our 2dr badlands

 

[zachwabbit]

Do you think about 34x10.5s would clear everything with no lift? Considering them for our 2dr badlands

Yeah I don’t see why not, ride height is 100% not a problem. Your only possible limiting factors would maybe be wheel offset and the crash bars. I use this 6th gen forum sometimes for research purposes lol https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/34x10-5-tires-on-bd-steel-wheels-w-2-ome-lift.98242/page-2

 

[zachwabbit]

Some better pics of the Solo 3rd brake light mount, works perfectly

 

[zachwabbit]

Chipping away at it, wired up a pair of BD squadrons on a GateKeeper offroad mount. Bolted an S1 onto the Solo 3rd brake light mount, just gotta finish running the wiring for it. Very happy with the Rough Country tailgate brace for the money, got rid of all the annoying rattling from the weight of the 35” spare. Its stuff people will never see unless it’s taken apart but in order to make the 35x12.5 tire on the stock 17x7.5 wheel fit right I had to run a 1/4” wheel spacer, shorter OEM Ford Sasquatch package bump stops between the tailgate and tire, the Solo light mount took care of clearance issues between the 3rd brake light and the tire, but once I added the RC tailgate brace I had to space the Solo mount away from the spare tire mount with a couple washers on each bolt to keep the mount tight to the tailgate. Suspension is going to remain unchanged while it’s under warranty and since my wife has pretty much made it her new daily and wants to keep it simple for now. Stoked on how this thing has turned out so far though.

 

[zachwabbit]

 

[zachwabbit]

Side note, now that my wife has stolen the Bronco, I got bored and took her old awd Hyundai and slapped on some 29” off brand all terrains on somewhat rare 17x7” Racing Hart/Enkei alloys off a Mazdaspeed Protege with 1” hub centric spacers, and made it my daily for the 1-2 days a week I’m not in a company truck. I had previously installed some GG gp20’s behind the front bumper and HIDs in the factory projector headlights so it makes for a decent commuter. If you squint at it hard enough it kinda looks like a mini offroad Porsche Cayenne lol
Might paint the wheels black.. also might throw an eBay strut spacer in there to level it out ..or trim the rear bumper up like the Porsche dorks do lol