I ORDERED A BRONCO

[MOAK]

Just what is a Sasquatch package? Why not just say, triple locked with crawl control? If that’s what it is. Jeep lost me after my 2004 Rubicon, which in my opinion, once it was beefed up with proper aftermarket suspension and prop shaft upgrades was easily on of the finest Jeeps ever built. They became too big with too much bling. Now Ford has decided to jump in with huge size and again, way too much bling. It’s kinda like a good looking woman that for some reason thinks she must dump a ton of makeup on and wear lots of cheap costume jewelry to be attractive. High maintenance comes to mind and I’ve avoided those kinda women my entire life. Same with the new Jeeps & this new Ford, lots of makeup and costume jewelry . Given a choice I’d much rather import a 25 year old 70 series LC , beautiful, reliable, trustworthy. Just like my wife. Those of you buying the new Bronco, good luck with the experiment.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Just what is a Sasquatch package? Why not just say, triple locked with crawl control? If that’s what it is. Jeep lost me after my 2004 Rubicon, which in my opinion, once it was beefed up with proper aftermarket suspension and prop shaft upgrades was easily on of the finest Jeeps ever built. They became too big with too much bling. Now Ford has decided to jump in with huge size and again, way too much bling. It’s kinda like a good looking woman that for some reason thinks she must dump a ton of makeup on and wear lots of cheap costume jewelry to be attractive. High maintenance comes to mind and I’ve avoided those kinda women my entire life. Same with the new Jeeps & this new Ford, lots of makeup and costume jewelry . Given a choice I’d much rather import a 25 year old 70 series LC , beautiful, reliable, trustworthy. Just like my wife. Those of you buying the new Bronco, good luck with the experiment.

If your wife is only 25 years old, then my hat's off to you, sir!

But seriously. I'm a fan of the older stuff all day every day. Chevy missed the boat with the new Blazer crossover, they could have made two nice 4x4's -a smaller and a bigger, based on the truck platforms.

But we also keep forgetting the not so good. You had to beef up your Jeep's suspension and shafts. So things werent perfect even then

 

[MOAK]

If your wife is only 25 years old, then my hat's off to you, sir!

But seriously. I'm a fan of the older stuff all day every day. Chevy missed the boat with the new Blazer crossover, they could have made two nice 4x4's -a smaller and a bigger, based on the truck platforms.

But we also keep forgetting the not so good. You had to beef up your Jeep's suspension and shafts. So things werent perfect even then

True, jeep has supported a really strong aftermarket upgrade business model for nearly 50 years, for good reason. It’ll be interesting to see where Ford has cut corners necessitating a strong aftermarket upgrade business. Thankfully my wife is not 25, (65) but our LC is 25 and still going strong.
LOL

 

[MidOH]

Turbo is just a windmill waiting to break, as far as I'm concerned. But yes, I'm sure the 4.2 of th YJ era or the 4.0 most XJ's and 2nd gen Grands used could be lightened and updated to provide better power and efficiency.

And I dont know that they ever stopped making a manual trans available , so I dont know what you mean that you'd like to see a manual trans again

I agree about the speaker bar and porky nonsense. Climbing into a YJ I always felt like I had elbow room. With the new ones, I get the feeling that padding and "pod" areas like around the interior door handles and dash, take up so much space, the interior feels smaller

Only because american auto makers have generally used very cheap turbos, has turbo reliability been poor. And of course, quality metal pistons, rods, and a quality fuel management system, have been lacking as well.

A turbo is just a pinwheel, shaft, and two bearings. Only the bearings and their seals wear. A quality turbo will last forever.

For example. 6000 horse power Diesel generators need to be online in ten seconds. It's hell on turbos obviously. But I've only replaced a handful of turbos in 20 years, because those machines all use higher grade ball bearing turbos. And their manifold pressure is enough to inflate your tires.

My beef with the manual, is that it's only available with the minivan engine. If it would have been available with the 2.0l, I might have bought a 2 door ruby.

 

[Michael]

Only because american auto makers have generally used very cheap turbos, has turbo reliability been poor. And of course, quality metal pistons, rods, and a quality fuel management system, have been lacking as well.

A turbo is just a pinwheel, shaft, and two bearings. Only the bearings and their seals wear. A quality turbo will last forever.

For example. 6000 horse power Diesel generators need to be online in ten seconds. It's hell on turbos obviously. But I've only replaced a handful of turbos in 20 years, because those machines all use higher grade ball bearing turbos. And their manifold pressure is enough to inflate your tires.

My beef with the manual, is that it's only available with the minivan engine. If it would have been available with the 2.0l, I might have bought a 2 door ruby.

One thing to consider though is that minivan engine has 300+ lbs of torque. That's more than my twin turbo 300 Z I had when I was a young punk. It also has the granny gear with a 94.75:1 ratio - I'm mean holy S!

 

[MidOH]

The 3.0l turbo is going to have even more. I think the writing on the wall is ''4.0-like, but modern, and as capable as a 4.3l GM for the half ton Rams''. Hopefully that includes a ZF six speed manual as well.

The Bronco vs Jeep thing is interesting to me. But I felt that the Broncos market was to compete with TRD 4 Runners, Landrovers, and Jeeps that don't wheel too hard. Not so much, beating a Rubicon at it's best game.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

I can get beadlocks for 300 bucks a pop, add tires, the lift I can get a really good one for 2500. Rear locker is all that is needed. 700 dollars. Thats a far way off the 8g for the ss package. The "hoss" package is bilstien shocks and a lift, with auto disconnect swaybars. Not worth it.

Just doing some napkin math on your numbers - the package actually looks like a pretty solid deal.

$300 x 5 = $1500 for rims.
Est. $130/tire x 5 = $650, so we're now at $2150.
Rear locker is all you need, but the point is the package comes with front and rear - but that's $700 for the locker, to go with your model here and that puts us at $2850.
Plus $2500 for the lift, so you are now at $5350, leaving you about $2650 off the $8k package price.

Installing all of this is easily 2 days of shop time on the low end, which seems to be around $120/hour these days, so lets conservatively say 12 hours of labour, which puts us at $1440, bringing our total to $6790. Granted a lot of this can be installed at home if a person has the tools and patience to save some cash, but for apples to apples, the "value" should still count the labour.

Add that front locker back in, and you're now at $7490.

$510 for an OEM fit, finish and warranty doesn't seem like bad value to me. In fact, if you consider resale of OEM vs DIY, I would wager that it's way better value to go with the package as compared to adding these mods after purchase.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Just doing some napkin math on your numbers - the package actually looks like a pretty solid deal.

$300 x 5 = $1500 for rims.
Est. $130/tire x 5 = $650, so we're now at $2150.
Rear locker is all you need, but the point is the package comes with front and rear - but that's $700 for the locker, to go with your model here and that puts us at $2850.
Plus $2500 for the lift, so you are now at $5350, leaving you about $2650 off the $8k package price.

Installing all of this is easily 2 days of shop time on the low end, which seems to be around $120/hour these days, so lets conservatively say 12 hours of labour, which puts us at $1440, bringing our total to $6790. Granted a lot of this can be installed at home if a person has the tools and patience to save some cash, but for apples to apples, the "value" should still count the labour.

Add that front locker back in, and you're now at $7490.

$510 for an OEM fit, finish and warranty doesn't seem like bad value to me. In fact, if you consider resale of OEM vs DIY, I would wager that it's way better value to go with the package as compared to adding these mods after purchase.

That's almost 3000k dollars more for crappier suspension, a front locker most done need, install is no where near 120 dollars an hr here. So...that drops 3/4 of that. I pay 32 dollars an hr for shop work at the local garage.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

That's almost 3000k dollars more for crappier suspension, a front locker most done need, install is no where near 120 dollars an hr here. So...that drops 3/4 of that. I pay 32 dollars an hr for shop work at the local garage.

That's a crazy low shop rate, its nice to have someone like that local! Don't tell your mechanic, but he's charging about 1/3 the amount of the national average, which Google tells me range from about 75-130 per hour on average. For a specialized 4x4 shop (the kind I would personally rely on for something like a locker install which includes some precision mechanical and typically electrical work for a switchable locker) $120/hour is pretty typical around here. I don't know a ton about the Bronco but if the upgraded suspension is Bilsteins as you previously mentioned, I wouldn't describe it as "crappy" but granted, it might not be as good as aftermarket since the aftermarket can be purchased tuned to your weight requirements. And obviously everyone can choose what's good value for them, but for me based on what I've seen in the industry in general, the OEM off road packages for Ford that can be optioned with the rig are not bad value as compared to building things up aftermarket. The main savings in aftermarket are if wrenching is part of the fun of the hobby and a person can eliminate the cost of labour.

But even if there is a 3k difference as you've suggested -- how much is the OEM warranty worth? And when it comes time to sell the vehicle, the OEM package will add value too, and that's part of the overall equation. The DIY accessories will often not add value and in many cases can actually reduce the value of the rig, especially if they aren't installed properly. Of course that was pre-2021 thinking - the car market has gone nuts lately so that may no longer be true!

Edit - I originally included Jeep and Toyota as having "good value" off road packages but I've not looked at them in a while.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

One thing to consider though is that minivan engine has 300+ lbs of torque. That's more than my twin turbo 300 Z I had when I was a young punk. It also has the granny gear with a 94.75:1 ratio - I'm mean holy S!

I had a 1986 Nissan 300ZX. Non-turbo, as is my way. If I'm not wrong you had the next model, egg shaped '90's with the twin. I remember when they came out and the style blew everything else away. And fast!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Only because american auto makers have generally used very cheap turbos, has turbo reliability been poor. And of course, quality metal pistons, rods, and a quality fuel management system, have been lacking as well.

A turbo is just a pinwheel, shaft, and two bearings. Only the bearings and their seals wear. A quality turbo will last forever.

For example. 6000 horse power Diesel generators need to be online in ten seconds. It's hell on turbos obviously. But I've only replaced a handful of turbos in 20 years, because those machines all use higher grade ball bearing turbos. And their manifold pressure is enough to inflate your tires.

My beef with the manual, is that it's only available with the minivan engine. If it would have been available with the 2.0l, I might have bought a 2 door ruby.

That's another thing I lament. I'd love to still see 4 cyls w standard trans Jeeps and smaller trucks

 

[Michael]

One thing to consider though is that minivan engine has 300+ lbs of torque. That's more than my twin turbo 300 Z I had when I was a young punk. It also has the granny gear with a 94.75:1 ratio - I'm mean holy S!

I had a 1986 Nissan 300ZX. Non-turbo, as is my way. If I'm not wrong you had the next model, egg shaped '90's with the twin. I remember when they came out and the style blew everything else away. And fast!

Yup! That was the one! I should not have had that car, but boy it was fun!

 

[Michael]

I’d honestly probably go for the 6 cylinder Bronco for the tech it comes with, but I think if you were trying to build a straight up trail crawler, it’d be 2 door 4 cylinder e-boost with that granny gear!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Yup! That was the one! I should not have had that car, but boy it was fun!

I shouldn't have had mine either but I was a little more mature by then. The technology in those80's and 90's Nissans far exceeded the domestics.

Back in 06 a parked it next to my new Honda Civic si, opened both hoods and started them. That Nissan ran smooth.

A drunk driver crossed the double yellow and put an end to that car but parts of it live in in an Anniversary rebuild.

 

[surfnturf]

If your wife is only 25 years old, then my hat's off to you, sir!

But seriously. I'm a fan of the older stuff all day every day. Chevy missed the boat with the new Blazer crossover, they could have made two nice 4x4's -a smaller and a bigger, based on the truck platforms.

But we also keep forgetting the not so good. You had to beef up your Jeep's suspension and shafts. So things werent perfect even then

I love the new Bronco but I’m a fan of older stuff too. I purchased this 10 years ago for 14k, put another 10 into a paint job and interior. Came with a 5.0 v8 with granny low 4spd, and a 4.86:1 transfercase and Detroit truetracs. I call it the ”original Sasquatch Package”. Doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the new bronco but will go reliably go everywhere the new bronco’s will go.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Wow.

Thread closer...

 

[greydog]

I love the new Bronco but View attachment 219775I’m a fan of older stuff too. I purchased this 10 years ago for 14k, put another 10 into a paint job and interior. Came with a 5.0 v8 with granny low 4spd, and a 4.86:1 transfercase and Detroit truetracs. I call it the ”original Sasquatch Package”. Doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the new bronco but will go reliably go everywhere the new bronco’s will go.

Well that's a mic drop if I ever saw one !!!!!!!!