Mrs. 01Tundra's Bronco Badlands Build

[01tundra]

After an almost 2.5 yr wait, her birthday present finally arrived.

It started as a '21, but ended up being a '23 Badlands SAS Lux package w/ tube doors.

I promised myself I wasn't going to touch it....but she wants it built for mild trail riding, so that was all the "permission" I needed .

 

[01tundra]

First order of business were lights up front.

Decided on Diode Dynamics bumper pocket lights w/ KR Off-Road flush brackets (SS3 Max White SAE Fog / SS2 Pro White Combo / SS2 Pro White Spot) from 4x4TruckLEDs.

I routed the harness up through the headlight opening and used some clear tubing and zip ties to add a little protection to the wiring harness where it passed over the sheet metal edge. I wired these to three upfitter switches.

The lights are crazy bright, I'm really happy with them.

 

[01tundra]

Next up were Barnes 4WD rear shock mount skids, they have a really solid, well fabricated product.

 

[01tundra]

Onto cross member skids, I went with RCI for the cross member skids, also have their pinch weld covers to install and 20 degree sliders are currently being built.

These skids were simple to install and are rock solid, very nice work.

 

[01tundra]

Decided to add some tie rod sleeves to the mix, went with Chaos Concepts Buckin' Barz.

 

[01tundra]

Off with the factory rocker panel rails today and on with the RCI pinch seam covers.

RCI sliders will go on as soon as they arrive.

 

[01tundra]

Finished making a transmission skid plate. No idea why Ford would provide such good factory armor for the engine, steering rack, electronic sway bar disconnect, transfer case and fuel tank, yet completely ommit any protection for a plastic transmission pan.....

I wanted to maintain maximum ground clearance and make a skid that was easy to install/remove.

Had a piece of scrap 3/16" steel plate out in the shop, so it was the chosen one.

Used M8 10.9 bolts and weld nuts to attach the new plate to the factory skid. For the back I purchased a factory transfer case skid plate M10 clip nut and bolt from Ruxer Ford.

My buddy works for a machine shop and had the lip on the plate bent with their CNC press brake.

Welded 1/4" angle stiffeners on top to make it a little stronger. Haven't had the welder fired up in a while and it shows .....but it's solid and not going anywhere.

The plate weighs in at 11.6 lbs. and the overall cost was $28 since I already had the plate.

 

[01tundra]

Just got the roll bar and rear tub protectors installed.

The top has never been removed and there was already paint missing in a spot on the roll bar from the soft top linkage contacting it......

 

[01tundra]

Installed the Mabett roll bar light, it was pretty much plug-n-play other than fighting with the factory light (and I'm using the term "light" loosley....Ford ).

I removed the factory light like object without damaging it, if it's even possible to hurt such a turd. Only bent one of the metal clips, which was easy to bend back.

This new one puts off much more light, not that great of a unit of measure......let's say this one at least lights up the truck adequately for a 2000's vehicle. The color of the light is whiter than the factory interior lights, but that really doesn't bother me any.

It lights up when the doors are open and dims off when closed, just like the factory one. There's also an on/off switch for manual operation.

I think the output is perfect for entering/exiting the vehicle at night, but wouldn't quite be enough for me having to read a map from the front seats, so next up is the IAG four light set arriving tomorrow.

The IAG set would be a little too much for our every day usage, but will be great when we really need to see. I will be wiring these only to the #6 upfitter switch.

 

[01tundra]

Got the IAG lights installed and connected to the upfitter switch last night.

Wasn't too bad to install, took about an hour. The hardest part was getting the harness down under the dash......had I taken the time to learn how easy the fuse panel cover pops off under the steering wheel it would've made routing the harness much easier.

I do wish IAG would've provided about 6" more on the upfitter lead.

Overall a great product that definitely brings the light.

 

[01tundra]

Installed some Redline Tuning Max LIFT Plus hood struts.

Took about 15 minutes to install and they work great.

 

[01tundra]

So far, this is "The List" of what's been done.

This should get us to an acceptable starting point for the type of trail riding / exploring that we're planning on doing. This will be a very mild build.

• Chaos Concepts Buckin' Barz tie rod braces
• Diode Dynamics bumper pocket lights w/ KR Off-Road flush brackets (SS3 Max White SAE Fog / SS2 Pro White Combo / SS2 Pro White Spot)
• Stickerfab upfitter switch tags
• Stickerfab interior inlays
• Engel MT35 refrigerator
• Staun tire deflators
• Power Tank 10 lb. CO2 tanks
• Element E50 fire extinguisher
• IAG I-Line ABS rear rollbar protective covers
• Beegrow rear tub protectors
• Crosby 3/4" recovery shackles
• Bubba Rope 7/8" x 30' kinetic recovery rope
• Bubba Rope 3/8" NexGen PRO Gator-Jaw synthetic soft shackles
• Mabett center console organizer
• Mabett glove box dividers
• Mabett dome light
• IAG interior LED light kit
• E-cowlboy paracord roll bar grab handles
• Daikou roll bar sunglass holders
• Barnes rear shock skid plates
• RCI cross member skid plates
• RCI 20 degree sliders w/ step plates
• Custom transmission skid plate

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Installed the Mabett roll bar light, it was pretty much plug-n-play other than fighting with the factory light (and I'm using the term "light" loosley....Ford ).

I removed the factory light like object without damaging it, if it's even possible to hurt such a turd. Only bent one of the metal clips, which was easy to bend back.

This new one puts off much more light, not that great of a unit of measure......let's say this one at least lights up the truck adequately for a 2000's vehicle. The color of the light is whiter than the factory interior lights, but that really doesn't bother me any.

It lights up when the doors are open and dims off when closed, just like the factory one. There's also an on/off switch for manual operation.

I think the output is perfect for entering/exiting the vehicle at night, but wouldn't quite be enough for me having to read a map from the front seats, so next up is the IAG four light set arriving tomorrow.

The IAG set would be a little too much for our every day usage, but will be great when we really need to see. I will be wiring these only to the #6 upfitter switch.

Factory dome light situation is utterly pathetic... Nice to see it getting addressed.

 

[01tundra]

We keep an Element E50 fire extinguisher up front, but since I had a 2.5 Lb. Halotron fire extinguisher and Poly Performance quick release mount laying around from my old Tundra I figured I'd put it to good use in the Bronco.

I made a roll bar plate out of 1/8" steel and fastened the mount to the plate, then used the factory roll bar threaded holes to mount the plate. Since we have the IAG roll bar protector, I cut a spacer from some ABS plastic to allow the plate to lay flat. Everything clears the top, so we should be good to go.

 

[01tundra]

After some discussion, I decided to pull the pinch seam covers prior to installing the sliders, just to make sure no moisture was getting trapped behind them. We've only had them on for a couple of weeks and any mud/dirt was from our gravel road and all the rain we've had.

When I pulled them there was some damp dirt behind them and the truck had been sitting in the garage for a couple days, so to error on the side of caution, I decided to remove them and just paint the seams with a rattle can bed liner material and use some plastic panel plugs to hide the holes. I think the actual covers are perfectly fine for some areas of the country, but I'm now a little skeptical for our rain forest climate. The seam covers are nice, but just not worth the risk of rust down the road for me.

I first painted the seams and let them dry. Then used a couple different sizes from the retainer kit linked below (since there were two different factory hole sizes) to cover the holes in the seams. I painted the retainer clips with the bed liner to blend in. Between the tape, paint and plastic retainer clips I have a couple hours and $50 into the entire project, not too bad.