Dr. F's Kit Bronco

[B-MOW71]

Sweet lookin spot to crawl. Rig looks good on the rocks.

Roller coaster weather in Ohio too. It's been negative temps here all week, so hoping to get out tomorrow. Supposed to be around 50 degrees.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Sweet lookin spot to crawl. Rig looks good on the rocks.

Roller coaster weather in Ohio too. It's been negative temps here all week, so hoping to get out tomorrow. Supposed to be around 50 degrees.

Thank you, sir. Funny how sweet this new spot is, for just being some rocks at a hiway cut. Yep, around here we know that good or bad ... the weather will change in a few days. So when the nice days come at this time of year you gotta take advantage of 'em. We had a pretty good breeze from the south today, so it should blow some of this nice stuff your way. I'm happy to share.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

I went down to the road-side rock today and spent about a half hour moving some chunks around, placing some here and there to open up some more of the rock ledges for crawlin'.




Ended up with over twice as many paths to drive, and some new areas that we couldn't get to before.




The rock is breaking away at the sneak-under spot, makin' it trickier to get thru now. One pass, the rock crumbled and the truck rolled off the edge and dropped about 4 to 5 ft. to the chip pile at the bottom of the cliff face. No damage tho'.



I got to another level at the end of box-canyon and now you can get out the back-side.



Then when I got back home, the mail had brought me a package. My new JazRider wheels had socket head screws at the lug-nuts .....



.... but I didn't really like 'em. I've had a set of scale acorn lug-nuts from LockedUp RC for a while now, so I had ordered some m2.5 x 5 grub screws to use as wheel studs.



That let me use the lug-nuts, which are also m2.5. So now my wheels look like this.



And the truck looks like so.



Me LIKE.

Thanks for lookin' an' likin'.

jim

[Tmaxxed]

Originally Posted by dr frankenstyle

I went down to the road-side rock today and spent about a half hour moving some chunks around, placing some here and there to open up some more of the rock ledges for crawlin'.




Ended up with over twice as many paths to drive, and some new areas that we couldn't get to before.




The rock is breaking away at the sneak-under spot, makin' it trickier to get thru now. One pass, the rock crumbled and the truck rolled off the edge and dropped about 4 to 5 ft. to the chip pile at the bottom of the cliff face. No damage tho'.



I got to another level at the end of box-canyon and now you can get out the back-side.



Then when I got back home, the mail had brought me a package. My new JazRider wheels had socket head screws at the lug-nuts .....



.... but I didn't really like 'em. I've had a set of scale acorn lug-nuts from LockedUp RC for a while now, so I had ordered some m2.5 x 5 grub screws to use as wheel studs.



That let me use the lug-nuts, which are also m2.5. So now my wheels look like this.



And the truck looks like so.



Me LIKE.

Thanks for lookin' an' likin'.

jim

Looks like a fun place to crawl!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Looks like a fun place to crawl!

Yeah, it's turnin' out to be a great little find. I'm still surprised. I've been driving that road for over 15 years and I never expected it to be such a sweet spot. I had a Sheriff Deputy stop by yesterday. As soon as he stopped in the road, he saw the Bronco on the rocks and said "Oh, I see what you're doin' now. I just stopped to make sure you're not broke down, but it looks like you're Ok. Enjoy your afternoon, and have fun. " So I guess there's no problem with crawlin' there.
I wish some of you guys lived nearby, I'd love to share the spot with ya. Keep your eyes peeled, there may be a place hiding near you too.



jim

[AnimalHippie]

Hey brotha, now you've been crawling your rig for awhile. What do you think about those c-hubs with the shock mounts in them? You feel it helped the performance? Sidehill better? Climb better? Flex better? Just curious. My rig climbs great now, but as we all know. I'd like a little more

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by AnimalHippie

Hey brotha, now you've been crawling your rig for awhile. What do you think about those c-hubs with the shock mounts in them? You feel it helped the performance? Sidehill better? Climb better? Flex better? Just curious. My rig climbs great now, but as we all know. I'd like a little more

Well, I've made so many changes from stock, that it's hard to pinpoint what really made the most difference. But, honestly, I think they've helped. Aside from the angle, they also let you drop the whole shock body in the upper mounts without lifting the truck. That helps it sit lower, lowers the weight of the shocks a bit too, without losing shock travel. They added a little caster angle too, so that's a plus. It definitely side-hills LOTS better now. I'm sure some of that is due to the BowHouse battery tray and other things. Like most rigs (yours included ), it's the combination of all of the mod's that makes it perform well. And we go with what fits our driving style, terrain, and just personal preference.
Back to your question ... I'm super happy with all of the mod's I've done to the truck (except the over-beefed knuckles ), and these c-hubs are one of my favorite upgrades. I've just been enjoying drivin' the little goat. Haven't had to fix anything or felt the need to upgrade since the 1080. Just lovin' it! And hey, if nothin' else, the shock stance makes my rig stand out alongside everyone elses..... for now.
If you're ever in SW Missouri, bring your rigs and you can drive mine and compare.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Another blast of winter came thru Friday. This time my place was kind of on the edge, so it dropped about an inch of sleet with a little snow and freezing rain mixed in. Not much 1:1 traffic moving yesterday, but the little Bronco didn't have much trouble. We headed out for a little fun.



The Torquemaster spins up quick enough that even with the 8t, it was throwing little rooster-tails from all 4 tires. After a few donuts ....



I hit the rock pile for a few minutes.



The sleet changed the lines a little, but it didn't keep the BFGs from climbing up about anywhere I tried. I bumped up and over the rocks a bit ...



and then decided to go for a little drive on the frozen pond.



About 6 or 8 ft. from the bank the ice started to craaack, and I didn't want to do a rescue, so I rolled quickly back to shore. It was only in the 20's, so back over the rocks ....



... and back up the driveway to the house.



S'posed to be near 60 next weekend ... maybe I'll get to hit the good rocks again soon.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

We got a couple of decent days this past week, and the weekends have been lousy lately so I hit the nearby hiway rocks Thursday afternoon.




I've been Jonesin' for some crawlin' so it was nice to get the Bronco outside.




Then last night winter came back .... with snow again .... and so that puss'd me off.




Get it?? Anyway, the 'kitty climbs the rock pile ....



... but it ain't no Crawler. Then yesterday I installed the new Inclinometer update in the Bronco, so I took it out today to test drive the new dash'. It seems to be accurate, as it showed my spike-bridge ramp at 45-deg just like my angle gauge.



I'm diggin' the real-time display. You can watch the dials wobble as it bounces across spike-bridge.



Then as I was about to get tangled up watchin' the dash and not the "road" ....



... my Ipod went dead. So at least I could watch where I was going back to the house. I may try to get back to the rocks before the snow melts away.


Keep on "rock"-in'.

jim

[Tmaxxed]

Awesome pics!


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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Awesome pics!

Thanks, I've been kind of a shutter-bug for years. For every pic' you see, I have a half-dozen or more shots in the library.
Anyway, I've been wanting to do a real test drive with my rock-lites and headlights, and it was about 50-deg this evening. So after dinner and before the time changes, I went down to the road-side rocks. By the time I got powered up it was getting dark. So I turned on the lights and went for a drive.




The rock-lites won't be lightin' up any ball-games, but I'm really happy with the glow.



I checked out the new inclinometer a little. It was reading about 43-deg or so here.....



... but I had to watch the "road" to keep from driving off the cliff , so I quit that. The headlights are too bright to get much of a head-on pic'. I guess I should have shut them off for a few shots.



The camera didn't catch it very well, but it lights up the cliff face down about 3-ft. when it hangs over.



The headlights kick ass. They lit up the guard-rail across the hiway, probably 60-ft or more away.



Thanks for lookin' an' likin'.

jim

[BACK40]

Gotta love that little green Bronco.

[Tmaxxed]

Originally Posted by dr frankenstyle

Thanks, I've been kind of a shutter-bug for years. For every pic' you see, I have a half-dozen or more shots in the library.
Anyway, I've been wanting to do a real test drive with my rock-lites and headlights, and it was about 50-deg this evening. So after dinner and before the time changes, I went down to the road-side rocks. By the time I got powered up it was getting dark. So I turned on the lights and went for a drive.




The rock-lites won't be lightin' up any ball-games, but I'm really happy with the glow.



I checked out the new inclinometer a little. It was reading about 43-deg or so here.....



... but I had to watch the "road" to keep from driving off the cliff , so I quit that. The headlights are too bright to get much of a head-on pic'. I guess I should have shut them off for a few shots.



The camera didn't catch it very well, but it lights up the cliff face down about 3-ft. when it hangs over.



The headlights kick ass. They lit up the guard-rail across the hiway, probably 60-ft or more away.



Thanks for lookin' an' likin'.

jim

Great pics. Got like 3 feet of snow here but finally starting to warm up. Supposed to be in the 30’s or better for the foreseeable future. Been super cold for months. Hopefully we get rid of some of this snow and are able to get outside and drive these things. Been a long winter.....


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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by BACK40

Gotta love that little green Bronco.

Thank you, Sir ... I DO love it.

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Great pics. Got like 3 feet of snow here but finally starting to warm up. Supposed to be in the 30’s or better for the foreseeable future. Been super cold for months. Hopefully we get rid of some of this snow and are able to get outside and drive these things. Been a long winter.....

Thanks, bud. Yeah, everybody's been sayin' "Spring is around the corner." But our weather has been kind of a maze lately, around every corner is just another corner.... and another. We're all ready for some nice days. And winter CAN'T last forever.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

I took the li'l pony down to the rock pile to do some testing with the new lean-o-meter. Didn't take any pic's, you guys know what my pile looks like by now anyway. I initially set my alarms at 60 for climb and 46 for lean. The steepest climb I could find showed 56-deg. Right at what my other gauge had shown. The Bronco went rite up it without a hitch. So then I started side-hillin'. As I was creeepin' around the pile, it would hang in at 48 or 49-deg. but at 50 it would roll down the rocks. It might do a little better on a fairly even leaning surface, but on the chunky rocks, 50 was the max. Better have good seat-belts at that angle.
And a roll-bar.

Thanks for lookin' (hope they bring back the "like" button)

jim

[B-MOW71]

"Like" (I miss it too!)

The Lean-O-Meter sounds pretty cool. I need to get one.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

"Like" (I miss it too!)

The Lean-O-Meter sounds pretty cool. I need to get one.

Sounds more "laymen" than inclinometer. It's an easy update, if you're running the Traxxas rx and have the Link set up. But it's another distraction too.... I gotta watch where I'm goin'.

jim

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by dr frankenstyle

I took the li'l pony down to the rock pile to do some testing with the new lean-o-meter. Didn't take any pic's, you guys know what my pile looks like by now anyway. I initially set my alarms at 60 for climb and 46 for lean. The steepest climb I could find showed 56-deg. Right at what my other gauge had shown. The Bronco went rite up it without a hitch. So then I started side-hillin'. As I was creeepin' around the pile, it would hang in at 48 or 49-deg. but at 50 it would roll down the rocks. It might do a little better on a fairly even leaning surface, but on the chunky rocks, 50 was the max. Better have good seat-belts at that angle.
And a roll-bar.

Thanks for lookin' (hope they bring back the "like" button)

jim

Very cool. That’s good info to have.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Very cool. That’s good info to have.

Thank you Sir. Of course, yours and others may get different (better?) results, but that's MY rigs tipping point anyhoo. Now we can get some (un)official numbers posted up.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Nicer weather came back this past weekend so I hit Springfield (DOH!) and met my buddy at Fassnight Park for some crawl time.




We were monkeyin' with the lean-o-meters, so I didn't take many pic's.



The little Bronco was on it's game. It followed the Jeep everywhere it went ....



... and, as leader, it went places that the Jeep had to try 3 or 4 times to follow.
Then when I got home I had a package in the mail. I had ordered some overdrive gears for the front axle (haven't got 'em in yet) and these.



I thought about getting some Predator compound Krawlers, but my G8's do so well against my buddy's red-labels that I decided to give it an extra challenge and got the class-1 Mud Terrains instead.



They're definitely smaller! Lot's of fender room!



But I gotta say, they DO perform! I mean, it drags the skid and bumpers a bit more ... even the axles scrape more, but it still crawls really well. It may require a different line, but it goes up the rock pile without much more trouble. I'll take it down the road to the good rocks in the next couple days for a better test drive. The big Krawlers will walk all over the 4.19ers, but they'll make for a nice change.



The look is kinda growin' on me too.

Thanks for lookin' an' likin' (oh, yeah ... scratch that last part )
jim