Let's See Your Underbody. Scratched? Dented? Aftermarket Protection?

Lots O Fords

I thought you were going to say @TK1215 led you

Haha.

Here's one of my trail leaders. Lynn's son, a well known Baja racer is a good friend or ours. You see him in this video a few times driving his dad and working on vehicles. Their family ranch shown in this video is just down the road from us. We hit it pretty hard on his trails. I never get tired of posting this video as I love watching it. I believe even Tim may get a scrape or two.

The more belly protection the better. I went with RCI for the front cross member skids and DV8 for the diff, rear trailing arms and rear shocks. The latter are especially protective from things other than rocks. Don’t ask me how I know. 🤓

Roughstock11

Haha.

Here's one of my trail leaders. Lynn's son, a well known Baja racer is a good friend or ours. You see him in this video a few times driving his dad and working on vehicles. Their family ranch shown in this video is just down the road from us. We hit it pretty hard on his trails. I never get tired of posting this video as I love watching it. I believe even Tim may get a scrape or two.

Adam you know I do! Either right in front or right behind you! Maybe if we stop following each other….🤣

I changed the oil and rotated the tires so I took a few pictures of all the Moab scratches. I had an awesome time in Moab and all this damage is proof of it!

This was my brand new aluminum transmission skid plate.


Here are my new lower shock mount skids.

Here are my upper trail arm factory skids. Although Ford put extra skids in this area, I just don't think it is enough. I installed actual skids over these.


Here are some pictures of my new transmission crossmember skids. Even though I had the transmission skid plate, I still ended up hitting the new skids.


Here's the diff skid.

TK1215

Adam you know I do! Either right in front or right behind you! Maybe if we stop following each other….🤣

I know buddy you were making a joke but I figured not everyone knows us on the trail so I thought I would amp it up a bit..haha..

Deano Bronc

I changed the oil and rotated the tires so I took a few pictures of all the Moab scratches. I had an awesome time in Moab and all this damage is proof of it!

This was my brand new aluminum transmission skid plate.


Here are my new lower shock mount skids.

Wow..It looks like you were following Tim!

raqball

I am weird but I enjoy the deep forest trails. They are a blast and you never really know what you are going to get. They can start wide and tame and then almost instantly become horror stories..

I was stuck on one narrow and seriously overgrown trail for about a mile and there was nothing I could do about it as there was nowhere to turn around and there were some serious off-camber washouts that prevented backing up.

I finally found a spot to do a 1,400 point turn -a-round but then had to go right back through the junk I had just came through..

Just glad I didn't get a flat as I could not even get out of the Bronco never mind try to fix a flat or swap for the spare. That could have been ugly..

T'was a blast! 😁

Bring some powered hedge trimmers (I bring loppers because I'm more likely to encounter a few overgrown branches rather than heavy brush like what you get). After you trim the trail, it'll be easier the next time, and everyone after you for the next year or two will silently thank you. 😆

timhood

Bring some powered hedge trimmers (I bring loppers because I'm more likely to encounter a few overgrown branches rather than heavy brush like what you get). After you trim the trail, it'll be easier the next time, and everyone after you for the next year or two will silently thank you. 😆

I carry a battery powered mini chain saw for downed limbs etc but I am not about to trim miles and miles of overgrowth on every deep forest trail I encounter.

I’d assume that anyone doing a deep forest trail knows what they might encounter, overgrowth wise. If they don't, then should they even be on that trail to begin with?

raqball

I carry a battery powered mini chain saw for downed limbs etc but I am not about to trim miles and miles of overgrowth on every deep forest trail I encounter.

I’d assume that anyone doing a deep forest trail know what they might encounter, overgrowth wise.

That's a great idea. I carry something similar to this to get me out of a jam as well as a machete type of blade and good quality snippers to avoid pin stripping.

This is a 20" blade. Foldable. You pull backward on mine. I assume you do with this one as well.

raqball

I carry a battery powered mini chain saw for downed limbs etc but I am not about to trim miles and miles of overgrowth on every deep forest trail I encounter.

I’d assume that anyone doing a deep forest trail knows what they might encounter, overgrowth wise. If they don't, then should they even be on that trail to begin with?

Miles and miles? OK, I'm out! 💀

But I see a business opportunity for a Bronco accessory: battery-powered hedge trimmers with front bumper attachments. Powered by the car battery, connected through the accessory switches, if so configured. Robotic movement sweeping up and down automatically, clearing everything from near-ground to 6-7 up. 😁

timhood

Miles and miles? OK, I'm out! 💀

Yeah, some of the deep forest trails around me go on for miles on end. The one that I think caused most of the damage to my wheels went a few miles deeper into the forest than I made it. It was thick and seriously overgrown on both sides of the trail. I could not even open the door to get out and snap a photo or two.

I was finally able to do a 4,000-point turnaround. I walked about 1/4 mile further down the trail before doing the turn-a-round in the hopes that it would clear. Nope, it was getting even worse the deeper down the trail I walked. This trail still had about 4 miles left of it. So that particular trail was about 7 miles deep with the 1st mile or so being tame. The deeper down the trail I got, the worse the trail became.

Branches, twigs, shrubs, you name it..

The trail started fine then progressively got worse. By the time it was out of hand there was nowhere to turn around and there were some deep and off-camber ruts and washouts that prevented backing up. Even w/o the ruts and washouts backing up would have been a chore.

It was obvious that this trail had not been used in a very long time. onX had it marked as a full width trail accessible by full sized 4X4. 😂

It was not onX's fault as it was an unknown trail and that trail data was from the US forestry service. Yeah, it was a full width trail back in the 1960's maybe! 😂

Here is what the US Forestry Service says about that trail. Ummm ----> It's NOT gravel and it's def not passable, without massive pinstriping, in a full width 4X4.



I uploaded the track to onX so hopefully it will spare the unknowing in the future.

It was a blast though!

Roughstock11

Wow..It looks like you were following Tim!

It may have happened once or twice!