The built-not-bought thread

I'll start off with my sliders. OEM upgraded with rails.

And here's a bumper I'm working on.

The good news is, you design the stuff you are building. I've been lazy and I see a picture of something, eyeball it for dimensions and start building it until it works for what I want. I actually do need to come up with some sort of mounting plate for my kicker key amp still.

Anyways, this is what I've had fabricated at my work for my Bronco.

Under Hood Compressor Mount. This was the 1st version, have since switched to a better fitting cut of this.



Wakeboard speaker bar & mounts.



And of course my license plate mount. Don't have any recent pics of it, just 1 I snapped on my table. That one took a couple of attempts as like I said earlier, I eyeball stuff from pictures and figure out the dimensions from there.

Does this count? 1/2-hour fab and paint job...

Lol.

Eninty

Does this count? 1/2-hour fab and paint job...

Lol.

Counts in my book.

Here's another I did to make it easier for my son to get in the back of my 2dr. Made a base plate that goes under the trim and bolted a F150 grab handle to it.

And a USB port I added to the dash before Mabett came out with a plug n pay solution.

I love this thread. I wish I still worked at a place that had a fab shop. I have a few ideas that I just cannot get done in the garage. If anyone is looking for an new product idea, hit me up and lets see what happens.

Tricky Dick

Counts in my book.

Here's another I did to make it easier for my son to get in the back of my 2dr. Made a base plate that goes under the trim and bolted a F150 grab handle to it.

And a USB port I added to the dash before Mabett came out with a plug n pay solution.

Where did you "tap" for power to the usb port?

Rhiostatic

I love this thread. I wish I still worked at a place that had a fab shop. I have a few ideas that I just cannot get done in the garage. If anyone is looking for an new product idea, hit me up and lets see what happens.

Hell, if anyone wants to get me some good dimensions of that "behind the spare" dual compressor mount I'll get a couple of them fabricated in 1/8" aluminum, maybe stainless steel if we have it laying around.

That's the set up I really want, well that and a "cheap" dual compressor. Because I will say, the single compressor under the hood gets pretty damn hot just from being near the engine 😒

adcam

Where did you "tap" for power to the usb port?

It just comes out the bottom of the dash and plugs into the USB ports in the console.

I received my Bronco in September 2021 so I was one of the fortunate early deliveries. The downside was not many of the now popular mods were yet available via the aftermarket so I improvised the following:
- Mod bumper fog/driving lights
- Old skool hockey stick vinyl
- Grill letter overlays
- Supplemental USB power to dash
- Dash cam hard wired power
- Rear cargo tray with supplemental lighting for cargo area & tailgate
- Spare tire mounted rear work light
- UHMW tape for door sill & roll bar protection
- Shovel, Axe & Fire Extinguisher mounts on roll bar
- Supplemental roll bar hooks

I posted most if not all of the mods above with pictures but can’t find my old threads. Happy to help anyone with the items above and/or provide pics and details how you can DIY as well.

Tricky Dick

Counts in my book.

Here's another I did to make it easier for my son to get in the back of my 2dr. Made a base plate that goes under the trim and bolted a F150 grab handle to it.

And a USB port I added to the dash before Mabett came out with a plug n pay solution.

Great idea for the grab handle. Machine or sheet metal screws?

Eninty

Great idea for the grab handle. Machine or sheet metal screws?

Bolts! There's a 12ga steel plate bolted in. Not shown are threaded stand offs welded to it that the handle bolts to.



While looking for the pic I found another DIY project, a fire extinguisher mount.

Tricky Dick

I'll start off with my sliders. OEM upgraded with rails.

Liked them so much I did the very same last year. I am so un-original. lol

I like seeing people scratch-build things for their Broncos. Your improvised solutions look well-conceived and could easily be marketed as stand-alone products. Very polished-looking enhancements. It's cool that you've got the tools and materials at your disposal to make these modifications possible. I'd kill just to have a garage I can work in!

Modified more jeep parts to mount the high lift on the front bumper.

Tricky Dick

Counts in my book.

Here's another I did to make it easier for my son to get in the back of my 2dr. Made a base plate that goes under the trim and bolted a F150 grab handle to it.

As a fellow 2-door-er, this is awesome! The paracord handles don’t help much getting up and in the back seat, they are too high.
For those of us without a welder (and related skills), could this same type of handle be attached with a couple large sheet metal hex screws? Any wires or other hazards in that frame piece?

Fillups

As a fellow 2-door-er, this is awesome! The paracord handles don’t help much getting up and in the back seat, they are too high.
For those of us without a welder (and related skills), could this same type of handle be attached with a couple large sheet metal hex screws? Any wires or other hazards in that frame piece?

I don't recall anything behind there to watch out for. You might be able to do screws and stack some washers. I recall about 3/4" of air gap between the pillar and trim.

Oh good, I was afraid this was going to be another thread about people gluing carbon fiber decorations to their dashboard. Carry on.

Tricky Dick

I don't recall anything behind there to watch out for. You might be able to do screws and stack some washers. I recall about 3/4" of air gap between the pillar and trim.

Thanks, adding this to my someday to-do list. Getting the trim off is probably half the battle if screws work out. You have the part detail on the handle? Looks like it matches the gray trim well.