timhutch

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Finally got a small block of time free and made the 13 hour drive from my home in SoCal to Telluride, CO to do Black Bear Pass. Heard so much about this trail I wanted to see how my Badlands would hold up.

Happy to say all the way through with only a minor snag of the felt liner under the drivers side floorboards. The "Steps" were definitely the biggest challenge with two obstacles that required a good line to clear because of drop offs of at least 24" on the harder lines. At one point just prior to the steps we dropped down a short chute that passed 32 degrees nose down but rolled out gently so no stuffing the nose in the dirt.

The Bronco was the perfect truck for the switchbacks and they were not at all intimidating and really very easy given the short wheelbase and tight turning radius of the Bronco Sport. Several of them didn't even require a 3 point turn.

My Badlands has a 2" lift and 245/70/R17 Falken Wildpeak tires along with an aluminum front skid plate that has saved my nose several times over. Overall ground clearance went from a stock 8 3/4" up to 11 1/4".

I would hesitate to try this trail with a stock Badlands without the lift since I used all the clearance I had (and then some). Several times had one or both rear tires well up in the air. Bronco handled it fine and never felt ready to go over. All the Jeep guys were taking pictures!

Definitely an amazing trail and can't wait to talk some of my fellow Bronco owners into doing it so I can go back. Oh yeah, took Ophir Pass back over the mountain to return to the starting point. A really nice trail and completely able to be done by a stock Bronco Sport of any trim.

Ford Bronco Sport BS Badlands Does Black Bear Pass! IMG_3308 (fixed)


Ford Bronco Sport BS Badlands Does Black Bear Pass! IMG_3349.JPG


Ford Bronco Sport BS Badlands Does Black Bear Pass! IMG_3318.JPG


Ford Bronco Sport BS Badlands Does Black Bear Pass! IMG_3316.JPG
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AndyMac204

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good on you, way to push that sport!
 

Wyo

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What 2" lift do you have and where did you get a front skid plate from?
 


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timhutch

timhutch

Badlands
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I have the lift from Woolworth Racing in Las Vegas and the Rally Innovations front skid plate. The skid plate design concerned me at first since there are no attach bolts at the front edge of the plate and I was concerned that the front of the plate could catch in terrain and peel back. I guess it's still possible but this plate has taken several hits that would surely have damaged the radiator, front bumper, etc and prevented any damage to the vehicle. Very happy with it so far.

Ford Bronco Sport BS Badlands Does Black Bear Pass! IMG_2833.JPG
 

Escape2Bronco

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Bravo! Well done!
 

AmazingSieve

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It’s been said quite consistently, if the badlands had just a bit more clearance it’d be dam near unstoppable, well done.
 

Escape2Bronco

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Has Woolworth/Ranger lifts contacted you regarding your lift? I see now the only offer the 2 inch on the non-Badlands/First Editions and a 1-1/4 for the Badlands and First Editions. This seems to be the maximum for all sites I have seen. Curious if they reached out to those that purchased the 2 inch lifts for a Badlands. Did they ask which model you had?
 

Wyo

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Oh yes, I remember seeing the Woolworth vehicle a while back. So the skid plate looks like it's their $169 one. Not bad!

I see HRG offroad has one two now with a little more coverage but also more price ($349)
 
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timhutch

timhutch

Badlands
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Has Woolworth/Ranger lifts contacted you regarding your lift? I see now the only offer the 2 inch on the non-Badlands/First Editions and a 1-1/4 for the Badlands and First Editions. This seems to be the maximum for all sites I have seen. Curious if they reached out to those that purchased the 2 inch lifts for a Badlands. Did they ask which model you had?
Haven't heard from them. To be a little more exact, my lift is 1-3/4" in the front and 1-1/2" in the rear. The extra lift they provided was the whole reason I went with them. They way I calculated my total lift and new ground clearance was 1.75" for the lift plus .75" for the tire is 2.5" additional lift. Add that to the 8.75" of the stock Badlands and I got 11.25" total clearance. I haven't experienced any side effects of the higher lift yet. At my first service I plan to ask the dealer to check for any excessive wear in things like CV joints, ball ends, tie rods anything that could wear more due to the extra lift and the hard wheeling. Will post back if anything is discovered.
 
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Escape2Bronco

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Haven't heard from them. To be a little more exact, my lift is 1-3/4" in the front and 1-1/2" in the rear. The extra lift they provided was the whole reason I went with them. They way I calculated my total lift and new ground clearance was 1.75" for the lift plus .75" for the tire is 2.5" additional lift. Add that to the 8.75" of the stock Badlands and I got 11.25" total clearance. I haven't experienced any side effects of the higher lift yet. At my first service I plan to ask the dealer to check for any excessive wear in things like CV joints, ball ends, tie rods anything that could wear more due to the extra lift and the hard wheeling. Will post back if anything is discovered.
Hopefully no issues. Great post and kudos for tackling Black Bear!
 

Folkman

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Haven't heard from them. To be a little more exact, my lift is 1-3/4" in the front and 1-1/2" in the rear. The extra lift they provided was the whole reason I went with them. They way I calculated my total lift and new ground clearance was 1.75" for the lift plus .75" for the tire is 2.5" additional lift. Add that to the 8.75" of the stock Badlands and I got 11.25" total clearance. I haven't experienced any side effects of the higher lift yet. At my first service I plan to ask the dealer to check for any excessive wear in things like CV joints, ball ends, tie rods anything that could wear more due to the extra lift and the hard wheeling. Will post back if anything is discovered.
I will be interested to hear too. The pro shop wasn’t too keen on going over the 1.25in lift on badlands due to geometry and wear/extent of movement. Not that the .5 will make that much difference in what I am doing LOL. But still interested maybe down the road a ways.
 

Bronco7221

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That’s incredible! We did the first half of Black Pear Pass in August of 2021, but we did turn around at the one way sign because I wasn’t confident that it would have the clearance to do the Steps since ours is just the stock Badlands.

We did do Imogene Pass from Ouray to Telluride though and only scraped a couple of times. Had to choose to the lines carefully, but the stock Badlands was incredible!

Really appreciate hearing your feedback on Black Bear and the mods you have done to outfit the BS to tackle these types of trails!
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