Bull bar/nudge bar/front sensor question

[Black Rob]

Looks clean! Side note, love those tires brother, what are they? Trying to plan for when I inevitably need new ones

Nitto ridge grapplers. 245/65/r17.

Sponsored

 

[B-Dog15]

Hmm that's frustrating, I was hoping it would be as simple as installing the hook where the Badlands/FE are mounted and nothing else.

Lots to love about the Bronco Sport but there are several decisions that have me scratching my head on the non Badlands/FE trim. I get that every bit helps the margins on these but I think on a vehicle marketed as off-roadable there are certain 'must haves', which recovery points are one for me. Especially on Unibody where there really isn't much else you can bolt into without seriously modifying parts.

100% agree with you on this. Tow hooks should have been on all the trims and it’s really the only thing I wish I had on it…. I guess this might be Fords way of reminding us non BL/FE folks that we aren’t quite as capable as the higher trims. ??‍

 

[B-Dog15]

Nitto ridge grapplers. 245/65/r17.

These look so nice man

 

[Jewce]

If I'm not mistaken that bar from FRL attaches where the original Recovery points are. It uses the bolts that held the recovery hooks in place to mount. The new recovery points are there because the original hooks can't be used in conjunction with the nudge bar.

I do not have one of these bars just a heads up, just looked into them at length as I'm on the fence about adding one, so take what i'm saying with a grain of salt.

this is correct ??

 

[Jewce]

Is this

What is the bar mounted to? Just curious if those d-rings can actually be used for recovery or if they are more just for looks?

The bar is definitely just for looks. I have the Outer Banks, and it’s missing the factory brackets needed to add proper tow hooks. The only true tow point on the vehicle is the rear tow hook—don’t get me started on how ridiculous that is.





I like the way it looks, though, and I just hope I never end up in a situation where I need to be towed from the front—that would get messy. The bar is mainly for the lights, protecting the front end from bad parallel parkers, and, honestly, because it’s the best-looking aftermarket light bar out there in my opinion.
Could it be used in a pinch? Sure. But I wouldn’t advise that.


There are plenty of articles on the forum about this if you want more info.

 

[VeryConfusedAmerican]

100% agree with you on this. Tow hooks should have been on all the trims and it’s really the only thing I wish I had on it…. I guess this might be Fords way of reminding us non BL/FE folks that we aren’t quite as capable as the higher trims. ??‍

I guess technically you are correct but Idk, Ive seen plenty of 1.5s do just fine off road and in sketchy conditions around town. Maybe a few less bells and whistles but I think the lower trims are honestly extremely capable, especially when you compare cost to performance ratio.

I love my badlands but there is no way I would have bought it brand new at close to $50k, I bought it used with 40k miles and paid less than half of what it would cost new,which to me was acceptable. I love this car and this platform but just can't wrap my head around every single car costing close to $50k with options these days. Part of what used to be fun about offroad builds/trucks was they were relatively cheap compared to nicer luxury cars, could buy a $10k work truck and put a decent size tire on it and be halfway there.

I have now become the old man who yells at clouds. sigh

 

[B-Dog15]

The bar is definitely just for looks. I have the Outer Banks, and it’s missing the factory brackets needed to add proper tow hooks. The only true tow point on the vehicle is the rear tow hook—don’t get me started on how ridiculous that is.





I like the way it looks, though, and I just hope I never end up in a situation where I need to be towed from the front—that would get messy. The bar is mainly for the lights, protecting the front end from bad parallel parkers, and, honestly, because it’s the best-looking aftermarket light bar out there in my opinion.
Could it be used in a pinch? Sure. But I wouldn’t advise that.


There are plenty of articles on the forum about this if you want more info.

I agree! It does look fantastic though. Maybe one day secondary market will help us out…

 

[B-Dog15]

I guess technically you are correct but Idk, Ive seen plenty of 1.5s do just fine off road and in sketchy conditions around town. Maybe a few less bells and whistles but I think the lower trims are honestly extremely capable, especially when you compare cost to performance ratio.

I love my badlands but there is no way I would have bought it brand new at close to $50k, I bought it used with 40k miles and paid less than half of what it would cost new,which to me was acceptable. I love this car and this platform but just can't wrap my head around every single car costing close to $50k with options these days. Part of what used to be fun about offroad builds/trucks was they were relatively cheap compared to nicer luxury cars, could buy a $10k work truck and put a decent size tire on it and be halfway there.

I have now become the old man who yells at clouds. sigh

Oh for sure. I was super impressed with my Big Bend the other day. We got about 15” of snow and I was able to go out with no issues at all. Even climbed up some pretty tall steep hills which I was sort of surprised about. I’ve even done some “Rally” style off-roading on a cross-country track nearby and had an absolute blast.

and yeah I love watching videos of people taking old trucks and off-roading them. Trucks used to be made like tanks.

 

[Jewce]

I'm not entirely sure on the bracket bracing, it is definitely possible that it will add some more structural integrity, however Im not sure what would be wrong with the factory mounts as that is what the Badlands/FE points are mounted into.

If you don't have a badlands model I think it states you need to trim your bumper plastic to access the bolt location; Meaning your bronco HAS the spot for a recovery hook to be bolted into, but you don't have access to it due to the stock front bumper not having the cutout. My guess is all bronco models have the ability to have recovery points but the non badlands/FE bumper is the only thing blocking you from actually having them. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't seen/researched much about non Badlands BS tbh

I painted the recovery hooks on my Badlands and to remove they are literally just two bolts holding them in, super easy to remove if you take the front wheels off, harder to remove but still doable with the wheels still on. I would be curious if adding them to non Badlands/FE models is as simple as buying factory hooks and cutting out the plastic trim in the bumper. In my mind it is haha

There’s a factory bracket missing on non badlands models… the mounting points are there when you do the cut outs but the structural support piece for towing is missing. I’ve dug deep into this and it would be custom and expensive to get those mounts added to to a different model. The stock mounts beyond the tow hooks are welded to the chassis. You’d have to take the whole front end apart.

This:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/big-bend-tow-hooks.2964/page-3#post-77577

and this:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/tow-hooks-tow-hitch.5037/

 

[Jewce]

I guess technically you are correct but Idk, Ive seen plenty of 1.5s do just fine off road and in sketchy conditions around town. Maybe a few less bells and whistles but I think the lower trims are honestly extremely capable, especially when you compare cost to performance ratio.

I love my badlands but there is no way I would have bought it brand new at close to $50k, I bought it used with 40k miles and paid less than half of what it would cost new,which to me was acceptable. I love this car and this platform but just can't wrap my head around every single car costing close to $50k with options these days. Part of what used to be fun about offroad builds/trucks was they were relatively cheap compared to nicer luxury cars, could buy a $10k work truck and put a decent size tire on it and be halfway there.

I have now become the old man who yells at clouds. sigh

 

[VeryConfusedAmerican]

There’s a factory bracket missing on non badlands models… the mounting points are there when you do the cut outs but the structural support piece for towing is missing. I’ve dug deep into this and it would be custom and expensive to get those mounts added to to a different model. The stock mounts beyond the tow hooks are welded to the chassis. You’d have to take the whole front end apart.

This:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/big-bend-tow-hooks.2964/page-3#post-77577

and this:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/tow-hooks-tow-hitch.5037/

Figured someone here would know, as said I haven't looked into much outside of the Badlands trim, bums me out to hear how much of a pain that would be to upgrade/make usable.

 

[B-Dog15]

This is pretty impressive man. What all have you done/added to your rig?

 

[Jewce]

This is pretty impressive man. What all have you done/added to your rig?

So far..
- Wheels / tires (245/65/r17)
- Nudge bar w/ lights
- ditch lights w/ hood mounts from FordRangerLifts
- cross bars
- s1 pod fog lights kit from Baja Designs
- Running boards from GoRhino
- Illuminated LED side markers (Amazon)
- Custom built in trunk shelf (Mounts were fabricated by someone on Facebook)
- AVS window visors
- Vinyl wrapped rear ford emblem
- Blackout the front grill letters
- Tinted windows, tail lights, bumper lights
- Wolfbox rear view digital mirror

Next..
- FordRangerLifts 2 inch lift kit
- 245/70/r17 tires (pinch weld must be shaved)
- Trailer hitch
- GoRhino roof rack
-Auxbeam light controller

 

[fsjdw2]

I have the ford ranger lift bar on my 22 Bad lands. It requires removal of the factory fromt Tow hooks and mounts to the front of those brackets ONLY it does not mount to the factory installed recover frame mounts inside the sub frame (about 16 Inches behind the front bumper with a LARGE 3/4 inch nut to transfer tension). While the mounting bracket will hold up a nudge bar or light bar, those brackets are NOT designed for actual recovery as they are fairly thin. And the FRL design puts stress directly on the 3 3/8th bolts ONLY, I feel that any sort of actual recovery using them Alone would cause damage to vehicle. Recovery might work with the FRL tow points and with a bridle to spread the recovery load but I didn’t feel comfortable with that.
So I had local metal shop bore out the center of the ford ranger lift bracket in line with the factory shaft on the factoey Hole. I then put grade 8 all thread and welded the matching Bolt on front.

The came through the front bored hole through the gap that matches up with the place frame mount area That the factory recovery hooks were mounted. As I understand it ONLY badlands and first editions have The extra reinforcement point for the factory hooks indicating this was intended to
Be used , for recovery and suicidal deer mitigation(I do some Off-roading so I wanted functional and utility ).
the hardest part t to get the large nut at rear mounted, getting wrench turned in the cramped space I could get to was bad, I would recommend a ratcheting box wrench, in appropriate size as actual space to turn was about 2 inches of arc. All in all It was about a 3 hour job from pulling the factory hooks to install of bar.
Also FRL bar arrives in unpainted sand blasted condition. I live in salty New England so I went with black gun kote. So far so good but it has only been 2
Months


before and after photos, I didn’t get any of
The hole I had bored at metal shop. Also I don’t get any of install.

 

[fsjdw2]

And here is a photo of the “secure to frame” all thread and , forgive Bad angle. It’s cold out.
Also I can use front crawl camera with no issues