Music City Trucks Featured Projects

Music City Trucks Builds

Parts Used In This Episode

Continental Tire
General Grabber X3 Tires
The Industrial Depot
Tools, Hardware, Shop Supplies

Episode Transcript

(Marc)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Marc)>> Today on Music City Trucks we're putting some sweet upgrades on a new 2021 Bronco.

(Brandon)>> We've got bumpers, steps, suspension upgrades, skit plates, wheels, and tires. [ MUSIC ] [ engine revving ] [ MUSIC ]

(Marc)>> We've got ourselves a 2021 Ford Bronco.

(Brandon)>> So first we're gonna drive it and see what we think. Then with the help of 4 Wheel Parts we're gonna add on some cool new upgrades.

(Marc)>> And when we're all done we'll give it one more run in the beautiful country-side. Alright so let's see. This is a two-three.

(Brandon)>> Two-three EcoBoost!

(Marc)>> Not bad. Hear a little bit of the turbo whistle. First off let me just tell you how it feels to be behind the wheel here. Very comfortable. Everything's like where it should be. I don't feel like I have to reach really far to get to anything. It feels proper. Like when you sit in, nothing against first gen early Broncos, but like when you're in that thing you feel like you're in a, like they just threw the seats in there. You feel like you're riding in it like this, but this thing is very comfortable. We're driving down this curvy two-lane country road and this thing is handling these curves really, really well. It doesn't roll over at all. It's got plenty of pep. You feel the turbo.

(Brandon)>> For this being a four door with a 2.3 it's got pep, which I do believe they're probably gonna come out with bigger models.

(Marc)>> No doubt. [ MUSIC ] [ engine revving ]

(Brandon)>> It's got some pep!

(Marc)>> And that's the base motor. I can't imagine what it'd be like with a V-6. [ MUSIC ] For what it is that's enough.

(Brandon)>> This isn't a performance truck. It's an off roader. You need just enough power to get through. You let the gear ratios, and the transfer case, and all that stuff do the off roading.

(Marc)>> And one thing I'm noticing too is because of the umps on the fenders in the front, and they've got those tie-downs or whatever that's supposed to be up there, there is no question that you're driving a Bronco. You don't forget at any moment. Driving a Jeep is similar too. There's not any moment that you just forget that you're driving a Bronco. It's constantly reminding you that you're in a Bronco.

(Marc)>> The little easter eggs. The nose, just everything about it. [ MUSIC ] As you well know, when the first Bronco came out in '66 basically what they did was they took pretty much anything and everything they could take from other vehicles.

(Brandon)>> They took door handles and stuff from the Falcon.

(Marc)>> The engine from the Falcon.

(Brandon)>> They really didn't do much r&d.

(Marc)>> Some of the sheet metal from the pickup truck, and the gauge cluster. They just like put it together because they needed the vehicle.

(Brandon)>> They needed a four-wheel drive s-u-v is what they needed.

(Marc)>> And it was a big hit obviously. They didn't do that this time. Whoever was in charge said, you know what, if we're gonna bring it back at all it needs to be the right vehicle. It needs to be done properly because if you're putting all this effort, engineering into it essentially to compete with Jeep, if you're not gonna be better why even do it?

(Brandon)>> Which I'm glad that they took the time to engineer and design this truck for as long as they did, and it did come out great. If they would have just thrown it together, and threw it on the plate, and threw it on the table, it would have been like, aw, what a disappointment, but sometimes you're like well, I waited 14 years for this concept. Okay, well this is worth it because everything in this Bronco is exactly the way I would have wanted it in a new vehicle.

(Marc)>> Now that we've had a chance to test this Bronco out, we dropped the top.

(Brandon)>> And we're heading back to the shop. Up next, new bumpers and suspension from 4 Wheel Parts.

(Brandon)>> We're back here in the shop with our Bronco and I've got to say, this thing drives great, handles great. It's a blast on the road but there's always room for improvements.

(Marc)>> Absolutely, you didn't think we were gonna leave this thing stock, right? I mean besides we're gonna giving it away to one of you. So, we want to bring this thing up to our standards, and we're gonna do that with everything you see here on the floor that we got from our friends at 4 Wheel Parts. Now you may already know that 4 Wheel Parts has been in the off-road game for a while making parts for Jeeps and other trucks for off roading and for the street, and everything that you see here is their own house brand that they've made specifically for the new Bronco, which is very exciting.

(Brandon)>> So we're gonna be throwing on 35 inches tires, two and a half inch coil over lift kit. We're gonna be putting on bumpers, and steps, and cool wheels. Nothing too crazy but enough to get you a little bit further off road and looking good.

(Marc)>> Well let's move this tuff around, and get the truck on the lift, and start tearing it down.

(Brandon)>> You want to drive?

(Marc)>> Why not?

(Brandon)>> Well it's not every day you get to tear down a brand-new Ford Bronco. So, I'm gonna have some fun with it. The first thing we need to take off this truck is gonna be the stock wheels and tires. [ drill humming ]

(Brandon)>> One of the most obvious and easy choices for upgrading a new stock vehicle starts at the wheels and tires. Also 4 Wheel Parts offers some nice choices for new bumpers and skids plates. So, we definitely want to go there too. [ ratchet clicking ] [ MUSIC ] [ drill humming ]

(Brandon)>> You're gonna see here in a second why we're actually replacing this skid plate, which is really just an air dam, just plastic, and you'll see why we're switching it to a metal one. [ drill humming ]

(Brandon)>> This is why we're replacing this air dam, cause it's extremely flimsy, and right behind it is the intercooler, and you don't want to smash your intercooler on a rock. So, we're gonna replace it with a metal one. [ MUSIC ] This is my first look underneath the new Bronco, and a few things stand out. One, it's got independent front suspension, and this is a big bend package. So, it doesn't have all the skid plates like a higher end off road model would. Driveshaft's a little funky looking but I think it'll do the job. It's got the slip yoke in it. Rear suspension is a five link, which is gonna be really easy to lift, and I think that's where we're gonna start. It's pretty simple getting the stock struts off this Bronco. Three nuts on the top and one large bolt through the bottom and remember to support the axle with some sort of jack. [ MUSIC ] So, this is 4 Wheel Parts' two-inch coil over lift, and it's literally bolt in. You could do this in your driveway in an afternoon, which is pretty cool. [ drill humming ] [ MUSIC ]

(Brandon)>> Now we're gonna wanna torque it to factory o-e-m spec here and 40 to 50 pounds on the top. [ MUSIC ] So, when you lift any vehicle with a track bar the axle's not gonna be centered under the vehicle anymore, and that's when you're gonna have to get an adjustable track bar. We got this one from 4 Wheel Parts obviously, and all we've got to really do is grease up this bushing and throw it in the truck. [ MUSIC ] This bushing kit is pretty easy to install. You've got two outer bushings, a support ring and sleeve, and using the supplied grease makes putting it together easy. [ MUSIC ] [ drill humming ]

(Brandon)>> This 4 Wheel Parts track bar replaces the factory one. So, it goes right into the same mounting holes. It's adjustable for different lift heights. So definitely get an alignment after the install. I'm just gonna torque all this down to o-e spec. This rear's done!

(Marc)>> Well moving on to the front here it's a very different setup than the rear. The rear's got a stick axle, and up front here we've got an independent front suspension. I think that was a really good move for Ford, especially since they backed it up with the really heavy duty components. This has got really big twin piston brakes. It's got a nice, heavy cast iron knuckle here. Real heavy duty control arms as well, nice, big sway bar. This really lends to the drivability and also the off-road capabilities that Ford was looking for on their new Bronco, but since we need to put a lift on ours, we're gonna be swapping out some components. I'm gonna start by removing the strut. With the suspension supported we'll go ahead and unbolt the strut, along with a few other components that need to be removed. This includes the sway bar links, upper ball joints, axle nuts, and outer tie rod ends. [ MUSIC ] We'll be replacing the upper A-arms with new tubular ones that came with the suspension lift kit. [ MUSIC ] These VSRT front coil overs are the center piece of this suspension lift, which are made specifically for this vehicle. They come fully assembled with adjustable ride height. They'll improve both on and off-road performance and give our Bronco both the look and capabilities that we're looking for, not to mention street cred. [ MUSIC ] [ drill humming ] [ MUSIC ] [ drill humming ] [ MUSIC ]

(Marc)>> Up next, we put on the last few upgrades and she's ready for the road.

(Brandon)>> Heavy metal time?

(Marc)>> Yep, this thing is heavy. [ MUSIC ]

(Brandon)>> You want me to hold it there?

(Marc)>> Yeah, if you could hold it, I'll get these started. [ drill humming ]

(Brandon)>> I'm gonna go ahead and take off the crash bars to make room for our 35s. Look at that. Should go on these bottom bolts right here. You good?

(Marc)>> Um-hmm.

(Brandon)>> This 4 Wheel Parts skid plate is going to provide the intercooler the protection it needs. Now that the bumper and skid plate are installed, we're gonna go ahead and move on to the steps.

(Marc)>> And the first thing that needs to be installed on the truck are these brackets.

(Brandon)>> These steps come with everything you need to install them on your Bronco. You don't have to modify anything. They line up with the factory holes. Don't hit the door! [ MUSIC ]

(Marc)>> Set it right there for now. [ MUSIC ] Wow! [ drill humming ] [ MUSIC ]

(Brandon)>> Now that the steps are done, we can move on to the rear bumper.

(Marc)>> Got it? Again, no drilling.

(Brandon)>> No cutting. [ MUSIC ] That's pretty close right there. [ drill humming ]

(Marc)>> Easy peasy!

(Brandon)>> Let's see, tire relocation. [ MUSIC ] We're gonna be running a bigger wheel and tire combo on this truck. So, the factory carrier needs to get a relocation bracket installed. [ MUSIC ]

(Marc)>> Well one of the things you have to do when you install this rear bumper from 4 Wheel Parts is relocate the tag light. On the factory bumper the license plate is located here, and this is the harness that goes to it, but since it moves the license plate up to the spare tire carrier, which is really cool, you have to run this harness. It's just an extension harness for the tag light. Probably the most complicated part of this whole installation. [ MUSIC ] We're just gonna run the wiring behind the panels and into the tailgate so you don't see it. [ MUSIC ]

(Brandon)>> A little to spare.

(Marc)>> Not despair, a little too spare. [ MUSIC ]

(Brandon)>> Dropping everything today. Cool! Curls are getting a little out of control. [ MUSIC ]

(Marc)>> There's two possible locations here.

(Brandon)>> Well since we're running 35s, we've got to use the top holes. So, if you're running 33s you can use the lower hole. [ drill humming ]

(Marc)>> Let's do the wiring.

(Brandon)>> Okay let's do the wiring, and then we need to install the third brake light relocation.

(Marc)>> Because bigger tires.

(Brandon)>> So we moved it away from the bumper but now we've got to move the third brake light out.

(Marc)>> I'm not sure exactly where this is gonna end up.

(Brandon)>> Probably ran it through here with the other harness.

(Marc)>> Okay, we've got to get it through here first. I'll do that.

(Brandon)>> I'll tighten everything up. [ drill buzzing ] [ MUSIC ]

(Marc)>> Spare tire!

(Brandon)>> Well we got our spare tire mounted up, and one of the last things we need to do back here is install this license plate relocation bracket. Now Marc already wired it up a little bit earlier. So just plug that in, bolt this up to the adapters. [ MUSIC ]

(Brandon)>> It should be ready to go. [ drill humming ]

(Brandon)>> Sweet! Now I know we haven't talked about the tires we went with, but here they are, General Grabber X-3s. These tires are great for mud, dirt, and rock, and of course it's our go to mud tire for all of our projects, and you have to go with the red letters out. Well, you might have noticed that these aren't the same wheels that we started out with. That's because on a build like this sometimes you see something else you like and you've just got to change your mind, and 4 Wheel Parts is gracious enough to let us make that change because I think this wheel fits our Bronco a little bit nicer. So now all we've got to do is finish getting the wheels on, get it on the ground, and get it on the road.

(Marc)>> Up next, it's a nice cruise in the country before we give this Bronco away.

(Marc)>> Well it's a beautiful day to be out with our new Bronco to see what it'll do out here. See what it looks like and feels like now that we've done all of these mods. What I consider to be pretty much the essential mods to something like this, especially a brand-new Bronco. Now Brandon is not with me today. Obviously, he's got some stuff going on, couldn't make it out, but I wasn't gonna let that stop me from taking this thing out, taking it for a spin. Well, I can see why the Sasquatch package exists because it feels like, although this isn't exactly the same thing as a Sasquatch package, it feels like Ford designed the Bronco with a Sasquatch package as the way the Bronco should be. So, when you add things like a suspension lift, and 35-inch tires, and the bumpers, and the steps it almost feels like this is the way the Bronco should have been from the factory, not that there's anything wrong with the stock Bronco. We saw earlier that it was a well capable machine, and very well engineered and fun to drive, but it's like the mods that we did just fit this thing perfectly. So that's where 4 Wheel Parts comes in. They pride themselves as being the Bronco aftermarket headquarters, and that's a really bold statement, with the number of manufacturers that they have that support their product catalog that's already a huge selection of aftermarket parts. The big concern I think from all of the modifications that we've done the biggest concern for me is with the 2.3 EcoBoost, which sounds really small, 35-inch tires with no gear swap, it handles it really well. I think that's probably about as tall of a tire as I would put on this truck without doing a gear swap. You go to a 37 you're gonna really need to change the gears, but as is this is totally fine. Now I can't say what the gearing and the tire size would do for off roading because we're not taking it off, but just from my experience and me being a Bronco lover this thing is just perfect the way it is.

(Brandon)>> You ready to go?

(Marc)>> Ready to go, I'm already back. It's done!

(Brandon)>> You already drove it?

(Marc)>> Yeah, this thing turned out amazing. Absolutely love the 2021 Bronco. Thanks to SeaFoam for handing us the truck and 4 Wheel Parts for giving us all the parts. I think we really executed this thing in the best way we possibly could, especially for a brand-new truck.
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