Spy Shots—Best Look Yet at Bronco Mule

From SEMA:

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Caught testing in Dearborn, Michigan, the Bronco mule wears light camo over a cobbled-together Ranger T6 body. Recently, the Bronco has been seen testing with the Jeep Wrangler and Toyota 4Runner, but it has been a task to capture them all in one image since they’ve been leaving the proving grounds at different times.

The Bronco will have body-on-frame construction, and unlike the Ranger, will have a coil-spring solid axle in the front and back. According to sources, the Bronco will have Dana Spicer AdvanTEK axles with a Dana 33 up front and a Dana 44 for the rear. The axles will be assembled at a new facility in Toledo, Ohio, and is located right down the street from the Jeep Wrangler plant. For cost reasons, the F-Series’ aluminum construction will not make its way to the Ranger follow-up or the Bronco.

The Bronco is expected to share the Ranger’s 2.3L turbocharged four, paired to the new Ford/GM 10-speed automatic transmission. A hybrid powertrain is rumored to be part of the lineup as Ford goes all in on hybrid availability throughout its product portfolio.

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Latest rumor on the front axle is that all production versions of the Bronco will get IFS but there will be a solid axle conversion for the hard core off-road crowd available through Ford Performance. The rear axle will be solid but will use the Watts link w/coil-over setup from the Everest SUV and Ranger Raptor, neither of which are currently sold here. The body will also have a removable top and doors, similar to the Wrangler and the original Bronco. No real info on drivetrains but there has been talk that the T6 frame has been modified to accept a V6 as well as a hybrid setup, similar to that planned for the next Explorer and F-150 which place an electric motor between the engine and 10-speed auto that works in conjunction with the torque converter. BTW, the next Explorer will also be RWD.
 
Agreed. It's pointless. If it is so important than they would have justified it for production. If it can be done then they will just let the aftermarket offer it.
Just having to R&D IFS AND solid axle mounts and the definite need of cutting/welding and entirely swapping the steering rack out for a box... I mean, who comes up with this shit? Lol
 
Apparently Dana does well with the crate axles for the wrangler, but yeah with all the work involved here i can’t see it...just not a “simple” swap like it is for jeep
 
Seems hodge podged to me. All of these rumors circulating are why I bought a 2019 Rubicon three months back instead of waiting for competition for the 4runner I already had, that left me wanting due to the IFS, and other aspects that made it great on and off-road, but mastered non. Just being able to run 35's without a lift on this Jeep made it worth it to me due to a lot of the trails I have to run for work, and of course play. Heck, 37's only require a minor 2" lift.
 
Ya know if your only goal is to discourage open discussion in this forum and keep it stale you're doing an awesome job.
 
Very interesting pic above, but a pre-runner type Bronco just doesn't seem logical. You would think ford would aim it more towards the rock crawling bunch.

Just can’t visualize someone jumping one at the dunes. I can picture the rear side windows shattering when the frame twist or stress fractures on the body though.
 
Very interesting pic above, but a pre-runner type Bronco just doesn't seem logical. You would think ford would aim it more towards the rock crawling bunch.

Just can’t visualize someone jumping one at the dunes. I can picture the rear side windows shattering when the frame twist or stress fractures on the body though.
Didn’t some come with TTB axles and got turned into Baja-mobiles?

It won’t be much for crawling without a solid front axle IMO
 

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