What did you do to your Bronco Raptor today?

Got the JTops installed, finally.
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Looks great! Did you let the Velcro adhesive cure for 24 hours or not?

Just watched the Jtops video and didn’t realize it was a two day install.
Yeah, I waited 23 hours to be exact, haha. I didn’t realize it was a two day install either. Got all ready to go on the first day, then realized I had to wait another day to finish.

Another downside, it is now more difficult to get the top on/off. I use to stand up in the back seat to get the lift straps on to attach to my pulley, now that’s out of the question. Haha.
 
Yeah, I waited 23 hours to be exact, haha. I didn’t realize it was a two day install either. Got all ready to go on the first day, then realized I had to wait another day to finish.

Another downside, it is now more difficult to get the top on/off. I use to stand up in the back seat to get the lift straps on to attach to my pulley, now that’s out of the question. Haha.
Oh crap. I didn’t think about that either. I was standing on my back seat yesterday when I put the middle panel back on. Getting that panel on and off without incident by myself was already a little challenging!

Every mod has its trade offs I guess.
 
My son and I took the BRap out for a little day trip to Big Sur. It's about an hour from where I am to Carmel where Hwy 1 gets really scenic. Between a bit of slower traffic and my attempt to soft pedal the thing a bit to see what we could do on MPG, I was pleasantly surprised to find 18.4mpg over that stretch of driving (on 87 octane...probably averaging about 70 mph). I've only got about 800 miles on the truck so far, but the MPG to that point had been 12.4. I've just been hooning the thing, mostly. So it was nice to get it out on the highway and get a sense for what kind of a road-tripper it'll be. It's certainly nowhere near the highway cruiser that my Frap is (and I've done 70k miles of road trips so far in it...it's been to 32 Nat'l Parks as well as a bunch of other cool stuff)...but the BRap drives nicely and is pretty comfy...just that wind noise...ah.

It's fun to drive on a really twisty mountain highway like Hwy 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Then, of course, the you hit the dirt...wow...between the 37's and the live-valves, it really eats up rutted dirt roads.
We wanted to drive the 'Old Coast Highway' (a 10 mile stretch of dirt road that runs from Bixby Bridge on the north end to the Big Sur area on the south end.) but it was closed due to 'impassable' wet conditions. I wanted to challenge that assertion given that I was in a BRap but we couldn't get through the locked gates. We did get to drive a bit of it...the weather was beautiful, the wildflowers were pumping, had some nice time hanging out for lunch along the Big Sur river and some beautiful beach time (with a whale sighting)...all-in-all a great first short road trip with the Brap!

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This is the very famous Bixby Bridge...but from a way better vantage point up the first section of the Old Coast Hwy.
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My son and I took the BRap out for a little day trip to Big Sur. It's about an hour from where I am to Carmel where Hwy 1 gets really scenic. Between a bit of slower traffic and my attempt to soft pedal the thing a bit to see what we could do on MPG, I was pleasantly surprised to find 18.4mpg over that stretch of driving (on 87 octane...probably averaging about 70 mph). I've only got about 800 miles on the truck so far, but the MPG to that point had been 12.4. I've just been hooning the thing, mostly. So it was nice to get it out on the highway and get a sense for what kind of a road-tripper it'll be. It's certainly nowhere near the highway cruiser that my Frap is (and I've done 70k miles of road trips so far in it...it's been to 32 Nat'l Parks as well as a bunch of other cool stuff)...but the BRap drives nicely and is pretty comfy...just that wind noise...ah.

It's fun to drive on a really twisty mountain highway like Hwy 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Then, of course, the you hit the dirt...wow...between the 37's and the live-valves, it really eats up rutted dirt roads.
We wanted to drive the 'Old Coast Highway' (a 10 mile stretch of dirt road that runs from Bixby Bridge on the north end to the Big Sur area on the south end.) but it was closed due to 'impassable' wet conditions. I wanted to challenge that assertion given that I was in a BRap but we couldn't get through the locked gates. We did get to drive a bit of it...the weather was beautiful, the wildflowers were pumping, had some nice time hanging out for lunch along the Big Sur river and some beautiful beach time (with a whale sighting)...all-in-all a great first short road trip with the Brap!

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This is the very famous Bixby Bridge...but from a way better vantage point up the first section of the Old Coast Hwy.
View attachment 7528
very nice and interesting to hear your gas mileage. I have never had better than 13.8 for the 3000 miles ive had it, including multiple trips to south lake tahoe on hwy 50. But i guess i drive it pretty aggressively. This last trip with 39's i averaged 13.8 from SF to Tahoe, keeping it between 70-80mph.
 
very nice and interesting to hear your gas mileage. I have never had better than 13.8 for the 3000 miles ive had it, including multiple trips to south lake tahoe on hwy 50. But i guess i drive it pretty aggressively. This last trip with 39's i averaged 13.8 from SF to Tahoe, keeping it between 70-80mph.
ya, mine was 12.4 until that trip (mostly doing runs up / down Hwy 9 and driving through all the puddles I could find ;-)).
it was pretty flat (85->101->156->1) and I started the trip odometer after I got on 85...but it's hilly south of Gilroy and some yo-yo'ing with some light traffic...I was (pleasantly) surprised. After the up-and-back on the coast, some light wheeling, and the drive back over driving faster than I did on the out leg, we still ended the trip at 16.7.
 
My son and I took the BRap out for a little day trip to Big Sur. It's about an hour from where I am to Carmel where Hwy 1 gets really scenic. Between a bit of slower traffic and my attempt to soft pedal the thing a bit to see what we could do on MPG, I was pleasantly surprised to find 18.4mpg over that stretch of driving (on 87 octane...probably averaging about 70 mph). I've only got about 800 miles on the truck so far, but the MPG to that point had been 12.4. I've just been hooning the thing, mostly. So it was nice to get it out on the highway and get a sense for what kind of a road-tripper it'll be. It's certainly nowhere near the highway cruiser that my Frap is (and I've done 70k miles of road trips so far in it...it's been to 32 Nat'l Parks as well as a bunch of other cool stuff)...but the BRap drives nicely and is pretty comfy...just that wind noise...ah.

It's fun to drive on a really twisty mountain highway like Hwy 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Then, of course, the you hit the dirt...wow...between the 37's and the live-valves, it really eats up rutted dirt roads.
We wanted to drive the 'Old Coast Highway' (a 10 mile stretch of dirt road that runs from Bixby Bridge on the north end to the Big Sur area on the south end.) but it was closed due to 'impassable' wet conditions. I wanted to challenge that assertion given that I was in a BRap but we couldn't get through the locked gates. We did get to drive a bit of it...the weather was beautiful, the wildflowers were pumping, had some nice time hanging out for lunch along the Big Sur river and some beautiful beach time (with a whale sighting)...all-in-all a great first short road trip with the Brap!

View attachment 7527

This is the very famous Bixby Bridge...but from a way better vantage point up the first section of the Old Coast Hwy.
View attachment 7528
Great photo of Bixby Bridge. I ran across that in 1989 as part of the Big
Sur Marathon. Did you stop in at Nepenthe?
 
Oh crap. I didn’t think about that either. I was standing on my back seat yesterday when I put the middle panel back on. Getting that panel on and off without incident by myself was already a little challenging!

Every mod has its trade offs I guess.

I've put the middle row section on the rear top (sitting on a towel) but upside down. From there it’s a matter of rotating it over into place while standing on the side door sill.

It’s still a little tricky from that position but manageable.
 
I did a lot this weekend and figured it was time to post all the stuff I've done to my Bronco:
I still need to install the IAG interior lights and I painted part of my front tow hooks since I had a little left over. Now that I'm mostly done with the little knick knacks, I'm looking into a light set up, bumpers and wheels!

*Bonus, the space above the aux panel is great for storage a dad hat!
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Some nice custom touches there.

I’ve been thinking about vinyl inlays for the hood and rear logos but can’t land on a color. Given my Braptor is Azure I’m caught between the light gray to work with the decals or just go loud and get the Code Orange ones. I already have the rearview decal in Code Orange since you only see it from the interior.
 
Some nice custom touches there.

I’ve been thinking about vinyl inlays for the hood and rear logos but can’t land on a color. Given my Braptor is Azure I’m caught between the light gray to work with the decals or just go loud and get the Code Orange ones. I already have the rearview decal in Code Orange since you only see it from the interior.
I think a small amount of code orange accents on the exterior of every color works given the interior has code orange accents.
 

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