First mods for the Axial SCX10 III Early Ford Bronco

The first modifications for the Axial SCX10 III Early Ford Bronco! It only took me about 15 minutes after getting it out of the box before I started the modification process. Follow along as I walk you through the first mods I made to my Bronco. When relocating the shocks to the control arm pick-up points on the axle, you will need a M3 x 25mm cap screw.
Modifications include the following:
Lower ride height by moving the lower shock pick-up point on the axles
Ballast added to the chassis
Axial Corbeau racing seats
5-point camlock racing harnesses
Removal of the factory hood scoop, front license plate, graphics, and SCX10 badging
Painted steering wheel spokes
Painted turn signal marker lights
Painted FORD badging (note, the Bronco Sport had red lettering and not silver)
Black door sills

[@Elisplushies360woodierc]

Looking great man.Looking forward to see what you do to it.I got mine a couple days ago.Unlike my other crawlers this one will stay stock. It’s mostly for trail and light rock crawling.👍🏼

[@BRGT350]

Thank you and congrats on yours! Mine will mostly change with cosmetics and not much mechanically. If I ever decide to get more serious, I will look at a Basecamp where I will care less about keeping the body perfect. I have driven one of those before and really enjoyed it.

[@419crawlers]

New sub here! Great video and love what you converted the early bronco into! Really appreciate the history of the vehicles as well. Big 👍🏻from the 419 crawlers!!!

[@BRGT350]

Thank you! I tend to try and put some history into each of my videos. I am pretty weak on my Bronco history, but I will keep working on it and bringing it into my videos. My grandfather used to own a Ford dealership and I can recall he had tumbler glasses of all the 1960's vintage Ford's, including a bunch of the Bronco. I wish I knew where those all went. There was also boxes of brochures and ordering guides in his basement that would have been awesome to have access to when researching the Bronco. In the process of getting ready to make the video, I learned that the Bronco Sport existed as a trim model for the early Bronco. I never knew that before and it makes my wife's new Bronco Sport a little bit more special knowing the history of the Sport name. I only knew of the Bronco and Bronco II, but never of the Sport. I love doing research into the history of products and bringing the information into my videos. Looking forward to doing more Bronco videos in the near future! Thanks for the sub as well!!

[@alkuhn5219]

Just found your channel and subed, like your approach on the Bronco. I'm a big Bronco fan just completed a clone of the Stropp Baja Bronco, 10.II chassis ,now ordered this Bronco. Thanks for the info. Also pretty heavy into RC flying the two kinda go hand in hand, love them both. Thank's

[@BRGT350]

Thanks! I grew up in a Ford family, so impossible not to be a Bronco fan. My wife has a new Bronco Sport Badlands and I attended the Bronco Off-Roadeo school last fall and loved it! That Stropp Baja Bronco sounds awesome! I debate getting a second Bronco body and making it more of a competition looking Bronco vs the trail/beach cruiser that I am setting mine up as. I found a company called Gateway Bronco that builds incredible early Broncos and I am using theirs as a direction for mine. I want it to be a classy Bronco that would be fitting to be sitting on the beach or exploring some trails. Great to hear you are into RC flying as well! I started in surface, then moved to air for about ten years, and now getting back into surface a little. I have a good collection of scale civilian and WW2 aircraft in my hangar. I need to get my Timbers and the Bronco together for pictures as they are similar in scale. My one Timber is painted up in teal and white, which would have matched the teal Bronco very well.

[@mistermasada1829]

Very good video👍From what I have seen on other 10.3 Broncos that have had the suspension mod done by remounting the bottom of the shock to the lower link bracket is a clearance issue in two areas. The first being the top of the diff pumpkin coming in contact with the panhard bar on full compression. The second is the upper rear links coming in contact with the rear battery tray bracing at full compression. I am leaving my shocks in the stock location for now but I have put 50wt oil in the shocks to help control the flex of the 100mm shocks.

[@BRGT350]

Yes, exactly the spots where the suspension impacts with the change in shock location. Without bump stops, the suspension finds something to bottom out on at full compression. I assume going with a shorter shock and using the factory pick-up point would get me a lower ride height and the shocks would bottom out before the axle bottoms out on the chassis and links. I did notice a difference last night when I took it out in the yard and climbed some loose stones in some of the garden areas. With the shocks in the stock location, the Bronco was close to tipping when going uphill and making a turn. I kept my hand next to the body in case it started to tip. The same route with lower shock mounting and some ballast in the short battery tray resulted in no tendency to tip. It was improved for sure, but not the best long term solution.

[@RC-ll1rt]

Got this ordered , Super Buy ! Thanks for the Cool Upgrade Vid !

[@BRGT350]

Thank you! This is the first time ever doing any modifications to a crawler. I have some experience with 1/10 touring cars, but that was over a decade ago. I am really impressed with the engineering in the Early Bronco. Excited to hear you have one on order as well! Next you will be scouring the internet for accessories to customize yours!

[@randysgut3214]

first thing i did with mine was throw a jeep transmission in it. portal axles. and 120mm shocks. 2300kv hobbywing. and tons of metal upgrades. weighs a ton and i love it

[@BRGT350]

Since I plan to do trails rather than rocks (not a lot of rocks in lower West Michigan) I don't need the portal axles or taller shocks. I was looking at 80mm shocks, but I think the stock shocks with a lower pick-up point gives me the look that I am after. For the limited driving I have done around the yard with it, I was surprised how quick it was on 100% power and a 3S battery. I am curious to get back outside and run it again now that I added some ballast to the chassis. The CG sure felt a bit high out of the box.

[@randysgut3214]

@@BRGT350 i’m a big trail guy myself. north jersey has the best trails. i break a ton of panhard bars bc i’m so heavy. would like to see an update. let me know!

[@BRGT350]

Thanks! I haven't been to New Jersey, but did take my SCX24 Bronco out to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine last fall. That was fun to explore the mountains and coast with my SCX24. It is perfect for vacation and travel. I might take my SCX10 Bronco to northern Michigan later this summer to explore. I should look at paddle tires as my area is full of sand dunes and most of the summer there is a steady stream of off-road vehicles heading to the dunes.

[@B0SS330]

Removing those decals was a good idea because it's the first contact point when you tip it over while crawling.

[@BRGT350]

I am hoping to avoid tipping over, but I am sure it will happen. Most of my crawling with be in trails vs rocky terrain, so if it does roll over, it will be in soft dirt. There aren't too many rocky areas around me, but if I ever took it to an actual crawler course, I would be likely to encounter a roll over. Since I am having so much fun with the Bronco, I have thought about getting a Basecamp to use for areas that are at a high risk of roll overs or damage.

[@vizionct1]

I already had teal bronco when it first released and had so much fun upgrading and adding 3D printed acc to it that I couldn’t pass up deal so got me white one now. Will be upgrading exterior, roll cage, seats too. 90mm shocks and fusion se brushless coming next. Looking forward to your next bronco video!

[@BRGT350]

Awesome! I got really close to ordering a second Bronco in the teal color. It wears that color very well and it would match one of my planes. The upgrading and modeling of the crawlers has me really excited about RC vehicles again. I should be filming my next Bronco video tonight, so it should go live within a few days.

[@theoalbert897]

Flock some 3d printed seats, or plastidip works very well for a vinyl or leather look

[@BRGT350]

That is what I was thinking to make the 3D printed seats look better. Flocking would look very much like an actual fabric race seat. I didn't think about pastidip as an option for vinyl or leather. Thanks for the tip!

[@OGRadGrow]

Nice 👍🏾

[@BRGT350]

Thanks!

[@B0SS330]

If you decide to upgrade the shocks, my recommendation is the 90mm Desert Lizards.. they work amazing when setup right.

[@BRGT350]

Thanks for the tip! I have heard about those before and will look into them. I think 90mm is the right shock length to go with. I saw a few try 80mm, but I doubt that adds enough suspension travel.

[@timothybrown1189]

Couldn't pass up this deal. I had planned on getting one anyways. My mom had a '71 back in the day so I'm going to model it after hers. Already got the deep dish white wagons and BFG KO2's from RC4WD to match what she had. I have to say that the wider stance and the scale look of the BFG has me thinking about leaving it stock height. I also put the wide flares and grille from RC4WD to give it a more scale look. Yes you can see the radiator now. Side marker lights and mirrors are on the way from China since RC4WD didn't have them in stock, and a Fusion Pro will be here this weekend from Amazon. I haven't even powered this thing up yet since none of my batteries use the IC3 connector. The fusion will change that so I didn't bother with adapters. I can wait. On a side note, I'm learning that some of the scale accessories can be modified to fit the old Proline Wraith Bronco body. So I'm also tricking out my old Wraith at the same time. They will be matching paint and will look bad ass next to each other. My kids and I do trail runs on the weekends and I can't wait to see how this Axial compares to my old Traxxas '79 Bronco that I currently run. I already see some pros but also cons between the two models. Also There's a bunch of Early take off bodies available on eBay. Might get a TRX4 platform and throw one of these on it just for fun. Already test fit mine and the wheel base matches perfectly.

[@BRGT350]

The deal was just too good to pass up! I had one on my wish list for the past year and just needed something to put me over the top to order it. I am glad I did as I love the Bronco! Awesome that you had one in the family that you can replicate. A lot of my friends in high school had second gen Broncos and Bronco II's, but seeing an early Bronco was very rare. If I ever change wheels, it will be to white wagon wheels as they are a perfect fit for the Bronco. I ordered all of those RC4WD accessories as well, but from Horizon Hobby, which they are also on backorder until next month. Excited that the grille allows you to see the radiator, which means I will need to paint the radiator while everything is apart. Keep me posted as to what you think of the Traxxas TRX4 vs the Axial Bronco. I haven't seen a Traxxas one in person yet and curious how they compare.

[@westrayskiffman]

Hi liked the video how did you remove hood scoop without leaving holes in bonnet please as I want to remove mine as well

[@BRGT350]

the holes are still there, but covered in an off-white/cream colored vinyl that I found around the house. I have since added the RC4WD hood scoop painted body color and that looks pretty good. I hated the factory one.

[@westrayskiffman]

@@BRGT350 ok thanks mine the turquoise one so not so easy to discuise