2008 Bronco Stampede Trail Ride - Ford Style

Don Martin from Buckeye, Arizona, has been wheeling his Bronco on the rock trails for quite some time. Here, he exits the Z-turn on the Lower Terminator trail, where a large rock outcropping squeezes your vehicle up against the opposite rock wall.

Sonny Lee and friends were driving this super-clean '71 on 35-inch BFG Krawlers owned by Larry Crider. Larry was along on the trail as well, driving his color-matched Bronco tube buggy that was built to tackle the harder trails that the Southwest has to offer.

There was a good contingent of California wheelers in town for the event. Jim and Glenrose Covey brought their '75 Bronco from Valley Center, California, to try a little Arizona wash wheeling and check out the green desert scenery.

Gary Willette has been building this '69 for the last few years, and it's got some cool hardware sitting behind the primed sheetmetal. A set of 37-inch Iroks turn on a D44/Ford 9-inch combo with a '93 Mustang motor and C6 tranny supplying the power. The cage and other steel work are all powdercoated, and final paint is coming in the near future.

Tim and Lisa Haws were a long way from their Buffalo, Minnesota, home but chose to haul their '73 Bronco south, where wheeling temperatures were about 40 degrees F warmer in the desert. Their rig was a clean Ford that serves as both trail vehicle and daily driver when the warmer weather hits back home.

Taad Janson was our Terminator trails leader on Saturday, and we had about a dozen rigs along. His '68 crawls the rocks well with an early 302 motor and C4 tranny, backed with a Dana 20/Klune-V 4.7:1 combo. A set of 37-inch Goodyear MT/Rs provide traction for the Dana 44/Ford 9-inch axles.

As we climbed in elevation on the Moore's Gulch run, we got some awesome clear views back across the wide valley behind us. Elevations in the area range from about 2,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level.

With the wet, warming weather, the desert wildflowers were starting to come into bloom, signaling the full coming of spring. We wound our way through some expansive valleys that offered some commanding views to the distant Bradshaw Mountains. This wide-tired rig belongs to Bob and Karen Arthur of Ramona, California.

We found vintage Broncos in every color of the rainbow parked in camp. There was everything from stockers on skinny street tires to hard-core rockcrawlers. With a crowd of classics such as this, you're sure to find some parts swapping going on, and we did. Drivers brought in various vintage parts along with upgrade pieces to exchange with other enthusiasts.

Back at camp, it was vintage stocker versus modern buggy on the RTI ramp. The big-tired rockcrawler won the ramp test, but Roger Spade's plum oldie with a half-cab got a prodigious thumbs up for creativity and impressive restoration.

There was the occasional newer-style Bronco (referred to as OJB, as in "O.J. Simpson Bronco") or Ford pickup scattered amongst the classic crowd. This heavily modified Ranger starts up the narrow portion of Anaconda, a steep uphill canyon trail.

Ralph enters a portion of one of the rock trails that we ran on Saturday. He would easily negotiate each of the rocky obstacles until he lost the ability to steer left at mid-trail. A quick inspection revealed broken welds at the Panhard frame mount. Trail welding attempts were unsuccessful, so with a winch cable holding the mount to the frame, Ralph nursed his Bronco to the end of the trail and back to camp for a more permanent repair.

Justin Stoll ran the Terminator trails with the smallest tires in the group. The Lakeside, California, resident crawled carefully and successfully through the boulder maze here, only to later suffer a sliced tire from a metal scrap while crossing a highway underpass.

Local Bronco parts purveyor Randy Harral from Driven Auto Parts went for a different twist on the Bronco theme by stuffing a custom-built buggy chassis under a dovetailed front Bronco clip. With Dana 60s on coilovers turning 39-inch BFGoodrich Krawlers, his rig easily tackled everything he aimed at.

Another California couple, Mike and Jeri Kamm, brought their '73 Bronco from Lakewood to crawl in the desert. Their built rig floated on 36-inch Iroks that made trail navigation a pleasant undertaking.

Here, a large group from the event crosses a piece of the river headed to the trails. We found a good bit of standing water to wheel in, as many of the trail routes in this area consist of wash travel.