Having Fun-Runner Adventure: The 2021 Ford Bronco RTR Fun-Runner

While the Ford Bronco RTR has been around for a bit, it wasn't the fully off-road optimized version that debuted at the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. This is the Ford Bronco RTR Fun-Runner, the RTR made for the ultimate off-road adventure. Longer travel, wider fenders, big 37 inch tires; yeah, this Bronco was built wild and made for high-speed desert fun.

Development in Full View

Taking his experience in off-road racing and building high-performance vehicles for Ford, Vaughn Gittin Jr has come out with a Bronco Badlands that might just rival the new Bronco DR but remain street-legal, use the EcoBoost 2.3 liter turbocharged I-4, and use only two passenger doors. The 2021 Ford Bronco RTR Fun-Runner was designed well before its debut to the world.

How? The Bronco Fun-Runner was actually hiding in plain sight all along as the Fun-Runner Ranger as it used Bronco underpinnings and prototype parts for the Fun-Runner Bronco. This allowed full development of the Fun-Runner without showing off the true, finished product. "I am so pumped to finally reveal the Ford Bronco RTR Fun-Runner and the real back story of the Fun-Runner Ranger," said Vaughn, 2021 Ultra4 4400 Champion and the leader of the RTR and Fun-Haver brands , "we covertly used it from Johnson Valley to Moab in order to learn and develop this package for the Bronco."

Anyone who knows Vaughn, knows he truly gets excited over things like the Fun-Runner projects. He said, "We have been lucky enough to have spent a ton of time with the amazing new Bronco over the past few years and I am very excited we can share the resulting products and packages that RTR and Fun-Haver Off-Road will be offering to the market." Fun-Haver Off-Road is Vaughn's newest brand since RTR and caters mostly to the off-road market.

Vaughn wasn't the only one working on the Fun-Runner Bronco. Fun-Haver Off-Road racing teammate, Loren Healy , was also heavily involved with both projects and said, "The Fun-Runner Bronco is everything we have been dreaming of doing to a Bronco for years." That means a lot when you consider Loren is a two-time Ultra4 King of the Hammers winner. "It's the perfect mix of elegant design RTR is known and loved for paired with the hardcore ruggedness Fun-Haver Off-Road is inspired by," Lauren continued, "It's the perfect mix of a well-mannered street driven vehicle that can handle any off-road adventure you can throw at it."

RTR for Any Car, or SUV in This Case

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The Fun-Runner Bronco isn't just a SEMA special build, either. One of the great things about RTR is that the parts that come on those models are readily available. They can be purchased and installed for non-RTR models by enthusiasts in their garages. The parts on the RTR Bronco and most of the parts on the Fun-Runner vehicles are available to Bronco owners, as well. It's just that the fiberglass panels and shocks on the ultimate RTR Bronco are a bit more on the wild side than most owners will probably go. However, there is always that need to meet an insatiable demand by the enthusiasts.

Travel Time

One of the most important parts of any desert-outing vehicle is its suspension. These may not be the Multimatic DSSV coilovers on the Bronco DR, but these Fox Performance Elite 2.5 Coilovers are made for hardcore romping. The Fun-Haver Off-Road Long Travel Suspension Kit gives the Fun-Runner three inches of additional travel in the front and rear over the stock Badlands suspension while also adding three inches to its track width.

This long travel suspension allows the Nitto Trail Grappler 37 x 12.50 R17 tires to make constant contact with the ground, even when that ground is moving quickly and bumpier than the surface of Mars. The wider track also means that the Bronco is more stable in turns, despite its height. Those Trail Grapplers are mounted to a set of true beadlock RTR Tech 6 Forged wheels in 17 X 9 inches with a zero offset.

Wild Body Wide

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The most striking part besides the crazy looking RTR Custom Graphics is the Fun-Haver Composite Front Fenders and Rear Quarter Panels. These panels are designed to fit those massive tires without the need for bolt-on fender extensions. The front grille is an RTR unit with an integrated lighting that flanks the insides of the headlight housings. The RTR Light Bar mounts the five Project X Series 1 FF.70 seven inch auxiliary round lights on the roof with three in spot and two in flood beam patterns.

To carry the larger 37 inch spare tire on the tailgate is an RTR Rear Tire Carrier and Modular Mounting System, which is also how the off-road high-lift jack is mounted just behind the spare. The Modular Mounting System also includes the RTR Jerry Can mount to pack extra fuel, water, or anything a jerry can can be filled with.

Protecting this investment of body modifications and decals are a pair of RTR Rock Sliders that are made to skim boulders and other off-road obstacles without damaging the rocker panels. They are also shaped to fit well with those 37 inch tires. When not being used for protection, they also feature an integrated step to help reach the roof. The RTR rear bumper is made from steel tubes and plates and designed for maximum rear departure angle and rock exit clearance with its angular end design.

The Fun-Haver Off Road front bumper is made from steel plating but features a tubular grille protector and a mounting pad to mount a winch inside the bumper. It also features an angular end design to work with impact protection of the front tire while not getting in its way to climb any off-road features. Attached to the bumper are sets of skid plates to protect any exposed engine and suspension parts that don't need a rock bashing into them. Both front and rear bumpers also have recovery shackle mounts welded on for maximum strength in recovery situations.

Boosted Bucking Bronco

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The base Bronco Badlands model the Fun-Runner is made from comes with the EcoBoost 2.3 liter turbocharged I-4 and is mated to Ford's 10 speed automatic transmission. It's main enhancements come from a K&N Performance Intake System and Ford Performance Exhaust System. Due to its increased travel, a set of RCV Performance Axles are mounted to the Ultimate Dana 44FDU front differential. Out back, the rear tires are spun by a Fun-Haver Long Travel Spec Ultimate Dana 60 Axle .

Interior Design

When you're speeding along that desert trail, you really want a set of comfortable seats. That's why the Fun-Runner sports a quartet of Recaro Cross Sportster ORV seats featuring the RTR logo embossed on the head rests. All-weather floor mats keep the interior mostly clean, until you reach a silt bed and roost up some dirt and sand into the cabin.

Which is a shame because the RTR Serialized Dash Plaque signed by Vaughn is going to get dirty. Fortunately, a good cleaning will fix that after a full day of hard playing. You can then cool yourself off from that hard work with cold water or Monster Energy drinks from the Type S Blizzard Box Fridge/Freezer.

It's great to see that there is another option for off-road performance outside the Bronco DR. The Fun-Runner Bronco shows that you can make the ultimate Bronco, even without the Coyote 5.0 liter V-8. It also makes us wonder what other RTR secrets are hiding in plain sight , just like the Fun-Runner Ranger and Bronco.