As soon as Ford opened the pre-orders for the ford bronco I knew this vehicle was for me and would be used for all my ski journeys. Delay after delay I finally took delivery of my First Edition 4 door bronco in Area 51 color. My first task was to find the right ski / bike rack solution. Ideally I would always opt for a roof mounted option for all my gear, it helps keep gear away from the elements (snow, rain and salt) and tends to be generally safer IMO.
For what ever reason Ford didn’t allow you to order roof rails for Sasquatch (first edition) level builds / trims. There are some comments about it here but basically the GWR weight, roof and supply problems are to blame.
This left me with finding a hitch solution, but again the Sasquatch (first edition) builds do not come with the tow package as an option. I called my dealer and they wanted over $800 to install the receiver hitch and wiring harness. After googling and viewing a few YouTube videos I realized that I didn’t need the trailer lights (wiring harness) and the costs associated with it. Adding an after market hitch is a simple install. 4 bolts and you’re done. Check this YouTube video here and skip the wiring part if all you want to do is install a ski or bike rack. Here is the part from Curt MFG website
So now that I have a receiver hitch installed lets look at the rack options. The first rack I tried was from Yakima, FullTilt Tilting Hitch Mount Hanging Bike Rack combined with the YAKIMA – HitchSki Ski & Board Conversion Mount which I’ll write a review on in a different post. Basically I didn’t like the setup and how far it extended from the bumper.
What I ended up with was this Ski Rack from BuzzRack off amazon for about $300 dollars shipped. I also needed a 7″ hitch extender so the rack would clear the 35 inch tire on the back. 
Installation
Installation was straight forward, the rack it self was pretty sturdy and the methods for holding skis is pretty secure. According to the documentation is will hold 6 pairs of skis or 4 snowboards. This isn’t the case for the most part, unless the 6 pair of skis are less than 95cm wide you’re going to have a hard time fitting all 6 because of the width. My hoji 4frnt skis where a bit snug on the bottom mount due to the shape of the ski. I was able to get 3 wide skis to fit but no room for the dividers to fit in-between the skis, which I assume helps keep them from rattling against each other.
FIT:
You can see the rack fits snug to the 35″ spare tire in the pictures below. I’m able to open the back door about 12″+ which is pretty good but not great, leaving me to access my cargo from the back seat. The threaded locking bolt does a great job at keeping the rattle to a minimum the weak link that cause the biggest issue was the hitch extender. With hitch extender installed the entire rack moved left to right about 6 inch which is way too much movement for my comfort zone. To fix this I installed a super simply and effective anti rattle stabilizer for $8.00 this simple and effective hardware all but eliminated the rattle coming from the hitch extender.
Security
The rack has locks on both the hitch and brackets the hold the ski’s which seems like just enough but not completely secure. I wouldn’t leave my ski’s outside overnight in a hotel parking lot with this setup but I would leave them while getting some dinner for after hours Apres.
Overall opinion
For under $500.00 and a few hours of time it’s a pretty solid solution for skis. I’m unable to access the full rear door without having to take the rack completely off, this isn’t a deal breaker but there are other solutions out there that I’ve ordered and will follow up on in a later post.
