Stage 3's Bone-Stock 2019 Ford Ranger on Broken Arrow Trail in Sedona!

Ever since we picked up our 2019 Ford Ranger Project, we've been asking ourselves "just how capable is this thing?" Everything looks good on paper, and Ford's own marketing will have you believe that this thing right off the showroom floor is some mythical mid-size dragon-slayer. We, however, are more skeptical. Thus, we decided to take our 100%, bone-stock Ranger that was still sporting Arizona temporary tags out to Broken Arrow Trail in gorgeous Sedona, Arizona. Broken Arrow is rated a "moderate" trail and has a nice mix of slick rock and sand that's then capped off by the infamous "Devil's Staircase" section. Staff here was split on the chances pf success. Half of us said the truck would fail miserably. The half of us who aren't primitive ape-men thought that the truck could do it, but would struggle a good bit on some of the obstacles.

We were all wrong. Check the video below for the whole trail run.

Yeah, that bone-stock Ranger on stock tires with whatever air pressure happened to be in them from the dealership did Broken Arrow and the Devil's Staircase without breaking a sweat. Like, no issues whatsoever. Noah did realize we are trying to sell parts for the damn things, right? Well, time to delete the Ranger section off the site and scrap all our plans. I guess Ford made a perfect midsize truck.

Noah has single-handedly ruined Stage 3 Motorsports...

...but really, there's some improvements that can be made to at least make the job a bit easier. Broken Arrow, despite its reputation and appearances on television, is not that tough (though fun). While wider and longer trucks tend to have issues on Broken Arrow, anything with a shorter wheelbase, good approach and departure angles, and a bit of ground clearance can manage. The Ranger has all three, yet, it did need 4-low at times and did a good job of scraping up its skid plates. A leveling kit of some sort to give us clearance for taller (and grippier) tires is probably priority number one. More angled skids or an off-road bumper to free up approach angles would be beneficial. Trucks without the FX package skids would especially benefit from some armor. Some rear suspension upgrades to squeeze some extra travel and stability out of the rear would also be helpful in some of those off-camber sections.

Our Ranger did shockingly well on Broken Arrow, but a lot of us who have been watching our Ozzy, Thai, and Mexican friend's T6s (and some of the crazy things they do with them) with utter envy for years now weren't as doubtful as some of the blatant haters. We're planning to run Broken Arrow again after we've thrown some mods at our 2019 Ranger Project, so stay tuned for what we have in store for this awesome truck.

Hey Ford, if you can make that check out to "Jason R. Locke, Esq." for...uh...tax reasons, I'd really appreciate it.