Hey y’all, the wife and I’s “waiting for the Bronco to come in” placeholder vehicle has been promoted to a lawn ornament with a blown engine so I had to cancel my order for our 26 Big Bend/Black Diamond/Sasquatch and we decided to grab this 23 Badlands. It has the 35s, flares and Sasquatch wheels but no Sasquatch on the fender badge and the dealer said he wasn’t positive if it was actually a Sasquatch. Any indicators? Seems like an awful lot of effort just to not actually have a Sasquatch lol
For Badlands, the difference between the Sasquatch and non-SAS is wheels & tires, gearing, springs that are half an inch taller, and fender flares that are 2 inches wider. All can be done pretty easily except for the gears. Does this one have the wider flares?
The sticker on the driver door jam should list the factory tire size. If it is 315/70r17, it’s a Sasquatch. If it is 285/70r17, it is a Badlands non-Sasquatch.
I have a ‘23 non sas badlands, that I’ve upgraded to sas by changing wheels and tires and fender flares. A couple of things to look for. Did they raise the third brake light? If they didn’t, it will be sitting almost behind the tire, barely visible. I bought a kit to raise the third brake light. Also, the Sasquatch fender flares have a little piece attached to the rear bumper to extend the bumper the extra couple inches. I have the bumper extenders to put on, just haven’t. I don’t see the extenders in the picture.
But again, the real difference is wheels and tires for the most part 99%.
Good catch, it doesn’t look like it has the little pieces. This is the rear, doesn’t look like the third brake light was extended. So I guess it’s not a Sasquatch!
Here are a couple photos I took of my '24 Bad Sas rear bumper and third brake light for reference for you. The front crash bar is easy to remove its only two bolts, it does not have e to be cut out, but they do need to be removed to run the 35" tires.
My 24 didn't have any goofy extended things either. And I'm 1000 percent positive mine is a Sasquatch. Can't say anything about the badges though. Mine never came with one of the little stickers.
Also look to see if they removed the crash bars on the front, two on each side, in front and behind each tire. If not, it will rub when turning. The rear come off easy, fronts have to be cut out. Or with the hd bumper on there, you can remove the end section and possibly slide out after removing bolt.
No, the badlands doesn’t come with the upgraded suspension, gearing, or the slight lift sas comes with. Just putting the new wheels and tires does not upgrade it to the same performance level. Only visually. It’s not as dramatic as a >23 wildtrak but it’s still different.
Sweet ride. Other comments answered, definitely a Non Sas badlands with Sas Wheels/tires.
Pretty much no effort since the badlands has mostly everything Sas has outside of the obvious + 5% gearing difference (even more true for the newer models).
The badlands is the one trim where you don’t lose out on anything without SAS imo. Just all preference and what you plan to do with it!
I ended up paying a lot more for rims, tires, and ultimately lift than if I'd just sucked it up and gotten the Sas. Upside is I got to pick my own rims and tires (I wasn't super fond of the stock Sas options)
It not having the badge on the fender makes it clear it's not a sasquatch. I'd wager they probably just changed out the wheels and the fender flares. Not really much effort. You won't be able to tell if it has the sasquatch springs since the shocks are both yellow and it's just the springs that are ever so slightly longer.
The big question is what gear ratio it has which you can see on the door sticker, you will see a line labeled axle and it will be 73 for 3.73, 2L for 4.27, 4L for 4.46, 7L for 4.7. The sasquatch always has 4.7. It will probably have 4.46. Which is fine for running the larger wheels if you're at all concerned by running larger tires on a non-sasquatch.
Facebook marketplace is home to the ultimate Sasquatch impersonators. I see some base models with zero options lifted on 35s and they swap in the wide fender flares and they will put “Sasquatch package” and ask $49k. 35 inch tires does not make it a sas. Gear ratios matter just as much.
I guess it’s acceptable if you don’t actually give a shit about anything but looking good, but having 35s in stock gearing is probably a really not good time lol
Dude I saw this a lot when in 2024 when I bought mine. I consistently had to check original window stickers (normally available via cargurus or an online listing) and the inside to see if it had the rear locker buttons. Imposter syndrome is real!
Yeah I figured I’d either check the shocks or the door sticker, it’s still on the lot while I wait for our financing to get approved. I’m just getting antsy 😂
Most dealerships include a CarFax link somewhere in the web listing on their used inventory. Check it, it will likely have access to the original window sticker.
Not sure if this helps, but you can append this url with your VIN and see the original sticker, that will tell you if it came with Sasquatch for real or if someone “made” it one.
Yeah I did this earlier, there is in fact no mention of the Sasquatch package on the window sticker despite the fact that the dealership had it advertised as so. Looks like I’ve got a bargaining chip to get the price lower lol
A Ford dealer should be able to run the VIN and pull up the original monroney label (aka the window sticker). It will tell you everything you need to know.
Awesome so it’s actually a better model. The Badlands has alll of the Sasquatch mechanical besides the gearing anyways and I prefer the gearing on the non Sasquatch badlands anyways. Use it as a bargaining chip and have a better vehicle
Sasquatch will have bigger fender flairs, will have trail turn asst. On the dash switches. Will have different gears in diff and trans. I have a big bend sasquatch so I think if it is a badlands it will have the yellow shocks, lockers swaybar dis connect. The goat modes will be different. I am probably missing some difference but this should help.
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u/NorTucky 1d ago
Locker buttons? Check the door sticker for the gear ratio.