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Trusted Since 1967—Nearly six decades of craftsmanship and innovation have made Duff a leading name in Bronco performance.
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Every component is designed, tested, and built for long-lasting durability—on the road and off.
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1967—The Beginning
James Duff, a name that has been synonymous with the Ford Bronco for over half a century. Many know him as Jim, but most know him from the early years as Duffy. He first got into Broncos in 1967 while working as a body & paint man at Walker Buerge Ford in Los Angeles. At the time the dealership sold very few Broncos. This all changed when Duffy started taking them home after work for upgrades like fender flares, double shocks, and rollbars. Many of these parts were supplied by companies like Bill Stroppe & other CA manufacturers. The dealership sales increased tenfold and for Duffy, one thing led to another… He began to run the local sand dunes and went on to make additional modifications, grafting in rear fender flares from a 7up truck and cutting and widening a set of wheels to run farm implement tires for better flotation in the sand. He replaced the 3 on the tree with a top loader 4 speed and shifter from Hurst but was unhappy with it and made a few modifications to improve the throw and leg clearance.
Late 60s–Early 70s — Racing Era
Duffy was encouraged by Bill Stroppe with support from co-workers, to try his hand at desert racing. The team at Fairway Ford and the First Independent Association of Racers (F.A.I.R.) were also behind him so he stripped his Bronco down and turned it into a full-blown desert racer, Duffy’s Bronco. Wouldn’t you know it, his racing career started off with a bang! His co-driver took the first leg of the 1969 Baja 500 and at over 100 mph, they came upon a hay truck stalled in the middle of the road! Avoiding it proved challenging as the front end bushings had disappeared! They caught the edge of the pavement, dove into the ditch, and did 3 ½ rolls end over end, corner to corner! Their race was over before Duffy even got behind the wheel! They got the Bronco back together and went on to run the dirt track at Ascot in Gardena against talented drivers like Steve McQueen, James Garner and Ray Harvick and the Mexican 1000 that Fall. Desert racing was in its infancy and Duffy was fortunate to race with some of the greats at the Mint 400, Baja 500 and Mexican 1000’s including Bill Stroppe, Mickey Thompson, Parnelli Jones, James Garner, Rick Mears, Walker Evans, Ivan Stewart, and Rod Hall.
Duffy's Bronco Service
Understandably, at the time, parts to modify and improve the new Broncos were rare. He ended up making many of them himself. Before he knew it, the members of the chase team were asking him to set up their Bronco with heavy-duty coil springs, double shocks, headers, and polyurethane front end bushings. He built products to hold up to the rigors of off-road racing while making them accessible to everyone. He was the first to make the Bronco’s radius arm end bushings out of Teflon then polyurethane (in black to get through tech inspection of course) this was mostly out of necessity to prevent them from disappearing 25 miles into the race! The budding off-road market was calling and demand for parts soon grew into a busy side business – Duffy’s Bronco Service was born.
Whether it was out of frustration at work or just a dream, Duffy came home one day and told his wife Judy (home with 6-week old newborn daughter Suzanne) that he had quit his job and that they were going to make a go of the 4×4 business full-time. At the time, they were producing parts not only for Broncos but other makes and models out of their shop in Hawthorne.
Family Four Wheeling and Broncos West
For better or for worse, his racing career was short-lived, his life in the off-road world was just beginning. Racing gave way to family four-wheeling when the kids came along. The Duff family helped form the very first Bronco-only club: Broncos West 4WD Club in Los Angeles. The club frequented Pismo Beach, Glamis, Big Bear, and other southern California hot spots. This club was one of many that they supported over the years, keeping the enthusiasm for family fun alive for the beloved Bronco. He went on to create another custom painted tricked out wagon top Bronco with bucket seats for the kids that was later made known as “Mrs. Duff’s Bronco” by a magazine article in Petersen’s 4 Wheel & Off-road in 1980. That article really put them on the map. They had it reprinted and sent it out with catalogs to customers. Still to this day, grown men tell him that they had it pinned up in their bedrooms. That article and the cartoon of him driving the Pony Express with his giant cowboy hat head made him a well-known face to Bronco fans around the world.
1978-1980 Duffy's Fire and Survival
Full steam ahead, the new business was doing well & Duffy developed parts for not only Broncos but Ford pickups and other four-wheel-drive vehicles building and selling out of the Gardena shop. A devastating warehouse fire the night right after Christmas in 1978 brought Duffy’s dreams and vision to a screeching halt. It was bad enough that the country was right in the middle of an economic crisis, wholesale accounts were going under and owing them money due to the gas crunch. This forced him to look outside his own business for a way to survive. He put out feelers and found interest in his proven suspension line in the likes of Mickey Thompson Shock Co. They were looking for suspension to match their imported Italian shocks. A deal was struck and the Duffy name was sold but luckily for the Bronco world, M/T didn’t see the value in the Bronco parts side of the business! After all, by this time, the first generation Bronco had ceased production. So, Mrs. Duff kept on selling those thirteen-part numbers out of their garage at home as Bronco-Haulic Accessories while Jim went to work for M/T as part of the sales agreement. In 1980, he won a SEMA Best New Off-Road product award for his camber adjusting ball joint eccentrics for the new Ford Twin-Traction Beam front ends – a product that is still produced today. While there he learned the importance of marketing and made the decision to utilize the signature “Duff Blue” color on several of the parts he sold for name recognition.
1980s — Sequim, WA & New Innovations
Time to move on! Once Jim’s employment contract was up, they moved to the small town of Sequim, Washington, and became James Duff Enterprises. When M/T went bankrupt not long after, Jim had the opportunity to get back the rest of his product line and the Duffy name. By then though, the James Duff name had gotten traction and the decision to stick to just Broncos, allowed him to focus and really dial in his products. It was just the Duff family in the early years in Sequim with the kids help working addressing catalogs and packaging products after school, they were a strictly mail-order operation with dealers across the country. Duff’s and only a few others supplied parts for the die-hard enthusiasts during these years. This was a breed of people that were determined to keep their rigs on (or off) the road as Ford was slowly discontinuing their support through the late ’80s & ’90s. James Duff continued developing better performing suspensions, working with spring and shock companies to create combinations that worked specifically for the Bronco, unlike larger suspension companies that produced “one size fits all” lifts.
Late 1980's-1990's
Under development is a term thrown around at Duff’s constantly! Jim could never leave well enough alone because let’s face it, it wasn’t! It was at this time that he patented the degreed polyurethane C-Bushings he developed to help solve the caster problems they found when lifting the short wheelbase vehicle. One of Jim’s most taxing yet innovative ideas was born in the late ’80s when he developed a disc brake conversion based on the 1977 Bronco Dana 44 that required a very large initial investment in casting knuckles and caliper mounting brackets. At the time, no one was doing such an expensive conversion and it took quite a while to get the kits moving but they’re now one of the company’s top sellers that utilizes off-the-shelf Ford replacement parts. In 1995, he created a design for a completely different fender flare that had hidden fasteners and extended out 4″ instead of the standard 2″ that had been available for decades. The Bronco market wasn’t quite ready for the design at the time and sales were lackluster. After manufacturer issues arose, the flares were discontinued. As years went by collectors sought them out and more and more people kept asking, so an improved design was re-released a few years ago.
The Second Generation
Forward progression made the hands of time move quickly, the kids grew into teenagers, then young adults and took on new roles in the company, Duff’s grew to a full warehouse with a showroom to help serve the budding early Bronco restoration craze. They went on to design and develop parts for the full-size Bronco and Bronco II’s, Rangers, and even Explorer as they entered the market. Each vehicle joined the family stable with a signature Duff paint job. Suzanne first started driving the ’84 Bronco II when she first got her license, then as their son Richard started seeing that driver’s license in sight, he decided he wanted a Bronco of his own. Together with James, he built “Hi-Ho Silver” from a shell of a ’77 that had been used as a test-fitting fixture that was rotting in the yard. It turned into the latest product testbed where they developed long travel suspensions for the changing market in the late 1990s. They also revisited the Bronco II and pioneered V8 conversions and the parts necessary to do so. No longer working out of shops next to the house, they grew into a large facility along the main highway in Sequim.
Farewell and Wheelin into the 2000's
Richard moved on to a career in auto design, Suzanne went on to take “Silver” to new heights, lifting it higher, going bigger on the tires, wheeling it harder and harder, to the point where fuel injection really became a necessity. As you can see from the family photo, the whole family was very excited about the addition of fuel injection to the 351W in 2002. She wheeled all over the country with her trusty pound dog rescue Ben for years- representing the company and visiting Bronco events all over Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah, and even all the way to Tennessee!
In 1996, Big events were happening across the country for the 40th anniversary of the Bronco— for the occasion, Jim finally finished the resto-mod of the Pony Express in time for an unveil at Fabulous Fords Forever at Knott’s Berry Farm in California, then flew parked it for safekeeping at friend Rob Smithson’s house. He and Suzy flew home and finally finished making Silver’s transformation into it being truly hers, with a Hawaiian floral themed paint job to reflect her style, it was unveiled at the 40th Anniversary Celebration held by the Early Bronco Registry in Victorville, California.
2006- The Second Generation Takeover and move to Knoxville
After over almost 40 years in the Bronco business, Mrs. Duff was growing weary. James was enjoying semi-retirement doing truck runs to Seattle and Tacoma for the shop and restoring the Pony. She finally decided she was getting tired of managing employees and wanted to enjoy some well deserved time off herself. As the new company president, one of Suzanne’s first tough decisions was to move the company to a bigger city as they had just plain outgrown Sequim. When they moved there, they never thought they’d still be selling Bronco parts 25 years later, let alone growing to 26 employees! She had visited Knoxville several times while on wheeling trips to Tellico, Windrock, and Wheelin’ in the Country. She really liked the area and Southern Hospitality. Ultimately chosen because of its central location for shipping times and rates for customers and being a larger city, it offers a wealth of suppliers for their manufacturing needs.
East Coast Evolution
Four wheeling in the South started pushing Suzy’s comfort level on her new paint job, the inspiration for Hi-Ho Loco– a big sister/evil twin to Hi-Ho-Silver. A body narrowed 8″ with a full-width Dana 60 and Sterling 10.25″ axles donated from a ’92 F350 keep the body a safer distance from trees and rocks, a well built 408 with Howell Injection, 5.0 Atlas T-case, C6, Duff long travel suspension with 4 link rear handles the rest. Suzy even talked Dad into coming out of retirement at age 68 for JUST one more paint job, the two of them did it in the middle of the production area in the small first shop in Knoxville.
Just after their sixth anniversary in town, they moved into a bigger building down the street! They now have a showroom to display a rolling chassis and 60 years of Duff and Bronco memorabilia. Being in the crossroads of major interstates, they get a lot more people stopping in to visit than in Sequim. But if you can’t make it to Knoxville, odds are you’ll see the Duff’s at a Bronco event with co-pilot Penny (the dog) the successor to Ben who was her co-pilot for over 13 years!
2014 Monster Mike Joins the Family
In April of 2014, Monster Mike made a trip from the West coast to the Bronco Super Celebration that would change his life forever. He came out to Tennessee to see what the largest Bronco Event in the country was all about and went back home with a growing friendship with Suzy.
Michael grew up as a 3rd generation Blacksmith working side by side with his father and Grandfather. He cut his teeth in the automotive industry working for Godspeed Fabrication and his own business, Bronco Garage. His father was an enthusiast of fast cars and 4×4’s so it was only natural that Michael took to racing and offroading. In 2012, he got his nickname Monster Mike after he acquired the Bronco that was built by Jesse James on the hit TV show, Monster Garage. Michael found it after it had traded hands a few times and was barely recognizable. In 2013 he took all his knowledge of blacksmithing, wrenching, and fabrication and resurrected the Monster Garage Bronco. Now, with a classic crawler built and under his belt Monster Mike was being recognized by magazines like Crawl and Bronco Driver and companies like Fuel & Maxxis Tire for front cover spreads and repping some of the newest products available on his Bronco at the biggest car & Bronco gatherings in the world like SEMA and Bronco Super Celebration.
Not long after Michael was gaining traction with the hit TV Bronco circulating the internet he met Suzy and their friendship grew. What she and Michael didn’t expect is just how much they had in common and their long distance friendship grew into a wedding engagement in less than 6 months! Michael packed up his life in Washington and joined the Duff team in Knoxville, TN. It didn’t take long for him to fit in and do his part to continue the legacy James Duff started over 50 years ago. Some of the key additions Michael has made since his time with Duff’s include T-rex arms, 2-1 exhaust systems, Smoothie Bumpers with Hidden Winch, Dual Sport 4-link, and the Full-size Bronco suspension systems. Michael has also brought even more manufacturing processes in house to make Duff’s the only full-service Bronco Parts manufacturer in the USA. This doesn’t even count the literally thousands of subtle product enhancements he has made ensuring Duff’s offers the best for your Bronco. To take it up one more notch, Michael launched Bronco Garage, a DIY YouTube channel, for all Bronco enthusiasts that want to build a better Bronco. The countless hours he spends every day are a true testament that he literally does bleed Duff Blue.
…or now Midnight Black, the powder coat color that Suzy handpicked to go on several of our premium offerings. We’ve switched quite a few items that were previously only offered in Duff Signature Blue to a beautiful fine grain Black metallic — because if a product is going to be given the Duff signature, it has to look the part!
Today- Twenty Years in Tennessee
2026 marks the 20th year since Suzanne took the reigns. Knoxville has proven to be a great home for Duff’s— closer for shipping costs for a large segment of the country and access to so many more Bronco events. Still family-led after 59 years. Still innovating. Still building the strongest, most trusted Bronco components in the world—crafted by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts.
Suzanne Duff, President of James Duff Inc., carries forward a legacy built over five decades while guiding the company into its modern era. Growing up in the Bronco community, she lived the brand long before she ever led it—wheeling, testing, attending events around the country, and helping shape the products Bronco owners rely on today.
Under her leadership, the company expanded manufacturing, modernized operations, strengthened community engagement, and relocated to Knoxville, TN—bringing Duff Tuff closer to events, suppliers, and the heart of Bronco culture. Suzanne’s vision balances innovation with heritage, ensuring that every part with the Duff name honors its roots while pushing the brand forward.
Whether behind the wheel of one of her Broncos or leading product development with Monster Mike, Suzanne embodies the passion, authenticity, and drive that define the Duff legacy. Her commitment to customers and the Bronco community remains the cornerstone of everything Duff Tuff creates.
Thanks for your interest in our history, our family and our company! We wouldn’t still be here after over 58 years if it wasn’t for our wonderful customers! We do it for the love of the Bronco and our appreciation for the Bronco family!
