SFJ 4x4 Studios presents, in my oversized four-wheel drive Jeep.
A Jeep podcast starring industry experts, curminosity, with mad scientists Scott Brown, use my drill
press as a sort of lathe, our host, Neil Simpson, if one light goes out they'll all go out.
We are really professional with Jeeps.
This is iSpeak Jeeps.
Good afternoon, evening, Merry Christmas, I don't even know where I was going with that.
All of a sudden, Merry Christmas popped into my head and it was like an intrusive head
thought that had to come out.
My name is Neil with SFJ 4x4, Simpson Family Jeeps, the iSpeak Jeep podcast.
I am joined in Grandma's couch studio by the illustrious, decorated, non-twinning, mad scientist
Scott Brown over on that couch over there.
Still boh-hum-buggin' it.
In the black hoodie.
Mm-hmm.
Out black.
Even my socks.
Do you remember when white socks were the social norm, the societal norm?
Yes.
My wife yelled at me about white socks, said I had to use black socks.
Well, it's, yeah, I mean, it's harder to, you know, they don't get dingy.
I switched to black socks entirely years ago.
This is, we're off the rails.
That's like the guy over there with, oh, he has black socks.
I do have black socks.
Were you going to try to put me in white?
I was.
Why?
Well, I mean, last week you had like crazy socks.
Yes, that is true.
So in the comments, we got Joe O'Brien saying good morning, Rob Stevenson saying Merry
Christmas and Daddy Jeep saying, tricked us with a second video, huh?
That was to trip up Nate.
I think it worked.
Oh, poor Nate.
No, it was, it was just, we recognized quickly that the audio wasn't what we wanted.
So we ended it real fast and started it back over.
Unplugged it and plugged it back in.
Plugged it back in.
That's exactly right.
That's what we did.
Good morning everyone who has joined us in our live.
If you are listening at a later time in your ear holes, understand that we are
so very thankful for you and prioritizing this program as part of your info
attainment in the Jeep and off-road community.
With that said, you too can join us nearly every Monday morning at roughly 10, 19 a.m.
And you can join this motley crew cast of characters that you often here get referenced
on air and you by jumping into the comments and we try to read the majority of comments.
We don't read them all, but you can get in there and share with other like minded Jeep
and four by four enthusiasts who are a valuable part of our big Jeep family.
So understand that we want you to jump into the live when you have the opportunity, you
know, as the holidays come up, maybe it will present itself.
Coming next week will be the last scheduled Monday podcast for you of the 2025 season.
Obviously, if you like to hurt your eardrums, you understand that traditionally we do the
progressive 12 days of Jeep miss.
While I recognize that that's not a incredibly unique term, I do stand on principle that
everybody is imitating us at this point, including Jeep mothership with their commercial and
they were lazy about it because they skipped a bunch and they even sing that they skipped
a bunch.
Yeah, yeah, which I employ their creativity in that, but we know you're listening.
We do.
We see you, you know, mothership and I'm glad that imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
Understand that through and through.
And it's not just the Jeep mothership.
It's all the it's all the stuff out there once once we start that trend.
And I see it kind of regurgitate into other.
I do think aspects of the industry, Nate, who's not in, he was saying that he's created
some of those songs and he's using AI to do this, but he's not only created an album of
Christmas Jeep songs, but then he went and created a country version of that album.
He went and created a rock or metal version of that album and super fun to go through
and listen to.
Yeah.
And he has posted links on a couple of our different social platforms and I encourage
people to.
He gives us a really good shout out in one of the songs.
Yes.
Towards the end of it, and it talks about getting a gift card from us and bringing the Jeep to
us.
It was really fun.
I love it.
And I think that, you know, spreading that, that, that kind of Jeep love around the
holidays is, is invaluable.
Today we're going to be talking about four wheel drive systems for before four before.
I know that last week was a bit tech heavy as well.
But realistically, we kind of do love what we do when it comes to Jeeps and that
is what we're good with.
Next week, we will be playing a game on air.
We are playing a game on air and to give you guys a sneak peek because you don't even know
yet.
No.
It is going to be a trivia format type game.
Oh good.
So it's going to be totally made up.
It's lies.
The points won't matter.
And Jeff is going to ruin us within the last 30 seconds of it.
It gets even better because at the end, the winner gets to come up with the
random words for the MagGab story that the loser has to then read.
Yeah, sounds how I know how much you love the MagGab.
You were jealous.
I do love MagGab.
That's why I did it.
Scott's obviously jealous.
He's excited.
Yeah.
So the, the fun thing is it'll, it'll be a holiday twist.
It's going to be a true or false type format.
And I'm going to give you options to challenge the answer and explain your
reasoning.
And if I like your explanation, you get the point anyways.
And if I don't like your explanation, if I don't like your explanation, he's
built it in.
He built in.
He's literally just saying like through the read through the lines.
Yeah.
But if I don't like your explanation, you lose a point.
So this is incompletely and absolutely arbitrary.
I apologize now for next week's game.
It's going to, I don't even, I have no expectation that it will be on the
rails.
It will just be off.
You'll be losing by halftime and then bring it out of the,
Yeah.
Come back.
Actually has happened.
That has happened.
You know what I thought?
I just had this brainchild.
And you know what?
I'm going to use our, our global listening platform to encourage
Jeanie to communicate with Nate.
Once Nate actually gets onto the appropriate, you know, live stream
that she wrote a 12 days of jeep miss a minute ago, which she had
wanted us to do on air, which, you know, we appreciate.
But they, they could, they could collab and, and she could get that
script over to Nate.
And then I feel like if AI is smart enough, we could dub Jeffery's
voice.
No, Jeff was supposed to sing that.
And they could dub Jeffery's voice.
You're giving Jeff ideas cause he hates singing.
So if you can make the computer do it, I would love to hear
things in Jeffery's voice.
I would maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice as well.
That would be fun.
Get through the chopper 12 days of Christmas.
All right.
So maybe I should make you guys read the MagGab in an accent.
Scott, what accents do you, do you do not money?
But there's some.
Could you say none?
He didn't say, I don't do it.
But could you imagine being like, all right, Scott, your random accent
is Irish.
You got to read this with an Irish accent.
At your ancestry, Scott, you can, I mean, employ your ancestry.
I know yours has to be Minnesota.
I'm sorry.
I am rock off road.
So I wonder if I rock has good salads.
You know, Minnesonians are always known for their salads.
Fruit salads.
Walnut salads.
Got to have chocolate candy.
Marshmallows in it.
Salad.
We need to have that conversation.
You know what?
We were going to talk about four before systems.
You know that part in the intro where I'm like, one light goes out, they all go out.
So I had a strand of 300 lights this week.
Now, now it's important for people to know we, again, my Christmas tree has to be cut
down out of a field.
It has to be drug through the snow or the, or the muck.
It's got to be precariously transported on top of a vehicle every single year.
That's what's Christmas.
You know, Christmas to me.
It's to then get put up and it randomly sits there for days, unlike in your household, right?
I, I don't care.
It can randomly sit there for days and we could decorate it on Christmas day.
I don't care.
This is part of the process for us.
And obviously it's blue spruce.
So it's the pine needles have to hurt you when you're decorating.
And we have to put lights on every year.
So I have 300 lights.
I'm doing the lighting and I, I moved it and the lights went out in the middle
of my 300 lights, which were already, you know, impart on the tree.
That's when the wire cutters come out, it goes in the garbage and I go to the store.
Most people just find the bulb and change the ball.
I found the bulb.
Okay.
I couldn't find any spare bulbs.
There you go.
And I actually did take like a short strand and I just tried to replace the bulb.
Doesn't work.
Didn't work.
Wrong bulb type.
Wrong bulb type.
Yeah.
And I'm just, I'm just hardwiring, hardwiring, hardwiring my life together.
It's going to be okay.
So when his tree burns down, it's going to be okay.
All right, Jeffrey, what, how do we start this off?
So we're going to start off with simply asking what does four wheel drive mean to
you?
And we'll start with Scott.
So four wheel drive in the traditional sense is locked in when it's in and all wheel
drive is not.
Okay.
So basically that means that all wheel drive can slip and four wheel drive cannot.
Okay.
It's looking at me with a blank stare.
Yeah.
It's so fascinating.
I was trying to really make it simple and they're not liking it.
Yeah.
Your oversimplification leaves one wanting.
Do you want to go next or you want me to go?
You know what?
I will take going last.
Okay.
Four wheel drive to me means that you can go better in wet or snowy conditions, but it
does not mean you can stop better.
That's what four wheel drive is.
I have a penchant.
All conditions, right?
In inclement conditions.
Inclement conditions.
All right.
Yeah.
That's interesting, but how's that different from all wheel drive?
I didn't ask how it was different from all wheel drive.
Okay.
I just asked what four wheel drive means to you.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Scott just wanted to put an extra spin on it.
He's excited.
All right.
So he's got all the jello in over there.
Oh gosh.
Okay.
So what's it mean to you?
Overcomplication per the usual.
Get ready for the internet haters to call me pedantic and hang on every last word
that I have.
The energy created at the power plant transferred through the transmission is redirected.
In a nature to drive axles, which then have the ability to transform the engines created
energy into forward or rearward direction at one of four tires at any moment.
I like my battery.
Yeah.
No, I doubt.
I doubt.
I don't know.
I don't doubt that you do.
But the issue here is when we talk about conceptualizing four wheel drive, obviously us in this room
and everybody, you know, our primary listening audience is going to think about jeeps, right?
But tractor trailers, big rigs have four wheel drive when it is, they can, some semi-trucks
that have dual rear axles.
The cool ones.
The cool ones.
Yeah.
Can lock in their rear drive axles.
The fronts aren't important in this situation.
No, no, no.
Fronts don't matter in that situation.
Unless you're really, really cool and then you have a front axle too.
Which is the coolest character like a deuce and a half, you know.
But and at that point in time, you get realistically eight tires, eight wheels
and tires that are driving.
But at any point in time, four wheel drive is, is energy created at the engine can then
appear at one of four drive tires.
So this is a convoluted subject matter.
I think it gets very confusing when you talk about one of four tires because it's four
wheel drive.
So is it not all four tires getting power?
Here's what's the difference?
So when it's all wheel drive, getting power spread out on those tires.
Here's a fun one.
If you have all wheel drive most of the time, because there's always going to be that one
outlier caveat, you jack up jack up one wheel on a hill, the car is going to kill you.
It's going to run over you.
If you have four wheel drive and you jack up one tire, it doesn't care.
Elaborate.
So if you have a Subaru, yes, and you jack up one tire on a hill, the car will
take off.
You have all four paws on the ground that have park work because it will slip.
So you pick up one tire and now that tire can turn and therefore the park does no longer
hold.
I've actually maybe done this once.
And then we have four wheel drive in your Jeep, you know, that your cool Jeep, not
your all wheel drive Jeep, you put it in four wheel drive and you jack up one tire.
The front's going to hold you because it's locked in all four corners, which is why
I picked that for my thing because I remember a car coming at me and let the jack down really
fast.
I need everybody to know at home because I am desperately holding on to my intrusive
head dots to not sound bite like Subaru.
If you don't know.
So you just do it at any time, right?
Scott had the world's uncoolest Subaru, a sob, which is which was at right at the
end when sob was being liquidated.
It was anything and everything.
It was a salad.
Like a vehicle.
AMC was bad.
This was a salad.
Yeah. Thanks, GM.
And I was right at the end when GM owned sob and they basically just bought a Subaru
and rebadged it as sob.
But the cool part was is it had leather heated seats, cold weather package at 50,000
miles and it was cheap.
I'm not going to lie.
It was kind of a cool looking car.
I do want to give that to you.
Yeah, I do.
But like nobody in the world can own something like that other than like mad
scientists type care.
Architects.
Yeah.
So all right.
God, just since we're off topic, anyways, in the comments, Michael says,
good morning, Bill McWilliam says hello.
Joe O'Brien apparently kidnapped Nate.
That's why Nate's not on.
You shouldn't admit that on air.
Just saying.
Then Daddy Jeep is mentioning he did go comment on the other video.
We got Jeanie saying she's going to try to get that over to him for the 12 days of Jeep
miss.
And then Donna is saying tag discount if you know, you know.
Yeah, love it.
Good morning.
Good morning to everybody.
Thank you for jumping on.
So I can I can appreciate what you're saying as far as that degree of power
distribution, you know, is it's only as good as how many tires they have on
the ground when you're all wheel drive.
If you're four wheel drive, it's kind of independent of each other.
They're they're doing their their own work because it's a 50 50 split of power.
Yeah.
And I think that we have to to dial this back and and I'm I'm recognizing my
thing so the power can be distributed to to one of four tires at any given
time.
But this is like this is this caveat conversation.
The fact that it is going to be distributed to to based on the drive
axle itself.
Yes.
I'm thinking that out of the equation almost.
Right.
As all wheel drive conversation.
Yeah.
So the the the funny thing and I feel like I have to lament on this
and we're going to have to break this down for people dial it back to
what it used to be to what it currently is.
And because I recognize that there was a time when I was learning to drive
and of course I was interested in in four B fours the traditional sense
trucks and jeeps and semis not semis in this sense.
And I remember some you know at that time some old timers being
like well that's not four wheel drive that's actually two wheel drive
because again when we talk about energy created by the power plant
and the drivetrain being distributed to a drive axle or at this point
in time where they call that I always liked it at that time too
because you had front rears.
Do you remember guys calling it you know my rear ends.
This is just my front rear end and my rear rear end.
Yes.
And old old people old old guys back in the day old school
stuff right because rear wheel drive cars.
I don't know what this means a two wheel drive is just a one wheel
drive.
That's correct.
Yeah.
Correct that and that was the thing is that back in the day rear
wheel drive vehicles were the societal standard up until roughly
the 80s.
You know what I'm just going to really break it.
The reason why an all wheel drive will kill you if you jack
up one tire because it has a differential in the transfer
case which we're going to get to in Jeep Jeep does this.
Yes.
OK. So and we're going to get to that Jeep does this in the
70s as yeah when we get to that I actually have a question for
Scott.
Don't forget it.
Don't forget it.
Jeffrey I won't.
OK so we have this this social industry automotive world
standard up and through the 70s pretty much into the 80s as
rear wheel drive vehicles are the norm and people who were
driving in the 50 60 70s and earliest 80s will remember how
challenging that vehicle was in inclement conditions especially
when there was you know way more snow and you had to go uphill
both ways.
That's correct that's back in my day and of course but at that
time we also had an appreciation for doom buggies
oversized go carts.
We had these rear wheel drive vehicles that kind of went
anywhere off road sort of well but that was in arguably in my
opinion a bigger part of our recreational off highway vehicle
or off highway recreational vehicle motorsports industry
that doom buggies and of course we had three wheelers and are
you know with all those having a common well and our four
wheelers of that that era that you have to go fast when you
went off road if you stopped you were stuck not only but not
only did you go have to go fast but they had a singular drive
axle they literally had their rear drive axle was locked
together often times.
Yes.
OK.
And so in that sense you had two tires which were entirely
locked together constantly in forward or rearward motion
basically a spool basically spooled.
Right. You had a singular drive axle think about your most
rudimentary go cart or three wheeler design you just have a
single drive axle of sorts.
Yeah unless you're one of those poor kids just had the one idler
on the one side and the chain on the other and really only
had one wheel then you really only have one wheel ever.
Yeah.
So I'm just going to jump in comments real fast because Joe
Brian commented that's called a power divider on the tandem
axle semis.
Yes.
And his rotator at work also has lockers too.
Super cool thing.
Nate has joined the chat and he says so that's how you get me
kill the show after I'm the first to comment.
I don't believe it.
Don't I can't see evidence of it.
Right.
And then you got Scott Lindquist saying my first car was a
rear wheel drive 1978 Volvo with a hand crank moonroof classic.
And if Scott Brown's Subabru wasn't the worst vehicle that
somebody could own.
I think Lindquist just dropped the mic.
Right.
I had these friends in Scottsdown cross.
I had these friends in high school.
Their first car was a 78 Mercedes Benz and it was something
they it was a barn find and have the crank window.
It had it had power windows.
And so what the moonroof.
But I I I genuinely don't know.
Now I want to know if at least a sub had a power roof.
Oh man.
And I OK.
So here we go.
So here's the thing.
I got to stay the course.
What's that mean.
So rear wheel drive was applicable or functional for
these vehicles like Scott Ells or like my my my
friends the Melchers or I just this weekend I saw that
somebody's winter vehicle they had a four door some GM
application out driving around in the schmutz of northeast
in Ohio and I was like good for them.
It's not a car that I've seen on the road in all season
all year and all of a sudden there's this you know late
seventies four door and I'm like what is that thing and
what are they doing out with it.
But the cars were heavier and you put stuff in the trunk
to make it have you put stuff in the trunk.
It's like a pick them up truck to will drive kids to jump
up and down in the back seat.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You could put on some some knobby or tires in the
rear and eventually at some point in time some form of
traction aiding device like a posse or a true track by
today's standards was added towards the the later
production of a lot of these vehicles.
They weren't just open.
So I know this is really off the rails but it's
too fun not to say.
So there was an advertisement in the late seven or
sixties into the seventies for Camaro.
They had aerosol cans in the trunk that you could
remotely activate that sprayed stuff on the
rear tires help get you traction.
Made them stickier.
Yes.
But you also you you ate through your tires because
that same compound with the girl that was not getting
stuck didn't care in the ad.
I'm sure I'm sure anyway I love Amy's in the
comments saying I bet it was the ambassador.
Oh she saw an ambassador yesterday in the snow.
She was really sad.
What color was it red.
This was the ambassador that makes perfect sense
because I was ugly as sin.
Deserved to die.
I felt it was OK.
There's uglier ones that deserve it more.
But anyway.
OK.
Because we had to figure out what year it was last night.
Brown Brown.
The browser is so funny.
All right.
Folks Nate Nate was so upset that you called him out
on the comments that he sent us a screenshot
proving he was the first to come.
All right.
That's dedication right there.
I love it.
Good man.
Good man.
Put him in his place.
Nate were you even on when we first started
because we were talking about your great Christmas
music and your albums.
You'll have to go back and that.
And Jeannie will be reaching out to you.
So anyway I'm going to get us back on track.
So back in the day when we finally decided
like this just traction in the back
is not for all it's cracked up.
Well and that's the thing.
There was a bunch of people who did
really effective did effective driving.
We as a society moved forward.
We just had low standards.
Anyway now we got into someone that came up
the idea we need to have power to the front.
And how are we going to do that with a bunch of gears
and you know because we're ugg hammers and rocks
and you just hit it harder until it works.
And so you just put some gear oil in a case
with a bunch of gears that basically
is dividing the power front to the back
and you take your rear axle
and that's why they call them rears
and stuck it in the front and made it steer.
Yes.
And down in basic stuff.
And you had your lever in the cab
that was hard mounted to a rod
that would shove the lever over in the transfer case
to make that all happen.
So it was very much you know back in the day
with even some of our 70s CJs
you have to be like just slightly moving
hubs locked in and just kind of push on the stick.
And you kind of get this like moment
where you can feel like oh there it is and it goes in.
Everything engages.
Yeah.
And it's important to note you know
just being overly pedantic again
is that Jeep obviously originates a bit
of this technology in the 40s, right?
And at that point in time it is
as far as the front is concerned
when we touched a little bit on lockout hubs
in the military application we have dry flanges, right?
And I'm not going to get into that
because that was last week's podcast.
But we have again this power distribution forward
and power distribution rearward
constantly working to change the energy of the power plant
to forward or rearward momentum at the tires.
And the biggest thing is why that works
is because you're on a slippery surface.
So when you go to turn something has to speed up
and something has to slow down.
That's correct.
When it's locked together it can't do that
which is why you get the four wheel drive hop
or banging noises or other bad things.
We've all done it at some point.
Well, and that is why you know a spool is.
Not good.
One of the things that they consider challenging
about those earliest vehicles
that did not have an open differential
or our doom buggies.
You were skidding a tire.
You were always skidding a tire
because as a friendly reminder
I feel like we need to sound like this
because I feel like it's constant
and we constantly talk about.
As you turn a vehicle one tire turns faster
and slower than the other one.
So moving in an arc.
Because they're moving in an arc.
Theoretically as you enter a turn
the inside tire has to turn less
to cover the same amount of a given area
for the vehicle that the outside tire.
So the outside tire needs to cover more distance
if they are locked together.
A, your turn is going to be wider and more cumbersome.
It's actually going to push you slightly forward
or scrub your front tires.
If you, again, if you were on an old school three wheeler
that didn't have.
Which is why it rolled over and you know, it got hurt.
And so I learned to tip my Jeep
and like balance my weight
so that I was had one tire in the air.
Yeah, my three wheeler.
Sorry.
I learned to tip my three wheeler
so that I had one tire in the air
so I could take tighter inside turns.
But.
That's also how people roll them.
That's absolutely how people roll them.
You know, and that's why, you know, we had to outlaw
one of the funnest software vehicles ever created.
But I'm not going to get on my soapbox now.
So, because humans lowest common denominator.
Anyways, and ultimately if you have your rear spooled.
We had to outlaw it
because people were doing exactly what you were doing
and got hurt.
Yeah, and then they blame the manufacturer.
No, take some freaking responsibility
for the fact that you're not a proficient driver
behind your recreational vehicle.
This is not a societal issue.
This is a you issue.
Any who's.
So, when you have a tire that are locked together
like a spool or a single drive axle,
your turn radius increases exponentially.
All right, so you need to have an open axle
so that you can take tighter turns
with a lack of impedance on your front steer axle.
But that also happens when you put in four wheel drive
that's locked in
because now the front and the back are locked together.
So, same thing, you have to take wider turns.
Yes.
Tires will scrub or hop
unless you're in what we're having right now
which snowy conditions.
Then you don't feel it.
You don't feel it as much.
A tire will slip.
I am gonna jump to the comments
just cause Charles just joined us
and he actually recognized he missed answering us
last week when we asked him a question.
So, he responded with that.
It was about his 89 YJ.
It started out with a 4-2 18 years ago
and got upgraded to a 350.
Well, that's why it's the only reason it's okay.
Yep.
I appreciate that.
And then, legquist is oof.
I have many three-wheeler stories.
Machines from the kickstart still have not healed,
not even mentioning rolling them.
Hi, I know, I get it.
I feel this in my soul, every bit of that.
Yeah.
So, we could do a whole podcast on three-wheels.
Oh, absolutely.
If you haven't wrecked a three-wheeler,
have you really lived?
Have you really lived?
Just showing our ages what we're doing.
All right, so, here we go.
Here we go, yo.
Here we go, yo.
Oh, no.
What's the deal with four-wheel drive, yo?
Oh, jeez.
All right, so now, now we have open.
We are open, right?
We have two-wheel drive people.
People are stuck on just a slicks,
like just a bias-ply tire suck
and where the tread design sucks.
And even though you're driving through,
too, you get to the pavement.
Yeah, you just, what in doubt, throttle out, right?
Speed.
Speed is your friend.
And somehow we still managed to drive uphill both ways
in six-feet of snow with these two-wheel drive cars.
You were pretty good until the front end was downhill.
I guess.
And you tried to back up.
You were done.
Done.
Okay, so somewhere we move to front-wheel drive vehicles.
Our technology starts to become more proficient.
And in that same timeframe
where we're becoming more proficient with technology,
we also start to play with all-wheel drive systems.
And Jeep's foray into this is called the Quadra Track.
Yes.
Okay, now, I need to differentiate.
Quadra Track is different than Quadra Tech, okay?
Quadra Tech is an online, at this point in time,
e-commerce retailer of Jeep and 4B4.
Which you could not buy your parts from.
You should buy them from us, but anyway.
Ooh.
Shots from us.
And it was a, and if you're new to the industry,
that oftentimes gets to be a little confusing
cause people, you know, these, these terminologies
down similar related.
Cause they've used, like there's been Quadra Track
and Quadra Track 2 and then I think there's a 4.
I don't blame Jeep, I blame Quadra Tech,
but I'm not trying to get into that.
I blame Jeep because it just made the name so convoluted
and they've changed it 14 times.
Well, the last piece is I am going to say that
the technology that comes out in the Quadra Track initially
is the great grandpa of the current Quadra Drive system
in our grand Cherokees to date, sort of.
The idea.
Correct.
That was the idea.
The concept lives on.
The mechanics is nowhere near the same.
No, not even remotely close.
That's what I'm saying.
It's a great grandpa.
See, that's like saying that a JL is not derived
from an M38 or an MB.
They are, the mechanics aren't the same,
but that's a great, great grandpa.
And he was,
Michael's in the comments saying in late 80s,
he drove a 77 Dodge Diplomat with a cone,
cone posse, sure grip on the snow tires
into the woods to recover a friend
and his new four by four Ranger successful mission.
That is how we got around now.
So someone did that and they said,
you know what would be cool is if we made that
into a actual four wheel drive.
And that is basically what quad tracked.
I could not have happened in a better time.
No, no.
So it came out in 1973, primarily behind
the Turbo 400 transmission.
And they was their first like baby steps
into a chain transfer case.
And because of this, the chain is like,
on this. Four inches wide.
Like four inches wide.
It's ridiculously wide.
Because to that point was everything was
hard gear driven.
Yes.
And change is hard for humans.
And we got to go overkill.
Cause we, and then we got to go overkill
because I mean, we had these meshing of sprockets
and gears before.
And now there's going to be a scary chain.
And when I was saying no,
I was talking about Michael's comment
could not have come in a better transition.
Cause this is about Scott's going to expand upon it.
So that is now how the power is derived to the front.
And on top of that, they also made it,
I swear, like the, the Spicer 18 guy
came walking in with this cane.
It was like, well, if we're going to do a chain,
then we got to put both outputs off to the side because,
you know, and they're like fine, you know,
Charlie will do that for you.
I blame Dana for not wanting to retool axles.
Something.
That's, follow the money.
I think it was just they didn't want to retool axles.
They knew how to make axles, you know,
both, both offset.
Joe, we'll get to your comment here in just a few minutes.
So now they have to divide the power
so that it's not going to hop, skip and bang
because they want to make this all the time
four wheel drive.
So they go, well, how are we going to do this?
Well, let's make it a posse.
And it is actually a cone posse.
You basically have a machined cone
and basically a cup that fits into
and it, the friction of those together
is what makes it not want to slip, but will slip.
And that's why the oil was so important
in the 73 to 79 quadratrack.
And you'll hear people still to this day,
get on a soapbox about what the oil was
and there was magic in the oil.
And there's literally people buying new old stock oil
or shelved it away, that kind of stuff
because it had to have the special slip additive
to help those cones not instantly destroy themselves.
Right.
And I even had people go as far as like machine the cones
that make a new surface.
And then they have the shema like there,
you could go so far down the rabbit hole on this.
It's not funny.
Very complicated on paper works great.
We've had people that told really outlandish stories
about quadratrack.
That they had those posies and the axles.
Yes.
Nope.
It was locked from front to rear.
Nope.
Was nothing farther from the truth.
Yes.
Well, because, well, here's the thing though,
later on in specifically the Grand Cherokee,
we have a similar limited slip of sorts.
We have a LSD function out of the transfer case.
Yep.
But they did it hydraulically.
And we have hydraulic traction devices.
Specifically in the front.
In the differential.
Yep.
And so the misnomer is anytime that you are,
what I'm gonna call an average enthusiast.
And you could very much be in love with your Jeep,
the Jeep brand.
I always, I say this with the most love and enthusiasm.
One time, Jeffrey was the Jeep guy
in his group of personal acquaintances.
Arguably still is.
Yeah.
And Jeffrey's.
Upgrade now.
Jeffrey's understanding was still different
than Scott's understanding about technical minutia.
Absolutely.
Right?
Significantly.
And so that is a normal human repetitive behavior.
And of course,
if your cousin uncle twice removed father-in-law character,
worked at the dealership as a salesman,
as a lot attendant, as a whatever.
He just knew bits and pieces
and he'd bring it home to his acquaintances.
And he was the Jeep guy of some knowledge set.
Man, that's, you're calling me out
cause I was the dealer guy for a minute.
I know.
I know, Jeffrey.
Yeah.
But so speaking of the, the quadra tracks
and the quadra track too
and all of those in the grand Cherokee specifically,
when I was selling them,
they had what was considered the all-time four-wheel drive.
What is all-time four-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive?
And is there a difference?
Yeah.
So let me finish up my last point
and then I think we gotta go to that.
I'm with you.
The contention is that as technology changes,
the human understanding of it kind of
doesn't change as significantly.
Yeah.
The conversation that there was a visc...
Or that there was a friction cone
in the early quadra track systems
as the later models, you know, that were similar enough,
the human understanding just kind of grossly generalizes.
It was magic.
It was magic, but it grossly generalizes it.
Much like you're asking about all-wheel drive
versus all-time four-wheel drive.
All-time four-wheel drive.
Now, there is, as we unpack this,
I like to get into the conversation about words have power,
words have meaning.
And depending on each and every manufacturer,
they may use a slightly different wording.
And I've tried to get into this
specifically with traction devices before,
utilizing the umbrella terminology
of limited slip differential.
The term posi was actually a GM coined term,
which was at first unique to their specific
limited slip differential technology.
Right, because the Shergrip is a Mopar version.
Correct.
Yeah.
And Shergrip never caught on as much as posi
as a universally accepted understanding.
Because I actually don't know.
Was posi standing for positive engagement?
Yes.
I mean, it's posi traction.
So posi track was the-
And at this point, we're even got, you know,
like the comment posi cone or posi clutch.
And if I'm not mistaken,
the GM was a clutch style.
So posi original, that technology was basically
a series of friction discs or cones
that passed over each other.
And much like your clutch disc itself
in a manual transmission.
And it was the engagement and disengagement
of friction that initiated the energy transfer.
Which is literally what the clutch track was as well.
Correct.
Which is different than helical cut traction devices,
much like today's true track, which we have seen before,
which is yet different
than hydraulically engaged traction devices.
And really what it all sums down to, you know,
kind of making us a little bit simpler.
With the quadra track, we just drove it.
It was in all wheel drive all the time.
It didn't matter if it was a 90 degree sunny day
or 10 degrees in snow.
You didn't have to think about what was it doing.
It was doing it all on its own.
Now, just because we're there and somebody will say it,
they did have an option for low range.
It was literally a separate part that bolted on
and you would have a cable or a lever to engage it.
But it was actually a whole different part
that you would be added at any point when you had that.
So that's done, that's on the shelf.
So then we went into the Grand Cherokee.
They wanted to do a similar enough experience.
And there was some other stuff in the Wagon ears
that had similar this, but I don't know them as deeply.
So I'm not gonna go off into that tangent
because I think the ZJ Grand kind of also encompasses that.
Where they, again, they wanted to make it simple.
It's always in all wheel drive.
You don't have to think about it.
You just are driving along
and they did that with the hydraulic vicious coupler
which by the time we got them, I wasn't gonna say it.
I'm just doing my best.
I'm doing it, it's a vicious coupler.
It is.
A vicious, vicious axle.
I remember when we were trying to load the ZJ.
I was gonna let it go.
I wasn't.
The truths of head thoughts are strong in this one today.
And we opened the door and it falls off, you know,
because of the ZJ.
Yeah.
And the coupler had died.
So it would not go forward or backwards
and they were convinced the transmission was junk.
Yes.
Nope.
Transfer case.
There was no coupling left.
Right.
There was no friction material left to friction.
Yeah.
So that was the other problem.
So then we got into our small Cherokees
is really where they really saw it a lot
where we had part time and full time four wheel drive.
And you would have people argue
till they were blue in the face.
Which one was appropriate for what?
Yes.
The MP242 is what broke the mold
on this particular conversation.
Love the transfer case.
At first we thought it was junk.
Then we realized we loved it.
Yes.
Go ahead, your turn.
So keep going.
But you would always have people debating
what was proper for when.
But basically the 242 allowed you to have all wheel drive
for, I think it's a little bit questionable
to locked four wheel drive
where it is now like a traditional four wheel drive
where it cogs together
and now it will hop, skip, jump and pop.
And then you also have low range.
You have the best of all worlds.
And I'm not mistaken.
They're kind of like a true track inside
for the all wheel drive use.
So because that they don't wear out
they just kind of always work.
Actually a very robust transfer case.
The biggest challenge is they back in the day
they didn't make an SYE for them
for Evers.
And then it was just a hack and tap
which we could do a whole podcast on.
Yeah, that's a whole nother.
So because of that they never quite got the attention
they deserved.
But to me that is your best option.
That is what you, it was all mechanical.
Everything kind of worked without thinking.
You just had to argue with whoever you ran into
about when you use part time, when you use full time.
So full time it was going to be
the concept of all wheel drive.
Yep. Okay.
So that was what was confusing to people
because we again, words have power full
as a good Western cowboy American
I should be full of blank and vinegar.
And so I should, no, at actually full time
was what if you just wanted to run around in the snow
and maybe a little bit of inclement weather.
You could put it in and drive it on the street.
In the summer.
Okay, in the summer.
And part time was actually, hey I'm a little stuck
and I'm going to go through a mud bog
but I want maybe high range.
You're gonna put it into part time
which was confusing because you're like,
well this is when I really need four wheel drive.
Again that concept of four wheel drive
that I've got equal energy distribution forward
and rearward.
Part time and all wheel drive
you could have a 2080 split.
In theory you could have a 9010 split.
And what's confusing about this
when I say that folks is the energy that is transferred
that comes from the drive train
that is then transferred to the axles
is not this 5050 split.
And in theory in my overly complicated brain
understand it's never really 5050
but it's darn near close.
And of course that's where this cone and friction device
and in the transfer case magic is intended to happen
is to bring it in as close to 5050 as possible.
But all wheel drive and full time
is this concept where you could have an 8020 split
with 80% of the energy being transferred
to the rear axle and only 10 or 20% transferred forward.
Full time four wheel drive or excuse me
all time four wheel drive
don't use that full time that's very confusing again.
All time four wheel drive
again seeks to create a closer to 5050 split.
Now I wanna address in part
what Joe O'Brien is asking about
and how this is relevant to today's vehicle production
is specifically the 392 the Hemi, right?
And how the transfer case in it works.
It is going to be more of that MP242 full time system
where it is intended to be constantly
having a tug of war of energy distribution
forwards and rear words
so that it's never going to break free.
They want to reduce the applied torque
or energy load of the drivetrain.
And instead of just hammer in the rear axle
or hammer in the front axle per se,
they're trying to have this kind of tug of war
that's constantly going back and forth
with energy redirection.
And today we now can have speed sensors on both ends.
We can have a computer that's constantly
looking at that torque divide
and then they can then have an electronic powers modulator
that basically the computer can be then changing
how much goes to which direction.
And all of this has done faster than you can blink.
And because of that, right?
And again, it's a far cry
from that original kind of design
which was all mechanical.
Because of that, you can actually utilize
computer programming specifically,
kind of given to us by Z Automotive
and you can trick the 392 Hemi applications
into being primarily rear wheel drive.
So mechanically with what you have available to you
in a 392 Wrangler or Grand Cherokee,
you're not going to be able to select that
because the mothership doesn't want you
to be able to do smoky burnouts
and like Ford Mustang owners, eat the crowd.
They don't want that liability on them.
And they don't trust their base
that they're selling their vehicle still.
So.
They've seen you on three wheelers.
They've seen me on three wheelers.
Z Automotive gives us that ability
by allowing us to go in and turn off air quotes
or the average enthusiast turn off the full time capacity
and trick the Jeep into thinking
it just needs to be in rear wheel drive.
And in that sense, sending roughly 90 plus percent
of the energy to the rear wheels
so that you can in fact do smoky burnouts
with your Wrangler.
America.
Amen.
So to kind of elaborate upon that,
we see this rise and fall of four before technology
through the 80s because now we've got front wheel drive cars.
Yeah.
A lot of cool, a lot of cool cars
that were more horsepower inclined
are moving to front wheel drive
in some way, shape or form.
And what that did was how I was talking about
rear wheel drives being functional
through the 50s through the 70s
as we reduce the overall weight of and construction
of our automobiles because obviously now
we started to work with more plastics.
We had, we started to worry about fuel economy
because of the fuel crisis of the 70s.
What it did, if you were to take that same lightness
out of a vehicle.
So you took a car that a car
that was previously 3,500 pounds
and now a car you shaved a thousand pounds.
What's that?
5,800 pounds?
Could have been.
How heavy is an ambassador?
That's what I wanna.
And you took a car that was, you know,
well over a ton, ton and a half
and you reduced it to a 2,000 pound vehicle.
If you would have made that rear wheel drive,
it would absolutely go nowhere in crummy conditions.
So by putting your drive axle underneath
the weight of the engine,
you were utilizing your best place of traction, right?
We are running out of time
if you wanna get to your 12 days of Jeep.
He doesn't.
I don't.
I know he doesn't.
That's why I'm interrupting him.
So as the technology increases
with that front wheel drive,
now we end up with lots of spin outs on ice.
And I remember having a number of vehicles
where even if the weight of the engine was insufficient,
if one tire got up off the ground
or got onto a slick patch,
you were absolutely stuck.
And to be his problem,
I think what made front wheel drive work
is suddenly now you didn't have to worry about,
does Joe Blow average know how to handle a vehicle
when the rear back end steps out?
Because now the front tires
can be going 1,000 miles an hour
and they're just going in sort of a direction.
Yes.
Where if that was rear wheel drive,
it would be back tire against the curb
and you had to know what to do.
You still got stuck.
And that is where the engineers understood
that ABS talk technology could be used for more
than just slowing you down when the brakes were locked up.
Yeah.
And it's important to understand that
where we talked about four by four doesn't,
four wheel drive does not mean four wheel stop per se
because you could at that time
and certainly the olden days
with the early advent of four wheel drive,
40s to 60s,
the brakes would just lock straight up, right?
So yes, they would start moving
but then they would lock straight up.
There was no, we learned in Driver's Ed
to pump our brakes.
I mean, the biggest thing I can,
the traction from what you said is
when you're in four wheel locked,
your axles are tied together.
So if your rear brakes are working
a little bit better than the fronts,
you do slow down a little bit better
but if you're on ice, nothing stops you.
Correct.
And we had so much to talk about here
because I wanted to talk to you about
a van I was in the other day
and the fact that I was able to mindlessly
just hammer on the throttle and take off.
And while the front end started to like skid
just a little bit like you were talking about,
ABS took over and grabbed me.
With all the anti-slip technology.
All the anti-slip, I was able to just,
I didn't have to think.
I didn't have to be a skillful driver.
I didn't have to be present or intimate with my vehicle.
Honestly, when that technology
started becoming more prevalent,
it was a challenge for somebody like us
who has played in the snow and ice
and has driven and known what the vehicle,
how they handle and then all of a sudden
you got something that grabs you
and does something different with the vehicle
and you almost have to relearn how that vehicle handles.
Or just turn it off, which is what I do.
And they keep making it better
because I mean the first ABS systems
were garbage in my opinion
because all it did was make you go straight
through the intersection, not sideways.
Where I would rather pump my brakes
and be able to be stopping faster.
But it's amazing like on my JT,
a driveway can be completely snow covered,
put in reverse two wheel drive
and slightly get on the gas.
And because the ABS and the traction control
will do its magic,
I can back up pretty smooth
and two wheel drive in a very bad situation.
And honestly too, having all of that technology,
having the fact that you have the confidence
that it's gonna drive well,
drivers are going faster in these winter conditions.
Which is not a good thing.
Because you have more confidence
because you're not feeling the constant slip and slide
like you used to.
You're not feeling the slide on the brakes
because your ABS is doing the work for you.
So then when you do get into a slick situation,
your vehicle's going too fast to be able to control it.
Yeah, so I guess as our PSA is that as we become,
and not so much the Jeep community, honestly,
because the Jeep community still takes a lot of pride
on being very aware of how their Jeep works.
Additionally, we have a lot of safeguards.
I was involved in a very brief online interaction
where somebody's shift indicator said service four wheel drive.
I had to just kind of appropriately reaffirm to them
that that actually is a secondary fault code.
And that could be a multitude of issues.
And actually it is one that can clear on its own
based on the computer needs to see and check all of these boxes
to make those minute instantaneous changes
like we were talking about with the transfer case,
with the ABS, with the shift indicator.
And so ultimately Jeep is pretty good at it.
But as a whole of society,
and something my parents always told me,
they weren't worried so much about me,
they're worried about the other drivers on the road.
The people who are absolutely negligent.
And again, as I was in this van, this minivan driving it,
and I was like, man,
I could totally be a distracted driver right now.
And I don't have to be that aware of the vehicle
I can tell is actually doing a lot of the work for me.
But I can tell that because I'm me.
And that gives you a false sense of confidence.
Absolutely.
Which is why we have Mustang drivers now.
Wow.
I really wanna get close to ending on that.
The piece I will encourage people
is that if you have a new and or modern-esque vehicle,
and of course, Jeannie is mentioning that,
you know, people encourage her to do a burnout
and she goes, that's a Jeep, I can't do a burnout,
and she cranks the radio instead, which is cool.
If you are stuck both in a front-wheel drive application
or in arguably potentially in your Jeep,
or if you do want to try to do a burnout in your Jeep,
I suggest you take the traction control off
by pushing the button and allowing it to illuminate.
You'll get the little squiggly line on the dash.
That's when you know you're ready.
The squiggly line tells you you're ready for your burnout.
Right.
The squiggly line says you get to be a real driver again.
Sort of.
Because if you get too far, it will turn back on.
You know what?
That was what I was most disappointed about manual.
You know, when they said, well, it's an automatic
and you're gonna be able to shift it manually.
They, no, I want to flog on that transmission.
And they were like, no, we're gonna put the shift button.
You could hard it.
So we're gonna stop you at these parameters.
But realistically, traction control is not your friend
when you're stuck big time.
So you can use it at first because it will try
and help you kind of, you know, redirect that power
via ABS modulation and maybe some of this brief differential.
I think the most dangerous part of it
is when it bogs you down so much
when you're trying to enter an intersection
but you're on ice and the system takes over
and kills power, trying to give you traction.
Yes.
So now you can't go as you're trying
to cross an intersection.
Yes.
That is dangerous in my opinion.
And that is the challenge between proficient drivers
like you oftentimes find in the performance industry.
And I do give Jeep drivers that credit
and just your average Joe Blow
who there's more vehicles on the road than ever.
There's more in production.
It's very challenging to do a waiting of, you know,
a wait as in checks and balances
to validate the Jeep off-road for before community
and all the other Jim Bob Harries
who are on the road with us.
It's a progression of where this technology has come from.
I guess a couple of takeaways.
Like I said, traction control can be your best friend
and your worst enemy, you know,
just cause you can go fast like snow now.
And all how you use it.
Yep.
Correct.
It is all how you use it.
Hopefully this was clear as mud for you
and it was enjoyable
and we didn't make your eyes totally glaze over.
Well, Billy Jills in the comments going,
time to sing yet?
Oh my God.
I would say that.
And now we are here for the meat and potatoes
of the episode.
Yeah.
And Scott, you have a stack of photos there for you
this time.
Ooh, I like photos.
I know.
Yeah.
So if you're watching online
or maybe this is a more of a reason for you
to log on and find this video on the,
both the SFJ.
I already have some intentions with these photos.
I speak Jeep.
I have not seen the photos.
I can only imagine what Jeff and Davey came up with.
So Davey came up with basically all of these photos.
I apologize in advance.
You're the producer.
I'm the yellow Davey.
You're not absolved from this.
I literally told Davey,
hey, if you use those pictures,
you are going to be made fun of on air
and he accepted, so.
Folks understand that if you have small children around,
you should probably relocate them out of the room.
If you have a dog that's sensitive
to shrill noises and bad sounds,
definitely turn this off.
If you are a farmer and you're concerned that your herd
may fall over and die from ultrasonic ear pain
and brain bleeds,
I encourage you to not have this playing.
Well, that's what happens when I play guitar.
I'm sorry.
Last week, we did the first four verses.
We'll add four verses.
You're going to get all eight days now.
And as a true team effort in the shenanigans,
Jeffrey will be playing and strumming on his guitar.
Scott is back with pictures,
which was a good harken back to the olden days
when we started this.
Yes.
And inappropriate comments when appropriate.
Love it.
Yep, that's where we're at.
So we're going to.
Oh, I meant to bring my ukulele for Randall.
Darn it.
You're going to have to do that on the final.
Final one.
Whenever you're ready.
On the first day of Jeep,
I miss my true love gave to me a duck perched on my new Jeep.
That's a JK.
That's not new.
It's new to you.
Maybe that's got 16s.
Or those and all those might be the same model.
JK.
As a base model.
JK aquarium glass.
That is an absolutely atrocious.
I have good job, Davey.
I have issues.
Good job, Savage on the second day of Jeep.
Are you going to strum?
I did.
You didn't strum.
Nobody heard you.
My true love gave to me two toe straps.
Purple.
And a duck perched on my new Jeep.
Not new.
On the third day of Jeep,
miss my true love gave to me three skid plate.
Why do we need three of these?
That's a frilly cross member for a TJ Wrangler.
Why?
And nobody needs this unless you got three TJs
and all need the rear cross member changed out.
This is what happens when you let the videographer
pick out the pictures.
That's not even a skid plate per se.
It's a belly pan.
No.
And it's not even relevant.
God, what is it?
Savage.
Anyway.
You're working Christmas Eve now.
Two toe straps.
Purple.
And a duck perched on my 20 year old Jeep.
On the fourth day of Jeep miss,
my true love gave to me four fricking crap.
Nope.
Switch that out.
Switch those garbage frigging shocks out.
Davey's fired.
They're Falcons.
Who are those who don't know what that is?
Nope.
They're not.
We're putting Fox on or nothing.
Now we have Fox's upgraded.
Three skid plates, two toe straps
and a duck perched on my 20 year old base model Jeep.
Scott, keep up with the pictures.
I'm trying.
Real fast.
Your sister's in the comments going live for this
during the holidays on the fifth day of Jeep.
Miss my true love gave to me five beadlock rings.
Really crappy ones.
Those are like steel beadlock rings for a UTV.
Just for people who are at home.
What the picture looks like.
Four Rezzy shocks that should be Fox only.
Three TJ cross members, two toe straps.
Purple.
And a dog perched on my new Jeep.
Look at my budget on the sixth day of Jeep.
Miss my true love gave to me six lights a glowing KC's.
Five beadlock rings.
For my UTV.
Four Rezzy shocks.
Fox's.
Three skid plates.
Two toe straps.
Purple.
And a dog perched on my new Jeep.
So, so bad.
On the seventh day of Jeep.
Miss my true love gave to me.
Questions.
Seven slots of fame.
So we have a jail.
We have a jail grill with Marilyn Monroe in each slot.
Why?
I don't know.
Santa, baby.
Okay.
Anyway, back to our KC's.
The next lights are glowing.
Five beadlock rings.
For your UTV.
Four Rezzy shocks.
Fox's.
Three skid plates.
Two toe straps.
Purple.
And a dog perched on my new Jeep.
I agree.
It's a bit of a Mandela effect
because I felt like we did beadlock rings before.
We did.
Jeff insists we didn't.
Not for the five.
But I cry BS.
But anyway.
I know.
I know.
Davey did too.
And I went back and researched it.
We're all having a Mandela effect.
There's a glitch in the matrix.
There's a glitch in the glitch.
There is.
There's a glitch in the matrix.
I'm sorry.
Let's try all the glitches out there.
At least I can support the fact
that we have a full size spare
that's also beadlocked.
Let's just say.
On my UTV.
Because if you're using those on your Jeep,
you've made your beadlocks.
That's true.
And you should not drive on the road with them.
Here we go, folks.
The last one you get for today.
On the eighth day of Jeep.
Miss my true love gave to me.
Eight hours of wheeling.
Seven slots of fame.
Santa baby.
Six lights are glowing.
Five beadlock rings.
Terrible beadlock rings.
Four Rezzy shocks.
Boxes.
Three skid plates.
Sully pan.
Two crappy purple straps.
Nice straps.
And her dog perched on my 20-year-old base model,
J.K. Wrangler.
Wow.
Wow.
Well thought of it.
Next week you get all 12.
And I'm certain that Savage will produce some more pictures
for Scott.
Oh, I already have them.
Ah, I love it.
All right, folks.
We have Jeeps to work on.
We are really excited.
We turned out a bunch.
We are working diligently to get all of our customer Jeeps
home as soon as I'll be home for Christmas.
Some of our Jeeps will.
Some of them won't be.
So tune in next week to find out which ones are leaving
and which ones are not.
Until next time, Jeep on.
Jeep on.
Jeep on.
Speaking of which, I spent most of the weekend
fixing a roll bar for a Jeep leaf this week.
And we tremendously appreciate the huge Hail Mary
on everybody's behalf to keep this business running high
and strong through the holidays.
Because this has been an uncharacteristic year.
And not complaining.
No, the Jeeps have been great.
The logistics suck.
Logistics have been challenging.
Obviously, everybody's feeling the pinch, especially
as we get into the holidays and whatnot.
So appreciate everybody's hunkered down with us
in the process.
And obviously, you for making sure
that that customer's dreams come true.
They are going to be thrilled, I'm sure of it.
So any weekend updates that are worth sharing?
Obviously, you did beautiful custom work
and a couple applications for this particular 70s CJ5, 76,
excuse me, CJ5 for Rob and Teresa.
They're going to love it.
I'm super excited to get it back.
So we had a messed up roll bar and feet
on these arrow Jeeps on the roll bar, like the rust off.
So someone had gotten creative.
Zero stars do not recommend the way they did it.
They did a bad job.
So we got things.
Another roll bar.
And I made from scratch two feet for them.
And the problem is the roll bar looked gorgeous
when we purchased it.
It did.
And then we sandblasted it.
And then it did no more.
Yeah, it was bad.
Did you have an opportunity to do anything else
that you want to share with us?
I know that.
Slept.
Good.
We need that this time of year.
And I cleaned my garage some.
That had to feel good.
Because I need to figure out how to stuff a model A frame
in the garage beside the tractor to put the Model T body on
so I can start fixing more stuff.
Do you remember when you already had a multitude
of projects that, OK.
So I had my daughter's dance recital,
which was spectacular.
It was a phenomenal production.
And we're so very thankful that she's in the dance company
that she's in.
But that was it opened Thursday night.
My wife and I are heavily involved in that.
And so my Jeep related nature was the fact
that weather sucked.
It's been very icy and sloppy for a good week,
which I am totally unaffected by.
I am prepared to live a life in that inclement space.
I actually have very, very few qualms.
And so my Jeep nature was just driving, I don't know,
100 times back and forth to the dance studio
to where the production was.
And of course, my son has been sick.
My wife has been sick.
We actually sequestered my daughter
because of the significance and importance
of this dance production to my parents for the week.
And so I really didn't get to even see my daughter.
She would like pop in to say hi and maybe grab a change
of clothes.
And then she'd be back to my parents
because we didn't want the sickness to.
We didn't want her to be down with the sickness.
So many intrusive head thoughts today.
Yeah, you're so, so anyways, you know what?
It was spectacular.
I drove 11,000 miles in town.
And I can't wait to actually spend some time
to work on some of my junk projects
because I'm so tired of one of the tires that
is completely leaking down on my wife's Jeep.
It's less than 24 hours and it goes from 30 PSI
or 36 PSI.
I don't care whatever I pump it up to to under 10.
So I want people to know we're not absolved
from the same challenges.
I did on my Jeep this weekend.
I put washer fluid back in so the light would go away.
Look at you, fancy.
I just got the entire morning light.
Big money modifications, $3.
I'm just milking along this leaking tire
until I actually have some time to do something.
You don't have time?
I don't.
I don't even want to get into that.
That's like, I get like it's personal because I'm like,
I am working on something this evening.
We'll see.
So anywho, but realistically, I have no complaints
other than the time factor.
Again, lots of running around.
I did manage to dig out the Mini Cooper this weekend
for funsies, obviously.
Obvi and the limo.
And I had both of them out moving them around,
which obviously I enjoy.
I mean, you have to drive the limo around in the snow
and ice and slide that around the corners.
Yeah, I would like to.
I would like to.
I was just moving it for purposes of winterization
and tending the batteries.
I value tending batteries over the cold months.
Understand the battery technology
is not what it once was.
I'm fortunate that it was better than it started as,
but honestly, it shifted in and around COVID
and batteries are more sensitive.
They're sensitive than they've ever been
and they can die and depreciate faster,
especially with the strong electric needs
that we've ever had.
You mean you can't do the Jurassic Park things
and just pull a battery out of a four-wheeler
and start the Jeep?
Yeah, that kind of stuff.
You know what I mean?
Nope.
So I know that's Scott's favorite scene from that movie.
It's so irritating.
I did manage to clean up some things
and just move some things around
and to have some of my vehicular interests out and about.
And so I do feel like I want to say that I've managed
to lock in on some things that were fulfilling to me,
but it still was not like, I didn't get to.
Oh, you know, honestly, I tried doing a house project
and I wanted to just have some tote storage.
You know how we have these black and yellow
27 gallon totes?
So I did this brief look and I was like, you know what?
I see this ones at Lowe's for sale.
By the way, don't buy them.
If you started buying from Home Depot,
don't switch to the Lowe's ones.
They are not the same size.
They don't stack together.
Totes, right?
So, so, right.
So I checked to make sure that it fits on this Lowe's one.
It's marked down like, okay,
I'm gonna buy one of these racks.
Did you just give me some peace of mind
and declutter delete the confusion
as Greg has been saying recently
or Greg lead performance mechanic.
So it's like, all right,
if I can get these totes up off the ground,
I just give me a little bit of floor space.
I'll make, give me some clarity in my head.
Well, I was doing a Walmart grocery shopping order
and I was like, you know what?
I wonder if Walmart has these sheets
or shooting these shelves.
And I was like, oh my gosh, they do this awesome.
And it's actually says it's made in the USA.
I'm like, it's a blow mold product.
My uncle makes, he owns a blow mold factory.
They could totally be making these stateside.
I love it.
It was the same price point as Lowe's.
I'm gonna be able to use, you know, my order.
Everything's gonna jive up perfectly.
So I buy the shelf, I get all jazzed up.
The specs appear to be similar enough
in my, you know, my little look.
I grab the shelves, I run home.
I'm feeling good.
I'm gonna do this 15 minute project
out at my homestead build.
I throw it together in the frigid cold,
you know, winds howling outside,
but I'm feeling pretty good working inside, you know.
Put it together.
I go to shove one of the Home Depot
black and yellow 27 gallon totes onto it.
Doesn't fit.
Doesn't fit.
Off by a half an inch.
Off by a freaking half an inch.
Yep.
Yep.
So I don't know.
I just, there was something else
that did me dirty like that over the weekend as well
where I was like, I just wanted to do,
oh, it was a wire rack shelf.
And we had one here that I disassembled.
I thrown it into my hoarding nature of things.
I took it home.
I reorganized everything.
I went to stick it up.
It's like 48 inches long.
And I was like, okay, it looks identical.
It's like an inch and a half too narrow for depth.
So I put it on and it only hooks onto
like the length wise runners.
And I'm like, cool.
I spent all this time and energy
going in this one direction.
So I, you know, I feel like I need our customers
to know it's not just them.
It's us as well.
Yep.
My weekend was stay at home,
got some cleaning done,
watched some football and worked on our game for next week.
That was pretty much it.
As a Steelers fan, the Bengals always disappoint me
and they lost to the Raven.
So yet again disappointed by the Bengals.
The Bengals did a thing.
It was a good weekend.
And I think it's really important for folks
as we go into this, you know,
the time of year to re-center on there,
what's important to them
and also not to overextend themselves.
Joe had mentioned my wife needs a set of Mickey's.
I, you're reading my mind, Joe.
I need to get them off her bead locks.
I think they're just corroding a little bit too much
and I need to clean them up.
And I actually wholly intend to have a set of Mickey's
on there within 2026.
So anyhoo folks, we've got some jeeps to work on.
We have one more program left in 2025.
I hope you'll join us.
Until next time, jeep on.
Jeep on.
Jeep on.
About this episode
The hosts dive into the complexities of four-wheel drive (4WD) versus all-wheel drive (AWD) systems, discussing their mechanics, advantages, and historical context. They share humorous anecdotes and listener interactions while exploring the evolution of Jeep technology and its impact on driving experiences. The episode also features a fun segment on the '12 Days of Jeepmas,' where the hosts sing and joke about Jeep-themed gifts. With a blend of technical insights and light-hearted banter, this episode is a festive celebration of Jeep culture.
In this special Christmas episode the team tackles 4 wheel drive and what it means. Neil, Scott, and Jeff break down how 4wd works and why it is different than Awd. At the end of the episode, Neil continues singing the 12 days of Jeepmas as written by Jeff. Scott has pictures to reveal as Neil gets to each new day. In part 2 we go to the eighth day. Tune in to our next episode to hear the full 12 Days of Jeepmas revealed. Check out our patreon to see all the images Scott holds up or join us live on Monday at 10:19am eastern time, on Facebook or YouTube.
Thanks for listening, give us a review and check us out on YouTube -SFJ4x4 and visit our website to grab some great gear or products for your Jeep, SFJ4x4.com. Don't forget, you can email [email protected] for special content requests, blind react videos, suggestions, special guests, or general questions. Check out our Patreon patreon.com/ISpeakJeep