Tyler and Jimmy kick off with a “natter days” shandy rant, then pivot to April updates: gift box signups, a new group buy for the Divos Light Ranger 500, and review incentives (including an Onyx Off-Road elite membership). The meat of the episode is wrenching and life: Tyler details his “Samantha” 4Runner suspension shock tower mockup and articulation testing, plus a 10K race and a fun birthday night out. Jimmy and the crew also give a detailed status on the Mule for Trail Hero X—front suspension repairs, electrical/turn-signal issues, and a looming rear diff uncertainty after finding major pinion play.
This week, Jimmy and Tyler catch up on two very different 4Runner projects — and somehow both of them involve things that were bent, broken, or seized in ways nobody’s seen before.
Jimmy’s 4Runner “Samantha” is making progress. He spent the week fabricating temporary shock towers out of scrap steel, getting the shocks roughly mounted, and articulating the suspension to figure out how much travel he’s actually working with. The verdict: he needs to raise the shocks about a half inch, the bump stops are in the right ballpark, and the Panhard bar collision he was worried about looks like it won’t be an issue once the setup is dialed. He also talks through the surprisingly useful difference between working with metal vs. wood — and why metal scrap is genuinely hard to throw away.
Tyler’s 4Runner “The Mule” went to Jason at OCD Innovations for a full teardown, and what they found was wild. The pinion bearing had seized and welded itself to the housing — which is what caused the axle lockup and the subsequent catastrophic failure. The good news: the Mile Marker hubs actually survived and held. The not-so-good news: basically everything else needed replacing — lower links (bent aluminum), upper link bracket, CV joints (Metal Cloak), steering kit (Sidetrack Off Road), DOM tubing for the track link and Panhard bar, and a driveshaft joint that exploded and saved the front diff case in the process. The one remaining unknown is the rear diff. Jason is being thorough — almost comically so — and the mule is back on four wheels, running under its own power. Registration still has to happen, which means blinkers, safety inspection, and a Switch-Pros wiring job are all still on the list.
They also get into a deep conversation on lithium battery setups — starter battery vs. auxiliary battery, how alternators interact with lithium BMS shutoffs, and why Tyler is landing on a Dakota Lithium battery with a DC charger as his power management strategy.
Off the trail: Jimmy went and saw *Project Hail Mary* in theaters and loved it (verdict: great home watch, doesn’t require the big screen). He ran a 10K at the Run Rockland event and surprised himself with a 9:45/mile average. And both Jimmy and Tyler took a moment to geek out over the Big Boy steam locomotive #4014 rolling through Roseville — 1.2 million pounds, 133 feet long, 7,000 horsepower, and apparently enough to stop traffic and make kids forget trains exist in favor of radio towers.
SnailTrail4x4 Discord: https://discord.gg/yFyFFkQbuy Come hang out with us on the SnailTrail4x4 Discord — it’s the easiest way to connect with Tyler and Jimmy directly, chat with fellow offroad enthusiasts, and get first access to Group Buys and Treasure Hunt token drops.
Group Buy for the Devos LightRanger 500 We reached out to Devos, and they are in. Here’s how the discount tiers work:
MORRFlate Giveaway at 900 Reviews on Apple Podcast. But our next giveaway is when we reach 800 reviews; we are giving away an OnX Elite Membership. We will also give away an OnX Elite membership when we get to 850. However, when we reach 900 Reviews, we are teaming up with MORRFlate for a $1000 MF Product Giveaway. Go over to Apple Podcasts to leave your review now and become eligible to win. Congratulations to A13XMONT, who won a set of tires from Yokohama Tire!
Call us and leave us a VOICEMAIL!!!
We want to hear from you even more!!! You can call and say whatever you like! Ask a question, leave feedback, correct some information about welding, say how much you hate your Jeep, and wish you had a Toyota! We will air them all, live, on the podcast! +01-916-345-4744. If you have any negative feedback, you can call our negative feedback hotline, 408-800-5169.
4Wheel Underground has all the suspension parts you need to take your off-road rig from leaf springs to a performance suspension system. We just ordered our kits for Kermit and Samantha and are looking forward to getting them. The ordering process was quite simple, and after answering the questionnaire, we ensured we got the correct and best-fitting kits for our vehicles. If you want to level up your suspension game, check out 4Wheel Underground.
SnailTrail4x4 Podcast is brought to you by all of our peeps over at irate4x4! Make sure to stop by and see all of the great perks you get for supporting SnailTrail4x4! Discount Codes, Monthly Give-Always, Gift Boxes, the SnailTrail4x4 Community, and the ST4x4 Treasure Hunt! Thank you to all of those who support us! We couldn’t do it without you guys (and gals!)!
SnailSquad Monthly Giveaway
For the Month of April, we are giving away Gift Boxes. Its Gift Box month and two luck indiviuals will win a one of our gift boxs. These are jam packed with goodies from tools to whiskey smokers. They are always different and always random. If you want a chance to win, sign up for the Giveaway Tier on Irate4x4
Congrats to Roger Lutz on March’s Giveaway. We gave away the new Devos LightRanger500. This little light is jam-packed with features, from red, orange, and white lights to a motion sensor. It would be perfect for inside a tent, under a canopy, or just general use around the vehicle. If you want a chance to win, sign up for the Giveaway Tier on Irate4x4
Listener Discount Codes:
SnailTrail4x4 –SnailTrail15 for 15% off SnailTrail4x4 Merch MORRFlate – snailtraill4x4 to get 10% off MORRFlate Multi Tire Inflation Deflation™ Kits 4WheelUnderground – snailtrail 10% off Ironman 4×4 – snailtrail20 to get 20% off all Ironman 4×4 branded equipment! Sidetracked Offroad – snailtrail4x4 (lowercase) to get 15% off lights and recovery gear Spartan Rope – snailtrail4x4 to get 10% off sitewide Shock Surplus – SNAILTRAIL4x4 to get $25 off any order! Mob Armor – SNAILTRAIL4X4 for 15% off SummerShine Supply – ST4x4 for 10% off Backpacker’s Pantry – Affiliate Link Laminx Protective Films – Use the Link to get 20% off all products (Affiliate Link)
"Oh, welcome one. Welcome all to the snail trail four by four podcast."
“Four by four” means the vehicle can send power to all four wheels. That helps it grip better on dirt, mud, and rough trails.
“Four by four” (4x4) describes a drivetrain with power to all four wheels, which improves traction on loose or uneven surfaces. It’s the core capability many off-roaders look for when choosing a rig.
"If you like going off roading in Toyotas, wrenching on Toyotas, camping in Toyotas, maybe even poking a little bit of fun at Toyotas."
Off-roading means driving on dirt, rocks, mud, or trails instead of regular roads. It usually requires better tires and sometimes extra gear to handle rough ground.
Off-roading refers to driving vehicles on unpaved or rough terrain where traction and suspension travel matter more than on-road grip. It’s a different use case that often drives modifications like tires, lift, and recovery gear.
"After this month, we will also be putting all the tier signups over on discord. Since we launched the discord, it's been going very well."
Discord is an online chat/community app. They’re using it to coordinate signups and keep conversations going with other members.
Discord is the community platform the hosts are using to manage signups and organize the group buy. They also mention it as a place for ongoing chats related to the lights and the community.
"So the group by is for the new Divos 500 light rangers, which are a very feature packed light that we've been talking about for a month now. Well, that was our giveaway for March."
Divos is the company making the light they’re talking about. The hosts are trying to buy a bunch at once so everyone can pay less.
Divos is the lighting brand the hosts are working with for a bulk purchase. In this segment, they’re coordinating a group buy to get a discount on a specific Divos product line.
"And we had a bunch of people asking if they could, we could try and order up and set up a group by for them. Jimmy called Colin over at Divos and said, Hey, here's our idea."
A group buy is when a bunch of people team up to buy the same thing. Because they’re buying in bigger numbers, the seller is more likely to offer a lower price.
A group buy is when multiple people coordinate to purchase the same product together to unlock a better price. Here, the hosts are collecting interest and unit counts so they can negotiate with Divos for discounts beyond the initial 25% tier.
"So here we are. And we have surpassed the 25% off tier already. So everybody, if you that has spoken and said you're interested in a Divos light ranger 500, we are pretty much guaranteed at 25% off"
A “25% off tier” means there’s a discount level that kicks in once enough people commit. Since they’ve already hit that level, participants should get 25% off.
The “25% off tier” is a pricing level tied to how many people sign up (and/or how many units are purchased). The hosts say they’ve already surpassed this threshold, which is why signups are effectively guaranteed that discount.
"So everybody, if you that has spoken and said you're interested in a Divos light ranger 500, we are pretty much guaranteed at 25% off, which brings the price down to was it $53? ... it's like 52 bucks, 53 somewhere right around there for this really feature patch packed little light."
The “Light Ranger 500” is the exact light model they’re selling in this deal. They’re saying it has a lot of features and that the price drops with the group buy.
“Light Ranger 500” is the specific off-road light model being discussed. The hosts emphasize it as “feature packed” and use it as the product around which the group buy discount is being negotiated.
"We have enough people interested with how many units they want that we're going to actually go and talk to Divos and see if they'll do more than 25%. So we will just we'll figure that out once we know exactly how many units people are going to want."
They’re saying the more lights people want to buy, the better the deal they can negotiate. So your signup helps determine whether everyone gets an even bigger discount.
The hosts explain that the final discount depends on how many units people want. If they can reach higher quantities, they’ll negotiate with Divos for a better price than the initial 25% tier.
"And this most recent upcoming review giveaway is with Onyx Off-Road and we're giving away one of their elite memberships... We'll open the Onyx Off-Road app. It shows you all the trails around you and it tells you their difficulty."
Onyx Off-Road is a phone app for off-roading. It helps you find trails near you and see how hard they are so you can plan a safer trip.
Onyx Off-Road is an off-road navigation and trail-planning app/service. In this segment, it’s positioned as a way to find nearby trails and understand their difficulty before you go.
"...ideas to the Off-Road industry and changing and revamping how the industry thinks about tire pressure management."
Tire pressure is how inflated your tires are. Off-road, adjusting it can help the tire grip better and protect the tire from harsh bumps.
Tire pressure affects tire contact patch size, traction, and how the tire absorbs impacts. Off-road, it’s often adjusted to balance grip and protection from punctures or sidewall damage.
"And so you need to figure out, I need to put the shocks on there to figure all this out. So when the husband came over, we, we just talked a lot about like, I was thinking about building this hoop and laying this thing out"
Shocks are what help your suspension move smoothly over bumps. If they’re mounted in the wrong spot, the ride can feel weird and the suspension may not work correctly.
“Shocks” are the suspension dampers that control how the vehicle moves over bumps and how quickly the suspension settles after a hit. When you’re building or adjusting a suspension setup, you need to position the shocks correctly so they work through the full range of travel.
"up a little bit so I can just make sure I'm still able to hit that bump stop and articulation. And the bump stops are in the right spot for full compression on both sides."
Bump stops are like safety pads for your suspension. They get pressed when the suspension bottoms out, and they help prevent metal-to-metal damage.
Bump stops are suspension limiters that compress when the suspension reaches the end of its travel. Hitting the bump stop too early can reduce usable suspension travel, while having enough clearance helps maintain traction and ride control during full compression.
"And then when you're done, you just cut the little tack weld off and it's strong enough where a little tack weld to hold just fine."
A tack weld is a small “spot weld” that holds things in place temporarily. It’s useful when you’re testing measurements before doing the final, stronger weld.
A tack weld is a small, temporary weld used to hold parts in position before final welding. The speaker emphasizes that tack welds are sufficient for mock-up/testing, and they can be removed later without fully committing to the final structure.
"[1742.5s] I was looking at maybe running a crossbar [1747.4s] across the top of the engine from hoop to hoop, maybe just trying to cage it in a little bit."
A “crossbar” is like a brace that connects two sides so the structure doesn’t twist as much. It’s often added to make a build stronger when you’re adding other reinforcement.
A “crossbar” is a structural member that connects two sides of a frame or engine bay area. Adding one “hoop to hoop” is typically about triangulating or bracing the structure to resist flex, especially when building a cage or reinforcing mounts.
"[1756.7s] I was like, oh wait, [1761.4s] Bobcat has a body lift. So that makes a lot of room under there."
A “body lift” raises the body of the truck away from the frame. People do it to get more clearance for bigger tires or parts without doing a full suspension lift.
A “body lift” raises the vehicle’s body relative to the frame using spacers. It’s commonly used to create extra clearance for larger tires or suspension components without changing the suspension geometry as much as a full suspension lift would.
"So I pretty much negative split. Yeah. A 10 K. That's pretty cool. I was like, what happened?"
Negative split means you start slower and then speed up later. It’s a pacing trick so you don’t burn out too early.
A negative split means you run the second half of a timed effort faster than the first half. In endurance events, it’s often a pacing strategy that helps you avoid going out too hard early.
"but I didn't, and I knew that it was originally bent with how much stress was put on
it, but I hadn't like had it off of the vehicle. Got it. Because typically aluminum will kind of
pop back to shape, right?"
This is describing elastic deformation: some materials flex under load and return to their original shape if the stress stays below the yield point. Once the material yields, it won’t fully spring back, so a visible bend indicates the load exceeded what the part could safely handle.
"The oil pan, remember how we thought the oil pan was kind of dented? Yeah, you talk. From the axle hitting it. You talked about that and you talked about the pickup was bent."
The oil pan is where your engine oil sits at the bottom of the engine. If it gets hit and bent, the engine may not get enough oil, or it can start leaking.
The oil pan is the lower reservoir that holds engine oil. In off-roading, it can get dented or scraped by obstacles, which can lead to oil starvation or leaks if the pickup area is affected.
"I went and got some new joints down at metal cloak ... they were like, that's pretty cool. Yeah. So kudos to metal cloak."
Metal Cloak is an aftermarket company that makes off-road suspension parts. The host is basically saying their joint design held up impressively and they were quick to help with replacements.
Metal Cloak is an aftermarket off-road suspension and drivetrain parts brand known for Jeep and 4x4 components. Here, the speaker praises its “joints” after seeing a failure mode and then sourcing replacement parts.
"they might have a ring gear in for a 10 and a half sterling. Uh, I don't know. Is it five 38s? Yeah. Five 38s, not stock."
“5.38s” is the gear ratio—how many times the driveshaft turns compared to the axle gears. It changes how hard the truck pulls and how fast the engine spins at a given speed.
“5.38s” refers to a gear ratio (commonly written 5.38:1) for the ring and pinion. Gear ratio affects acceleration, engine RPM at highway speeds, and how the truck behaves off-road under load.
"everything, the suspension is on the vehicle put together. Um, the coil overs are all put together.
Dmitri did a decent job. He did a decent job at getting them back together, but he didn't have the coils on it. So Jason has to put the coils on and then adjust the preload to get the ride height set"
Coilovers are suspension parts that let you change how high the vehicle sits. They help you tune the ride for rough trails and different weight.
Coilovers are suspension assemblies that combine a coil spring with an adjustable shock/strut. They’re commonly used on off-road builds because you can tune ride height and damping for different loads and terrain.
"Um, so, uh, while we're here, I'm also replacing that lead acid battery. Yes.
And this is what's been one of the really fun conversations we've been having on discord."
A lead-acid battery is the common, older-style car battery. It’s usually heavier and not as good for repeatedly draining and recharging compared to lithium.
A lead-acid battery is the traditional battery chemistry used in many vehicles. It’s typically heavier and less energy-dense than lithium, and it can be less ideal for frequent deep cycling in off-road setups.
"and then we got into a big, long, massive discussion
about, uh, lithium batteries. And so I had originally had this discussion a little bit with Jason, uh, when we were talking about the battery last time I was over at his shop."
Lithium batteries are lighter and can store more usable power than traditional batteries. They’re great for off-road electrical setups, but you have to plan charging correctly.
Lithium batteries are popular in off-road and overland builds because they can store more usable energy in less weight and often tolerate deeper discharge. They also change the electrical design because charging and power draw behavior differ from lead-acid.
"Yeah. And then a bigger and then do a bigger house, deep
cycle battery, right?"
A deep-cycle battery is built for using power and then recharging it many times. That’s important when you’re running things off the battery while parked.
A deep-cycle battery is designed for repeated discharging and recharging to a significant depth. This matters for off-road electrical systems where you may run accessories for long periods without driving.
"draw before the BMS will kick in and be like, Nope. Sorry. I'm protecting everything. Shut down. I'm done. Yep. Yeah. Uh, but with a starter battery, you have whatever cranking amps that the battery is rated for, right?"
BMS means the battery’s “brain.” It watches the battery and can shut it off if something looks unsafe, so the battery doesn’t get damaged.
BMS stands for Battery Management System. It monitors a lithium battery’s cells and will shut the battery down if it detects unsafe conditions (like overcurrent or overheating) to protect the pack.
"The alternator is
[3910.9s] good for 160. So I've got 350 amps, right? Of usage power."
The alternator is what keeps the battery charged while the engine is running. If you drain the battery a lot and then try to recharge it quickly, the alternator can get worked hard.
The alternator is the engine-driven generator that recharges the battery while you drive. The transcript discusses alternator output limits (in amps) and how repeatedly recharging large battery draws can be hard on alternators.
"Correct. Um, this would be the similar kind of mode of thinking with winching"
Winching is when you use a winch to pull your truck out of trouble. It can draw a lot of power, so you need the right setup to avoid problems.
Winching is using a recovery winch (often with a cable or synthetic rope) to pull a vehicle out of a stuck position. It’s a high-load electrical and mechanical operation, so power supply sizing and safe load management matter a lot.
"It doesn't like you think of our normal day diesel electric, uh, locomotives are engines, right? They're big. We're used to those, but you never realize how big steam engines are, right?"
Steam engines make power using steam—basically water turned into high-pressure vapor. They can look and feel huge compared to many modern engines you’re used to seeing.
The speaker contrasts steam engines with modern diesel-electric locomotives. Steam engines generate power by boiling water into steam, which expands to drive pistons or turbines, and they’re often visually and physically massive.
"I was like, so what do you do for Union Pacific? He goes, I'm the CEO."
Union Pacific is a big railroad company in the U.S. They operate huge freight trains, and that’s why the host is asking about the “Big Boy” locomotive.
Union Pacific is a major U.S. railroad company. In the context of this conversation, it’s tied to their large, heavy freight locomotives and the “Big Boy” engine being discussed.
"That's a big number for horsepower, but like, how much torque is it?
Oh, that's all I want to know."
Horsepower tells you how strong the engine is at making power. It’s important, but when you’re towing or climbing, torque usually matters more for getting moving and pulling.
Horsepower is a measure of engine power—how quickly it can do work. In towing or off-road situations, horsepower matters, but torque is often what determines how easily a vehicle starts moving and climbs under load.
"That's a big number for horsepower, but like, how much torque is it?
Oh, that's all I want to know.
Like, I didn't know how does this thing get up and go with 1.2 million pounds itself and then all the load it's pulling, right?"
Torque is the engine’s pulling force. If you’re trying to move something heavy or climb slowly, torque is what helps you get it going.
Torque is the twisting force the engine produces, and it’s what helps a vehicle overcome resistance like gravity, rolling resistance, and heavy loads. For towing, torque is often the key spec because it affects low-speed pulling and climbing ability.
"[5546.3s] It's a very unique one.
[5547.6s] Yeah.
[5547.9s] Yeah.
[5548.3s] And it's, you know, as sort of a gear head and not a train guy, not a train person.
[5553.1s] I was looking at all the mechanics of it."
A “gear head” is someone who really likes the mechanical stuff—how things are engineered and how parts work. Here, the speaker is treating the train like a big mechanical project to admire.
A “gear head” is car/vehicle enthusiast slang for someone who’s especially interested in mechanical details—how parts work and how they’re built. In this segment, the speaker is focusing on the train’s mechanical aspects the way an automotive person would.
Select text to request an explanation
Oh, welcome one. Welcome all to the snail trail four by four podcast. If you like going
off roading in Toyotas, wrenching on Toyotas, camping in Toyotas, maybe even poking a little
bit of fun at Toyotas. And of course, how fantastic. What the hell did we do in Toyotas
this weekend? Everything we did in Toyotas this weekend was then this is the podcast
for you. That's right ladies and germs. My name is Tyler and joining me for another
episode of the snail trail four by four podcast. Jimmy jet. What up? What's up, yo? Not a nice
join a little. What did beer Craig call these things? Uh, Natter days, Natter days, which
I don't get like he said it was like a shandy. Yeah. So where did the name Natter day? I
don't know. It's a net. So what is, what was his concoction? It was not naturalize and
lemonade and lemonade. Okay. He said it's a pretty essentially like a shandy, but he
called it Natter days. And I get the net part of the dirt days. Yeah. I don't know. It's
a Saturday drink. Is it a sad, something you drink on Saturday? It's probably a Saturday
drink. And then the later you get in the day, then you just switch over to Natty ice. Natty
evenings. Natty evenings. So regardless, we're having a shandy, which is pretty much
a lemonade and beer. Yeah. And so we, instead of the Natty, Natty light or Natty ice or
whatever it is, we used Coors light. Yeah. And lemonade. It's like a, a poor man's alcoholic
Arnold Palmer. Yeah. And it's not bad. It's not bad. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a sourish
Coors light. Kind of. Yeah. I don't know how to describe it. I, I wish it had a little
bit more lemonade-y puckery factor. I could do that for you. You got more lemon. There's
more lemonade. I could run out and get you a lemon man. What? Yeah. Welcome to recording
at studio. No, but I feel like it also doesn't have quite as much Coors light in it. Like
it needs, it needs a more dense mixture of both. Okay. And I'm not sure how to achieve
that. No, I don't know. My cup is full. I don't know either. I didn't drink more of my cup.
All right. So yeah, these are pretty decent. I think I still like the poor Moses better. Okay.
So it was worth the try. I'm wondering if it would be like, what was the, I don't know,
we're going to dive in here and what was the ratio of Coors light to lemonade? I'm probably
two thirds Coors light to one third lemonade. Really that much. I would have guessed it was
the opposite. No. Huh. Okay. Well, the lens, it's a fairly decent lemonade. It was like the
simply lemonade. Okay. So I figured, you know, it wasn't some cheap, whatever you want to add.
What's country? What's that powder? Lemonade country made lemonade or whatever.
And I don't even know if simply lemonade is that much better, but they make great alcoholic
lemonade. So that's true. So I was, yeah, I went with more beer, slightly less.
That's what I would have done with Coors light and simply lemonade.
So I don't know. I feel like I'm not getting as much carbonation out of the Coors light, but
yeah, I don't know. One of my favorite drinks is a lemon up. So seven up in lemonade.
Yep. Okay. So I feel like this would be right up my alley, but I'm not getting quite as much of
the carbonation. Yeah. Maybe I just need to do like vodka lemon ups. Yeah, there you go. I was
like, if I had some like just plain soda water, I could pour it in for you. Sorry. I mean, I got
a little beer there. I probably have tonic in the fridge because the assistant likes her gin and
tonics every once in a while. Yeah. But yeah, that's not how it works. I don't understand gin
and tonics. They don't, I don't, I don't, I don't get it. I don't, I don't get the allure I should
say. I don't know. I'm not a gin and tonic person. Yeah. I'm not really a gin person. So
I really don't get it. Yeah. But my two cents is I think the whiskey industry,
whiskey bourbon industry is going to slow down. And I think the gin industry is going to be next.
Yeah. That's my guess. Yep. You, you, you and I have kind of talked about that. I don't know
if we talked on air about it though. I don't know. Maybe. Why do you think that Jimmy?
I don't know. I just think there's phases and the wine phase is definitely dying. Yeah. A lot
of wineries are in trouble right now. Yeah, they are. A lot of wineries aren't even picking half of
the crop on the, the vines and the whiskey industry has been booming. And I think a lot of people
have moved from going out and having a glass of wine to going to have a cocktail and sitting down
and enjoying maybe a, you know, whiskey or bourbon with an ice cube or something. But I think the
cocktail industry is going to continue, but I think they're going to move a, people are going
to move away from whiskey and go to more of a gin or vodka side. And I think vodka is
sort of such a neutral spirit. Like it doesn't have a lot of flavor. There are some like really
interesting vodkas out there. Like you, and the thing that is fun about vodka is you can kind of
play with it and change the flavor and change the drink really easily. But I think gins have some,
there's a lot of funkier gins than there are funkier vodkas. And so I think gin is going to
have a moment where people are going to be making a lot of gin cocktails with some bizarre gins,
not so much like a tangerine, not like ginger or not ginger, juniperi in your face, gins. I think
people are going to do things with like weird teas or some, you know, fun, maybe some kombucha gin.
No, not a kombucha. We are, I was thinking we have a robe, Roy Bose gin up on the shelf,
which is a tea. Oh, well, it's a flower. And then a lot of times they make a Roy Bose tea out of
the flower, but they turn, and this is from dry diggings. So they put the tea into the gin
and made sort of a tea gin. And it's super good, says the wife. It's better than normal gin, in my
opinion. But I think that there's a lot of stuff that you can do with, I think the flavor of gin
is going to take off more than the flavor of vodka. And so that's my two cents where the alcohol
industry is going, I guess. But, and I have no knowledge inside knowledge or anything. I'm just,
I go to the bar every once in a while. Yeah. Two or three times a week.
Maybe, maybe once. Yeah. But, but I have seen more gin cocktails showing up
monks than the whiskey lineup. The whiskey lineup has been slowing down a little bit.
Okay. Yeah. So I don't know. And I've always felt like I like whiskey. I like bourbon. I feel like
they've had their time and their place. And I think it'll continue. I think that it's,
I would almost argue that it's at its peak, right? And it's going to stay in there for a little while,
then it's going to slow down. But I think the gin and vodka market is on the rise. Okay.
That's my guess. That kind of makes sense. I was out at Hinner House.
Yeah. What was it? It's almost a month ago now. It was a month ago. Yeah. About,
and there was a couple more gin options on the menu there for there, the cocktails you can get.
And I was like, Oh, okay. And the, what is she? The secretary got two gin drinks that day. So,
and then out, we went out this last weekend for quote unquote, my birthday dinner. Okay. The
night out on the town and we found a speakeasy and they had more gin drinks on their menu than
I'm used to seeing as well. Graham, I don't really go out to bars that often. Yeah. So I just kind of
didn't pay too much attention to it until just now when you were saying that. So,
and that's just my thought process and experience from going out. And that once again, it's like,
you know, this is a 45 year old man talking about going out to bars. So who knows?
What does beer Craig think? I don't know. Yeah. But beer Craig sure did good with the Shandy,
which I've been to Germany and there, when I was in Germany, one of the times I was in Germany,
it was pretty much like a Shandy trip. Oh, really? It was like, it was in summer and
everywhere had Shandy's. Yeah. And it was like, what, here's this, like, here's our lager. And here's
it was like, do you want it with pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, lemonade?
It was like the same beer, but mixed with different juices. Yeah. Okay. So it was an
interesting trip, but it was a lot of Shandy's over there. Okay. Yeah. Nice. So that was fun.
Cool. Anyways. Yeah. Welcome to Thursday's episode, everybody. Yeah. Random rants.
The bird walks that we like to take. Today, we get to talk a little bit about what we've
been up to. Before we get there, we have some updates for everybody. Quite a few things going
on because it is the month of April. So twice a year, we end up having a lot of updates in one
month. And that's typically October and April. And that's because both those months are the
gift box months. But this time we also have a group by going on during gift box month time.
Why did we do this to ourselves? We love punishment. So no good deed goes unpunished,
Jimmy. So what we got going on this month is quite a few different things.
A, the gift box, which you guys, if you're not new to the show, you should know about
what gift boxes are, how they work. Essentially, we put together a gift box for you guys. We
turn the money that you pay into more money in product and come up with some fun ideas to have
some, you know, fun little surprise gift shop at your doorstep twice a year. In order to get
in on that, you got to go to over to irate 4x4.com and sign up. After this month, we will also be
putting all the tier signups over on discord. Since we launched the discord, it's been going very
well. Seems like it's been well received. There's a lot of really fun chats going on conversations.
So go check that out as well. There's, we're kind of also orchestrating and organizing the group
by over there. So the group by is for the new Divos 500 light rangers, which are a very feature packed
light that we've been talking about for a month now. Well, that was our giveaway for March.
And we had a bunch of people asking if they could, we could try and order up and set up a group by
for them. So Jimmy called Colin over at Divos and said, Hey, here's our idea. Colin said,
that's a great idea. Go do it. So here we are. And we have surpassed the 25% off tier already.
So everybody, if you that has spoken and said you're interested in a Divos light ranger 500,
we are pretty much guaranteed at 25% off, which brings the price down to was it $53?
Yeah, some are 52 bucks, something like that. 52 50. I think it was not including taxes or
shipping. Be a good thing. It wasn't a 51 50. Right. That'd be that'd be a little bit different
scenario then. So anyways, yeah, it's like 52 bucks, 53 somewhere right around there for this
really feature patch packed little light. So we have enough people interested with how many
units they want that we're going to actually go and talk to Divos and see if they'll do more than
25%. So we will just we'll figure that out once we know exactly how many units people are going to
want. That way, if we have end up with 100 units, we can bargain and see if we get more
than whatever Divos will agree to. Right. So it starts to make sense for everybody. But so far,
I think we're on a really good track to do a really cool group buy and get some pretty nice
discounts for everybody. So absolutely. You guys have until April 30th to let us know
your email, your name and how many units you want. How many light ranger 500s do you want?
Once we get all that information, we'll put it all together and go talk to Colin again
and say, Hey, so we have 500 units sold out. How do we want to do this? And we'll figure out all
the details and then come back to you guys with instructions on how to pay, how shipping is all
going to work with the final prices, etc. So that's the group buy. Make sure you get that
information over on the Discord server. There is a channel setup specifically for the group buys
or you can email us, text us, DM us on Instagram, whatever you want with how many units you're
looking to get. So we'll put it all together and make it happen. Sounds good. I like that.
Yeah, it's been awesome to see everybody's responses and overwhelming response to this idea
and the cool product they make. So yeah, I think we're, I mean, we're definitely over 50 by now
pushing that 60 mark. So that's awesome for total units. But yeah, so if you're interested in
getting in for the group buy, yeah, hit us up on Discord or email us. That'd be great.
Let's see. You also talked about gift boxes. But I don't know if, I don't recall if you mentioned
that we are doing two boxes this month for our giveaway items as well. I did not. I did not talk
about giveaways. Yep. Yeah. So if you are interested in a giveaway item for us, you need to sign up
for that giveaway tier over on I rate four by four. And that is get you eligible for every
month we do a giveaway over $100. And this month's giveaway is two of our gift boxes we're giving
away. So two lucky individuals will win a gift box from us. And those are the same exact gift
boxes that are going out in the gift box tier. And you will not be upset if you win both of them.
Correct. Yep. You will enjoy it. Yep. Let's see. I think the only other thing left on the list to
talk about is reviews. So if you feel kind in your heart and you want to give some love,
not monetary love, but, you know, just affectionate love to the podcast,
you need to go over to Apple podcast and just leave us a review. One, two, three, four, five
stars. We don't care. Nope. So you just leave us a review. Say how much you love the podcast.
Say how much you hate Tyler. Tell him how he's too tall and he should share some of his height
with Jimmy or anything of the above. And you just leave us a review and it really helps us
on the side of things that it just promotes us and the podcast God's eyes and gets us in front
of more people's eyeballs whenever they're searching for off-road contact. Earballs.
Earballs. Yep. Exactly. But what it does for you is if you leave us a review, you automatically
get entered to win something. Every 50 reviews, we give away something on, something that we have,
something cool that we can get. And this most recent upcoming review giveaway is with Onyx
Off-Road and we're giving away one of their elite memberships. So go leave us a review.
It'll get you entered to win an Onyx elite membership. We're also doing that same giveaway
item for when we get to 850 reviews. And then when we get to 900 reviews, we're giving away
upwards of $1,000 of more flight gear, swag and other accessories. I don't know what you want to
call it. But a whole bunch of cool stuff from more flights coming out this year and you will
be winning it all. Yeah. There's some pretty cool stuff coming out. I'm really excited.
I had a little bit of a talk with Tony over on the Jeep Talk Show podcast. We'll get into
later in this episode, but I've come to realize that I really enjoy bringing some really cool
ideas to the Off-Road industry and changing and revamping how the industry thinks about
tire pressure management. I like it. I keep getting giddy every time I think about
these couple of projects that are going to change how people think about tire pressure
management again. So yeah, I'm excited to hear what's to come for sure.
So cool stuff, big price package available once we reach 900 reviews. We got to get there first
though. So everybody go and leave a review and hopefully once we get to 900, we'll be able to
give away a bunch of stuff. So yes, yes. All right. Well, shall we take a quick break?
Yeah, a quick break and we'll be right on back with kind of what Jimmy and I have been up to
over the past week. Are you stuck inside? Are you not sure where you want to go to explore?
We'll open the Onyx Off-Road app. It shows you all the trails around you and it tells you their
difficulty. Now you can quickly search out your next adventure or plan your next trip.
Download Onyx Off-Road from the App Store. Onyx Off-Road built for the adventurer.
Welcome back ladies and gentle ladies. Boys, kiddos, everybody out there.
We've had, I've had a long week. I feel like I haven't seen you in, I feel like two weeks,
two to three weeks has gone by since I've seen you and like it's been less than a week.
Yeah. So it has been less than a week. We recorded Wednesday last week.
Okay. So anyways, I have quite a few updates regarding vehicles. Okay. What do you got on
your docket over there? Yeah, let's see. Well, I have some fun. I have a Samantha update and then
I have some just fun life stuff. Okay. Yeah. All right. Let's hear, I want to hear Samantha updates.
I know that we had a lot of listeners that want to hear Samantha updates too. So
sounds good. Well, let's see. So what, last week, hustle nuts came over,
but he had sort of a work dinner date thing. So he wasn't able to stay very long, but we
strategized. By the way, thanks for going to dinner with me last week, Jason.
Yeah. Exactly. Is that what it was?
Ditch me to go out with this guy across the table. Jerk. Well, let's see. So he came over
and I had, I think I mocked up one side of how to mount the shocks. No, I didn't have either side
done. Okay. I'm trying to remember how this all happened. So I think when he came over,
I believe we just strategized on how to temporarily mount the shocks to understand how
high the top mount is going to be. Okay. And then we can articulate the suspension
to kind of get an idea of collisions or how it's going to work or how far am I actually going to
droop or because, because as it sits now, if I without any shock attached to it, at some point
when it droops out really far, I'm getting a collision again on the Panhard bar. Oh, right.
What's the Panhard colliding on the drag link or upper link mount? Okay. Yeah. And it's only
when it's like drooping down on the passenger side really far. And I don't, I don't think
it's going to droop that far. Like I don't think I'm going to have that problem with the shocks I
have, right? Okay. And so it's a matter of figuring out where the shock is going to need to be.
Am I going to have this collision still? If I'm, how do I solve it? How much up travel am I still
going to be able to get all these things, right? And so you need to figure out, I need to put the
shocks on there to figure all this out. So when the husband came over, we, we just talked a lot
about like, I was thinking about building this hoop and laying this thing out and making it so
that you could sort of make the hoop adjustable up and down doing all these, like you're way
overthinking it. I'm like, okay. He's like, just get some of this tubing over here and just build
this thing straight up and then this like thing that goes out and then you can mount the shock on
it. I was like, just that easy. And he's like, this is, it's only temporary, you know, like you
don't need to, like it doesn't need to be perfect right out of the bat. Plus you don't know, we
don't know what we don't know kind of thing. And I was like, okay. So then I think we just hung out
a little bit more and talked about, I think we talked about the rear a little bit. And then he
took off because he had to get going. I was supposed to go to bonsai that night, but then
they actually ended up canceling it. So which worked out somewhat okay. Cause then I got a date
with the assistant. So that worked out. Let's see. And then, so I believe it was Friday then,
I spent most of the day working on building these towers. So pretty much I had to, I had a bunch of
three by three, like 16th wall tubing laying around the shop of all these legs. I built a bunch of
tables in the shop and I've cut off chunks of these legs, but I, I'm not a hoarder, but you
know, it's hard to throw away metal. Yeah, right. You never know when scrap metal is going to come
in handy and came in handy. So I, the pieces I had weren't long enough, but you know, when you
start gluing pieces of metal together, they can get long enough. And so I glue one and a half
pieces together. I cut one and a half and then glued it, put it, welded it together. And then I
glued another one on top of it as like this sort of a T looking thing. And then I mounted the shock
tabs on there. And then I mounted the shock tabs on the axle and I did that on one side.
And then I sent a photo to a husband and he was like, yep, that's, that's gonna work out.
That's what we're, that's what we need. I did have the upper shock tabs turned 90 degrees from
where they should have been. And so that was his only two cents was like rotate those so you
can get more articulation. I said, yeah, I articulated the axle and realized that the tab
was actually hitting the shock body at some point. So I stopped and I do need to rotate those. So
then I think it was Saturday when it was just dumping all day Saturday up here. And so I went
to the shop and I built the other side, rotated the other tabs. I also put a crossbar across the
whole thing just to make it stronger. Since it's temporary, it doesn't need to be pretty. It doesn't,
it just needs to be functional and hold. And yeah, and so that's pretty much it. So then
I was like, sweet, I think we're good. And so I dropped the axle all the way. It hit the bottom
of the shocks. I raised the axle all the way straight up and down, you know, level and it hit
the bump stops and there was still an inch or so on an inch to two inches, maybe on the outside.
And then I was like, okay, well, now let's articulate it. And so then I dropped one side
and I realized that when the axle drops, it also, like I'm pivoting from the knuckle, right?
And so when the axle drops on one side, it drops farther away from the bump stop on the upper
side. And so then I had to raise the knuckle and raise the axle on the opposite side. So the one
side is going to be at full compression. One side's at full droop. And when I was at full
compression, I wasn't hitting the bump stop. Oh, yeah. So I'm fully articulated and I'm not hitting
the bump stop. So I'm like, okay, I need to raise the shocks. So I was like, well, before I do that,
let me do it on the opposite side. So I switched the articulation around and I was pretty much the
exact same off on the opposite side. Okay. So that's where I'm at right now. I didn't, I was
starting to get to cutting them off and raise them. And then on Sunday, actually, and Trent,
Trent Roberts, race car driver Trent Roberts stopped by and he dropped off one of his rigs
and I'm going to do a knuckle rebuild on one of his Land Cruisers. Okay. So I haven't gotten to
raise it. I think I need to raise it about a half inch. I think I'm roughly about one and a half
inches. Brian from Four Wheel Underground told me to go two inches. I thought that was a little
extreme, but I think two inches is actually right on the nose to where I need to be. Nice. It's a
little, I don't, it's kind of hard to read how much shock is showing with the setup. The spring and
everything's loose and I can move it around. So, but regardless, I know I need to raise the shock
up a little bit so I can just make sure I'm still able to hit that bump stop and articulation.
And the bump stops are in the right spot for full compression on both sides. And so for me,
it's like, I need to, that's like, that's sort of the worst case scenario. So I need to set it up so
this shock is appropriate for articulation now. And just by raising it like a half inch, I think
that'll be perfect for that setup. Yeah. So that's where it's at. I'll probably do that here this
week. Push those up. It's not going to be hard. I'll just cut the bars off the frame. I have them
clamped onto the frame right now. And I'll just smack the bottom of the bar until it goes up about
a half inch and make sure it's, you know, they're level with each other and then glue them back on
with some weld and articulate it all over again. Yep. That's one of the things I absolutely love
about metal work is that you can do stuff like that, right? You can just glue scrap metal onto
things to mock up other things and find out measurements and dimensions of stuff. And then
when you're done, you just cut the little tack weld off and it's strong enough where
a little tack weld to hold just fine. Like if you try and do that with wood,
like you got to put a nail in and wood kind of depending on moisture content and
hot or cold, it'll expand and contract and not nearly as much as, I mean, way more than metal
does. And so, it's just, it's so cool that you can just glue metal on temporarily and then cut
it off and grind it down. And yeah, well, for me, the big difference between wood and metal
is that when you're building something or you're, and then you have to take it apart,
it's still for them very roughly, it's still 100% whole. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way of putting
it. Yep. And when you take something that you've constructed with wood and you take it apart,
you're either, it's either has holes in it, it either has gouges in it, or you have to cut it,
literally like cut the wood. And now you have a smaller piece or you have,
you know, less of the piece of wood than you started with, where the metal is, most of the
time you can, it's still whole. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's a really interesting thing that I
didn't quite grasp for a long time, except that like, oh, I can temporarily put this together. And
when I take it apart, it's exactly the same and not really damaged in any way. And that's not
the same case with wood. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. I know that's pretty interesting. So that was,
that's the Samantha update. I think the shocks are damn near where they're going to need to be.
They're pretty high up there. They're almost to the top of the engine.
Okay. So you're still under the level of the hood though. I should still be under the level
of the hood. Okay. Yeah. And husband and I were joking around. I was like, oh man,
I was kind of hoping for some tits poking above the hood. And he was like, we can still do that.
Yeah. That's not a bad idea. Let's just put some fake shocks up top, you know,
cut some bodies off or something. Yeah. But yeah, that or I'll just go up to 16s or something,
and then there really will be above the hood. But I was looking at maybe running a crossbar
across the top of the engine from hoop to hoop, maybe just trying to cage it in a little bit.
It caged the engine in, but more add more strength from hoop to hoop. But I don't know how that will
work with the hood and everything. Because at first I was telling husband, I was like,
there's plenty of room under there. Like Bobcat has all kinds of room. And I was like, oh wait,
Bobcat has a body lift. So that makes a lot of room under there. And I don't know if there's that
much room for Samantha. Let's see. Besides that, I went and saw in theaters the Project Hail Mary.
Okay. Have you heard of it? No. Have you heard of the Martian?
Yes. So the guy that wrote the book, the Martian, also wrote this book called Project Hail Mary.
Okay. Essentially, without trying to give too much away, there's a matter that is
killing the sun. And so the sun is losing its strength. Okay. They find another star in the
planet or in the Milky Way galaxy that is not dying. And they go, we need to go out to that
star and figure out why that star is not dying. And so it's about flying out. It's a little bit
about flying out there, but most of the story happens around the star. And another alien comes
and they've figured out the same conclusion that their star is dying and they need to figure out
what's happening at this star. And it's an interesting, there's a lot of like trying to
figure out how to talk and then try to figure out how to relate science to each other. And then
one culture or one, the humans understand some things that the alien had no idea about. And
the aliens understand stuff that the human had no idea about. Interesting. Yeah. And then it's about
them trying to solve this problem. And it was really good. I really enjoyed it. Definitely not
an action-packed thing, a bit emotional. It was pretty cool. At the end, there was a choice of
saving himself or saving the alien in a way. And it was just cool how I think it was a win-win-win
situation of how they kind of figured it, how the book and movie ended. So it's definitely,
it's not a sad movie. It's not a scary movie. It's an uplifting, positive enjoyment movie.
Not a lot of action, but it was a lot of fun. I would not necessarily, I usually rate movies by,
do you need to see it in theater? Would it be a rental or should you avoid it more or less?
Or is it not necessary? I don't necessarily think that it needs to be seen in theater. There's not
a lot of big action going on. There's not a lot of special effects. There are, but there's not.
But I would highly suggest you renting it or stream it on some sort at home.
Watch it at home. Watch it at home. It's a very good movie. I think it's on that cusp. It doesn't
warrant needing to go see it in theater, right? It's not like, oh, you need to see this in IMAX,
right? You know, it's not, it doesn't have that action level, but it's a good movie. It's definitely
like a, if you're a theater person, go see it in theater. If you're not quite a theater person,
you like being at your home, definitely a home movie. It was a lot of fun.
Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary. Yeah. It was really good.
Is it like on the lines with like a same vibe and feels like interstellar?
Is it really like a mental mind fuck kind of movie? No, it's not. I need to re-watch
interstellar. I haven't watched it in a long time and it has been brought up in conversation a few,
a bunch of times lately. So I definitely need to watch that one again. No, I don't think it's not
a mind fuck movie. It's more of a, you know, they're trying to overcome a problem and they figured
it out. So kind of like the Martian. I mean, the Martian is all about the overcoming problem
after problem. If you enjoy the movie, the Martian or the book, the Martian, you'll enjoy this movie.
Okay. I really did enjoy the Martian. I didn't watch the movie, but I've read the book. The book
was phenomenal. And now the assistant is reading Project Hail Mary after we saw the movie. And
so I'm thinking about starting it up. But nice. Yeah. Let's see. And then I think the last little
thing I have to report on is I did a 10K this weekend. Yeah. I saw your picture and I was like,
what is wrong with this guy? I don't know. Yeah. Especially because the weather was going to be
I signed up a little while ago. I have a buddy of mine who works for the Rockland PD.
I think you know, as I did meet him on a wheeling trip. Yeah. I'm sure you have. And then,
and they were, they do this run every year, run Rockland and the proceeds go to the peace department.
I think some go to the fire and police department of Rockland. They're first responders and stuff
of Rockland. Okay. I'm pretty sure that's where everything goes. So I was like, I know somebody
at the Rockland, you know, police department, I'll go support them, you know, as much as I hate police.
But don't tell my friends that. It's because I keep getting in trouble. I actually keep trying to
like bend the law to my way, but it never works out. Regardless. So I signed up a long time ago
and the weather was nice. And then this weekend we got bombarded with rain and it was just wild.
And so they actually had a half marathon, but they canceled it because the weather was so bad.
I signed up for the 10 K. I almost signed up for the half marathon, but I haven't been working
out or doing much lately since I did that 15 K in January. And so I was like, I'll do the 10 K.
So I ran like twice in the last month. And I was like, I'm like, I don't think I'm going to do good.
Like I hope I can just run the whole thing. And oh, funny story before the race. I was walking up
to go see my friend who is standing up by the DJ booth and I'm walking up there and then I look
over and I see another guy in a police outfit. I'm like, oh, yeah, Rustin, I know you. I forgot
you worked for the police department. And so Rustin Banks and I went to high school together.
We graduated high school, same grade, right? And then I just, I was, you know, walked up, shook
his hand like how you been shooting the shit. How's your wife? He married like his high school
sweetheart. You know, so I know her. You know, they have two or three kids like, you know,
stalk them on Facebook as much as anybody stalks people on Facebook.
I stalk people a lot on Facebook too. Maybe not as much as Tyler. You know,
you just keep up with friends or people's lives that you know.
And then he's like, hey, I'm sorry, but I've got to go real quick. And I was like, no problem.
And then they were doing this announcement. And then they were like, and the chief of
police, Rustin Banks, we're going to do it. And I was like, fuck, I forgot he was the,
I was just shooting the shit with the chief of police. Like what the hell? I totally forgot he
became the chief of police. Yeah. So that was, that was super funny. I was like, oh, shit. Wow.
Okay. I'm like, well, now if I ever get in trouble, I'm going to get in trouble in Rockland.
I didn't know a few of the police officers out there. So, uh, yeah. So that was funny.
So anyways, um, they, they did the announcement, like, okay, the, you know, the 10 K guys are
starting at eight 15. And so they're like two minutes to that. And I was like, oh, okay,
maybe I'll like start walking around and stretching a little bit. So they're like 30
seconds to the start. And I'm like, oh, damn it. Okay. So like I walk over there and I'm like one
of the last people in line, you know, and I'm like, I'm not planning on going faster or anything.
So I didn't care. So everybody like started running and I like walked to the front, you know,
as soon as I crossed the line, I started jogging. I think I started off with like a not a 10 minute
and 18 second mile. And my goal was to be under 12 minutes per average under 12 minutes per mile
for 10 K for a 10 K, which is 6.2 miles. Okay. That's pretty decent. Yeah. And so I was like,
okay, that's a little faster than I want to be. I was hoping to be like high tens.
And then hopefully end before I got to 12s. And so I wrote the first mile went out in 10 18.
The second mile I was at 10, like 21. The third mile, I was at 945. The fourth mile,
I was at like 936. The next mile, I was at a sixth mile or fifth mile. I was like 920.
The next sixth mile is at like 918. Then the last one, I was like, well, it's like a quarter
mile. I was like, let's get going. And I think I did it in like 815 or something like that.
So I pretty much negative split. Yeah. A 10 K. That's pretty cool. I was like, what happened?
My average was nine minutes and 45 seconds. Okay. Now I was a destroyed my 12 minute goal.
I don't know. I don't know what I think it was just like one of these like perfect scenarios,
you know, like the weather was crisp. It didn't wasn't rainy. It was still a little chilly outside.
The course was fun. It was relatively flat. I think I changed the total elevation of like 200 feet.
Okay. You know, so I don't know. I don't know what it was. I just
scooted along for whatever reason. And I was super happy. Like it was just
I beat a beat a goal, which was sort of an arbitrary number. Like if I were to,
I originally was like, I hope I can go faster than 10s. And then I was like,
I've been out of shape. Like I haven't been running. I shouldn't set that goal for myself.
Like that's ridiculous. And then actually it ended up happening. Nice. Yeah. So that was fun.
And it was a good time. It was good to see some friends. I didn't get to see my buddy's wife,
but you know, she was out there when we've been friends for a long time. But unfortunately,
she was being media that day. So she was running all over the place.
But I sent him a message later and congratulated him on a good race and everything. So
I think that's about it on my end. Let's start hearing about some projects. What's going on?
Any outcomes with the forerunners? Yeah. All right. Where do we begin? Let's start with
let's start with the mule. We can get that over with. Okay. As of recording last week,
did we talk about what happened the couple days prior to recording? Yes. So what I took it over
because you were still trying to figure out some stuff. I said that Dmitri pretty much
waved the white flag, said that he wasn't going to be able to accomplish fixing the mule in time
for us to take it on the Trail Hero X adventure and that you and Morph Late Ryan went to go
pick it up and brought it over to Jason at OCD Innovations. He changed his name a little while
ago, so it still messes with me. Yeah. And Jason, like you just dropped it off there. That's the
reason we went from Tuesday recording to Wednesday recording. So Tuesday you dropped it off and he
was diving sort of into stuff, trying to figure out what needs to get done, what parts need to
get made or what parts do you guys have that you still need to get and kind of all that stuff
pretty much while we were recording. So we did not give any updates to anything that Jason found
or anything that you guys have found since. That's pretty much where we left it. Okay.
Okay. I won't get into the big thing that happened that kind of pissed me off yet.
Okay. You know what that is. I think Jimmy does. I think I'm going to save that until
we get everything cleaned up and probably after Trail Hero X. Okay. So essentially,
we dropped it off with Jason. Jason immediately found some problems that Dimitri had just worked
on. Stellar had just worked on. So we rectified or came up with a plan to rectify those issues.
And then he started just tearing everything apart. Right. And he's very OCD. He gives a lot of
attention to very little details, meticulous, very meticulous details of very meticulous.
Yes. Being thorough, which was awesome. He went through everything on that truck, man.
And so essentially what we found was the lower links, one of them was bent.
Okay. And so that's two and a half inch 70, 75 aluminum bar.
But we knew that before, right? Because didn't you buy new links?
Yes. I did buy new links and we knew that that was, we knew that they were damaged.
Okay. And, but I didn't, and I knew that it was originally bent with how much stress was put on
it, but I hadn't like had it off of the vehicle. Got it. Because typically aluminum will kind of
pop back to shape, right? Yeah. In theory. In order to really bend a solid two and a half inch bar of
aluminum, you have to almost bend it like twice that distance. And when it pops back, it's
whatever it's permanent bend is, right? And so having that off of the vehicle and looking at
it on the ground, I was like, damn. Okay. Yeah. That's, it's just, I keep every time I look at
what happened to that vehicle. It's just amazing how much force went into the physics from just
driving 25 miles an hour on a flat paved road. And then it just like opens up your mind into
how much force goes into these vehicles when you're off-roading or rock crawling or
going high speed through desert stuff. And it's just, it's just incredible. It's mind boggling
to me. So getting all that off of the, off of the rig and gone through was very nice.
The oil pan, remember how we thought the oil pan was kind of dented? Yeah, you talk.
From the axle hitting it. You talked about that and you talked about the pickup was bent.
The pickup. Okay. Cool. So we did mention that. Got a new oil pan ordered up right away and he
put it on. Everything's working and re was able to re bend the pick up. That's right. Yep.
So we got the pickup bent back. So it's, it's should be picking up oil. Just fine.
Oil pan is on the lower links are on a new upper link bracket was fabricated and we were
not able to fix the length of the upper link issue. Okay. So all of the front end suspension
links are all the same length right on the mule, which is probably the reason why it's
dirty on the road. Yeah. And it was funny. I was talking with Dimitri about it and he just like
couldn't comprehend what I was saying about the caster changing during wheel travel.
And it was like, you just had this blank stare on my face and asked me like three or four times
what I was talking about. I was like, do I need to draw this out? Like I, I don't know. I just
couldn't, I was a little dumbfounded, but I think the, the, the, I don't not response, but
another way kind of say that is the pinion angle changes. Yeah. The pinion angle changes.
Because when it dropped, if your pinion is parallel to the ground went right and it drops down,
your pinion angle is going to rise, which is going to change your steering arms and your
caster. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So it took him a while and he had to, I had to reiterate to him
a couple times and he still didn't seem like he was truly understanding what I was talking about.
Okay. So we didn't get that fixed. We just don't have time to right now. We're just in
complete crunch time to get this rig back up and running on the road. Because once it's done,
I still have to finish the registration for it. Yes. It's, it's smog ready to go. I just needed
a CHP inspection, which means I need to go and have it tested for the correct VIN on the frame,
on the vehicle, as well as brakes, headlights, blinkers and the blinker circuit still doesn't
work. Right. So can you put in the old headlights or was that off? Not working on the old ones?
They still weren't working on the headlights. Interesting. I don't know what the technical
rule definition for vehicle turn indicators are. I don't think you need them. Because technically,
you can use hand signals, right? You can use your hands, right? That's what I was thinking too.
Either that or maybe when I'm wiring up the Baja lights, I'm going to have two on either side
of the front bumper. I can wire in the outer ones as turn indicators on the switch panel.
Maybe because I believe the switch panel I'm putting in has a strobe feature to it
where you can set it so that you push a button and it'll strobe and are you going to do that in
the rear then also? I would have to. Yeah. I would have to connect them all together. Yeah.
What happens when you turn the blinkers on? Nothing because the fuse keeps popping.
And so with the blinker circuit fuse keep popping, I don't want to run a bigger fuse.
Just put a bolt in it. That'll work fine. I don't want to run a bigger fuse and burn everything
down. But the unfortunate part is that with the blinker circuit not working, the hazard lights
don't work, which became a big problem the night that the axle fell out from under it.
Because I was sitting behind a blind turn at nighttime and with no hazard lights to turn on.
Need a divos. Right? Yeah. We put out a few different lights and brought Kermit over and
used the whip lights on Kermit as emergency flashers to help protect the mule on the side of
the road there. I'm sure the neighbors that you were parked near really enjoyed that.
Yeah. I don't really care. Whatever. Deal with it. Yes. So I need to get the CHP inspection
in order to get the registration done. And I also need to put on a bunch of Baja lights,
Baja design lights. Yes. Because they are helping to kind of sponsor the vehicle for the TV show.
Right. So I need to make sure that our end of the contract is held up and all those lights are
put on. I need to pull out the switch pro because there's not enough buttons on it for what we're
putting on the on the vehicle. Okay. And also there's a couple of relays that ran electric fans
in the vehicle that Dmitri took out or not using anymore, but he left all the electrical circuit
there, the relays and the wiring and everything. So I need to dig into that and I want to pull
that out. Got it. At the same time. So that all has to happen along with getting it up and running
and making sure that it's safe to be on a road with. So Jason has been working like a
fucking animal. Has he really? Dude, it is insane the amount of work that he has gone through
and done to the vehicle in more or less a week in less than a week. Yeah. Six days. Yes. So
it's very impressive what he's doing. We're both feeling really good about the timeline. Okay.
And the only thing that's unknown right now is the rear diff. Okay. What's up with the rear
diff hasn't been a problem. It has not been a problem. But as he was going through everything
because he's very meticulous and checks every little thing, not just the stuff that was broken.
He found out that the rear pinion was moving around like a half an inch of movement side to side
inside the differential housing. So the pinion net was loose. I don't know if it's the pinion
net or the upper bearing. I would assume with the upper pinion bearing that shouldn't be moving
like that. Sure. So I think the upper pinion bearing is fucked on that too. Wow.
Did we talk about the upper pinion bearing on the front diff? I think you did. I believe that we
said that the pinion bearing seized and welded itself to the bearing. To the pinion and the
housing. To the pinion and the housing. So both the inner race and the outer race are both welded.
And so that's what caused the axle to lock up. Yep. Because it blew the bearing part of the
bearing and it locked everything up. Yep. And so that's because that was locked. That locked up.
That locked up everything downstream. And since the hubs were locked, the internals of the axle
worked phenomenal. Yes, they did. They held together great. And that caused the whole thing to
spin and break and catastrophically blow up and cause all the problems. Which kudos to the worn
hubs. My marker. Oh, they are not on the mule. The mule has worn. Kermit has my markers. I was
going to say in your face, Jeff from Oregon. Right. Kudos to the worn hubs. I mean, typically your
hubs are your fuse in your drivetrain, right? If shit binds up and something doesn't want to give,
typically the hubs are what goes first and that didn't go. The upper link bracket tore in half
and lifted itself off the axle because there was some weld missing
and then snapped everything else. Yep. And it snapped the metal cloak himes, the joints,
the metal cloak, Duraflex joints, but it snapped the shanks. Right. Which this was really impressive.
Did I show you the video that you showed me in the video? Yeah, dude. The metal cloak,
Duraflex joints. So typically if you look at like the curry rock jock joints,
the any cartridge joint like that, the, there's the, the part of the joint that houses your,
your uniball in there, right? And where the bolt goes through. If you ever see a fail in that style
of cartridge joint, it's usually around that, that semicircular outer part of the shell, right?
Right. Where it's the body of the joint and where it's the thinnest. The metal cloaks didn't
and they like oblonged out with how much force like the circle is now an egg shaped. Yeah.
And it didn't break there. It snapped and the shank is what eventually snapped,
which are what? Like one in an inch thick, one or one and a quarter, something that
yeah, um, crazy. I was very, very impressive. So I took and I went and got some new joints
down at metal cloak and said hi to our buddies down there and showed them that video and they
were like, that's pretty cool. Yeah. So kudos to metal cloak. You're like, no, you guys make
is pretty cool. It was very impressive. So let's see. We did that. I did. I was going to call
Brian and ask for his joints, um, his new ones that he just got in because he just got in all
those cartridge joints, all the hymes and everything, but we needed everything like
yesterday. Yeah. And I was like, I'm sorry, Brian. I can drive to metal cloak and grab these.
Yeah. So, um, let's see. So we got the new joints. We had to get all new hymes like the the FK
hyme came apart in a way that everybody I've talked to has never seen one come apart before
impressive. The inner part of the hyme is essentially there's the outer shell of it. And
then there's an inner part that's like almost like a metal race. Yeah. That then holds the delrin
material. Okay. That the, the uniball and bolt part goes through, right? Um, that metal race popped
out of the hyme shell body. Wow. And like we've, we've, uh, showed Jason. Jason found it. Found
it out. We showed a Brad, hot metal fab, um, and Jason also showed a few other people fabricators
that he knows and everybody's like, I've never seen a hyme do that, let alone an FK hyme. Right.
So again, just going through all these little parts and seeing how much force went into this
catastrophic failure is just mind boggling. Right. Um, so anyways, got new hymes, um,
got new joints, uh, got a steering kit from Morgan sidetracked off road. Um, that was a fun
day. Dude, I drove all over NorCal. I probably drove 250 miles that day. Um, good going around
and collecting parts. You went to a metal cloak, then, uh, sidetracked off road and then up to
Brennan for our, yep. What did you have? I needed to talk with him about marketing stuff,
marketing plan for a couple of product releases coming out. Um, because we do a bunch of marketing
with him through a more flight. Sure. So I went up and talked with him, um, and then had to go all
the way up to Jason's. Oh man. So that was all over. It was, I think it was six hours of driving
around and running errands. Um, so let's see. We got hymes joints. We got steering. I got new
Dom for the drag link and Panhard bar. Um, Jason built a new upper link bracket for the upper link
on the axle. Um, the upper link itself was just fine. Oh, well, yeah, that makes sense because
it's off the axle and didn't do anything after that. Um, let's see. It's, it looks like the
drive shaft, the front drive shaft is all okay. Oh wow. It looks like the U joint exploded and,
and, uh, uh, sheared in half at the U joint. Um, and it saved the drive shaft and all the
splines look good on the drive shaft and everything. So I think the front drive shaft is
going to be just fine. Wow. Um, the front diff, uh, Jason has to redo. Yes. Well, well, I'll,
I'll tell you guys about that story later on. Um, and then the rear diff is the one that is really
just kind of the unknown at this point. Um, and that pinion having that much movement,
like it's a half an inch of movement, side lateral movement in the pinion in the housing.
It's, it's very not good. Yes. Um, and so we got to open up the rear diff and see if that
much movement caused any problems to the ring, to the ring gear, um, and the pinion. Right. Um,
if it did, I don't know if we're getting the vehicle up and running in time. Wow. Because we
got to order those parts. Okay. Those, that was the one thing we never, we didn't order parts for
because we didn't realize it was bad. Um, everything else. So we did a really good job at
getting the parts in in time and having everything available. Um, so it was just a matter of Jason
going through it all. Um, but what he's going to do is he's going to open it up. Hopefully
there's no damage to the ring and pinion and we can just pull out and put a new bearing packs
in it all. Um, and call it good. All right. Fingers crossed fingers crossed. Um, so you mean so like
West coast gear supply or any of river city diffs and stuff don't have West coast differentials
might have them. Um, Yukon might have them. Um, revolution off road might have them,
but it's, you have to order it and then get them, get them in, which takes a couple of days. Yeah.
Um, but I was, that's what I was saying. Isn't West coast here in Sacramento and river cities
right here in Sacramento or river city doesn't actually supply any, they don't, they don't do
their service shop. Yeah. Right. So they might have a ring gear in for a 10 and a half sterling.
Uh, I don't know. Is it five 38s? Yeah. Five 38s, not stock. Yeah. So, um, I don't know,
just a matter of if he gets in there and we find out the ring and pinion are bad,
then it's another crunch time and fig finding using all my resources, networking to try and
find a ring and gear and ring pinion, ring opinion and, um, install kit. Right.
And if we're going to be in there redoing all that, I would replace the ARB too.
And get a whole nother in just do E lockers front and rear right now while we're doing it.
Um, so it's just a matter of what's actually wrong with it. And I think that, uh,
he's opening it up and doing the diffs today. Okay. So all right. Um,
he got the coil overs all put back together. I was going to see it say you sent a photo out to
a select few of us of the forerunner, fourth gen forerunner on wheels on the ground. Yep. So
is it how is it together? It's for the most part all together. Um, the suspension,
everything, the suspension is on the vehicle put together. Um, the coil overs are all put together.
Dmitri did a decent job. He did a decent job at getting them back together,
but he didn't have the coils on it. So Jason has to put the coils on and then adjust the
preload to get the ride height set and do all that stuff. Um, but he said that it's all there
sitting under its own power. He put oil in it, started the engine, got it started. Everything's
running just fine. Yeah. Well, the engine was never a problem. Yeah. Engine was never an issue.
Um, so, uh, while we're here, I'm also replacing that lead acid battery. Yes.
And this is what's been one of the really fun conversations we've been having on discord.
I know I've been trying to keep up, but you guys are nerds. It's funny. It's like me and him and
it's a WFO nine. I don't know who, who is, I'd have to look back when he joined and figure out
who that is. Um, but he has some really cool vehicles. Oh yeah. He's got a like four different
off road vehicles, a buggy or three, a buggy and two Toyota trucks. I think it is. Um, and
has some really cool knowledge around, uh, tube cutting. Um, he was giving some insight for
notching and bending tube for Austin. Um, and then we got into a big, long, massive discussion
about, uh, lithium batteries. And so I had originally had this discussion a little bit
with Jason, uh, when we were talking about the battery last time I was over at his shop. Um,
and my, my original thought was I want at least a hundred amp hours of battery, preferably 120 to
150 amp hours of lithium battery in the mule. Okay. Um, but when you have that much, it just
puts a lot of stress on your alternator, right? Um, but if you do, and so the, the thought was to
do a starter, a small starter battery. Yeah. And then a bigger and then do a bigger house, deep
cycle battery, right? Yeah. Um, and then put a DC to DC charger in there. You can put a solar
panel on the roof, a hundred watt solar panel, something on the roof. Um, and, but my concern
was if you do like a small 40 amp hour starter lithium battery, um, typically those are only
rated at like continuous use two to three times. Really? Okay. Your amp hour. Sure. I'm your current
right. So if it's a 40 amp hour battery, you're looking at 80 to 120 amp, uh, amps of continuous
draw before the BMS will kick in and be like, Nope. Sorry. I'm protecting everything. Shut
down. I'm done. Yep. Yeah. Uh, but with a starter battery, you have whatever cranking
amps that the battery is rated for, right? Sure. And so cranking amps are good for about
five to seven seconds. Typically are rating. Okay. So if you have a lithium battery that's
rated for a thousand cranking amps, that usually means it can supply a thousand amps of power
current, um, four, five to seven seconds, right? So it's like a spike so that you can crank over
your starter and get your engine started. So if you are winching, because my concern is a winch
under full load can pull 400 to 500 amps, um, which is a lot under a continuous, um,
is a lot under a continuous load on a lithium battery. So how do you achieve, um, uh, a high
continuous load while not killing your battery or putting a ton of stress on your alternator
due to lithium batteries? Okay. Can you put like a resistor onto the alternator?
Um, no, uh, one big thing apparently, um, and what WFO nine was talking about is that
it's not normally the draw on the alternator that kills alternators with lithium batteries.
It's when, um, the continuous draw goes so much that the BMS
shuts down the battery to save the battery. It actually sends kind of a shock wave of voltage
back down the line at the alternator when that happens. It's like, um, um, it's like the wave
hitting a wall and coming back kind of it's a, it's a surge protector, right? Yeah. So
that's what surge protectors prevent. Sure. I should say. And so he said, essentially you need
to implement a, some sort of device. Um, that's essentially a surge protector so that when the
battery cuts, cuts off its BMS, it's not sending that voltage back into your alternator and back
charging and frying your alternator. Um, so he said that's usually the main issue. And when
you're winching, you're putting a big load on stuff. So, but the nice thing about, um, a lithium
battery and alternator set up in a vehicle is that your alternator say it does 160 amps. It's
roughly 200, 250 amps, right? Of power. Um, so for a winch, that's quite a bit of power.
Yeah. Um, you can handle a pretty decent load at 200 to 250 amps for a short amount of time.
The only time you're spiking up to that 400, 500 amps is when you are on a really hard pull
and you have your vehicle anchored. And the other thing you're trying to pull is just not moving
and you're getting to that point where the winch is really bogging down
and then your line snaps. That's when you're usually going to hit that four to 500 amp
draw on winches. And if you are very smart about winching and know what's going on with your
whole system and can realize when your winch is bogging down and binding up before you snap your
line. Um, and usually like when you start getting to that point, you can hear the stress in your
winch line. Yes. As it's, as it's getting more and more tensioned, right? Um,
you can kind of tell when that's happening and let off. So you can knowing that your,
your system can only should only be handling 250 amps continuous. Um, you can control the
winching situation, um, such that it works well or set up a snatch block, right? Right? So you
like, and that's the part that I was missing in my thinking of doing a starter bat in house
battery is, you know, the Dakota lithium one 35 amp hour starter battery that I have in Kermit.
Um, it's good for I think 200 amps, 200 amp, uh, 200 amp current continuous. The alternator is
good for 160. So I've got 350 amps, right? Of usage power. Um, so I like that's plenty. But
the problem is, is I'm planning on probably drawing down the battery. Um, quite a bit each night
cause I run a fridge. I probably turned Starlink off before I go to bed, but like there's lights,
there's radios. Um, and if I stay parked over a weekend at a camp spot, um, like say at Barrett
Lake and I don't move the vehicle, you know, I may use up a hundred amp hours over a weekend.
And then the battery has to recharge a hundred amp hours off of the vehicle alternator. And
that can just get hard on the alternators, but I was figuring I would have 350 amps of usable
continuous power for winching. Yeah. And you don't need continuous power for winching. No.
Um, you, it's really for the most part winches will draw a hundred to 150 amps under normal
usage conditions and they spike when they get bound up, right? Or when they're starting probably.
Oh, and they're starting their startup power. Yeah. Um, and so yeah, as long as you're just
really careful about knowing when that binds up, it's kind of like your, your rock crawling,
right? You know, when your drivetrain binds up, you let off and you choose different line.
Correct. Um, this would be the similar kind of mode of thinking with winching
with a smaller starter battery is you've got 250 amp hour, 250 amp continuous current.
And really you've got 700, 800 amps of, uh, uh, uh, spike current that the battery can do before
the BMS shuts off. So like if you're spiking to a 500 amp winch load, you should know pretty
quickly that it's, it's not working and you're going to break something and stop before seven
seconds of running a 500 amp winch load, right? Yes. So, um, I think it should all work out. The
problem is I already ordered the Dakota lithium battery for the mule. Oh, so, um, I think we're
going to just have to use the Dakota lithium for now. And then once we get back there, this is
being very costly because once you get back, we have to fix a bunch of stuff that really
should be getting fixed right now, but we don't have time, right? So all the stuff we're doing
right now, a lot of it is going to have to get ripped apart and fixed and redone when we get back
from the trip. Um, and I think the battery system is one of those things I'm going to do and I'm
going to cycle house battery, um, with a DC to DC charger in there and that'll be the power system
management for the mule. Okay. Which means I'll have a Dakota lithium 135 amp hour battery up
for sale. If anybody's interested, um, with some strong cold cranking amps, with some cold, it
does, uh, 1,200, 1,300 cranking amps, cold cranking amps. So it's impressive. I love that
battery in the, in the forerunner in the Kermit. So, um, yeah, I don't know. That's kind of where
I'm at at the moment. Um, and it's all going to kind of hinge on the rear diff right now.
Interesting. And it's not, it's, it's up and running. Yeah. Wow. All right. Well, that's, uh,
scary, but also good news that it's on all fours. Yep. It's on all fours. Like I said, Jason's
been working like an animal. He's been doing some really cool work. I've been kind of checking in
with him each day. He's been checking in with me. Um, the communication has been fantastic from him.
So, um, I mean, based on just this interaction of him saving our ass, I would probably, if I need
work done ever again, I'm going to Jason like, um, so it all depends if the rig just completely
falls apart on us when we're out in Nevada or something, then I'll be like, all right,
now we need to talk again, Jason, but, um, I wouldn't really put that on him per se,
because it's just such a tight timeline. Right. I'm going to go through everything and make sure
everything's not bolted on my own too. So absolutely. Um, that's kind of the update on the mule where
it's at. I think we're going to be okay on the timeline, um, to get everything done. Yeah. Um,
so well, and then you and Ryan are going to go out there this week as well to kind of button
some things up. That's the goal. Yep. Yep. So I think we're going to try and go out Thursday
and Friday, if not Friday, then at least Thursday. So we'll see where we're at there.
Kermit, I got to do some work on Kermit this weekend. Oh, I saw a photo of something. Was
there more? Uh, a couple of those were the main things I needed to reattach a few things just
over time. They've come off of like the dash because the three m tape got old, right? Yeah.
So the, the siren remote control, um, I reattached that and that way that's not just hanging out in
the shifter area. Um, the Bluetooth transmitter receiver for the radio. Yeah, you had me rip
that off. I had you rip it off. Yeah. When we were out snow wheeling in the way of something
that we were doing. Okay. You're like, just rip it off. Get it out of there. We got to do something
else. It was like a radio or we had to do something in that general area. Okay. Um,
so I got that reattached in the wiring. We ran for it. Um, and then I figured out what was going
on with the switches. Oh, so, uh, the switch is back window for the back window. Yeah,
that's in that center console area. Yeah. Um, I 3d printed that little switch bracket holder.
Um, and as I was installing it and, uh, putting, uh,
nuts, certs, yeah, nuts, certs, um, into the center console to bolt the bracket into,
um, I realized that last time, not last time, when I had the transfer cases resealed by Dave,
apparently when he reinstalled the bezel for the shifters, which is also the, um,
leather thing that goes over the shifters, right? Okay. Yeah. The boots. Yeah. Um,
he installed it about an inch, inch and a half backwards towards the rear of the vehicle
than the stock location. Okay. I'm guessing he did that so that the shifter would clear
one of the, the, the cross members of the bezel because when you put in, uh,
dual cases into the second gen four runner, you kind of have to cut up that center console bezel
in order for the front case shifter to be able to come all the way down. Yeah. Um,
and seat properly in the disengaged state. Um, and so I've always hit that and it's always kind
of like torn the shifter boot right there. Um, and so I asked him, like, when you put it all
together and you're shifting this, can you like just clearance the bezel? So that's clearance
tomorrow. We're not tearing that shifter boot anymore. I guess instead of clearing, seeing
and clearing the bezel, he just moved the entire bezel unit. Yeah. Down about an inch, inch and
a half. So the shifter cleared it instead of clearing that little cross member bezel that
it was hitting. When he did that, it pushed all the switches up into the shifter boots of the
rear case and that's what caused all the wires to bend and get jammed up on the back side of
the switches. Got it. Yeah. So did he drill new holes for the boots in the bezel? No, they were
just moved back inch and a half. So use the same holes. Um, the shifters were all in the same place.
He just moved the bezel back. He did put in new, uh, holes. He put a new bracket in on the front
end. There's like a little metal bracket, like way tucked up underneath the dash that the front of
the bezel is supposed to bolt into and it's no longer over using that bracket anymore. And he
put in some other L brackets. I didn't take the bezel fully off to see what he did there. Okay.
But the center console that opens up with armrest, that has new bolts and new bolt holes
going down through the tub and the body in order to keep that in place.
Got it. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. So he adjusted, but doesn't the plugs, aren't they a part of the
bezel? They are. So, oh, but if you move the bezel one way or another, you're moving over
the shifter, the shifter boots got it. And that's why the shifter boots are now colliding with
the switches and bending the switches and breaking the wires. Yes. Okay. And so you lifted that,
the, all those up a little bit to clearance that the 3d print bracket that I've made lifts all
the switches up vertically, um, towards the roof of the forerunner, right? Um, so that the
wires on the back of the switches have more space or you're not just bending them and jamming them
into stuff. Cause I think I remember now that we're talking about this, I think I remember on
a previous podcast, I think at some point the bezels just sitting lower now and the switches
are jamming up into the floorboard. Yes. You said that. Yep. They were jamming up into the shifter
boots. Right. Yeah. So, um, they're up now. Um, I'm really happy with it. It's very
actually it's more solid than I thought it was going to be. Oh, cool. Good. Um, so that turned
out really nice. Um, and then I wanted to, uh, redo the slapper on the bump stop. Yes. Um,
and I cannot for the life of me get the, uh, slapper housing off of the bump stop.
It's threaded on. Yeah. And thread it off and the slapper itself, um, sits into the housing
with a, uh, dowel pin through it to hold it in place in the housing and then the housing threads
off of the bump stop shaft. Oh, yes. I'm with, I think I'm with you. I can't, I can't get it
unthreaded. Okay. So you need like a monkey wrench or something big to grab onto it. No,
I, I try, I used pipe wrenches, monkey wrenches. I used, uh, the adjustable, kind of like an
adjustable pipe wrench. I don't know what those ones are. Um, I used vice grips. I tried everything
and ended up gouging the shaft of the bump stop. Pretty bad as the shaft spin. It does.
It's free spinning within the bump stop and I'm, I'm 99% certain now and we'll find out
from my trail hero X that the gouges in the shaft, I tried to sand them down and make them smooth
again, but I'm pretty sure those are going to fuck up the bump stop, uh, seal gasket. Um, and
well, I got, I have bump stops.
I don't want to use your stuff. It's fine. Um, I can order new ones. It'll last. It'll be fine,
but you could. Okay. You could put it in yours and run it and then buy another one and just
give me it and then you'll be up and running and fine for trail hero X because we're taking
them or breaks the seals or you're leaking a little bit of oil or the, or I don't know if
the gas would leak out, but, um, it won't, you won't have that problem. Yeah. Um,
I'll give you the one that doesn't have the cap. Yeah, we could probably do that and then
just replace the bump stop and I'll buy a new one. Yeah. Okay.
Cause it sounds like you're going to have to buy a new one possibly anyway.
I think I'm going to have to buy a new one. I gouged that shaft pretty bad.
That or we could just boring it in case we need it in case you need it. Yeah.
And then if it does fail or it is leaking, you can, we can replace it right there
because we already have another one. Yeah. So why don't we, that we'll do that.
Let's do that. Let's do that. Since we have so much work still to do on the mule to get it up.
I do still need to flush the clutch fluid. Yes. Okay. So I was trying to do that and
with the rain on Saturday we got, I just didn't get around to doing it.
It dumped. It dumped pretty good. So that was kind of the work I did on the vehicles.
Nice. And the work that's getting done on the vehicles that too, I should say, thank you, Jason.
Other than that, I had my little, my little night on the town for my birthday dinner. Yeah.
And we went down to downtown Folsom. So old town, old town Folsom. Yeah, that's fun.
Yeah. It was a fun little spot. We had a little rooftop deck that overlooks the main street there
on old town Folsom. Yeah. At the, were you at the Mexican restaurant? Or the,
it's kind of a cafe style, American food style restaurant. I don't remember the name of that
place. Great food. Yeah. It's good stuff. Good food, good drinks. Would definitely go there again.
It was nice. There used to be a speakeasy underneath there. Oh really? Yeah. Okay. But it,
it's no longer a speakeasy. Then I believe it came in an escape room. And then I think
the, even the escape room is closed. Jeez. Tough spot. Yeah. So we went there. That was cool.
And then afterwards we went to speakeasy. Oh, did you, did you go to the bar at the very end?
I forgot the fat rabbit. I don't think so. They have some good beers there. Gotcha.
Yeah. The, the speakeasy was kind of nice. It was like a prohibition era style,
speakeasy. And it was nice. It was, it was good. I still think I like the roost better
than the, the one we went to in Folsom. So
there's another one in Folsom then, huh? I guess. So it's relatively new. Okay. Supposedly. I was
going to look up, try and look up what it was, the name of it real quick, but
yeah, I, uh, Danny yellows, the one in downtown Roseville, um, was, uh, all had all, was all
papered up the other day. So like they're either redoing the inside of it or it's no longer around.
I'm not entirely sure, but that's not even my favorite speakeasy downtown. I like the,
there's another one in Roseville. That's a lot of fun. Gotcha. Yeah.
Yeah. This one's called Gaslight Co. I want to say I've heard of it, but I don't
sound so familiar, but okay. Relatively new, but there's 323 reviews on Google. So
Gaslight Co in Folsom, a great bar. Um, good. Um, they only had one person there serving
everybody. So it was a little slow on service, uh, but a cool ambiance just kind of sit around
if you like kind of prohibition era, styling and, uh, drinking areas. So cool. Um, and then
big boy was in town. Yes. Big boy was in town. Big boy was in town. Um, and at first I'm not a big
train guy. Um, do you want to explain to everybody what big boy is? Oh, I don't know. You went there.
I just drove past. Uh, let's see. So big boy is, uh, it's a ginormous steam locomotive. There's
supposedly two, I think that a Union Pacific railroad operates that are, that are this big,
this size. And, and they're big. They're huge. Really big. And the joke is, or what I heard was
that all like, uh, locomotives got a number and before they designated a number to this one,
somebody on the line called it the big boy. Oh yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and so, and that stuck.
And I'm sure I think it's got a number, but nobody calls it the number. They all call it big boy.
Well, it's funny that you could tell the train people, the train people that were there were
calling it by the number, which is 40, 14. Okay. Um, and then everybody else was calling it the big
boy. Yeah. It's just, it's ginormous. And it, so it was in town, um, on Thursday night
for a little bit. And then I believe it went down to Sacramento for a little bit. Okay.
And then it came back up to Roseville for a little bit again. Um, and so when we drove to go get
the mini assistance, since I didn't have bonsai that night, uh, we drove by and we're like,
why is there traffic here? What's going on? Like this is really, there's never traffic here.
There's like people standing on the side of the road. Why are there so many people crossing the
road? There was like when the light would change, there was like hordes of people crossing the railroad
tracks. We're like, what is happening? And then we look up and we're like, Oh, big boys here.
Big boy. Yeah. And we drove like, at first, when you see it, you're like, yeah, that's a train.
And then you start driving past it. You're like, damn, that's it. That's a train.
It doesn't like you think of our normal day diesel electric, uh, locomotives are engines,
right? They're big. We're used to those, but you never realize how big steam engines are,
right? They're not that big. I mean, the typical steam engine compared to normal today's diesel
electric engines, steam engines are not huge. We have the train museum here in Sacramento,
downtown Sacramento, which I took read to a few weeks ago and he loved it. It was funny to watch
him, uh, uh, enjoying the museum, but like we were looking at some of the steam engines there,
and then a couple of weeks later we get to be, you know, five feet away from big boy.
And it's massive. It is. It's huge. It's 1.2 million pounds. I know how much it weighs.
I know that is ridiculous. I heard somebody's somebody told me that, uh, and I was like,
what? Like that is so much. Yeah. 1.2 million pounds. Yeah.
What is that? That would be roughly five and a half tons at 600,000 tons. 600,000. Yeah. Sorry.
That was the way. Yeah. Yeah. So I just searched Google search big boy stats. Okay.
1.2 million pounds. Yes. 600 plus tons. Uh-huh. It's total length. I'm going to guess, uh, 220 feet.
Okay. And just the engine itself, not the, the, the burning, the coal, the fuel car. I'm gonna guess
220 feet. It says 132 feet, nine inches. Okay. That's roughly half of a football field.
Is that half of a football field is about 250 then? Wow.
Horsepower. Uh, it's over 7,000 over 7,000. Yep. Yep. He couldn't tell me how many torques it had though.
Uh, does yours say that? Torque, uh, torquative effort. Okay. It says brute polling force. Okay.
1,000, no, sorry. 135,000, 375 pounds. So that's how much it can pull. 135,000 pounds.
That, that seems low. Group polling power. What does that translate to? What is the
track, track, track, I don't know. Tractive effort 135,000 pounds. Interesting. A wheel arrangement
is 4884, four pilot wheels, two set of driving wheels, and then four more trailing wheels.
Yeah. There's a lot of wheels on that mode. Yeah, the design, top speed. It says designed for heavy
freight at 70 miles an hour capable of going up to 80.
Wow.
Yeah.
That would be impressive to watch that thing go 80 miles an hour.
You know what shocked me most about that is the weight.
And that was one of the only, all those other stats I just looked up right now.
But what shocked me, I was like, damn, that's so much weight.
And I was like, how do the railroad tracks handle all that?
No idea.
They do it.
They do.
Absolutely.
And it must be because it's so long.
It's just the way it's all spread out.
It's getting spread out across the tracks.
Yeah.
But it shocks me that, I don't know, that a rail and some railroad ties on the ground
don't bend.
I don't know.
It's just, it's amazing.
It doesn't sink into the ground.
I don't know how, how railroad tracks engineering goes and is developed.
But yeah.
Yeah.
That was mind blowing to me as well.
It was kind of cool.
We took read out there to see big boy and it was raining when we got there and kind
of cleared up as we were there.
He enjoyed it.
He's going through a train phase and then he knows they go choo-choo now and yeah.
But what made me a really, really proud dad was while we were there, he kept pointing
at the radio towers in that area going tower, tower, tower, tower.
That's funny.
And he was, he almost seemed to more interested in the radio towers than he was in the train.
So I was like, oh, but there was a time when we were up there taking a close look at the
people that were up in the, the, up in the cab, right?
And there was a department of labor lady coming down, secretary of labor, something like that
if a Roseville and then this guy came down and goes, yeah, just open up the fence right
here.
I'm going to come out and I'll talk to the people for a little bit and get some cameras
and some pictures and some video going for this couple of news outlets here.
And so he came down and he opened up the gate right in front of me.
I was at the separator, the two gates.
So I kind of stood back and I'm holding Reed and he kind of comes out and he's like, hey,
how's everybody doing today?
And everybody's like, good.
And he's kind of like, cool.
Does anybody know who I am?
And somebody goes, are you Jim Veena?
And he goes, I am.
He goes, oh, okay.
This is pretty cool.
And I'm like, I have no clue who Jim is.
And so I started talking to him because he just kind of turned at me and he was like,
how's everybody's day going?
And he goes, how does this guy like the train?
And I'm like, he's, he likes it.
He really likes the horn, though.
Yeah. And he goes, the horn.
Oh, we can get the horn to go.
He turns around and goes up to the engineer.
Oh, let's pull the horn.
The engineer goes, okay, you got it, boss.
And I pulls the horn and you see Reed just go and get a wide eye to looking up at the
horn and just going, oh, like that.
And all the cameras in the area just snapped and focused to read.
Yeah.
As he's doing this.
And it was, so that finished up.
I'm talking to the dude and I was like, oh, that was pretty cool.
I was like, I was like, so what do you do for Union Pacific?
He goes, I'm the CEO.
Oh, I was like, oh, okay.
That's pretty cool.
I was like, how many people do you employ?
And he goes, a lot.
Yeah, I was like, you guys even have your own private police force, right?
And he goes, yep, we do.
I was like, wow.
Okay.
I was like, so what are some stats on big boy here?
And he goes, well, it weighs 1.2 million pounds.
I was like, oh, damn, okay.
That's crazy.
And I was like, how many, how does that translate?
How much torque can this thing put out?
Because I know a diesel electric locomotive engine can pull out anywhere from five
to 7000 pounds of foot pounds of torque, okay, depending on its configuration.
So I'm expecting this thing with how big it is and heavy it is.
It's got to pull more than that.
Oh, sure.
And he goes, it's 7000 horsepower.
And I was like, that's not, I mean, that's cool.
That's a cool number.
That's a big number for horsepower, but like, how much torque is it?
Oh, that's all I want to know.
Like, I didn't know how does this thing get up and go with 1.2 million pounds
itself and then all the load it's pulling, right?
And I never got that answer.
Yeah, I still haven't got the answer.
How much torque that thing pulls.
But so I was starting to ask him some questions that we're getting kind of
technical and he eventually goes, all right, all right, I got it.
I got to go up here and talk to the politicians in the front.
Thanks, good chatting guys.
I'll talk to you soon.
And I was like, okay, bye.
So that was kind of like the highlight to my day is getting to meet Jim Vena.
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
The CEO of Union Pacific.
And so we'll see if Reed ends up on any news outlets from that over the weekend.
But yeah, yeah, this one, I just Googled it and it says, well, first,
the first thing that came up from Gemini is the 300 PSI boiling pressure with
can move over 600 tons and at 135,000 foot pounds, pound force, LB force.
Okay, so it's 135,000 pound feet, that's your torque, that's your
torques, but it says pound force, pound force, force is mass times acceleration.
So pounds, 135,000 pounds to accelerate, it can pull 100, it can accelerate
with 135,000 pounds.
I don't that seems low for being 1.2 million pounds itself.
That's 10 percent.
Yeah.
Well, how much is your, how much does your forward way?
The truck itself, 8,000 pounds.
And what's its torque?
1,200.
Okay.
So that's 12, 15 percent.
10, yeah, somewhere around there.
Yeah.
But that's, that's not how much weight it can pull.
No.
I mean, the, the duly can pull three times, almost four times, four times.
How much of the truck weighs?
Oh, I'm sure it can pull more than that weight.
Yeah.
That's what I think it's, I believe what pound force is.
My guess is that it's foot supposed to be foot pounds, foot pounds.
Okay.
Yeah, as is the way we say it.
Yeah.
And they just say it pound force.
Okay.
Interesting.
That would make a lot more sense 135,000 foot pounds of torque to get a
1.2 million pounds just by itself up and rolling.
And then the whole heavy load, it's going to be carrying.
Yeah.
I wonder if this is really like the difference between like, I can drive Bobcat
down the road, pull in a trailer or I can pull, you know, the duly or Clifford to
pull something down the road.
You know, it's like, I've never pulled the teardrop trailer with Clifford, but I
can imagine that it would not be behind me, right?
Like it was just, I would never feel it.
Yeah.
I like breaking wouldn't matter, starting accelerating wouldn't matter.
But I do feel it when I pull it with the Tacoma.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It doesn't, it's not bad, but I know it's behind me.
Yeah.
Like I can feel it's not as peppy as it normally is.
Uh-huh.
You know, and I'm sure big boys like, you know, 50 container cars.
No problem.
Got anything back there?
Yeah.
Loaded me up with double.
So I know it was, that was pretty cool.
I went into that thinking, I don't give a shit about trains.
Engines and everything, but Reed is excited about them.
So we'll go out there and have a good time.
Um, and I came away from it, like that was kind of cool.
It is kind of like, it's just different, right?
You, we always see a train.
Like you, you know, well, not always, but you know, everybody has seen a train.
This is sort of a unique train.
It's a very unique one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's, you know, as sort of a gear head and not a train guy, not a train person.
I was looking at all the mechanics of it.
I was like, how much does one of those wheels weigh?
Like one of those wheels was a taller diameter than I am tall.
Wow.
Yeah.
No.
And it's, it's one giant chunk of metal as the wheel.
And I'm like, how much does one of those weigh?
Like that's one of those weight at 2000 pounds.
Probably it's crazy.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's pretty wild.
It was, it was, I didn't stop and look at it.
We just drove by it and I was just like, damn, that was actually more impressive
than I thought it was going to be.
Everybody's like, oh, the big train's coming into town.
Okay.
You like to do a train, but I didn't want to drive by it.
I was like, oh, yeah, that's a, that's a big train.
So anyways, that was kind of my weekend and where I'm at as of now.
Yeah.
Sweet.
All right.
Well, I guess we'll find out what happened if we're taking the meal next week
and see how that goes and we'll see if we can get lights and stuff on everything
ready for it and because then I think the following week we're gone.
Yep.
Yeah, we have this weekend and next weekend and then we're leaving the
following Thursday or something like that.
So we have two weekends roughly to get everything buttoned up and maybe a
couple of days during the week if we, if we need it.
Yep.
So I do feel really good about the timeline.
I think we're perfectly on track to have everything buttoned up based on the work
Jason's been doing and what he's been going through.
He has been doing such awesome work.
So I do feel good about everything right now.
It's just a matter of just got to get it done.
Yep.
So yeah.
All right.
Well, I guess we'll hear how that pans out next week.
Yep.
There you go.
If you guys want to reach out to us, you need, I got any comments for us or
feedback, anything like that.
You can send it on over to snail trial four by four on Instagram, four by four
Toyota Tyler on Instagram.
We've got the discord server now up, which the, the invite URL is in the show
note.
So if you guys are looking for that, just pull up the show notes and copy and
paste that URL into your discord server and it'll pop us right up there.
We have the voicemail segment, which is tomorrow for everybody out there.
You get to hear it where we get to talk to you guys about a month behind.
You guys call in with a fun idea and we get to talk to you about a month
later, um, uh, through the voicemail segment.
So that phone number is 916-345-4744.
That's also in the show notes for everybody there.
Um, and Jimmy, I did have a few people reach out saying they want an episode on AI.
I had one or two as well.
Yeah.
So we'll, we'll see.
Maybe we'll throw it in as a bonus episode, not as normal content and we'll,
we'll see what happens or the other podcast.
That's true.
We did talk about putting on the other podcast.
So, um, I like that idea.
Let's do that.
Okay.
All right.
Uh, I guess that about does it for today.
So, uh, let us know what you guys got.
We love hearing from you.
Love interacting with you.
Uh, make sure you guys are staying up with, um, leaving reviews and, uh, don't
forget the gift box tiers open this month.
So Jimmy, any final words for everybody out there today?
Choo-choo.
And with that, my friends keep crawling.
Okay.
That was pretty good.
Yeah.
I got one for you.
Oh yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I asked someone wants to explain the difference between outlaws and in-laws.
Okay.
They said, outlaws are wanted.
Outlaws are wanted.
In-laws are not wanted.
Correct.
Oh.
Yeah, I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
I got, yeah.
Okay.
Now it took me a little bit to head around.
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