I Speak Jeep Mar 11, 2026

Bad Jeep Parts and Processes

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Term

four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive means the car can send power to all four wheels at the same time, which helps it drive better on slippery or rough roads.

Concept

The Easter Jeep Safari is a big event where people who like Jeep vehicles go to drive on rough trails and show off their cars. It's a fun gathering for Jeep fans and sometimes new Jeep models are shown there.

Part

cap rotor plugs and wires

The cap, rotor, plugs, and wires help your car's engine start and run smoothly by sending electricity to the right places. Changing them keeps your car working well.

Car

Jeep TJ

The Jeep TJ is a type of Jeep Wrangler made between 1997 and 2006. It's popular for off-road driving and has a strong, simple suspension system.

Part

diff fluid

Diff fluid is a special oil that helps the parts in your car's wheels move smoothly. Changing it keeps your car's wheels working well, especially if you drive off-road.

Car

Jeep Gladiator

The Jeep Gladiator is a truck that can drive on rough roads and carry heavy stuff. Changing the fluid in parts called differentials helps the truck work better and last longer when driving off-road.

Company

Griffin Radiators

Griffin Radiators makes parts that help keep your car's engine cool, like radiators. These parts are often used when fixing or improving cars.

Company

Fel-Pro

Fel-Pro makes special seals called gaskets that help stop leaks in your car's engine. These seals are important when fixing or rebuilding engines.

Company

AutoZone

AutoZone is a store where you can buy car parts and accessories to fix or upgrade your vehicle.

Term

OE parts

OE parts are the same parts that came with your car when it was new, so they usually fit better and last longer.

Car

Wrangler Rubicon

The Wrangler is a Jeep that can go off-road. If you smell coolant, it might mean the engine is leaking or getting too hot, so it needs to be checked.

Term

pressure test

A pressure test is when a mechanic pumps air or fluid into the cooling system to see if it holds pressure. If it doesn't, it means there's a leak somewhere.

Part

winch battery cables

Winch battery cables are thick wires that carry electricity from the car's battery to a winch, which is a tool used to pull heavy things.

Term

OE production

OE production means the part is made the same way as the original parts that came with the car when it was new.

Company

Mishimoto

Mishimoto is a company that makes better car parts to help keep engines cool, especially if the original parts have problems.

Part

all metal radiator

A radiator is a part that cools your car's engine. An all metal radiator means it is made fully from metal, which helps it last longer and cool better than ones made with plastic parts.

Term

original equipment

Original equipment means the parts that the car maker puts on the car when it's new, not parts added later by other companies.

Part

coolant

Coolant is a special liquid in a car that keeps the engine from getting too hot. It moves around inside the engine to cool it down.

Brand

Champion

Champion makes parts for cars, like spark plugs and cooling parts, which help the car run well and not overheat.

Term

flexed

Flexed means the car's parts bend or twist when driving over bumpy or rough ground.

Term

off-road

Off-road means driving a car on rough ground like dirt or rocks instead of smooth roads.

Term

warranty

A warranty means the company promises to fix your car if something goes wrong within a certain time. It helps protect you from unexpected repair costs.

Part

transfer case

The transfer case is a part in some cars that helps send power to both the front and back wheels so the car can drive better on rough or slippery roads.

Term

rebuilt

A rebuilt part is an old part that has been taken apart and fixed so it works like new again.

Car

Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler is a tough SUV that can go off-road easily. Talking about radiators means checking parts that keep the engine from getting too hot.

Part

thermostat

The thermostat is a part that controls when the engine gets cooled down, making sure it warms up fast and stays at the right temperature.

Term

bleeding the system

Bleeding the system means getting rid of air bubbles in the car's cooling system so the heat can flow properly and your heater works.

Part

gaskets

Gaskets are like seals that stop oil or coolant from leaking out of the engine so it works properly.

Term

head gasket

The head gasket is like a strong seal inside the engine that keeps important fluids separate and helps the engine work properly. If it breaks, the engine can get very hot and stop working right.

Car

Tesla Semi

The Tesla Semi is a big electric truck that carries heavy loads without using gas. People talk about it because it shows how trucks might change in the future.

Car

Ford Model T

The Ford Model T is one of the first cars ever made, a very old and important car. Taking it apart means fixing or learning how these early cars worked.

Car

Chevrolet C10

The Chevrolet C10 is an old pickup truck that many people like to fix up. Getting it started means it's working again after some repairs.

LIVE

SFJ 4x4 Studios presents

In my oversized four-wheel drive Jeep

A Jeep podcast starring industry experts

Cure monocity

What? Say that again!

With mad scientist Scott Brown

I use my drill press as a sort of lathe

Our host, Neil Simpson

If one light goes on they all go out

Phil Bruce Shenanigans

We are really professional with Jeeps

This is I Speak Jeep

SFJ 4x4 Studios presents

In my oversized four-wheel drive Jeep

A Jeep podcast starring industry experts

Cure monocity

What? Say that again!

With mad scientist Scott Brown

I use my drill press as a sort of lathe

Our host, Neil Simpson

If one light goes on they all go out

Phil Bruce Shenanigans

We are really professional with Jeeps

This is I Speak Jeep

Good morning, afternoon, evening, wherever however you are joining us

This is the I Speak Jeep podcast presented by SFJ4x4.com

My name is Neil and I'm joined in Grandma's couch studio

Not only by one but again two individuals

The producer guy

He's back

I'm back

Look who's back

Shady's back

Alright anyways

And the mad scientist

Slightly sick today

A little under the weather and spreading his germs

He should be wearing a mask

He should be

We should mask him up

I don't want you to

I don't want to get sick

I can't articulate it me

Too much going on

Right? Speak into your microphone

Nice and close

Like you spittle on it, not on us

And then take it and dump that in chlorine and bleach the foam

So Jeffrey is back in the studio with us

And we're fortunate for that

And also for our listeners at home

You should also feel fortunate

Because Jeffrey is kind of giving me a refresher

On all the things that I cobbed up

In the process of poking buttons

And pushing things on the sound board

He gave us the goat back

And likelihood is when Jeffrey goes away

Scott and I will still screw it up

But at least we'll have just an iota

Of a little more information than we had before

And so, you know, hard to tell

And clinging of hope

Yes

What's funny is all of that was on your how-to

But that's okay

We read that

We read the how-to

Obviously not

You attempted to give us a how-to

The goat was not included on there

Nor was the transition

I think it was partially in Greek

We were not set up for success

Crap, Nate's right

I should have made you hire me back

At an increased rate

I missed an opportunity, Nate

I think Jeff is here pro bono at the moment

Let's be honest

This is just for fun today

As far as Jeffrey is joining us

So we're going to touch base

On a little bit of his endeavors

And obviously share with our listening audience

So that everybody's aware

We are going to be talking about

That not all parts and processes

Are created equal

We got an axe to grain

I got some feelings

I'm going to share with you all

Me too

And we're a little disappointed

In the automotive community

And so we're going to unpack that song

Specifically one certain part

But we'll get to that

Yeah, I don't know

I've got an axe to grind on

A couple different parts at the moment

So we'll be getting to that

And I'm going to try and keep that

Into our normal hourly timeframe

And then of course if you're interested

To hear about our own personal endeavors

Which of course I always encourage you

To jump on and fall along

On our social pages

All of us have some type of representation

On the social platforms

We welcome you to join us in those situations

But we'll talk about what happened

In our weekend pursuits

Obviously Jeff had a very big thing

Happened for him

So I think that otherwise

Nothing else is immensely coming up

Right now we're kind of in this

Weird holding pattern

Right as the kind of the fever pitch

Of the springtime teases us

And we're just about to get into

The Easter Jeep safaris

And just about to get into the Jeep beaches

And spring breaks and some of those events

Everybody's holding their breath

Because it's like

Is it going to be nice or not?

Correct

We all know that we can't like

Totally let our guard down

We're going to get lambasted

By some type of weather system

Before it totally turns

But there is this feeling

Of spring is in the air

Well and in the comments

We got Nate first saying good morning

Hope you all had a productive weekend

I got the cap rotor plugs and wires

Changed on the TJ

As well as the front and rear

Diff fluid on the Gladiator

It was productive

That's a productive weekend

Daddy Jeep says morning guys

Jaya Jeeper says good morning SFJ

And Nate said he's back

In reference to me

Billy Joe said good morning everyone

How was your weekend?

And stay tuned for that

We'll talk about that at the end of the episode

And of course Jeanie is saying good morning

I'll never be first on here

But most of the time I'll be in the first points

Nice to see you again Jeff

And congrats on your grand opening

Thank you Jeanie

Yeah so we'll get into that

And good morning good morning to all of you

In the messages

So parts and processes

And you know as a kind of a catalyst

To this we've experienced some product failure

And some frustrations

And as a thing that often times

That kind of you know got the wheels turning for me

Is I tend to say this phrase

I actually started to think about like we could

We could actually have like I should write down

Somewhere like all the phrases that I say

Over and over again

The good the bad and the ugly

You can write a book later

Right and we should talk about

Neil's mantra phrases on the podcast

Of ones that we love and ones that we hate

But we can't do that

Sometimes you get the bear

And sometimes the bear gets you

But you know it's not what we do

That makes us special but how we do it

And I like to think of that as our approach

To what makes us uniquely us

Within the automotive industry

And you know I always used to say

Any Jim Bob and Harry can take a part

In a jeep in their driveway

And that's where we started

It's not how many times you do it right or wrong

It's how you react to that wrong

Since we're just getting them all in here

Yeah we're getting them all in here

You're just going to shove them all in there

Wow

Well you know recently

If you're going to take the whole jeep apart

It's like an elephant

You've got to take it in a small bite

Absolutely

The jeep will tell you what it wants

Oh well that's you

I got to get in somehow

I can spread the love around

Oh my god okay

But what we're finding is other companies

Don't feel the same way

And sort of pass the buck along

And stick us with it

And because the buck stops here

Another one up in

Wow

We're just really getting all of them in

And have he is the man to help

Where's the crown

Is that

We have a perception of these companies

That should be better than they are

And perceptions reality

I didn't mean for us to actually do this

I think I'm actually red

Okay yeah these are all things that I say folks

But we're finding ourselves catching the bag

You know everything rolling to us

Yes

And it's kind of frustrating

And I guess the only good part is

It's not just one company

It seems to be a bunch of companies

Yeah we're seeing

And this is part of the frustration

I think that really kind of inspired this topic

Is the fact that we're seeing a lack of accountability

On manufacturers' behalf

That they're prioritizing speed to market

For product availability

And the lowest cost of production

And this is good quality names

And I'm specifically

Honestly I'm real fired up

So Griffin radiators

And Felpro are at the top of my list

Of my crap list

And I'm going to give as an explanation

I'm also going to throw out AutoZone's

Bering idler assemblies

And that is going to be kind of a nameless pursuit

Because ultimately AutoZone does batch manufacturing

And they're always switching

So the box doesn't change the name

On the box doesn't change

But the part inside does

But the manufacturer inside does

Sometimes you even get OE parts in their box

Right

Which would be fantastic if we did that

It's literally like Russian roulette

You don't know what you're going to get

But one specifically

And it seems to be cooling packages

Just seem to be

Problematic by today's modern standards

Really a pain in the tuchus

And even the OEs are not resolved to this

Correct

On my own 21 Gladiator Rubicon

I've had a smell of coolant for ever

For a long time now

And I even did a PSA about the hose coming off

And mine was fixed that

And I thought cool

I found the problem

No more smell

Start smelling it again

What in the world is going on

So finally over the weekend

Pulled it in and did a pressure test

The middle of the radiator is leaking

50,000 miles

Wow

Now it's a little sneak peak

We have another episode that we'll be coming up on

About certain materials underneath the hood

And people like to get out their big stick

And bash about plastic and aluminum

And dissimilar stuff and all that kind of stuff

It's not the plastic in the situation that's failing

It's literally the aluminum core

Right

And Griffin's was the core itself

Core related

It's 100% core related

And we are understanding folks

We know Griffin's probably not making the core

They're probably buying the core

So it's technically their supply chain

That is getting them

But instead of them being like hey

The buck stops here

We see a problem

We're going to do something about it

They found any possible reason

An excuse to say oh no

That's not us

These winch battery cables were rubbing the radiator

And that causes due stress to it

And made it leak

So as you can tell we've got an axe to grind

In this specific regard

And it won't exactly end with

The Griffin radiator explanation

However I can factually say that

Every single Griffin radiator

And now I sold a lot of them because

We start our relationship with them in the teens

And as Scott was mentioning

As a precursor

Even his 50,000 mile JT radiator

Is OE production

Original equipment is problematic

JK's in the earliest iteration

So 07 to 12 had radiator problems

Like crazy

There was coolant related issues

There was transmission cooler issues

Because it was

Was or wasn't sufficient capacity

And then we had

The conversation was as the body

And the frame shifted

That the radiators were too rigid

And would break or crack

That was an original equipment argument

Largely what that did

So much so that another brand

I feel like we got a complaint about

Mishimoto

I remember going up to them

And being like

The guy kind of let back the curtain

We were having problems

Because I had a JK at the time

Thinking about upgrading the cooling system

And that is your perception

That you're going to buy this all metal radiator

It's going to be better than what you have

Better than a plastic and metal one

That's what we all remember from

The ripple effect at 30 years

Thankfully that was an upstanding guy

The show was like maybe you need to wait

Because we actually had a problem

Where they were flexing and making them leak

And we went back to the drawing board

And we tried to make it better

And that was kind of like the first inkling

That we were seeing

Some things that weren't so hot

Well and we were also seeing mass failure

At the original equipment line

When I bought my JK

It had 40,000 miles on it

And they had told me they just put a factory radiator

In it at that point

So then it made me feel warm and fuzzy

Well because of all of this

The aftermarket was able to pick up the ball

And run because

Perception of running

Absolutely

Friggin' Luley

Because the perception of running

Because this then

Created a

A land rush

Of people going

While this original equipment

Plastic and metal unit failed

At 40,000-50,000 miles

So therefore I'm going to upgrade with this

What is marketed to me as a high quality

High caliber radiator

And sometimes double the cost

Of an OE radiator

Unquestionably

I guess to say we believed in that

We septicooled

We did

Well speaking of

Nates in the comments said

Would you say a Jeep in the shop

Is worth two in the mud hole

And Mitch Hunt said

Sounds like a box of chocolates

And then

Nate was actually asking about coolant

Since you were talking about it Scott

He's looking to replace a coolant on my 2020 Gladiator

Do you have a brand y'all recommend

We will get to that

With that said

Realistically speaking

A bunch of manufacturers

You know kind of rushed to the market

To put their cape on

And save the day as far as

These people wanting to

Replace their original equipment

Radiators which created a degree

Market competitive

You know

I don't want to say saturation

But you had lots of manufacturers

Prioritizing radiator production

Yes

And that was because

When one would fail over here

Then somebody would get all

In distress and be like

Well I'm never using this brand again

And that's honestly

That didn't fail any different

Than your original equipment one did

And we have to take into account

That maybe the most

Qualified individual installed it

Which is also part of this podcast

In the sense that not all processes

Are created equal

And so

And people end up conjuring up

Negative associations

With brands or products

Whether or not it's

Necessarily

True

So what ends up happening is

We sell a ton of Griffin, we sell some Mishimoto

We sell some champion

We sell

Gosh I'm trying to think of who else we have

At the moment, champion's been the best

So far

And they're overseas manufactured

Correct

I'm trying to think about pre-COVID

Who all the you know kind of

We had one after market

I can't remember the name of it now

It was like an OE make

Oh TYC was actually

Was actually really good

Excellent when we could get our hands on TYC

But that was an import product as well

So we went to try and

Get the America

And here's what's valuable to say

In our town

Where we are located

We are fortunate to have an old school

Radiator shop

And it's 100% the way you remember

From 1962

Absa stinking

And so

We are not just

Doing this kind of willy nilly

We actually in the process of seeing these radiators

Kind of ebb and flow

We were actually

Able to take them out there and see how they failed

And in what capacity

This is not like oh hey

We're just conjuring up our own

Made up failure

Not only that, we do a little pow wow

And we're like hey

Are we doing some part of our

Process incorrectly

Are we using the wrong coolant

Are we installing it

In the wrong order

Are we being cognizant of how things

Are touching the radiator

And we feel within reason

We are doing those things

To try to be a high success

Because we don't want to have

Our customers have problems

We don't want to have things come back

We want you to be able to move

On to the next

The next thing that your Jeep is going to do

And upgrade

We saw this rash of failures

And what really got us

At least me fired up at first

Was mischimoto and they tell you

They have this great warranty

And

It's an amazing warranty

Except for one little clause

And this is where the lawyers have ruined

This stuff

Because your perception is

Is that I have a

All-encompassing warranty

That when I am in distress

The company is going to be like yep

You paid for our product

You paid for us to stand behind it

And paid for the warranty at first

And we're going to take care of you

You paid for the warranty because you paid

Double or triple

What going to auto zone

Or your local Napa might cost you

On a just a direct replacement product

What they don't tell you is

That you have to send it back

They have to inspect it

They have to do an analysis

Of why it failed

And then once all that is done

Then they weigh on what has happened

And deem it

Is it your fault?

Is it the radiator's fault?

Well in this situation they've made it pretty much

If their whim is

That moment that like hey

We really don't want to take this one on the chin

They don't have to

Not to mention

You've got to pay for that service

You have to pay to ship it out

Your Jeep is radiator-less

While you're shipping there

And back

And you're not driving the vehicle

The entirety of the time

That it takes them to do this process

Griffin isn't much different

They also want to

Get the radiator back

They want to look at it

Which I can appreciate

But when they come back and they're like

There's a rub spot down here

We don't know what that is

And it looks like it was flexed

It's a Jeep

That we off-road with

Of course

The Jeep was flexed

Then you maybe need to do a different

Yeah this most recent time around

They went so far as to

Ask for pictures of the Jeep

That it came out of

And I thought

What does that exactly matter

What they're trying to do is

They're trying to say

That the Jeep is beat on

And that this individual has

Then abused their product

As opposed to just standing behind

Their product and ensuring that it is

A quality part

That is distributed to the market

And I don't have a problem

With a company

That if they want to be like

Hey this is your free replacement

And now we're tapped out

That's cool

But at least help me out

That first time

My dad had a common problem

Similar thing with a street rod

That the top tank kept cracking

In the exact same spot

And that company gave him

Three or four radiators

No questions asked

With a new warranty card each time

Finally they were like

Hey

It's not us, it's you

We gotta break up, I'm sorry

But at least they attempted

To do something about it

We're not even getting that

We're living in a society where

We have this conversation of lip service

Everybody, I had this

I did a consultation with

Some Jeep enthusiasts over the weekend

And

They get to this point in the conversation

And they say well

Tell us about your warranty

And I gotta be honest

I have to admit out to

Our listeners and followers

I struggle with this a bit

Because what do you want me to do

I can tell you

That I've got you

That's really what you're asking

Is say I'm coming to you

And as a transactional

Process

I'm going to pay you for service

Which you're going to provide me

And then you're going to have

A relative guarantee of

Your workmanship

And then the parts that have been chosen

In this process, right?

That was the original

Kind of

United States of America

Handshake experience

Agreement

And this idea

That we have been

Boiled down into this highly

Litigious and this

Hey it needs to be

Marked out, right?

And so eventually back in the day

When you and I were selling transfer cases

Out to the country

And I self admit

To a lot of people

The transfer cases were

Very well done

You and I were doing a great job

Now the two things that we were doing

That inhibited

The sales

And I'm sharing this with you folks at home

As an act of transparency

You were getting a fully

Rebuilt

Transfer case

A new pump, new shift pads as needed

It had seals

It was completely clean

And we have a whole pile

Of new and used quality parts

On the shelf that

Would go into the transfer case

When and how are needed sealed up

We're trying to use quality parts to replace

Oh yeah we had

USA Made Chain, we had a quality pump

All this stuff

And I would, because we were not

The biggest

Remanufacturers

That we think of remanufacturing

I called it refreshed

I didn't call it rebuilt

I called it refreshed

And what ended up happening was

They only sold okay

People got scared off

I did two things

Excuse me, I did three things

One, I

Changed the title to remanufactured

I wrote

Out a warranty

I said it's 12 months unlimited miles

And I wrote out a little warranty piece

And I increased the price

By about a hundred bucks

We did nothing different

And they sold better

Because we were a society

And so this

This you know this couple

Reminding me of this weekend

Tell me about your warranty

I have literally paid to

Toe vehicles from 5, 6, 7 hours away

I have

We have

All of us actually in this room

Have loaded up our jeeps on a trailer

And went and got something

Or delivered something

It's an integrity based process

Lots of time is no fault to our own

No, and honestly

Jeannie listening in is a

Kind of a perfect example in the sense that

Like hey we wanted to endeavor upon

This rebuild of her jeep

To the best of our ability

And for circumstances

Beyond our control

We were not getting it done

Right, in one way or another

I loaded up her jeep and

Part of our process delivered it down to

You know what

8, 10 hours away to Pigeon Forge for Smoky Mountain

So that she could be part of it

Because that's part of

An integrity based approach or process

It's the SFJ difference

And you get another one in

There you go, you got another one in

And I just

Want that because that is the characteristics

That helped build

Our society as we once

Knew it and we're getting further

And further and further away

And when we specifically as

Individuals have attempted

To utilize these

Products that we believe to be best

And another one that is on my

Crapless is Fel Pro right now

Well before you dive into Fel Pro

I want to jump to the comments

Because we had at Chuck Jelly commenting

About the radiators saying they should be double suspended

And we had Daddy Jeep saying

He had a champion in the YJ for 14

Years now with no issues

That's awesome

And I would be interested to know

What Chuck's take on the double

Suspension is now the thing with

With JK's is they actually have rubber

Isolators in two different locations

I would argue they are double suspended

We would say that they are

You have both a vertical and horizontal

A fixture of rubber

Isolation to

Our Wrangler radiators

And before we get off of the cooling systems

I want two more

Points of

Talking about

Yeah, I think it would be better

When you just combine all the words

Yeah, I'm sick people

So anyway

Is that the excuse?

Get the spray paint out

So when we go to

An all metal radiator

We have a lot of things

Especially on the JK

To attach to that radiator

We have condensers, we have fans

And that kind of stuff

And we feel

With our customers

We don't want you to have to pay

For extra labor

We don't want you to pay for extra services

If we don't have to

Now how the OE feels

You should replace the radiator in the JK

As you wheel your Jeep

Over to your air conditioning machine

You discharge your air conditioning

You remove the cooling module

So the

Condenser, the radiator

Any coolers that are attached to it

So then you're opening your transmissions

Or your power steering system

If it goes through there

We're removing it as an assembly

Then you're going over your friendly workbench

And you're taking it apart

Replacing the bad part, putting it all back together

And now we have to recharge your AC

We have to top off your transmission

If you're a high mileage

Transmission, now we're introducing

Fresh fluid

And contaminants

And all kinds of sticky wicket stuff

So it behooves

Our customer

If we touch as little as possible

So we will try to leave

The condenser in the vehicle

We will try to leave the training coolers alone

When you have

An all metal radiator

You have to align up

832, 1032

Bolts

Straight

For all this to go in

Or you gall it and you

Cross thread it instantly because it's aluminum

So it takes

A minute

To get all that arranged

Not only that

We have consistently this problem

Where we put in a quality radiator

We're using good coolant

We've took the time to put the bolts in

And now we have to bleed the system

Because it's a 3.6

So we get our funnel on there

And we're working our process

We've airlifted it

It's another important note

And that alone

Should have removed

I'll be nice, 50% of the energy

That is very generous

Way way too low

Should have been closer to 75%

And so

We should have pretty much nipped this

In the bud

We should have

And we spent hours

We spent as much time bleeding the system

As it took us to reinstall the radiator

With the bolts

And I got to jump in piggyback here

To again

Talk about processes

Not exactly being created equal

We see time and time again

Good DIY customers

And unfortunate individuals or customers

I hear about it constantly

In text and emails to us

Or we've had people come in and say

Hey, I went to my corner mechanic

And he did my radiator

Or he did my thermostat

And now I don't have heat

And I took it back and they bled the system for 20 minutes

And I still don't have heat

Does 20 minutes do anything?

Right!

None of that is a bad process

So we were looking at

Again, us and we were going

What did we do wrong?

How can we reflect upon this?

It just seems to be this case

So the last time Griffin touched us

Because they've touched it a bunch

We were like screw it

We can't have confidence

In their product and they were not

Giving us a new product to install

We had to go to

We're kind of desperate at that point

We're like fine, we're just going to put an auto zone radiator in it

It's reasonably priced

It's available

If it was a fail

They actually stand behind it

It's auto zone

In the import radiator

It bled snap your fingers

It was done

So that tells me that

Again

This is foreshadowing

There's a reason why

The OEs are using materials

That they are

The shapes that they are

I want to reference like Gail Banks

Talking about the shapes of covers on the rear ends

They're that way for a reason

Us as enthusiasts

And aftermarket engineers

Do not understand

The level engineering into these vehicles

And they go willy nilly into

And be like well

It's plastic I don't like that

There's obviously a reason

There's something in the works

Of this

The finest minutia that separates

What that

Multi-billion dollar company

Has engineered

And what this

Seemingly on the surface

Successful aftermarket company

Has engineered

Even to the point that I was like

All JLs are bleeding easier

I even referenced that in another podcast

No, it's because we don't put

All aluminum radiators in our JLs

Ever

We put factory style radiators in them

There's got to be something as far as the core size

And we obviously those of you who have

Followed along with our podcast recently

Know that we talked about the flow rate of

Heater cores

There's something, the design, the workmanship

The bends, the

The way the tanks are shaped inside

The flow of that

If you have a square tank and your factories

Is rounded, there's a difference

In flow there

But in any regard

We airlifted it

That's the secret sauce on how

To get the air out

It then worked like it's supposed to

And we sat back and went

I really feel a type of way right now

Because not only did we

Go for the way more

Expensive, double the cost

Radiator

We took the time

And we didn't charge

Our labor for the time it took

We just took it on the chin like

That was what it takes to do the job correctly

Right. And the book says

It's this much so we're not

Going to inflate it

And here we are

That the cheap radiator

Actually works better. Actually works

And does what the book claims that it's supposed to do

And kind of expand

Upon that because

The challenge I have

Again in this not all parts are created

Equal conversation and you're talking about

The physical workmanship and

For those of you who are not familiar

We referenced the Gail Banks study

Where he

Did this whole conversation regarding

The extra capacity, fluid capacity

Diff cover. So they were

It was really big. I want to say it was

AFE

Was doing these extra large flat

Bodied

Extra capacity differential covers

For

Your Dane 80s, your corporate 14s

Your AAM 11

115s

Because the idea for the aftermarket was

The more fluid we get into the better cooling capacity

And Gail Banks goes in and goes

Well actually I think that there's

Engineered flow

The way that the cool

The gear oil is thrown from

The ring of pinion

Up into the pinion throat

To cool the pinion bearings

And back down. And so he does this

Study which was back

Probably in 17-19 somewhere there

So this makes me think about we actually

Had the opportunity, haven't talked about

RD recently

RD is short

For research and development

And

Owned by a great customer of ours

And this was a 2018

JL. We had all those steering issues

Electric over hydraulic, blah blah blah

We didn't know enough. We went into

Kind of some processes

With PSC motorsports

And they have been

A fantastic company standing behind

The fact that they don't do

Everything perfect the first time around

And they're figuring it out. And they're figuring it out

And it's not how many times they do things perfect

But how they respond when things go

Less than. And as

They've re-engineered the product

As they're figuring it out, they've offered

To send us the new

Re-engineered parts

For free. For free. Or in the

Like the next time we quote the kit

Hey, we're going to do this at a reduced cost

Or hey, make sure you add this part

Because we've learned about barometric pressure

Venting. And now we need to do that.

We didn't do that a decade ago

But here's the thing. With that JL

Specifically they had a canister

And the canister

Arguably

Does not

Change

In the first couple iterations

Or generations of their production

It's meant to be a fluid capacity canister

What they end up doing is they

Baffle it. And baffling

Is a series of

Putting little walls

Inside this canister to slow down

The fluid transfer

Because what they understood

Or what they eventually figured out through the research

Was that fluid was

Was moving too fast

And that speed of

Hydraulic fluid transfer

Was actually creating more friction

More heat. And the system

Was expanded. Had nowhere to go. And it was actually

Blowing out seals

Blowing out fettings. Basically boiling over

Basically boiling over your hydraulic

Steering assist. Which is counter

Productive.

And so what I'm trying

The emphasis here is the fact that

The outside didn't change

Right? It didn't look any different

What they changed were they baffled

The inside and made

A change, a physical change

On the inside of it. So the radiator

Conversation that we're talking about

Has

The opportunity or has the capacity to do

With what's happening inside

And how that's working. The airlift

Could be because you have a passage

That is more

Effective because it has a better flow

Rate. Back in the day

We used to go in and mill

The tiniest little bit

Out of the ports

In our

Small blocks. I don't care what

Manufacturer you like. Whether you know

Big three manufacturer you like. You went

Into the intake and you milled out

Just a little deburring it so that

Or took the texture

Of the cast off and made it smooth

Smoothed it out. That made the airflow

Do different. Or you

Found out actually that hurt it because

The ripples helped

Change the way the fuel

Clunged to it. I mean there's all kinds

Of engineering and

To be honest we just took it at face

Value that we're paying double

For this part. They've

Done the engineering. They should

Be a stand behind it.

Here we are with the egg on our face

That now we're starting to think

Like an engineer and go no

They don't have it figured out. No

They don't have a better process.

Right. They're just pushing

Speed to market in some situations

Or riding on the laurels of

Their once great name.

And I had this conversation recently

With folks on Rubicon Express

And Teraflex and Procomp

And that's not to say that those lines

Can't come back around and reinvent

Themselves. We're going to see that with

Poison Spider. We hope

They just got acquired by ARB

I think they'll have a rebirth of sorts

They have more of a chance than ever.

I agree because ARB

As a manufacturer

Still holds

On to quality

Product and processes

But

You are actually going to see a price point

Change and you're going to see a lower batch

Production. They're not saturating

The market. They're not making it super readily available

It is

A little more challenging

To acquire their parts. You're not easily going on

To Amazon and just being an average consumer

You're not going to see extreme terrain

Pick them up and blast them on the front page

Of their home page.

It's not going to be trendy and everybody

And their brother has the product.

Correct. Correct.

And so that's part of this issue of

Feeling out that not all parts

And processes are created equal. And of course

I am in my feelings

In a massive way most recently

Because of idler bearings

And pulleys and tensioner assemblies

And whatnot. And because I

Rerouted you. We wanted to talk about

Gaskets.

Gasket technology

In the last

2025 years has really grown

Hugely

On reliability

Ease of assembly

Kind of

Staying put. But we're having this problem

With felpro gaskets specifically

And it isn't just one motor

It's kind of like across the board

It is. And I don't know if

The

Products

The chemicals are putting in the gaskets

Changed. It's highly

Possible.

But we're literally having things leak

And there's really no reason for them to

Have leaked. Now in a couple

We are noticing with 3-6

Specifically there is

Alignment pins on the valve covers

And sometimes those will exit

The chat. And again

Do you want to stop

The process and be like

Hey, your valve cover that really

Is not any holes in it. Doesn't have

Any problems. But this little

Metal pin has corroded

Off.

And you're thinking well it can't move

Around that much. There's got to be something

To it. I haven't completely wrapped my head

Around it. But that is something

We are seeing. Again we're looking at

All the possibilities. But

We're also trying other manufacturers

And other processes.

And we're noticing the gaskets

Are slightly different.

And that's, there is

Going to be a reason why we have

Ten different radiator manufacturers

And six different gasket

Manufacturers. They are

Ultimately creating

Competition as the capitalist in me

Appreciates multiple

Business endeavors because

Then arguably they're supposed

To improve their product

To meet the needs of the general consumer.

I do have a little

Jaded as far as how our current

Consumer market is working

And I feel like they're actually racing

To the bottom versus racing to the top

Yeah.

And that a lot of our manufacturers are just

Who can make the, bless you, the least

Crappy product versus who can make the best

Product. And that's a little bothersome

I think COVID really did break the system

And the industry because it became

Less important about

How good your product was

Was more important of how could I

How available was the product?

How could I consume your product?

And you know what I hate, I really hate

And while we were just lambasting all of my mantras

I'm going to go back to something

You said, and it was

A quiet

March of 2020

And we sat

In the dark

Right at the end of the day as they started

To talk about businesses shutting down

And best possible practices of

Whatever they called

Essential versus unessential

And blah, blah, blah

And you said

And it's burnt into my brain this vivid

Very vivid memory and you said

Well, what happens

I mean right now we've got part availability

But at some point in time

What happens when they say that

We can't get parts anymore

And the parts that we're getting aren't

Quality.

And it's something that I honestly did not think about

I don't think you knew how impactful

30 years ago you just assumed

That you're going to go to the store and there's going to be milk

And you're going to go to the shelf and there's going to be bread

And there's toilet paper over there

And I'm going to go to the other store and get my

Gaskets from my vehicle

And they're going to be good and they're going to be in stock

And COVID

Really showed us that

All the little cogs

Gotta move in order for it to work

And we had a lot of people like we were

Trying to make ourselves feel better and be like

Well, we're mechanics, we're essential

And I'm like, yes, we are

But is the truck driver that's moving

The part and the delivery person

That delivers it to us

Are they essential? And does the person

That gets sick on the assembly line

For the product that he's doing a good job

And I

Was more right than I even realized

And we have never recovered

As an industry

We've not recovered and I would argue as a society

Our

Perspective shifted

The availability

And the ability to consume

In the least encumbered way possible

Can I sit in my underwear

At 2am and order something

That's cheap

And I want a bunch of it off the internet

And now

Manufacturers have responded

And I am a firm believer that manufacturers will sell

What the consumer will consume

And this idea that

I can up church this warranty

To make you feel good in this moment

Much like I did

12-15 years ago

When we were selling transfer cases

Our process didn't change and I would argue

It actually only got better

But

Realistically we sold better, excuse me

Because I just presented it

Differently and I think that's what these manufacturers are doing

They cheapen their product

And they

Presented it in such a way that made us go

Yeah, I can consume this

When you do have the race at the bottom

You have to cut the cost somewhere

And if you can't cut it

Cut the cost in your delivery

You can't cut it

In your biggest expense

Your manpower

Then you have to cut

Your material that you're making it out of

You're going to look at different

Chemical processes

With like gaskets and that kind of stuff

Can I cheapen up and go to

This slightly different variant

Am I going to

Slightly

Change the packaging

They're going to look at all the minutia

And somehow you're getting

Slightly worse of a product because of it

Which is

The last thing to say

I remember having a conversation

Specifically with

Yukon Gear

And having a conversation with them

Back in the 15-17 range

Where they were prioritizing

Quality packaging

They wanted you to see that

Their components were

Oiled

They weren't going to be rusty

That they were secure

That they were bagged and boxed

And that it was a pleasing

Retail friendly package

So that as people got it

They were excited about it of sorts

And here's the thing

Spicer has never given a crap

They send it to you in basically oil paper

Or wax paper

In a cardboard box

And

To say that their product

Isn't getting damaged

I can appreciate their

Spartan approach

But I do have to say I miss that

Hey, I'm going to give you

A quality product

Packaged well

JKS Manufacturing

One of my favorite

Jeffrey started with us with JKS

It came in a nice

Cut foam package

Nice retail, good quality stuff

And they still do that obviously

But JKS isn't trying to

Even they

Watered it down some though

Isn't it coming in the white packaging

Instead of the fan failure

We used to have the cool box

With the JKS logo

And the yellow triangle across it

It was pretty good looking packaging

It was very retail

Had a nice handle where you could carry it

Like a soup case

And that is what you're talking about

We have to cut those corners somewhere

Because the market

And the consumer experience

Has changed

And the consumer expectation

And I would say it's even touched our OEs

Because I would say that our

Early

2010, 2012

While they all vehicles have problems

Inherently

We saw less

Things

It took a longer time

You had to have the vehicle 5 to 8 years

For things start to fail

Case in point

Greg drives a minivan

And his is a 12

With 200,000 miles on it

Now it is a Toyota

However you feel about that

I'm a little insulted

But it's got the original

Radiator in it

It's a 13

And it's got 200k on it

And in comparison

My 21 with 50

Is leaking

You don't really wheel yours either

A little but not like some do

Right

I look at my own situation

With my wife's

Mall crawler

And it's been a soldier

In many capacities

However we did put an engine in it

About 120,000 miles

With no

Specific catalyst

Per se

And we never got to actually figure out

Why

We believe that it was a breached

Head gasket

That's a whole other tech conversation for another day

And how

And I was explaining to a customer last week

The conversation of what we used to understand

Is blown head gaskets

Is now breached head gaskets

How it takes time for

That

Overheating

To happen

And we found out that those motors are less

And less robustness

In an overheat situation

We're in this situation now

You overheat it once

And you got out of it

You need to go get a lottery ticket

If you do it multiple times

You're cooked

And with hoses trying to come off

And here

Are

Radiators leaking like they are

And mine

I had to be very thorough

To find the leak

It's not leaving a puddle on the ground

I smell it once in a while

Joe Average would just keep driving it

Until

There was no cooling in it

And now I have an issue

And you did

In part of your thoroughness

You were checking your cooling level

And you had to put cooling in a few times

Not a lot

But you still had to

And that was way back in 41

42,000 miles

Somewhere in there

I really

Disappointed

Well, you know what folks

I hope that we actually were a little productive

A little revealing

Not just a big gripe fest

Sharing with you

But the extent that

We really want

To, I think, do a couple things here

One, we want to accentuate

Choosing good parts

The best with the knowledge that you have

In this exact moment

That takes about educating yourself

And think about, you know, it's not always

The perception of good or bad

It's how the products design

Why is the product designed that way

Again, OEs spend a lot of money

On just design

For a reason

And no aftermarket company

Can ever invest

The same R&D

They do into a product

But that doesn't mean that the OE part

Is always perfect either

We've had batch failures of the OE products as well

But just like Neal

Brought up about the PSC

We have seen the OEs super seed part

Numbers and re-engineer things

And that is partially why we use

Factory parts where we can

I mean, I will tease

For the upcoming conversation

We only use OE

Oil coolers

And yes, we use

Plastic and aluminum

We are not fanboys of the all

Aluminum oil coolers

And we will tell you why that is

In the future

In an upcoming episode

I'll have to make sure I'm on that episode

Obviously, I want to make sure

That we transfer to our

Weekend update

And obviously, Jeffrey

Can speak at length about his pursuits

I did as far as some of the

Comments were concerned

I am going to kind of

Address one in particular

But I do want to

Make sure I remind folks who are listening

In their ear holes at a later date

That we encourage you to come

And join us live in the comments

We're not going to read every single one

But we do want to do our best to

Kind of say hello

Obviously, get in there

You can share, other people will read

I think it's really fun that there's people

In those comments who

Have never met each other and yet

Consider each other Jeep friends

Speaking of comments, we got to talk about Nathan's

Coolant question, two seconds

So there is a bunch of evidence

Specifically with diesels

Or ones that are seeing this

That the pH of the factory coolant

Is getting out of whack

Which is therefore causing some

Corrosion internally

So there

Literally are saying with the diesel

Gladiators specifically

That you should be changing your coolant

Every year, which is

Mind numbing for how expensive

Factory coolant is

Because of that

We're going to do a little pow wow

Every Tuesday we literally have a pow wow

And talk and I'm literally going to bring that up

This Tuesday meeting

And I am going to be

Personally looking into that since

I'm going to be putting a radiator in my truck

Hey!

So typically speaking

And I pull no punches

Universal coolant

Has to be universal

Prestone sells a great product

Honestly

AutoZone has a universal coolant product

Napa's going to have a derivative

Of a universal

That universal coolant product

Is our first and foremost

Recommendation

Don't get distracted

By the

Elaborate marketing from

In other things

With that said, the universal coolant

Does have a shorter life span

Than other products

So therefore you have to be more

Conscientious about the consumption

And use of it

I personally to this point

Have been a big fan with our JLs

I like to use Mopar coolant

As Scott said, he's going to kind of

Lead the charge on identifying

Our best practices moving forward

But specifically within

The closed system

Of the JLJT

I'm going to cut my radiator in half

And see was

There some corrosion

Internally, is that what caused

This pinhole to appear

And if that is the case

And my confidence

In the Mopar coolant has been shaken

Because the way I understand it

Is it supposed to be 100,000 mile

Plus coolant

Well, if it's taking out a radiator

In 50,000 miles

Then therefore it is not

And if you're changing it every year

For a pH imbalance

Then the effect

Or the benefit of having it be

100,000 mile coolant is gone

Especially because it's so stinking expensive

By comparison. Correct.

Now to close out the episode, just because you didn't do any

Accents today, you got to read Nate's final comment here.

Oh jeez.

No.

Down with the O.E.

Yeah, you know me. He's doing a play

On a song. I know. No.

No, he's not going to get that out of me.

I am going to address Joe O'Brien

And say

How many pictures do they want

Because Joe thinks that this is actually about him

Honestly Joe, I'm actually

Not even fired up at your Jeep

This is actually all about yet

Another warranty situation

Where we have a customer who's on their third

Radiator. That's

The last time around we actually

Warranted the Griffin twice in theirs

To no disservice of this customer

Their Jeep is not beaten and abused

Just a lot of road miles

And we finally

Went ahead and put a more O.E. design

A plastic

Aluminum

Conglomeration in theirs

And that one went beautifully

That actually is the needle

That broke my back in this conversation

Not even specifically relevant

To Joe's

Which we just did recently as well

Alright

Ready?

Until next time folks, Jeep on

Jeep on

So we're gonna make Jeff go first or last

I think we make him go first

So before I talk about

My weekend updates, I gotta say

I think I need to change the music

Because Scott's weekend update effect

Was so much better

I know you've been very busy

But I really just want his sound

By as the weekend update

I think it needs to be. I'll see what I can work on

Yeah, appreciate that

So if I'm gonna go first

And I will first

Talk about the fact that Voodoo Brewing

Had closed a

Corporate location in Erie, Pennsylvania

And I went on this

Confidentiality mission

To acquire that

Well, first I think it's important that you

Were

Worried since your nonprofit is so much about

The music scene specifically in Erie

But also helping

Cultivate music and

Getting people instruments in their hands

That Voodoo Brewing was where

Your event was taking place

And you were hearing

In the music community

How devastated they were

That this venue was going away

And they didn't know

Where

They were going to go

It's a large piece

Of the music community

In downtown Erie, Pennsylvania

They had the

patio concert series

All summer every year

Which is an awesome outdoor experience

Anywhere downtown

You can hear that

So it has

Always been free to the public

It's just a fun atmosphere

That brings in a lot of different local musicians

That gives them a lot of opportunity

To showcase their own skills

So we got to talking as a family

And

Decided to make a call, we made a call

We got into that confidentiality

Period where I couldn't say anything to

Anybody about what was happening

But then

About a month ago now

We assigned the official deal

Not even a month ago

It might just been about a month

And so we got into the space

And we were just rocking out

We stripped all of the

Fixtures out of the way

All the equipment

Moved it all out of the way

Did a full massive deep clean

Of the entire facility

We went through and we

Refinished all of the tables

Because there was complaints that the tables were

Sticky from the other finish

If you go on social media, there's tons

Of people commenting on that

I'm going to take a sidebar here

It's just from the finish

Product being used in a

Place that maybe it wasn't exactly

The best process

I literally told Jeff

That challenges people associate

That with uncleanliness

Dirty, but the issue

Is you're actually using a water-based stain

Water-based lacquer

Is what was used on that table

And every time you clean that

You're degrading that lacquer

Because it's water-based

You're taking a layer off

And then it's got to almost re-slotify

And it's tacky

I went to a place in

Michigan

A really neat local place

And their tables were super sticky

And I knew it's not because

They weren't keeping up clean

It was because whoever did the tables

Sucked! They used the wrong product

They used the wrong product

They had a bad product or a bad process

We went through

We sanded, we planed

We flipped boards over, whatever we had to do

And then we

Actually burned all of the tables with a torch

That's kind of your calling mark

Jeff Samo

I like fire

So anyways

Then we put an oil-based polyurethane

So now we can wipe the tables down

Without it degrading the finish

Now over time

Just like a hardwood floor

We will have to recode it

But that's not going to be that sticky table feel

Small little detail stuff

Right

Then we did all of this

We spent a week

Of training with the Voodoo

franchise group

They actually came in

To help us train all new staff

On the ways of the kitchen

The ways we had the bar

How to pour the beer properly

What the different types of beers are

Things like that. It was a really cool experience

We got a whole new team of people involved in

But

We're the first

Store for Voodoo

Or first brewery for Voodoo

To ever reopen as a franchise

They have

Either always been a corporate owned

Or a franchise owned

They've never done a conversion

So this was a unique process even for them

We had a lot of fun learning throughout that

But we also got to help develop the menu

So what I heard is that Jeff

Right

Of course she went there

So those that don't know

The press did me dirty

The press

The press is so good

On this

Jeff transition

Can't see it but there's the photo

The contentious photo

What they did is on

Facebook they posted a headline

That says 50th women owned business

And then put my picture right there

To which

I'm just looking at it going

To which the comments

Minutes of it going live

The comments were

Fire

They were hilarious

And Jeff doesn't know this

But internally

Because it's what we do

I knew

I didn't know what he was saying

Davey went ahead and used

He made me look like the Joker

He used his skill set to make you

The most unattractive woman

It was pretty funny photo

I did defend Jeff

If he was a transition

Kristen would not have let him out of the house

With makeup that bad

She'd love him anyways

But that was

That article

That headline

What was so funny about that

Is because it went viral

And then the media

Had to come out with retraction statements

And then other forms of the media

Was coming out and doing live news

Retraction statements on the news live

We got so much more publicity

Any press is good press

I was like I'm going to take it

Because it was hilarious

Obviously it was a misprint

There were people in the comments saying

Read the article

The problem is you actually have to read

As a society

Again it goes back to that

Issue we have

We want to sit in our underwear and make comments

Behind the keyboard

And people read the titles

And saw the picture of Jeff

It was wild

It was a lot of fun though

And then

We get up to the

I'm just going to share a couple fun stories

With it because the

COO of the franchise group

Eric

He was in and he actually as of this week

Officially is in charge of both the franchise group

And the brewery company

So all of voodoo at this point

But he's in

And we were talking about

Cocktails and pricing and how we want to

Price ours

To be competitive in the area

But also have a higher end product

A little more quality product

So I said have you ever been to room 33

He had no idea what I was talking about

Andrew

Who is his right hand man

Was also there and he actually

Designed most of the cocktails

So he said he's like I've heard of that

But I've never been there

So I'm like alright we're going to have to go at some point

Maybe I'll take you up there one of these nights

Well we've finally scheduled a night to go

And then they had a bunch of stuff come up

On corporate side so they couldn't go

So they

I was like well I'm just going to harass you until you go

He's like well when I come back next time we'll go

I'm like sure we will we'll see what happens

Sure yeah give them a hard time

So I'm giving them a hard time this is an all week thing

A running joke

So we do our soft opening

On Friday night

And one of my aunt and uncle

That are very supportive of this

Process they love voodoo breweries

So they're excited that we're reopening

They didn't even know that we were doing it

Because of the confidentiality until

Literally it went live with the press

But they came out to support us

For the friends and family soft opening

They

She was trying a bunch of the cocktails

And she literally came over to me and she said

Hey there's

No good mojitos in downtown Erie

There's just not room 33 is the closest

So you can get to a good mojito

And theirs is good but it's not great

Like it's how she put it

She goes your guys's mojito

Is fantastic it's the best mojito

I've ever had in downtown Erie

So I thought that was pretty cool

So Eric was present for that conversation

Andrew was not

Andrew designed the mojito

So a little bit later in the evening

I went over to Andrew and he's like how's things

Going for you guys I'm like good the cocktails are good

We got some feedback on your mojito

So we really need to

Really need to talk about that

So we go over there

And

We drag them over and we

Tell them hey this is my aunt she

She's tried all the mojitos in downtown Erie

She can give you the most feedback

On how this went and she had some comments

For you and he's like

What do we got to change what do we got to fix

You know it's like already processing my spine

Like holy crap I'm about to get attacked on this

And she not knowing we were

Doing this went on this long

Rant about mojitos

Well that's funny and that's where she brought up

That room 33 was the best

And as soon as she said room 33

I just looked and I was like you hear that

Room 33

Made a little joke about that but then

She gets to the part where she goes

But your guys is mojito

And you just see Andrew's face drop

He's in panic mode

Is the best mojito I've had in Erie

And probably in the region

And he was ecstatic

But he just looked at her

And turns to look at Eric and I

And just you and you

And explicit words were said

Use your imagination

We set them up so good with that

But then Saturday

During the grand opening

We actually had a moment

Where we could sneak out

And we snuck up to room 33

And so we actually

I know the owners up there

We talked a little bit

And then I had them each try a couple drinks

We tried all the apps and everything

Had a fun little time there

And

I mean Andrew even

Concurred that their mojito is

Pretty good so in the end

But ours is still better

So it was just a fun thing

Fun experience

I learned a lot and I have a lot more to learn

I think the biggest thing I learned

Is I don't know anything about this industry

We kind of call

We all do that

But in a good way

You know I've been

A customer of Voodoo for years

So I knew what things needed to be addressed

From a customer standpoint and we addressed those

We changed up the model

It's no longer you have to go grab your food out of the window

You don't have to go throw your dishes in the bus pan

We take care of all that for you

You know I think that

As much as I have my

You know kind of public reservations

For anyone

Jump into a

Pursuit that they have no

Immediate experience in

Right so that's kind of big talk for the fact that

You as a teenager in early

20s you were

In the restaurant industry for you know six or so years

But that was

Not even

Oh okay I thought it was

Something like you were in

Anyway it doesn't matter

Okay I knew it was somewhere in there

But that was 20 some years ago right

Industry changes and so

As advice I've given to people who

Want to like have some type

Of kind of pursuit of their

Own is like

Go work for somebody else get your feet wet

Understand the industry

Don't do what I did

And what I did right I did that

With SF2 peas in the pot over there

But you can be successful

When you don't know the industry

But it takes a lot more

It takes so much more and the

Advantage what I think then

Translates well is

You bring that consumer

Customer experience

To the ownership level to go as

Scott Woff say we were on that side of

The counter we were on that other side

As you're experiencing going hey I didn't

Like going up to the window to order

Like a cafeteria I didn't like the sticky

Tables or the fact that I had to shim them

From rocking around myself

And so I'm going to be

Cognizant of that customer

Based experience more so than

Somebody who's in the industry who's

Just a franchise group looking to make

A dollar you know and

There is an advantage but like you

Just said prepare to invest

So much more energy

Than you know

And if you are already maybe

You have to relearn everything

You're not just learning

A little bit of a change in process

You're relearning everything

But what was really fun is that

We created the menu

With the franchise guys and we

Tested it during that training

And we refined it during that training

And we kept changing things

Literally our pizza we didn't make a

Final decision on a pizza until

Day of soft opening an hour or two

Before we opened I'm literally

I had to go run some errands and I

Come back in and there's just shoving slices

Of pizza in my face try this one try this

One which was and it was

A fun experience to really refine

That and make it really

Better than it's ever been there

And then to

Go hey

We're going to keep refining it and as you

Change ingredients and make it better let us

Know because we're rolling it out to the whole franchise

So that was really fun to be a part of

That and what's actually going to roll out

Countrywide. So let me

I'm going to jump in I'm going to cut Jeff off

You want to know more about Jeff saying you're going to have to reach out to him on his

Social age fall along

Read his

Transition article. Hey jeep night at my place if you want to organize

That by all means Joe let's set it up. I was going to say

You know I'm looking forward to jeep night

At voodoo. I know that it'll happen

In some way shape or form

Biggest challenge I see

From a logistics standpoint is

Challenging parking for an

Automotive evening

Right we quaker steak

As a whole

Is probably the most notable

You know jeep nights truck nights car nights

Yeah motorcycle nights

And that's because they tend to have big parking lots

Right your we don't have parking lot

You don't have a parking lot downtown venue

Is easily accessible

It's a spectacular location

But challenging for

Automotive

Jeff will shut down the road

That's right

Maybe actually it's not a bad idea

That's kind of cool we could have a jeep night

And we'll just get the city to shut down the road

For a minute I know what the permit cost

To do that I've done it before

That's not out of the question

We might be on to something here

We might be on to something anyways

For my weekend

We were putting the miles

On the mall crawler

Wife was dutiful in her pursuits

We had an opportunity to go to

They just hit you with shuttle service from SFJ

That's a long shuttle

We'll take the old clapped out RV

In the side yard

Limo it

What if the limo and the RV

It was going to make it first

The limo is going to be pulling the RV

That's right the limo will be pulling

The limo will make it fine

The RV runs

It's a

6BT

It's a 12V

Integrity issues

The house will be shifting in the process

Anyways

Since I transitioned in the media

I identify as a jeep on the side of the RV

Absolutely

We can use it to block the road

Oh my God

We can use the RV and the limo

On either ends of the road

Neil Simpson

Shuts down Erie

I'm okay with that

That's not bad

Okay

True story

May have happened

Gracious

We put the miles on

I needed to be in 11

places this weekend and we managed to get

Most of them checked off our list

One of which we did go

To Jeff's grand opening

On Saturday

And I have yet to give

Jeff any feedback

whatsoever

Live feedback

You came at a perfect time

I just ordered some food for myself

And I was able to sit down and join you for lunch

It was awesome, it was pretty good

Serendipitous timing in the process

Live feedback

So folks who are listening at home

And

Obviously you're listening at a later date

It's not live but those who are in are live

You're gonna get that

Here's the thing

Parking was easy because

I think navigating

Downtown Erie is sufficient

There's ample parking, there's a parking garage

In both directions, not very far away

We chose the park on the street

I love the Warner Theater area

I know that space well enough

You can see the Warner Theater from our location

Absolutely

If you're not familiar with that space

Get one of the parking garages

I had no problem navigating that

Traffic was appropriate, people were in good spirits

The weather was fine

The garage doors

Or the sidewall doors

The street facing doors were open

You could hear the music from the street

Created a nice ambiance

It felt

Energetic and alive

And fresh and people were excited about that

I went in

The ordering

Of the food is unconventional

Prepare

To be a modern day person

Living in the 21st century

You're going to use your phone

And that's cool

To shoot the QR code

If you don't know how to use QR codes

You're gonna need to figure it out

Or you can go up to the bar in order

You have to stay, you're a boomer first though

But you have to admit

I'm a boomer and I need to order at the bar

Otherwise you just sit at the table

And every four to six feet is a QR code

With a kind of a

It's not actually a geo proximity

It's actually labeled to

Position one, position four, whatever

Table numbered

The tables are pallets

So every pallet has its own table number

Super cool and you order

Menus right there on your phone, scroll

You can do everything from your phone

You go through the menu, add this

Retract that

You're gonna do everything

Right there and you're gonna cash out

That was

That was cool

I can hands down say the food

Was on point

I did not go there for dinner, I went there for

Apps and drinks to just try

And kind of understand the atmosphere

And enjoy the space

This sounds like the most

Trivial little icky picky thing

So simple

But man, the devil's in the details folks

I had probably

The best soft pretzel

And dips

That I've ever had in my whole entire life

Yes

Like my wife

Loves soft pretzels

And somebody else got a pub pretzel

Or like it came off the line

I think that's what I was eating

That's actually what you had ordered as well

So you were the second person I saw the pub pretzel on

And I was like, I will get that

And I mean it's so simple

But when you do it so well

I was like, okay

We're on to something, you know what I mean

That was absolutely excellent

We had a shredded

Brussels sprout salad

Which is a totally unique

Salad totally would order it again

Very cool, very unique

Delicious

Again a little unconventional

But again you're getting it out of this kind of space

And then by happenstance

We got the nachos

You'll see posts of that on my personal facebook page

They were huge

They were delicious

They were super salty chips

Which I love

I don't know where the chips are coming from

I don't know if you're making them

I don't really care

That was to my palate

If you don't like salty chips

I don't know why you're eating nachos in the first place

But I loved every bit of it

I'm telling you the food was my favorite part

Now I'm not a drink guy

But we made sure to order drinks off the menu

My wife chose for us

They were strong

They were flavorful

I gotta be honest we left them on the table

Because they were too strong for us

But we're not

That's not our scene

And obviously

I had to turn and burn

I had an engagement in Cleveland

So I should not be

Sucking this down

To head two hours

In the opposite direction

But if you are

A cocktail person

You're gonna love them

I thought it was on point

Jeffrey knows I wanted a water sign

Above the water spigot

That's fixed

And

I knew that it would be

It was an easy thing to address

Go get your own water

I suck down a ton of water

During my meal time

Or my social gathering

I liked that I didn't have to wait for a server

To come refill my drink

I'm okay taking care of myself

Or my party

My table

If you want weighted on hand and foot

This is not gonna be that space

But the drinks are delivered by the bartender

The food was delivered by the hostesses

Or hosts

It was what you would get

Now Jeffrey knows I'm not a huge

I'm a pleb when it comes to live music

Here's the thing

We could have gone out to the patio

And sat would have totally had a different experience

Again I loved hearing it from the street

And yet again just the nature

Of our come and go

It's a live music venue

So if that's your thing

You're gonna love the space

It's pretty good acoustics, good sound

If you're not a live music person

Then you're gonna need to go find a spot

On the patio if the weather's good

Or inside if we're having the music out

On the patio because the weather's good

Vice versa, totes

And that's the beauty of that

Specific space

It is so large that you have

The ability to

As an individual

We could have grabbed our food and went out there

Or if the music was out

On the patio we could have gone inside

And you still have that open air experience

From the garage doors

Or the street facing you

I am really excited for you

And I'm excited to see

How this pursuit

I know it's a fulfillment of a dream

For you guys

And I just have

Nothing but well wishes

And I had a great experience

I know other people will too

When they go

And I heard Greg came out and I missed him

But from the feedback

That Scott was saying

He had the burger and thought it was good

And if Greg thinks the burger's good

I know we're doing something right

He's really picky

About his food

I enjoyed myself thoroughly

We turned and burned, we headed up to Cleveland

To a distributor's open house

Three story interior

He sent me pictures of these hideous wheels

That he once put on the limousine

Of course he did

Folks I took the most

Awful to make

Scott throw up in his mouth

Dubs

Literally the brand dubs

And I just

I totally would rock them on the limo

100%

So I'm talking to the rep and he's like

I had no idea that like

I'm like telling him about my semi

I'm telling him about my limo

I thought maybe he just did like

Jeeps right? It was that totally

Stereotypical

You know one

Oh you just drive this clapped out rust bucket

That's drafty and rolls over

I mean no disrespect to our rep

He just didn't know

And I was like no dude I'm just kind of like

I'm an automotive enthusiast

He's eccentric

I guess we both are

I used to love low riders

And if the limo was

Slammed and sat on the ground I'd love that

But then I want to go get in the semi

And I want to do big truck things

So on and so forth

So that was a big that

And then I did manage to get work on the house

This weekend and that was

Fulfilling

As well, it's nice to be able to start to

Transition being back out

On this house build

That my wife and I endeavored on to some years ago

Nice, before Scott jumps in

I see Nate said he's about to turn 40

I'll be ordering at the bar

Nate, I'm about to turn 40 as well

And I was able to set up the ordering

So I think you'll be okay, it's pretty simple

But if not you do have to say boomer

You do, you have to say boomer

That's Neil's role

You have to say boomer

And I would like to order this, that's what you'll have to do

Absolutely

So my update, obviously I found out my

Raiders leaking

That was kind of a bum thing

Did

Wait, when did you find that out, jeez

I had no idea

On the

Socials and stuff he was seeing I got

Two door sedan model T body

I completely took that apart

Over the weekend

And saved some pieces and parts for

The coupe project

Was able to start working on making

Door's latch

Which is kind of scary

But exciting at the same time

Past your door, like always

Looks like it's going to go pretty uneventful

Driver's door is giving me the finger at the moment

So that's nice

Not the nice finger

It pointed at me first though

Okay

So I did end up

Ordering some

Rebuild latch parts

So I can start working on that process

Also

Looked at flooring

Made two

New panels that go into the floor

So we could actually sit in there

And get ideas

Of where seating position was going to be

A friend of mine gave me

The back seat cushion

Springs from

A model A

Those look like they will fit

So kind of got that idea

And I'm sitting on an old cushion

From my old recliner I tore apart

On the bottom

Because why not

And I'm looking for a bottom cushion

Currently so I can kind of keep

Figuring this out

Useless Ford facts

Some model T coupes

Had adjustable seats and some didn't

Interesting

Mind the peers

They originally did adjust

Some pieces and parts

That were in there that were just kind of swinging around

And I didn't understand how in the world

They were bracing up the body

They're not braces, they're seat pivots

Seat adjusters

So that was kind of interesting

And I also

As part of tearing the other body apart

Saved the rear floor out of it

So I'm going to try to utilize that

Keep as much original old steel as I can

Just think that's fun

Absolutely

And definitely enjoyed having the garage door open a little bit

And having some warm weather finally

Right

I hope it continues

I think we're going to get a cold front coming through again

Don't swear at me Jeff

I did get to fire up the 36

And let that run

And start up my C10 and let that run

So that was also good to hear some noise

Out the pipes again

Love it, alright folks

This I hope you enjoyed it

As much as we did

It was nice having Jeff back in the studio

What are you wearing over there?

Oh I didn't even

Oh my gosh

The hazing continues

He has a voodoo bearing

Hoodie on it

Thankfully I wore my snap-on hoodie

That I dutifully

Wined and

You cried about that for like a year

And finally got a hoodie

Listen, my wife and I bought

These hoodies to support Jeff's endeavor

We were not gifted these

In any capacity

It's again a Neil Mantra

If you're a friend

He actually did pay for them

Friends pay full price

That is a thing

So anyways

So yeah

I meant to bring that up

As part of it

Jeff really needs to do is do better sunglasses

So we can

Retire the

Taco Bell glasses

I've got my fly white

Taco Bell glasses

My wife

The voodoo

Brewing hoodie as well

She really wanted these letters

To glow in the dark

I thought they would too

I'm not going to lie

They look like they should

We're wrapping the hoodies together

For you guys and supporting the endeavor

When we have the Jeep Knight

We'll have a couple of these fly hoodies

And maybe SFJ 4x4

We'll give them out

That way Jeff doesn't have to come out

As pockets on those either

We need to have Davey do some special stuff

Maybe we'll split the cost

On that

Okay I love it

Alright folks well we have to stay tuned

For that one we really enjoyed everybody

Hanging through it was a longer episode

But we're so glad that you joined us

Until next time Jeep on

Jeep on

About this episode

The hosts dive into frustrations with Jeep parts quality and manufacturing processes, focusing on recurring failures in cooling systems, particularly Griffin radiators. They discuss how manufacturers prioritize cost and speed over durability, leading to widespread issues even with OE parts. Personal experiences with coolant leaks and radiator failures highlight the challenges Jeep owners face. The conversation also touches on the aftermarket's role in trying to solve these problems and the importance of accountability in the supply chain. The episode blends technical insights with casual banter and community interaction.

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Original notes

We want to hear from you, Send us a Text

In this episode we talk about the frustrating reality of bad Jeep parts and questionable processes in the aftermarket. From expensive components that fail far sooner than they should, to “premium” brands that don’t stand behind their products when things go wrong, we break down what we’ve been seeing in the shop. We also call out a few specific brands and experiences along the way—so if you’re into the real, unfiltered side of the Jeep world, you’ll want to stick around for this one.

Support the show

Thanks for listening, give us a review and check us out on YouTube -SFJ4x4 and visit our website to grab some great gear or products for your Jeep, SFJ4x4.com. Don't forget, you can email [email protected] for special content requests, blind react videos, suggestions, special guests, or general questions. Check out our Patreon patreon.com/ISpeakJeep

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