Subie & YOU! Mar 30, 2026

S&YE225 - Torqmasters & ORIS

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Company

Torquemasters

Torquemasters is the brand/company Cora works with. They make products aimed at improving traction and control for off-road driving.

Concept

Overland Expo East

Overland Expo East is a big event for people who like overlanding and off-road travel. Companies bring gear there so you can learn about it and see what it does.

Company

Torque Lockers

Torque Lockers are traction helpers. The goal is to keep the wheels working together better when the ground is slippery or uneven.

Company

eccentric designs

Eccentric Designs is the sponsor mentioned for episode-specific decals. While not a vehicle component, it’s a brand listeners may want to check out for merch.

Brand

Subaru

Subaru is a car brand. A lot of Subaru owners like to customize their cars, especially the engine area, so it looks nicer and more personal.

Company

Melee Design Firm

Melee Design Firm is a company that makes aftermarket accessories for car owners. Here they’re talking about small parts that you swap on the engine bay to make it look better.

Term

engine bay caps

Engine bay caps are the covers you put on top of different fluid containers under the hood. People swap them for nicer-looking ones to make the engine area look cleaner and more customized.

Concept

rock crawling

Rock crawling is off-roading where you drive slowly over rocks and obstacles. It’s less about speed and more about careful control so you don’t get stuck or flip.

Concept

spotting

Spotting is when someone watches from outside the vehicle and helps guide the driver. It’s used to keep the Jeep from hitting rocks or flipping.

Car

Subaru Crosstrek

The Subaru Crosstrek is a small Subaru crossover. It’s popular because it’s easy to live with and does well on rough roads, which is why it comes up in an off-road conversation.

Concept

lift

A lift raises the car higher off the ground. That helps it clear rocks and ruts when you’re off-road.

Concept

clearance

Clearance is how much space the car has between the bottom and the ground. More clearance helps you avoid getting stuck or damaging the underside.

Term

turbo

A turbo helps the engine make more power by pushing extra air into it. That usually makes the car feel quicker and more eager when you accelerate.

Concept

locking differential

A locking differential makes both wheels on an axle turn together. That helps when one wheel is on slippery ground so the car doesn’t just spin in place.

Concept

off-road

Off-road means driving on dirt, gravel, mud, or trails instead of regular roads. The point is that traction is harder there, so upgrades can help you get through.

Term

Scottle

A Scottle is a portable outdoor cooking device. It’s basically a cast-iron cooking disc with a burner underneath, so you can cook food directly on it and also use pots and pans when you want.

Term

10,000 BTU burner

BTU is a way to describe how much heat a burner puts out. “10,000 BTU” means it’s fairly powerful for outdoor cooking.

Company

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is software that helps a business keep its books—like tracking money in and out and managing invoices. It’s a common tool for small businesses.

Part

skid plates

Skid plates are protective plates under the car. They help keep important parts from getting hit or damaged when you drive over rough ground.

Term

MIG welding

MIG welding is a welding method that uses a wire that keeps feeding automatically. It’s popular because it’s relatively straightforward and works well for many metal projects.

Term

TIG welding

TIG welding is a careful type of welding that makes neat, strong seams. People use it when they want a lot of control and a clean finish.

Concept

CAD

CAD is computer software for designing parts. Instead of guessing with measurements, you can plan the shape digitally first so the real part fits better.

Concept

Harvest Host

Harvest Hosts is a service where RV travelers can park overnight at places like wineries or breweries. You’re usually allowed to stay when the business isn’t using the parking area.

Concept

boondock

Boondocking means you camp without the usual RV hookups for electricity or water. You rely on your RV’s own power and supplies while you’re parked.

Concept

motorhome

A motorhome is an RV you can drive yourself that also has living space inside. It’s convenient for longer road trips because it has what you need onboard.

Concept

Starlink

Starlink is satellite-based internet. It helps you get online even when you’re in remote places with weak or no cell service.

Concept

Rubicon Trail

The Rubicon Trail is a famous off-road route known for being tough. People go there to test their vehicles and driving skills on challenging terrain.

Term

no GPS

GPS is the system that tells you where you are on a map. Here, they’re saying you don’t get that help, so you have to navigate another way.

LIVE

Hi, this is Cora, and you can find us on Instagram at Torquemasters and at torquemasters.com.

You're listening to episode 225 of the Soobie and You podcast.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Soobie and You podcast.

As you just heard, I have Cora from Torquemasters.

I was really cool to meet her in person last year at Overland Expo East, thanks to Milton

and Kerry for taking me over there and introducing me to Cora and her husband and getting to see

the product that they had there. So you'll find out in the episode, but they don't have,

they're not bringing with them and promoting the Torque Lockers at the Overland Expo events.

They're bringing a product called Oris, and we'll get into that in this episode. But she talks

about Torque Masters and the Lockers, of course, she talks about Oris, and she talks about being

and competing in the Rebel rally. So a lot of good stuff in this episode to learn about Cora

and Torque Masters and the other things that she has going on. So we had a really great conversation,

but it was really, I was so thankful to have her on, so thankful to Kerry and Milton for

introducing me to her and helping to make this happen. So thank you both. I really appreciate it.

And since I mentioned Overland Expo, I will be going this year. So I'm going to be starting to

make plans here pretty soon to go out to the first one, which is Mount, or which is West in Flagstaff.

So really looking forward to that. So if you're going to be out there, come by, say hi, and let's

chat. Before we get into any more else of this episode, let's hear from one of our sponsors.

As always, thank you for the sponsorship, eccentric designs. Again, if you were on a previous episode

and you would like a decal with your episode number, you can order them from eccentric designs,

just go in there, go to the search, you can just type in episode and it'll bring up the

episode specific decal. It's the stacked decal with the episode number that you were on. So I

think that's pretty cool. So I really appreciate that she started doing that. And I know that

people have gotten some. So anyway, yeah, go check it out. So it was two weeks as of yesterday that

my granddaughter was born. And so my daughter and her husband decided that they wanted to spend,

like at least the first two weeks at home alone with her, just so they can be a family without

anybody else coming over and, you know, not interrupting them. But they just wanted like,

here's the, they just had a baby. They wanted to like have a long time with her. And I totally

get that and totally support that. But she's been sending pictures and some videos and stuff. So

it's been really cool to see her. But I'm looking forward to being able to go over there and see

her. I mean, I did see her in the hospital, of course, but it was, you know, I'm just,

I'm super excited. I had one of my friends ask me, so what's it like to be a grandpa? I'm like,

I don't really know because I haven't really been able to do anything yet. I mean,

the feeling of knowing that my daughter has a daughter and that I have a granddaughter, of

course, that is amazing. But like, to me, I'm thinking about like being a grandpa when she's

like a toddler and getting to play with her and listen to her laugh and talk and all those kinds

of things. Those are the things that I'm really looking forward to. And of course, it's wonderful

that she's a baby and you get to watch her grow and just start to experience the world and people

and stuff like that. You know, that whole, that whole experience is super cool. Because I remember

that with my kids. You see them looking at you and smiling and just all their personality and

mannerism start to develop. So all that is super cool, of course. But I'm excited for all of it

and really excited to see like how she starts to develop and grow and what she'll start to look

like and sound like. And so really, really exciting times coming. Speaking of exciting,

I'm excited to share that Melee Design Firm is a sponsor of the Sue B&U podcast. They have a lot

of great products for your Subaru, especially one of the things that you can do to really dress up

your engine compartment and make it not look so boring is with engine bay caps. I have a full set

of caps. I know other people that have a full set of caps or at least the engine oil cap. You can

also get them in different styles. You can get them to all say Melee or you can have them just

have like the little icon for whatever it is for like for the oil cap for the windshield washer

fluid for the brake cylinder cap. So go check it out. MeleeDesignFirm.com and you can use the code

Sue B&U at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. But it's not just engine bay caps. They have

a lot of products available. So go check it out, explore the site. The code is good for just about

anything site wide. So thank you so much MeleeDesignFirm.com. They are such a great product,

great guy. And if you haven't heard his episode, go check it out. That's episode 40,

one of my favorite episodes still. And of course, this episode and this podcast is brought to you

by Subaru Gear. There's a new thing at Subaru Gear that you got to check out. They have combined

badge of ownership with Subaru Gear. So not only can you shop Subaru Gear, but you can get your

badge of ownership, your loyalty number and your lifestyle icons all in one website. So I think

that is super, super great. When you go shopping at SubaruGear.com, use the code Sue B&U 2026 to

get 20% off your purchase. If your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, you also get free

shipping. So that is like really, really cool. Thank you so much SubaruGear.com for sponsoring

the Sue B&U podcast. And now we will get into this episode with Cora and hear all about torque

masters, Oris and everything else she has going on. Hey, nice to see you again, Cora. How's it going?

Good. How are you? Good. I met you and your husband in Virginia at Overland Expo last year.

And I was brought over to your booth by Milton and Kerry. So they wanted to introduce me to you

and talk about getting you on the podcast. So I'm very glad that you were able to take the time

and record with me. Thanks for having me. We love our Subaru's and Milton and Kerry are really awesome

people and they love running our products. Yeah. Yeah, they are. And I mean, they were the reason

that I heard about torque masters in the first place. And then you start seeing them with other

people. And it seems to have done a pretty good job of spreading into other people who want to do

a little bit more and have more capabilities with their Subaru's. Absolutely. So before we get into

anything about torque masters and other things, I have to ask a very important question and whether

you prefer waffles or pancakes, because that's been a podcast thing for a while that was started

by this girl Sierra. So which do you prefer? Neither. Neither. Okay. All right. That's fair enough.

So I guess with like, so with torque masters, because you and I had been communicating through

email and I learned that you were sponsored by torque master for various events and that you

competed in the rebel rally, king of the hammer and some rock crawling events. So I guess kind of

go through some of those things and what your experience was initially with torque masters.

So the owner of torque masters, the founder of torque masters was in our local four by four club.

And I got into amateur competitive rock crawling and asked him to sponsor my Jeep and he did,

which was pretty cool. And that was back in 2008, 2009. My now husband started spotting for me in

the rock crawling in 2009 and a great relationship building right there, listening to your spotter

and trying not to roll over, which happened a few times. But yeah, so that that started really

like the sponsorship side of torque masters and my relationship. And then a number of years later

in 2014, the owner of torque masters kind of mentioned that he was looking to retire.

And that was the opportunity that Eric, my husband and I talked about. And then I approached

Bill Cole, the founder to purchase a company. So it was about a year of negotiations and there

were other players in the game trying to buy the company as well. But in the end, we came out on

top and I think it was a great decision in our life. Yeah. So what were you doing before for like,

because I mean, torque masters is pretty much your business now. And I know you have another

business that we can talk about later. But what were you doing at the time that you acquired

torque masters? And, you know, I'm like, how was that looked at as far as like a move for y'all to

get into something like owning that company? Well, at the time, I was working as an architect.

I had my undergraduate graduate degree. I had been working professionally for a couple of years.

And I was at a good point in my career that I could go out on my own if I wanted to.

My husband had his own construction company.

Well, let's go hand in hand.

Yeah, I know, I know. So we had dreams of, you know,

flipping houses and doing all sorts of stuff, you know, as an architect design build team.

So, but on nights of weekends, we were building our jeeps and going off-roading and

going exploring and camping and having fun. So we saw this as an opportunity to kind of take

a right hand turn. But with the help and guidance of my husband, we did it together. And in 2017,

he shut down his company to work full-time for Torque Masters.

And when y'all acquired Torque Masters, did you start running that full-time or were you

running that kind of on the side while still doing architecture?

There was a transition period of two months, but then full-time Torque Masters.

That's a pretty big leap, you know, to go from, you know, architecture to that. And then,

I mean, I'm guessing that with Torque Masters previously, it was probably doing well enough

that you knew that it was going to continue to do well and support you, correct?

Yeah. And there was definitely some stuff going on behind the scenes at Torque Masters

that I saw the potential girls in the company.

So, like, if you go to torquemasters.com now and you see all of the list of available vehicles,

are those primarily the same ones that were available when you took it over? Or have you

added some since you acquired it? So, that was what I was alluding to. The Torque Locker design

was in a prototype stage when I acquired the company. We only had our Aussie Locker line

at the time. So, all of the Torque Locker models are new since I acquired the company.

Very nice. And so, like, when you say all these are new, were you starting to design them for

all the vehicles that you have listed on your website now?

Some of them were crossovers. So, like the Dana 30, which is our most popular seller,

that one we wanted to offer our legacy brand Aussie, but everybody also wanted the Torque design.

So, some of them we could just take the drawings and say make it into a Torque Locker,

but most of them were all new designs and all new models.

Okay. And because I know you have, like, you have them available for Jeeps and ATVs and some

other vehicles. Did you, when you acquired it, did you have one designed for Subaru?

No. No. Okay.

In 2017, we were visiting Eric's younger brother in Colorado, and he had just bought his first

brand new car out of college, and it was a bright blue Subaru Crosstrek. And he still has it,

and he has, like, 250,000 miles on it. That's awesome.

But he was like, Oh, Corey and Eric, you got to make one for Subaru's.

And I was like, Oh, you're crazy. And a couple of years later, we heard enough Subaru owners

we developed. We developed two Subaru models, and now we have a total of four Subaru models.

Very nice. So, is it available, like, or I guess which models of Subaru is it available for?

That is a loaded question. So, Subaru likes to mix and match. And they'll do that with trim packages

or transmission types or years. So, it's very, the fitment is very complicated.

Okay. Gotcha. So, I'm guessing it's available for Crosstrek, at least. And does he has a first gen?

Yes. Okay. Good. So, I know that you had mentioned that you've had Subaru's as well. Do you,

like, which ones have you had, and do you still own Subaru's now?

So, I don't have any anymore. We actually bought a really cool second gen Forester with, like,

almost six inches of lift. We put 30 inch tires on it. We had it custom painted to our green.

And that was my favorite. It was basically, like, a UTV with an independent front and rear

suspension. It had nine inches of clearance, which is more than one of our Jeeps at the time.

And it was nice and narrow and nimble. And that was my favorite to off-road.

We had a 2022 outback wilderness with the turbo. Oh, nice. That was my favorite on-road. And that

was my favorite, like, adventure overlander one. Yeah. We could fit a lot in there. And on the

road, I love the turbo. Yeah. I've heard a lot of people say that. Yeah, absolutely. And then,

we had a prototype vehicle. It was, like, a 98 legacy. We bought it for 700 bucks just to test

on it and sold it to Fred's kid for his first car. Oh, that's nice. Good first car.

All right. So, like, for those that may not know, can you kind of describe what a torque

locker is, how it works, and why it is so useful, especially for Subaru's when going off-road?

Sure. So, a torque locker is a locking differential. And the style of locker has been around for about

30 years. It's fully mechanical and it's fully automatic. So, you don't turn it on or off,

it just works automatically. What it does is it replaces the spider gears in your rear differential.

And so, if you've ever been stuck in the mud or stuck in the snow and only one rear tire is spinning,

if you replace the gears with our gears, then both tires will always spin.

And what is so important with the Subaru, especially off-road and in deep ruts and uneven

ground, Subaru's, because they are unibody style and low-ish, brown clearance, they tend to lift a

tire. And when a tire is lifted in a Subaru configuration, you lose all drives to the front

tire and then to the two rears on the back because of the center differential. So, that's

different than a G with the transfer case. So, when you add a rear locker, you still get front

drive if you lift a tire. So, it definitely increases your off-road capabilities a lot.

There's some great videos out there comparing Subaru's with the locker and without,

and it just, it's so drastic. Even with X mode, it's very drastic how much the locker improves

traction and your capability to get through obstacles and up.

Yeah, and I know that Milton and Kerry and Derek, who goes by unpaved P&W, and there's so many people

that I follow and that I know of that I've seen videos of them on Instagram showing the difference

between having a locker and not having a locker. And it really does make a huge difference,

especially since, you know, like Subaru's don't really have low gearing to do like more

crawling type of, you know, obstacle stuff, even though they're not going over anything super

crazy like doing, you know, Jeep rock crawling. But there are instances where I know it has

definitely helped out. And it's pretty amazing to see what they do, you know, what they can do

once they get the locker in and how much more capable they are. Absolutely.

So like, who's besides you and your husband, are you the only two people that are running torque

lockers like day to day operations and everything? So I run the day to day. And then we have a team

with people that help us from engineering, manufacturing, we have our own manufacturing

facility. And then we also have a fulfillment facility that ships all of our products.

Okay. But we focus, we focus highly on automation so that we can run really lean.

Yeah. And really. Now was were these some of the things that were in place whenever you before

you acquired it? Or are these things that you've kind of developed within the business to help it

run the way that it's running today? We've optimized it. We've modernized it. But

the base that was there. Okay. Yeah. So as far as like lockers for Subaru's, where would you say

like the biggest influence is coming from for people to, I guess, realize that the locker is

available and then go ahead and purchase them? Because it seems like more and more people are

wanting to have their Subaru be more capable, especially when they live in places that they

can utilize it. Because like for me, I live in Houston, there's not really anything out here

where I would need a locker. I don't even have a lift because I don't really need one. So for

people in like California and the PNW, you know, like what is it that's kind of driving those

sales for? And then like, are you, do you have like ambassadors out there that are helping,

you know, show what the locker can do for Subaru's? Yeah. The Subaru crowd

and the like ATV and side by side crowd, our customers are very into Instagram.

Yeah. Like that is their platform of choice. They love to hashtag us. They love to tag us

and videos. They love it when we share their content. We do have ambassadors out there.

But because there's so many people in that space, we don't really need anymore.

Yeah. So I feel like we're already pretty well known through Instagram and through the videos

because people love seeing Subaru's do cool stuff.

Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Especially, you know, for those of us that own Subaru's and are, you know,

we're trying to just do kind of do our own thing. And then we see people out there doing all these

really cool things and making them even more capable than they already are. Because I mean,

you know, Subaru's are not the most capable vehicles off-road, but for the majority of what

like people are doing, they're very capable. And, you know, even without a lift, because like,

I've taken mine to Colorado and hit some trails that were somewhat decent without a lift, without

a locker. And, you know, I, I was my first off-road trip with my car and it's a manual. So I learned

a lot about what it was capable and what it could do. And I think they just surprised a lot of

people. So for people in those situations where they want to do more, I think, you know, I can see

how a locker really comes into play with that. Yeah. And I would say YouTube is like the second

place where we see a lot of Subaru stuff. Like, even we did a differential with Robert Champion.

He's, oh, yeah. He does Subaru events. And he did a locked and lifted Subaru Versa4

runner on a popular YouTube channel. And it got 100,000 views or more. It was great.

Nice. Nice. Yeah. I mean, you, you do end up seeing Torque Locker all over Instagram,

especially for the people that have been running them for a while. And, you know, and of course,

y'all sharing their videos as well, definitely helps. But y'all also attend events, because I

know, like I mentioned earlier, I met you at Overland Expo in Virginia. So how many of the

Overland Expo events do you go to? And then like what kind of, I guess, traffic do you get there

and and conversations do you have with people at those events?

So we do like two or three of the Overland Expo's a year. And we were doing that with

Torque Masters. And we were doing a lot of education, but not a lot of sales.

So that brought us to our other brand that we acquired almost two years ago now,

the Oris Adventure Cooking Scottle. I've been cooking on a Scottle for about nine years.

And our friend developed the Oris and I've been poking them to purchase the company because I

love the products so much. And I knew it would sell really well at these Overland Expo's.

So a couple, couple years of poking and he, he decided to sell. He's kind of a serial

entrepreneur. So he had other projects going. Yeah, that's important.

Yeah. So I think we met you when we were just doing Oris at the Overland Expo.

Yes. Yeah. So I guess those have those been doing really well then at the Overland Expo's?

Oh yeah. That's good.

So what what we like to say is what the heck is a Scottle?

Yeah. So yeah, what is a Scottle? I mean, I've seen it because when we were in Overland Expo P&W,

we had like a lunch break and Milton, he got out the Scottle and he was making tacos for everybody.

And that thing works really well. It's, I can see the draw to it and how it's, you know,

because it folds up pretty small and it's easily portable. But yeah, it was, it was really nice

to have there. So yeah, what is a Scottle? So a Scottle, they were developed in South Africa.

Farm hands would build up plow discs and cook over the fire. So our friend Ryan

me modernized it and made it more transportable. And he also made it out of cast iron so that

it heats more evenly. So it's a 17 inch disc that it's slightly dished. And it's got a 10,000 BTU

burner on a base plate underneath it. The cast iron screws to the base plate, but you can also

take it off and screw in these stainless legs and cook over the fire with your cast iron.

And then when the cast iron is off, you still have a 10,000 BTU burner on a stand.

So you can put a pot on it, a kettle, another pan. So it's really, really versatile. And like you

said, it packs down pretty small. And it's been our go-to for car camping, for overlanding,

for tailgating, for lunch on the beach, anything. Yeah. It's really great.

And you talked about putting a kettle on it or another pan, but you typically cook directly

on it, right? Yeah. So I typically just use the cast iron. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, cast iron,

like just cast iron skillets at home cook so well. And I need to get one again,

because I don't have one. But yeah, he, when he was making those tacos, it was all turned out

really, really well. And I like that. But yeah. So how, like, how has that been going compared to

like torque lockers? Because you have the two businesses now. And like you said, you're not,

so are you not doing torque locker at Overland Expo anymore at all and only Oris now or just

select one? Yeah. We're only doing Oris at the Overland Expo. And we used to do a lot of off-road

expos and events. But I feel like that market's been kind of saturated. And we don't really see

the return because there's so many events, people are going for more of like a destination event

than really like a shopping event. So they're not as popular as they used to be. So we're doing

a little bit more of the Overland stuff, but we're also crossing over with Oris into marine

and sportsman and fishing. So we just did a 10 day expo in Indian Atlas and it was massive.

I mean, tens and tens of thousands of people made Overland Expo look tiny.

Well, that's nice. Yeah. So we're looking to diversify and grow the market.

Okay. Yeah. And it seems, I guess, with, I mean, it makes sense to not really push torque masters

and the lockers. If you have an experience where you're not really getting a lot of sales,

it just doesn't make sense. Because it seems like with all of the visibility on Instagram and,

like you said, on YouTube that you probably get enough of that, that it helps. It kind of just

sells itself. And then now, because if anybody's been to an Overland Expo, the scottle makes so

much more sense to have there as a product too, because most of the people that are there are

doing outdoor stuff and that is an outdoor item. And it's like everybody loves to cook outside.

And so it's like a perfect fit for that. So that was a good, very good strategic move.

Yeah. I mean, torque masters is still the bread and butter. I mean, that's the main pair of company.

Yeah. But yeah, like you said, we do, we do more online advertising and word of mouth

than going to these big expos for torque masters. But for Oris, we're still trying to get the name

out there. Yeah. So when you were like in the architecture world, and you said you were at

a point where you could have broken off onto your own, like done your own thing. And then you're

now going to acquire torque masters. Like what was that like going from working as an architect

to now owning a business? And did you have any like business experience prior to that?

No. And what I like to say is torque masters wasn't a startup, but I was a startup.

Yeah. I didn't know what accounts receivable was or I didn't know what a sales funnel was.

So my husband helped me a lot because he'd been running business for 20 years. I also mentioned

that transition period. So we did two months of me working with Bill day to day. So he taught me

kind of the basics of QuickBooks and, you know, how he structures his day and how he does invoicing

and stuff like that. So that was a pretty good jumpstart. And then the University of

Rochester here, they host like a mini NBA like once or twice a year. And it's like a six week

class. And I took that and that really helped a lot. Oh, very nice. Yeah. Yeah, that's great.

Was it were you like really excited to get into it? And I mean, I'm guessing you were because you

wanted to, you know, take it over. But I'm guessing it was probably pretty scary too.

Yeah, it was scary, but I knew we could do it. It was a profitable company, you know.

I could have done nothing and it still would have been profitable. But instead, you know,

I knew it had that the new torque walker and development. I saw the potential of it. It is

the strongest design on the market in our category. So it could only go up from there. So

we could do it. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So are there any like new things coming about

with torque masters and lockers? Or are you doing anything new with it? Or what's like the future

look like for torque masters? So we came out with our first full case replacement

locker. And that means we're basically building the housing that the locker goes into.

So we made, we developed that for smart locks, which are found in the front differential of

canyons. So that's new and that's been selling really well. It also allows you to use a rear axle

in the front differential. And that is many times stronger than the stock front axle. So it's 30

wide. So that one's pretty new. We always kind of have a list of new differentials to develop for.

And I kind of gauge it on interest and people reaching out to me. So if I hear enough people

saying, hey, we want this, then we'll go ahead and develop it. We also do custom differentials.

We made a Kubota tractor locker for a gentleman in Switzerland. Oh, nice.

We made a run of vintage Toyota Corolla differentials.

So what were they doing with the Toyota Corollas? They're drifting. Oh, okay. Got you.

That makes sense then. Yeah. So yeah, I know that like with the, with the locker,

whenever you're turning, you can hear the clicking noise. What is it that's causing that

clicking noise? And is that something to worry about?

Worry about it if you don't hear it clicking. Okay. So the locker, like I said, it was,

it's fully mechanical. And it's got four gears, two axle gears, two cam gears. And when you go

around its turn, the cam gears have a camming motion and it allows the outside wheel to go

faster than the inside wheel. And it does, does that through ratcheting. So you'll hear it go

click, click, click, click when you turn. And the audible volume of the clicking varies by vehicle.

So our Subaru wilderness, we couldn't hear it at all. And if it's in the rear of a Jeep,

you're going to hear it louder because it has 100% of the torque going to the rear differential

near the two-wheel drive versus the Subaru. It has a torque bias of like 70% to the front,

30% to the rear. So there's just less torque going into the locker. So it's quieter. Okay.

As far as like somebody wanting to buy a torque locker and put it in their Subaru,

is that something that they can do themselves or is that something that they should take it to a

shop to or just depends on their level of skill and whether or not they want to try it out for

themselves? Yeah. So we like to say if you can change the brakes on the car, you have the mechanical

ability to install one of our lockers. So a lot of people get scared of differentials

because of setting up backlash and preload when you change or bring opinion. But with ours,

you don't need to set that up and you don't need those special tools or skills. So it's basically

just nuts and bolts and you take a measurement. So with the Subaru, we like to say it's about

three hours for an install. And it depends on your mechanical ability and if you have the space to

do it. Okay. So what all is involved in changing it out? So like do you need to lift it? Do you

need to take like the back differential completely off? Like what's all involved in doing that?

Yeah. So we have some really detailed installation manuals and videos on Subaru installs on our

YouTube. If anybody wants to watch it and see if they think they can do it or not. But you have to

pull the axle shafts out and then remove the differential entirely. It's a third member

style differential. And then you put that on your workbench and you work on it from there. So

okay. It's easier than working underneath the vehicle.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think I've seen some of the videos, just like some quick reels that

maybe Milton or somebody has put together on, you know, switching it out. It doesn't look like,

I mean, you know, I know for some people that would be very intimidating. Like for me, I changed

out my own axles and I never thought that I would be able to do that because it always looked

intimidating. But then once I did it, I was like, Oh, it's really not that bad. And then

my son needed a new axle because his was leaking. And so we changed his out because we already knew

how to do it is a little bit different than mine, but we still had the confidence to do it. So

I think people can do things a little bit more than they think they can. You just have to like

have the have the confidence within yourself that you can do it because one, it's actually fun to

do that kind of stuff to do it yourself. And it saves you a lot of money and labor. And you

learn more about your car. So it's like a win-win if you can do it. So I highly recommend that if

anybody can do some work on your car to try to do it. That's what we recommend as well.

Most of our customers daily drive their vehicles. And most of our customers install the products

themselves. That's good. Yeah. So what is the future for Scottle or for Oris? Oh, for Oris.

Well, we're looking into marine and how to adapt it for a boat. Okay. So that's pretty cool. We are

coming out with more accessories like shorter legs or adjustable legs. And then we also want to

look into other accessories like cutting boards and tool holding. And we actually just got our new

koozies that are magnetic and they can click right onto the side of the Scottle. That's good.

Yeah. I mean, you're kind of thinking about accessories that would go hand in hand with

cooking. So that makes a lot of sense. And do you have, is the Scottle just all one size? Like,

you said it's 17 inches? Yes. Yeah. We just have one side size because castings are expensive.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, 17 inches is a good size too. Like I said, I mentioned or I mentioned earlier

that I saw Milton cooking on it. And so it's not it's not too big. It's not too small. It's you

can cook a decent amount of food on there. And but yeah, it's a it's a nice product. You know,

I got to see it there. And then I got to see the whole setup at Overline Expo Virginia and

some of the accessories that you have with it. And so it's definitely a good product. So anybody

looking for one, highly recommend it. Yeah. Scottle.com. S-K-O-T-T-L-E. Yeah, it's good stuff.

Anything else you want to share about torque masters or the locker or Scottle and Oris that we

haven't talked about already? Anything that you think might be important or interesting for people

to know? Um, no, I don't have to talk my head. All right. Well, we can get into this last segment

to get to know you a little bit more because you sent me some very interesting information. So I'm

curious to hear about that. But I guess just like introduce yourself like who is Cora as in describe

yourself? I would say I am like Dora the Explorer, but I don't speak Spanish.

That's what I use for name association to help people remember my name. But I definitely am

an explorer at heart and adventurer. Okay. What is a favorite memory from childhood?

I'd have to say, um, what really sticks out was how my mom always told me I could do anything I

wanted. I could be anything I wanted. And as a kid, I didn't know, but I always looked up to her

because she wanted to become a pilot. And so she went out and took flying lessons.

Uh, she wanted to ride a dirt bike. So she went out and got a moped. So she was very much a

self starter and I thought she was just mom. But now looking back, I can see how extraordinary

she was. Yeah. And she showed you the things that she wanted to do. She could do and then did them.

Yeah, exactly. Good, good role model there. I mean, because it's like you, you like,

a lot of people can influence somebody else just by what they're doing. You know, I mean,

of course she was telling you you could do whatever you wanted to, but she was also modeling it. So

yeah, as kids, we don't realize those things. And then when we get older, it's like, oh,

okay, now I get it. So, uh, so we know what you do for a living, you know, with torque masters and

Oris. Um, and then you talked about your career in architecture, but you also mentioned in your

email that you should, your dad said that everybody should have like a career and a trade. So you

have a very interesting trade. I think that's really cool. So can you talk about that?

Yeah. Um, so when I was in undergrad, um, I wanted to build up my vehicle. I had a Nissan Xterra

and nobody really made parts for it. So I worked with a friend, a family friend, and he taught me

how to weld and I was already drafting. So I designed my own skid plates out of cardboard

and he taught me how to use a plastic cutter to cut them out and all that stuff. And then I wanted

to really get into it. And I took classes for TIG welding and MIG welding and bought my own

machine and started to make my own parts. Very nice. And are you still welding now too?

Yeah. That's cool. I know it's definitely a very good skill to have because and I've seen other

people out on like friends that I have on Instagram and different places who started playing around

with welding and, uh, you know, now they're like building stuff and having fun with it and, you

know, playing around with it and getting creative and just, you know, crafting their skill. So it's

definitely something to aspire to if you're interested in it. Yeah. And ask your local

welding shops if there are any classes available. If you're interested in learning how to weld and

even just MIG welding, you could take a weekend class and be proficient.

Very nice. That's good to know. Yeah. I know that there was, I've seen that before because

a job that I used to work at because I actually worked for, I did drafting for most of my career

and I was working for, um, transportation engineering firm, but we designed maintenance

facilities for transit agencies in our group and they were, we were all talking about maybe

taking welding classes at some point because our boss was doing some welding. He was like

building his own, like designing stuff in CAD and then building things at home, you know,

that he needed around the house or in the backyard or something. So never ended up getting around to

other people taking him, but he was taking him and was doing some pretty cool stuff.

Yeah. It's very empowering to be able to create things.

Yeah. Just like working on your own car, you know, and getting those things done yourself. But

so, you know, growing up, did you have like, did you have a dream job and do you still have a

dream job other than this? Or would you say that you're kind of living your dream job?

Um, so first I wanted to be an archaeologist. Okay. And then my parents took me to see

falling water when I was about eight, which is a famous Frank Lloyd Wright house.

And from then on, it was architecture. That was from eight years old. So I know a lot of

people don't know what they want to be when they grow up, but I was firm. I knew exactly

what I wanted to do. And I did it. That's great. And then being with my husband and watching him

run his own business and create his own schedule and his own life,

he really showed me that being a business owner, while it's risky and stressful and

all of the above, um, it is a good lifestyle. Yeah. And would you say that it's turned out

really well for you doing torque masters and, and Oris and, uh, because I'm owning your own

business really seems to be like something that if you can achieve that, it's a really good way

to go. Like you said, it is risky, but you know, if it works out for you, you can kind of create

your own path in your own life and you're not having to really answer to anybody else.

You're just kind of doing your own thing and you get to meet a lot of people and make a lot of

really great relationships. And it seems like that's kind of where you are. Yeah. Um, but we,

we are accountable. We are accountable to our customers. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. But, um,

yeah, we are, we are very happy. Um, we're also excited for a new product after 10 years of

doing torque masters. Um, Oris is kind of my hobby project. Um, but it's also very fun. And

what I'd like to say is, uh, everybody eats. Yeah. Okay. This product is more universal

and I think it appeals to more people. So what is something that makes you want to get out of bed

every day? Pickleball. Oh, nice. I love pickleball. I haven't, I don't play it enough, but I, uh, I have

played it a few times and it's so fun. Yeah. I get up early three days a week and play pickleball.

Yeah. I definitely need to get into it more. Cause we, here we have some like, we have indoor

courts where you have to have a membership and then we have some outdoor courts. So me and my son

have only gone to the outdoor courts and played, but, uh, at some point I'd like to get a membership

and go play more often because it is just definitely so much fun. It's fun. It's, uh, a sense of

community. Um, it's therapy and the side effect is exercise. Yeah. And it's just, I didn't think

that I would like it so much because it's, and it's different than tennis because it's more

close quarters and I think it's a little bit easier than tennis too. Cause you don't have as much of

a court to cover and, uh, not that it doesn't take skill, but it just, it seems like you can get into

playing pickleball a little bit easier and faster than playing tennis. And you know, I know there's

like competitive pickleball and then there's just kind of like recreation pickleball and both

are fun. Yes. Yeah. Real playing tennis. So it was really easy for me to pick up pickleball and I've

been playing indoors for a couple of years now. Yeah. So if anybody hasn't tried pickleball,

I highly recommend it. It's fun. There's a lot of fun. Uh, so what is something that makes you

want to stay in bed? Chili mornings. Yeah. Cause you, um, go ahead. Um, we are in upstate New York,

so it gets quite cold in the winters and we heat our house primarily with wood. Okay. Um,

by choice. Um, we have, we have acreage and we have plenty of dead trees thanks to the Emerald

ash borer. Uh, so we have a unlimited amount of wood and my husband and I, we like processing

firewood together. Okay. How, how cold do your winters get there? Um, the wind chill can be

negative. Um, this morning it was zero degree with the wind chill and yesterday it got up to

70 degrees. Yeah. Yeah. I mean here the, the temperatures fluctuate quite a bit too. Like

it'll be 81 day and then like 30 the next day and it seems to happen in different places,

but that's kind of crazy. Um, what is something that really scares you?

Something I found out, um, our first trip to Moab, Utah is, uh, apparently I don't like heights.

Oh, what was it there that, that you got into that like, I guess a height situation that you

didn't like? So our, our first day, our first trail, we did fins and things and you go up this

really big fin to start the trail and I looked over the side and I was just sick to my stomach

instantly and I was just like, wow, I've never felt this before. And what they call it out there

is exposure. Um, so big, vast scenes, um, just feel bigger and scarier. Uh, growing up in New

England, you know, there were trees to catch you if you slid off the trail, you know, you're not

just going to tumble off of 800 foot cliffs. So, so that was, that was interesting. I never knew

that, um, that I didn't really like heights. Yeah. I'm not really like, heights don't bother me

in the, like for the most part, except for like certain situations. Like as long as I'm on something

that's solid, I'm okay. But like things where like, like there's these rides, you know, that you're

on a swing on chains and it takes you way up in the air. That bothers me because it's like the

only thing that's holding you in is this chain that you're trusting is going to, and not that I've

ever seen any of those break and anything happen, but I'm like, I don't want to be that far up in

the air with a chain holding me and I'm on a swing, swinging around in a big circle. And then if

it somehow breaks and you fall off because like roller coasters don't bother me because

you know, you're on a track and you're fixed in place because like I almost like it's like the

higher the, the first drop, the better. Like I love that. Um, but then there's like situations

like I don't like being on the edge of a cliff or something and getting too close to the edge.

That freaks me out because I feel like I'm going to fall if I get too close. But yeah, it's just

like I said, just certain situations kind of bother me. But, but yeah, I know there are people

that are just like deathly afraid of heights. Like they just can't even be anywhere up high.

But like what you were describing, I can totally see that you don't have anything

that's going to catch you if you fall. That is scary. Yeah. And if I was 12, I would have been

all over it. But now that I have welding and fabrication experience and I'm looking at these

carnival rides and how they fold them up and bring them down the high. You know,

yeah, I think twice about that. Yeah. I know I was driving by a carnival the other day and I'm

just looking at it and they had this roller coaster that wasn't very big, but I'm just looking at it

like thinking how many times has that thing been taken apart and put back together and then just

all the other rides that I was looking at and I'm like, there's just no way. I'm sorry. I

wouldn't trust it. But so it is something that really excites you. Adventures. Yeah. And no plan

weekends. So how often do y'all, other than like getting out to events, how often do y'all get out

to just explore and do your own thing? So one thing we really enjoy is a club called Harvest

Host. Have you heard of it? I have not. Okay. So it's a club you pay yearly membership and

the Harvest Host folks have gone out to wineries and breweries and restaurants and museums

all over the country. And basically, they'll let you stay in your RV and boondock in their

parking lot. And so we've had just such wonderful adventures going to Harvest Host. And then a lot

of times we meet the manager or meet the owner and get to chat about their business and what's

going on in their region and we've stayed at a missile silo in Nebraska. Oh, very nice. You've

stayed at wineries all across the country. We've stayed at the RV Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.

There's just quite a variety. A lot of churches too. Oh, nice. Yeah. So when they're not using

their parking lot all week, they'll let an RV or two stay overnight. But you have to be

self-sufficient. You can't use their bathroom in the middle of the night after they close.

Okay. So whenever y'all are traveling, are y'all are mostly driving?

Yeah. So we have a large motorhome for long trips. Is that the one that you

had at Overland Expo, Virginia? No, that's our little one. Oh, that's a little one because that

was pretty nice. Yeah. So we also have a truck camper. Okay. That's for kind of like our talkshot

and Overland ones. So yeah, we travel to events and we try and take our time on the way there and

back to see other things and go see a meteor crater or go check out a cave. Yeah, that was good.

That was going to be my next question is when you go to these events, do you make like a little

mini trip out of it? Yes. That's good. Absolutely. Because with Starlink, I can work from anywhere.

Yeah, that's such a cool invention and it makes working from anywhere so awesome.

What would you say has been like your favorite, I guess, trip that you've taken?

I don't think I have a favorite. We do like 25,000 miles a year. Wow. So

too many favorites. Yeah. Too many favorites. Yeah.

Carl's Bed Caverns was incredible. I've heard that, yeah. Moab Utah is always amazing. The Rubicon

Trail is an epic adventure. Anywhere in Colorado, really. Yeah. I love the mountains. I love the

ghost towns. Yeah, Colorado is beautiful. I've been out there a few times and I can't go out there

enough. Like I want to go out there more and I drove, I've driven out there. No, we drove out

there once, we flew out there the other time. But I want to drive back out there again. But

my car is getting high a mile each. Not that I don't trust it. I mean, I'm at 142,000 on my

cross trek. I still have the original clutch too, which kind of scares me.

But I want to get like a second one, a newer one that I can use as more like my trip vehicle at

some point. And suggest a wilderness. Yeah. Oh, I know. They're nice. They're very nice.

Yeah. Yeah. So what would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about anything?

Do the hard thing first. Yeah. That's smart. Especially if you have a list of stuff that

you've got to get through. I found that when I actually follow that for myself,

that makes everything else more enjoyable and a little bit easier and you're like,

okay, I'm glad I got that over with. Yep. I'm very much list oriented. Okay. So

I try and get the hard thing done first. Yeah. That definitely makes a lot of sense.

Because then maybe it's like maybe everything else is not going to be as bad.

And then you're not too good at it. Yeah. So something else that you had mentioned

before through email, you had mentioned the rebel rally. So can you talk to us about that?

Because that is super cool. I'm familiar with it through following Carrie and her adventures. And

I've also had the last three years, I believe at least three years, I've been able to talk to

Carrie and her navigator during the rebel rally. So that's been really cool.

But talk to us about your experience with it.

Sure. So the rebel rally is a 10 day off road navigation rally raid with no cell phones,

no GPS. It's all Mac and roadbook. I'm an original rebel. I signed up for the first year and competed

in the first year in 2016 in my ultra four stock class Jeep that we built and raised King of the

Hammers in. We didn't know what we were getting into. It was a big price tag. But we went all in

and definitely had an amazing life experience. Have you competed in other ones as well or just

that one? Yes. So first year 2016 and then came back in 2017. And then in 2021, we competed in the

sponsored Carrie and she ran a torque walker. And she did two years in her car. And then this time

it was sponsored by Subaru and she competed in the Forester. Yeah, that thing is pretty incredible.

Yeah. I know for her, it's a big deal to have sponsors, of course, but they all talk very

highly of you and your husband and torque, torque lockers and torque masters. And so I know that

there's a really good relationship there. And I think it's, you know, a good partnership too with

good people. Yeah. And Carrie, we wanted her to win. So I gave her a bunch of tips and tricks

that I've learned along the way and they have one now two years in a row. Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

It's, it's cool to see like even whenever she had her personal Subaru in there and doing really

well, you know, and I know that there was like, I think there was one year or two years that she

was the only Subaru and, you know, or her and only one other one. So it's, it's nice to see Subaru

get involved too with the Rebel rally and just everybody getting behind her. And then they had,

I know they had another factory team last year too with the Cross Trek wilderness. So just seeing

Subaru get more involved with the Rebel rally and just knowing what it is. And I think it's just

really, really cool. And it's cool that it's all women too, you know, that's, and being able to

go and navigate with no technology is pretty, pretty amazing. Yeah. Well, one thing that did

really help was my drafting experience for plotting and navigating. Oh, very nice. Yeah.

That's good. So did you, were you driving or you were navigating? The first two years I was a driver

because it was pretty new into torque masters and we wanted to prove our products.

And then in 21, I was the navigator. Okay. And you came in fifth your first year, right?

Yep. That's pretty good. And we won the team spirit award. Very nice. Yeah. That's good.

That's such a cool event. And it's nice to see that they've been, and I know

I guess what last year they celebrated 10 years. Yes. Yeah, that's really cool.

Anything else you want to share about your journey or torque masters or anything else?

I think we covered a lot of it, so I can't think of anything. Okay.

I'll put that on my head. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time. It's

been nice to talk to you. And of course, it was cool to meet you in person. That's always fun for

me because so many of my episodes are remote, but, you know, getting out to these different events,

I've had a chance to meet different people. So it's great meeting you and your husband. And

are we going to see you or which events are we going to see you at this year? Because I'm going

to be at, I know y'all didn't go to SoCal. That's quite a drive, but which other events are y'all

going to be at this year? We're doing Overland Expo Flagstaff for the first time. So I'm excited

about that one. Nice. We're doing Overland Expo Colorado. Okay. We're doing the More Expo. That

was nice. Well, I will see you there then. Okay. Yeah. Looking forward. Yeah. It'll be fun to come

by and talk to you and just say hi and see your products again and just hang out for a little

bit. So enjoy your day. Happy St. Patrick's Day. I know you said that you're going to take some

people out to lunch and that you're of Irish descent. So that's really cool. Y'all get to

enjoy the day and have some fun. Yeah. Well, thanks for having me. Yeah, you're welcome. All

right. We'll talk to you later and I'll keep in touch. Okay. Sounds good. All right. Bye. Bye.

All right. Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the Subian New Podcast. If

you're not doing so already, go give Torque Masters a follow. Go give Oris a follow. So Torque Masters

is just altogether Torque Masters. Oris is Oris underscore adventure underscore cooking. It's

a really great product. I've seen it used. I've seen it in action. It's like it's such a nice

addition to your camping and cooking setup when adventuring outdoors. Also, thank you so much,

Cora, for taking the time to record with me and share your story and your journey. Really

appreciate it. And thanks again so much, Milton and Kerry, for getting me introduced to Cora so

that I could make this episode happen. So hope you all have a wonderful week. We'll see you next

Monday for another Subi Scoop. Until then, get out and do some adventuring. So signing off now.

Much Subi love. Raph.

You can find the Subian New Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcast,

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or by email, SubianNewPodcast, at gmail.com. That's all for this week.

About this episode

Cora from Torqmasters shares how she and her husband transitioned from architecture and construction into owning the locker business, and how Torque Lockers dramatically improve Subaru off-road traction by keeping both rear wheels spinning when one lifts. She explains the fully mechanical, automatic locker design, the typical install process, and what the “clicking” means. The conversation also pivots to Oris, her other brand: a South Africa–inspired cast-iron “scottle” for outdoor cooking, now sold at Overland Expo events. Cora also discusses competing in the Rebel Rally and future product plans.

10,000 BTU burner boondock CAD clearance Eccentric Designs engine bay caps Harvest Host lift locking differential Melee Design Firm

Subaru Crosstrek

Original notes

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Cora joins us to talk about Torqmasters, ORIS Adventure Cooking, and her experience with Subarus and supporting the community. She also shares her experiences using Torq lockers before acquiring the business and the changes made along the way. She also shares her experience as a Rebelle Rally competitor.

Links from the show, links to sponsors and discount partners, and ways to support the podcast:

Torqmasters

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/torqmasters/

YouTube

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https://www.instagram.com/oris_adventure_cooking/

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