S3, E59 - SEMA 2025, Part 2

Let's head down to the car show It seemed like time we got to go

Underneath the Vegas lights We are here for the auto sight

Trucks are lifted heaven high Burn out smoke drips to the sky

Homan has but one goal in mind It's to cover the show in the allotted time

It seemed like, it seemed like time

The truck show We're gonna show you what we know

We're gonna answer what the truck Cause truck rides with ****

The truck show We have the lifted, we have the lowered

And everything in between We'll talk about trucks that run on diesel

Electricity in our gasoline The truck show The truck show The truck show

It's the truck show with your host, Homan

Welcome back to the PodShed

In this episode, we'll be continuing part two of our SEMA coverage

So in this episode, you'll hear from some great brands like Bestop, Synergy Suspension, our good friend Scott Birdzall and the Heat Wave booth, Cobb Tuning and a trio of hand-cooked vehicle owners and the hand-cooked tire booth

But before we get into it, we have to thank our sponsors

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So here I am in the Bestop booth and I'm with Cassie and what's your job at Bestop?

So I am the eTop project manager and I handle eCom sales

And you also drive a Bronco Raptor

I do, it's my daily

And we're going to go see it?

Yes

Alright, awesome

Show us this two door Bronco right here

So at SEMA this year we are launching colors not only for our Jeep models for eTop but also two and four door Bronco

So this one here is our champagne color

We also have Merlot, Admiral and Smoke

These are made to order, so custom built as you ordered

About six to eight weeks but still same manufacturing, nine layers of fabric, sound insulation, all the good stuff you'd get with your black eTop

Green four door jail in front of us with the champagne color top, it has vibes of old school Sahara which I love

I'm totally down with that

Now when you talk about the night layers of insulation, one of the things that I'll tell you is that OVR, Mark Khan has a Bronco

He does

It's a very loud Bronco

It was so loud, his soft top Bronco that when I would answer the phone, not even on speakerphone, my wife would go, oh Mark called

Yep

Because she could hear it

Mark calls me one day and I answer the phone, I put on speaker and it's quieter

My wife goes, did you get a new car?

Yeah

And literally it was the eTop and I've written in it and I know it probably sounds crazy but it actually sounds a little bit quieter to me

At least in some frequencies in the hard top

It does

It's really amazing the difference

We have actually tested it, a like for like, we took my Raptor, borrowed a Raptor and it was about 10 decibels quieter than the factory hard top

Which is a lot

It is, yeah, even on the, I mean I was surprised on the highway, I was like, oh, semi is coming, nope

The nice thing about your eTop is not only the insulation for sound and obviously weather

But being power, you really aren't giving anything up over a hard top

No

Because you have the weather, it's quiet as far as the wind goes, it's quiet for ambient noise

And then you can push a button and then you're topless

If you're on the fence, you're like, oh I don't want to be a soft top person or a hard top person

And you like the idea of soft top but you like the livability of a hard top

This is probably the best in between product that you're going to get

That's going to give you the best of both worlds

And it's really good

Yeah, you really, you know, you pay for the convenience, we understand it's a high ticket price

But topless in seconds is worth it, right?

Like the rain comes in and you can close it up or nice sunny day, open it up and enjoy it

You don't even have to get out of the vehicle to get it in its place

It has access to the back with the top up

It's very similar to how it would be stock

Yep, exactly how it would be stock, your side windows will zip

And then you can kind of toss it up on the top and then you have full access

And even when it's down stacked and open, it doesn't sit inside the trunk area

So you still have full access to your trunk area

Yeah

And then the nice thing about your tops is the way that the roof is sort of sewn over the sides and everything

And that's one of the things I like about the best top product is the way it's constructed is really

I mean the materials are high quality but the way it's constructed is really good

Yeah, definitely overlapping in a lot of areas which help with the ceiling so no leaking

It helps with that noise dampening, everything

It's definitely a higher end construction and what you would expect from best top and their quality

I mean what was that, 3 seconds to go down?

Yeah

I'm gonna watch you while we're talking, you guys have it on this auto setting

It's just up and down, yes

And it's absolutely like, you didn't even finish the sentence and it was open

No, it was out, yeah, yeah, it's been great

Awesome

Alright, what's next?

Move to the Raptor

Oh, look at this Raptor

So this is my baby

This is awesome

Yeah, so I have a Jeep, I rock crawl and then this is my daily driver and I love it

You know, we put the E-top on back in March and I think I've used it every day since when it's not raining in Colorado

So it's every day after work, just pop it open and really enjoy it where I've worked for best top for 10 years

And never been a big like take the full top off because you know, you got to put the windows in

It's a process, yeah

Not that it's not, it just takes a while

Yeah, all the things

Yeah, every day, just pop it open, enjoy the ride home and get home and close it up and it's good to go

You can see as this one's opening the installation panel folding, you can see how thick it is

Yes

You know, as the top is folding, you can see kind of bow out in the fabric panel and you go, wow, that is really thick

Yes, it's the nine layer fabric, so thickest top on the market

On the Broncos, you do have a super suede lining, on the Jeeps it's kind of more of a microfiber

So just, you know, either one adds just that kind of light, classic touch to it

Yeah, just that upscales it a little bit

Yeah

You know, another nice thing is, you know, on the black tops, you know, with the inside of, especially the Jeep top being white

Kind of looks like a cooler sometimes

Yes

And it kind of, this adds a little bit of that more upscale vibe, a little more serious nature on the inside too

Yeah, exactly, exactly

Yeah, it's awesome, I wish I could be like, oh, I'm so surprised with having lived with it with the OVR Jeep

Yeah, right

Bronco, it's like, no, I know it and I'm totally stand behind this thing

Yeah

Many trips with Mark, way more comfortable

Yes, yes, definitely, it's, and they're fun to have, and he's in SoCal, I believe, right?

Yeah, so he probably gets to enjoy it way more than I did

The weather right now is like this, you know, it's the 75 during the day still, and it's great

Yeah, exactly

It's perfect top weather right now

Yeah

Do you want to jump over to the Gladiator?

Yeah, let's do it

Excuse us

So I love the Gladiator

And I've been driving one

And so, because I've had one sort of as a daily driver for a couple months, I'm appreciating it more

Yes

It's got a 2-inch lift and 35, so it's like, the way a Gladiator should be from the factory, right?

And so now I'm like, I've always liked the Gladiator, but it's kind of like been a, you know, tertially aware sort of on the

And now it's like, oh, now every Gladiator products, oh, that'd be nice, very nice

Yes, yes

So this thing is super decked out

Yeah, this

High-velocity color?

So no, this is actually a wrap

Oh, looks good for wrap

It's basic white, and then in previous theme, as we kind of had the four-service theme

Yeah

Decided to switch it up, because this is our main event vehicle

Yeah

We thought brighter the better

Why not?

And our doors are usually off, so we can show the sunrider, the seats, and then the tuffy lockbox

So we did the kind of the honeycomb, best hop bee kind of theme

So we really leaned into the neon this year

Yeah, it's bright, you won't miss it out on the trail for sure

No, no, but it really highlights our black twill on the sunrider

Yeah

And then the black twill on the super top for truck in the back

I had a sunrider on my JK when they first came out

Yes

And I loved it, because you could just throw the front part back and it was, that was it

Yep

And just like the top, it wasn't, you know, super loud or anything like that, which was nice

Yeah, the JK sunrider was actually my first product launch here at Best Hop

And I installed it myself, and those were a little bit complicated

And it was like, what do they want me to do here?

But we did it, and I think it was for four-wheeler magazine

And, yeah, I sold my Jeep with that thing when I got a JL

And I miss having that, because it just, it works so well

Yeah, we have literally done a contest at SEMA where you open it up

And I think someone was like 0.5 seconds, like flipping it back

So it's definitely another convenience, and then, you know, covers the freedom panel

So if you don't want to get rid of the full hardtop, you still have the option of open air

Oh, it's perfect, yeah, you still have some security, and you still have the full hardtop

Where you have to store it, and that's nice

And now, the seat covers, I know you guys have some different patterns

But I also know, like, on the rear seats, you do, like, more of a canvas-style cover

For, like, dogs and things like that in the back seat

Those are, like, really nice, because your version has, like, armrest pockets

And not all of them do, sometimes there's, like, the cheap Amazon ones that just lay over the seat

You actually wrap around and have the armrest, if you have the premium leather and all that

Which is a really nice feature, if you still want, you know, people to be able to use the seat

Separately on a trip or something like that

Yeah, yeah, our seat covers are, you know, your basic one colors, but they're gray

And they help, especially with the, I have dogs, we foster, so they're always in our vehicles

So, yeah, they're a great option

These ones are custom PRP seat covers, just for the show

But, yeah, our seat covers are nice with the pockets

And just that basic, but still great quality, great coverage

I like it because I can lay it down, and then I can put my kids' car seat on top of it

And not damage the seat, and the dog can go in the back, or gear, and it's not messing up the leather

And that's really nice

It's simple install too

You're not, like, crawling all under your Jeep, just to, like, tie something, yeah

It's great

And then locking under seat storage

Yep, that's our Tuffy lock boxes

So, in the rear we have the full length locking storage

And then in the front we have the center console locking storage

Tuffy's great, most of their products, you can either do the key or the coating

So it just really fits whatever your needs are

And then in the bed you've got a canvas soft topper, basically

Yep, super topper truck

So this is one of our top sellers for our Gladiator

The nice thing is it adds that storage room, but they can fully collapse when you have those extra large items

Comes in that premium quilt fabric

And the nice thing about the super topper truck too, which this is, you can take that top canvas off

And then there's an integrated tonneau that can be placed on it without having to take the bed rails off

Oh, that's cool

Yeah, so just, you know, whatever your needs are

And because it's kind of a canvas top, you're not taking it away from payload or anything like that

And the nice thing is if you've got items that might blow out

Yep

This is perfect because you still throw all that in the bed and you don't have to worry about it leaving you on the freeway

Yeah, you can zip up the windows, or if you have animals or kids you're taking to the river, right?

I'll do the windows, let them dry out in the back

Yeah

It's a fun time

Absolutely

Cool, that's kind of what we're showing for SEMA this year

Awesome

Well, I appreciate your time and I'm going to go poke around the booths to see what kind of trouble I can get into

Feel free to jump in, operate, you know, have some fun

You'll find the Utah button

Yeah, exactly, exactly

One of a hundred thousand to push that button this week

Yes, yes, right, but that's what it is, right?

And you got an experience to be like, okay, yeah, this really is as convenient as we're talking about

Next time you guys need to get one of those giant fans to make it blow it out

Yeah, right

And then we'll get the back screen so it's like you're driving, yeah

Just a full-on experience, it'll be good

Thank you for your time, I appreciate it

Yeah, I appreciate it

So I found my way into the Synergy booth with my old friend Dave Schlossberger

And he just showed me that he's got this cool Jeep inside his booth that has, I'm sorry, what?

Super Duty Axles?

Yeah, so 2005 and newer Ford Super Duty Axles are pretty legit

And for many years, guys have been putting those things into Jeeps and Toyotas

But the brackets are all wonky or the geometry is not great

Yeah, so the front ends have the big old radius arms on there

So they got the big old castings for the radius arm mounts and stuff like that

So guys will get the Axles and they'll spend weeks cutting all this stuff off

And get mismatching brackets from here and there and a bunch of different places

To kind of figure out how to put these Axles in underneath these Jeeps

And so what we've done is we've kind of watered it down and built a kit that includes all the bits

And pieces and parts and components needed to put the Axles in underneath the Jeep platform

So basically go to the junkyard, grab a set of Super Duty Donor Axles

And then you guys have the parts if you wanted to upgrade those even further

Ball joints, things like that

Well we do have those too, but the basic kits basically are modified long arm

Our existing JL and JT long arm suspension that we have

And then by using the existing brackets and some different control arms

We're able to mount the Axles up underneath

But you could essentially go crazy if you went to the Super Duty Axles

You could put them on your JL, JT with your bracket kit and arms

And then you could upgrade the Axles if you wanted to

And then you have suspension that's suited to the Axles as well

The kit's basically a suspension kit minus shocks, springs

So you can spec out what you want

Yeah, so you can figure out what lift height you want and stuff like that

Or if you have a lift on there and you want to reuse things that you already have

It's pretty seamless

There's a minimum lift height that you recommend with that

Because it's the size of the Axles

I mean it's just basically what shocks you want to mount underneath there

And where you want the bump stops to set up

How much up travel you want to have

So get the kit and start mocking things up there

And figure out where you want your bump stops set and kind of work backwards from there

What is this JL here sitting at?

Yeah, so this JL is sitting on our three inch springs

And 40 inch tall tires

So that's a F250, F350 Axle set out of the junkyard

What's really cool, some of the F250s came with factory E-lockers in the rear

So if you're lucky enough to find one of those

You know you can skip that part of buying the rear locker

So all you need is a set of gears, a front locker if you want

And you'd be in business

So again the kit doesn't come with shocks, it doesn't come with coils

And you're on your own to redo your driveline stuff

And then we do have an option for the rear axle

Some guys are pretty hot for the 14 bolts

So we have an axle bracket kit for the Ford Sterling rear axle

And then we have a different bracket kit for a 14 bolt

It's pretty much the same thing except the track bar mounts

A little bit different to make everything work right

What about integration, speedo and brakes and all that kind of stuff

Yeah, so that's a great question

And that was a hang up for a lot of people to make that part work

And so I know we're doing just an audio thing

Part of our display here

So this is our new, we have a new unit bearing that we're making

And we double drill them, so we have the 8 on 170 wheel pattern

And we're also drilled for 8 on 6 and a half

So if you want the front rear super duty axle

And you want to run the 8 on 170 pattern, you can do that

Or if you want to run the 14 bolt rear with the 8 on 6 and a half pattern

You just press the different wheel studs into the unit bearing that we have

I'm seeing a wheel sensor and wiring harness

So you've got it set up for the right tone ring inside

So basically factory tone ring, but what we've done is

We've made a new wiring harness that plugs into the factory G plug

That's awesome

That plugs right in there, no dash lights, no nothing

And all you need then is just the taser tool that most people have anyways

To reset the tire size so the speedo is reading out right

That's cool because to me that's the biggest thing

Because who wants to do the axles if you've got to have

Jeep drives wonky or has a bit of lights on it

That is the hard part and we did fix that

Right on it

And we will do the unit bearings with different tone rings for different applications

Like some of the Toyota stuff needs some different tooth count on there

And things like that

So that is the thing that we're working on

So that's a big thing that we're displaying in our booth here

And we've got some other stuff too

This is a Ford super duty high steer kit

So some of the big disco trucks

Basically super duty is lifted taller than six inches

The steering starts to get really out of whack

Is that because of the angle?

Yeah, so the angles of the track bar and the drag link

So we've got our new steering knuckle that's part of the Jeep swap kit

So you can use that on a super duty

And then we have a special super duty high steer arm

And a track bar relocation bracket here

So looking at your display, your angles are almost identical

They're perfectly parallel as it sits here

So we have one of our test trucks is a super duty with a 10 inch icon lift on there

Which a lot of guys are running

So this truck drives better than it did stock with our high steer kit on there

So you have to lift it because once you bring the steering back into geometry

You can fix the tie rod

You can do the adjustments and all that stuff

But until you bring the steering closer to stock

You've got to correct the geometry

And the best way to do that is always to raise the track bar mounts on the axle housing

That raises the suspension roll center height

That's always the best way to do that

Sometimes you'll see guys do the drop track bar bracket

And then drop pitman arm from the steering box

It's a less expensive way to do it and not as good geometry wise

So if you can raise it on the axle housing

That's always going to be ideal and the best way to do it

I'm sure there's a lot of super duty guys right now that are hearing this

And they're just drilling

I hope so

Is it SynergyMFG.com?

Yeah, it's SynergyMFG.com

All of our new products are listed right on the homepage

And we also have a link on our website for our new SEMA product

So go ahead, log in there, check that out

And let us know if we can help you out

Cool, thanks Dave

Hey, thanks for coming by

Oh my god, it's that other guy who rolled a bunch of times and lived it till the tail

Hello

Was that Scott Verzal?

You know, just here holding down the fort at Heatwave

Signing some autographs, giving away pins

Got a whole crowd here, do you sign your name on posters and stuff?

Something like that

So I've always wondered this question, I'm going to ask you

Is that the same signature that you sign your checks with

Or do you have like a stunt signature for this type of stuff?

No, it's all the same

I always wondered if people had like a big signature

No, I have like the lamest signature ever

I don't think so, I just saw it

No, for signing things

And I'm like, I need a cool autograph

Then I made the cool autograph

And then I sign everything with it now

So tell me about what's going on in the Heatwave booth

I see a bunch of glasses, I see you're wearing yours indoors

Yeah, cool, because these lights give me a headache

Plus you just look cooler with sunglasses on

Yeah, that's true

But we got full on display, we got the old school TVs here

The old school TVs is rad

I can't lie

Nothing's cooler than a TV-VCR combo

TV wall, yeah

Yeah, we got a TV wall, we got

13 inch TV baby, oh yeah

Bro, these are 19, don't try to short change me

I've seen it

So we got the glasses on display here

We got all the shades you could possibly want

And you can buy them at the show

Oh, that's cool

So it's not just a display thing, you can come get something

Which is good, because half the people left them in a cab last night

Yeah, I still got about 10 of these lean pins left

So if you're all hearing this, you can come by and get a lean pin

And a signed poster, but other than that

Just chilling and seeing them

Hanging out with my friends like you

Hey man, this is the first time I've seen you since

Well, you know, before

Since we both, almost a lot of ourselves

So I'm glad we're both here

And I'm coming your way

Yeah, being dead is not good

No, don't in a lie to yourself, that's not great

So I was sort of in your neighborhood

Because I had to do some stuff in Monterey

And I was like, can I take the extra few hours

To make the right turn instead of the left turn

And go to Santa Rosa

I'm upset that you didn't

And I just didn't have time

So I'm telling you, I'm making a point

I'm going to come out and we're going to have lunch

That's an amateur mistake

And it's on me

Because I keep telling you I'm coming up

We have really good tacos around where I am

Do you?

Yeah, that's sushi

Listen, I come up for you

But the tacos are going to put me over the edge

Yeah, tacos, I like tacos

What's the name of the best taco place in Santa Rosa?

Oh, push it in the spot

El Roy's

El Roy's is the jump off

They have the best shrimp tacos

Alright, I want to go to El Roy's when I come up

El Roy's is pretty good

And then if you like flies in your food

But the most amazing

But it tastes good

Yeah, then that's not El Roy's

And you go to this Taco Rito

Taco Rito El Faberito

Oh, I like it

So good

Alright, so it's like December

Your slow season

I don't have one

You don't have one

So if I just came up in December

So let's go to lunch

December's like a season where I'm not racing

But I'm doing other stuff

So if I just showed up on your doorstep

Like a wet puppy dog in the rain

So let's go have tacos

I'll be here

Brought out in Bushetail

Ready to go

Ready for some El Roy's

On schedule

Do it, let's go

Alright, I'm standing out here

In front of SEMA

And you can hear

I think the Hoonigan guys are going crazy

Right now in the background

Which is super rad

They're literally

Looks like the parking lot is on fire

And I hear a lot of

V8's and tire noises

And they're turning perfectly good

Tires into smoke

Which I think we can all get behind

Alright, I am over in the Handcook booth

And we've got a couple of rig owners here

So I figured we would go through

And talk about your build

And I'm standing in front of a KOH car

Who am I with?

My name is Jacob Bacheco

I race in the 4800 class

For King and Hammer

Slash Ultra 4 racing

So the 4800 class

Is basically a single shock car

Per corner

And then 37 inch tires

Are a max DOT

So we're running the Handcook Dynapro MT2s

This is our first year together working

And you've won some races on them, right?

Yeah, so kind of

Cool story is

First year with Handcook

Working together as a partner

And able to win two races

And win three championships throughout the season

That's pretty amazing

Especially when you just got together with them, right?

Yeah, so this is their first

As far as I know their first

Entry into the Ultra 4 series

Obviously with Dynapro

Being their first

Their new Dynapro 37 inch MT2

We got the tires

Two weeks, three weeks before

Hammers and been running them ever since

And have had really obviously good luck with them

Great performance out of them

The MT2 is a great looking tire by the way

Yes, I was extremely happy to

See the tread design they came out with

The side lug scalp on it

I think helps in the rocks

Beats up the sidewall

In my opinion a little bit more

Doesn't hurt the traction either

Because when we're in the rocks

We need all the traction we can get

And being on my third different tire manufacturer

In three years

Teaming up with Dynapro MT2s

And Handcook

Winning what I've won

Able to win championships and races

That's the best I can ask for out of a tire manufacturer

And you obviously have a pretty good back to back

With what other tires have done

And I think just to

Let's face it, there's a lot of good drivers

And there's a lot of good cars

But being able to win in that environment

Starts with the tires

Yes, so obviously that's the thing

As they say rubber meets the road

And if I don't have a tire that performs

Then I'm not going to be able to perform myself

So along with my team

Working as a unison

And getting the tires to work with the car

And everything else

It really starts with the tire

Because that's the first thing to hit

That's the only thing that hits the ground

Everything else around it

I've done it the other way

It doesn't work so good

But working with the Dynapro MT2s

Working with the Handcook company

This year has been

A very satisfying and rewarding year

I'm kind of curious

When you are out racing

What type of tire pressures are you running?

Is this a VA car?

So you've got a lot of torque going through there

And you've got real bead locks on here

So I'm curious how they hold up

Sidewall wise

Because you're putting a lot of torque through them

So that's

With them being a brand new tire

Brand new tire to me, brand new tire to the industry

We had to learn a lot of the stuff

As a team

On our own

With our past experience

And figuring out what tire pressures they liked

And believe it or not, at the end of the race season

38 pounds is what we ended up running

Really? That's amazing

We started with 32

At Hammers

And then we progressed

Up to 38

And found that they liked to run at

38 on a short course

Amazing

When we do short course racing

We run 38 because

Depending on the terrain

We will grow heat in the tires

And they'll grow up to about 40 to 41 pounds

That much

Yes, especially in the last race

We had to practice anything that I won

The track slicked out

What we call got a blue groove in it

So it adds attraction

But heat to the tires

So we started with a little bit lower air pressure

At the 38

Because I wanted it to be at 41

When we ran desert

At Loughlin

For our last race of the year, the Nationals

We ended up running 38

Because there's no rocks, it's all desert

And we wanted

A little bit more traction with a little bit lower air pressure

But not sacrificing

The durability of the tire

And the 38 is what we liked

How heavy is your car?

The car rolls around

About 42 to

42 to 4,400 pounds

So it's not light? No

And when I say dress, that means it's ready to race

We have all the spares on the car

Fluids, alternator, all that stuff

That we would race at Hammers

Is what we race at Nationals

Because

If there's a problem, we want to be able to fix the car

And not be broken down inside the race

I haven't driven on this particular tire

But I've been on Handcooked before

And some of their alterations

Which look a little bit pedestrian

And I was shocked at how durable they were

I thought, oh man, I know I'm going to get sidewall punctures

But specific to the MT2, not only does it have great looking sidewall

With the scallops and everything

But they actually designed

This tire for

Sidewall puncture protection and chip and tear

Which is something that you are

That's a huge thing when you're racing desert

In multi terrain

So the biggest thing that eats us

Out on the lake bed

Or desert racing or rock crawling

Is really the sidewalls

If you don't have a strong sidewall

That's usually the first thing that will fail on a tire

You get punctures once in a while

That's going to happen

I don't care what tire manufacturer you're on

But we've had the best looks

With the Dyna Pro MT2s

For durability, sidewall

All that stuff combined

Is what I think makes the tire

So good in my

Type of racing that we do

With the 37 inch

Tire and the 4800 class

Awesome, appreciate your time

And telling us about your race car

Man, congrats on all your successes this year

Are you, when does

I guess you're in prep

Mid-season now, right?

No, our season is over now

After this show

The car will come back to my shop

It goes down to Bearframe

And then we rebuild the car from the round up

And then we only have

I think about

11 or 12 weeks

Before we have to get ready

Before we go to Hammers

Because we actually will leave

For Hammers around January 20th

Will that be the first race of the new season?

The first race of the new season is always

King and the Hammer, so that's our Daytona

Indy 500 of off-road racing

For the King and the Hammer series

Well, we'll see you out there and wish you best of luck

Appreciate it, come and look at us

In the hand-cooked booth, 4812 car

Appreciate it, thank you

Alright, so now I'm standing here

With Joel Dulek

And you're a crazy man

Most crazy people, if I see them

Desert Racing, it's because they're in a Beetle class

You're crazy because you went out

In King and the Hammer in a Sammy

Absolutely

That's probably the funnest

To be able to race into them

I love Samurai anyway because they're just special

And they're rad

But you've beat the hell out of this thing

Oh yeah

Every single race, we come home

And we crawl underneath it and we find a new crack

In the frame, that's why you can see

All the plates in the frame

Every time we find a new crack, we add a new plate

And then you add more weld

And then you cut stuff out, re-put it back in

Let's not lie

We've got some more time

This is a little rough on the outside

It's been through hell and back

It's a crumpled tin can

But it's still like

What other place can you go

Where you have a completely roached

Vehicle like this

And everybody's like, that's rad

Because that's like most people would look at the hood

And they're like, oh that's trash

Throw it away

You like conditions

The hinges attach and it latches

And the body gaps aren't bad

And it still looks halfway decent

And if you go through a hillstorm, you don't care

So tell me a little bit about it

Why is Sammy

Why are you crazy

Did somebody drop you when you were little

What happened?

I've always had a thing

For Samurai

Ever since I was little, I always wanted one

But my mom always said they were unsafe to drive

So I could never have one to drive on the road

But

They're just so like

The right size

They're small, they're nimble

They in stock form

You can fit them in the back of a long bit pickup truck

They're pretty much

A mini side by side

Before side by side came out

Some side by sides are bigger than this nowadays

They are

They're just awesome because you can drive them on the road

So you can go beat them up in the hills

Take them down, go to 7-11 with it

And they'll still probably make it back home

So what class do you race this thing in?

So this we race in the 4600 stock class

Ok

And that class

It's a lot of fun

Because you're limited to 35 inch tires

And you can't really stretch it

So you have to be within 3 inches of factory wheelbase

So you can't

Just bring a stretched TJ out there

Well let's face it

I have a flat fender, so I'm a flatty guy

And so they're not that different in size

Everybody's like how do you crawl over

I just go around it

You can squeeze through stuff those other guys can't do

That's like so

Up in, we're out of Oregon

And there's a trail up there called quack attacks

One of the harder trails up there

And there's

And there's a big pinch rock

Where all the guys on tons in 40's

Had to put a tire up on, get all sideways

Crush their cabin, getting through

But this thing's so narrow

I just turn, drive through the middle of it

And then I just sit there and laugh at everybody else

Struggling to get through

There's something to be said of it

What have you done to put it into race form

Because that's not a stock axle

You've upgraded the drive train

You've double eaves, which is cool

Reservoir fuses, smooth bodies

It's rough stuff

Toyota 8 inch housing

With Toyota 8 inch third members

And so they're fully fabricated axle

And then

On the outers we're using a Chevy

GM Dana 44

Outer C's with

You know what's funny when you say that

Is everybody's like, dude the 44 is so small for racing

But then you remember it's a Samurai

And it's giant

And you figure this has 63 horse with the rear wheels

Still run the stock four cylinder

Yeah, so that's the other thing, you have to have stock motor

Is it a 1.4?

It's a 1.3

And so then

With all the 44 parts

Even Toyota guys don't break them

But this is just such little power

You don't break anything

And

Like

For a lot of the races

It's so underpowered

But that's why if you look in the back

There's actually a hundred shot of nitrous right now

So

For a lot of the short course races

We'll spray it with a hundred shot of nitrous

And

You pretty much spray it to the clutch slip

Then you back off a little bit

Now how did you figure out that

100 was the magic number

It was kind of just like a combination

Of different people

I don't want to build this thing up

But the head lifted

How does it respond

Does it feel like you have a little tiny turbo?

Yeah, it feels like a little turbo car

All of a sudden

It's like those old off-road games

Where you'd get the nitro button

And you'd be able to push it

So tell me about the handcooks you're also on

The MT2s

So

Pretty much

We did a photo shoot before Hammers

We put on brand new tires

And

We did the photo shoot

Pre ran for Hammers

Raced Hammers

And then raced the entire NorCal

Rock racing series on a single set of tires

And

They hooked up great everywhere

I have no complaints

We didn't have any flats

Like nothing no issues with them

Like

This thing was so light

That a lot of other tires

You would spin them on the rocks

And they won't heat up and smoke

These actually started doing that a little bit

This one only weighs 3,000 lbs

So what type of pressure do you run in these things

When you're racing?

Typically like raced

Hammers were right around 15

I think it would be less because you're so light

And then NorCal would set it up to 20

Because there's a lot of just smashing through

You kind of bounce up and over stuff

Pin it

Alright, well Joel

I appreciate you walking me through your

Sammy, I love Sammy's

And I love crazy people driving Sammy's

Yeah, they're a lot of fun

If I ever see you out in the desert

Can I get a ride? Oh absolutely

You might need a back raise

The sounds of SEMA

Well, it's just so good for a minute

I love it

I'm standing here with AIM

Loraeos? Yes

I got it right

My wife would be

Proud of me for saying that the right way

Okay, I'm looking, you're glad you're here

By the way, this is the cover truck

For our recent issue of OVR

And I'm looking at all the badges

So I want to see here

You've got a black tail, wild bill

Backway to Crown King, I've done that one

Look, Kipsey Gulch, I've done that one

Fun Run, Snake

Black Bear, I've done

Imogene, I've done, Engineer, I've done

Ophir, I've done

Monument, Vincent Things, I've done

Elephant Hill, I've done, Schnebley

Awesome, I've done that one

Metal Master, I've done

In a high rock cave

This is like the newest one

Yeah, because they changed the design a little bit

Yeah, it's the newest addition for the

Batchup Auto Trailer recently

So you've taken this Jeep

On all those trails? Yes sir

This one has been taken to all of this trail

And most likely it's like

Solo Rig, so I just asked the family

Of Vibe

That's awesome, so tell me a little

About your build, I know if you want to

Find out more about it, you can go to OVR

Because we have a feature in the latest issue

But I like Ladiators

I think this one's a really clean build

So my good deal is

I have like a 35 inch

Tire, I'm running

Dyna Pro XT

And then I have a super pacific camper

And in the back

I don't have any drovers and anything

Cause like

There's already 5 of us

I want to keep my rig lightweight

Yeah, cause like

My background is backpacking

So you're used to the lightweight stuff?

Yeah, I like lightweight stuff

When you go backpacking, the more

Light you carry, the more distance

You can go

You know what's funny about that is when

We were kind of researching the OVR stuff

Sometimes we'll go after some of those backpacking places

Cause there's like, you'll do a gear review

And they'll go, oh, this one is

8 ounces more, so it sucks, right?

But it's so lightweight, it's perfect for overlaying

Cause it helps keep your rig light

So a lot of times if you go to the backpacking

People, you can find a lot of gear

To help keep your rig light

Exactly, that's why

I feel like

My philosophy in

Travelling with these vehicles

Some people will say, what

Would I bring to go on this trip?

For us, we will

Our mind will be like, which

Equipment we don't need on this trip

Cause if you say, which one

Would I need on this trip? You have a lot of

Keep bringing more

So which one we don't need

On this trip, and then

We don't bring stuff that we can

Use at least like, three-port

I have to like, one stuff

That can use like, for three different kinds of

Or four different kinds of ways

Just keeping it light, and then like

I want to travel on like

At the gross, we can

Keep it safe, especially when you have five people

There's only five of us

Yeah

It's a beautiful rig, so tell me a little bit about

The XT tires I know

This is sort of like the tweener tires

A little bit more aggressive than the AT

A little bit more aggressive than the MT

It's really, they decided around

Highway comfort, but for long distances

But made it tough enough to go hit the trails

To get there, right? I mean, it's a good

It's a good all-around tire

So I have a great test with this tire

Last summer, cause like

We did almost a month long trip

Like a 26 days trip

We did a Colorado BDR

We did part of

Wyoming, and then the

Idaho BDR

So we traveled all the way to

And that's a lot of miles, good for you

So we did like 5,800 miles

And then like

2,800 miles of that one was off-road

So basically, we tested

These tires with all kinds of terrain

All kinds of

Environment, and so

I'm happy with these tires

I mean, you're literally, you're on rock

You're on sand, you're on mud

And everything, the only road condition

That I didn't encounter this trip was

The snow, so I had to test that one

Somewhere, and then like

You know, I tested this one

When we were in Montana, it's like

80 miles per hour in Montana

So I did only like 60

On a rain

I told my wife, there's this little car behind us

And I know, I was like

I want to like test that, like how

The stuff is

Stealth-stable, it is, it's hydroplated

And then it handles like

Really great for me, so I was like

Surprised at it, I mean like

I was surprised because it's my first time

Having with these tires, so basically

All my, um, especially

If you live in Sokau, like

You have to travel like a little bit farther

To go hit on the trail

This is a good driver

Basically, we're overlanding, because like

You have to travel like long distance

On asphalt, and then get on trail head

Now, your suspension kit on this

Is that a 3-inch lift?

So this is a 2-inch

I have 2F

Clayton, but I changed

The springs to

AEV

It's a 2.5

But

AEV says it's a 3

So it's basically like 3

It's a great looking rig

And I love that you use it

My last Spraygler, my 392

It had 30,000 miles on it

And I found

No joke, 5000

5000 to 7000 miles were off-road miles

Like I used it, and I do it on big trips

That were 1000 miles off-road

So I love running into somebody else

Who uses their vehicle like I do

And hopefully gets to see you out on the trail

Because you like all the same places I do

Yeah, I mean like we

Especially like, I listen to the podcast

When you always like

Telling me about the

So we only know before

The Mojave road

And then I hear about

That E-M-H-T?

So I was like, and then found

The group in Facebook

So I was like

This is an explorer village?

Yeah, so I do

Two section already

But we want to do it as like a one whole run

The whole E-M-H-T

Give yourself about, I would say

10 to 12 days

That's what I planned, we wanted like 10 days

Because I love photography

The photography out there

Your opportunities is so spectacular

Because it's some of the most

Remote regions of California

And that trail is near and dear to my heart

And I'm glad to hear that you've been

On part of it now, the part you've been on is pretty rad, right?

Yeah, it is

Also there's a lot of

Short hike in the area

That my kids love

Petroglyphs, a little slot canyon

Exactly, and the

The cave, I forgot the name of the cave

Oh, I know you're talking about

Yeah

You get

Lava tubes over on the Aiken mine

Side, and then there's a few other

Caves, and then Mitchell Caverns

Mitchell Caverns, yeah, that one

I don't think like

Most Californians know about

Mitchell Caverns

Most Californians don't know that the desert is full of amazing places

It's gonna surprise me

Some of my kids

Lessons about

Stalactites and stalagmites

And then like

I show it to them, like you wanna see it

Yeah, let's go to Mitchell Caverns

But I want to

Tell the listeners that you have to make a reservation first

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Before you're going there, so it's a guided tour

So how long have you been listening to the podcast?

Three years now

Oh, awesome

I appreciate that, thank you for your support

You got a beautiful gladiator

Thank you, sir

Houston Backus, what is going on?

How are you? We're at SEMA

Cobb Tuning Booth

What is going on? We are at SEMA

And it has been an incredible week so far

I will say that we started off with the manufacture

Of the Euro award yesterday

What?

And then I wrapped up last night with the SEMA woman of the Euro award

What?

So yesterday was too much, it's amazing my head fits in here

So it's today like

Can't live up to it, you just bring it over

Today it's just been a let down good job

Although you know it's not a let down

You're incredibly soft booth carpet

It's true, we got that cushy stuff here

Yeah, it's good

So when I was walking around looking at stuff

I saw somebody's new tunes are out

In the new product section that we talked about on

News a few weeks ago

When you sent me the pressure release

But maybe walk us through some of the new stuff for this year

Sure, yeah, so the two is

The two is newest

Two is newest, I like that

Those would be the Toyota Tacoma

And the Toyota 4Runner

For the 4th and 6th gen respectively

And they are

Taking a little Toyota world by storm

So tuning is fairly new for that market

It's been an interesting endeavor

And then we've got so much

New stuff coming on that front

So outside of

Inside of Toyota we've got

Tundra

LXGX

Sequoia

What else am I missing? Land Cruiser

Yeah, it's all coming

That's blowing up

Mostly on the tuning side or accessories as well

All the above, so as a standard better practice

Everything that we support is going to get tunes

And then eventually the hard parts that go with it

With the stage packages

With the off the shelf tunes to make it all spin

That's awesome

It's a cool set up and it's going to be

I know we've kind of teased it a little bit

Over the past year or two

To see you're sort of at that point

Where now you can talk about the stuff

That's been sort of teased, it's pretty neat

Yeah, oh yeah, so it's a

Development process, especially when we're talking

About dealing with emissions compliance and all of that

So we're dealing with all the internal development

And all the hang ups and set backs

That come with brand new platforms

That we've never touched before

And then as soon as we feel really accomplished

We go to the state of California and smack us

Back down to reality and humble us

And sometimes we have to go back to the drawing board

And make some changes

And we start slowly

Getting those iterations right

And so we have something that we can actually release

That's 49th state

And pending 50th state release

What are we looking at power wise

And is this on the standard turbo 4

Anything hybrid or just the

Yeah, so not hybrid quite yet

It's going to be that standard internal combustion

And right now we're looking

In the power range is about 50

And then off the shelf too

That's a lot

It's not nothing

That is, I mean in that vehicle

That's got to be

What is that thing

Like 280

Or something

It's pretty good

And once we get through

That and you take that off to a pro tuner

I mean I'll be thrilled to see what

They're capable of once they're

Off on their own dyno working specifically with your vehicle

And you also have some Ford stuff

Yes, brand new Ford things

So we have just

Gotten, well

Let me say this, we are just about ready

To release the 2425 Raptor

Toons, those are coming very quickly

We have purchased a

Raptor Ranger

Actually we've purchased two Raptor Rangers

Because Lance had a hand in the first one

And they're incredible

So cool to drive

We've got Raptor Ranger

We've got Bronco Raptor coming

Which is finally

It was him who cost it though right

And then we have

The standard Broncos

So the two three and two seven options

We are nailing down the last pieces of that

And those will be released much sooner

Rather than later, so that's all coming

In short order

Rapid succession

You've been busy

We've been busy as hell Sean

It's been an exhausting few months

But we are glad to be at the point

Where everything is starting to come out

How good does it feel that you put in all that effort

And it's like, now you get these awards

And you're like, okay, the rest of the world thinks we're as cool as we do

We always loved ourselves

But as it turns out, other people love us too

And that's pretty great, yeah

It feels like a real crowning achievement

Coming on the tail end of such a rapid fire

Variative development

What should we look forward to

Anything else that we didn't touch on that's coming

That we could hint at

Mmm

This is a trick question

We've got some exhaust components coming

We've got maybe some

Larger and more intensive exhaust components coming

We've got maybe some suspension components coming

These are things that are very much in development

I can throw on the cutting room floor immediately

Hold your breath, but not that one

Good to see you

Congrats on all the awards

And for all of our Toyota fans out there

I know you're stoked to hear about the tuning

And then Raptor people

Raptor people always want a little bit more

So I think those two are going to be great

Absolutely, yeah, we're looking forward to all the new releases

Thank you for coming by

You're welcome

Glad to see you here and up and functioning at the SEMA show

Thank you, as I've been telling people it's going to be seen

That's right

Alright, well cheers, we'll catch up later

Sounds good

Alright, that's going to do it for part two of our SEMA coverage

But stay tuned because we've got lots more coming

Thank you, Amsoil, Kershaw Knives and OVR Mag

For making the show possible

And don't forget to go to TruckshowPodcast.com

To take advantage of our promotions

Leave me some feedback at TruckshowPodcast.com

Or a message on the 5-star hotline

657-205-6105

And of course, follow us on social

At TruckshowPodcast or at Sean P. Holman

Looking forward to doing it again soon

Some vehicles may have been harmed during the making of this podcast

S3, E59 - SEMA 2025, Part 2

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