A bracket is a strong metal mount that bolts the suspension to the truck. The upper bracket is the part up on the frame that helps hold everything in the right position.
This is the mount where the lower suspension arms/links attach. If it has an integrated bump stop, it also helps prevent the suspension from bottoming out hard.
Johnny joints are special suspension connection parts that let the suspension move more freely. They help the links stay working smoothly when the truck is flexing off-road.
Himes here likely means Heim joints—strong joint parts that let suspension links pivot smoothly. They’re often used on off-road setups because they can handle lots of movement.
Offsets are ways to shift where a suspension part mounts. That helps tune the suspension so it fits better and behaves the way you want when the truck flexes.
A link suspension kit is an off-road suspension upgrade that uses arms/links to guide the wheels. It’s designed to help the truck flex more and handle better on rough trails.
The Wrangler is a 4-wheel-drive vehicle designed for off-road trails. It’s popular with people who like to take their vehicle off pavement and do their own maintenance. The podcast mentions it because it’s well-suited to trail use and upkeep.
“Sterling 1025” is a specific heavy-truck rear axle. The point here is that its wheel/parts setup doesn’t match what’s on the front, so you may have fitment problems.
The lug pattern is how the wheel bolts are arranged. If the front and rear of a truck don’t use the same bolt layout, it’s harder to use the same wheels and replacement parts.
“8-on-6-5” describes how many wheel bolts there are and the size of the circle they sit on. It helps you know whether a wheel will fit the hub.
Term
super duty front end
“Super Duty” here means a heavy-duty truck front axle/wheel setup. They’re comparing that front setup to the rear axle so you can see why the bolt patterns don’t match.
Re-drilling is when someone drills new bolt holes so the wheel can fit. It usually means the truck has been modified, and that can make parts harder to find later.
The Ford F-150 Lightning is a pickup truck that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It’s built to do truck jobs like hauling and towing, but with an electric drivetrain. The podcast mention is about wanting one because it’s a different kind of F-150.
“Sterling 1050” is a specific heavy-duty rear axle. People talk about it because it’s built to handle tougher off-road use, and it may require different parts to fit your truck.
The rear axle is the part that links the back wheels to the rest of the drivetrain. If you’re modifying an off-road truck, changing the rear axle can change strength and what upgrades fit.
The ring gear is one of the main gears inside the rear differential. It works with another gear to transfer power to the wheels, and its size affects what axle setup you have.
Unit bearings are sealed wheel bearings built into a single replaceable unit. That usually makes maintenance easier and keeps the wheel running smoothly.
Link brackets are the mounting points where suspension links attach to the axle. If you change the axle, you may need to move or adjust these brackets so the suspension still lines up properly.
Shock mounts are where the shocks bolt to the vehicle. If you change the axle, you may need to adjust the shock mounting points so the suspension works the way it should.
A “shave kit” usually means trimming or modifying parts to make things fit with more clearance. People use it when the axle or wheel setup hits something.
A crush sleeve is a small part that helps set the correct tightness for bearings in the axle. Because it gets deformed when tightened, mechanics typically replace it when rebuilding so the bearings stay properly adjusted.
A spindle is part of the axle end that holds the wheel bearing/hub in place. If you want to take the wheel assembly apart for service, you often need specific hardware like the spindle nut.
A spindle nut is the nut that holds the axle end parts together. If you’re taking the spindle/hub apart to fix bearings, you may need the correct nut to put everything back safely.
An axle shaft is the part that sends power from the differential out to the wheel. If the axle is going to break, the shaft is one of the parts that can fail.
A third member is the removable chunk in the rear axle that holds the differential gears. It’s basically the “center” of the axle that you rebuild or replace if the gears are damaged.
The wheel mount surface is the flat area where the wheel bolts on to the axle end. The point here is that it’s less likely to break than the internal parts.
The rear differential is the gearbox inside the rear axle that lets the two rear wheels turn at different speeds. That’s important when you’re turning or driving over uneven ground.
A locker is a type of differential that can “lock” both rear wheels together so they spin together. That helps when one wheel is slipping off-road, but it can feel different when driving on regular roads.
In a 4x4, the transfer case sends power to both the front and rear wheels. “4:1 low range” means you go slower but with more pulling power, which helps when climbing rocks or crawling through mud.
The Toyota Tundra is a large pickup truck made for work like towing and carrying things. People bring it up because many owners expect it to last a long time. In the quote, it’s being used to emphasize that it’s reliable.
They’re referencing a Toyota engine nickname (“22RE”) that off-road folks associate with being very tough and long-lasting. The point is just that the truck is “hard to kill.”
Wheelspin is when your tires spin but don’t really grab the ground. It usually happens when the surface is slippery or when there isn’t enough traction for the power being sent to the wheels.
Dead weight is extra stuff that adds weight but doesn’t help you drive better. On trails, more weight can make it harder to get traction and move efficiently.
Torque is the engine’s pulling power—the force that twists the drivetrain. More torque usually means it can pull harder, especially when you’re stuck in sand, mud, or towing heavy loads.
The Toyota 4Runner is a rugged SUV designed to go off-road and handle rough roads. People talk about it because it’s meant for trail driving and long trips. In the podcast, it’s included as part of the broader discussion about off-road vehicles and experiences.
A three-link suspension uses arms to hold the axle in the right place. The three-link bracket is the part that the arms attach to—if it rips off, the suspension can lose control and the axle can move unpredictably.
A track bar is a steering-stability link that helps keep the axle from shifting side-to-side. The mounts are the metal brackets where that link bolts or welds on—and if they’re not strong enough, they can rip off on rough trails.
“JK” is a nickname for a Jeep Wrangler generation. People mention it a lot in off-road suspension discussions because certain lift and link setups can stress the mounting points.
Plating the frame means adding extra metal reinforcement to the truck’s frame. It helps distribute the forces from suspension parts so the frame is less likely to rip or crack at the mounting holes.
“Gear guys” are the people who work on the drivetrain’s gear ratios inside the differentials. Changing or setting up those gears is specialized work, and doing it wrong can lead to problems later.
Concept
setting up my own gears
They mean they’re going to do the differential gear work themselves. That involves careful measuring and setup so the gears mesh correctly and don’t wear out quickly.
A gear set is the set of gears that controls the “gearing” of the drivetrain. Swapping it changes how the truck feels—whether it pulls harder or runs quieter at highway speed. Setting it up correctly is important so the gears wear properly.
Backlash is the tiny “slop” between gears when they’re meshing. Too much or too little can make the gears wear faster or sound bad. Gear builders measure and set it so the drivetrain works smoothly.
Shims are thin spacers used to make small adjustments. In gear work, they help position parts so the gears line up correctly. That’s how you get the right fit without having to replace major components.
A case spreader is a tool that gently opens up the differential housing a little. That makes it easier to get the carrier in and out without forcing parts. It’s the kind of job-specific tool you use when the fit is tight.
A swag is a simple camping setup that you put on the ground. Instead of mounting a tent on your roof, you unroll it and set it up quickly where you park.
Overlanding means traveling farther off the usual routes and being prepared to camp on your trip. It’s the kind of trip where you might set up and pack up often at different stops.
23Zero is a company that makes camping gear for off-road trips. Here it’s brought up because they make a bigger, extra-wide swag that the host wishes could be brought to the U.S.
It means sealing the gaps so water can’t get inside. If you drill or cut holes, you need to seal them or you’ll get leaks and damage over time.
Concept
rock landing
It’s a way of talking about driving over rough, rocky ground and dealing with bumpy landings. The point is that your setup has to survive jolts and shaking.
LIVE
Four wheel underground is making some big changes.
They really are.
What's really cool about what they're doing right now is they're kind of changing the
way the business is set in the sense that you get to now buy things all a cart.
Absolutely.
So if you want the upper frame bracket, you can just buy that.
Yeah.
If you want the lower link bracket because it has the integrated bump stop and it's super
stout and it looks really good too.
You can get just those before you would have to buy the whole kit.
Now you're going to be like, that's the bracket I want.
He's also brought joints in-house.
So now you can buy those all a cart from cartridge joints, rebuildable Johnny joints,
hymes, offsets, all sorts of different ones.
Do you know what else he brought in-house?
Aluminum links.
Aluminum links.
That's pretty rad.
He found a way to source aluminum links so that there's no extra charge on the suspension
kits. They now all come standard with aluminum links.
I know I'm totally jealous.
And thanks to the a la carte system, you can also order aluminum links if that's all you
want.
So if you want to move your Toyota from Lee Springs to a link suspension kit, check out
four-wheel underground.
We want to check with you guys today about On-X Off-Road.
Definitely one of our favorite apps for off-roading.
Yeah. What's better is not only their software, but they also are doing a lot to be a part
of the off-roading community here in the country from the trail revival program, which
I actually got to be a part of and use to do some maintenance on the Rubicon Trail too.
They have an elite partnership.
So if you are an On-X Off-Road user, you can go to any of their 40 plus partners on
there and you get discounts with any of those partners.
So from bringing the people to the brands, to the listeners, to everybody involved, it
sounds like they really want to be a part of our community.
So let's be a part of theirs.
Go download On-X Off-Road from your favorite app store.
You have reached the snail trail four by four podcast voicemail.
If you want to leave some feedback about Toyotas, have questions about Toyotas, maybe
poke some fun at Toyotas, or let us know how your JL came with a Starbucks membership.
Then leave it all on the line and we'll get to it on the podcast.
Keep crawling.
Kiposso, everybody.
Welcome to Snail Mail.
Snail Mail.
Snail Mail.
This is Friday, June 19th.
Oh, it's Juneteenth.
Hey, check that out.
It's my anniversary.
Nice.
Happy anniversary, Jimmy.
Thank you.
What do you have planned for it?
What did you do today?
It's my, it's, is it?
Today's?
Where's June 12th?
Ah, when's Father's Day?
Father's Day is June 21st?
Yeah.
OK, so, OK, Juneteenth is next week.
So it's June 12th.
Yes.
Never mind.
I didn't mean to scare you.
Sorry.
No, that's fine.
OK.
It's not, so it's not my actual anniversary.
It's my first date anniversary.
OK.
Which half of the reason we celebrate or we keep track of it is because it's Juneteenth.
It just happened to fail all that day.
So, if it was probably a random day, I would never remember it.
But because it's on Juneteenth, I remember it.
I don't know what our date, our first date date was.
Yeah.
We've just come to accept it as March 21st because we realized that we started
dating somewhere near the end of March.
We're not sure when, but we tried to coincide our wedding date with the end of March.
So it's like, our first date's on March 21st, the same as our wedding date.
Yeah.
So we just kind of have this agreement now.
My thought is once you get married, you have your anniversary date
and your first date date is washed.
Yeah.
It doesn't matter.
Yeah.
But apparently the assistant didn't have the same.
We weren't on the same page there.
When's the first time you swiped right on yourself, spouse?
That lets to keep track of that anniversary date.
You know that story, don't you?
Yeah.
Okay.
If anybody ever sees me out on the trail, they need to ask, ask me about,
it was, I was not plenty of fish.
It was a bumble, bumble.
And I finally just changed her name out of my phone from being actually.
No, I changed her profile photo from AB from assistant bumble to an actual
photo of her finally.
Oh, gotcha.
But she's still assistant bumble in my phone.
That's amazing.
She did make me go through the phone and eliminate all the POFs or e-harmonie
or any of the other dating app ones that I or any of the other bumbles on that.
So I did remove like 20,000, 30,000 people out of my.
Nice.
Good for you.
My number is really high.
Yeah, good job.
Anyways, I met my wife on Tinder.
So it's, you know, that's just how society is working at the moment.
Yep.
Anyways, we're here to do snail mail.
Yeah, let's find out.
This is sort of like Tinder.
Kind of.
I mean, you guys decided to swipe right and call on us.
And, you know, I see Wreck-it-Rob calling and swipe left.
And yeah, exactly.
So we got we unfortunately have to answer.
It's sort of like bumble where like you gave up and now we have to respond.
That's fair.
All right.
So first up is Wreck-it-Rob.
All right, perfect.
Who's calling himself Karen in this voicemail.
So I'm excited to hear what Wreck-it-Rob has to rant about this time.
Hi, my name is Karen.
This message is for that guy, okay.
We know whatever his name is.
That guy, he needs to understand that our five is designed for me and you guys get to use it.
So I get to tell you whatever the hell I want to, you get to get on my way.
Fuck, I can't.
Oh, shit.
I drive a semi for a living.
That shit happens to me every day.
I put people in the grass.
I can't get over.
You got to slow down.
Next, by the way, this is Wreck-it-Rob, if you didn't know.
Tyler, you are 100% wrong.
If that rear end that you have is a Sterling 1025, it was the Lord's pattern.
You sure you've already heard enough shit for this, but I haven't told you yet.
That is the 8-on-6-5 rear end and your front end is a super duty front end, which is an 8-on-1 70 lug pattern.
So at some point, somebody moved, changed, re-drilled, did whatever to make sure that your lug patterns match.
I personally would get rid of that 1025, find yourself another Sterling 1050.
That way you have matching front and rear ends and you can get any parts out or any wrecking yard or whatever.
Next one, Richard's in Atlanta.
Call me.
You don't have to post that lightning, let's talk.
I've wanted one for years.
We don't even have to ship it to California.
It can be taken from Atlanta to Augusta, Georgia and dropped off at United Reynolds.
Let's talk.
Message me.
I see guys from my phone number.
Whatever.
Let's talk.
And you should probably keep the Jeep if that was your last first Jeep.
Just talking about Jeep's ear takes these two so I'm totally okay with that.
You should keep the Jeep and find a way to just put it somewhere and use it when you can.
I have a total of 19 vehicles, 15 of them run and probably, I don't know, 17 of them are projects.
I think my wife calls the only one that's not a project.
Anyway, I'll see you guys later.
I'm out.
All right, let's start off with this a little.
Yeah, first comments was towards Uncle Weirdo.
Yeah, was it Uncle Weirdo that talked about merging onto the freeway?
I think it was.
Yeah, and it was kind of said the same similar thing is like, I've got my blinker on.
I'm giving you a courtesy.
I'm coming over.
Slow down or you're getting run off.
I can only take so much of people going by and not letting me over before I'm just coming over.
Next one was the rear axle under Fiona is a 10.25, not a Sterling 1050, which is correct.
I just learned and figured this out.
I don't want to say Jason mentioned it when he was going through the axle and doing the
crush leave illuminator on it, but I wasn't able to follow exactly what he was saying because
he was like, man, this is like a hodgepodge kind of thing.
It's a 10.25 with a something like that.
And I needed to use a nine inch crush leave illuminator because it fit in there and other
he kind of went on and talked about a bunch of different things.
I didn't follow him exactly last time.
I was just over at Jason's this late last week and we talked about it and he goes, yeah,
you have the 10.25 ring gear.
What I didn't know is that the 10.25 is, I believe, is that the 99 to 04 or is it before that?
Because I did not realize that it's an eight on six and a half lug pattern.
Mine is definitely an eight on 170 lug pattern right now.
So somebody redrilled it and redid the wheel mount surface for the eight on 170 lug pattern
instead of eight on six and a half, but it is a spindle rear axle, which is whatever.
I'd rather have the unit bearings the way Kermit set up.
So I had it necessarily considered finding a 10.5 sterling and putting that in instead.
It's a bit of work, not too bad.
I mean, we'd have to reset up the link brackets and the shock mounts, but
if I get the 10.5 sterling, it wouldn't be shaved.
Correct. That would be a dunder down side.
I don't think I would take the time to do a shave kit on it.
Yeah. I don't know. I think I'm just going to keep the axle.
I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with the 10.25.
I haven't heard of any big issues with the 10.25.
It just needs to not have a crush sleeve on it.
And I would rather have unit bearings, but I can live with spindles.
Yeah. I just have to carry around an extra spindle nut to get those spindles off.
Right. And maybe you need to carry around the part that is drilled out.
Maybe the wheel mount surface part. Yeah.
Maybe. I think it's highly unlikely you're going to break that part.
Right. You could reuse it fairly easily.
I think so. I think if you're going to break something on that rear axle,
it's going to be an axle shaft or a third member, a third differential.
Sure. The likelihood of breaking the wheel mount surface itself is super low.
You're going to crack a wheel and have a lot of other destruction
before I think you break one of those. Yeah. Well then.
So yeah, if anybody else knows something I don't about why the 10.25 is a terrible axle,
let me know because I do have to go through and rebuild the rear end,
the rear differential and put a different locker in it and everything.
So I'm going to be spending $1,500, $2,000 on this.
And if it makes sense to just do a whole new fucking different axle at the same time,
I would love to hear people's reasoning on it.
Sure. For sure. Definitely.
Was there another thing on there?
Oh, let's see. Richard, get in contact with Wreck it Rob.
Yep. About the lightning and getting rid of the lightning.
If Richard reach out to us on Instagram or something quicker than
snail mail. I think they're both on Discord.
And you guys are both on Discord.
And I'm pretty sure I've already told Wreck it Rob that Richard's on Discord.
But if you guys want to get in contact with each other,
Richard, reach out to us. There you go.
That was the end of Wreck it Rob's. So thanks for calling in, buddy.
Yeah. Thanks. Next up is Nick from Montana. Oh, cool.
All right. Nick from Montana.
Yep. Here we go.
What's up? You have pretty little parents, Nick.
I come up with something funny and figured it made me laugh.
So on the whole mental health subject, you don't always need a fucking therapist either.
Very rarely do I have something where I go, you know,
who would have some great insight on this fucking liberal white lady.
And that's not the case. So don't be afraid to have some fellowship
and hang out with your buddies and you get to each other.
All right. Love you, buddy. See you later.
Cool. Yeah. I think that I mentioned it when we recorded with John from Lynxwell earlier.
He's been posting a lot of posts and reels this month about mental health,
men's mental health month, right? It's a mental health awareness month for men.
And just being able to, you know, hang out and talk with your buddies and be like,
dude, everything all good and just have that conversation. I think it's,
it's super healthy for dudes to do that. And I don't think we do enough of it as males in the
society. So I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I was just talking to the assistant about some of that,
where actually men lack friends. Yeah. I would agree. It's a thing that
it's just men don't have, like they have work acquaintances, but they don't have very many
friends, you know, and the assistant was saying that because it was men's mental health month
and something came up and they were talking about it and she was like, I don't need to worry about
you. I was like, I got lots of friends. So yeah, it's just, you know, and friends and with friends
comes conversations and just making sure everybody's okay and checking in and, you know,
just being another dude and an ear for people to vent to or listen to. And yeah, reach out to
somebody, make sure they're all right. I agree. So mental health awareness, men's mental health
awareness month is June. Everybody reach out to your homies. Yeah. The other 11 months of the
year is the women's health mental months. Exactly. All right. Next up is Bob. Okay.
He's driving across the country. Sweet. Here we go. Hey guys, F you, Bob here. F you, Bob. They're
Rubicon, Jeep Axel, you know, four to one transfer case for a JKU. But I'm listening to catch up on
small episodes. I heard you talking about the port Moses and thought I'd tell you about the
panache, which is a weed or hemp beer with sunkist or Fanta in it. You should try it. It's pretty good.
I'd say Toyota suck, but I'm in a tundra. So I better not.
Tundra's don't die, Bob. They live forever. They're the 22 RE of the half ton world. Yeah.
What did he call it? A panache and it's a week or half of a beer with sunkist or Fanta in it.
That's pretty much, it's pretty much a poor, but instead of sunny D you're using a soda.
Kind of. Yeah. Sunkist. Yeah. Sunkist is a soda. Yeah. It's a yeah. I mean, that's the thing is
it's like anything with a light beer, throwing another flavor in there. Just you kind of just
get this carbonated, fermented flavor of whatever you're adding, right? You know,
Shandy's over in Germany. It's like, here's a beer and we're adding lemon juice into it,
orange juice into it, a lemonade, grapefruit juice, what all these different things get
added into their hefts and lighter loggers. Yeah. And they're just Shandy's. It's just a
mixture of the beer and a juice. Yeah. Yeah. I like it. Let's see what other kind of
beers and juices we can mix. It sounds like a fun challenge.
All right. Next up is a few Bob again. Okay. Here we go. Hey guys, if you Bob again,
driving down the road, made a stop, got my normal road trip breakfast, which is a couple
of saucy Jagan cheese McGriddles made me wonder what other people do for if they got a routine
when they road trip and travel. I know mine is the McGriddles unless I'm where there's
Mavericks and then I like a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee early in the morning.
All right. Let's hear what other people like to get when they travel. So
that's a big great conversation on discord. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
I definitely have a routine. If I'm coming, if I'm leaving to go up the mountains,
depending on what time of day it is, if I have to leave sacrament on my house,
like 44 30 a.m. like this last trip I did, then I'll wait until I get up either to
the Georgetown Wartons market or fresh prawn Chevron and get breakfast burrito, a big coffee,
and a couple sandwiches for the day. Right? Yes. If I'm leaving later in the day past like
six a.m., then I'll stop at the Starbucks right on the road for me and get a Trinta
sweet cream cold brew and two sausage cheddar sandwiches, sausage, sausage sandwiches,
and then head up the hill and kind of snack on the sandwiches throughout the day.
Okay. Yeah. I don't think I have too much of a routine on my end, but one thing that I do enjoy
is it seems like whenever you stop for out of gas station, a lot of gas stations just have
random different things. And so I like going into a gas station and finding a candy bar that I
haven't had in a long time or some weird, you know, cord nut flavor or some sort of small snacky
thing that I could snack on and eat before the next gas stop. And so it's like a lot of times
it's up a pastry that I've never seen. And I'm like, Oh, let's try that. You know, that looks
interesting, you know, whatever it is. So I always like finding the weird thing and just
trying it. There's a lot of weird supplements in gas stations. Oh yeah.
You don't try those? Not those. Food. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. And then usually I'll pick up a water
or some sort of flavored water of some sort and continue on. Nice. Yeah. All right. What other,
what's everybody else's routines out there? Some fun ones out there that there's like,
yeah, what do you, what do you do on a road trip? So I see Bob called back again. Okay. Here we go.
Hey guys. After Bob still catching up on episodes while I drive
for the lemonade and Coors light when I was in college, my entire floor, the guys always got
together to watch movies every like Saturday night. And we just mix up a concoction. It was
nat ice, country time lemonade and vodka. I'm using the country time powder. So
might be something you want to try if you like that little more lemon. I'd add a little lemon
juice to it. Street lemon juice, give it a little more lemony heart punch. All right. Drink up. Talk
to you later. Pink panty droppers. Yeah. I was just going to say that over the 12 pack of Coors
like a fifth of vodka and the pink country time lemonade powder, mix it all together.
And that makes pink panty droppers. Yep. Yeah. That's great. That's a, that's a great,
cause I did like the Coors light and lemonade. I just wish it was a little stronger on the
lemonade. So that makes a lot of sense. Adding in the country time lemonade powder or lemon juice
to it or something. Yep. Yep. One of my friends that was the pink panty droppers was there.
Like celebration wedding drink. Oh really? Yeah. Perfect. I'm going to make some of that for my
grandmother's 80th, 90th. 90th? I think it's her 90th birthday party. Yeah. This year in September.
Super easy. You show up with it. What is this, Tyler? Pink panty droppers for Nona's 90th.
Show up with a case, a small suitcase of Coors light or a light beer and a handle of vodka
in the country. And they're like, what are you doing? I'm going to make us a drink.
That's funny. All right. We have a text message. April 25th. Hey, DOT Travis here. I'm way late,
so someone may have already given you an answer. I didn't want to waste time with 30 second voicemail,
so I figured I'd just send a text when it comes to locomotives, horsepower and torque are not
really reported because they don't really matter if you can't actually translate those forces to
the rails. Since the only way to do that is the steel wheels on steel rails, weight really plays
a big part. Not enough and the wheels just spin too much and you're just carrying around a bunch
of extra dead weight. So they came up with a attractive effort, which takes weight and power
into account as a more standardized measurement of the power of a locomotive. But the to answer
your question about big boy by the calculations, it produces a max of 383,562.5 pound feet of torque.
Stay safe and later. Wow. That was amazing. That might be one of my favorite text messages we've
ever gotten. How much torque 313 383,000 and 83,000 562.5.
That's a little bit. That's just a little bit. That's 300 and 2000000 pounds.
And it needs a ton of torque. That's 383,000 Toyota pickups.
It can out pull 382,000 Toyota pickups. Yeah.
That's funny. Thank you. Do T Travis. Nobody has answered that question yet. So I'm very happy
that you're able to send that over and get us to clarify. Yeah. That was cool.
Oh, okay. Kevin from Texas texted us on April 30th and said the link to the fire extinguisher
discount is not working. So maybe we need to look into that. I don't know. Hopefully he reached
out a different way. Yeah. All right. Next up is voicemail from Alex at botches off road. Here we
go. Hey, Jimmy. Alex from botches off road podcast. I just realized I hadn't called in in a while.
Life's been crazy. So I've really been keeping up with podcast or my own podcast, but you want to
say by the time you get to this, you'll have already gone to trailer here, Alex, but I'm so
excited to see you guys in the trailer. You know, I can't wait for it. So yeah, really want to know
why it's all been. I had like a whole thing I wanted to talk about in my head and I forgot about
it as soon as I heard Tyler talking. So yeah, I guess keep calling an entire member. I'll call
on people. Did you call in later? He did a few days later. Oh, okay. Well, let's just continue
on down the line. Well, thanks for calling. Thanks buddy. We were excited too. It was
definitely fun and we have a few ideas possibly for a watch party. Yep. All right. Next up is
Jeff Morgan from Oregon. Cool. Here we go. It's Jeff from Oregon. Just calling to give my remarks
on Tyler's last update on his forerunner and my experience with Eastern European
slash Russian people. My last company I worked with had an R in the name. We used to call it
Russian. That's what the R stood for was Russian. We had about 150 people that were Eastern European
and Russian and they were coming in with about 150 Americans and I can just tell you culturally
there are huge differences on how they work. We ended up having just by chance we ended up
segregating that group. They had their own bosses and management that answered up through. They were
also Eastern European and Russian and it like went well for everyone. Like they just culturally
they're just different. You would say hey Vlad what you're telling me isn't true
and they'd say no no it good it good I tell you good and you're like no no man I'm telling you
it's not good that's why we're having this conversation and they would like argue with you
and it was like just very bullheaded stubborn kind of thoughts but anyways the other thing is a
three-link bracket tearing off. I have welded up I don't know how many fucking track bar mounts
and three-link mounts off of link suspensions on the trail like a lot. It's always track bar
in JK's and it's always three-link brackets on Toyota's because they weld the sheet metal
housings and then they tear apart. Yeah so unlike my latest build the three-link bracket I
gusted it back on the frame 12 inches. I have these long gusts that taper back on the frame
to like just spread the load out on the frame after I've plated the frame
because I've seen so many tear out on the frame and then gear guys finding a good gear guy is
like impossible. My gear guy is like 83 years old and has bladder cancer now so I just bought all
the tools. I'm going to start setting up my own gears even though they sound like from my calls
that I set up my own gears. I'm going to start doing it myself because there's no one around me
that I trust so I figure I might as well fuck it up myself and yeah Land Rover still suck.
I think there's a culture barrier there a little bit but I still have not told the general public.
I have not announced on the podcast what actually happened. A few people have reached out to me
asking me and I sent them pictures and showed them what happened to the three-link bracket on
Fiona and why it fell off ripped off of the axle and I'm still waiting for this whole saga to
finish up and complete with Stullerbilt before I decide if I'm going to just
put out that information to the public. If you want to know Jeff, I thought I sent Jeff some
pictures but Jeff reached out to me on Discord or whatever else and I'll send you some pictures
of what happened. If it was just the weld failing and ripping off I wouldn't be
where I'm at because I get it. That stuff kind of happens. Sometimes it's hard to tell
if you have a proper weld and everything like that. It was definitely a different
similar but different issue. Yeah, different situation. Different situation.
The gears. I really enjoy setting up gears. I think it's a fun little puzzle to solve.
I have, I think, all the tools to do a quote-unquote normal gear set, at least a Toyota
gear set with the caps, the bearing caps on there that you change the backlash by twisting the
bearings rather than putting in shims. I haven't done a Dana gear set before. I don't know if
there's any extra tools there. You might need like a, what is that called? A pinchy grabby thing?
No, the spreader, the case spreader to get the carrier bearing mounts spread in order to get the
carrier in and out. Anyways, but I actually really enjoy doing gears. I just don't have the time
to do gears, unfortunately. If I had more time, I would love to sit down and do my own gears
because I think it's fun to do. You definitely fuck some up the first couple of times, but
once you start getting the hang of it and learn the little tricks, it's not that bad of a job
to do if you have the right tools. It's very dependent on having the right tools though,
and then knowing how to solve to get a good pattern when you're not getting a good pattern
and how to play and manipulate the different variables to make sure you're getting a good
pattern on your gear set. I find it fun. I just don't have the time.
And it sounds like Jeff's a smart enough guy that he will have the right tools and do the
right thing. It's just a matter of small amount of patience for tweaking here and tweaking there
to get the proper pattern that you want. Exactly. I have knowledge on how to do it,
and I've worked with people to do it, but still to this day, I'm like, I don't want to touch them.
It's just that's one thing that I'm willing to spend a few hundred, almost $1,000, depending
on what you're getting done, to have it done correct the first time instead of me buying
multiple sets of gears. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thanks for calling in, Jeff. Yeah, Jeff. Good
to hear from you. We got next up is Alex from Botches. He called back. Okay. Finally remembered.
He remembered three days later. So sounds good. Here we go. Hey, Jimmy, Tyler. It's Alex from
Botches off road. I remember what I'm calling about this time. I didn't forget while I was
listening to Tyler talk. So I'm calling about the guy. I don't remember what snowmail it was,
rooftop tent versus trailer or something along those lines. I rooftop tents are fine,
but I would say check out a swag. You get a lot of the benefits of a rooftop tent where you can
keep your bedding in it. It's quick setup. You just unroll it and pop in your poles and you're done.
The big benefit to a swag is it's on the ground. I mean, it doesn't
tie your truck up. You put it down. It's a base camp, boom, you're done. Or it does set up and
take down quick. So if you are overlanding where you're at a new spot all the time, it's not an
issue to tear it down and set it up. But yeah, to whoever that listener was that was asking about
rooftop tents or trailers, let me complicate it by recommending a swag. So catch you guys later.
Perfect. Nice. It was funny. Actually, one of the botches off roads previous podcasts,
either two or three ago now, I think they dove down the rabbit hole on swags.
Oh, really? Yeah, big time. And they were talking about swags and like swags on cots that are like
the cot is built into the swag and all these things. And I'm getting the sense that a few of them are
little bigger boys. And they were talking about how they wanted like extra wide swags. And that
23 zero makes one, but they don't import it into America. And so I wrote Alex and I was like,
Hey, you're talking about this really big swag from Australia from 23 zero. And he's like,
Yeah, I wish we could get it. I've actually been talking to them. Maybe we can get a few imported,
blah, blah, blah. I was like, you know, we got pretty good contacts with people in Australia.
If you want to, you know, worry about the import fees or any of that and have somebody ship it to
and you just pay for shipping and the price of the product and Australian dollars, we can probably
connect you with the right people is like, Oh, that'd be awesome. So actually I sent him Charles
lock it's Instagram account. And I sent Charles lock his Instagram account. I told Charles like,
This guy might be contacting you about swags. And Charles was like, Yeah, man, we can help out
with that. No problem. So I was trying to love the swags. Yeah. So that's, we'll see if anything
becomes of that. But that was, that was pretty fun. My only gripe with swags is I want my clothes in
my tent with me. I want more, a little bit more space in my tent. And I want to stand up in my
tent. That's my only main issue with swag is I want to be able to stand up in my tent. You can
stand up in a swag. You just got to stand the swag. Yeah. That was actually even my rooftop tent
when there's two people up there, it's proud. Pretty much no room for bags, just because it's
a small rooftop tent. And we leave our bags down in the truck and then we grab the clothes for tomorrow
and when we're going to bed and we bring them up with us. And a slight benefit of that is I usually
throw them down by my feet. And so they get, they're not freezing cold when I go to put my clothes on
in the morning. They're already kind of, they're warmer because of, they've been in the bed for
a while. And a little smelly. Yeah, maybe. We're camping. Nobody goes around sniffing. I do.
Jimmy, your shirt smells like your feet. Yeah. I usually put nice new socks on before bed too.
I put on one pair of socks for bed usually if I'm out camping and it's cold. I will every night,
I'll put on a pair of socks, fresh at bedtime and then wear that pair the next day. Yeah. And
then cycle out at night time. So all right. Next up is last one. Let's do one more. Let's get to 10.
Perfect. We got Alex called back. Okay. From botches off road. Here we go to finish up today's
snail mail. Hey, Jimmy. Hey, Tyler, Alex from botches off road. Twice in one day you're getting
to hear from me. I actually got off the phone with Jimmy because I typed in snail trail into my
phone to call the calling show and I ended up calling Jimmy instead. Yeah. So I've been really
thinking about rooftop tents a lot lately. So I bought a truck with power stroke and I wanted
a slot like a lance basically, but I just can't find one that's cheap enough that isn't garbage.
Cause I'm saying cheap, cheap, sliding campers are like 800 bucks, but they're all roached and
rotted. So what I ended up doing is I bought a topper, just a fiberglass topper and I'm going
to reinforce that with some seal on the inside and then bolt a rooftop tent to the top and cut the
floor out of the rooftop tent and out of the roof of the topper and then obviously water seal it.
And I'm basically going to build like a mini like a go fast camper basically, but cheaply.
So we'll see how it works. Yeah, I've always kind of been against rooftop tents because I'm
my wheeling rig. I don't really want the extra weight up high. I know it's gotten lighter now,
but when I was really getting into wheeling with like 2016, 2017 time and back then rooftop
tents were heavy as hell and I kind of set my expectation to them. Plus the fact that you
got to tear it down every time you want to move the truck that's always been a turnoff to me.
But if it's from my tow rig, you know, I tow into the campsite,
pop the tent up, unload the truck and now we can go wheel and do whatever we want. So
I think rooftop tents are really cool. You just got to find the use case where they work and I
don't think they work in most use cases for that matter. Yeah, so I hope that I'm not overwhelming
you with calls. I've called twice. I listened to like eight episodes today. So I guess that's part
of life. I'm calling too much, but you guys have a good one and I'll catch you later.
How do you have that much time in the day to listen to eight of our episodes?
It's probably eight snail males. Okay, that makes more sense. Yeah, because otherwise that's like
over eight hours of content. That's like 14 hours, 12 to 14 hours of content. But yeah,
I think, you know, there's a use case for any of it and a proper use case and some points,
they're not beneficial or not the best and some they work out well. Like a lance camper is fantastic
if you flatbed tow your vehicle somewhere because then you still have a living situation in the
back of your truck and you have the trailer and the rig and the housing situation isn't on your
off-road vehicle. But and then you, Alex, I know you probably going off off-roading and if you go
out like overlanding or rock landing or whatever, snow landing, whatever you do out there,
you have your swag for you for while you're out on your trip. You know, and who knows,
like some people like motorhomes in a trailer and some people don't care about the tow rig
that much at all and just have a tent on everything. So yeah, I think it's what works
well for you and your situation and run with it. I agree. My big issue with rooftop tents,
I love the idea of them. I just don't want to pack them up every time I want to go use my vehicle.
So that's my big issue. And I'm always, I very rarely ever go camping where I'm not using the
vehicle in a day to go play or go do something, right? So that's my only issue with rooftop
tents. Like my only issue with swags is that I want to stand up in a tent. So yeah, I really
enjoy the lance. The lance makes life so easy out camping when you're doing kind of a base camp
setup where you can get in with the tow vehicle. But if you can't, you gotta, I'm a big fan of
gazelles right now. So yeah, for sure. I'm also curious to hear how this rooftop tent experiment
of yours goes. We'll see. Yeah, keep us informed when we were talking on the phone when you
accidentally called me instead of the hotline. It sounds like an interesting idea. So keep us
informed and in the loop and keep everybody there. I think you're also on the discord. So you
should start a thread under the users rigs or whatever and about the build on your build on it
and share. Yeah, I'd be interested to see how that turns out to you. So cool. That does it for
today and this week for all the podcast episodes we got going on. Everybody have a fun, safe weekend.
And we'll see you guys on Monday with a really cool interview.
Some really neat stuff going on at this company and some fun moves they're making in the industry.
So we'll see you guys there. Don't forget to give us a call if you have any feedback on the show.
And then yeah, lots of stuff always going on over here. So absolutely. Have a good weekend,
everybody. Bye. Bye.
About this episode
The hosts kick off with a mix of community talk and listener voicemails, then dive into practical build details. Four Wheel Underground’s shift to buying suspension parts “all a cart” comes up alongside link-suspension upgrades and aluminum links. A caller argues about mismatched axle lug patterns (Sterling vs 10.25) and what it takes to make wheels fit, then the conversation moves to axle strength, differential rebuilds, and backlash setup. Later, the show pivots to camping gear—swags vs rooftop tents—and how to choose based on wheeling or tow-rig use.
Caller 2: Nick from MT gives more Mental Health advice
Caller 3: FU Bob tells everyone about Penash
Caller 4: FU Bob asks about road trip routings
Caller 5: FU Bob likes Pink Panty Droppers
Text 1: DOT Travis converts train torque for us 383,562.5
Caller 6: Alex from Botches says he is excited for TrailHeroX
Caller 7: Jeff from OR explains how people work differently
Caller 8: Alex from Botches talks RTT vs Trailer
Caller 9: Alex from Botches is thinking about a custom-made RTT
Join Our Discord: https://discord.gg/yFyFFkQbuy Come hang out with us on the SnailTrail4x4 Discord — it’s the easiest way to connect with Tyler and Jimmy directly, chat with fellow offroad enthusiasts, and get first access to Group Buys and Treasure Hunt token drops.
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