They’re saying they keep noticing Toyotas everywhere. That’s partly because Toyota models are common, and it’s usually easier to find parts and support for them.
When you get on a freeway, you’re supposed to smoothly join the traffic flow. If you don’t merge correctly, it can make other drivers react suddenly and can lead to crashes.
A semi truck (a tractor-trailer) is much heavier than passenger vehicles and takes longer to accelerate and change lanes. That makes it harder for drivers to “thread the needle” during merges, and it increases the consequences of unsafe lane changes.
The Tesla Semi is a large electric truck used to move goods. Instead of using diesel fuel, it runs on electricity. It may come up when people talk about whether it can drive and operate normally during demonstrations or real use.
Right-of-way just means who is supposed to go first. If you already have the right to be there, someone cutting in can force you to slow down or swerve, which is why it’s so annoying and risky.
Cutting off is when someone jumps in front of you and makes you react fast. On a freeway, that’s especially dangerous because speeds are higher and there’s less time to avoid a problem.
They’re about to switch into a new subject and tease what they’ll talk about next.
Part
snail armor panels
“Armor panels” are protective pieces you add to a vehicle to help prevent damage off-road. If they’re buying fasteners, it means the panels bolt on and need the right hardware to stay tight.
The Kia Soul is a small car that looks boxy and is meant for regular daily driving. It’s the kind of vehicle you might see on roads during a commute. It’s not usually discussed as a specialized off-road vehicle.
A merge section is where traffic lanes come together and cars have to “blend” into the same lane. It’s where people often get impatient or misjudge space.
Merging means getting onto the highway from an on-ramp or ramp area. It’s risky because cars are moving faster, so you have to signal and match the flow of traffic so others aren’t surprised.
Blinkers are the lights on your car that tell other drivers you’re going to turn. If people use them, everyone can make safer decisions instead of guessing what you’ll do next.
A T intersection is a crossroads where one road dead-ends into another road. Because people may turn left or right from the cross street, it helps a lot when they signal so you know what to expect.
This is about letting other people know what you’re about to do before you do it. If you signal clearly, other drivers can react calmly and give you room instead of driving unpredictably around you.
They’re upset about people who turn right when the light is red (when it’s allowed). The problem is that those cars can end up in the same lane as you after you’re already stuck from traffic ahead.
Impeding traffic means you’re making it harder for other cars to move normally. In this case, stopping where you shouldn’t can slow everyone down and mess up other drivers’ turns.
Concept
left turn on red
This is about a left turn where the driver gets into the intersection but doesn’t clear it in time. When the light changes, it can trap the car in the middle and cause traffic to back up.
Blocking the intersection means you drive into the crossing but can’t get all the way through before the light changes. Then you stop in the middle and other cars have to wait behind you.
The Ford F-150 Lightning is an electric pickup truck. It’s meant for the same kind of everyday truck tasks, but it uses electricity instead of gasoline. If someone is selling one, details like how it’s been owned and maintained are important.
They’re talking about taking off the suspension parts. That usually means removing upgrades or changes so the Jeep (or truck) is back to how it came from the factory before selling.
They’re talking about selling the vehicle online through a local listing site. It’s a common way to reach people nearby who might be interested in a used off-road rig.
“Wheeling” means taking the vehicle off-road on trails and obstacles. If they’re using the Jeep for that more often, it’s harder to justify selling it.
They’re talking about returning a modified truck to its original factory configuration. The question is whether it’s better to sell it with the upgrades or spend time putting the original parts back on first.
They’re talking about a Toyota Land Cruiser “80 series” rear axle. An axle is a big part of the truck’s drive system, and people pay attention to the exact version because it has to fit what they’re building.
The rear axle is the main part that drives the rear wheels. If it’s the wrong width or you only sell part of what the buyer needs, it can be harder to sell or worth less.
The front axle is the big assembly that helps the front wheels move and turn. If you’re selling one, people will want to know it matches their truck and isn’t worn out.
The Toyota Supra is a sports car made for fast driving. People often modify them and may sell the car along with extra parts, so the listing can include more than just the vehicle itself. That can matter if you’re trying to understand what you’re getting.
“Parting out” is selling a vehicle’s components individually instead of selling the whole car/truck. The hosts emphasize the hidden cost: time—storing parts, waiting for buyers, and doing the labor to remove and sell items.
“Flipping” refers to buying a vehicle, improving or changing it (sometimes including repairs or parting), then reselling it for profit. The segment frames flipping as a time-and-space problem, especially when modifications require extra work to undo or document.
Even if you don’t drive it much, you still usually have to pay to keep it legal (registration) and insured. If you’re not using it, those costs add up.
Term
high boy
“High boy” usually means a truck or vehicle that sits higher than stock. It’s often the kind of setup people want for rough roads or off-roading.
They’re talking about the Toyota 4Runner, a popular off-road SUV. They mention older “second gen” ones, which people often buy because parts are easier to find and the platform is well supported.
ROI just means “how much you get back compared to what you put in.” They’re saying if you’re not getting much value from the vehicle, you might be better off investing the money instead.
Non-op is basically putting your vehicle in a “not being driven” status. It can help you avoid some ongoing costs while the truck/SUV sits in the yard until you’re ready to use or sell it.
Winterizing is what you do to keep a vehicle safe while it sits through cold weather. It helps prevent problems like freezing fluids or a dead battery.
If you’re carrying oil, coolant, or other liquids, a waterproof bag keeps them from making a mess if something spills. It can also help you catch fluid when you’re draining or cleaning up under the vehicle.
A drain pan is a container used to collect fluids when you drain them from a vehicle. In off-road or trail-side situations, having a drain pan (or a bag that can act like one) prevents spills on the ground and makes cleanup easier.
Recovery shackles are strong metal links used to connect your recovery gear to the car or to a tow point. You keep them easy to grab because you might need them quickly if you get stuck.
Company
Bobcat
Bobcat makes heavy-duty equipment, and the speaker is using a Bobcat-style crate as a tough container. The takeaway is that you can use rugged storage to keep fluids organized and contained.
Recovery gear is the stuff you use to get your vehicle unstuck, like towing and winching tools. The key idea here is to keep it where you can grab it fast.
Tool drawers are the drawers where you keep your tools. How they’re divided—like whether sections are fixed or movable—changes how easy it is to stay organized.
They’re talking about using 3D printing to make custom organizers. Instead of buying generic storage, you can print pieces that fit your tools and drawers.
They’re talking about a tool-storage product made by a company called Gear Inch. Different brands make drawer organizers that work a little differently, especially how you can rearrange the inside.
Dividers are the walls inside a drawer that split it into sections. If some dividers can move, you can change the drawer layout to fit different tools.
ARB makes popular off-road gear for 4x4s, especially lockers and air-related parts. The host likes it because replacement parts are available and they’ve had good luck with leaks and reliability.
O-rings are small rubber seals that keep oil or air from leaking out. The speaker replaces them proactively because it’s an easy way to prevent leaks later.
A differential is the part that helps your axle’s wheels turn at different speeds, like when you’re turning. If you’re installing lockers, you often have to open up the differential and keep it sealed so it doesn’t leak.
AN lines are aftermarket hoses and fittings that come in standardized sizes. Using stainless 3AN lines is a way to route air/pressure cleanly for an off-road locker system.
A solenoid is an electrically controlled switch for air/pressure. In locker systems, it decides when the locker engages by letting the right pressure go to the right place.
A digital multimeter is an electrical testing tool. It can tell you if a wire is broken (no continuity), if you have power (like 12 volts), and if a connection is making good contact.
Continuity means “can current pass through this wire or connection?” If the meter shows no continuity, something in that path is broken or not connected.
The coil is like an electrical “magnet” part that helps move/actuate the locker. If the coil wire is broken, the locker can’t get the electrical signal it needs.
They’re checking whether the locker control is getting power from the truck. If there’s no 12 volts at the connector, the problem is usually in the wiring, fuse, or switch before the locker itself.
A fuse is a safety device that stops electrical power if something is wrong. If it’s blown, the locker won’t get power until the fuse (and the underlying issue) is fixed.
An E-locker is a switchable “lock” inside the differential that helps both wheels work together when traction is low. It’s controlled by electricity, so if the wiring or ground isn’t right, it won’t lock.
Term
third
“Third” is common off-road shorthand for the third member of the axle assembly, which houses the differential and related gearing. The host suggests you could access internal connections by pulling the third, but recommends against it as a first troubleshooting step.
An electromagnet is a magnet that only works when electricity flows through a coil. If the wiring problem prevents enough current from flowing, it won’t “pull” to lock the differential.
The host mentions Land Rover owners as an example group who might struggle with the E-locker troubleshooting steps. This is relevant because Land Rover off-road platforms often use electronically controlled locking differentials that can have similar wiring/ground failure modes.
LIVE
You have reached the snail trail 4x4 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 calling.
What's up, everybody?
Welcome to snail mail, mail, mail of the snail, female snail.
I mean, female snails, female snails, snails, snails, snails, snails, snails on females.
Okay.
Glad we got to that point.
Welcome everybody.
Happy Friday.
This is our favorite segment of the show.
Your guys is least favorite segment because you go and call us at 916-345-4744.
Thank you.
And you leave us a voicemail and then you sit in high anticipation for about a month
to a month and a half before we get to it.
That's usually how good any guesses, Jimmy, as to how many voicemails we have today.
Let's see.
Let me look, scroll back here through time.
Let's see.
We were at, where is it, where is it here?
We had, we started with 41 and we got through six.
So what did that take us to?
35.
So that's, we ended at 35 last time.
My guess is we got about 10 in, so 45.
Close, 46 voicemails, four text messages.
So 50 in total.
Dang.
Let's dig in.
Shall we?
Let's do it.
All right.
First up, we do, we're at a text message.
Okay.
So just FYI for everybody out there at March 19th.
So if you're curious where your text message is, you can go back and check your date.
March 19th is where we're at on those.
And this looks like Richard from Atlanta.
Oh, he found it's a second gen.
Yeah.
Second gen.
I can't tell if it's a truck or a forerunner.
Peaking out of a garage and he said, they're everywhere.
Oh, got it.
Like last week when he called in, he was talking about how he's just noticing
Toyotas everywhere.
So.
Well, that's because they are a very popular vehicle.
Reliable, last a long time.
So they're everywhere.
That's why the cartels use them.
Yep.
So thank you, Richard from Atlanta for sending that in.
Let's see.
Next up is voicemail back over to voicemails here.
And we got uncle weirdo.
Okay, uncle weirdo.
Cool.
Good to hear from you again.
Here we go.
Hey guys, uncle weirdo here is the March 19th.
And I was just thinking about something this early morning while I was on my way to work.
And I told him, wow, I'm here.
I'm down to five and wow, this lady's still going.
You know what, I'm going to change the topic.
That is annoying as hell.
I just watched the lady merging onto the I5 and almost ran herself off the freeway.
Because he apparently does not know that if you're merging onto the freeway,
you in fact do not have to ride away.
And this semi truck here is just driving, wasn't able to get over.
And she's still yelling out and getting all the fingers.
That's pretty powerful.
You know what?
That is so irritating when people do that.
So regarding that, new question for you guys.
What does your guy's, what does an irritating habit that people do on the road
that just irritates the shit out of you?
I know one of my regarding stuff like this is kind of annoying.
Especially if you're the guy already on the freeway with the right-of-way
and you cut off the fast lane just to let Fergie traffic over.
I'm all for being a nice neighbor.
If you're able to without cutting off traffic, I'm all for it.
You know, being a good neighbor, all that good stuff.
But don't, don't cut off people, especially if you're a semi truck or anybody
in the fast lane, just let the jack off Fergie on a freeway.
Um, yeah, no, that's, that's annoying.
Shit, um, this lady right here is pretty fine.
Oh, she's still got, she's, I just asked her.
Yeah, she's a little pissed off.
All right.
That guy should be geared real quick.
Yeah.
Let me know what you're, uh, what's the heritage habit that people do on the road
that just bugs the shit out of you.
There you go.
I have four.
Oh, I've got my head.
I'm sure I'm, I was thinking to myself.
I think I could talk for an entire episode,
a normal like episode on that shit people do on the road.
Yeah.
And that could be a fun topic.
I think it could too.
Um, so fun fact or funny little tiny story, uh, before we start going into that,
this scenario happened to me today on the drive, driving literally because I was
telling you where I was on my trip today.
My last stop to getting the fasteners for the snail armor panels, I was at that place
and I was driving here.
I just went, I was go in the merge section of like I five and truck soul and everything
heading up to the studio, but I wasn't in the freeway merge.
There's some lanes that shrink down in that section.
And I was in the straight lane and there was a guy in the merge lane.
And he just started moving in on me and I honk at him and he just continues to merge in on me.
You know, and there was room to my left.
I wasn't paying like, I wasn't looking at it like at the moment of like,
can I move over for this guy ahead of me?
I was just sort of like, I got to go straight.
Yeah.
You know, and it like I pulled over and drove past him and he just sort of stared
straight forward and I was just like, you're an idiot.
Like you're, you're merging.
You don't have the right way.
Yeah.
You don't like the person that's going straight has the right way.
The person that's on the freeway has the right way.
You're on a non-ramp.
You're trying to merge to the freeway.
You don't have the right way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's funny to hear that and that literally happened to me just a little bit ago.
But I'm going to go with sort of a not vague thing that bothers me,
but it's sort of a, I don't know if it's pointed either,
but I'm just going to say blinkers.
Okay.
Yeah.
I really wish people use their blinkers more because I hate, like there's many
times that I would take advantage of a situation if I know people are turning.
Like if I'm, if I'm exiting a freeway and I'm, I live in a rural area.
So when I exit the freeway, I come to a stop sign and then there's cross traffic,
but people don't use their blinkers to tell me if they're going to turn left or right.
It's a T intersection.
And so the traffic that's crossing in front of me could be turning in front of me or turning
before me and I could leave and get out of their way.
Or, you know, I don't have to sit there because you took your time to slow down and turn,
but I didn't know you were turning and I could have gone anyway.
So I think blinkers are, it's not like a lot of people say blinkers are
like a sign of weakness in a way.
Like I'm warning people that I'm coming over and they're going to speed up and get in the
way and all this stuff. I think it's a true courtesy.
Like you're telling people what's going on. You're thinking ahead,
you're actually paying attention to what's going on. And if there are other smart drivers out there,
they'll be aware of this situation and they can either get out of your way
or they can move on with their day because now you're signaling that you're going to turn.
Yeah. Well, in my opinion, like blinkers, if you think about it,
they serve no purpose for the person driving the car. No, zero purpose whatsoever.
They are solely there as a consideration to those around you. That's true.
That's their only purpose in life is to be consider of other people around you.
And so like in my opinion, whenever I see somebody change lanes, make a turn,
anything without a blinker, I automatically assume that they're an asshole in their everyday life.
They're a self-absorbed asshole. Like that's every single time. And like granted,
and because I'm like that, I try and make sure I use blinkers all the time,
which is why I'm so fucking frustrated and annoyed that I don't have blinkers in the
mule right now. So I automatically, like every time I go to take a turn in the
mule or change lanes or something, I'm immediately in my head, I'm saying sorry
to everybody around me. I'm like, I'm not an asshole. I promise. I know I'm driving a vehicle
that makes me look like an asshole, but it's just one of those things, right?
And, but on the flip side of that, also I feel like because it is a courtesy
and you are perfectly telegraphing what your plans, what you're planning to do here,
that people need to take that seriously and make space for you, leave space, whatever.
Don't try and just keep coming up on the person that has their blinker on,
right? Because they are coming over, right? They're telling you they're coming over.
Therefore now you know what they're going to do. Why would you just continue going
straight and cut them off and essentially cut off their, their turn or their lane change,
whatever else? Cause like when I'm in the Dooley, if I put my blinker on, I'm moving. I don't give
a fuck who's there. Right. I'm way bigger. I'm way heavier than you are. You will always lose
that battle. Right. So just don't even, if somebody has a blinker on, give them the space,
let them do it. That's not going to take any effort out of your day. I did that today.
Traffic was horrendous heading down this direction. California's don't know how to
drive in the rain. Yeah. And I left space. There was space in front of me and there was
a small amount of space behind me, which I don't have any control over,
but there was a lady in an Audi SUV style thing trying to merge behind me. She had like her
blinker on and she was like trying to get over for the split. And she just was, and she was
slowing down for it, you know, and I'm like, there is so much room in front of me. And then I think
she realized it. And then I just like let off the accelerator, you know, and she had her blinker
on and everything like I could tell, you know, and I was like, and it's funny because now that I'm,
I brought this up and everything and I've always thought about it, but I always try to appease
to the person that has a blinker on now because I'm like, thank you for using your blinker. I
appreciate that. Thank you for letting me know. Let me actually make room for you because you
actually have your blinker on. Yeah. So, um, yeah. So anyways, I've got a handful more for sure.
Oh yeah. What was, what's one of yours? The, my biggest pet peeve. Yeah. The biggest one that I,
that just, it infuriates me and makes me get like slight road rage. Okay. Like there's nothing else
really on and driving on the road. That'll get me just pissed. Sure. This is the one thing.
Okay. I'm ready. I'm excited to learn this because it'll happen during rush hour, during high
traffic times. Okay. You come to an intersection and you can't cross the intersection, right?
Because the traffic is backed up and you have a green light. You can't cross it.
The fucking assholes in the other direction that can turn right and end up in your lane
going the same direction you are after that intersection. They take the right on the red
light while you're on the other side with the green light and they just took the space that
you're supposed to have because you have the green light, right? Yes. I hate that. That drives me
nuts. If it's, if traffic is backed up and you have a red light on a right hand turn, you do not
get to go take that next space on that right hand turn. It's not your turn. It's not your turn.
You, traffic is at a standstill. It's a different law now where the people with the green light
have the right of way. That's the, the law, right? And the fact that you are taking away
that right away with your red light is not okay. Right. That's the one thing that absolutely
infuriates me. I hate that. It's like, I'm, I'm stopped here because when, if it turns red,
then I'm going to be impeding traffic. And now I've, and then I'll be taking away your right
away. If I go in the intersection and stop and you can't turn now. That's right. I meant by
impeding traffic. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it kind of goes on the flip side of the person
that is doing like drives into the intersection on a left. And then it turns red and they're
in the middle of the intersection. Same, same concept and a little twisted, but yeah, same
sort of thing. It's like you're in such a rush to get to wherever you're going that now you've
purposed like you, and sometimes it's, sometimes people just aren't aware, but and that's,
that's part of this problem, right? Is there not paying attention? They're just going,
or they feel that it's going to work out for them, or they just feel that it's, you know, that their
world surrounds, it goes around them, that they just put themselves in the middle of the intersection
and then the lights change. And now the people that have the right away, don't have the right
away because they have blocking the intersection. You're blocking the intersection. They wait for
you to clear the intersection for then they can move forward. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a
few other things. I think we should do a whole episode on this. I'm down. I'm going to add it
to the episode list. Okay. Sounds fun. I am totally down to do that. I think that'd be fun.
I feel like this is also another topic that we'll get a lot of voicemail. Thanks,
Uncle Weirdo for starting this, which is kind of funny because some of our topics that have
gotten a lot of interest on the snail mail episodes have now carried over to the discord
and the discord is now becoming some interesting discussions. It's a lot faster,
which is pretty fun. So if you want to join the discord, there will be a link down in the
show notes. You can get pretty quick access to us, but there's also a pretty good big group.
I think we're over 70 now. I think it's over 70. We had a big jump and it's kind of slowed down
a little bit, but we've got a lot of people over on discord doing this. We're able to do this,
but pretty much fit. Oh, wow. But much quicker, which is a lot of fun. So yeah,
so if you're interested in joining the discord, go on over there and we can chat more for sure.
All right. Next up Richard from Atlanta. Okay. He texted and then called. Yep. Okay.
This is the next day from when he got it. Texted. Here we go.
Tyler, Jeep and Jimmy. It's Richard from Atlanta.
Cheep and Jimmy. I like saying that. Oh, JJ, leaving a voicemail called Tyler and JJ.
Anyhow, a counseling session.
All in all, you need to buy the trailer. How do you guys, from a vehicle perspective, Tyler
with Kermit and now with the new vehicle, how do you guys, I know you still have both.
I'm looking for some constructive criticism or advice or just a general topic. And I guess
anybody could call in and talk about this, but I've got two vehicles that I need to get rid of.
Both of them are drivable. One of them gets used a lot. One of them, not really so much.
I'm the second owner of it. I really ought to sell it. It's a 94,
a 94 F-150 Lightning. Like I said, I'm the second owner of it and had it since, I don't know,
should 97 or something like that. But I just don't drive it and it's been sitting outside.
This has been a great truck. But I need to sell it. The other vehicle, you guys are going to
choke at this, but it's a Jeep. It's my wife's first Jeep. And we use it for the soccer field
and running around. I haven't wheeled it in a long time, stuffed this and that. And
I've got some suspension parts and all on it and stuff I need to take off and then get it back
down or I can put it on marketplace or something. But what kind of thought process do you guys use
when it comes to talking yourself into getting motivated to sell something? I'm sitting on this
stuff and it's not like hurting me. Other than like insurance sucks, just paying that. But both
vehicles are just kind of, I'll get in my truck every now and then and run it around for a little
bit. But I don't drive it every day. I don't keep it in the garage anymore. You know, it's just kind
of some money potentially sitting there forward to sell it. And then for her Jeep, again, we're
trying to get our boys something else to drive. It's just too expensive of a vehicle for it to
be their first vehicle. So I haven't found the way to get motivated to rip all the suspension off
of it and kind of throw it back to stock so we can put it on marketplace and she can get what she
can get for it. So what kind of thought process do you guys have for that? Tyler, you had mentioned
about getting rid of Kermit and then maybe you'll keep it. So it's the last 20 seconds or 15 seconds
of this voice down. I'm going to say if you still have that piece unit Toyota and I make it up to
Sacramento, I call dibs is the first person that rent that motherfucker and we'll get y'all keep
crawling. That's a great question. I literally just had this conversation with somebody like
15 minutes before we started recording. Well, then I'll go first. Okay. I have a really hard time
lending it to my vehicles go. I can't. It's a difficult thing for me. I know that I'm going
to have to sell some of them at some point, but I don't. It's tough and I don't know how to do it.
I think once you start giving your vehicles names and things, it's like it's almost becomes
like part of the family in a way. So it becomes tough. I have sold vehicles in the past, but I
think it just really comes down to you just need to find the priority of what vehicles you need,
why do you need them, how often are you going to be using them? You know, to me, it sounds like,
and I'm not saying this because it's the Jeep, but it sounds like your Jeep is the first one you
need to sell. And I'm saying that because you already have another Jeep. So and you're wheeling
that more and you're using it more often where a truck is a truck and you can utilize the bed of
a truck and you can it can take things places and you can still do some runs around. And I know,
I don't know if the lightnings, I believe, are only a two-seater, maybe three-seater with a bench.
And so like maybe you can't take the, you know, the kids to the soccer field or whatever. But
if you need to go get some wood or you need to go get, you know, throw some bikes in the back
or whatever it is, you still can use the truck. So just the scenario you threw out there, I don't
know whatever vehicles you have or what, because I know you have another. I think you have a Toyota
truck still that you were fixing up was your grandads or something like that. So you just need
to figure out what truck do you use more, which ones are, you know, can you utilize, which features
can you do? And then that's the one that you don't need is the one that you're going to have to get
rid of. And then you just work up from there on the flip side. I don't understand why you would
take off the suspension parts and bring it back to stock. That was my question. Why don't you just
sell it as is and wash your hands of it? Unless you think you can sell it as stock and then sell
the parts and you can make a few hundred bucks more. That's, if that's how you're going to do it,
then power to you. But I think I would just not worry about it and charge a few hundred dollars
more for the vehicle because it has those parts on it and maybe sell the stock parts with it or
they come with it, you know, I know that I sold a mini truck front axle and a 80 series rear axle,
which is narrower than a lot of people want. And I said it was something like 600 dollars for the
front axle or, and the rear axle or 700 dollars with only the front axle. It was more or less,
I'm like, you are taking the rear axle with you. I don't want it. So maybe you could pull something
like that where it's, you know, you want me to bring it back to stock, then I'm going to charge you
some more. I'm going to charge you more because I'm going to have to put my own time and labor
into it. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a thing that a lot of people don't understand and realize when
either flipping cars or trying to part out pieces of cars is the amount of time it takes to do that
and how long you end up sitting on all those parts before you get rid of them, right? Sure.
It's less space though than a vehicle. It's less space than a vehicle. But I don't know,
in my opinion, it doesn't sound like you'd need the money. Like if you needed the money,
then yeah, you got, you got to sell assets. If you need quick cash to pay bills, cover
stuff, whatever an emergency comes up, you got to sell assets in order to do that and make the,
make the money work out. If you're not really needing money and you're just like,
I just have this asset here that I sits around. It's doesn't really ever get used and utilized.
And I'm just paying registration and insurance on it every year.
Then if that's something you don't really need and you haven't really had a use for in the past
year, then yeah, get rid of it. Sell it. Just realize though that right now is a very bad time
to sell vehicles. Probably. Yeah. The whole vehicle used to marketplace is way, way down right now.
Jason OCD just got a high boy. I don't know what those are. Really? He got a high boy
clean inside and out for 60, 70,000 miles, original miles on it. Holy cow for $300. What?
Damn. So two door probably. I guess. I don't even know what kind of vehicle that is. It's a Ford,
old Ford. Okay. So he got that. I mean, there's, you talked to Ryan. I'm after Ryan and he's
always flipping second gen four runners. He's picking up four runners right now for under 500
bucks to part out, do whatever. So it's just, I mean, I've had zero bites on Kermit. Brennan
listed the white taco. Yeah, I saw that and he's got it listed for 50, 55,000.
Yep. And as far as I know, he hasn't had any bites on it yet. Wow. So it's just,
I think that, you know, automotive interest rates right now on the automotive loans,
you can't find an interest rate below 11%. Damn. Yeah. Which is brutal on a vehicle.
Yeah. That might just be a California thing though. Maybe. I mean, it might be high in
general, but it, you know, 11% here might be 8% in Atlanta prime rate right now is 7%.
So anybody who's going to be loaning money as a banking institution is going to be adding
two to 3% on top of that share for their profit margin. So it's, it's just a, it's, and I think
that with the, the state of the world right now, people are very uncertain about the future. Sure.
And a lot of people are just trying to do exactly that. They're looking because I,
like I said, I just had this conversation with somebody. They're looking at what assets they
have that they're not really utilizing anymore. And they're like, that's just money I could
put away in the bank and earn interest on because interest rates are high right now.
So yeah, if you can just realize you're not going to get as much out of the vehicles as
you're probably thinking you're going to get. And, but if, if you're not utilizing it and you
have no use for it anymore, take the cash and put it into an investment of some kind, man.
ROI is your friend in my opinion. Yeah. So agreed. Another not money making idea necessarily,
but not money losing in essence is just to put the vehicle on non-op and put it in the corner
of the yard or something, put a tarp over it or get a good cover and, you know, make sure that it's
winterized, let's say, and just let it sit there. That way you're not spending any money on it.
You don't have to pay red. You don't have to pay insurance, but you're not losing any money,
you know, throughout that time. And you can just hold onto it for a little while until
things turn around or you go, you know what? I really need to sell this. And then it's just
ready to sell in essence because it's just on non-op. So you don't have to worry about it too
much. So it's just another kind of delayed tactic. If you're not using the vehicle, just,
you know, put it on non-op and just put it away and then you don't have to worry about it.
Yep. Yep. That's, I like that option. Yeah. Cause it's, it's a bad time to sell vehicles
right now. So if you can hold onto it and just decrease your expenses as much as possible,
that's in my opinion, the move at the moment. So non-op is a great option.
We're also looking at who knows how long till something bounces back. So,
you know, it could be a few years, you know, or it could be decade, you know, you just never
know. So it's just a matter of like, are you just cleaning something out to just clean it out?
Or do you need some cash? Yep. Yep. Cool. Next up, we've got butthole Brian.
Butthole Brian. Sweet. That's one of the best names we have for listeners. Here we go.
What's up guys? It's butthole Brian calling about Jimmy's episode tool organization 682.
I'll try to get this in under three minutes here. One, I got a toolbox in the back of my jeep,
like a big rolling one that I put soft bags in. That's a great way to stay organized and move
stuff in and out. Like my power tools that I don't leave in there all the time. One thing you
waterproof bag for your fluids, that's super helpful because you can store your fluids in there
in case they explode. It doesn't get everywhere. And then you can also use it as a drain pan.
If you need to drain out fluids or something like that, you have a bag to kind of like store
that fluid in there without it going everywhere or all on the trail. And then lastly, if you're
organizing your tools, organize tools that like you keep, but you don't use often, right? Like I
have like a ready welder and that kind of gets stuffed in the bottom of my tool, like way in the
back. If I do need it, I'll have to pull everything else out, but it's not like recovery shackles or
something like that where I'm using it on like a daily basis. So yeah, just a couple things to
touch on, keep willing guys later. I like that a lot. I never thought about using a waterproof bag
for a tool bag that can double as a container to catch oil in. Yeah. I put, I just put that
city, city, yo crate in the back of Bobcat, right? And it's waterproof and I have all the fluids in
it, but then it made me think about like, Oh, that's a really clever idea. Like worst case
scenario, I can pull that crate out and I can put it underneath the vehicle and catch oil or
fluids or whatever is leaking out, or if I have to drain something and, you know, clean it out.
And then I was like, well, where am I going to put my fluids then? Are they just going to be
rolling around in the truck bed? So it made me think like maybe I should just put it like,
I don't necessarily need a waterproof bag. I just need a bag inside of the crate,
so that if I need to use the crate as that, as a container that I can, but then my fluids would
just be in the bag. So no, that's a pretty, that's a really cool idea. I also do like the
point that he talked about there at the very end. I didn't talk about organizing your tools in like
the necessity way, right? So the tools that you don't need very often, like a ready welder,
that's one of the deepest stored ones away. And the, you know, your recovery gear should
be one of the first things that you should be able to grab. So that's a great point as well.
Yeah. Yeah. I like it. Tool storage 101. Yeah. The topic came up on the Discord about a little
bit about tool storage. Yeah. And somebody was asking for pictures of how people store tools
in their, their tool drawers. Yeah. And there, there's some really cool 3D print organizational
stuff. After I kind of said that on the Discord, I went and actually like looked through. Okay.
There's some pretty cool stuff. Yeah. I'm going to have to, I might, I might
sit down and like reorganize, restructure my, my tool drawers in the near future in like your
garage. Yeah. I've seen some really neat things lately of people, how they're like,
they design these little like grids, almost Legos. Yeah. It's called infinity grid. Okay. Yeah.
And it's a grid. And then there's all these different inserts for them for all sorts of
different stuff. Yeah. And they're just either a one by one or a two by one or, you know,
all these different ratios of more or less Legos. And it's like, you can build this really big
opening or these shallow ones or these long ones. And you can just sort of create your own setup.
Yeah. I liked that one. I thought that'd be really cool for a drawer setup, a tool drawer setup.
Yeah. There's some really pretty neat things. I have a really cool work bench tool storage.
Thing from gear inch that has, it's the big, it's a big drawer. It's probably, I don't know,
it's longer than two feet, but I don't think it's three feet long. And then it's very,
it's quite deep. Let's say it's two feet deep and it's got two dividers in it. And then it has
pockets that you can sort of, or like dividers within that. So then you can create the dividers
around the two dividers that are depth wise are stationary. So things can only be, you know,
it's divided into thirds more or less. And that's, those are fixed, but then the ones that go
between them are all movable and you can arrange it however you want. And I think I had six dividers
or something like that. And so I just, I randomly, I just, well, randomly slash, I just organized
them evenly. And that's how they've sat sense. And I've been able to be like, cool. So now I
turned that three pockets into nine pockets. And that's how I have that top drawer, that tool storage
arranged. And it works out good. Cause I just was like, here's bits, here's like fasteners that
are in a bag, here's just random stuff that's for this back, you know, that I don't necessarily
need to access all the time. And yeah, so that worked out well. But yeah, I've been seeing a lot
of really cool stuff with 3d printed. I'm like, damn, all right, I might need to get into that.
Nice. That or I'll just start sending you pictures and you need to start printing me out
some stuff. Essentially, if you find a CAD file, send it over and I'll print it up on here. Sweet.
All right. Next up is Jeff Morgan from Oregon. All right. Here we go. Hey, this is Jeff from
Oregon. So ARB are my go-to. You can get parts. Don't give you any little part you need. I carry
extra O-rings that go into the differential. I also, anytime I pull the diff out, I don't
give a shit if it's six months later, I change all the O-rings in it. I'm there. I do it. I
haven't ever had problems with anything leaking. I think how I manage it. I carry, another thing I
carry is I run 3AN stainless lines, call my AirBs, and they make that kit now that you can retrofit
all that to 3AN. So I spent 150 bucks to lock their extra to make sure I don't have top class
airway. The other thing I do is I carry a 3ANT. The reason I carry that is if one of the
solenoids takes the crap up by the compressor, I can tee off both lockers to one solenoid.
So it's a small little part I carry with me, and then that way I can engage both lockers
with one switch. As far as E-locker stuff concerned, what I was meaning is that when you say you're
airing down your vehicle, your Toyota forerunner, and you're really, really scared because you're
in a Toyota, and you turn on your E-locker and you stand around your buddy bullshitting for 15
minutes before you drive the vehicle, that E-locker actually isn't pulled in or the possibility exists
that it's not pulled in. So therefore the current's higher. Once you drive and it's locked in,
the current should drop and then you'll be fine. I've seen a lot of people that get out of the
forerunner and are airing down their tires, turn the lockers on, and then you have problems.
I've seen that with mechanical stuff that work. And then multimeter, you should have an ohm value
if you unplug your E-locker. It's a coil of wire from one side to the other. You put your
own multimeter, check for resistance. It should have two, three ohms, one ohm of resistance in
there. If you get an open or infinite signal on your digital multimeter, that means the wire
is burned up on the coil on the locker. That's a good way to troubleshoot that you've got continuity
going around that E-locker. And yeah, I know this is a bit over the people that drive landrovers
heads. So they may have to draw a picture and send it in by text. They still suck.
Make it by crayons so that they can understand the picture better, Jeff.
Yeah, there you go. Perfect. Did you send a text message with a photo? I don't think so.
Negative. No. Okay. Bummer. I was hoping we'd have one. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense.
Yeah, because in order to engage an E-locker, you need to have rotation of the tires, which we
talked about in rotation and power from the pinion, which we realized doing our little testing.
So yeah, if you engage the locker while you're sitting still,
just kind of like getting ready for a trail and you're turning your locker on, then go and do
another stuff, that locking mechanism is going to keep sending power through because it's thinking
that it needs to... It's not engaged. Actually, because it's not engaged, right? So that makes
a lot more sense. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Thanks for clarifying. Yeah. Sweet. Next is the... It's Jeff
again. Jeff Morgan from Morgan. Okay. But the voice to text said it's Jeff Morgan.
Jeff Morgan from Oregon. So we're going to start calling him Jeff Morgan now. There we go.
Hey, Jeff Morgan, let's go through troubleshooting and the E-locker. I was thinking about it some
more. So you'd unplug it at the dip. You'd have your multimeter. And first thing I check is
with the switch on, do I have 12 volts at the plug from the chassis? If I do, then I'd move on.
I check the other prongs. Do I have a ground to check for my multimeter with continuity
between that pin and the chassis somewhere? And it should read pretty low, a couple of
ohms at most. That would tell you if either of those wires broke or your switch is bad
or your fuse is popped up on the chassis. Then moving down to differential, you have two prongs.
I already talked about checking for continuity between those two plugs because again,
it's essentially a light bulb. It's a resistor. If it's broken, you'll see an open. The other thing
you should check to see if either, if it's grounded, and you could check either of those plugs because
it's the same chunk of wire essentially. And if either of those is grounded to the housing,
then that E-locker won't work. It'll just pop to use this because it's a short. Or if it's in the
middle of the coil wire, there's some resistance for probably not enough to not blow a fuse.
But then the E-locker won't work because there's not enough current to pull the electromagnet.
So you could also check the connections inside the differential if you wanted to pull the cover
or pull the third, but I wouldn't do that. So that's just kind of your rundown with a multimeter,
how to troubleshoot an E-locker. This also will work. It says the E-locker is a solenoid for your
A or B, up by your tank or up by your compressor. That little solenoid is the same type of electromagnet
that is in an E-locker. So it's the same troubleshooting would work. Do I have 12 volts? Do I have ground?
Then on the solenoid side, it's our continuity and is it grounded to itself, to the chassis.
So I hope that helps. I know Don, some of those guys that run Land Rovers are going to struggle
with that. Maybe they could run this by their boyfriend. He can explain it to them.
I want to go wheeling with Jeff sometime. Chef Morgan, sorry, Chef.
Hey, are we going to PNW expo this year? Maybe we can entice him to come down or hang out and
we can do a wheeling trip. I feel like he's not the kind of guy that would want to hang out around
a bunch of overlanders. No, but we're going to be headed up that way possibly, and then we can
drive out of there and possibly go hang out with him. He doesn't want to hang out with overlanders.
You calling us overlanders? Is that what you're doing?
No, I would never do that. I mean, I might have my trailer.
That's funny. No, that's great. Great stuff. I never thought of
thinking of the coil in an e-locker as the same type of coil mechanism and a light bulb,
but it's right. Yeah, it actually was a great metaphor for me. So that worked out. Yeah.
Electricity is magic. So that was actually a magic thing that I could see. Yeah. Visualizing
your head. I had this light bulb go off in my head about like, Oh, I get it. Yeah. Nice.
Thank you, Chef Morgan for your magical way with the words and metaphors. So
next up, Zach from Oklahoma. Sweet. Oakley homie. Oh, we got three minutes full. Okay. Here we go.
Ready. What's up, Jimmy and Tyler. Zach from Oklahoma. I want to echo what Nick from Montana
said about mental health. Oh, okay. There's a quote by Andy Minio. He's a rapper. If anybody
knows, listen to him. He's a good artist. He says vulnerability doesn't say that I'm weak. It says
that I, it says me too. Like as an, I feel that and I understand the struggle or that you can share
a similar experience with somebody else. I, I too have struggled with my own mental health.
Um, 2016, I was hospitalized with suicidal ideation. Um, and the experiences when I was
hospitalized changed my life for the better, obviously. Um, but I'm, I'm just glad that I
have chosen to live and then take my life or anything like that. Um, but it's good to know
that other people out there, a good reminder that other people out there struggle as well.
Um, and it, my experience with my mental health has caused me to take a path in my career that
also helps other people in their mental health or within their situations. If I were going to
stay shelter here in Oklahoma city, um, helping individuals who are unhoused. Um, I do want to
say I appreciate Wrecked Rob's, uh, call in using, uh, person-first language because that's
the stuff that I'm using for my day-to-day work stuff. Um, but yeah, so I have experienced
clients who have died. I don't know the cause of death because that's something that we don't
usually learn. Um, I've been there for like three years and stuff. So, um, and also recently
there was a staff member that, um, lost their life to an overdose. Um, so, which tomorrow I'm
going to their funeral. So, I don't know, lost sucks. And I want to use my experiences being able
to encourage others to keep going. That's why I've chosen my career path that I've chosen. Um,
and yeah, so, um, keep on keeping on is what I've got to say. And yeah, I was going to say
other stuff, but I kind of forgot, but I'm going to go get some B dubs and eat some food. Y'all
keep crawling. Bye. Wow. That was perfectly on. That's it. That's awesome. What did he say was
going to get at the end there? V dubs. Yeah. B dubs. I'm guessing it's a food chain in Oklahoma
city. Okay. I don't know. Um, yeah, man. Mental health is super important, man. It's, it's so
important to have, in my opinion, balance in life and, um, it's way too easy. I think as
guys, especially it seems like guys in the automotive world, we, and guys in the trades,
I should say, um, we just, we put our heads to the grindstone and we just keep going and going
until we completely burnout. Sure. Um, and I think that it's important to be very aware and cognizant
of your mental health, um, and take those mental health days. Um, you know, if you, if you burn
out, you're becoming now the victim, right? You can't help people. You can't get your job done.
You can't help your family if you can't help yourself. So, um, you always got to take care
of yourself, take care of your mental health. Um, before you, we can, you know, do the other
things that we typically do as guys, in my opinion. So I agree. I mean, I think that, um, I would,
I would almost, I would go as far as say everybody has thought, had some sort of level of mental
health, you know, there's going to be somebody out there is like, I've been, I've never had an
issue. I'm like, well, if you've ever had self doubt, that's a level of mental health, right?
And so, um, I think that it's just something that, you know, especially guys just never really talk
about and it's, and that's also a problem. You know, and I think that there's a level, um,
there's many things to do to help you, uh, get out of a slump to some extent, you know,
just having friends, reaching out to your friends, you know, or talking to family or
connecting with people, you know, they're, and worse, maybe not worst case, maybe I shouldn't
use that term, but, you know, uh, last resort could be just an, like an emergency hotline
of some level, right? And just, you just need to like, I feel like talking is such a good way to
just relieve stress and, you know, get things off of your chest or out of your head. And you just
need to do that. And I feel like so many, like Tyler was sort of saying, so many of us just
keep her head down and don't worry about it. And we stay kind of all inside of our own head and we
never release it or talk about it or get it out. And that's really the thing that needs to happen.
You know, to flip it all over is you talk about ladies, ladies that have like, I don't know how
many groups and gossip things and ways that they talk to each other. And, you know, and in a way,
I feel like they have less mental health because of that, right? They have friends that they vent
to about their husbands or spouses where the husbands and spouses just keep it all in them,
you know, to themselves and then just get angry at the end of the day or something.
You know, so I, I'm not, definitely I'm not a psychologist or, you know, medically backed or
anything like that. But I just, I do really do feel that having a good core group of friends
and having trust within that group of friends and being able to talk about problems that you're
having mentally or physically or, you know, able to joke about it is really a big leg up or a big
step into being able to clear your head and live your life. Yep. Yep. I agree. Mental health is
important. Make sure you guys are all checking in every day with that. So I think that about does
it. I think that's a good, yeah. We'll call it here. We're at 43 total. So 40 voicemails,
three text messages to get through. We'll see if we end up over, over 50 to 55 next week.
Sounds good. All right. Everybody have a great weekend. We'll see you guys Monday.
Love you. Proud of you as Nick would say. And I didn't say it, man.
No gonorrhea? No, I'm not gonorrhea today. Bye-bye.
About this episode
Voicemails and texts drive the episode: listeners share Toyota sightings, road-rage triggers, and practical off-road/tool talk. The hosts debate annoying driving habits, especially missing turn signals and “blocking the intersection” by taking right turns on red when traffic is backed up. A big listener question focuses on how to motivate selling unused vehicles (including whether to sell a modified Jeep as-is) and the reality that the market is slow and financing is expensive. Tool organization tips, plus detailed E-locker troubleshooting, round it out, followed by a heartfelt mental-health call from Zach.
Text Msg 1: Richard from Atlanta says Toyota are everywhere
Caller 1: Uncle Weirdo talks about merging
Caller 2: Richard from Atlanta, choosing what rig to sell
Caller 3: Butt Dial Brian talks about Tool Storage
Caller 4: Jeff Morgan from OR talks about ARB Lockers
Caller 5: Jeff Morgan from OR teaches everyone how to troubleshoot an E-locker
Caller 6: Zac from OKC talks about mental health
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.
CALL US AND LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL!!!! We want to hear from you even more!!! You can call and say whatever you like! Ask a question, leave feedback, correct some information about welding, say how much you hate your Jeep, and wish you had a Toyota! We will air them all, live, on the podcast! +01-916-345-4744.
SnailTrail4x4 –SnailTrail15 for 15% off SnailTrail4x4 Merch MORRFlate – snailtraill4x4 to get 10% off MORRFlate Multi Tire Inflation Deflation™ Kits 4WheelUnderground – snailtrail 10% off Ironman 4×4 – snailtrail20 to get 20% off all Ironman 4×4 branded equipment! Sidetracked Offroad – snailtrail4x4 (lowercase) to get 15% off lights and recovery gear Spartan Rope – snailtrail4x4 to get 10% off sitewide Shock Surplus – SNAILTRAIL4x4 to get $25 off any order! Mob Armor – SNAILTRAIL4X4 for 15% off SummerShine Supply – ST4x4 for 10% Backpacker’s Pantry – Affiliate
