The Right Tool

SFJ 4x4 Studios presents

In my oversized four-wheel drive Jeep

A Jeep podcast starring industry experts

Cure monocity

What? Say that again!

With mad scientist Scott Brown

I use my drill press as a sort of lathe

Our host, Neil Simpson

If one light goes out they all go out

And...

Philips shenanigans

We are really professional with Jeeps

This is I Speak Jeeps

Good morning, afternoon, evening

Wherever, however you are joining us

Baruch

My name is Neil with SFJ 4x4

Simpson Family Jeeps

And I am joined in Grandma's couch studio

By the decorated esteemed and...

You know, you're the only one who doesn't have an OG shirt on right now

Uh, look at that

You know what's funny?

Wait, you know what, for our viewers at home

You're not going to get to appreciate this

But I will turn around for the camera

Oh, he does have an OG shirt on

I literally, I'm turning around and looking like I'm squatty-potty

I'm literally wearing such an OG shirt

That the very first year of having shirts

I was so poor I didn't print anything on the front of the shirt

And I think whatever people...

There were people who bought them, right?

I'm not saying a ton of people bought this merch

But there were some people who bought them

But it was the very first

It's the most OG shirt

Okay

So if you don't know, talk about a one-up right there

Right?

That could not have been more perfect

So you have the OOG shirt

I have the second OG

And Jeff is the shortly thereafter

Yeah, oh my god

That was so poor

We couldn't play with that

No, we really couldn't have

It literally tracks our employment and everything

Welcome to SFJ

Right, serendipitous

We'll take a little happy accidents

And I will address my shirt real quick

My sale piece was it's a work shirt

That's what my thing was

It was meant to be a work shirt

People in that first year or two were like

Cool, but give me something on the front of the shirt

And thus the shirt that you're wearing is the OG I Speak Jeep shirt

Before I Speak Jeep podcast was a thing

Before the podcast was even a thing

Right, it was the

I literally ran a whole series of shirts

But then I took the old inventory of this particular shirt

And reprinted them

That's why the back of this shirt has that on the back

It's why that shirt has this on it

Yes, yes

Oh man, that's a fun walk down memory lane

That's pushing 12, 13 years ago at this point

So the Madness Mad Scientist has the second OG

Recycled OG OG shirt

Yes, yes

We ran that shirt for a lot of years

We did

And then Jeffrey with the Jeep Junkie

He has a Jeep Junkie with the XJ Grill

Yeah, which was kind of our official XJ piece

And the original inclination

We should do a whole thing on merchandising

We should

Because Jeep people love to rep the fact that we have Jeeps

And recently I was at Career Day

And I talk about the ducks and Jeep culture as well

And I do Career Day

So we should do a whole session on merchandising

And branding for why we love Jeeps

We actually have a live listener in our parking lot

With Jeanie sitting out there

Saying good morning, listening to you from the comfort of the SFJ

4x4 parking lot

It was that or I wouldn't get to listen

Nate's

I don't know

I'm not sure

Jeanie, I love it Jeanie, that's fine

Nate's first with good morning

Chips says morning

Joe Bryan says good morning

And I can't read

Lucky McDeerhead said good morning guys

Good morning, good morning, good morning to everyone

And that is so fast, fantastic for everybody to be joining us

After our brief week off

With Memorial Day

Let's snuck up on all of us

So much snuck up on all of us

Well, while we honored the ultimate sacrifice

For so many individuals who have come before us

My wife just mentioned, she's also in the parking lot

So we actually have two people listening in the parking lot

James Hyland says bueno si es

Who knew we were going to make this a thing

You know, parking lot party out there

Parking lot out there

You could get the little driving beakers

We could

And have posts

We could be broadcasting it

I mean, at one time when the Savage was gamefully employed here

I asked him, well he did it regularly for over a couple years

He would turn on the live out in the showroom

So that if you were a person who came in

You could, you know, see it happening in the showroom

While you stopped in

So we'll get around to that when we have some summer coverage again

What was, there was, I had a quick parking lot party

Oh, there is actually going to be a parking lot party next week

Yeah, for the train

For the train

Big boy is passing through

There is a, through the area

Connie out Ohio is listed as a departure location

But with no public viewing possible

And what we're offering is literally just that

A public viewing space

And we're going to be restrictive on our parking lot

To the best of our ability

I'm not going to be, you know, militant

We're not the parking lot police

Are they coming across this track right here?

They're literally, as they depart

This is the track that will take them to Buffalo

So as they stage and process their departure at 9am

We will be seated 10 feet away from the train

With, you know, free parking and secure, you know

I mean, you don't have to be worried about the fact that you're in somebody's yard

Or you're just at a random crossing, you know

Railroad crossing or street crossing

You can come here with your Jeep

And hang out with like-minded individuals

Who just want to see something, you know, historical and cool

And enjoy Neil nerding out on the train

100%

And just as a

I know you're going to be like a little kid in a candy shop with this

Oh, my goodness

I was excited when the 4140 or 1440

I actually don't remember which one it was that came through

That was on the tracks down though, right?

No, it was right here because

Because I traumatized my son at a very early age

By holding him entirely too close to the train

As it came into the yard

No, no, you didn't

C-Y-S, no

No, no, he's fine

He's 13, it's statute of limitations, it's all gone

But suddenly there's a barricade put up at SFJ

And CSX says no

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Oh, I'm not welcome

Yeah, so it's a super cool experience

And we want to share that with others

It is the 250th celebration

And they're doing this coast to coast of arguably

One of the world's largest steam engine trains

And so that's just super cool from a mechanical automotive perspective

So please join us, consider joining us

You can arrive at 8.30

Hang out in the parking lot

And we're going to be staged

We're literally just watching the parade

There's nothing exciting

We'll have the shop open

And we'll be telling lies about each other's jeeps

And in preparation

We'll be in preparation of Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival

That will be happening a few days afterwards

Andrew Pornell is saying

I remember the early days when you all came to Jamestown

For the JVFD cruise in

And we had 98 jeeps show up

Yeah, that was a nice event

In the early days when

And I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth

By any stretch of the imagination

Our work volume

We have this juggling act, if you will

Because our work volume and our in-house customer demand

Is so high

But previously, man, we were able to get out a lot

And just go to meet and greets and gatherings

And that is valuable

And I'd like to do that again

We keep working towards that goal

But we also keep accepting jobs

From customers to keep the lights on

So there's, you know, whatever

And to segue into the topic for the day

Bill McWilliams is asking will there be jeep stacking

And I will tell you that probably not

But we could probably use forklifts inappropriately

Oh, I would love to use forklifts inappropriately

And pick up jeeps

Sounds fantastic, actually

No, today we are talking about the right tool

And this is a phrase that is one of my mantras

And my father was, I mean, he was a school teacher

Right, I did not have the same experience that Scott had

Where his dad was a hot rodder

Was a custom car builder

And, you know, my father was a school teacher

Who DIYed out of necessity, right?

And oftentimes when we did pay a professional

To do the work, you know, one of my dad's mantras

Was, well, the right tool for the job

Makes it go two times faster, ten times faster

You know, or the right tool for the job

Just abbreviate the phrase and just say

Hey, you know, there is a conversation regarding efficiency

And quality, general workmanship in general

And I actually, I kind of nerd out in a social piece

To say that the right tool for the job is not just

It's not just just the actual physical tool itself

You know, Jeffrey and I, when we were doing the American Hustle

This would be a concept that we could build upon

To be like, are we employing the right tactic?

Are we using the right process or procedure?

Is it the right person in that role?

Exactly, right?

And that's not to be a derogatory conversation about a tool

But just to say that is this the asset needed to be successful

In this specific talking point today

I would like to kind of lock in on the actual physical, tangible tools

Well, first I want to share how you shared this episode idea with me

Because I think it's entertaining

Okay

You sent diagnostics, efficiency, reinvestment, quality outcome

Torque wrenches, pneumatic versus electric, computer diagnostic equipment

And modern vehicles, taser, jayscan, superchips for DIYers

And I just simply replied, so like a seven-part episode

Yeah!

But we can't do multi-part episodes

Because we know that your listenership goes

When we do multi-parts

I don't know why

Nate says that you should probably not refer to your employees as tools

That's why I clarified

I didn't even read your thing

That's why Jeff is a tool

But I'm not

That's

We could just compartmentalize that

And I'll never say anything behind anybody's back

I won't say to their face

So

I just call this Spain to Spain, man

I feel like a tool is an upgrade from what you usually call this

So we're good

Cockroach

In the most loving way possible

That to me is a compliment

And I just

His ability to adapt and overcome

In perilous situations

I saw it positively employed by a online influencer the other day

And he was referencing himself and his wife

And he was like, you could burn it all down

And we will emerge from the ashes

As happy cockroaches

I was like, there!

That's what I mean, Jeff!

Gracious

That is fantastic

Nate says, I guess there's no HR department at SFJ

Oh, the HR is Greg

HR is really loosely defined

If you don't want to be pistol whipped

I liked it better when HR had the Seuss hat

And that would be

I do want to tease a little bit that thematically

And that while there is no drop on the merch giveaway

Because quite frankly, I'm not even sure that I'm going to be able to manage it this year

Thematically, you're going to see some Dr. Seussisms at Bantam this year

We got thing one and thing two going

You know, I'm not sure yet

You'll have to wait and see

It's going to be like the who was at car

And whatever just pops out of the car

So the pretense of the right tool for the job

Is in large part where I have been

I recently did Career Day

Scott came and joined me last week at his daughter's school

Wanted to kind of make sure that people in our community know about the automotive fields

And I try to expand upon not just the physical wrenching

Though that is something that we do here

And we take a lot of pride in

But you guys may or may not know

Scott has degree work in engineering

And drafting of sorts

And a number of things like that

And so does your wife

Yep

Right

And so I try to talk about the mechanical fields as a broad approach

Right

And mechanical engineering, electrical engineering

Just knowing how to take a ratcheting wrench

And turn it into our Milwaukee Impact guns

Right

And that is then a conversation where I saw another shop recently on their glow up

And in a very condescending and judgmental way

I was like, they're still using pneumatic tools

You know, and that's on me

You know what I mean?

That's on me

I appreciate the electrification

And I talk about that with Career Day with kids

And where that has taken us

But I do think that there's a place for pneumatic tools potentially

Especially if you had a really quality one

You've invested somewhere

Or you have a great airline system

In my opinion, that's not really what I want for our space

I think the biggest, I was actually, you know, processing this

And thinking about this

Because some people will be like, oh, you know, the old school, you know

Air-driven tools, they're better

Well, that may be fair

And maybe your tool lasts 20, 30 years

Correct

Where my electric is probably got a five-year lifespan

Yes

But the airlines, the fittings, the air compressor itself

The physical lines to the place

And then just think about how much air you use in a shop

Back in the day, your lift was air

You're using it for just general air tires

Tire changing, that kind of stuff

So that asset, you're asking a lot of that

And if that asset goes, boof

Yeah

You're in trouble

But basically shuts an old school shop down

Not to mention the fact that now you have to have length of hose

And be able to get to that and get it into your space

Think how crappy our old hose was, how stiff it was

And we didn't have swivel fittings at that time

And understand, I started out, I mean, as did Scott

And probably Jeffrey had pneumatic tools as well

Absolutely

I mean, that was what we had, it's what we used

And the other part I wanted to kind of bring up is

You could have the best, baddest impact going

If your compressor can't feed it, it doesn't matter

Right

And I remember

Oh yeah, you get those small compressors, eight gallons

You're like, cool, two minutes in

Not even two minutes in, I feel lucky

I feel lucky

Then you're sitting there waiting ten minutes for it to recharge

Yes

And not only have, you know, we've had train brakes

And XJ brakes and that kind of stuff

You used to have compressor brakes

Because you'd have to wait for the compressor to catch up

So you could go ahead and hit it again with as much

Uggadug as you had

Yes

Where electric, it's just

It's on and off

Full power until it's, you know, dead

And then you can go get another battery and go again

Right

Plus you don't have that hose heating you

But even with the electric, with the battery ones

You had different adaptations of it or variations

Started off, it would slowly die on you

Yes

And it would just get weaker and weaker

Now, battery's dead, it stops, dead

Yeah, but you have that

Basically full power up until it dies

Right

You sort of don't, the last little tiny

But not like it used to

But not like a NICAD

You're talking about NICAD

Yeah, you're not getting that warning

You got five minutes of warning time

Because it's dragging so slow

Yeah

And I do think that there was an advantage

Those pneumatic guns back in the day

And I don't want to spend a lot of time on pneumatic

For electric

Because again, I think it's a great lead

And I don't want seven parts like Jeffrey has accused me

Of definitely attempting to drag us out into

But

Well, and Rob's in the comments saying

I can turn a ratchet into a hammer

I can turn my Milwaukee impact into a hammer too

Absolutely

Battery shatters off of it

And then Daddy G, again said

I primarily use air in my shop

For the pneumatic can crusher

Alright, that's kind of legit

I think that's cool

That's also old school can crusher

How many people are crushing cans anymore

The old school pneumatic guns used to be

Rebuildable

Serviceable

And that's an argument is that

You could have had a pneumatic gun

From the 60s to the 80s

And theoretically

And let's just you snap on for what it is

You could trade it into them

That guy went onto the truck

And he rebuilt that for you

Typically speaking

Under warranty

And later on

As other derivatives of that gun became available

To the average DIY or automotive enthusiast

You could continue to service that gun

And I had those guns

That were passed to me at a pretty early age

The old IH guns

Absolutely

And the challenge is

You're not doing that with

A Milwaukee impact necessarily

I have a Milwaukee brushless

It's a fuel circular saw

Torn apart on my workbench right now

Because something

Has gone amiss with it

And it's not what YouTube claims it is

Darn YouTube

And I cannot for the life of me

Find the replacement parts available

Because I'm like yes

I understand that they're not making this tool

To be serviceable

That's not their intention

But by golly

I'm going to do it

And I have the means to do it

So I'm going to do it

But I literally can't figure out

The part numbers to the models

So the production dates

The batches to find

I'd say there's any drawback

On the new electronic tools

Is that they change the part numbers

And the series

And every six months

It's almost as bad as our cell phones

They constantly are revising it

And depending on where you

When you bought it

And what series you bought it as

Because I remember I was looking at a hand grinder

It was like less than five available

And I had to go and find

What kind of handle do you want

What kind of paddle do you want

What kind of gear, nut change do you want

That kind of stuff

Do you want an auto brake

And there's brushless and non-brushless

Which fuel is usually brushless

I actually, I think

My wife asked me that the other day

Or someone asked me

I was like that's actually a good question

Fuel Milwaukee

We are Milwaukee whores

Fuel is the brushless one

Again, I'm going to own my indiscretions

I really struggle to buy anything else

Despite the fact that

Angry Turtle owner

He has Makita

He's a Makita guy

From straight, you know, from start to go

They have a coffee maker

Which you know should be right up my alley

And his saw out cut my circular saw all day long

Do better Milwaukee

And yet, so here's the thing

That was impressive

I did not believe you until we got to try it

I was like holy crap

So now my Milwaukee brushless

So fuel seven and a quarter circular saw

Is dead on my bench

So what am I doing

I have a Harbor Freight suitcase generator

Which I picked up on their scratch indent

And figured out how to make work

Okay

And then I have my OG black and decker corded saw

So now I'm wandering around

With about 110 pounds of equipment

To cut some two by fours at my house

Because your Milwaukee saw sucks

Because my Milwaukee saw sucks

But the right tool for the job

And I've become so spoiled

I've become so entitled

I'm like, well my cordless saw should just be at my whim

And it should only be 7.89 pounds of ounces

And now I'm carrying 110 pounds of generator

And circular saw that's 30 years old

And this thing is just cutting like crazy

But the guide sucks

And the motor hangs out a foot overhang

And it's not

It doesn't do what I want

The blade is 20 years old

And it's somehow still cutting

It's still cutting amazing

I've got one of those

But then the caliber of the work

That comes from that tool

Like I'm worried about the cord

It's dragging over my work surface

And my guide is on the wrong side of the...

That's why my cord has electrical tape on it

Yes

I'll say how's your cord doing

Because mine are all hand-me-down from my dad's saws

Yes

And the cords have been wound and unwound so many times

The insulation is starting to fall off

Some of that's from the saw hitting it

I try not to do that

Try as you will

Eventually it happens

And so there is this conversation

When I'm looking at it going, hey you know like

The right tool for the job is in fact

The cordless and arguably in my situation

I now know the Makita

But I'm not willing to come out my pocket

Because I own the $300 saw

Which is now sitting broken on my workbench

Yes

Right

And that's the whole argument with your pneumatic air gun

Versus your electric air gun

Now as soon as that impact gun goes kaputzi

Internally

Yes

Now you were talking about a piece of the system

Of the air system

Well I might easily be able to go grab another pneumatic air gun

Yeah

But the cost of investment in the quality impacts

Quality impacts, right?

I can go to Harbor Freight

And I can pick up a Hercules or a Bear

And they're not bad

They're not great

They're not the same as the Milwaukee's

That level of investment that those manufacturers have taken

To creating efficiency and quality and craftsmanship

I don't want to go

To take a nut off

Or a lug nut off

I want to go

And it's done

That's what's then going to differentiate

Our experience from the average

Kind of at home

Part of the two second lean model

Of just efficiency of it

Which 100% is how I said this crosses over

Into American Hustle

And our expectations regarding processes, procedures

How do I do things a little more efficient

How do I do things a little bit better

Because that's ultimately the goal

Now, if I just want to go hide in the garage

From my family for 10 hours on a Saturday

I really don't care if I'm using a four-way

To break lug nuts loose

Or, you know, or shove them back together

It depends on how much

America's lazy, we care

Well, it depends on how much man tool you want to use

Four-way, more man tool

It is big man tool

So where this was

And again, I'm desperate to not make this

Into a seven-part series

And we're encroaching on maybe 20 minutes

Left in our talking points here

Where this came into

Kind of a reality for me

Most recently was

Again, both career day

But then something that I've been encountering

With my wife's personal mall crawler

And by extension

One of our customers

Or good customers, already his Jeep

Where we're seeing this high degree

Of electrical interface

In our most modern vehicles

And how do we as professionals

And then how do we as enthusiasts and DIYers

We're attracted to the Jeep community

Because we want to be able to work on them

We want to treat them like big Lego sets, right?

I think the biggest key to that

And I go where you're going with this

Is the old school impact

You pretty much can be basic mechanical guy

And tear that apart and go

Hey, I think the seal's bad

Find a seal, make a seal

Cobble a seal, something

And make that work again

Not many people have the electronic

Dynastic equipment

That allows you to then do that

With a fuel Milwaukee impact

Everything is repairable

You have to have the knowledge, the tools

And the basic ability to do that

And that's where we don't know

Is it the switch, is it the board and the saw

Someone out there has the ability to do that

But do you have that ability?

And the challenge is that YouTube

Has created the Olympic viewer experience

In my opinion

For decades we have accepted the fact

That we sit at home during the Olympics

And we watch these people flip and run

And sprint and bobsled and all this kind of stuff

And we're like, I think I could do that

Right? And there then was born the

We need to have the average American

Doing the Olympic activity next to this individual

Because they do it so flawlessly

We think that we can then in turn

Do the same thing flawlessly

And the same thing happens with automotive build

And so therefore

And we're definitely the most critical about watching it too

Like, oh you missed that little spot there

As you're doing that triple back flip over this

Yes!

Who are you to say that?

And so the internet and then the YouTubes

Have created this experience where

We're watching an individual pull

Let's go with this saw apart

And then find a dead spot on the board

And desolder and resolder

And in the meantime they've found the diode

That is the exact right rating

And specs to go back into the board

And it just happened to be on their shelf

Because they do, I don't know, RC car

Builds on their channel on the side

No, they're on the shelf because you have to buy

Like 600 of them

So they had, you know, three years ago

They had something else fail with that diode

And you can't just buy a diode

You have to buy them in bulk

So now they have them for the rest of their life

And I've watched them, you know

With a particular glue or adhesive

Warm up the board so the chip

Because there's an actual operating chip

That has to be fully, you know

Exacto-knifed off the board

And then glued back in and blah blah blah

And it's like, oh I think I could do that

And then you throw the tool in the garbage

Nate in the comments, hey

I am a YouTube certified mechanic

Absolutely

And that's, I mean, arguably that's okay

That's what attracts people to the Jeep community

We want to be able to do some of these things

But then at what level do we want to do it

I, often times when I do so many shows

I, you know, talk to a lot of people

With varying degrees of success in

Success and or expectation

And or ambition in their repair process

Of their vehicle

And I'll talk to a lot of people

And there's a lot of benchtop building

And campfire talks is what I like to call them

Where it's really a lot more daydream

And then the project goes to die and rot

In the backyard

And we know those guys, right

But then I definitely talk to some people

Where as the conversation progresses

I will still think of

It was a young couple

And he, you could tell as he talked more

He had the right mechanical brain

I'm just going to be very, very transparent

And say he was absolutely a white-collar individual

Right, he was an office guy

And yet as he talked more

You could really tell that he had

You know, some mechanical function

And how he organized his thoughts

And he

This is so funny because it was like a

It was a thing where I talked to him at

Honest to be, it happened to be Bantam

I talked to him one year at Bantam

And he was endeavoring to rebuild an engine

And he had acquired said engine

And was going to rebuild it

And I was like, yeah, cool dude

And it sounded legit, you know what I mean

But I know that there's a bunch of different

Torque specifications

And there's a bunch of machining

And you really need to know the different

Machining aspects

And if you're going to change your camshaft

Then you're into lift and duration

And, you know, there's a number of

Technically specific things

For somebody who hasn't done it before

Would be very challenging

Okay, well long story short, the kid is

Was, I mean, we're talking, this is a decade ago

So I don't think he's a kid anymore

But he was a mechanical engineer

In a drafting capacity

Probably not unlike you, but his employment

It's if you would have stayed with your

Original employer

His original employment just kind of

Kept him in a desk capacity

He comes back the next year

And comes back and is like, yep, I rebuilt it

I actually drove it here, you know, blah, blah, blah

You know, we have this whole conversation

And he did it all out of reading the technical specifications

Out of an FSM, factory service manual

He rebuilt the engine, drove it there

And I just thought that's so cool

Now he had to go out and buy the torque wrenches

He had to go out and buy the plastic gauges

Or whatever, you know what I mean?

But he wanted

But then he owns the tool

Which is our excuse for buying tools all the time

Absolutely

Jeffrey came and finally removed

His really nice toolbox from the shop

And he's moved it to his current place

I don't even miss that as much

I miss his ladders

The toolbox was a great shelf

He had the right tools for the job

And now he needs the right tools for the job

At his current place and that comes to the

Organizational piece of it

And so as we're looking at these modern day vehicles

And I kind of strayed away

And the concept we were talking about

The tools changed

And so for us

It requires us

We have

It requires us to buy more tools

And we have the top of the line

Snap on

Monthly subscription

Yada yada yada yada

And I know

That as of recent

Some other counterparts within the industry

Also in the 4x4 and or customized

Truck and vehicle market

Do not have

They're not paying for that

Likewise

We didn't pay for that at a time either

We couldn't

We're not at a place where

We were having to utilize

That highest degree of technical

Diagnostic work

And now we are

And that makes it more of a challenge

For that

Home hobbyist guy

He's not going to have all that

So and at that minor level

But again our expectation

Is much like that guy

Who was like no I want to know this

Intimately and build it from

You know piece by piece

We want to know the electrical in and outs

And we want to be able to monitor aspects

Of it

And

And so

Therefore it becomes relative

To our experience

The average new modern vehicle

Owner can receive

A good bit of this

Via product

Like

Taser from Z Automotive

Superchips

Has a form of it

Though I think Taser

Is leading the market right now

And Jscan is

Calling

A spade a spade the bootleg version

Of what Z Automotive has

Done in a legitimate fashion

And if you're a computer

Programming

S guy

Jscan probably be right up your alley

But if you don't know those things

Right

Taser is probably a better choice

And the Taser is going to be

Customer service friendly

In the standpoint

That you're not going to

Brick your vehicle utilizing the Taser

Yeah

Jscan and I like Jscan

So those who are listening in

Don't get twisted

I like Jscan

But there's a very good chance

You're going to change the parameter in Jscan

Living on the edge

That can screw up your vehicle

Likewise we have

All of HP tuners

Integration software

We've done some tuning ourselves

You can brick your vehicle

It is that

Degree of efficiency

Or intimacy in the repair process

That you're looking to exist at

For us

We want to be on the edge

And we

Kind of accept that as a

Necessary risk assessment

For the repairs and quality work

That we want to do

Whereas the average consumer

Maybe doesn't want to drive

To AutoZone or their local mechanic

Every time the check engine light pops on

So you can

Be

In the middle with an appropriate tool

To go, hey, I just know

That my Jeep had a hiccup

This morning

And not only that

Using

The easier use

JLJT1

You have to play the Macarena

And be able to hold multiple buttons

The Taser

And getting signs on the steering wheel

I think it's perfectly acceptable

So that you can access the screen

So you still feel like

That you're doing something

So let alone I had to do an install

Of one of those the other day

Jeffrey

Jeff was my go-to

He could like unhinge his back

Unhinge his back

He went alien arm

Straight lizard people

Up under the dash

In no time flat

And swapped out a Taser

Now, I understand

Some of them are super easy to get to

Some of them are, there's other ones

You're hands getting cut as you're reaching through

Not only is it cut, but you've got to shove it through a keyhole

Right, I've watched that movie before

Yeah

You have to

Compartmentalize

Once you physically do that

Putting a Taser in

Can feel like you're doing a nice little DIY

Afternoon Saturday project

Just because you have to contort yourself

Into a pretzel

And then when you're programming, you just got to pat your head

Rub your belly at the same time and you're good to go

Dude, the Macarena song

That too

So I, you know, as far as

Electrical interface

For our modern day vehicles and I was

Working with my wife, so I'm going to get to that one

I'm going to get to that one. You talking about Nathan's?

Yeah, about the removing the panel

Uh, what?

Go ahead

Oh, he was saying it's not too bad on the

JLJT, just remove the lower dash panel

I have never removed

That panel to do it

And I can factually tell you

That there's a number of them that are

Blocked with a module

Correct

And this Nathan has

Everything to do with the misinformation

Because I think that might be applicable to your Jeep

And maybe one or two others

But this is always the misinformation of the internet

I only touch Jeeps

This is what I try to tell people and I also have to creep

In the background

My Jeep because it has the power inverter

There's a big inverter underneath the

Dash where you're trying to go

And if you know what you're looking for, that also helps

The first time you're showing

That you have no idea what you're looking for

Poking and hoping in the dark

Just

There we go

And this, you know

Has to do with the

He goes, well mine is the best

I'll be

I'll be Nathan

That's what it comes down to

But because this doesn't have the module

His is one of the easy ones that you don't have to

You just reach up and grab and you're done

Correct and that actually is

What I would say from a neutral standpoint

Looking in on his experience versus

What I know the multitude of ours being

But it comes down to when

Chrysler rolled out the

GPEC computer

Which is a

Different, it's a vertical oriented computer

Versus a horizontal orientation

And quite frankly

It just

Brain blended the entire

Jeep industry because

We had things that we thought to be

Knew to be true and then there would

Be a random person who had the vertical

Computer versus the horizontal

And now we know that it goes back as early as

Almost 21 but 23

Being the

No-Go zone with this computer

But

Regardless that's part of this

Differentiation and knowing the tools

And having the right

Processes and knowledge and learning the information

Right, right, right, right

So

In the sense of

My wife's Jeep

Specifically

She's been having this

Random communication situation

Where the Jeep just randomly

Power steering goes out and

All the lights and bells and whistles go off

Under Jeep

Jeep is big angry

Jeep's got big feelings, it's big angry

And yet

And it overheats

Right, per the dash

All of these things

And you know what's sad, is I could see someone

Like my Jeep's possessed

It's totaled, I need to trade it in

I'm gonna take a big bath on this

And it was

Napkins

So

So hear me out

There's a story that I don't know

So hear me out

And so

And you're absolutely right, I need you to know

Because we've talked to customers who have

Pulled over on the side of the road for far less

Right, absolutely

And fortunately I can

And only because you're Simpsons did you go through

Well, I've got to say

I think I can say collectively

For all of us in the room and our significant others

And maybe the immediacy of people around us

Are like

I think that the world's gonna continue to turn

I'm gonna feel this out a little bit

You know what I mean?

At this point in time, and to my wife's credit

She is on phase by the fact that

Her Jeep is acting

Possessed and has broken down on the side of the road

You know, it's not a thing

It does not bother her

And it done it a couple times

So we end up switching vehicles

I could not get it to hiccups

You know, for the life of me

I would take the scanner

So, you know, and then

It would be uneventful, it'd be like

Ah, the code did exist, but now it doesn't

And I'd have 27 codes

So this time around

We were gonna do a little quick family excursion

To

Eerie

I saw you on the highway heading to Eerie

Yeah, were you going to Coles or something?

Yes, that's exactly where we're going

I have also turned into a Colesmore

Just over on the same page

I may have had some insight information

On where you were headed after I saw you

Oh, okay

You ran into somebody

I did, I ran into your brother

That's true

Anyways, if you're listening

And you need extra wide shoes

That are good for support of an insert

And you need to try them on

Coles has literally the best supply

Hashtag not sponsored

But if Coles wants to throw us a little bone

For their great shoe department

I'm here to rep you

So

Anyways

I took our big fancy

Super computer with us

And I drove to Eerie

And obviously promptly broke down

On the side of the road

Which had not happened for weeks

And I was tickled

To be able to run some diagnostics

And see that I was actually not overheating

You know

Able to go in and actually

Monitor those controls and stuff

And as I started to go through

The diagnostic processes that

We employ here

My cursory looks

Which for me I feel is cursory

But I factually know

For a lot of people they would be

Thinking that this was pretty in-depth

My cursory look

On the side of the road eventually

Took me to the bus bar

For communication systems that are

Behind the glove box

And as I'm accessing the glove box

My wife goes well what are you doing

And I was like well

I need to get to the comm lines

Behind the glove box door

Now quick sidebar

I am factually

Saying communication lines

Folks think about the

Not the fiber OPTIQ

But your cat 5

Cable

Which

Then to kind of make it even

More generic is just the phone

And internet cable

Let's go back to cable TV

And you know back in the day

You had just one line and went to the TV

In the living room and at some point

You're like you know TV in the garage

Or the bedroom or both would be awesome

So you go get a splitter shove that in there

Now you have multiple lines and then

Next thing you know there's one in the kitchen

And one in the bedroom and when

And the kid wants one in their room

So there's the splitters

That's what your comm lines

And your jail basically are

100% right

Also friendly notation

You can't butt connect them

Or splice connect them

Just because somebody in your club did it once

And it sort of worked for them

Does not mean that that's actually

Going to work the majority of the time

Fun fact

You can't butt splice

Reputably

ABS sensor wires

You have to solder

It actually interrupts the signal

And just because you kind of got

Lucky and it sort of worked

There's lots of those situations in life

Reputably

These type of finite

Data communication lines

Or low voltage signal wires

Need soldered

They need soldered

They cannot have broken

Or interrupted

Pulse signal

With that said

As I pulled the glove box down

She kind of was like what are you doing

And I was like

My wife is probably not that exciting

But she was like

You're going to find a bunch of stuff behind there

And I'm like I'm what

She's like you're going to have a bunch of napkins

Maybe some socks, some gloves

Maybe some woman stuff

So you're just letting it fall behind

And wad up and she was like yeah basically

You know and I was like

Are you kidding me right

And here's why the Jeep died

And what I can

Within reason

Tell because it has not

Heck up since in any other

You know standard testing and I've got

About a hundred miles on it

Since

Those data comm lines had actually

All gotten folded over

And

Kind of compressed

And wiggled

In their

Fixture how they seat into their

Bus bar themselves

And they were all matted and kind of wad

Up now it was not nearly as bad as my wife

Had described it but it was bad enough

To create this

Interrupted signal experience

And

We've certainly had

A number of early model Jeeps

Where we actually replaced these bus bars

For them

And so this was

A conversation in my head about

I was able to utilize

My big fancy computer to know

That there was not anything mechanically wrong

With the Jeep right there wasn't a timing

There wasn't a sync there wasn't electrical

You know signal impurity

There was a loss of calm

Communication there was a loss of communication

Specifically

But then I had to employ

Some kind of old

You know old school who done it

Diagnostic processes

To get to that point

And how often do people just

Start throwing parts at things

Going to you know whether

They're DIYing it whether they're going to

A garage that maybe is not

You know came up with the times

Per se I mean we've certainly gotten

Jeeps from our listeners

From our followers from our friends

And family who have a general mechanic

For X, Y and Z and then the mechanic

Goes I don't want anything to do with that

Comes with electricity

With Jeeps and electricity and we end up

With the Jeep you know

So in this specific situation

The right tool for the job I did need

My big fancy computer

Could I have gotten away with you know

A Taser or a J-Scan

Maybe

Probably had to have a little bit more

But again it's that two second efficiency

Right it's that

A little more efficiency, a little more knowledge

A little more in depth

Does a pneumatic you know

Impact wrench get the job done

Absolutely does in our opinion

The electric one that can move quickly

And efficiently without having the cord

Get stuck under a tire and I have to

Walk back to the vehicle and drag it out

Worry about moisture in the lines

And all that 100%

It just does it just in my opinion

Just a little bit better you know

Anything else

For the good of the order

I'm not trying to drag this one out

But the right tool for the job is

Actually I should address

Nathan brings up Harbor Freight

They're good for a lot of things

I 100%

I love Harbor Freight, I love VVOR

But then there is

A time and place for

Substantial investment in my opinion

Much like the computer

I am going to choose

Our

Our Snap-on Altus series

Versus

Our Altus Edge series

Versus one of the Harbor Freight Diagnostic computers

That's not to say that the Harbor Freight Diagnostic

Computer is not good

We used an Autel for many years

Still a good computer as far as I'm concerned

I think if you want to get in that middle road

Where you don't want to buy the Snap-on

But maybe you want to be a little bit more

DIY friendly

Than the Taser

Harbor Freight is not a bad option for that

But you got to realize

That you may use it

Depending on your use amount

A couple years and it may be

Outdated and it's now a brick

And I actually have been privy

To a couple people just in

Customer service

Consultation or some of the

Tuning communities that I'm part of

Who

Just have a couple cool vehicles

And they do go out

And buy

An above average scan tool

Yup

We're not talking about the $50-$70 one

At the back counter of AutoZone

We're talking about these $1000

Scanners

So that they can see what's happening

Inside their vehicle

Even though it's just a scan tool

It's not actually making them do base caliper changes

And it's really no different in my opinion

Than the old school guy that went and bought

The $500 torque wrench

Because he was building five motors

And it justified it somehow

Where the other guys went and got the Walmart

Torque wrench and that's all they do is their tires

So it really

It's good to have options

Well, you know to talk about

Torque wrenches briefly

And here within our own

Establishment

Greg who does all of our gear

And axle setup has the high dollar

Digital snap on torque wrench

Which is awesome

I was going to say we have literally all levels

Of torque wrenches within the shop

Correct and then we have

The

Gosh, I'm trying to think who the original manufacturer is

Of them

The half inch torque wrench

We all now have

It's kind of the universal thing

You can even buy that at Harbor Freight now

They have a version of it

They've changed the color a couple of times

Jeff's was a different color

But was made by Matt Cove

I remember

Right, but I thought somebody else was making it for Matt Cove

I'm trying to think who the one that I bought

That's blue handle was the OG

But they were making it for Matt Cove

And it is the

Same conversation

We don't need to go out and buy the digital

Angle fancy things

Torque to angle

That the snap on has

Though that is very good

And is needed for some applications

It's needed for the right tool for the job

Whereas we wanted to be able to make sure

That

Big nuts and bolts were torqued

And lug nuts were torqued

That we had a consistency amongst

Our employees here

And the product we were putting out

I started

With Harbor Freight

Dial

Round dial to handle up

Click wrenches

Which

Honestly is a torque wrench

That's cool

I started with a beam

I've got a couple beams

Because I think they're cool

Somebody has a beam floating around the shop

We literally have all of them

And I have a beam

Because I think they're super cool

I displayed them on the wall

And I don't know where they're at

At the moment

Regardless

That's

Understanding where our level of investment

To our return

To our expectation lie

Is the right tool for the job

So at Harbor Freight

I encourage people

When we do our tire talk

Maybe if you're a new customer to us

You're not familiar

We always do an outtake

Or a post service document with you

Where we torque your tires in front of you

And we

Do a piece of paperwork

And we circle your torque rating

And we encourage you to check your torque

If you don't have a torque wrench

I tell you to go to Harbor Freight

And pick one up

That will be satisfactory

And so there is

Lots of

Opportunity

You know

This is a super sidebar

But I was using the Harbor Freight

Splitting Mall over the weekend

I've had it for 10 plus years

You know

It's okay, it gets the job done

I'm a casual

Person who splits for

Just campfire wood and I might split wood

For campfire

Twice a year, I don't know

You're not doing the ax chops

You're doing the mall

Yeah, I sledge mall it

You know what I mean

So real quick on the right tool

There's one other thing

If you don't have the tool

Scott or Greg will just

Make a tool

That can happen

That's happened more than once

And that is the

I mean that is the thing

Especially when you get into the more

Elaborate workmanship that is required

Out of these more in depth jobs

Oftentimes you do have to have

This exact right tool

If you don't have it available to you

A lot of dealerships have dealer specific tools

Keith Yeoman

The Jeep doctor

Good friend of ours

As a lifelong dealer tech

Had the opportunity

I don't know if he still does

I was so jealous of him

He had a whole wall of retired dealer tools

And that dealer tool made that job

Just one second faster and easier

And he had it and it was a reference number

And that's how the dealership said

They needed to repair X, Y and Z

And you could go and you could

Access it out of his dealer tool

Wall and do the job

It was just such a cool thing

But these specialty tools

Now people who are listening

Who know they have to do anything with VVT

Overhead cams know that you have to lock

The cams into place

You can get away once or twice

With some rubber hose and

The handle of your ratchet

And the handle of your ratchet

But that's not a good

Long term solution

You know

And so

You can buy the right tool

To lock those cogs of the

Camshafts and timing sets

In place

So as not to have problems

Just to do the harmonic balancer on a 3.6

You have to have a torque to angle torque wrench

I mean that's something

Real kind of basic

So I

Encourage you to kind of understand

As our listenership is concerned

Kind of where you fit within this

You know

This scheme of

Expectation

I think the vast majority

Of our Jeep customers

Like doing suspension

Because suspension tires and wheels

Because that's

You don't need all the specialty tools

Or all the specialty knowledge

And that's why one of the things I always say

Is it's not what we do that makes it special

It's how we do it

We have a number of tips and tricks

In the processes and this is where

The right tool for the job becomes our processes

Maybe more so than

Our actual ratchet

Wrench

Is our snap on wrench really doing that much better

Of a job than an icon or a

Crashman or whatever

And it's nothing bad to start out with a cheaper tool

Learn

How to use that tool and then eventually

Upgrade

90% of my metal shop is

Entry level, hobbyist type

Sheet metal tools

But I'm not doing it

For full time employment

I'm doing it as a hobbyist so it works

Compare in the pricing

Difference is astronomical

You know you go from like a $600

English wheel to

Thousands like $6,000, $7,000

For an English wheel

There's just no justification there

And for some reason there just is not

The middle of the road tools

Like other hand tools

So you have to look at that as well

And kind of make a judgment call

Like how often am I going to use this

Can, yeah there's some shortcomings

The good thing about YouTube too is

There's tons of reviewers

They're doing every type of tool

You can imagine from a

A weed whip to a hedge trimmer to

Your hammer and they'll tell you

All the pluses and minuses and just go in

Educational wise and figure out

What's going to work for me

I know I got time for that sorry scrap

And it's so funny that you talk about that

Because that's actually one of the things

Where I'm being challenged with the circular saw

Come back full circle

And I'm looking down the pipe of going

Okay I'm really sick of carrying

My little suitcase

Jenny and my saw around

I'm not getting any further

On my cordless situation

I'm sure there's somebody out there

Who doesn't have as many irons

In the fire as I do and I shouldn't put that on them

But their workshop is just

You know they're going in their basement

They're tinkering with the

6,000 diodes that they have

And they just have that

Maybe just that one little piece more

Of information or knowledge

That than I do It's no different than

The person who traded in your mall crawler

Versus you were able to fix it

100% you're absolutely right

So I'm at the point of trading in my

Broken circular saw so I'm looking

At other saws

Right and I'm looking at other options

And I

Am struggling because I

Tried to watch some of those reviews

I'm trying to touch things myself

Because as many of our you know owners

Jeep owners and enthusiasts

They get it I want to touch

I want to feel see the tires

I want to see that lift kit in action

You know that kind of stuff

One of the challenges I'm having

Is actually finding some of these

Saws in the wild that I can

Physically put my hands on

That is a big challenge

And go hey is this a good investment

For me or do I just need to buy

What I know right the devil I know

Versus the devil I don't

Or do I go out and buy a Makita

And then buy a battery adapter

Because I'm not about to invest in new batteries

And another good thing is you know

This example here is what do your friends have

How are they lasting I want

An electric circular saw

I'm only doing to build

Is it probably for the building

But boy would it be handy

And I have not because yours

Is broken

Really and I because I you know

Is my own interest and I

See people using these

Saws in a far more robust and

Aggressive and beat up and leave them

Outside and throw them in the bed of trucks

Is not what my saw was you know

So it's safe to say I have an outlying

Experience but at the same time

Like I want to

Know that my next move

I didn't cheap out on this

You know what I mean this wasn't a cheap

Saw I want

To know that my next move is going

To be a better move

And not a downgrade or

A waste

Of money to summarize you need the right

Tool for the right job apps

Stinking literally well folks

As always

We've got

11 ebagillion jeeps to work

On we have

Fortunately career days have passed

But we do have all of our

Our own kids end of the year

Activities as

School gets ready to get out

We have preparation for

Show season happening

And we have just a myriad

Of commitments to our

You know the physical pursuits that

We have here within

You know within SFJ 4x4

And so it is time for

Us to depart until next time

Jeep on

I

Wanted to be like

Check us out on Tuesday

Updates and I don't know the last time I did

A Tuesday update is the problem

Yeah

Right yeah it's more like

Wow it's 530 on Tuesday

Where did that go

I haven't gotten a haircut and like

I literally can tell you the last time

I got a haircut it was before Easter

Because I'm just finding it hard

To find time

And I love my barber

But he doesn't take

He's walking only

So I'm really struggling

I once really enjoyed to go to the

Barber because it kind of like

Hey I can't do anything so I'm okay

To sit here for an hour and a half

But now you're like I have everything to do

And no time to do it and so I can't wait

And some of that has just to do with our spring schedule

Right that's spring

For people north of the Mason Dixon

You know it's a busy time of

Year in general

May sember I think is what I've

Purple people calling it like December

Where you're overly committed and

What not so

You know I think we

We're gonna try and do a Tuesday update

Here we are we're gonna do it

We're gonna make it

We got a lot of cool stuff going on

Well do a couple quick

Weekend updates and then I think we have somebody

Out there in the waiting room

Yes so

I was finally able to mow all my grass

And I do enjoy looking at that and going

Oh that looks nice

You're turning into an old man

I know

Yeah he's maintenance as tractors

As soon as he said that he should have known

Backing up is so nice

Hahaha

Who would have known

Right tool for the job

Hey who's

I did get to work on the tea a

Little bit

Was able to modify the gas tank

And fill it up with

Water

Do have a couple small leaks we got

Got something in the works I'm not gonna

Devolves that yet but I'm just gonna try

To seal it up with

If ones that don't know

Well they always have a little

Bit of porosity in them

Even though they don't

If that makes sense

So I had just the tiniest little leaks

The thing that was most frustrating

Though is where they allow

You to bolt things onto the tank with

Gaskets totally

Wicked way worse than anything I welded

And I had no confidence

In doing it to start with

So like normal I wanted to

Seek the professional

With the better tool than what I had

And then in desperation just used

What I had

And kind of surprised myself

In the flip side

Well that's how I always feel about us

As a company

I know you do

So I was able to bend up

The

Relief in the floor for the gas tank

Get the seat all back in

And promptly realize that

I don't have quite enough room

Like I thought I did

The tank needs to be more vertical

And with the seat it wants to be

Not

So I gotta figure that out

Might be as simple as just moving the seat forward

A little bit, not quite sure

So it's in that

We're just steering wheel, where are the pedals

Where is this, where is that

I'm taking these decisions that are going to impact

The full use of the car

So

Slowly making forward progress

But I also

Spent some time just doing some painting

And cleaning ups as well

So moving forward

Nevertheless I do need to do an update

So this is actually before the

Instagram update

Oh fun

I will just say that

As of most recent I actually got the

Stomach Bug, I'm glad that you and company

Didn't because I was doing

The career days recently

For a number of the local schools

And

Big thank you to my dad

For coming out and being my handler

And keeping me on track

We do a very nice progression

Of showing kids what it's like

To be within the mechanical trades

And I think that's a valuable piece

To share back to the community as a whole

And then

So then I got the stomach bug

And this is where I was going, I'm glad

I didn't get the whole school sick yet

But

The piece that I actually

Am excited and I want to share out to the

World is less of a personal

Update of sorts, but it's one that I'm

Very proud of, again as a

Company wide, is that

Within the last period of time since you've

Heard us last, we got our official

Sponsorship for SEMA

2026, so we will

Once again have a

Jeep on display within the convention

Center

And

So starts

Our March to SEMA

It's going to be

Yep, and

Preparation of

Making sure that said Jeep is

100% ready to rock and roll

And it's already been indicated

That it's worthy of display

But now it's kind of bringing that

Storyline both to the public

And then

Getting it physically there

We'll do it

For me

I actually got a little

Time to go hiking with the kids

Got them down to the creek a little bit

Got to play Clue and

Some pool with the kids

Along with all the time

Of rebuilding beer lines and learning

All of the stuff that I never thought I would

Saw your nice post on

Rebuilding beer lines

And you know that was

Yet another hiccup because

The parts that were purchased

They purchased kits, but the kits didn't have

All the pieces, so I had to wait for

Additional pieces to come in

I knew exactly what was happening

In that photo, that that was a

Like just a scratch of the surface

You know what I mean? Situation

That that was no more about beer lines

Than you ever thought you would know about beer lines

I tell everybody

If you would have asked me in January what my new year

Resolutions were, none of this

Was on the table, none of it

Yeah, but it's been fun, so

Excellent, excellent

All right, Jeep family

It was a banger once again and I hope that

It was something beneficial in here

I really do look forward to seeing

All of you out at the shows

This summer, so make sure you stop by our booth

And say hello in the process

Until next time, Jeep on

Wait, wait, real fast. Daddy Jeep says

Weekend updates, stay tuned for a short

Video involving some gasoline

A Zippo lighter and his Amazon

L.S. Swap harness

Uh oh, uh oh, yeah

I saw some stuff from him, so

Jeep on

The Right Tool

About this episode

pneumatic versus electric

computer diagnostic equipment

jayscan

superchips

compressor brakes

battery ones

Jeep

electrical interface

DIYers

impact

Milwaukee

Snap on

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technical Diagnostic work

J-Scan

A Taser

electric one

torque wrench

Torque to angle

torqued

lug nuts

beam

Harbor Freight

torque rating

VVT

overhead cams

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