Episode 679 – Stingers And Bull Bars
This Week In Jeep
Duck Me! …. That’s a Big Inflatable!
The “world’s largest rubber duck” — a 61-footer — is at Jeep’s display outside Huntington Place at the North American International Auto Show. This giant inflatable duck ties into the Jeep brand of course, but also served in creating the festival-type atmosphere, creating excitement for the kids, and highlighting the fact that the show organizers went out of their way to reimagine the show. What’s the verdict? What have people thought of this monstrosity of a rubber ducky? Everybody loves the duck.
So why the duck, or ducks at all for that matter? It’s all about the trend that started in 2020 called ducking. Yes, one more thing out of 2020 that some of us wish never happened. For those who don’t know, ducking is what happens when Jeep owners hand out rubber ducks to compliment one another’s rides. If you find a rubber ducky on your Jeep one day, that means that another Jeeper found your Jeep to be cool enough to duck it. You’ve been ducked! Duck you, you ducking duck. Some are calling ducking a “movement,” which seems like a rather serious term for a little fun involving toy ducks.
Then again, the hashtag #duckduckJeep has been used nearly 200,000 times on Instagram, and there’s a Facebook group with over 67,000 members. So it’s almost as big of a deal as we are. Some sources say that ducking has winged its way to 63 countries. Regardless, to have Jeep go out of its way to secure what is the largest rubber duck in the world, just for an auto show, I think is pretty damn cool.
His Effort To Reach 100 Percent Is Commendable Though
Did you guys hear about this one?
Apparently, a guy who owns a construction or demolition company or something instructed one of his employees to go fill the tires on one of the company rigs.
In Iowa, where this took place, the ambient temps are dropping quite quickly, and as the story goes, hot expands cold contracts. The company’s 2016 Jeep Cherokee was indicating through its TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) that the pressure in the tires was below spec. Something that happens anywhere the temps drops like that. The worker who received these instructions apparently wasn’t from around here if you know what I’m saying. Either that or simply had zero understanding of how inflating a tire actually works. Clearly not understanding the difference between pressure and percentage could also lead to what happened next. The guy calls the boss, wanting to assure him he is doing his best to fill the tires, but there seems to be a problem.
“What could possibly be going wrong?” says the boss, the worker proceeds to tell him that despite his best efforts he can’t get the tires on this poor Jeep to reach 100 percent full. The boss is utterly confused, and can’t understand what the guy is trying (over and over) to tell him, so he asks the employee to take a picture of what it is he’s referring to.
The worker, using his phone, takes a picture of the TPMS display to show his boss. And indeed, in the picture… shows all four tires within just a few PSI of 100. The lowest tire was reading 93 PSI. If this doesn’t throw a red flag off in your brain, well let me explain this to you.
Spec tire pressure for a 2016 Jeep Cherokee is less than 35 PSI. This guy managed to pump up those tires to nearly three times the safe limit. You hear Jeepers talking about airing down all the time, and what that does to a tire, well now imagine the complete polar opposite happening. The tires would likely be so incredibly close to exploding that merely looking at them sharply would blow that damn Jeep into the air. Over-inflated tires can blow out quite easily on the road, especially at these kinds of pressures. The boss instructed the employee to get the F out of there but was told that the Jeep had already been driven for roughly a mile before the call was made. Imagine what that Jeep’s handling must have been like. “Why…It turns so easy, and it’s rolling real easy too, sure is bumpy though, and there’s an awful lot of lights on in the dash, gee that’s weird!”
The owner of the company, the one who received the call from the lucky-to-be-alive worker, arrived on the scene to find a Jeep with straight-up, ballooning tires, so clearly overinflated that he was afraid to approach them let alone try to deflate them. He was, however, able to successfully deflate the tires, using the valve stems mind you, on all four tires back down to the normal 33 PSI. After that the Jeep was in normal working order, the employee, however, was not. He lost his job for the epic screw-up, making me thankful as all hell I’ve managed to keep the jobs I’ve had over the years despite pulling off some epic failures of this caliber myself.
Tech Talk with Jeep Talk
TOPIC/QUESTION: Stingers vs. Bull Bars
I was reading some remarks on our Discord server the other day left by listeners of the show, just like you. And they were critiquing a bumper that someone else had pointed out I think. The comment “I don’t like stingers” came up, and it reminded me that not all bumpers work with every Jeep or every Jeeper. Stingers are a feature seen on many of the more extreme rock crawling rigs. It’s a bent triangular hoop of steel, protruding up and forward of the bumper. These usually have a radius at the top, with the hoop being bent into a triangular arc of sorts. The primary purpose of a stinger is to help the Jeep climb up the face of an obstacle. The theory is that the stinger with its upward-facing angle, will connect with the face of the obstacle first, and with forward momentum, help “lift” the front end of the Jeep up and onto 
the obstacle. The secondary purpose is to prevent your Jeep from flopping onto its top in the event you come down too steep of an obstacle. Of course, the stinger would have to be designed to have the right angle and protrusion, match up with the approach angle of the Jeep, and be strong enough to withstand the abuse. Checking off all these boxes makes for an oftentimes ugly feature to an otherwise cool bumper, but if done right, can aid in getting your Jeep over some seriously gnarly obstacles. But… I can see how stingers may not be for every Jeeper, and not all stingers are created equal, or at the right geometry for every Jeep. I’m not going to go into the trigonometry that would be required to figure these angles out, and honestly, that’s not why I’m calling.
I figured I’d throw an option out there for all the stinger haters out there. Hell, I’ve been in that camp before, I’ve seen some outright hideous bumpers out there.
The word of the day is Bull Bar.
Can you say “Bull Bar” for boys and girls? GOOD! I knew you could!
Now the bull bars I’m talking about are not like the ones some you may be thinking about, where the bars come out from under the bumper and protrude up the face of the bumper to a plain squared-off vertical flat hoop. These are meant to give a tiny degree more protection to a stock bumper, and in 
some cases give you the option of being able to mount a pair of lights to it. But these are pretty much on par with nerf bars and are built about as tough. The version I’m talking about mounts to the upper face of the bumper and provides some added protection to the grill and header panel. Rarely would these bars protrude above the hood line. Modular style “a-la-cart” type of bull bars can be acquired from a variety of manufacturers like Rough Country, MetalCloak, Smittybilt, and more. These typically are designed to work with a modular bumper system but can be used for a variety of different applications if you use a bit of ingenuity.
Here are some pro tips for you if you’re thinking of going down this route. First, you need to make sure 
you can get the specs of the bar from the manufacturer. Without knowing some critical measurements, you may end up buying something you can’t use. You will definitely need to know if the span of the bull bar will work with your bumper. What I mean by that is, that you need to make sure that the mounting feet for the bar will clear not only the recess for the winch but also the body of the Jeep as well. You will want to make sure it stays below the hood line, and that it has the features you want. All you should have to do is line it up and mount it. And yes, as I say that, I know it sounds easier than it really is. Because chances are, your bumper isn’t of the new modular design, where bits and pieces can be added or taken off to change function and form. So this is going to be custom. One-off if you will. A retrofit of sorts, and you have two options for making it work. The first is going to be to drill and tap. Measuring for perfect placement, and then marking and drilling holes in the top of your bumper that corresponds to the mounting holes of the bull bar. These would then get threads cut into 
them using a tap, and you would bolt the bar into place. The other option will be to weld it in place. If you don’t have a welder, you can still line things up, make marks, and take care of all the prep like grinding the surfaces clean of any paint and debris, so that you can take it somewhere to have it welded. This may be as simple as a trip to your local muffler shop, where most techs would absolutely take care of that for you for a cash deal on the side. Or you may need to go to fabrication or four-wheel-drive shop. Stay away from the body shops, they’ll charge a premium. But see if your area has any mobile welders, you may be able to find a “chuck-with-a-truck” (no offense Chuck) who can come out for cheap because he’s in your same town. All kinds of options are out there for the bar and how to mount it. Prices start at around $60 and go up from there, so if your bumper is looking a little plain, this may be a great way to change the looks of your Jeep for cheaper than you’d expect.
I would say it is absolutely possible to do this mod for under $100 if you play your cards right. That’s a cheap price tag to completely change the looks of the front of your Jeep, gain protection for the grill, and open yourself to the ability to mount an extra set of auxiliary lights too! That’s a pretty cool added bonus! So if you decide to go down this road, please let me know how it works out for you, I always like seeing your before and after pics.
Links Mentioned in this Episode
NEXEN Tires USA https://www.nexentireusa.com/
Trails 411- POWERING Your Adventure https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver
The 4×4 Radio Network http://4x4radionetwork.com/
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