Hybrid May Kill You!
Jeep urges 194,000 plug-in hybrid SUV owners to stop charging and park outdoors due to fire risk!
DETROIT (AP) — Jeep is recalling more than 194,000 plug-in hybrid SUVs worldwide because they can catch fire with the ignition turned off.
In addition, Jeep is urging owners not to charge the SUVs and to park them outdoors and away from structures until they are repaired.
The recall covers the Wrangler 4xE from the 2020 through 2024 model years, as well as the Grand Cherokee 4xE from 2022 through 2024. Most of the recalled SUVs are in North America.
Stellantis, which makes Jeeps, said a remedy is near, and affected customers will be notified when they can schedule service. The company says the risk of fire is reduced when the battery charge is depleted.
A routine review of customer data led to an investigation that found 13 fires with two injuries. Stellantis estimates that 5% of the SUVs have the problem.
Ford Ranger Sales bounce back, Jeep Gladiator now in last place
The midsize and compact pickup truck segments are doing good in the third quarter of 2024. While the Toyota Tacoma and Jeep Gladiator sales are down when compared to the previous year, the reasons for this are likely different. The Ford Ranger pickup bounces back into third sales place behind GM and Toyota. Nissan Frontier, Honda Ridgeline, and GMC Canyon are all growing sales.
Tacoma sales are slowly returning to normal, but it’s not without problems. The Tacoma still holds the overall best-seller lead by a huge margin. General Motors is in the second place. The Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon are both growing, but the Canyon is growing way quicker. The Nissan Frontier holds a competitive 4th place in Q3 2024. The Honda Ridgeline is very close behind.
The Jeep Gladiator is now in last place, as it lost -35% in Q3 when compared to the same time period last year.
Stellantis Stock Plunges as Jeep Maker Cuts Outlook
Stellantis shares are tumbling Monday after the Chrysler and Jeep parent issued a profit warning.
The company said it is cutting excess North American inventory amid a “deterioration in global industry dynamics” and competition from Chinese rivals.
The company said its fiscal 2024 adjusted operating income margin now is expected to be between 5.5% and 7.0%, versus its previous projection for “double-digit” levels, with about two-thirds of the reduction “driven by corrective actions in North America.”
Shares of General Motors and Ford Motor also are falling.
Stellantis temporarily stopped making its top-selling Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee sports-utility vehicles earlier this month as dealers complained about excess inventory. It is also grappling with labor issues in the U.S., as United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain said the union planned to hold a vote authorizing a walkout.
The news sent shares of Stellantis down 13% to $13.97 soon after markets opened Monday, and also hit those of rivals General Motors (GM) and Ford Motor (F), which are down 3% and 2%, respectively. Stellantis shares have fallen 40% this year.
Monterey Motorsports Festival 2024
Monterey Car Week, held every August, is known for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, among other car-centric activities that draw thousands of people to the seaside town in Central California. While sipping champagne in a sport coat and bowtie is a favorite tradition of some, there is another side to Car Week. One that is more accessible to the general public and welcoming to families.
Now in its second year, the Monterey Motorsports Festival is a one-day celebration held on 22 acres of the Monterey Fairgrounds, which aims to bring everything automotive to a less exclusive audience than what you would see at the Quail. This year’s event attracted nearly 7,000 people and had everything from trucks and exotics to heavy machinery and even a helicopter as some of the more than 250 vehicle entries.
With a late morning kickoff and a show that lasted late into the evening, the Monterey Motorsports Festival was full of great vehicles and regularly scheduled parade drives of different vehicles throughout the day. Live workshops and demos, along with interesting expert panels on the main stage were complimented with live music. We were especially interested in the OVRLand Outpost that features off-road vehicles and the sprinkling of cool trucks throughout the show.
https://realtruck.com/blog/monterey-motorsports-festival-2024/
Jeep Talk Show Gladiator Update
Do you need a front sway bar?
Since EJS 2024 (perhaps before) I haven’t had the front sway bar connected.
*** Safety statement, don’t drive around with your sway bar disconnected. Don’t be like me. Always reconnect your sway bar before getting back on public roads***
I have a 2021 Jeep Gladiator with max tow. This means the axles are a little wider. I have a 2” Mopar lift, 35×12.5×17 tires.
I notice very little on-road difference between the sway bar connected or disconnected.
OH! I remember I was on the Gone GPN run in Moab with Greg and Chuck and literally halfway (turnaround point) I disconnected the sway bar.
I may have mentioned that Steersmarts is hooking me up with lots of their goodies for the 2021 Jeep Talk Show Gladiator. Keep checking back to find out what I think of the Steersmarts parts, what difference it makes, and what my wife thinks of the drivability after installation. Now I wonder if it will make steering so good can I completely remove the sway bar?
Must-Have Stuff for Your Jeep!
The WARN Epic Accessory Kit
https://highliftoffroad.com/products/accessory_kit-epic_accessory_kit_medium
Org $623.56….now $498.85! 20% off!
This Warn Industries Epic (TM) Winch Rigging Kit includes (2) 3/4 inch 18,000 pounds capacity shackles, 14,400 pounds capacity tree trunk protector, 12,000 pounds capacity snatch block, premium recovery strap, 3/4 inch D-shackles, pair of gloves and black storage backpack.
When you hit the trails, you go prepared and carry the right gear to get the most out of your WARN winch. That’s why we offer the WARN Epic Accessory Kit. The components fit neatly inside the modular backpack, which also acts as a winch line damper, and is easy to transport. Available in medium duty (for winches 12,000 Pounds and under) and heavy duty (for winches 18,000 Pounds and under).
- Epic Tree Trunk Protector
- Two 3/4″ forged Epic Shackles
- Epic Snatch Block With E-Coat/Powder Coat Finish (For Winch Capacities Of Up To 12,000 Pound)
- Features Winching Gloves With Kevlar Reinforcement And Synthetic Leather
- Backpack Carrying Case: Made From Ballistic Material With Modular Interior, Doubles As Line Damper
- Includes Recovery Strap
- Limited 1-Year Warranty
***End Show Notes / Begin Transcript***
In this week’s Jeep Talk Show Flagship II episode, Natalie and Tony dive into the latest news, discussing a Jeep hybrid recall due to fire risks and Stellantis stocks dropping over 30%. Plus, they talk about the Jeep Gladiator’s surprising last-place ranking and, as always, veer off into some fun rabbit trails! Don’t miss this weekly Thursday episode packed with Jeep news, discussions, and plenty of surprises. Make sure to tune in—you won’t want to miss it!
Hidy Ho Jeeper is time for another Jeep talk show flagship episode and this Jeep talk show flagship episode is brought to you by the more you do for your Jeep, the more your Jeep will do for you. Oh, I didn’t know it worked that way. That’s cool. Right. I like it.
If you want to update, upgrade and make it ready to take on anything life can throw at you, RealTruck has the parts and accessories to make it to fit your favorite 4×4. We’ll even guide you through the installation process. So whether you’re taking on the next big adventure or your favorite off-road trail, make sure your Jeep is ready at realtruck.com. RealTruck, bring your truck to life. You know, I’ve had Todd from RealTruck, they talk about the videos where you can see how to install stuff. I’ve had, I’ve had Todd on here a couple of times from RealTruck, super guy. And he does some really great installation videos.
And I love the installation videos. I mean, I can do something on the Jeep that I’ve done a couple of times, but I’m going to sit my ass right here mainly so I don’t have to sweat that much quicker, but I almost sit my ass right here and watch a video, a YouTube video, because it just, it just makes it go faster. You know, you know exactly where to look. You know exactly what size, uh, oh, I’m going to need this tool. I’m gonna need this tool. And if you’re like me, I never put my tools away. So I have to find a bunch of stuff before I start. You do have to find it. Where’s Waldo tools? Exactly. All right. So on tonight’s episode in our news stories, your hybrid Jeep may kill you. Oh my God. Lord. I mean, you know, it’s, it’s an adventure. It’s kind of a bad adventure, but it’s still an adventure that you’re putting into your life by having a hybrid. And I know I’m not, I’m not beating up on the, the electric vehicles. It’s just, it’s a thing that’s going on right now. It’s just a thing right now. That’s why we keep talking about it. Stay out of the news hybrids. Come on. And this just pisses me off. Gladiator is in last place.
I mean, and that’s me too. I’m with you. I I’m going to say this, I just attribute this to the whole thing about some people just don’t understand Jeeps. They don’t. It’s a Jeep thing. It’s definitely a Jeep thing. And I don’t think you’re much of a jeeper if you can be swayed to buy something else. And you’re not much of an off-roader if you can be swayed to buy something else with the possible exception of a Toyota. Cause I know Toyotas can do very good off-road as well. They can. But a Ford Ranger. That’s not what we’re going to talk about though, is it? I think everyone’s going to be surprised. No. Yeah. A Ford Ranger off-road. Sure. I mean, this, make sure you have your, you have your winch and your tow strap ready. Absolutely. And I’m glad to hear Jeep talk show, glad eater update. What’s a sway bar and do I need it?
I’m triggering people. Legal disclaimer coming in hot. Oh yeah. Absolutely.
And tonight’s must have for your Jeep from Natalie, I need help. I need so much help. That’s the first step. That is knowing admitting that you need help. Yeah.
With recovery, that is from Warren’s. We’re going to talk about some things from our friends from Warren and what we’re going to showcase tonight is the Warren Epic accessory kit. I mean, when you throw the word Epic in there, I think you automatically are intrigued. I know I am. Raising the bar. It’s actually complete. Yeah. You know, Warren has always had a bunch of great stuff and, uh, and factor 55 was so great they bought them. So I know, right? Yeah. So it’s a, yeah. Factor 55 stuff is really cool too.
Well, hi guys. I’m Natalie from high lift off road where you dream it and we build it and we’re looking forward to tonight. So let’s just jump right in. So your hybrid could kill you. Um, so Jeep right now is urging 194,000 plug in hybrid SUV owners to stop charging and park outdoors due to a fire risk. Is the, their corporate headquarters isn’t in California, is it? Cause that sounds like something California would do. Somebody buy a V EV now stop charging it. I know. Right. And you know, I’m all about citations, right? So it’s actually, this is coming from the associated press guys out of Detroit. So this is not coming from my head. I promise. Um, so Jeep is doing a recall, like I said, of 194,000 plug in hybrid SUVs worldwide because they can catch fire with the ignition turned off. That’s the key. It’s just turned off hanging out in your garage or in your carport. So that’s a little scary for me. Um, in addition, Jeep is urging owners not to charge the SUVs as well and to just park them outdoors away from any structures that, um, could be repaired or until they repair the Jeep as well. So, Well, I mean, it’s good that they’re doing this, but you have to wonder what’s the process, what’s the quality control process whenever they’re building these things and why are they finding it out whenever it’s out in the wild, so to speak. I’ve always thought about that anyway with recalls, um, big or small. And I understand a lot of times it’s a computer system and you just need an update, but this one’s a little bit more than the computer system. So and I understand like with the batteries, I know Tesla has probably gone through it, um, you know, but for, I’m just covering, we’re just covering the Jeep stuff. So I just more in my face, but the recall does cover the Wrangler four by E Tony nice favorite wink, wink. Sorry Jeep. I’m a Jim. If you’re listening from the 2020 through the 2024 model year. So essentially all of them, um, it’s going to cover all those years, um, as well as the grand Cherokee four by E from 2022 through 2024. So most of the recalled SUVs are actually here in North America, which is, um, well, I guess that’s good from a expense standpoint. It is because at least they’re local. Um, and Solanus really needs to watch what they’re doing right now, um, on all fronts, especially with expenses as we know, um, they set, so Solanus did say that they, that the remedy is near, um, and if it has affected the customers, the, I’m sorry, the affected customers will be notified when they can schedule their service. So how do you know if you’ve been affected? Is your car already caught on fire? Like how do you know? So, uh, well they probably have a, I can’t remember if this one, cause I don’t see it here on the show notes. I’m wondering if this is the one where there is a part, uh, that overheats there. But I mean, just sitting there, the plug or something, there’s a problem with the plug and it gets really hot, uh, just because it it’s, I think it’s not supposed to have voltage on it, but some, for some reason it does. It gets really hot, a fire starts and then it causes all these issues. Um, but I, I gotta wonder if you are a, um, a dealership mechanic.
Yeah, right. So what do you think? So you’re working, you’re working at a dealership and then you see the news story come over because management never tells you anything. No, never. Never. And they go, holy shit. I got enough to do now. What? 194,000. And the cost was there. Yeah. Well, that’s true too. I wonder if they’ve got a guy standing there with a, with a fire extinguisher. Yes.
Oh my gosh. That was our whole sand hollow trip with all the sand and PSC issues. So sorry. Side note. I have, yeah. Well, here we go again. I have this whole mental image of Tony Stark and that robot holding the fire extinguisher. Yes.
That is it. This is all very Tony. Tony, Tony. So yes. God, such a funny movie. They do say though, that the risk of fire is reduced when the battery charge is shocking depleted. Oh, I like that shocking thing in there. Thank you for that. Captain obvious. The routine review of customer data led to an investigation that found out 13 fires with two injuries actually have occurred and have been reported. So Salinas estimates that’s about 5% of the SUVs that have the problem, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but 5% is 194,000 of these things. Yes. So that’s even more mind blowing Jeep isn’t doing great in sales, but damn, I mean, that’s a lot of numbers. Here we are again. So I think that’s kind of the downside to being a publicly traded company is that you have to produce. You have to have those, you can’t have those rookie numbers. You got to get those numbers up and, uh, but they’re, they are selling a lot of Jeeps. Obviously if, uh, if only 5% of the affected ones are in 194,000, they sold a bunch of Jeeps, but that ain’t good enough and ain’t good enough for the, for the stockholders. And I, I’ve seen more around here actually, I don’t know if this is because we keep talking about it. So now I’m more aware of the full ride, but it is becoming more and more popular around here. People love that $7,500 off. Um, basically I wonder, and I should get somebody on here to clarify that maybe, you know, uh, but the 7,500 isn’t a check in your pocket. It is now tax credit. Yes, exactly. And if you don’t have $7,500 worth of taxes to be paid, you are not giving a $7,500 tax credit. At least that’s my understanding. And anybody out there feel free to correct me on this. I would love to know because where did that number even come from? Like where, how did they base it? Where, I mean, do they throw 7,500 out? Like I just want to know who I have a lot of questions. So can someone just please write in info at Jeep, talk show.com, please write in.
Well, I guess the good news is, is that a lot of, uh, a lot of people have not been affected by this and it’s good that, uh, and I would assume that, uh, Jeep is being forced by the NTSB M O U S E thing. So, uh, to do this, but it’s good that they’re doing this ahead of time. I would like to know about the 13 fires. I mean, were they full blown? Did they burn to the ground moment? I mean, I do have some questions, but I mean, I guess even if it’s just a spark, that’s a problem. So, so whenever we had this house built, I think it was, uh, I think we moved in in 1997.
Um, I, I’m, it was, uh, we were really excited. It was going to be great actually being a new house for the first time ever. And, um, but the thing that concerned me was, is that one of the kids bedrooms on the second floor was right above the garage. And I don’t know that everybody thinks about this or not. Uh, there’s no smart smoke alarms in the garage. You can certainly do that, but the house, when they build, they don’t, they didn’t build the house with smoke alarms. So, so your, your precious child is sitting above batteries and gasoline and everything, because it’s not a detached garage. I mean, and of course a detached garage will just give you a little more time, but it’s, it’s at least a little more time to get your kids out. So, uh, and the, the first, the first thing about, uh, you may, uh, and I’m not knowledgeable on this, but my fear is the first your child would know that there’s a fire in the garage is whenever their bed collapses into the fire. I mean, that, that would be bad timing. Yeah. These are concerns that a parent has and they built, but they build houses like this. Okay. Now multiply that with your hybrid may kill you. It may catch on fire and four trucks were doing this not too long ago, a couple of years ago, and they were telling you not to park it in your garage. Cause you could lose the house that way. Um, so yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, so I don’t know. I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but I have a video cameras all around the house, security cameras. Yeah. It’s not like I’m concerned about anything. I just like being able to see outside, explain the dog bar. Cause I can look up at one of these screens and see what’s going on outside. Well, I got to have one in the garage too. So I like to be able to see what’s going on in there because now I don’t have to go and check it while there’s a fire. So, um, this, this really concerns me. And I think it concerns a lot of people, even if you don’t have kids, but especially so, if you do have children, um, that, uh, you know, should, should you ever park a vehicle in a attached garage? Yeah.
My garage is detached and it’s nice.
It is detached. It’s a little bit older. Yeah. Yes. I, yes. Yesterday was a little, we have a major downpour yesterday, so I’ll think, Oh, yeah, we wish I didn’t have to go through this. Um, is it full to the gills? Cause ours is full to the gills. We buy too much stuff and we don’t get rid of it now. Uh, because the jeep is back. So the jeep is in there. So I haven’t, I didn’t even think. It did fit. Was there any concerns about that? I bet the tire size and stuff. Yeah. Major. His little twin did not fit really well. Um, I, there’s a nice dent in my garage door from little twin, uh, trying to close the door and it hit the, actually the factor 55 hook. Um, sorry, Mike Bailey, but there was no scratch. I promise. Um, and then, but no, this fit actually, she felt like a glove. So she’s home. Good. Super excited. Good.
All right. So, I don’t know about you, Natalie. I was worried about this Ford ranger sales bounce back.
Ford ranger. The clean version.
Now that means that the Jeep gladiator, uh, is now in last place for sales.
Come on. Um, and then we were talking about this at the top of the show. I think that the people that look at a Jeep as just another vehicle. They don’t get it. Um, they don’t get it even with the gladiator. That that’s a special, a special love right there. Exactly. It’s, it’s unusual. It’s not the, the standard Wrangler. I mean, you certainly, it is a lot like a Wrangler, but it’s not just a standard Wrangler that everybody associates the, the Jeep as, I mean, that’s the, the model that everybody thinks about is being the true Jeep. Um, but, uh, I, I would, I just, I mean, I hate to predict the future, but I don’t think I would ever buy a Ford ranger. No, not even for the Epic song that comes with it. No. I mean, I would buy a Ford pickup, a full size Ford pickup. Yes. Well, at least before they went fully aluminum. Now that concerns me, uh, the full aluminum bodies. Well, yeah, because they tear. Uh, I mean, it’s a big Coke can. Uh, it’s so, uh, but I mean, the older, yeah, the older Ford trucks, I had a Ford F 150, uh, with a crew cab, club cab, crew cab, I think is what it was. No club. And it’s a great point place to store all your shit, uh, in a, in a two door, in a two door truck. Uh, I love full size trucks and Ford was great. I don’t know that I would buy a Chevy these days because the design of those things are just screwy. Uh, I had a square, I had a square body. So compare the square body to what you see now. And that’s true. And there’s, there’s a transformer thing.
Mine’s a 2021, uh, the 1500 with the crew cab. And I love it. Love the body design, but the new, the new, new ones I can see. I don’t like how it says Chevrolet across the hood or I’m sorry, across the grill. I’m not a fan of that. Bring the logo back. Yeah. Yeah. No. Uh, well, you know, I remember, I’m sure you can still do it. We used to put the, uh, the chrome grills that were just the chrome bars on there and just change the front look and get rid of those logos altogether. Yeah. I had Chevrolet trucks. I had a Ford trucks and, uh, the, the, they were both great. I would say the Ford trucks, uh, was the, the first vehicle I ever had that went over a hundred thousand miles. Wow. And that was, uh, that was, uh, like 89. So, uh, that just shows you this, the way that they were being built back then. 60,000 miles on a vehicle was a lot of miles back then. But anyway, so I can’t see myself buying a Ford ranger. I don’t even like the idea of a mid-sized truck. Now, if it’s a Jeep mid-sized truck, hell yeah. Especially with the towing capacity that the gladiator has. So, I mean, again, I just don’t think people get, if they’re not Jeepers, then they’re considering these other vehicles is the way I’m looking at it. Yes.
I mean, that’s not good for Jeep because they need to sell some of these things. Yes, they do.
So anyway, the mid-sized and a compact pickup pickup truck segments are doing good in the third quarter of 2024 while Toyota Tacoma and Jeep gladiator sales are down, which I find interesting that the Toyota, the Tona Toyota sales are down, uh, when compared to the previous year, the reasons for this, uh, are likely different. I agree. Uh, the Ford ranger pickup bounces back into third sales place behind GM and Toyota Nissan Frontier Honda Ridgeline. Oh, what a piece of crap that is. And it’s a very unique looking thing, but it’s, uh, it’s actually, it kind of looks more like a, uh, the old seventies Bronco that has the, the top off where it’s, you know, there’s no separation between the bed. That’s so true. I’m just not a fan. Never have been. Um, and, uh, but anyway, the GMC Canyon are all growing in sales. That’s interesting. I do not associate Chevrolet’s as being a well built vehicle. No offense to yours. Uh, but I hear a lot of bad things about it. I mean, I used to love Chevy’s. And, uh, but I don’t think they have the build quality, uh, of the Jeep. So especially after driving a Jeep Cherokee, uh, from what it was brand new for 25 years. And I’m, I mean, I did repairs, water pumps and stuff like that. Right. But, uh, I mean, it got me back and forth to work almost.
I mean, God, like 99, uh, 98% of the time I’m very seldom did I have to take another vehicle to get to work. Right. Yeah. Uh, so, I mean, yeah, also too, I was working on it. So that’s true. That means you knew, you knew what you had, you knew everything that was going on with it and every Creek in the knees, you knew what it was. I didn’t, I didn’t take it to the shop and it wasn’t there a week or two weeks or the dealership for a month. Uh, then, then, then I wouldn’t have it for work. So I was repairing it. Um, but that, that included like ordering the parts, uh, off of Amazon and getting them here in a day, fixing it, so on and so forth. So I was able to manage all that so that I could still get back and forth to work. And it really was, it was my daily driver for at least 20, 23 of the 25 years. Um, and I think that’s just amazing. I mean, good Lord, it’s a 98 and, uh, yeah, so it got towed a few times, but, uh, that was like, uh, when, uh, the water pump went out and a couple of the things that happened, but it was, it, this wasn’t safe to drive. It was something that was going to get damaged.
So, uh, again, Toyota sales are slowly returning to normal, but not without problems, the Tacoma, uh, still hold the overall best seller lead, uh, by huge margin, uh, General Motors is in second place and the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon are both growing, but the Canyon is growing way quicker. Uh, the Nissan Frontier, who gives a shit about the Nissan Frontier? I’m kidding. I mean, come on. Fourth place Q3, 2024. The Honda Ridge line is very close behind. What I hear a Honda Ridge line, I often think of the word behind. Um, so the Jeep gladiators now in the last place as it loses negative 35% in Q3 when compared to the same time period last year. Wow. I hate hearing this for Jeep. That’s staggering. Natalie, can you think of anything that Jeep is doing? I mean, especially compared to all these others, we can say that they’re, they’re just way too expensive, but I know these others are way too expensive as well. And I just think people, they still don’t look at it as a functioning truck for themselves and they just go to what they think they know. Um, we’ve been seeing an influx of the Ford Maverick actually coming into the shop for modifications. Yeah. I actually, I mentioned Todd with real truck earlier. He has a Ford Maverick. Yeah. Oh my gosh, really? Yeah. We’ve been doing a lot of modifications with that, uh, adding the caps onto the back and, uh, rails and I mean, I’ve been, I’ve just been shocked because it’s so tiny and I’m like, why not just get a Jeep gladiator and have some fun with it? And you can do multiple things with it. And I think do more with it. Oh, well that’s the thing that kills me is, is that the aftermarket for Jeep is absolutely huge, billions and billions of dollars of parts and stuff that you can slap onto the Jeep and, and that’s just fun. It’s just fun modifying it. Uh, and, and then you see somebody, well, I mean, I don’t, I don’t know if you’re aware of the Mavericks and the Pinto’s and the stuff that was going on in the seventies, but there was people buying those and we knew they were pieces of shit then. So I just don’t know. I mean, the, like the Chevy Vega, uh, was this little, and they may even made a Vega station wagon. Uh, now I do know somebody that dropped a V8 and the, and the, the, the Vega painted the thing completely yellow and, uh, yeah, it was solar yellow. Oh yeah. A very bright yellow. It was, it was a lot of fun. Um, but, uh, a friend of mine did that and it was really cool and it’s really neat when it’s a sleeper that makes it cool.
But with that V8 in there, he had some, uh, some, some punch in that thing. But anyway, I digress. Uh, of course you can do that with a Jeep too, especially with dropping some Hema’s in there, which you guys will do that, right? Oh yeah, we do. I’m actually, I’m taking our Hemi gladiator to a show on Sunday, cause we gotta get the gladiators back out, I guess, in front of people. Um, and I guarantee you’ll probably be the only one there. Uh, it’s a, on a golf course too. So let’s get really unique. So you guys have to be helping, uh, Jeep on their sales. Whenever you take, uh, vehicles like that with Hemi’s, you know, because people see that and go, wow. I mean, a lot of people, a lot of people understand that’s a different engine that’s in there, but some people are just not going to know enough about Jeep to understand that it’s a highly modified vehicle.
Yes, for sure. I mean, I do think we get asked a lot, you know, do you sell them? Do you have Jeeps on your lot for sale? Um, and you know, that could be coming. You never know. I could see you out there with the leisure suit on, uh, making deals. An electric eye lip blue, you know? Yeah. Oh, we get the really blue, uh, eyeshadow, like they used to wear in the sixties or seventies or something. Uh, just dial it up.
All right. Well, I don’t like doing bad news on the show, but it is real. I think that’s all we’re doing tonight. Yeah. It’s realistic. Now there was some, some people that got killed, uh, and, uh, in a Jeep and killed some people and I didn’t do those stories. So just be glad. Um, he always sees some, some negative things. I think the dumb criminal stories are kind of fun. I haven’t seen one of those in a while. The, the dumb criminal stories are often really, really fun. I was listening to a little segment that we did a while back. I think it was actually Josh did the news story where, um, somebody, uh, thankfully it was a Jeep compass, but somebody, uh, got a lot of pizzas. And when to this guy’s house and was throwing, throwing the pizzas on the Jeep compass, and we considered it a crime, not because it was a compass, cause who cares? It was for the pizza. It was the pizzas don’t hurt the pizzas. Right? Like, gosh, well, remember that one story that we did when we reported on, um, sorry, gosh, here we go. But the wagon years that were stolen, uh, by the kids. I mean, that was amazing. We love our criminal stories. Oh yeah. It’s funny. Uh, it’s not funny for the people that lost them, but it’s, uh, it’s amazing. It’s funny for us. The kids, we think the kids aren’t doing anything except playing on their phones and playing on the, uh, the games, the video games online, but dammit. No, they’re still stealing a million dollars of wagon years of grand wagon years. All right. So anyway, uh, still more bad news. Here we go. Yeah. Yeah. Stop. Stantly. Not surprisingly. Stellantis stock plunges as a Jeep maker cuts outlook. So I think that means it’s not the, the email, uh, Microsoft email thing. Don’t we all want to cut out outlook out of our life? Outlook’s kind of a pain in the ass, but anyway, especially whenever you get corruption on the, uh, the PST files or the P D B files, the it people know what I’m talking about. Okay. I was like, now you’re now, now we’re doing this. Oh yeah. No, once you get up to a couple of gig worth of emails, which everybody does eventually, uh, the Microsoft outlook database doesn’t like it too much anyway. Anyway, here we go. Stellantis, Stellantis forward, fast forward, fast forward. Stellantis shares are tumbling a Monday. This is earlier in the week, uh, after Chrysler and Jeep parent issue a profit warning, you know, they got to have to do anything possible not to do this because they know this is going to affect the stock, right? The company said it is cutting excess North America inventory amid a deterioration. I can’t even say that. I’m just going to say detonation. Same thing in this case, I in global industry dynamics, uh, and competition from Chinese rivals. Yikes. So we, I think we talked about this where they were cutting, uh, they were stopping production on the Wrangler and the, the grand Cherokees, the two most popular Jeeps, uh, because the, uh, the, the dealerships were bitchin’ and moaning because they have so much inventory. Yeah.
So, uh, the company says it’s fiscal 2024 adjusted operating income margin now is expected to be 5.5 and 7% versus its previous previous projection for double digit levels, uh, which would probably meant, uh, 10. Yeah, right. That’s a close, but it’s like, if you say double digit, it’s like, oh, it could be anything it could have been 99.
Yeah. Uh, and about two thirds of the reduction driven by corrective actions in North America, oh, that sounds interesting. Um, yes. Yeah. It goes, stand at the corner, uh, shares of General Motors and Ford, uh, motor are also failing. Yeah. I think the whole industry is a whole, yeah, it is. I’m gonna, this is, this is different for me, but I’m gonna go off on a tangent. Um, so I’ve been listening. I’m a, I’m a Tesla stockholder. I do not have any Tesla vehicles. I think it is a, an amazing, uh, idea. I’m not, I’m not huge on the whole EV thing. Uh, but I think, uh, Elon Musk, it’s like if Elon does it, yeah, I want to, I want to buy into that because he, I agree with you. He makes all that. He’s doing something right. So yeah, he’s doing it the right way. And anyway, so I watch a lot of YouTube videos about Tesla and, uh, there’s, there’s people that I watch repeatedly and their idea about Tesla. EVs is different than mine and probably yours as well. They think that, uh, the reason why the automobile industry is having such hard times is because it’s not an EV. They have not been successful in transitioning into EV. And of course I can understand how they would think this. These are knowledgeable people, but I think they’re wrong from the standpoint of internal combustion engines, uh, are going to be here for, uh, I’m sure long after I’m dead, they will still be here because there’s certain things that you cannot do with an EV. Now, if there’s a big breakthrough in technology, if we don’t go from a battery, that’s a charging system to a electrical generation device, uh, fusion reactor for, or, you know, we, we roll our eyes about stuff like this. But if you could put something in there, uh, that, I mean, uh, a lot of our, our, our carriers anyway, our nuclear powered. And I think, and I think they run for five years. Now, now tell me if you were, uh, uh, able to buy an EV and you didn’t have to refuel it for five years, that would kind of sell me on getting the EV. It would, but then you still have to pay that electric bill. So you’re still paying at the end of the day. It’s just which, which Piper are we going to be paying? Well, I mean, but the, but I’m saying this is, if it had a nuclear, a nuclear reactor or a fusion reactor, it would be generating electricity and it would do so for five years, there would be, you would not be going to any place, any charging or any filling station. You just get it in it and go.
But what if that would be huge, it would be huge, but then the fallout, if something happens now we have nuclear issues going on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, tomato, tomato, um, crash. It’s fine. But I’m saying that is a level of technology that it makes sense that somebody made the smartphone thing. I mean, we used to have phones that were, that, you know, you charged once every 30 days and then the smartphone technology came up and you got to charge it daily or every couple of days at least. But, but the, the technology is so fantastic. Everybody, everybody wants a smartphone. Uh, you know, you don’t want an old Nicole, Nicole, Nicole, Nokia phone and do that snake chase. Yeah. So I mean, my point is, is that the technology is sufficiently advanced from what you’re used to, then the public is going to go for that technology. I want it. Yes. And, and, and this is what I’m getting to about the EV and I’ve, I’ve mentioned this before, the, the government is trying to mandate all this electric vehicle crap where the market needs to be mandating it. We need to look at it as consumers and say, this is where I want to go. And I’ll throw this in. I didn’t even think about this. So, uh, again, I’ve been following the Tesla stuff. Uh, full self driving is, is like a near certainty. Oh, it is. Vehicle, Cadillac’s doing it too now, but Jeep is not doing it. I don’t think, are they? No, but the, the point that they were making was, um, if I’m, they were talking about Rivian and they said, yeah, the Rivian is very nice. Uh, so and so forth. Uh, they lose money on every one they sell. But, uh, if I was going to buy a vehicle, it probably wouldn’t be a Rivian. Even though they’re very nice because there is no full self driving.
And I thought about it and went, my God, that’s absolutely right. Oh, and by the way, the full self driving is, does not require an electric motor.
I don’t think I knew that. I just learned something this week. That’s in the teach, Natalie, something new this week. I mean, but you do have to have a, I didn’t know that. Yeah. You do have to have a system that can control the brakes and the steering and everything, but the Tesla full EV. Yeah. Yeah. It does not have to be an EV to do full self driving. So, uh, and I thought about that. I went, my God, yes. If, if Tesla is selling full self driving vehicles and I’m going to go buy, maybe I’m going to go buy another EV from somebody else, I’m going to say, well, but they don’t have full self driving. Yeah. I would, even if I’m not planning on doing full self driving right away, that’s going to be a consideration because who wants to be driven. I mean, who wants to drive when you can be driven. It’s your choice.
It is your choice. I don’t trust it. I don’t know if I could ever do it. I don’t know if I could ever relax enough to do it. It really scares me. All right. One more, one more rabbit trail and I’ll stop. Okay. Okay. This is from years ago. Um, they were doing scientists were doing a study of insects and how they were, how they would fly around and they would miss each other. This tap hazard, they had a collision avoidance.
Now imagine a world that has no stop signs or lights to stop traffic flow. Oh my gosh. No, because, because all of the cars with full self driving are intertwined and they know exactly where they are. Everybody is, and they do collision avoidance. And I’m not talking about a 9g maneuver.
It just one slows down a little bit. I’m all down the road because they know they’re going to come into and now there’s no stopping.
That’s so wild to me. And it’s going to happen. We will get there. Yeah. It’s going to be like insects flying around and you wondered why they don’t collide. That would be the insects. Yeah. Insects do collide, but I mean, generally speaking, they don’t anyway. Yeah. So, uh, I think Jeep’s going to bounce back. Uh, they, uh, they’re going to, they’re going to fire, uh, another 150, uh, executives and it’ll get all better. Not because they fired the executives, just because they got to act like they’re doing something. Um, exactly. Somebody’s going to come in there and figure out what it is. And, and, uh, interest rates are down a half a percent, which I think is going to help sales, uh, it’s going to be fine. Uh, at least things are going down and the election is almost here. I really do think that, I mean, this climate right now is based on that. It just is. Yeah. And I don’t think it matters who wins. It’s is the, um, the attitude of people. So when there’s a federal election, uh, American election, the, the, the, the head of the country, so to speak. Uh, and they do, they don’t do as much as what a lot of people think they do. Uh, and it’s actually designed that way by the, the founding fathers. Um, but, but it changes the attitude of the people and it’s something that they can say, well, I was waiting for this to happen to see what I wanted to do. I’m going to go buy a vehicle now. So it doesn’t initially mean who wins. It’s just that there’s, there’s a final outcome, uh, for the next four years. So yeah, I think we’re going to see some things change. Uh, and I think they’ll probably change for the better. I think so too. I really do.
Well, look what COVID did. That was such a big spike with, well, yes, that’s a whole another episode, sorry, everybody.
Oh my gosh. All right, guys. Well, the Monterey Motorsports Festival 2024 is quickly, um, upon us. Have you ever been to Monterey?
Um, I don’t even know where Monterey is. Is that Mexico or is that New Mexico? It is California. All right. I was going to get there eventually. I just had 49 more guesses to go. There we go. You are in Texas. It’s, it’s not in Texas. What does it, yeah. If it’s not in Texas, what does it matter? Sorry, no offense.
So the Monterey car week is held every August and is known for the Pebble Beach Concours de Excellance. So we actually have our own chapter here in Cincinnati, just so everybody knows the Concours de Excellance. So I was really excited to talk about this. Um, we actually, Michael Bailey and his dad have entered their Morgans, uh, with the Concours. So it’s really fun. So it’s kind of close to my heart. Um, among other car centric activities that draw thousands of people to the seaside town in central California. So while sipping champagne and a sport coat and a bow tie is a favorite tradition of some, there’s another side to car week. So one of that is a more accessible to the general public and welcoming the families. So they really are trying to bring together, um, different generations and different gaps that have been in the car community. Um, and I think they’re, they’re onto something. So now in its second year, the Monterey Motor Sports Fest is a one-day celebration held on 22 acres at the Monterey Fairgrounds, which aims to bring everything automotive to a less exclusive audience than what you would see at the quail. So this year’s event near attracted nearly 7,000 people and had everything from trucks to exotics, to heavy machinery. So heavy machinery that I’ll be thinking like John Deere, I like machinery. I’m most like, I’m not like most men’s like, I want to get it.
That’s a new one for me, heavy machinery. And then even a helicopter as some of the more, even a helicopter was present. I wonder if, um, someone famous came in on that, um, as some of them more than I hope it was a Bell helicopter. Like the one they had in Magnum PI, that was a cool looking helicopter. That would have been really cool. Um, so they add over more than 250 vehicle entries. So that was pretty cool. We had ours this year at, um, one of our local airports, like where all the private planes are, so everyone parked on the tarmac. And of course we have one of the Jeeps there. The only Jeep that was there. So that made it a little bit interesting. Um, we belong, you know, and so does heavy machinery. Why not? Sure. So with a late, with a late morning kickoff and a show that lasted late into the evening, I wonder if that was because of the champagne that was blowing the Monterey Motorsports Festival was full of great vehicles and a regular scheduled parade that drives off different vehicles throughout the day. So live workshops and demos, along with interesting expert panels on the main stage or complemented with live music. Well, Tony, we need to go to this. I gotta be honest. That sounds really, I’m into it.
We were especially interested in the overland outpost that features off-road vehicles and the sprinkling of cool trucks throughout the show. I just hope in the cool trucks weren’t higher on the front than the back and had the rubber band tires. Exactly.
And if you guys want to learn more about the Monterey show, you can go head over to realtruck.com forward slash blog. Hang on a second. Just look up modern. You cut out a little bit there and make sure that we, I want to make sure that the audio is right on that one. Sorry about that. That’s all right. No, it’s not your fault. It’s the internet.
So do the five second pause and then go ahead and do it again.
Just the, this is the real truck part.
I’m sorry, just the part where you’re saying go over to
realtruck.com forward slash blog. And just search under Monterey Motorsports Festival 2024.
Very, very cool.
Oh, you know what? I have a, I actually have a little, uh, segment intro, uh, for the gladiator thing and I have a little, a little cheat thing here. Cause I don’t, I never remember. I never remember what it fell off the monitor. Uh, so I had, I had to talk to him about it. I had to talk to him about it. I had to talk to him about it. Uh, so I had to, I had to talk about it. So anyway, uh, it’s a minus sign on the keyboard. So let’s see if it works.
Gladiator.
Yay.
Gladiator’s good.
God, that’s a good looking.
Well, so pretty
Gladiator. You know, uh, Henderson was telling me though, that Greg Henderson unofficially suddenly he said, uh, so you need to do something with that gladiator because people look at that and they go, you know, that’s, that’s like a stock gladiator. You need to get some bigger tires on there. Uh, you need to, you know, get some stuff going with that thing so that it looks like it looks like you’re a jeeper, you know,
most capable vehicle right off the lot. That’s right.
All right. So anyway, working towards that. Uh, so, uh, my question for you, uh, for you, Natalie and the, the listener out there, do you need a front sway bar?
Well, it depends on who’s listening from a high lift off road right now, Tony. Yeah.
I mean, since EGS 2024 and perhaps before, cause I can’t quite remember, it’s been off, it’s been disconnected for a long time. I haven’t had the front sway bar connected. I initially, I was concerned because I mean, I’m kind of used to no sway bar. Like, like if I do the XJ, maybe I would take it off road on something. That’s true. I would disconnect it and I was just kind of used to that. And it’s for the XJ, it’s very different. It feels that you’re like steering a boat. Uh, but, but you get used to it and you can think ahead, uh, for the most part. Now, again, talking about Greg Henderson and several other people in the zoom meeting that we were discussing this the other day, um, Greg Henderson lost his fricking mind, of course you have to have the sway bar front sway bar connected. Because if you’re, if little Johnny runs out into the street after his ball and you got to swerve to, to miss him, you’re going to wind up on the top of that Jeep. And it’s just going to flip over. Uh, and I don’t doubt that he’s right. I mean, you know, Greg knows. I’m sure he, I mean, yes, I mean, he is right. Yes. So I got to say this, this is, this is the general, uh, statement, uh, safety statement and release of liability. That’s the only reason liability release. Don’t drive around with your sway bar disconnected on the road. This is an off-road only thing. So don’t be like me.
Always reconnect your sway bar before getting back on public roads.
Got it. All right. Got it. Now, Tony, I am going to say I will join you. I was, I, I was disconnected for a solid two years in my JK. You know what I’m talking about. And also too, I do. I think the, the glad eater being disconnected is it’s really long. And I think that has a lot to do with it. Uh, I can’t really hardly tell a difference. Now, uh, I, I’ve made my determination that I’m just plowing through Johnny. Uh, he shouldn’t have been out there. I mean, at this point, you have good insurance. I’m not going to roll my Jeep to save Johnny. His kids should have been watching him.
But I think you made a good point about the body length. I do think that it plays a positive role and keep roll. Get it. Um, and keeping you a little bit more stable and you do get used to it, but, um, no, I’m not promoting to drive without a sway bar. Just everybody knows from high, the thought road, not, not, not promoting that, but you, it is possible. It is possible. Sometimes you just cannot reconnect. I know for me, like I was, I have a hard time by myself and I just couldn’t get it. And I got really frustrated trying to put the pins back in. I had the JKS. You have to have a damn mallet with you to get the things back on. And sometimes to get them off. And then at one point I had to like lower it on one side. So I’m trying to park it on a curb and that wasn’t working. Thought, well, there’s no one around like to stand on the one side. So I had a 40 pound cat litter thinking that would help. No, it didn’t help. Just so everybody knows I needed a lot more weight. Screw it. I got places to go. Yeah. So I was just like, you know what? I’ll just hold onto these, uh, disconnects and here we are. What, uh, what disconnects do you have?
So on when I was doing that, it was a JKS quick disconnects, um, which are fantastic, but you do need a mallet. Yeah. Um, but now with the rock crawler adventure series kit, um, you only have to pull a pin on the bottom and then the, it comes up and there’s a nice little, um, attachment that has a, the great rock crawler logo. Jeremy did a great job and you just connect it with that, um, with just a push and it stays up. So, um, I’m brain farting on the one that’s always connected, but it allows more flex cause it has the torsion bar. Um, the rock jock anti-rock. I think anti-rock. Yeah. Um, I’ve seen those before. I think that’s a great idea. It’s not, it’s not as good as being completely, uh, disconnected, but it’s a good compromise, uh, when you don’t have to mess with it. It is an amazing compromise. The technology behind it. Um, I was just actually, I learned a lot more about them watching flex rocks and rollovers new hell and back and enter series, and they were featuring them on there. Um, and right now guys just so you know, you can enter a contest to win. So check it out. Um, I definitely entered twice, just everybody knows. Um, so I had to do rock jock.com. What are you going to do with it? You can’t put it on your Jeep because you’re, you’re Jeep. Your Jeep is the high lift Jeep now. So you can’t make changes to it. Uh, I know, right. Well, uh, rock shock. If you guys would like, I would love to win the contest. So I don’t want to reconnect. This is going to be the first episode that Mike Bailey listens to. And he’s like, he’s like, Oh hell no. He’s in a Bangkok, Thailand right now. So he has a long flight. So you know what? Maybe we’ll turn on that. You talk to finally. Yes. An episode to catch up on. Um, but we do a lot of installs of them and a lot of our customers. And they have from front and rear, right? So you do. Yeah. Because a lot of people don’t think about the sway bar disconnect for the rear. I mean, people just generally don’t do that. But if you put the anti-rock on there, now you have articulation front and rear, which I think is something you have to do if you’re going to be an off-roader or you can just, I mean, even if you’re at the mall parking lot, you can say, look at that, I got the anti-rock on the rear. I mean, snow is coming. So no mounts. I’m in Southeast Texas. I haven’t seen snow and since 74. Oh my gosh.
So anyway, I mean, do you actually need a sway bar? Well, if, if you’re going with what Henderson says, and you know, you need to make a, a panic maneuver out on the street someplace, uh, according to him, you do need that. Um, so, um, I just, I mean, it just, it doesn’t feel that much difference. Oh, and the other thing I was going to say is, is that, um, I was a little concerned about my wife driving it with, without the sway bar connected. She didn’t say a word. I asked her about it. She, she didn’t notice anything. And I was going to say, did she even notice? And if somebody’s going to notice something, it’s going to be a woman. So just, just saying.
Very true. So I do have a question for you. Do you still have a steering stabilizer on yours? I do. Uh, it’s a, it’s got a nice big dent in it. Uh, and, and actually I wouldn’t, uh, I’m going to mention this here in a minute. I can mention it now. Um, I’m supposed to be getting a lot of goodies from steer smarts. Um, and, um, it’s, it’s been a long process. Finally found out the, the other day when Jay gave me a call, uh, the, apparently they’ve got a new part numbers and there’s a different part number for the, uh, uh, steel, um, um, steering box and the aluminum one. Yeah. So that’s what held up the shipment. So he was just double checking to make sure which one I had. Thank God I’ve got the steel one and not the aluminum, uh, steering box. So, uh, anyway, I should have a boatload of crap coming from a steer smarts that I’ll be adding to the, uh, the gladiator. Uh, they’re so great when they say they’re going to send something, they do it. I just got it. I actually got my envelope today with all my new stickers in it for my track bar and everything, so that now my logos look better again. Oh God. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. And thanks guys, by the way, I did receive it. So thank you. And I love showing that stuff off. Uh, actually we can show it off here on the, uh, on the backboard as well. Yes. I got, and if they steer smarts in one, I can replace it with this high lift sticker. I can put that where that is. Never. I will say I was looking at steer smarts yesterday real quick. Um, and a friend of mine just got back from a cruise and Alaskan cruise and she, it was a Bigfoot themed Alaskan cruise. That’s a story for another day. Um, but she saw the logo and she was, Oh my God, is that big foot? And I was like, close, it’s a Yeti, but close. So their logo is fantastic. So the, so the women were going on this cruise because only men that were size 12 and bigger shoes were, were on the cruise, right? Right. She was a gaggle of girls. So there you go. All right. So the guys got what I was saying there. All right. So, um, anyway, uh, just so you know, I mean, I’m sure people are wondering about the, uh, the sway bar thing. Uh, I have a 2021 Jeep gladiator with max tow. Uh, this means the axles are just a little bit wider. I think it’s a basically an inch or a half inch on either side. I have a two inch hard lift. Yeah, it does. And, uh, 35 by 12 and a half by 17. I know I just triggered you when I said 12 and a half. You did 12 and a half.
Because Natalie had the wrong size tires. They were an inch too small on her new build. So I don’t, and I don’t think I’ve got anything else on there. I mean, I was, I was doing this before up at the skid system on there. And I’m sure the skid system helps too with that low weight. Uh, you know, so I’m sure that helps. But I mean, I mean, I, the sway bar, it’s disconnected and, um, uh, I don’t have any plans of connecting back. I do. And I will say this, I do, uh, notice a slight difference. Uh, it’s a little less, a little less comfortable to drive. If that makes any sense to you at all. For sure. Cause do you feel like you have like the hula girl front? It’s like a smooth, it’s like being on the boat, but it’s not as bad as the XJ for sure. Oh, and you know what? I do remember when I disconnected the sway bar. So I was on a, a gone jeeping run, uh, and, uh, Greg and the gone jeep and people were there too. But, uh, Greg Henderson and Chuck from the, from Jeep talk show, uh, we were on this run and we had to go through a really twisty bit and it was good for, um, I thought it was good for the shorter jeeps, but the gladiator. It was, I mean, I had a wheel up in the air and I was a little concerned about, um, I mean, I got through it fine, but I was a little concerned because it was so twisty. So that was our destination. It was like go through that twisty bit and then another hundred feet. We were where we were. Our destination was to see the, the, the, uh, historic stuff, uh, right there. So before we went back, I disconnected the sway bars.
I think it’s smart. And I was able to get through that little twisty bit so much easier. Much better. So do you have a sport? Is your gladiator born a sport? Is a sport sport. Yes.
Okay. Yeah. But the tow package gives me the Rubicon axles minus the lockers. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, anyway, it was, uh, it was, like I said, it was a lot easier to get through there, uh, being disconnected. And that’s the whole point is to increase the articulation, uh, on that. So yeah, anyway, um, so it’s been disconnected since, uh, March, the last part of March, 2024. So several months. Um, and, uh, I just don’t, I just don’t see what it is. So, uh, we mentioned before I’m supposed to be getting some steer smart stuff, uh, they’re hooking me up with lots of goodies, uh, for the, uh, the gladiator and, uh, so keep checking back to find out what I think of the steer smarts parts. You have to slow down when you’re saying steer smarts parts.
And then what difference it makes, uh, and what my wife thinks of the drive, drivability after the install, Jay specifically said he wants to hear from, uh, from her, what she, what he thinks he goes because people rave. Uh, not when you just piecemeal it. Like if you just do the tie rod and then you, you know, you won’t notice an overall change, he goes when you, when you change all three of the components at the same time, that there’s a significant, uh, increase in, uh, drivability of the gladiator and the, uh, the, the LJ I’m sure the JK as well. Um, Oh, it was my, it’s been my favorite upgrade. Like that was the, after I did the initial build, I mean, I kept that stock in the front forever because why not? And, um, then when it was time, I really did, I will no more death wobble. I mean, everything changed. Um, when I did that upgrade and it was, I mean, it was pretty affordable too. It was, it was a great next step. They aren’t real expensive as far as G parts go and especially as beefy and as thick as those gear smarts parts are. Cause I was, I’ve been eyeballing it. I mean, I’m not, I wasn’t going to buy anything soon, but I’ve been eyeballing it because especially since Henderson, that’s everything that, uh, Henderson works on. He puts that stuff on there. Um, so, uh, yeah, so I just got lucky. Uh, I explained to Jay, I don’t do interviews and stuff to get parts, but damn it, I want the steer smart stuff. So go ahead.
So breezy, it’s pretty cool. So I’m, I’m kind of obsessed with that build that they did. So I’m wondering too, if I get all the steer smart stuff, driveability improves significantly, should I just remove the sway bar?
No. I would say no, because I don’t know what your warranty situation is as your, as your fake legal over here. I’m going to say no. Uh, I’m just triggering people. No, it’s, it’s, I didn’t know. I asked you about your steering stabilizer because I did not have one, um, before when I was running disconnected for two years, we took it off because it was leaking, um, some friends and I did and not high lift off road. Um, and I never put another one back on. Um, and so I don’t know if that made a difference in feeling that boat motion, that’s a good way to put it, the boat motion. Uh, so I thought that was interesting. And do you, I guess that’s another one. I don’t think the steering stabilizer, yeah. I don’t think the steering stabilizer is going to stop that boat motion feeling. I think all it’s, I think all it’s going to do is dampen the wiggle, the tire wiggles, like if you go through a bump or something and, and man, I can, I mean, uh, I’m a jace to be on the show again. I’ll have to ask him, uh, cause I know you technically do not need a steering stabilizer for your steering. Yeah. I mean, that is not a fix for death wobble. That is absolutely not for death. And it doesn’t create it either. Right. Um, so yeah, so I’m, that’s a whole nother episode. I mean, I’m planning on doing the steering stabilizer. I absolutely, I love the idea of that Falcon with a little knob. Yes. Just simply because they’ve got a knob on it. I mean, they, they could probably sell fake knobs for a hundred dollars and you could put it on a cheaper steering stabilizer, but, but I love the idea of, uh, putting that one on there. So, uh, but I think that I’m not going to have to really worry about that with the steer smart stuff. I think I’ll be able to put that on there and because of the thickness and the quality of the, of the stuff, uh, that I probably won’t need one. I’ll get one eventually, but, uh, yeah. So the one I have on there is, is dented pretty bad from, from being off-road.
That’s how mine was.
And then I removed it. Yep.
From the mind of Nikki G.
Get ready to laugh. Hey, this is Nikki G. You guys talked about bottle jacks and I carry a high lift jack and a bottle jack and I got to tell you the bottle jacks kind of useless. That doesn’t really do anything. Um, let me show you what I’m talking about. As I tell you this joke, is it okay to call an angry carrot, a steamed vegetable?
When the lawyers were at a court, a lawsuit, which did one toilet, the other toilet, you look kind of flush.
You’re going to use that suit suit at the airport, man. Those things never get flushed. All right, boys and girls. I think you guys had enough for one day. I’ll shout at you later and have a good one. Bye.
Oh, a lawsuit, a lawsuit. It’s like it was meant for me today. That’s right.
Thank you, Nikki G. All right. Well, uh, so, uh, oh, this is yours. The must have stuff. I is. Yeah. So, um, and this episodes of must have stuff for your Jeep guys. Um, we are going to talk about the worn Epic accessory kit and I don’t know if, um, hopefully everyone is following worn. Actually, I want to give a huge shout out to them out in, uh, at trail hero. They are making some Epic videos right now. It’s all about warns world as a play on Wayne’s world. And I think we’re just happy to be living in it right now because they are doing some great stuff. So thank you guys. Keep it coming from out at trail hero. It is fantastic. So one thing we carry at the shop and we can actually ship this to you guys, um, nationwide is their Epic accessory kit or recovery kit. And it already comes fully loaded for you. So if you’re new to off-roading or if you’re a seasoned veteran and you know, you don’t want to think about what you need to get or replace. Um, this bag really does. It does at all. It has everything. It does. Um, and so, you know, things I never thought about I needed when I, I piecemealed my kit together. Um, one thing I’ve been missing is gloves. And every time I’ve had to pull something, I’m like, man, I wish I had some gloves with me. Well, don’t worry. This kit comes with that. Um, along with your tree saver, um, and your straps and also your, um, shackles, um, and a snatch block. So it really does give you everything that you need, including a really epic, um, carrying bag, which is also a backpack. Yeah. I was going to say, it looks like a backpack. The backpack makes it so much easier because when you’re trying to recover someone, is it on flat ground normally or somewhere easy? Heck no. No, it’s always somewhere super hard. We have to like climb around like a mountain goat. So, um, this bag is absolutely incredible. We really, we love them at the shop. All of our jeeps have them. Um, and a lot of our customer jeeps have them too. So, um, we are pretty excited to bring this to you guys. So I will tell you that the original prices bag is a little bit hefty at $623 and 56 cents, but we are able to offer it at 20% off with the Jeep talk show for 498 85. So we’ll about $130 saving. It’s warned. So, you know, it’s a really good and I’ll just mention, of course, you can see this, uh, on the, our YouTube video and our show notes for this episode of the Jeep talk show, Jeep talk show.com, uh, and have a look. But anyway, uh, the cool thing about this backpack is there has a handle, a flexible handle that’s on top of the backpack. So if somebody’s going for that last Coke or last beer, you can smack them with this. You can smack them. This is going to be heavy with all this stuff in it and you just smack them and get the sink, all the money you’ll save and beer. And the bag also is all compartments. So there’s all these different compartments in there. So everything has its own home. So you will never, like if it’s, if you open it up and say your tree saver is missing because it’s missing out of that certain compartment. So it’s kind of, it definitely keeps you organized. That’s definitely a problem for me. I know. Um, and you guys can’t find this at highliftoffroad.com under, um, our recovery section, so, and there is a link as well in the show notes. Um, but I can’t say enough good at things about it. And I know the price tag sounds hefty, but when you piecemeal yourself together, you’re going to go way above that anyway. So, yeah, you definitely need it. So I do recommend it, especially like I know I’m going wheeling this weekend. Matt Moss and I were already talking about what do we need from our last experience for that we didn’t have our own stuff. So here we are. Just tell your spouse it’s on sale. I got to get it. I’m saving money. I’m saving money by getting it. It will cost more if I get it later. So I need it now. Absolutely. The only thing I would like to add, that’s not part of this kit. Um, that’s a favorite for me is a soft shackle. I think everyone should have a soft shackle and warm does make those in factor 55 and we sell those on our website too. So please check them out. Why do you say, uh, the soft shackle? Because I don’t think, I think that the, the D rings work just fine. They’re and they don’t do as much damage when they smack you in the head. The D rings don’t do as much damage. The salt. Well, I guess, I guess the soft shackles. Yeah. But anyway, but I don’t see, I mean, soft shackles are nice and everything. They are, but they are, they have a, you got to keep you guys take care of them. You got to put the lotion on them. Got to put the sunblock on them. So, uh, but why, why do you like the soft shackles? Is it a danger thing? I think that there’s a little bit of danger, the danger aspect, but also I like that I can literally put it anywhere I need it to go. Um, and I like that I can, it attaches to any hook I needed to go. Um, my new crawl tech bumper, there’s different point recovery points on the bumper where I can feed that soft shackle through where, you know, with the hard one, um, I might not be able to do that. So I just, I really liked the durability, not well, besides durability, but just the, it can, it’s a chameleon. You can do so many different things with it. It’s flexible. So it makes it flexible. Thank you. How do I, I could knock off with the word flexible, but I came up with chameleon. So here we are. So are you aware of the Jeep talk show million dollar ideas that I come up with occasionally on our interview episodes for people we’re talking about? So I came up with a million dollar, uh, idea for a guy that was, uh, that’s all he has, all he does is sell the soft shackles. I told him, cause it was right around, um, February and something, uh, oh no cat attack. Um, it was again, you got to watch YouTube to see this stuff.
So it was around February. I think it was a past Valentine’s day. And I said, so next year, what you should do with your soft shackles come out with a, a different take on it, where you put the, what is it like the Boa feathers, the pink boa. Oh yeah. That’d be cool. And you could actually use it as kind of a restraint or for Valentine’s day. It’s not, it’s not what you do. It’s how you sell it. It is how you sell it. That’s right. It’s multifunctional. And guys think of it this way. You get the soft shackle, but the girls thinks it’s for them as well. Time. I’ll talk about recovery points on my bumper. Anyway, thank you. All right.
It’s always a little sad when we hit the end of the trail, just like the end of the show, but there’s always another trail ride, just down the road. Jeep talk show has five episodes a week, Monday through Friday. And of course, Natalie is a bar part of that chick chat episode that we have on the, on Monday. Uh, and we really appreciate that. You guys are doing really good by the way. People are really enjoying the chick chat episodes. I mean, I mean, not, not to take away from you and Janet and Wendy, but I think what they’re really enjoying is no Tony on that episode. I think so. We do. We call you out every now and then cause we know you’re listening. You’re in the background. That’s right.
I’m creeping and keeping things recording. Yeah. So speaking of subscribing, consider, I don’t think I even mentioned that, but anyway, we’ll go with it. Like I meant to do that. Speaking of subscribing, consider the Jeep subscribing to the Jeep talk show and keeping us on the air via Patreon. Uh, you can just go to Jeep talk show.com slash contact to find out all the ways to contact us and how to subscribe to us on Patreon. Natalie, thank you so much. I went out, I was going to make this, uh, make this announcement earlier and I, we just having such a good time talking. So, uh, Natalie and I think you’re, I think you’re aware of this. Natalie is going to be our regular, uh, for a co-host here on our flagship two episodes. So if you’re enjoying Natalie and her cat adventures, uh, we’re going to have more of those in the future. And if you’re, if you’re wondering about the cowboy and the kilt, uh, that is going to continue to continue as well. That will also be a flagship too. And we may have some other guests hosts on here. It may not just be me, uh, and Natalie and who knows it may just be, uh, to other people, uh, with Natalie and not me. You never know. Cause I don’t mind recording and cruising the internet while you guys do the show.
That’s right. Anyway, you guys have a great night, Natalie. Thank you so much for being here. And we look forward to hearing, seeing you here every, every week. Me too. Thank you guys. Broadcasting sense. 2010. Oh, you got the cat up there for due to the wave. Like you wanted to do with the chick shot. It worked out.
You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.