Episode 651 – Don’t Use This Lube On Your Jeep
This Week In Jeep
Toledo Jeep Fest Is Near!
It’s a sure sign of summer in the Glass City of Toledo Ohio. The Toledo Jeep Fest is about to begin. The annual event draws tens of thousands to the region, and there’s always something new to see and do. Jeeps have been rolling off the assembly lines in Toledo for more than 80 years, and the city Jeep was born in will celebrate all things Jeep the second week of August. The streets of downtown Toledo will be completely taken over by Jeeps and Jeepers alike. Every block will provide a beautiful backdrop for the 2022 edition of Toledo Jeep Fest. And this year the theme is red, white, and blue. Doesn’t get any more American than that. About 70,000 people are expected to roll into town this year, hailing from more than 30 states and even a few foreign countries. And all that Jeeper traffic will drive millions of dollars into local business. Over 6.5 million last year alone! The weekend-long event is the perfect way to honor the men and women at the Toledo Assembly Complex and the world-famous vehicle they continue to build.
Toledo Jeep Fest opens up on August 12th and runs through the 14th. If you can make it there, it will be worth the trip.
Hello Bridge… Meet a Brand New Jeep Wagoneer.
Jeep Wagoneers at this point I think are being made to order. With a price tag that can reach nearly 100K (and well over that for the Grand Wagoneer)… there aren’t dozens of these sitting on dealer lots right now. Especially since there is still a chip shortage and supply chain issues. Waiting for your brand new Jeep to be delivered can be a painful experience, especially when you learn that the Jeep you have already waited weeks for, was completely destroyed while in transit. Although rare, these things can and do happen. A case in point is this week’s viral Jeep story where this unlucky Jeep Wagoneer encountered a bridge in Detroit. Truck drivers are supposed to know exactly how high their rigs are. This information must be carefully matched with the clearance data marked on every bridge they might come across. When the bridge is higher, everything goes smoothly, but when it’s the opposite, the results can be disastrous. But the truck’s height isn’t always a given and, depending on what it carries and how much gas it has, the load height can change. This is a harsh lesson for a truck driver transporting brand new Jeeps to their customers. While passing under a bridge on the I-375 in Detroit, one unlucky Jeep Wagoneer on the upper platform was sitting a little too proud and clipped a bridge as the truck drove under. The maximum allowed height marked on the bridge is 14.33 feet, and as you can see in the pictures that are going viral right now, (we’ll of course have some to see in the show notes for this episode at Jeeptalkshow.com)…. that the total height of the truck plus the Wagoneer, was just a wee bit too high to travel safely under this bridge. The impact was so powerful (since the truck was traveling AT SPEED) that the Jeep was ripped from the carrier and was wedged, VERTICALLY, under the bridge. The Jeep Wagoneer looks as if a bomb exploded inside, with all the glass broken and hardly a square inch of sheet metal on its body. Its roof was also ripped off, and I mean ripped clean off.
Not that it matters, considering this Jeep is a total wreck, and likely a total loss too. It’s already troublesome with all the wait times for a new vehicle, but having your brand new Jeep completely destroyed right before you could drive it home is just beyond words. Just imagine a new waiting counter starting to tick from the moment this happens, which adds more delays to the already excruciatingly long delivery time. And it’s not like these unexpected problems are easy to deal with. The question arises who’s insurance is going to pick up the tab for this one? AND… will there be a ban on Wagoneers on the top decks of auto carriers now?
Potential Recall For Jeep Compass and Patriot SUVs
Just after last week’s announcement of the NHTSA probe into the Jeep Cherokee for its potential issues surrounding the E-brake and a faulty module, we get word that the NHTSA is opening a second probe into Jeep. This probe covers some 289,000 Jeep Compass and Patriot SUVs from 2016 due to 127 complaints about engine stalling due to crankshaft or camshaft sensor problems. The agency says FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – Jeep’s parent company at the time) did a recall in 2016 for a similar problem. It’s looking to see if the problem is happening with vehicles not included in the recall. So far this has not yet been moved into recall status yet and is at the “preliminary evaluation” stage right now. That of course can change in a day, so if you or someone you know has a 2016 Compass or Patriot, direct them to this episode, they can also check the NHTSA recalls website for updates – https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls
Tech Talk with Jeep Talk
TOPIC/QUESTION: Lubricants, Lock Tite, and Anti-Seize… OH MY!
There’s a time and place to use certain lubricants and such on your Jeep. And no, a single can of WD-40 isn’t going to cut it for every application. Or most applications actually. In this segment, I’m going to go over some of the types of lubricants and other things you should be using when you work on your Jeep. Now obviously we’re going to steer the conversation away from things like diff 
fluids, engine oils, shock oil, etc. as those don’t really apply to things like nuts and bolts. There are all types of greases and oils that all work similarly, but differently. Some are designed to work better in very cold environments, while others are meant to withstand great pressures, high temps, or very dirty environments. Clearly just in the grease department, there can be the wrong type of lubricant to use at a certain time or place. For things like door hinges on your Jeep, or seat rails Jeepers may be tempted to use that aforementioned WD-40, but there’s something better and more appropriate to use here. White lithium grease in either spray or squeeze form is the best option here. It stays put even under high heat or extreme cold, and can even be used preventatively to protect against rust and corrosion. It withstands vibration and because of how thick it is, it performs better as a lubricant in many applications than plain ole WD-40. WD-40 has its purposes, and would also work in many cases, but it will run, it will drip, and it will eventually break down over time faster and provide less protection and lubrication than white lithium. Now with that said, there are places where you shouldn’t use white lithium too. It’s not the poster child for Jeep lubes here. You wouldn’t pack a wheel bearing with white lithium nor would you use it for lubricating polyurethane bushings in your steering or suspension either.
And seriously… don’t be THAT Jeeper, whose every single bushing sounds like the overused bed springs of a seedy pay-by-the-hour hotel. For the critical joints of our Jeeps that use polyurethane bushings, there is only one specific type of grease you should use to insure long bushing life, and squeak-free performance, and it’s not WD-40. For anything poly, you’ll want to use silicone-based, synthetic, waterproof grease. The same goes for the soft top zippers. Petroleum-based lubricants tend to speed up rubber and plastic components’ decay, so you don’t want to use them on or near anything plastic based. When we’re talking plain old metal to metal here, like a tie-rod end, or heim, or any non-poly component that has a grease zerk. This requires a grease gun, and what you put in it matters. That ol farm grease may work. The red-and-tacky is a good go-to as well. You can splurge on something like Royal Purple or stick with the value of the store brand. In the end, you want to make sure you’re using the right kind of lubrication for the right application, so make sure you’re lubricating the joints on your Jeep with the 
right stuff. For instance, 
Currie Enterprises recommends using moly-based grease to lubricate their johnny joints. Probably not the best choice for your Rough Country joints. For instance, anti-seize isn’t the best thing to use to lube your soft top zipper or hood hinge with, but it is good for spark plug threads, and any fastener that frequently gets removed, like the nut on the spare tire or Hi-Lift mount. It’s also great to prevent galling. Galling happens when two different metals come in contact with each other under load or in high friction. Because of the two different metallurgic properties, the metals will seize up, and can actually cold weld themselves together in extreme conditions. This is common on Jeeps when the threads of one metal come in contact with the threads of another metal. Think stainless steel bolt in aluminum threads or other combinations. A little anti-seize on the threads, and galling is of no concern.
Now let’s say you don’t want something to EVER come apart once you bolt it together.
I’m thinking of things like bumper bolts here. High vibration, serious loads, the last thing you want is for fasteners to start backing their way out or off. Think of how much it would suck to have your skid plates wobbling around. But you can’t very well permanently mount them to the Jeep. You may need to remove them for a transmission or transfer case service or some other reason. As with lubrication, there are different types of thread lockers out there that work in different ways. The LOCTITE brand of thread lockers is the go-to brand, and although there are other brands, they all stick to an industry standard of color codes. For example, let’s say once mounted, that bumper on your Jeep is never coming off. In that case, you’ll want to use a RED thread locker.
You’ll break those nuts and bolts before they ever come off again. But let’s say you want certain things like suspension fasteners, control arm bolts, or skid plate bolts to stay put, but still, be removable down the road in case you need to replace or upgrade something.
In that case, the BLUE thread locker is what you’d reach for. This will keep the fasteners together at torque, but will also take more than that torque to break them loose. It won’t be easy, but they will break loose. So make sure the grade of your fastener matches the grade of your thread locker. Ok, I debated on whether or not to include this next part, but I thought what the hell? What’s the worst that can happen with a little red-neck engineering? Let’s say your miles and miles away from the nearest auto parts or hardware store, or maybe you’re just way over the legal limit, in any case, you’re in a position where you need a thread locker or penetrating lubricant and you don’t have it.
Well, I’m here to tell you the hacks that can help you make your own. Ok so you want to make your own anti-seize, well, that’s probably not going to happen. Straight out of the tube or bottle, anti-seize is made up of a high-quality grease base and lubricating solids like copper, lead, graphite, aluminum, calcium oxide, etc.), which are suspended in the grease. You’re not going to be able to duplicate this with any reliable results, so may the maker beware. However, for a low-cost, do-it-yourself competitor with WD-40 lubricating spray: use a mix of Vegetable oil and acetone. A mixture of vegetable oil with 10 percent acetone works just as well as WD-40 to free rusted bolts. And it costs about one-tenth of the price. Add more acetone, up to 30 percent, and the mixture works even better than WD-40 and still costs about one-quarter the price.
Acetone, by the way, is the active ingredient in nail polish remover and some paint thinners, and DIY mixtures with transmission fluid can be used as a penetrating oil too! Mix that same acetone at a 30% level with new or used transmission fluid (so long as it’s not completely brown and burnt) and you’ve got a homemade penetrating oil that works damn near as good as the commercial stuff. Ok so what about the reverse of this? Can you make homemade Loctite? You sure can, however, it’s not going to be quite as good as the commercial stuff, but it will hold a fastener under load. Two different products will work as an alternative to Loctite and other brands of thread lockers., and that’s super glue or nail polish. These two very common household products are often used as effective replacements for dedicated thread lockers. Using these two products can indeed lock a fastener in place in the short term, but they don’t hold up to extreme conditions, intense vibration, or high torque applications like the brand name stuff. In the end, however, it may get you home, or down the trail.
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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