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Jeep Talk Show

A Show About Jeeps!

Episode 407 – Rolling Smooth With Timken


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“Do you even lift, Bro? Well, whether you lift or not, chances are, if you are listening right now, you probably drive a Wrangler or know someone who does. When it comes to jacking up your Jeep, there are several things you need to take into consideration depending on your personal usage, budget, and even desired tire size. To help make lifting your Wrangler as easy-peesey as possible, the writers at ExtremeTerrain have compiled their definitive guide to Jeep Wrangler lift kits—AND ITS JACKED!

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This Week In Jeep:

By The Skin of His Teeth

Ok, Imagine this…. You are Trooper Ruben Correa, who has been with the Utah Highway Patrol for two years, and you’re responding to a routine traffic stop when you get a call from dispatch about a vehicle on train tracks not far from your current location.  Sounds like a lead up to a scene straight out of a TV cop drama, right? In fact, it actually happened earlier this week. Correa immediately left the traffic stop and began to drive down the freeway using his spotlight to search for the vehicle that he had just gotten word of. It didn’t take long to find the vehicle in question, a 4 door Jeep Wrangler, down an embankment, sitting across the railroad tracks. The driver of the Jeep, a man in his 20s, was unconscious, and a medical issue had caused him to drive off the nearby highway and onto the tracks. The trooper ended up arriving just in the nick of time. As soon as he exited his vehicle, he heard the train. It took 35 seconds from when Trooper Correa got out of his patrol car, to when the train hit the stranded Jeep, said Sgt. Nick Street, the spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol. “At that point, I actually wasn’t really thinking,” Correa said. “I was just doing my job.” Due to the quick actions of the officer, the man was pulled from his Jeep with literally just seconds, and by meer feet to spare, before the train collided with the Wrangler. The trooper and the driver were still just feet away on the embankment when the train came through. The Utah Highway Patrol called Correa’s actions “incredible and heroic.”  After being rescued, the driver was checked out by medical personnel is doing well according to reports. The exact nature of the medical condition has not yet been released. 

Current Jeep Owners Now Eligible For Loyalty Discount On Gladiator

Incentives are once again reducing the price of the Jeep Gladiator for some buyers. But not all. The latest enticement is a loyalty bonus for existing Jeep owners that slices $1,000 right off the top of the pickup’s price. If you are eligible, you will receive an actual coupon for the offer either electronically or in the mail. Unlike the last deal that came down the pike, which was just a lease by the way, this is a little more attractive.  The last offer you could get a Gladiator for as little as $143 a month for 24 months but you were limited to just 10,000 miles per year. Yea, no thanks. I’d like to DRIVE my new Jeep and not just keep it chained up in the garage. Those offers ended in September anyways and were here and gone before you knew it. This one has a little more time behind it. The incentive runs through January 2, so if you’re still on the fence about owning a new Gladiator, there’s no rush. This new deal almost sounds too good to be true, and some of you might be wondering “what the catch is.”  If there is a downside to this offer, it’s that it excludes the top of the line Rubicon trim. But, someone could still apply the discount to the Sport, Sport S, or even Overland trims, though, so it’s not all bad. Online reports show that dealers are rarely stocking base variants with few options anyways, so the chances are good that you can save on a Gladiator that suits your needs and wants. The average asking price for a new Gladiator is around $40,000 so any discount at all (I think) can be appreciated. IF you end up getting one of these coupons, we want to see it! Be sure to send us a pic, or post on our facebook page.

Wrangler Talk:

Bill – Wrangler Talk Host

Sleeving Your Axle Tube

Hello JTS Listener on this week’s Wrangler Talk we are going to be covering sleeving your axle tubes. So first let’s talk about what sleeving your axle is. Sleeving your axle tube is the process of plug welding or pressing in another metal tube into your axle tube doubling the thickness of your axle tube. From the factory a Dana 30 and Dana 44 come with two and half inch axle tubes with a tube thickness of a quarter inch and well yes that might be a good strong choice when you are driving to the mall. Although when you starting to hit the trails and rock climbing your axles start to take a bit more abuse especially when you have larger tires on your rig. Remember Jeep designed the Jeep Wrangler with the mindset that this jeep will have 29-31-inch tires on it for its lifetime and it will not need a stronger axle. So, when we start making modification to our jeeps by putting a lift and tires on your jeep we are increasing the overall weight the axles must support. After we start increasing the amount of weight they must support the overall abuse the axle must endure increases as well and the weakest link of these two different axles are the axle tubes. One of the most common axle failure is getting a bend in one of the axle tubes or cracking the tube itself. So one of the ways to increase the strength of your axle tube is by sleeving the axle tubes and there are two different styles of axle tube sleeves, the weld in sleeve and there is the press fit sleeve. In my experience the weld in sleeves are much easier to work with and install. However, both types of sleeve serve the same purpose. So let’s talk about the actual process of sleeving your axle tubes and I want to say sleeving your axle tubes is not for the faint of heart. For both processes you have to disassemble each side of the front axle and pull your axle shafts out. With your axle shafts removed you can start the sleeving of the axle tubes and this is where the processes split. So, for the weld in kind this process might take a bit longer however, working with the weld in sleeves are much easier to work with. The reason why weld in sleeves are easier to work with is because they are machined down so they will slide freely in and out of the axle tube. So, to start the process of welding in your sleeves you are going to have to drill a set number of holes in your axle tubes, normally you have to drill 6 evenly spaced holes on the shorter side of the axle assembly and 10 holes on the larger side of the axle at least that is what it what was when I sleeved my axle tubes. Yes, this is why I said sleeving your axle tubes is not for the faint of heart. These holes that you will be drilling will provide the spots at which you will be plug welding your axle tube to the sleeve making it all one unit. So, after prepping your welding surfaces and cleaning out your axle tubes you will make all your plug welds and reassemble your axle. Now when it comes to press in sleeves, they can be a bit tricky. Press in sleeves are machined down as well however they are machined to an exact fit for the axle tube and requires a bit of force to insert them into the axle tubes. So, when pressing these axle sleeve into the tubes there is possibility that they might get stuck at a certain point in the tube and this creates a much larger problem, and this is why I prefer having weld in sleeves. Sleeving your axle tubes is a great and non-expensive way to increase the strength of your axle and ensure your axle can take the abuse you will be throwing at it when offroad. I have done the process of welding in sleeves and I would recommend doing it because of the peace of mind and strength that it adds to your Jeep. Well this concludes this week Wrangler talk on sleeving your axle tubes. Did I get something wrong or did I miss something? Or is there something you would like to hear about on the Wrangler Talk. Well go to our contact page at JeepTalkShow.com/contact and send us an email or leave us a voice message and we would be happy to answer any of your questions and Remember JTS listener stay tuned to next week where we will be covering upgrading your brakes for larger tires. Thank you for listening and talk to you next week.

Interview with:

Michael Gromosiak

Michael Gromosiak – Application Engineering – Timken (https://timken.com)

Mike is Chief Engineer – Mobile On-Highway – for the Timken Company, a world leading manufacturer of bearings and mechanical power transmission products.

In 1996 Mike started his Timken career as an Application Engineer focused on chassis and wheel end products for the North American light truck market.  His Engineering Team works on many light truck and SUV platforms in North America including the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Truck. Mike has been an active member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) for 23 years serving as chairman of the Akron / Canton section of SAE from 2002 through 2004.

Most recently Mike has lectured at several key industry conferences focused on next generation automotive technologies for both axle and chassis products. Mike is extremely excited to visit the Jeep Talk Show Podcast and share Timken’s engagement with the Jeep Brand.  Don’t miss out on Timken’s give away!  Listen to this episode for details.

Tech Talk With Jeep Talk:

Josh

Repairing A Broken Rear Defrost

I have seen it a hundred times. A hard top Wrangler rolling down the street, windows all fogged up from a leaky freedom top, and the rear window has about a three stripes of clear glass on it, the rest – completely fogged up. Hell I’ve owned a vehicle or two over the years where the rear defrost only had a few lines of working defrost-ability, or it plain didn’t work at all. Sometimes the problem is more serious, like a relay or a broken wire somewhere. But, more often times than not, it’s simply a broken or burnt out trace in the glass. What I’m referring to are those little goldish brownish orangish colored lines that cross the back window. Just about every vehicle on the planet that has a reea window has these. They often consist of parallel linear resistive conductors in or on the glass. When power is applied, these conductors heat up, thawing ice and evaporating condensation from the glass. These conductors may be composed of a silver-ceramic material printed and baked onto the interior surface of the glass, or may be a series of very fine wires embedded within the glass. If you have the kind that is embedded within the glass, unfortunately, the window will need to be replaced, as there is no way to service this kind of rear defroster. The surface-printed variety is prone to damage by abrasion, you can actually feel the conductors if you run your fingernail up the inside of the rear window. If you have the surface mounted kind of rear defroster, it can be repaired easily with a conductive paint material. Repair kits for this very task can be found at virtually any and every parts store across the land. My favorite is the Permatex Quick Grid Repair Kit. These go for about $10 to $15, and have everything you need to repair that broken conductor trace on your rear window. The process involves cleaning the window, masking off the area you want to work on , and secure the included template in just the right position over the broken trace. Then you simply paint on a new conductive line where the old one was broken. If you take care in the prep work, and follow the instructions, you’ll be defrosting that whole window again in no time.

Must Have Stuff for your Jeep:

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Nicky G:

Nicky G

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Jeep Weather:

Mitch

Hey Jeeper, its Mitch and it’s time for your weekend Going Topless-Jeep Weather Report.  Let’s start by Going Topless in Rutland, Vermont. Rutland is out by Green Mountain National Forest. There it will be cloudy and 48 on Friday, 52 for Saturday and 57 for Sunday. There isn’t a rule saying you can’t be topless and run your heater.  Keep your heater on and Go Topless in Yellowstone National Forest, Wyoming. There it will be snowing this weekend with 32 on Friday and Saturday and 28 on Sunday. Just a note: I’m of Scottish decent so ditching underwear and wearing wool clothes in the snow sounds fun!   Alright, so you aren’t quite ready for winter like me, then Go Topless in Corpus Christi, Texas. It will be sunny on Friday of 84 and Saturday of 92, on Sunday it will be partly cloudy and 88 degrees.  If you are looking for perfect weather to work on your winter tan, make someone’s day and Go Topless in Joshua Tree National Park, California. Out here it will be consistent and sunny all weekend: 81 for Friday, 84 Saturday, and 81 on Sunday.  If you have any suggestions or want to know YOUR local weather in an upcoming episode. Just reach out to me at JeepTalkShow.com slash contact. It’s always great weekend to Go Topless if you’re brave enough! Just Go Topless responsibly.

Wheeling Where:

Trucks Gone Wild
November 7-10
Redneck Mud Park – Punta Gorda, Florida
More Info: https://trucksgonewild.com/

The Worldwide Leader in Off Road Entertainment. Mud Bogging, Mega Trucks, ATVs, UTVs and The Biggest Parties in the Mud

SEMA Show (Specialty Equipment Markets Assoc.)
November 5th – 8th
Las Vegas, Nevada
More Info: https://www.semashow.com/

Links Mentioned in Episode 407
https://www.j-barr.com/
Extreme Terrain Scholorships: https://www.extremeterrain.com/scholarships.html
http://nexentireusa.com/