Episode 410 – SEMA! SEMA! SEMA!
Please visit our sponsors:
Thought about removing your Wrangler or Gladiator Hardtop? Have you been struggling to find a solution? The J-BARR is a complete Jeep Hardtop removal hoist and storage system that works with both Wrangler and Gladiator hardtops. It has never been easier to go topless! Check them out at www.j-Barr.com
ExtremeTerrain,ExtremeTerrain, Wrangler off-road parts and accessories outfitter. Stay tuned to learn more about ExtremeTerrain’s Jeep Wrangler Fluid Capacities Tech guide.
This episode of the Jeep Talk Show is sponsored in part by: Black Magic Brake Products, they build Big Brake Kits for your Jeep! BlackMagicBrakes.com sells Direct Bolt-In Vanco Big Brake Kits with Black Magic Brake Pads and NEW Steering Knuckles. Find out more by visiting Black Magic Brakes dot com, that’s Black Magic Brakes dot com.
This Week In Jeep:
TEN Years In a Row!
The annual SEMA show, where Tony is at AS I TYPE THIS, must be like nirvana for the Jeep brand, and the automaker’s specialty parts division isn’t disappointing this year bringing 14 vehicles to the show, including two pickup truck concepts as well as Jeep Wrangler Rubicon concept. The concept vehicles from Jeep the year are particularly timely as the Jeep Wrangler continued is unprecedented and unbroken run of success in Las Vegas after being named “4×4/SUV of the Year” for the 10th straight year. The Wrangler is the only vehicle to have won an award each and every single year since the honors began in 2010. Accepting the award was Mark Bosanac, Head of Mopar Service, Parts and Customer Care, of FCA – North America, he said winning this award
is a testament not only to the staying power of the Jeep Wrangler, but also to the passion and creativity of the aftermarket community, which continues to select the Jeep Wrangler as a perfect canvas for customization. And it is too!, the awards don’t lie.
“Fill The Jeep” will feed thousands this year.
The little Saint Michael Catholic School, at 48 Walnut St. in Brattleboro, Vermont will officially begin its Project Feed the Thousands food drive on Thursday morning.
This year, Saint Michael is partnering with Summit Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM to “Fill the Jeep.” Kelli Corbeil of Project Feed, and Mr. and Mrs. Capra of Summit will join the school in announcing the event. Students will have donation boxes in all their classrooms. From Nov. 8 through Dec. 20, families will be challenged to make donations, with classrooms competing against one another with weekly weigh ins.
At the end of the drive, all of the items will be piled into a vehicle provided by Summit and driven to the donation site for Project Feed the Thousands. There will be a vehicle parked outside of the school for the duration of the drive to remind Saint Michael families and church parishioners to “Fill the Jeep.” Of course I don’t think there is anything stopping Jeepers from outside the area to help out, so if you want to get involved, send some food, or volunteer. Contact the school administrators to see how.
Big news, not sure how good or bad though
On Thursday it became official: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group are merging to become the world’s fourth-largest automaker. Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Chrysler, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, and Vauxhall will all now share a single corporate parent and begin merging operations. In a press release, Fiat Chrysler and PSA said that the 50:50 merger should save more than $4 billion (€3.7 billion) a year from “run-rate synergies without any plant closures.” …which is a fancy way of saying that as a conglomeration of all these automakers, they can (together) weather any storm the market brings, without resorting to layoffs and plant closures just to stay afloat. Merging with another large automaker has actually been FCA’s plan for a while. You may remember us reporting several times before his untimely death, that Sergio Marchionne (FCA’s former CEO) had conducted talks with many potential suitors. Just earlier this year FCA was in active discussions with Renault, but those talks ultimately went nowhere. Now FCA will join up with France’s other big automaker, PSA Group.
On the face of it, it seems like utter nonsense, and I for one as a Jeep enthusiast feel like YOU probably do upon hearing this news, and have lost all hope for the brands future among so much european influence. However, to the more fiscally influenced, the merger makes a lot of sense. FCA has strong sales in the Americas and a decent portfolio of luxury brands and of course the shining jewel, and what some say are the only things keeping this automaker afloat, are the SUVs and trucks, namely the Jeep and Ram brands. Something that PSA doesn’t have. PSA is strong in Europe though, and its brands are better mainstream cars built using more modern architectures.
PSA Group is also well ahead of FCA in terms of electrification.
The new company, which has yet to be named, will be registered in the Netherlands, although it will ((QUOTE)) “continue to maintain significant presences in the current operating head-office locations in France, Italy, and the US.” As for US car buyers, it’s probably a little too soon to know what this will mean in terms of the cars we might be able to buy. PSA Group has wanted to return to the US market for a while, and in February news broke that Peugeot would lead that charge. But currently the company’s sole US presence is a car-sharing service called Free2Move that operates in Washington, DC. I’d like to think modern American car buyers will take to quirky French crossovers with more enthusiasm than that which greeted a Alfa Romeo when they came back to the US. Time will tell, and I don’t know about where YOU live, ut out here in Oregon, Fiat didn’t do so well, while you cant drive 2 miles without seeing at least a few Jeeps of one sort or another. My two cents? Jeep and Ram should have left when they had the chance and reformed a new Mopar automaker presence globally, leaving behind the sinking Italian and French cars nobody here in the states really wanted to begin with.
Wrangler Talk:
All about Shafts this week, Driveshafts that is.
Hello JTS listener and welcome to this week’s wrangler talk about Driveshafts. Well First off, we all know if we need anything driveshaft related let’s head over to Tom Wood’s Driveshaft. I can personally say that they know their stuff about everything to do with driveshafts and have the proper driveshaft you need for you rig or any build you are working on. Also remember if they don’t have what you exactly need they are amazing a building the correct driveshaft you specifically need for all those crazy awesome builds. So first let’s cover the reasons why you would need to change your drive shaft. Well the most obvious reason is you broke it, however there are a couple other reasons why you would need to change your driveshaft. We all know that your driveshaft transfers the power from your engine and transmission to your axles, and by doing this they will spin at great speeds. One of the most important parts of your driveshaft is making sure that it is balanced. So, we are going to keep with the Tom Wood’s driveshafts, and every driveshaft that is purchased from them is properly balanced when they are building it in their facilities. Although let’s talk about what can cause an imbalance in your driveshaft and it is very important to inspect your driveshaft for these possible failures. The first failure is losing your balancing weights that have been welded to the driveshaft tube. For example, the loss of a 1 oz weight off a drive shaft that has a 1-inch radius, or 2-inch diameter can cause a force of 16 lbs. in any direction and lead to premature failure. Secondly another possible imbalance in your driveshaft can be cause by the driveshaft tube having a dent in it. When a dent is imposed on the driveshaft it can change the whole geometry of the shaft and lead to failure. Also, a dent in the shaft can lead to other complications down the road. An imbalanced driveshaft can be diagnosed by observing a shaking or vibrations from under the vehicle. Although these vibrations can also be caused by your tires as well however one way to tell the difference between the different causes is driveshaft vibrations are not speed sensitive. Meaning that the vibrations coming from your driveshaft will be noticeable at all speeds where tire vibration will be noticed only after reaching a certain speed. Let’s continue talking about getting a dent in your driveshaft. When you get a dent in your driveshaft, you are causing a weak point in your shaft and this can lead to cracking of the shaft and eventually cause your driveshaft to completely crack or shear off and let me tell you your driveshaft will shear in the least idea situation where you really need all 4 tires spinning. Another driveshaft failure is phasing. Phasing is when the alignment of the two joints or yokes of the driveshaft are not on the same plane. All driveshafts should be within a maximum of 1.5 degrees of phasing. Phasing can be a sign of your driveshaft being undersized or having an excessive load on the driveshaft and I can say that your stock driveshaft is very weak compared to an aftermarket Tom Wood’s driveshaft. Now on to other types of failure of the driveshaft and the most common failure is the U-joints. U-joint stands for Universal joint meaning that during the rotation of the driveshaft the U-joint allows the shaft to flex about 20 to 35 degrees in any direction depending on the style of driveshaft you currently have. U-joint can fail in a few ways, a u-joint can become what we call burnt meaning that the studs of the U-joint will become overheated and start to wear prematurely. This will cause the studs to become rounded and eventually slip out of the yoke. When this happens, it can cause a lot of other unneeded damage. So, when looking at new U-joints for your driveshaft, I would recommend putting in serviceable U-joints, which means that they have a grease fitting on the side of the U-joint, so you can add grease to the joint. This will lubricate the joint and increase the life of it by 10-fold. Finally, when inspecting your U-joints also inspect the Yokes. The yokes are the area of the driveshaft that take the most abuse. Check for cracking, any nicks and gouges out of the yokes or bearing caps. This type of damage will cause the U-joint to be mis-align in the yoke and lead to failure. So, there are a lot of different ways a driveshaft can fail or need to be replaced, but the most common reason to replace your driveshaft is because you are putting a bigger lift on your jeep, YAAAAAYYYYY. Yes, I know this is the fun part, but I had to save the best for last. So, one of the purposes of the driveshaft is to slide in and out when your suspension begins to flex or move up and down. This is cause by the whole axle moving closer or further away from the transfer case when the suspension moving through the travel range. When it comes to lifting your jeep, you are changing the geometry of the driveline and when you start changing the geometry specific angles that are needed for your jeep to drive smooth will change too. So, a good rule of thumb is when you are lifting your jeep any lift 2.5 inches and under your stock driveshaft should be okay and lifts over 2.5 inches will need a new driveshaft. However, with that always consult professionals about the geometry of your new suspension and they will be able to tell you whether you will need a new driveshaft or not. So, remember if you need any help with driveshafts head over to Tom Wood’s Custom Driveshafts and they will solve all your needs. This concludes this week’s wrangler talk and just remember if you have any questions or comments head over to JeepTalkShow.com/Contact and send us an email or leave us a voice message. Thank you for listening to this week’s wrangler talk and stay tuned to next week where we are going to dive into the steering system of your jeep.
Interview with:
Straight from SEMA 2019: Kevin and Scott “On the Trail Podcast”, Ryan “Viair”, Paul “Nexen”, Steve “Hi-Lift”, Dan Grec “The Road Chose Me”, Jason “Bolt Lock”, Jason “Tuffy”
Tech Talk With Jeep Talk:
Low Dollar Tuning For Old YJ’s
It’s been a while since I gave some love to the YJ crowd. The YJ wrangler, otherwise known as the square headlight Wrangler, was made from 1987 through 1995. And despite getting a bad rap for being completely leaf sprung, and still sported a carburetor until 1991, the YJ Wrangler is a capable platform to build from. By now, however, the chance of finding a clean YJ from someone who doesn’t want an arm and a leg are slim to none. Out here in the pacific Northwest, virtually any and every YJ on the market has had some degree of modifications and customizations, and can be found in all sorts of conditions ranging from bad to worse. But if you just got one, or maybe have had one for a while and not sure what to do with it, I’m about to go over some very easy, and (here’s the key word to all this) inexpensive ways to breath some new life into the old power train of these old Wranglers. What I’m going to focus on this week will be the engine. Now for what I’m going to cover it really won’t matter if you have the 2.4L 4 banger, the 4.0L inline six, or the rare 4.2L inline six, all these tips will apply.
Really, no matter the engine, the formula for healthy power is the proper proportion of air, fuel, and spark. Chances are that if your old YJ hasn’t seen any engine love in a while, it may be lacking in power. One of the easiest ways to get more power out of an engine is to get more air into it, or make it easier to get the air in. Ditch the restrictive factory air box and paper filter element. Nobody makes a complete cold-air intake for a TBI four-cylinder, if that’s what you have, but if you exercise some ingenuity, you can fab something up that will work real well regardless of what engine you have. Try this, simply cut a piece of 2.5-inch exhaust tubing from your local auto parts store and clamp whatever air filter you can find laying around on to the end of it. Seriously, you can get high flow K&N type air filters off the internet for less than $15.Although the additional air is going to help some, you still have the spark and the fuel to address. I’d move on to the plugs next. Cheap and easy, swapping out some old or mis-gapped plugs can make a huge difference. You can try and get fancy, but honestly, the older Jeep engines like the old copper core plugs best. They burn hot, and consistent, and those platinum E3’s or diamond fire plugs for many Jeepers have actually resulted in rougher ildes, and less power throughout the RPM range. With a little more air and working plugs properly gapped, you may want to inspect and or replace those plug wires cap and rotor. YEs this is basically just a tune up with some slight mods throw in for the sake of performance. After cleaning out the cap, sanding the contacts on it and the rotor to get rid of corrosion and oxidation, (or just replacing them if they’re old), you’ll want to break out the multi-meter and test the resistance in Ohms of each wire. Most stock resistance-type wires will run in the neighborhood of 10,000-15,000 ohms/foot resistance. Any more than that and the wire is bad. To get the correct value, measure your plug wires and do the math. Scrounge up some wires from a friends old tune up or the one you did on that other Jeep, or your daily driver. Honestly, any plug wire, regardless of the vehicle it came off of is going to be better than one that is frayed or worn out. And what supplies the voltage thru those wires? Why the coil of course. If your YJ still has the factory coil mounted to the firewall, then chances are you aren’t producing as good or as hot of a spark as you should be. Noxious fumes, poor performance and gas mileage is just the start of what you are allowing to happen by keeping that old coil in the system. A new coil for the YJ Wrangler is also less than $20 pretty much wherever you go, providing you’re not trying to go with an MSD system or something. The positive and negative posts on the factory coil simply clip into two female connectors on the ignition control module. Over time, these connections can get grimy and corroded, so if buying a new coil isn’t in the cards, you can help refresh the one you got by cleaning the contacts with a wire brush, spray them off with a little carb cleaner, and put some dielectric grease on them. Although it’s a pain to find the right bullet terminals, you can install an aftermarket coil mounted remotely if you build a couple of jumper wires. Really easy to do if you have the spare parts laying around. If you don’t want to trust the bullet connectors, you can use some spade-type connectors crimped onto the brass Ignition Control Module terminals. Be careful not to break off the fragile brass connectors though, or you’ll spend money on a new ignition module afterall. Run a couple tanks of premium through the system to help clean things out, and enjoy the newly restored power you now have back in your old YJ Wrangler.
Jeep Weather:
Hey Jeeper, Mitch here, today is the Eighth of November 2019, and it’s time for your weekend Going Topless-Jeep Weather Report. I was trying to convince my wife to cruise around in my Jeep Topless this weekend. This weekend here, the weather is doing a surprise turn back up to 80s and I wanted to have a bit of fun. Well that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, so… I’m out in my Jeep… alone. I guess, let’s get to the weather. Let’s start with all those lucky people at SEMA in Las Vegas, Nevada this week. There it will be a comfortable and sunny 79 on Friday and Saturday, and 78 on Sunday. From all the pictures people have been posting on Instagram, I know there is a lot of Toplessness happening at SEMA… oh and a lot of Jeeps are Topless too!
Well why not go Topless at the headquarters of Jeep? Toledo, Ohio will progressively get cloudier all weekend. 38 on Friday, 42 on Saturday, and 45 on Sunday. At least it’ll get progressively warmer too, making it easier to keep your Top off. Lastly, try going Topless in Oliver Springs, Tennessee. It is as perfect as we can get in continental U.S. during wintertime without risking surfing on hurricanes. Sunny with 49 on Friday, 55 on Saturday, 62 on Sunday. Just have all your headlights on and out at night while Topless, we don’t need you becoming an inspiration for a horror film. Now listener, my wife might have caught onto who I was trying to have Go Topless this weekend. Mostly because I have a Patriot and my Jeep isn’t the one who would be topless. I hope you have better luck than me with getting Topless… Jeeps.
Monday here in the U.S. of A is Veterans Day, so I’d like to thank all the service members listening for their service to their countries. Thank you! If you have any suggestions or want to know YOUR local weather in an upcoming episode. Go to JeepTalkShow.com slash contact in order to find all the ways to get a message to me. I’m Mitch and It’s always great weekend to Go Topless if you’re brave enough! Just Go Topless responsibly.
Wheeling Where:
Big Dogs Offroad – Toys for Tots Dirtfest
November 30-December 1
The Cove – Gore, Virginia
More Info: https://bigdogsoffroad.com/html/toys_for_tots.html
Charity event, all toys will go to the Quantico Marine base toys for tots program.
Shriners Ride
December 7
High Lifter Off Road Park – Shreveport, Louisiana
More Info: https://www.hlprovinggrounds.com/
Links Mentioned in Episode 410:
http://www.blackmagicbrakes.com/
https://www.extremeterrain.com/jeep-wrangler-fluid-capacities.html
http://www.j-barr.com/
https://www.tuffy.com/
https://www.boltlock.com/
https://www.viaircorp.com/
http://theroadchoseme.com/