Episode 417 – The only constant is change
This Week In Jeep:
YOUR tree may be pretty, but mine is….
I don’t know about you, but the lights and ornaments just can’t come down soon enough. Its what…? 360 some odd days till christmas? …and half my neighbors already have their lights up! (some people…) I’m so done with the holiday season I’m about to throw myself off the Nakatomi building right behind Hans Gruber. As fast as he plummeted to earth, the recent record set by auto tuning company Hennessy Motors probably has poor Hans beat. Although there likely isn’t an official “fastest christmas tree over land” speed record, one has now been set.
The tree made it through the woods to grandma’s house, and back in record time. In official terms, on December 19th 2019, at the Continental Tire Proving Grounds in Uvalde, Texas, a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee with Hennessey’s HPE1000 upgrade kit, reached 181 mph with a six-foot Douglas Fir from Lowe’s strapped down on a suction-cup roof rack. Like I said, I’m pretty sure this “specific” record, has never before been set. However, if this is giving you a sense of Deja-Vu, you’re probably remembering the other Christmas stunt Hennesy pulled off back in 2017.
Back then they took a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody to 174 mph with a smaller tree on its roof. In both cases, you can be sure there was a whole trail of pine needles left on the track. If you wanna check out the Grand Cherokee Christmas Tree run to end all runs, we’ll have a link to the youtube video in the show notes for this episode.
Too Many Of a Good Thing?
Fiat Chrysler dealers are complaining the automaker is building too many unordered cars they don’t want, forcing them to make an all-out push to clear away tens of thousands of vehicles that its dealers haven’t ordered. The industry term for this is called a “sales bank.” And FCA reps have long disputed the term as it applies to the automaker’s brand-new sales analytics tool. This tool attempts to predict exactly how many vehicles, and the exact vehicle trims it should build over the year and when. The tool was introduced by a former Amazon executive in 2018. According to reports, it saved FCA more than $400 million in the third quarter alone.
All that savings aside, the company’s 2400 U.S. dealers are claiming that FCA has been loading up their available inventory with tens of thousands of extra vehicles that they haven’t ordered. Dealers say the sales bank, relegates them to buy vehicles they view as less desirable and are likely to move slower off their lots. Now what this means for you and I, is that now may be the best time to buy a new car from any of FCA’s mainstream brands. But why? It basically boils down to supply and demand. Although the guestimator tool FCA is using to determine how many of what vehicle to build may be off in its numbers slightly, this means there is going to be an abundance of what dealers consider slow moving vehicles. Base models, ugly colors, you get the idea. The bottom line is that you have a chance now to take advantage of all that “employee pricing plus” commercials they are saturating the radio and tv markets with right now. It may not be your ideal Jeep or Ram truck, but you ‘ll likely pay a whole hell of a lot less than your neighbor down the street did for the same rig.
Wrangler Talk:
Hello JTS listener, First I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy Holidays. So one of the common questions that I get out on the trail is what do I carry in my recovery bag, and no it is not a triple A card for out on the trails. Well first on this talk I would like to say that when out on the trail you should always have your thunder buddy with you. Wheeling alone is not safe and just down right stupid. I want everyone out there to be safe and make sure that everyone gets home in one piece. The jeep can come home in one piece but the buddy system is always key. The first and most important item is a comfortable So, to start with you are going to need recovery points, and not I am not talking about just wrapping a tow strap around your front axle or control arm and calling it a day. I am talking about a frame mounted hook that will provide a proper point to pull the entire jeep out of the mud or off the rocks. There are many different types of recovery points out on the market and if you are buying an aftermarket bumper you should be set. Also, it is a very good idea to have a recovery point on the front and rear of your jeep because you never know what type of situation you are going to get yourself into out on the trails. As we all know you might be the leader of the group and need a tow all the way back to the parking lot by a fellow host or a tow out of a deep mud puddle when snapping a rear driveshaft. Yes, thank you Tammy for leading my group the rest of that day. Although when talking about recovery points I would like to cover the fact that a hitch is not a safe recovery point. I have seen picture and witnessed on of the 2-inch balls breaking off the threaded shaft and going through the rescuer’s windshield and let me tell you it is really hard explaining that one to the insurance company. So, no you have your recovery points on the front and rear of your jeep the next item you are most likely going to need to get yourself out of that tight situation is a tow strap. So now your best friend to find a tow strap is going to be harbor freight. They sell great high rated tow straps for cheap, but when looking at the tow straps look at the curb weight of your rig and multiple it by 4. When doing this that will give you the minimum tow rating you will need in the strap. So, If your rig weighs 4 thousand pounds you will need a 16 thousand pound tow strap, this is just a good safety factor to have when pulling someone out of the mud or off the rocks. I personally have about 4 different sized tow straps from harbor freight and I can say that at least one or more will get used when out on the trails and yes there was one day when I had to break out all 4 and that was still not enough. So, go to harbor freight and get our self a few tow straps in different lengths and they will come in handy when hitting the trails. The next item that you will need to carry in your recovery back is a couple D-rings. Cause well have are you going to link all those tow straps together and be able to get them back apart after using them all. Yes, that is the key wording, getting them back apart because if you just use the eye holes to link all the straps together you might be there for a little while trying to get them apart. So invest in a set of d-rings and once again multiple your curb weight by 4 and start with that for the break force on your d-ring. So the next item you should have in your bag and this might sound weird but put an adjustable wrench in your bag. The only reason I am saying this is because when you are out on the trail this might be the most useful tool you will come across. It is really nice just knowing exactly where this tool is and the ease of grabbing it quickly. Finally, the last thing to add to your recovery bag is a snatch block, and the reason why I say the last thing to add to your bag is a snatch block is because you need a winch. So a snatch block is a is a pulley that you can separate in half that will go around your winch cable that you can double your pulling capacity. Although then it comes to snatch blocks you have make sure that your snatch block is compatible with the style of cable you have on your winch. So lets cover what you should have in your bag. You need a comfortable set of gloves, a couple tow straps, a good set of d-rings, an adjustable wrench and a snatch block if you have a winch. Thank you for listening to this week’s wrangler talk and remember if you have questions or comments contact us at jeeptalkshow.com/contact. Thank you for listening and talk you to next week.
Jeep Life:
Being Flexible
Tony and Josh, my Jeep Life segment tonight was going to be about Being Flexible on Jeep Trips. A lesson I learned during my adventure. It’s always good to have a plan, but it’s important to be able to deviate from that plan. Something I wasn’t really good at… adapting to unplanned changes. When I finally accepted that on our trip I realized those deviations turned out to be a good thing. So instead of relating the theme “Being Flexible” to Jeep trips I wanted to share how I am having to relate this to my life. You all know I lost my job. So many Jeep folks reached out to me and gave me lots of support and told me once a door closes and new door will open. Well that door has opened. My life is getting ready to make a huge change. The next couple of weeks are going to be a huge adjustment for me. I am still going to be a part of the Jeep Talk Show. Just how we are still working out. I will be sending in my Jeep Life segments for the time being until we can get all the details worked out. You will have tune in to my YouTube channel. The Jeep Momma…. On Sunday I will be sharing what the open door is all about. It’s going to be super exciting and life changing and really scary at the same time.
Tech Talk With Jeep Talk:
You don’t have to know how to draw to find one.
Electrical drains can be a pain in the you know what. Your ordinarily trustworthy Jeep has left you stranded. Thinking it would start right up for you when you came back to it, you’ve instead found nothing but a dead battery and no explanation. Oh sure maybe you left the dome light on, or that sticky or worn ignition switch didn’t quite turn all the way off before you removed the key. Yes, believe it or not, I’ve seen ignitions so worn, the tumblers and key so rounded, that you can literally remove the key from the ignition with Jeep still running. But that’s not you. YOU wouldn’t leave the CB on or the dome light blazing, so what happened? Electronics fail. It’s just a fact of life. Wiring and connections over time deteriorate, and systems will eventually suffer some form of an issue in its life. Not to worry, there’s some easy troubleshooting that any of us can do to help narrow down the troubled circuit. The method I’m going to teach you today has been around for decades, and is one of the most simplest ways to determine which of the many circuits in your older Jeep’s wiring has a parasitic draw on it. For those who may be new to vehicle electronics or who just don’t have the experience, a parasitic draw or drain is a term for an electrical component in your vehicle consuming electricity when it shouldn’t, even after it and the vehicle has been shut off. Drains and draws like this can cause all sorts of headaches, especially in newer Jeeps. If you are having an issue where your Jeep is dead every time you try and start it, but fires right up with a jump, and your battery is less than 5 years old, there’s a good chance you have a draw.
Parasitic drains can present a tiny or massive load on the battery, robbing it of critical voltage quickly, or in the case of a small drain, reduce the longevity of your battery over time. Fixing this issue can be as varying as the Jeep owner themself, so I wont be able to give you specific direction for that, but I will be able to give you the means to track down this drawn and potentially do something about it. There are a few ways to go about this, but today you’re going to learn “The Fuse Pull Method” to determine which circuit is the culprit. This method is by no means the only way to find a draw, and wont work on newer CAN system Jeeps. The only tools you’re going to need are some basic hand tools for removing a battery terminal, and a simple test light, like the ones found on every parts store tool shelf for under $10. The first step is to pull the negative wire off the battery. Put the test light’s alligator clip on the battery post, and wedge the probe side into a crevice on the ground wire terminal you just removed. If the light illuminates, you have a draw. There are systems that will naturally have a slight draw, like the stereo, it has a constant hot wire that ensures your settings and presets are remembered after you turn the key off. You will of course want to make sure you have the glove box closed if it has a light, and the doors too so the dome light is off. And if your jeep has an under-hood light, remove the bulb. This will eliminate a lot of those false positives you’d get otherwise. Using the owner’s manual as a guide or a print-out of your fuse block and what each fuse does, start pulling fuses. One by one, pull a fuse until the light goes out. When the light goes out, you found the circuit that has a draw. Yes this is going to be tedious, and yes it is going to take some time. BUT it will help you identify where the problem is and maybe point you in the right direction of a repair. Maybe it’s those new off road lights, and the relay is sticking slightly. Or that CB has an internal short, or perhaps the ECU (the Jeep’s brain) has gone bad in some way.
It could literally be a thousand different things, and each Jeep is different and will require a different repair. Hopefully this will help you with yours. Next week, we’ll be going over another method to do the same thing. We’ll be talking about how to do a voltage drop test on your modern Jeeps electrical system to find a draw.
Must Have Stuff for your Jeep:
Smittybilt ATLAS Door Steps – $82.99 (free shipping) Fitment: (2007-2020 Wrangler JK/JL) Attached to your Jeep’s doors at the hinge point, these steps allow you to climb up and reach your roof easily. The steps can support up to 350 lbs of weight. Made from steel, not plastic, these steps are safe and durable. Each step body is black powder coated and the steps themselves feature a clear zinc coating (both designed to eliminate corrosion.) The design features a foldable highly textured step for a safe grip as well. There’s a lot of things you can use the roof of your Jeep for, but you have to be able to reach it easily and safely first. https://www.extremeterrain.com/smittybilt-atlas-door-steps-0718-jk.html
Wheeling Where:
California Four Wheel Drive Association – Winter Fun Festival
January 24th – 26th
Grass Valley, California
More Info: https://cal4wheel.com/events
Arizona Military Vehicle Collectors Club – 29th Annual Arizona Military Vehicle Show
January 25th – 26th
Tempe, Arizona
More Info: http://armytrucks.org/