Episode 422 – RIP Kobe Bryant – Jeeper
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This Week In Jeep:
Did you know that Kobe Bryant was a Jeeper?
On October 26th 2010, Kobe Bryant made national news about being Jeeper. Choosing to drive his brand spanking new, fully customized 2011 Jeep Wrangler Call Of Duty Black Ops Edition to the season opening game in LA. The Jeep was gifted to him by videogame developer Activision to help promote the upcoming release of the game by the same name. Kobe Bryant made national news one last time on January 26th 2020 when the helicopter he was travelling in crashed killing all aboard. RIP Kobe.
Will Russia Ever Warm Up To Jeep?
We’ve long been reporting about Jeep’s goals for global domination. And they’ve stuck to the plan of offering a diverse class of vehicles that can do well in any market. It’s true, lookaround to any main street usa, and you’re bound to find a Jeep parked there. But the same cant be said for the world round. But Jeep is working on that. It;s true that Jeep has a decent worldwide popularity, but there are countries where this isn’t the case. According to a report by Wards Auto, Jeep sales in Russia are fledgling at best, but are on an upswing coming out of 2019. Jeep sold just 8,221 units in 2014, a number that dropped 75% to just over 2,000 units in 2015, then a further 38.8% to 1,269 units in 2016. With a trend like that, it’d be tough for FCA to justify keeping a foothold in the Russian market let alone pour even more time and money into its minuscule market share. While things started to look up in 2018, with sales climbing 39% and another 17% for the majority of 2019 to 1,653 units, Jeep is nowhere near where it’d like to be in the world’s largest country. Despite the less than stellar sales numbers, FCA sees potential in Russia with updated model lineups helping the recent uptick in performance along with competitors Ford and General Motors ceasing all manufacturing operations in the country all together. This year, Jeep will introduce an updated Wrangler, Compass and Gladiator to try and capitalize on the potential winning situation.
Jeep Returning To Superbowl With Full Length Ad and Big Celebrity… Maybe
You know I don’t like to base too much on assumptions. My old Engineering professor told me that assumptions only make an a….well you know the old saying. So when I get wind of a groundhog movie reunion story starring Bill F-ing Murray in a Jeep commercial, I think no way. That’s gotta be some sort of weird coincidence right, since Superbowl Sunday is ON groundhogs day this year. Well if the CIA taught me anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as coincidences. Especially since Bill and Stephen Tobolowsky (the actor who played the annoying friend from high school) were spotted together in Woodstock Ill. where the 1993 comedy was filmed.Jeep’s parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has not officially confirmed the details of this year’s Super Bowl ad. Falling back on their legal mumbo jumbo their blanket statement has been ((QUOTE)) “The Jeep brand does not comment on the details of on-going video productions (its own, or that of outside partners) that may feature any of its Jeep vehicles.” So I guess we just need to tune and and remember… DON’T DRIVE ANGRY! This year’s Super Bowl, which will see the San Francisco 49ers face off against the Kansas City Chiefs, will air Sunday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on Fox.
Wrangler Talk:
Spyder Gears and what they are all about.
Hello JTS listener and welcome to this week’s wrangler talk where we are going to be getting back into the differential of our jeeps. Specifically, we are going to be talking about Spider Gears. In one of my previous segments I covered lockers and how they work but now what is the gearing system that housed inside your differential or the system that is activated when the locker is disengaged. Also, if you are looking for more information on lockers it is episode 406. So, in your differential there is this cast metal housing called the carrier that houses a specific set if gears called spider gears. These gears allow the distribution of power to both wheels when we are going around a turn. So, when we are going around a turn our outside wheels will begin to turn at a faster speed then our inner wheels. This is due to the amount of distance that the wheel needs to travel to make the turn possible. Although if we did not have spider gears housing in our differential it would make this process very difficult, especially on pavement where our tires have a lot of grip. Without a differential meaning a solid axle shaft or if a locker is engaged we will have a solid shaft traveling through the center of the axle linking both wheel on one solid shaft and when taking a turn will cause the inner wheel slip of hop when taking the turn. Spider gears consist of two outer gears that have the splines located inside them that allow our axle shafts to be inserted into them and then there is a center bar that runs through the carrier and the center of another set of gears that mesh with the spline gears. Both the outer gears and the spider gears are called bevel gears meaning that the gears are oriented at 90 degrees of each other. Finally, there is 4 washers like pieces of metal which act as thrust bearing, allow they allow gear fluid to pass into the inner sleeves of the spider gears. So, what happens when our spider gears start going bad. Well there are a lot of different scenarios that can happen however there are a few common ones that will be true signs that your spider gears are failing you. First, I want to say that all of these scenarios will end in the need of replacing your spider gears, which can be a daunting process, but I will cover that to briefly. So, the first failure is that your spider gears begin to chip and crack. This means that the teeth of the spider gear or the outer gear begin to chip and will lead to sharp edges in the gear mesh and can lead to bigger failure. If this begins to happen, you should start to notice an audible whirling nose or clicking noise when making a turn. This is caused by those sharp edges on the gears. Another possible failure is one of the gear teeth completely cracking out of its location and cause a gap in the meshing process. This will lead to a louder clicking noise when making a sharp turn. Let me tell you it is very noticeable. Yes, I did have this happen to me and you want to address this issue quickly. With both of these failures there is the possibility of these fragment getting suspended in our gear fluid housed inside our differential and making their way on to our ring gear then doing damage to our ring and pinion gear and let me tell you that is a whole lot more expensive than just cleaning out the spider gear fragments and replacing them. Secondly both of these failures can lead to the loss of power distribution to your wheels when driving on or off road which is not good at all. So now onto the replacement of the spider gears. Replacing your spider gears does sound kind of daunting especially when you open up your differential however it really is not. So first you will need to remove your axle shafts from your axle housing This can be a bit of a job, but it is pretty straight forward. First remove your brakes, calipers, caliper mounting brackets and rotors. Then you can access your axle nut. This will need to be removed to get the wheel unit bear out of the knuckle assembly then after the unit bearing is removed your axle shaft should slide right out, and yes, I know it seems like a lot but in reality it is only 8 bolts and one nut so yeah pretty simple. Then you will have to repeat this process for the opposite side of the axle housing. Now on to the differential housing and you will want to have a drip pan or oil pan to catch the draining gear oil from the differential. So, drain out all the gear oil, this will make removing the diff cover a lot less messy. After you have the cover off you can access the Differential bearing caps, these bearing caps are specific to the side that they are located on, so I personally would mark them somehow. Best practice is using a punch and scoring the bearing cap. No this will not harm the bearing cap in anyway. Now all you have to do is remove the bearing caps and then the differential carrier will be free. Now there are bearing shims on each side of the differential theses are even more important to keep straight then the bearing caps so place them in a very safe place labeling them somehow left and right. This time do not use the punch to score them or anything, just place them in a plastic bag or something labeling them left and right. Now that the differential carrier is out we can replace the spider gears. On one side of the center shaft there is a set pin retaining the center shaft in the carrier. You will need to remove this pin and then all the gears will be free from the carrier. Now just replace the spider gears and do all the steps I just walked you through backwards. However, there are certain nuts and bolts that will need to be torqued to specific specifications so just consult google for the correct torque specifications and you are done you just replaced your spider gears. Thank you for listening to this week’s wrangler talk and remember to head over to our website at jeeptalkshow.com/contact and send us an email or leave us a voice message if you have any questions. Talk to you next week on the wrangler talk.
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Number 5 : It adds 15 horsepower to your engine!
Number 4: Having a mental illness makes you feel a little better when you know you’re not the only one!
Number 3: People will think you are diverse, cultured, eclectic, and enjoy the finer tastes in life.
Number 2: All fuel stations in the US will give you a 15% discount on your fuel purchase!
And the Number 1 reason you need a Jeep Talk Show sticker on your Jeep! People asking “What’s the Jeep Talk Show”? Then asking “What’s a podcast”?
Interview with:
Ferenc – Overlanding Enthusiast – https://overlandsite.com/
Originally a lawyer, Ferenc has lived in 7 different countries and travelled through ten times more than that. Having recently left the corporate world in the City of London, during the last few years he has been focusing on overlanding, where he can combine two things he is most passionate about: cars and traveling. His experience in overlanding comes from extensive trips on three different continents, with the latest being from Budapest to Singapore with a Land Cruiser 120 and a roof-top tent. He is blogging about his trips intensively. When not on the road, Ferenc lives with his travel companion Evelin, in Budapest, Hungary. Their website is overlandsite.com
Must Have Stuff for your Jeep:
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Jeep Weather:
Hey Jeeper, Mitch here, today is the 31st of January 2020, and it’s time for your weekend Going Topless-Jeep Weather Report. This week we start up north in the US of A in the state of Wisconsin. What’s there to do when it’ll be cloudy all weekend? Well, take your Jeep and go topless in Spread Eagle, Wisconsin. There it will be 32 Friday, 35 Saturday, and 42 on Sunday. Maybe getting wet while Jeeping topless is your thing, so the next location is for you, since it’ll be raining here all weekend. Named by the local native nation, this towns name means “hard to pole” since the banks of the of the river nearby with the same name was hard for them to anchor their canoes on. Well, I’m talking about Humptulips, Washington. Friday will be 52, Saturday 50, and Sunday that rain may turn to snow at 39 degrees. Back East you can find partially cloudy weather in Buttzville, New Jersey. Better for your pictures. Friday is 44, Saturday 45, and Sunday is 43. Alright, if New Jersey is too far East, I have a more central location for you. Sadly, here it will still be cloudy, but hey it’ll be warmer. French Lick, Indiana is where I’m sending you to go Topless in! Here it will be 41 on Friday with some rain or snow, continues to stay 41 on Saturday and cloudy, then lots of sun (relatively) at 57 on Sunday. Don’t forget to use the #JeepTalkShow on social media for us to see those pictures. Now I’m needing some help from you Listener; If you have any suggestions or want to know YOUR local weather in an upcoming episode. Go to JeepTalkShow.com/contact in order to find all the ways to get a message to me. I’m Mitch and its always great weekend to Go Topless if you’re brave enough! Just Go Topless responsibly.
Wheeling Where:
Spanaway Moonshiners Jeep Club – 4×4 Offroad & High Performance Swap Meet
March 8
Puyallup, Washington
More Info: http://moonshinersjeepclub.com/
Muddy Buddys Jeep Wrangler Club – Dayton Off Road Expo
February 29-March 1
Wilmington, Ohio
More Info: http://daytonoffroadexpo.com/
Links Mentioned in Episode 422:
Enter To Win one of THREE $1500 gift cards from Extreme Terrain https://www.extremeterrain.com/extremeterrain-monthly-wrangler-giveaway.html