Episode 451 – Centerforce Clutches and WARN Wheels!
This episode brought to you in part by, ExtremeTerrain! ExtremeTerrain has released a new video aimed at helping Jeep Wrangler owners choose the best soft top just in time for their summer adventures. The video is an upgrade to XT’s comprehensive Jeep tops tech guide covering everything needed to help customers shop, swap, maintain and winterize their top with confidence.
This Week In Jeep:
Warn (The Winch Company) Is Making Jeep Wheels!
There is no doubt that WARN winches and Jeeps are almost synonymous with one another. And in fact, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who knew about winches but never heard the WARN name. Aside from making world famous world class winches for the front of our JEeps, WARN is also known for their manual locking hubs as well. WARN is now trying their hand at making Jeep wheels, and to be honest, they look pretty sweet. Just this week, WARN in a world wide press release announced that they are officially entering the wheel market. The statement reads: “WARN Epic Wheels are TPMS-compatible and work with factory lug nuts. They’re also tested to meet stringent SAE J2530 certification for durability, ensuring a long service life both on and off the trail. Additionally, WARN Epic Wheels are covered by a lifetime structural warranty.” Right now, the only line Warn has is the Epic line, which is meant for Jeep Wrangler JKs, current-gen JLs, and JT pickups. They’re hub-centric cast-aluminum wheels weighing in at just over 24 pounds apiece, sized 17×8.5 with a 5×5 (5×127) bolt pattern and 0 offset. That lack of an offset may become a problem if 1 ton steering is used, and I’ve seen aluminum wheels get utterly destroyed in the rocks, but that will remain to be seen with these. As far as price goes, well consider this… WARN is a top-tier offroad accessories manufacturer, and most of what they sell comes at a premium price. So if you were thinking these brand spanking new wheels from WARN Industries were going to be cheap, think again, especially considering they come with a lifetime warranty. There are three designs in the Epic line to choose from currently, Diamond Cutter, Jackhammer, and Moonsault… and they are all currently listed on WARN’s website for about $260 each. That’s not outrageous as far as truck wheels go, but it’s no soft 8 either. All three wheel designs are also available in a matte black or a gunmetal grey. Personally, I think they look pretty cool, and they even incorporated a nod of the cap to the original locking hub design in the layout of the center caps. I think it may be time to reach out to Warn again for another interview especially considering they have some cool new products out. My personal favorite is hands down the Diamond Cutter model in Gunmetal Grey. What’s yours? https://www.warn.com/products-epic-wheels
The Debate Is Over!
If you’ve been an offroader for any length of time, you are undoubtedly aware of the long standing feud between Jeepers and Toyota owners. No I’m not talking about the Wrangler vs. Prius crowd, although that is hilarious for sure… What I’m talking about is how every Tacoma owner thinks every Jeep owner is a pretentious snob who doesn’t know the first thing about wheeling, and how every Jeeper has first hand knowledge of Toyota owners making the rest of us offroaders look bad by their trail etiquette. Well now that debate has extended to ON ROAD vehicles as well. And after this week’s video which has gone viral on multiple platforms, showing a Toyota Tacoma owner, deliberately pushing a Wrangler into a pair of motorcycle cops, I’d say the debate is over, and Toyota lost big time! And before you jump down my throat for being insensitive or making assumptions, yes… it was very much deliberate. How can I tell you ask? Well, you can CLEARLY see and hear the Toyota owner getting pissy and impatient because the line of traffic isn’t moving as fast as they want. After demonstrating to everyone watching that his manhood is being measured with the increase of the revving intensity, he then steps up his outbursts by lunging the truck multiple times toward the Jeep in front of him. As it usually goes with Tacoma owners they don’t know how to stay off the skinny pedal, and this douche bag’s display of impatience further proves this trend among these people, and will likely have landed him in Jail on charges of oh i dunno, let’s see here, public endangerment, reckless or at the very least negligent driving, assault with a vehicle, I mean we can go on and on. Thankfully no one was hurt in the video, but it cuts off right before the one cop who was ejected from his bike gets up and nearly drags the passenger out of the Toyota and out onto the street for what would be a vicious beatin… I mean detaining them in a civil manner. I hope this person gets the book thrown at them, and the passenger too for not doing something to stop this kind of behavior, like pulling the keys out of the ignition and calming the roid-rage from this testicularly challenged individual. The video says it all, and shows it in stunning high definition. If you want to see it for yourself, we’ll post up the link in the show notes for this episode at Jeeptalkshow.com https://youtu.be/Mjwwan05pZ8
If only these two could win “Teacher of the Year”
First-grade teacher Patricia Dovi will pull up to St. Barnabas Episcopal School in DeLand, Florida, on the first day of school in her Jeep. She’ll walk down a hallway and head into her classroom, where she’ll be met with 13 mini-Jeeps, which will function as her students’ desks for the entire year. The Jeeps are actually a clever approach to help ensure that her students are social distancing in the classroom. In the classroom next door, what do we see? …why it’s Kim Martin’s classroom which is also filled with similar desks resembling the famous vehicle. The two first-grade teachers share curriculum and learning plans, and this year, their classrooms will both feature the Jeeping desks. The idea came about when a colleague showed Dovi a similar concept from an elementary school teacher in Texas. Dovi, who is obsessed with Jeeps, immediately wanted to recreate the design. The school supplied the Plexiglas tri-folds, and Dovi and Martin paid for the decorations out of pocket. Martin estimates that the desks took about seven days to complete. With the help of friends and family, each of the students will find their own Jeep waiting for them when they get to school on August 26. To make things more personable, on the first day of class, the students will get to design their own license plate for their Jeeps. Martin said she’s embracing a highway theme and Dovi is implementing outdoor and camping elements throughout her classroom decorations. Mark Allen, the head of Jeep exterior design, saw the tweet that went out earlier this week, and said he was impressed by the teachers’ imagination and ingenuity. Schools across the country are currently balancing how to welcome students back into the classroom while keeping them safe. Some argue that plastic dividers will help, but many think they’re still not enough. Either way, I approve of this concept and feel that even if in the future these dividers were deemed not necessary anymore, that the teachers would just cut large openings in the plastic, and give the kids that open air Jeep experience.
Jeep Life:
Lesson 3 Learned on the Rubicon Trail
Tony, Josh and Wendy. $818 for a new windshield. I am so thankful it was covered on my insurance. I only had to pay $100. I’m not sure what other vehicles’ glass cost but for the Wrangler’s OEM Glass with the seven slot grille up near the rear view mirror and the little Willy’s Jeep on the rocks on the passenger side… you know… Those Jeep Easter Eggs. The glass alone was $622. I was able to also keep my 2 FBomb stickers from the old windshield. So my 3rd Lesson Learned on the Rubicon Trail. This is a lesson I started learning when I took my first off road trip across the country. It’s knowing the difference between Plan and Prepare. A plan is always good to have but something off roaders / overlanders / Jeepers need to know. A plan can disappoint you. A plan can prevent you from seeing or doing something amazing. We had a very detailed plan for our Across America Adventure. However we had to deviate from it from the moment I left my driveway. That was really hard for me. I am a planner. I plan all the details. When a plan doesn’t go as planned I get upset. It will ruin my adventure. SO after a few days on that trip I learned to let the Adventure lead me. Because of that attitude we saw things we wouldn’t have seen. We did things we hadn’t planned and we met so many amazing people we never would have met. When you are flexible on your adventure it opens up your ability to take that side road. I worked really hard to remember that when we were getting ready for the Rubicon Trail. One Jeeper who was going to go with us kept asking us what our Plan was. She wanted a detailed day by day where we were planning on wheeling and camping. We shared the meet up time and gave a list of things to Prepare for and a couple of possible “leave the trail” days. She wasn’t up for that and needed a more detailed Plan. This is where Planning and Preparing differ and being Prepared as an off roader / overlander is way more important. Planning can disappoint. Being Prepared makes the trip so much more fun. Preparing for all possible outcomes makes for a better trip. When we headed up Icehouse Road to the trail head it took longer than I expected and I had to keep reminding myself to chill and it’s okay we are off schedule. I kept remembering my trip from this past fall. It’s okay to have a plan but you need to be flexible to deviate from that plan. It is much more important to be prepared. Extra food, extra water, recovery gear, warm clothes, extra gas etc. Be prepared for breaking down, Be prepared for bad weather, Be prepared to help others on the trail. Prepare your mind mentally to expect the unexpected. It is a really good idea to discuss all the possible preparations needed. This will make your experience so much better. Next week Lesson Learned number 4
Interview with:
Will Baty – Center Force Clutch
Will has been working at Centerforce for the past 32 years, doing R&D and Marketing. An off-road enthusiast for decades, Will entered the Jeep world in the last few years with the purchase of his Jeep JKU and has been in love ever since. On the weekends you can find Will exploring the mountains and trails of Arizona. Centerforce Performance Clutch, Headquartered in Prescott, Arizona, is proud to be recognized as the leading manufacturer of performance clutch and pressure plate systems in the USA.
Newbie Nuggets:
A funny thing happened
We had family over this weekend to celebrate my husband’s dads b-day (which was in March but we couldn’t get together) and Bill decides to take a few of the family members out on a quick jeep run. Just to give them a chance to see or do something they probably would not be able to do since they do not own a jeep. He decides that he is going to take his dad, and his brother and his brother’s wife out and just do the first obstacle on Gold Mountain. I asked if he had anyone else going with him and he said, “don’t need it, it’s just the first obstacle, only about 6 miles round trip from home and we have the radios so I can communicate with you, so we are all good”. Well, Bill is an experienced jeeper and knows a lot of stuff and I have driven that part of the trail and it’s fairly easy going and if anything happens Bill can handle it. Who am I to argue, I’m a newbie still (sort of). So off they went. They got to the bottom of the trail and aired down and Bill checked in with us and surprisingly we had a clear signal with the radios. He proceeded up the trail while I, my dad and my father-in-law’s wife stayed at the house and played cards. Great break for us and I know his dad wanted to do the run, since that’s the kind of stuff Bill learned from his dad growing up. Some time had passed and I realized I hadn’t heard from them. I wasn’t too worried but it did give me a reason to pause and think of all the possible issues one could have on that trail. Those thoughts quickly passed as I know Bill is experienced and can handle anything. About 20 minutes later he checks in. This is what he said, “You’re not going to believe this, but I ran out of gas”. I said, “WHAT? How is that possible? It’s the first thing we check and make sure of before we go off trial?” He said, “I was heading back down the second obstacle and stopped the jeep on a steep downhill slope, just above the hardest part of the second obstacle, so my brother could get out and take some pictures. As I sat waiting for him to take the pictures, the gas ran to the front of the gas tank and left the pick-up tube for the pump dry and couldn’t get fuel to the engine”. He mentions to me that he didn’t actually run out of gas…. It was just such a steep angle and the 1/3 tank of gas wasn’t enough to cover the pickup pump.” It literally ran out of gas, even though there was 1/3 of a tank when he left the house. First off: why did he go to the second obstacle without another jeep? Second: I couldn’t wait to share this story on the show because my husband is the BEST wheeler I know and to have this happen is simply priceless! Ok it gets better – so he discovers that they can’t push the jeep off the obstacle and downhill because it’s stuck in a hole or rut at the base of the obstacle, so it’s essentially stuck going downhill!!!! So Bill gets out and has to use the winch to pull himself, downhill! Did you get that, downhill!! BUT to make all this work, he has to be in the driver’s seat, with the brake on (no power steering or power brakes), while he uses the winch AND controls the jeep so it doesn’t keep on going downhill. OK I don’t know about you, but I was laughing the whole time he told me what he had to do. I was envisioning him trying to do all this with a bum hip and no help from the family – they didn’t have a clue on what to do. He truly is an experienced jeeper and handy at all things. He managed to get the jeep off the obstacle to a level part of the hill and the gas filled back up and he was able to start the jeep and continue on. Who would have thought this could have happened? Oh I love a good trail story but it made me realize that in all the episodes I really didn’t talk about the gas level. So three things I want to emphasize today. 1) Always make sure you have a full tank when you go out. Even a 1/3 tank of gas on a short run can cause some interesting obstacle challenges, like running out of gas on an incline or decline! 2) Have a good form of commutation, like a CB or Ham radio 3) Always go out with someone else (or leave a flight plan). Even if it’s an easy trail. Had he not had a winch to get himself free, he would still be there or he would have had to call someone else to come help because I was NOT going to leave my card game to go get him. So don’t be a Bill and go out alone on a black diamond trail with only a 1/3 of a tank – I don’t care how experienced you are or how capable your jeep is, you just never know when you might park on a steep slope and you need to winch yourself out – downhill. Now his family had a great time and got a very real experience in jeeping, and I’m sure we will laugh about this for a while – I’m still laughing just because this could have gone downhill badly, but everything turned out OK. And on another good note, the radios performed beautifully. I guess we had a great line-of-sight for the signal. Good thing Huh?
Must Have Stuff:
Olympia Tools Adjustable Wrench 24 Inches $36.95 Adjustable up to 2.5” or 63.5mm The Olympia Tools 01-024 Adjustable Wrench is crafted from hardened and tempered drop-forged alloy steel. Chrome plated and fully polished to resist corrosion, the Olympia Tools 01-024 Adjustable Wrench features precision machined jaws and a knurled adjustment worm. The jaw opening is 2.50-inch/64-mm. Andy’s nuts are 57mm, ahhh lower long arm nuts. https://amzn.to/2YC5TZB
Wheeling Where:
Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion
Aug 20-22
LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, TN
https://www.mypigeonforge.com/event/great-smoky-mountain-jeep-invasion
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Center Force Clutch https://www.centerforce.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CenterforceClutches
https://www.facebook.com/CenterforceClutch
Olympia Tools Adjustable Wrench 24 Inches $36.95 https://amzn.to/2YC5TZB
WARN Jeep Wheels https://www.warn.com/products-epic-wheels
Toyota Pushes Jeep into Police https://youtu.be/Mjwwan05pZ8
Jeep 4-1-1 https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver