Episode 716 – Side Of Jeep With This Meal
This Week In Jeep
Virginia Beach Jeep Fest – How’d It Go?
I want to give a shout-out to all the Jeepers that participated in some history-making a couple a few weeks back. Now ordinarily, you don’t associate a late fall month like November with outdoor automotive events. Especially ones Jeep related. November is most commonly known for falling leaves, cold wind, rain, and a diabetic coma from eating too much Halloween candy before gearing up for the mother of all feasts, Thanksgiving dinner. Nowhere in that does it scream outdoor Jeep Show-n-Shine to me, but Virginia decided to throw caution to the wind, and say screw you conventional timing, we’re doing this OUR way! And they did too. On the first weekend of November, the first Virginia Beach Jeep Fest made for quite a spectacle at the Oceanfront. Hosted by the City of Virginia Beach itself, Virginia Beach Events, IMGoing, and Delmarva Jeep Events, Jeep Fest was presented by Eastern Truck & Accessories and Hall Jeep of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. What made this event historical was the fact that this show was the first time that the public was allowed to drive on the sands of Virginia Beach. There was an early morning beach cruise on both Saturday and Sunday and a sand obstacle course where Jeeps could make their way across hills, rollers, and obstacles, and end with a photo op next to King Neptune.
The public was invited to watch the Jeeps from the boardwalk, and they turned out in droves to see the action unfold. After all, this was the first time that anyone had seen anything other than an emergency vehicle out on the sand, let alone a bunch of Jeeps. There were also several free events, including a 4×4 village where vendors showcased their products and services, and a display zone when Jeep owners were able to show off their Jeeps.
The event ended with a massive Jeep Show and Shine, with an awards show where participating Jeeps got to compete for votes and display their vehicles. Was it a success? For this first-time event, they had over 700 Jeepers register, so yeah… I think Virginia is doing the Jeep thing quite well. If you were at this event and would like to share your thoughts on the whole thing, we’d encourage you to call in and leave a voicemail, hit us up on any of our social media outlets, or you can always send us an email.
I Didn’t Order a Side Of Jeep With This Meal
Imagine if you will, it’s a lovely fall afternoon, the sky is clear, the wind is brisk and you decide to get out for the afternoon and go out to eat for lunch. After all, it’s a nice day and you could use some sunshine. You load up and head out, and pick a quaint little diner in the historic part of downtown Yorktown. They’re known for their incredibly delicious baked goods, excellent sandwiches, and overall great fare. You sit order and begin to take in the decor of the restaurant as your food arrives. The smell is enticing, the presentation is amazing, and you know that this is going to be one of the best damn lunches you’ve had in a long time. You go in for that first bite when all of a sudden there’s a White JK Willy’s sitting where your lunch used to be.
Daylight is now pouring through a giant hole in the wall where there used to be a Norman Rockwell painting and you’ve got a Jeep bumper in your lap. Your lunch is nowhere to be found. Thankfully no one was injured in this crash when a Jeep jumped a curb and crashed through the wall of a restaurant on Commerce Street in Yorktown Heights. Fire department officials said the vehicle had jumped a curb, went down an embankment, and through the wall of the occupied restaurant. Firefighters evacuated the building, secured the uninvited Jeep, and the building utilities, and checked the structural integrity of the building. Once the poor Willy’s was safely removed from the building, the Town of Yorktown Building Department inspected the structure.
You Know Who You Are…
Jeep Stuck on Bike Trail, Accident, or Challenge?
We’ve all known individuals like this. Maybe not the brightest bulb in the sign. Maybe lacks that common sense gene, and just can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble. But damn if he doesn’t have a sick Jeep. There was a guy who earned his nickname when I was president of the NW Chapter of NAXJA. He went night wheeling one time, and well, completely missed the trailhead marker that indicated that this particular, very steep, very narrow trail full of switchbacks and trees, was meant only for bikes and quads.
Hence his name from that night forward would forever be “QUAD TRAILS” … good guy though. Perhaps you’ve known someone of this ilk. Well, a new generation of this person has just been inducted into the dumb Jeeper hall of shame. Police responded to a local park in Florida, after a man in a Jeep got stuck while attempting to drive down a mountain bike trail. According to an incident report, the 43-year-old Ormond Beach man told police that he had just finished building the Jeep and thought the trail was open for utility vehicles. He allegedly didn’t realize it was a mountain bike trail. Riiiiight. The reporting officer noted that the man’s Jeep was stuck up to the axles in mud, right in the middle of the trail with a tree lodged in the right side of his front bumper. The man had attempted to remove his vehicle several times, but buried the Jeep in the mud and broke the Jeep’s winch in the process. Way to go Jeeper! Go big or go home right? According to the reports, he was eventually able to get the winch working again, and the man removed the Jeep off the trail in a safe manner. Local mountain bike enthusiasts however have started collecting donations to fund a manhunt for said Jeeper.
Tech Talk with Jeep Talk
TOPIC/QUESTION: Buying A Used Winch – (Part 1 of 2)
WINCH… I said WINCH! I learned my lesson about annunciating certain words on this show. After that debacle of a segment titled “how to break in your winch”, a few people misheard me and we got a lot of nasty emails. BUT THAT’S NOT WHY I’M CALLING.
A winch is a great tool, and when you need one you really need one. That means you need a winch you can count on because using it usually means it’s your last resort.
In today’s flooded market of inexpensive (dare I say cheap?) winches, … The perfect 
compromise between one of those $299 hot-off-the-boat Harbor Freight winches and a much better but much more expensive $1200 brand-new winch… is to buy a high-quality used winch. I will take an old-n-crusty, (but reliable) quality winch, over a brand-new cheap one that smells like toxic off-gassing plastic any day. And given that with some looking and a little know-how you can find a great used winch for a fraction of what a new high-quality one costs. So why wouldn’t you buy a used one?
I’ve “boughten” and/or installed my fair share of used winches over the years. And I have learned a few lessons about what to look for and what to avoid. For instance, I bet you didn’t know that High-quality, name-brand winches, are much like any other part of your Jeep, they can be rebuilt. A “slightly broken” older Warn, Ramsey, or Superwinch probably has a better chance of working when you absolutely need it than that brand-new junk from the discount tool store.
And by “slightly broken” I mean it doesn’t need much more than a few new parts and a little love to get it fully functional again. If that’s the case, then you can bet it will last longer than some unheard-of manufacturer’s winch with all the flashy modern bells and whistles. 
Who cares if it’s got a wireless key fob if it can’t even pull a beer out of the six-pack? I’ll take reliability over flashing LED lights and beeping indicators any day. So when it comes down to investing in something that might not only save your vehicle one day, but could save your life, then you need to be armed with as much advice as you can so that you can get that winch on the front of your Jeep sooner, and with more confidence. What we’re going to do is cover the different styles of winches out there, yes there are more than one.
We’ll cover load rating, and power consumption needs as well. We’ll go over some of the more common models you’re likely to come across when searching for a used winch. And we’ll outline the things you’ll need to know, will need to look out for, and how to identify them, and how to troubleshoot potential problems with that diamond in the rough you just found on Craigslist. And craigslist isn’t the only source here. Marketplace and offer-up are absolutely blowing up and it might be the same in your area too. Don’t forget about your local 4wd shop either, they might have some take-offs for sale, I know the ones around here do all the time.
These are going to be used winches pulled off another 4WD vehicle because the owner decided to upgrade and didn’t want the old one, or received a responsible offer from the shop to buy and resell the unit. Be sure to hook up with the local off-road clubs too (if you’re not already that is.) Jeepers are always upgrading, or trying to sell off the used and abused or outright broken gear to someone who can make use of it. Keep a diligent eye out, as you’ll be able to ask detailed questions about the previous owner’s use of the winch, and might be able to get a screaming deal. Smaller used car lots, and Auto auctions could also be a source. Oftentimes a vehicle is stripped of much of its aftermarket goodies before it goes to the block, as they carry a higher value in a private sale outside the auction. It might take a little more footwork, but you just might find the deal of a lifetime too. And yes, of course, there’s eBay. But shipping on a used winch might be a bit much and well sort of goes against the concept of buying a winch on a budget. Ok, now that we know the kinds of places WHERE to look for used winches, let’s talk about WHAT to look for.
The first step to buying a used winch is to know what you’re looking for. You’ll need to decide what style of winch you want. A low-profile one? Maybe one of the older classic upright winches to match the look of that CJ7…? Chances are however a PTO winch is probably going to be off your radar, so I’m going to avoid talking about those altogether. And we’ll go ahead and assume you don’t have an existing hydraulic system on your Jeep, so we’ll avoid hydraulic winch systems as well. Most people opt for the more common wide drum style of winches that you see more and more on the front of Jeeps. Now that we have a basic idea of the shape of the winch we’re looking for, we’re going to need to figure out what size or how heavy a rating you’ll need for your rig. A good rule of thumb is to take the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and multiply it by 1.5. For example, if you’ve got 
something like a 2016 JK Wrangler Rubicon two-door. You can find the GVWR rating on the sticker that has the manufacture date code, or sometimes along with the tire information sticker. These can typically be found in the door jamb on the driver’s side. Or a quick visit to Jeep’s website shows the vehicle’s GVWR is right about 5,400 lbs. Multiply this by 1.5 and you’ll get your minimum capacity. In this case, it’s 8,100 lbs. So with that information, we know that an 8000 lb rated winch is a good place to start, but for some extra grunt, you can move up to a 9,0000 or 9,500 lb. winch. Remember, you can always go up in capacity, but you never want an underrated winch, as it likely won’t be able to recover you from being stuck. The higher the load 
rating, the faster it’s likely to pull the same rig out too. An 8,000lb rated winch will have to work a bit harder to pull that JK out of a mud hole than say a 9,500lb one. Speed isn’t always a critical issue unless you’re in a competition, so don’t get hung up on drum speed or things like that. At the end of the day, getting pulled out of a situation is all that matters.
Getting unstuck is way more important than how fast you do it. And how hard that winch works, brings us to our next point in buying a used winch, and that’s power consumption. I’ll get into this on the next Tech Talk Segment, as there are several things to take into consideration and I want to make sure I don’t throw too much at you all at once. In next week’s Tech Talk on episode 720, we’ll continue the segment with what kind of things your Jeep will need, in order to successfully install a winch in the first place. We’ll also get into some of the models you’re likely to find out there, and what to look out for on them.
Links Mentioned in this Episode
NEXEN Tires USA https://www.nexentireusa.com/
Trails 411- POWERING Your Adventure https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver
The 4×4 Radio Network http://4x4radionetwork.com/
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