Episode 891 – Welding Under $100?

Jeep Unveils 2024 Jeep Gladiator

Jeep’s mid-size pickup gets a new grille, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, side curtain airbags, and available power front seats.

Jeep’s truck also adds two top-tier models—Mojave X and Rubicon X—and there are new AEV upfit packages.

The 2024 Gladiator now sports a restyled version of Jeep’s trademark seven-slot grille. Along with being visually slimmer, its textured slots are said to help improve engine cooling. With Jeep discontinuing the optional diesel V-6, that leaves the 285-hp V-6 as the lone powerplant—at least for now, as the Gladiator is destined to get the brand’s 4xe plug-in-hybrid powertrain at some point.

the antenna is now built into the windshield, unlike the old one that could get caught on branches out on the trail or damaged in hands-free carwashes.

The Sport S and above also now have standard forward collision warning and adaptive cruise control.

With orders now open, 2024 Gladiators will reach dealerships at the end of the year.

Stolen Jeep Chase

Boy, 17, arrested after Atlanta police chase stolen Jeep in parking garage; 3 on the run

A 17-year-old found himself in hot water with the law after his three co-conspirators abandoned him during a police chase inside in a multi-story parking garage. The incident, which unfolded on Sept. 13 near Ted Turner Drive and Peachtree Place, involved a stolen vehicle, firearms, narcotics, and a daring escape attempt.

Around 5:32 p.m., officers from Zone 5 of the Atlanta Police Department spotted a Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling down the street with no license plate and a shattered rear window. Officers also noticed a quartet of young males concealed beneath hoodies and gloves.

A subsequent investigation of the stolen vehicle unveiled a trove of illegal contraband. During a search, officers uncovered an FN 509 9MM handgun and a Glock 35 .40 caliber handgun, the latter reported stolen from DeKalb County. In addition to the firearms, a stash of marijuana weighing 101.5 grams, Psilocybin mushrooms amounting to 57 grams, and $535.00 (USD) were found in the teenager’s backpack.

As a result of these discoveries, the 17-year-old was taken into custody and slapped with a laundry list of charges, including Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony (2 Counts), Possession of a Schedule IV Substance, Possession of a Schedule I Substance, Possession of Marijuana With Intent to Distribute, Possession of a Firearm Under 18 Years Old, Theft by Receiving (Vehicle), Theft by Receiving (Firearm), and Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.

Fabricating Frenzy with Larry

How low can you go to start welding?

Jeepers always want to build components for their rig, if you want to buy a cheap welder just to see if welding is something you want to do before you invest in that larger machine for your projects.

So how cheap can you start mig welding With a 110v machine.? Well, I recently did a video on that topic.

We went through and found the cheapest welder I could find on Amazon, that would allow you to flux core mig,  maybe stick welding. And if we could get a  provision to TIG weld.  This would only be a DC welding only, so no welding aluminum.

But that would be a good way to test the waters.

So we found a small 110v unit built by Yes Welder for $99. It does all the above.  But we did not know how well it would do with them.

So we started with the flux core to see how it would do on a 1/8” steel plate.

The machine did okay with the 1/8 plate, the unit wants to blow a 20amp breaker at the higher settings.

For the stick welding, I tried a 3/32 7018 electrode.  It kept tripping the breaker.  I went down to 62 amps and used a 1/16 electrode, which worked well.

We did not buy a tig torch for the unit, it would put us over $100.

For the price it is a nice unit for the hobbyists, or someone welding thinner metals, or if you’re trying to decide if you want to start welding more in your garage.

Wendys Off-Road adventure – New publication called Explore Off-Road – 32 pages with maps of our San Bernardino Mountains, techniques, and tips from Trails 411 and sponsored by Redlands Jeep. lots of great info to help you when wheeling. And there is an ad in there with a JTS QR code for anyone to log in and check out the show. 

You can get the publication free at Redlands Jeep, the Discovery Center in Big Bear, Bear Valley Overland land on our website at Trails 411.

https://www.jeep4x4school.com/_files/ugd/a3574f_2bcf917ff98d410b8709bac5216148ff.pdf?index=true

Must-Have Stuff Pick-of-the-Week for your Jeep!

Yankum Ropes 7/8″ x 20′ Kinetic Rope – Python Series $189.99

00:00
But if you’re ever in Peachtree City, may I suggest Ted’s Montana Grill, if you like Buffalo. Oh, I thought you meant to score or something. I was like, Larry. Well, I look at that as a score. Especially last… That’s a big ribeye. Especially last week with your story about joints.

00:19
Alright folks, here we go for flagship episode number two. No, I don’t mean the second one we’ve ever done, but the second one that we do for every week on Thursday. I’m Tony and welcome to the Jeep Talk Show where we put the fun in off-road fun. Yeah, it’s still there. I still want to do it. This is the only show where you can hear Jeep owners talk about things like mud, rocks, and giant tires and not get weird looks. So strap in, grab your favorite beverage, and get ready to laugh, learn, and have a damn good time.

00:48
We guarantee that after listening to us, you’ll have a sudden urge to go buy a Jeep and hit the trails. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. On tonight’s episode, we’re going to be talking about, of course, a Jeep unveiling the 2024 Gladiator. And I’ll just tell you, I’m a little turned off of some of the things, the changes, minor changes that they’ve done. I mean, it may be because I love my 2021. I don’t know. Maybe.

01:15
And then what’s up Larry Larry correct me. What is it? What are we calling it? Frenzy that’s how I’m in Z frenzy. That’s the thing. I can never remember Fabricating frenzy and he’s gonna can you start welding under $100 and In must have for your Jeep, this is actually something for your Jeep Like the last flagship Yankham recovery ropes

01:44
Are you ready? It’s time for the Jeep Doc Show with hosts Tony, Josh, Wendy, and Chuck. Well howdy it’s Wendy and do you have a paper map on board? Well I might have a solution for that. I do not. Hi I’m Larry and how cheap can you start welding for? I don’t know this is like I get this idea of a torn hose and bad lipstick placement. Well, you know.

02:14
Each to each to each to her own. 20 bucks is 20 bucks. I got you. That’s right. So speaking of 20 bucks, cheap and fails, it’s 2024 Jeep Gladiator. Did you guys catch any of this? I think it was only like a day or two days ago when they showed this information. Hell, it might’ve been today. I haven’t seen it yet, so I’m good. Let’s go. What is this? Yay. So, jeeps.

02:41
If you’re not already aware, Wendy, Jeep is, this is a mid-size pickup and it gets a new grill, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, side curtain airbags, you know, because a Jeep needs airbags, and available power front seats. For both? That’s kind of cool. And you know it’s a Jeep, so it needs power seats. Yes. You see where I’m going with this? I am. I can see why you’re like

03:11
I’m excited. Yeah. What was the word you used? It’s like Superman in that movie. Not impressed. No, I’m sure it’s fine. I’m sure it will grow, grow on people, grow on me probably. The screen is kind of interesting, though. They say it’s a 12.3 inch screen, but this isn’t a 16 by nine. It’s like the talk about ratio here. It’s really long and narrow. I mean, it needs to go in the dash. You don’t want to have something that is like a.

03:38
a 32H TV bolted onto your dash. Yeah, standard 16 by 9 format. But it’s kind of weird. I think we probably will see more of this in the future, especially with a major manufacturer using something like this. I think maybe Rivian does something similar with the short, long screens. And you know, it’s okay. I mean, there are short, wide screens that you can hook to your computer. They’re even curvy at times. And it doesn’t mean that it’s…

04:07
It’s not multiple windows, but you can use it like multiple windows because you can put several things on there. So I can see the benefit of it. And more information to be displayed is usually a good thing. However, there’s this whole thing about distracted drivers already. Well, it’s kind of falling in line with every other vehicle out there anymore. If you look at all of them, it looks like a tablet sitting in between the seats. Right. So, I mean, it’s just kind of falling right in line with everything else.

04:37
I actually I think it’s a bit more futuristic looking than the the the and I can’t say they’re official photos But the photos I’ve seen of Tesla’s Cybertruck, which is more of like a tablet in between the two front seats right I Just wanted those side impact airbags. How rough can you get on a trail of freeze right kicking those? I was thinking about that too. Or wait a minute. Here’s a trail Then all of a sudden they go off because it was too rough think about that. Well, that would be a new badge of honor, wouldn’t it?

05:06
Yes. They’d have the standard metal masher, whatever it’s called, trail. And that would be a metal masher with airbag deploy. Wow. Right. AD. So the Jeep truck also adds two top tier models, the Mojave X and the Rubicon X. And there are new AEV uplift packages.

05:33
That’s pretty cool that you can get stuff put on there because you certainly would feel if you’re getting it from the factory, you can now get a factory approved, warranty approved lift on your Gladiator.

05:48
Well, I guess if you’re in Europe, you’re not going to get to see any of this. No, you won’t. No more gladiators in Europe. Yeah. So what colors do they tell you? I mean, this picture of the yellow looks like a pretty yellow. That looks like a neat color. But any other colors that you know of? None that I’m aware of. It wasn’t what I was looking up in this thing. I mean, they did mention about a lot of new Easter eggs. And I didn’t put that in the show notes, either, because come on.

06:14
Oh, come on, we need to list what the Easter eggs are so they can go searching for them. So one of the things one of the things that kind of pisses me off is that grill. And it probably is the same grill they’re putting on the 2024 Wrangler. And that makes sense why it’s on the Gladiator. But it just doesn’t look right to me. What about you guys? The renegade grill, you mean? Is it? It looks like it doesn’t it? Because it’s tiny and it’s round like that. Yeah, I guess so. It’s like the renegade. Yeah, I guess so. You know, they had them all out at Toledo and…

06:43
Yeah, that’s on all of them now. You know, I’m starting to see a bit of a Cherokee thing going on there. What do you think? XJ is what I’m talking about. Maybe. They’re getting squatty and long. Yeah, that’s true. Oh, all you need is some square headlights, and you got it. We’ll have to bring back that Mojito color. I kind of like that. That Tuscadero pink was really popular.

07:09
That was actually pretty in person if you could see that. And I don’t think that was ever on a Gladiator. I think that was only on the Wranglers. Just on the Wrangler. And I’m trying to look up the colors. Oh, please do. There’s an orange. The radiant teal bikini is now option for the Wrangler. I’m just trying to see what, oh, the Gladiator’s got that bold orange pumpkin. Oh, that’s right. I remember us talking about that. Yeah, that’s.

07:35
really orange but they must have the yellow too. I just don’t see that color coming through. So baby poop yellow, we’ll just call it that. I don’t think it’s called that. Well, it’s something people could relate to, parents anyway. So the 2024 Gladiator now sports a restyled version of Jeep’s trademark seven-slot grille along with better visibility. Slimmer, textured slots are said to help improve engine cooling.

08:02
with Jeep discontinuing the optional diesel V6 that leaves the 285 horsepower V6 as the lone power plant, at least for now. Ooh, I wonder if that means 392. I bet you it doesn’t though. As Gladiator is destined to get the brand’s 4XE plug-in hybrid powertrain at some point. Bomp bomp. Yeah, I don’t know. I just… 500 mile range on the batteries and sure.

08:30
The hurricane would be pretty slick in that. Yeah, that would be fun. Oh, yeah. I was thinking you were talking about a paint color. And I was going, what color is that? The hurricane drag. Yeah, the hurricane agent, right. Oh, and this is interesting too. So the Sport S and above also now has standard forward collision warning and adaptive cruise control. So that’s going to be on anything, Sport S or above.

09:00
Which was an option. It slows you down, seeds you up for the car in front of you, right? That’s that adaptive cruise control. You’re going to have PTSD right now, aren’t you? I am. I’m like, stop telling me how to drive. I know how to drive. Duke and I can eat McDonald’s now without even touching the wheel. Both. You don’t even have to drive anymore.

09:19
You can just feed Duke. I mean, how much cool would that be? I wonder if a Tesla self-driving thing can go through the McDonald’s drive-through for you. All by itself. Yeah, or you just sit in the back. Can you imagine sitting in the back doing that? Little table set up with a little candlelight, little flower in a vase. Got the driver’s seat folded down as a table. Yeah, yes. I’m all ready for my food. If Elon listens to this, that’s going to show up as an option.

09:48
So with orders now open, the 2024 Gladiator will reach dealerships at the end of the year. You know, it’s been a long time since I bought a new vehicle. Well, I mean, the Gladiator, yeah, but I really wasn’t paying attention to release dates. It wasn’t, didn’t the new vehicles, like for example, the 2024s, in the past, it was like September when those new vehicles came out. Yeah, it’s always been September. Yeah, because they always do sales in like August to blow out the…

10:17
previous year. Yeah. Or the current year, I should say. Okay, good. Well, and then I thought, I was kind of surprised. I mean, they’re talking about it in September, but it’s not going to be available until the end of the year. Maybe they’re waiting to get a bunch of orders to make sure they can produce it or something. Well, you know, sales have been down on the gladiator. It’s been a purge of old stock. Huh? Oh, that’s true. It’s been a purge of old stock. Yeah, but like Wendy said, they used to do that in August, or leading in August and but leading up to August.

10:44
I don’t know. I like my 2021. I mean, I would like for the numbers to be different. And if it said 2024 instead of 2021, I’d like that. But I still like my gladiator the way it is. I could have gotten the adaptive cruise control, but I just don’t know. It just wasn’t worth the money to me. And I figured the only reason the only time to really use that is whenever you’re driving long distances.

11:10
And because if you’re driving a short distance, you don’t need you don’t need cruise control adaptive or otherwise But driving up to Moab and back. I think the adaptive cruise control would have come in handy Yeah, you don’t know as long stretches. That’d be nice Yeah, cuz then you’re if you doze it off slightly because that happens when you do straight driving especially through Texas. I think It would actually slow you down or speed you up depending on what was happening in front of you So I guess it’s a good thing. I wonder if it would actually stop. I don’t know if it has a

11:40
breaking. Oh man, don’t get me started. Then the high beams are going to start. And the windshield wipers are going to go automatically because there was a touch of rain. I could hear it. It would be, it would be, it would be falling asleep or something or the computer thinks you’re and goes Dave. And you say Wendy, whatever. Wake up. Or Hal. Nice to see you, Hal. I watched the 2001 space Odyssey. I saw it as a kid. Oh yeah. And I probably saw it a few years after that when I saw it initially. Saw it in a theater actually.

12:10
And it was okay, and I figured, I’ve been an adult for a number of years now, maybe I’ll have a different take on this movie. Good God, that movie’s boring. I know. Good Lord. Yeah, it really is. It’s like a series of memes that aren’t very interesting. They’re all about cats. And I mean, beautifully shot. I mean, it really was just something like the beautiful spacesuits, the space.

12:39
And the one thing I did see was that the astronauts before they got all killed, a small, sorry, smaller alert, were eating their food and looking at tablets, watching the news story being to them from Earth. And the tablets looked just like the tablets that we have. I mean, they got that right in the 60s. Yeah. Yeah. So they got a. Indian technology. Yeah. They got a few things that weren’t.

13:04
that weren’t right but yeah it was it was still it was still a cool movie to watch but I was falling asleep there at the end where it gets really weird but but yeah anyway I saw that movie it still sucks even that from from when I was nine and all the way to my age now you know I think it’d be fun to especially when the AI for moviemaking comes out and everybody can you know make use of that I think it would be fun not only to edit

13:33
the edit the movie to make it your own way but also change the story line up a little bit and make it more exciting. Maybe put in a lightsaber or something, you know, but I digress. All right, so we haven’t had a Jeep and a major crime story for a while. So we have another stolen Jeep chase.

13:58
A boy, 17, was arrested by Atlanta police after a chase in a stolen jeep in a parking garage. Now, son, that’s just a bad idea. If you’re going to run. Wait, what he was planning to do when he got to the top. Exactly. Or was he in the garage and they discovered he was stealing it. So they got him before he got out. Or did he drive into the garage like every?

14:24
Car chase moving out there. Come on. I see, I see Larry, you’re thinking fast and the furious. So he had already packed a chute. He was ready to go, yes. Jump to the next one. Pop the top and then bail out. Yeah, so it wasn’t just him though. There was three, the 17 year old, and I believe three others or a total of three. So the 17 year old found himself in hot water with the law after his three co-conspirators abandoned, can you imagine?

14:54
abandoned him during a police chase. I know. He defines them new friends. Inside a multi-story parking garage, the incident which unfolded on September 13th near Ted Turner Drive, you know, it’s gonna be great to have streets named after you. Is this Atlanta? Yeah, this is Ted Turner Drive and Peachtree Place. Peachtree, yeah, Peachtree Place. I know the area well. I know it very well. I’m like, I know where that is. Involved a stolen vehicle, firearms, narcotics,

15:22
in a daring escape attempt. This is a movie. I’m telling you, this is a movie. No, it’s no surprise. So if you had a 17-year-old kid and they were involved in this, what would you do? Oh, man. Can I say that on the air? Probably not. I mean, the Jeep shows good taste. I mean, it was a Grand Cherokee, but still. Yeah, no, grounding for sure and then some other things happening. He’s paying for the lawyer.

15:51
100% you’d have to do some more crimes to be able to afford the lawyer In that area they’re not really hurting that much though, they’ll afford the lawyer So and this is so funny because it was I don’t think this was a weekend around 532 p.m. Officers from zone 5. This is almost like hunger games I guess of the Atlanta Police Department spotted the Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling down the street and get this

16:19
No license plate. Okay, that’s a clue. Uh, at a shattered rear window. Oh, that’s a major clue. Okay. It’s a Jeep so far. Go ahead. Officers also noticed a quartet of young males concealed beneath the hood, beneath hoodies. You know, it doesn’t matter if it’s a hundred degrees out. You need your hoodie. And gloves! There’s a shocker. So.

16:49
I wonder if that’s how they got in the Jeep was the back window. Well, if the glove don’t fit, he must have quit. That’s true. Yeah, there you go. A subsequent investigation of the stolen vehicle unveiled a trove of illegal contraband. During the search, officers uncovered a FN 509 9mm handgun, a Glock 35 40 caliber handgun. The latter reported stolen. Oh, my God, a stolen handgun. That’s amazing.

17:18
You didn’t get it naturally going and actually apply for that? How do I understand? This isn’t Hunter. In addition to the firearms, the stash of marijuana weighing 101.5 grams, that’s just over the limit, isn’t it? What is that actually in ounces or weight? Is that a pound? 35 pounds, I think. No, no, it’s not. I’m sure it’s not that much. Psycho… I light up on my weed, so… Psycho-cybin. Is that cycle cy-cy-cy-cybin? No, I think it’s…

17:47
Silociban. Silociban mushrooms amounting to 57 grams. And this is sad, only $535 in cash were found. Oh yeah, they’d already bought, they just bought their weed. That’s what I was thinking. This is all that had left. They just scored. That was found in the teenager’s backpack. So this isn’t the 17 year old’s backpack. So, this is just amazing.

18:13
So as a result of these discoveries, this 17-year-old was taken into custody. Oh, really? That’s amazing, too, that that’s happening. And slapped with a laundry list of charges included possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, two counts, possession of a scheduled for substance possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. So yeah, I guess it was above a certain amount. So it was like a dealer type situation.

18:42
a possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm. So, I mean, you know, this is the, he should have, well, actually, this is what it should be. You are the winner. You have covered a great deal of them. I mean, there was no murder, no assault. That’s the only way it could have been better. Yeah. So I did the conversion. 105, sorry, 101.5 grams is 0.22 pounds. So a quarter pound. A quarter pound.

19:08
Oh, and what’s the other one? 57 grams. I used to love those quarter pounders with cheese from McDonald’s. I don’t think that’s the same thing. Yeah, but they are addictive. So well, it is addictive. And then, of course, 57 grams would be half of that. So point one, two pounds. I don’t know how that works out. It sounds better in the gram, like a hundred and one hundred and one point five grams sounds like a lot. It’s not even a quarter pound. Seventeen. I mean, legally a child.

19:37
But if you’re ever in Peachtree City, may I suggest Ted’s Montana Grill? If you like Buffalo. Oh, I thought you meant to score or something. I was like, Larry. Well, I look at that as a score. That’s a big ribeye. Especially last week with your story about joints. Hey, you know. Got to appeal to the kids. I understand. Donnie. Wendy. Chuck, if he’s there. Larry. Hey, it’s Bob.

20:06
So I just finished listening to 885 and Tony brought up synthetic versus cable again. Tony, you always bring up exposure to the sun. But I have to ask where synthetic line got its start because it wasn’t on winches on the front of jeeps. It was actually in ocean going craft, sailboats and such, rigging in those places. And I’m not sure, but I think the sun shines in the ocean.

20:36
So I’m just saying, might be something to that. All right, talk to you guys later. And Tony, I have to say John was right and you’re wrong on this one. But it’s okay to be wrong once in a while. So what you’re saying is there’s no sun in the ocean. And all this stuff works out as long as you keep your synthetic line lubed up with a UV blocker. And again, how did that correlate between the sun and…

21:05
Synthetic versus cable. Oh, you don’t know the UV breaks down the synthetic line. Oh, that’s what he’s after. Okay. Yeah Welcome to fabricating frenzy with Larry also known as jeeping mo whose hair is not curly

21:28
Alright, so how low can you go to start welding? Well Jeepers always want to build components on their rig. If you want to buy a cheap welder just to see if welding is something that you want to do before you invest in a larger machine for your projects. So how cheap can you start MIG welding with a 110 volt machine? Well I recently did a video on this topic. We went through and found the cheapest welder I could find on Amazon that will allow you to flux core MIG

21:57
maybe stick weld and if we could get provision for a TIG welding later, that would be a bonus. This would only be DC TIG welding, so there would be no welding aluminum. But that would be a good way to test the waters. So I found a small 110 volt MIG welder that was only $99.

22:25
Now I am not counting tax in on that, so it listed for $99. But we wanted to know what all we could do with it, so we put it through a few tests. So we started out with the flux core, and we ran a few lines of weld on it with just the flux core, the 030 wire on the 1-1-1 plate. And it did really good. And we did find we had a few troubles wanting to blow a 20-amp breaker.

22:54
So it only went up to 135 amps. So you couldn’t quite run it on the peak. You had to back down just a little bit. But if you have a good 20 amp breaker and nothing else on it, it would work. So then for the stick welding, I tried a 332nd 7018 electrode, which is a pretty common electrode. Well, that kept tripping the breaker. So I went down to a 16th, down to 62 amps.

23:23
And that electrode worked good. Now, what kind of welder was this? So we had found a, it’s a small 110 yes welder that did what we call multiprocess. And I thought that would be a very good machine if you were trying to just learn, just trying to see if welding is something you wanted to go all in on. And then for $100, let’s say, with tax, I think it was 108.

23:53
It was a good way to see if welding was something you wanted to do in your garage or if you wanted to expand on it. And if you didn’t, well you weren’t out a whole lot. So if you’re trying to decide if you wanted to start welding in the garage, that video can be found on our YouTube channel. How cheap can you weld? And that’s on Jeeping Mo on YouTube. But I think it was a very good way that you could

24:23
Order especially on amazon. I don’t know if you can return it if you didn’t like it you can return everything else off amazon You can buy all your gear there and I would say which even if you bought a cheap hood and everything you could be all in for Probably under 250 And you could practice you flux square mig you could practice stick welding The techniques are exactly the same whether you’re running a 220 volt machine or if you’re running

24:53
you know, a hotter stick where you can weld with, you know, eighth inch electrodes. Technique is technique, but it’s a good way to see, and Tony, I was thinking of you, cause you keep talking about wanting to try welding and this would just plug into a 110 welder. You put your wire in, put hood down and see if it’s something you would enjoy. So, excuse me for interrupting, but yeah, I’m trying to look at this thing on Amazon. I think I found the right one.

25:20
So if you needed to do some stuff to your Jeep, like if your Unibody had a crack in it or something, would this be sufficient to take care of that? I would think Unibody you could because you’re talking about, you’re really just talking about sheet metal. Right. Right? You just have to turn it down a little bit so you don’t burn through it. So you could get a couple pieces of sheet metal if you would, probably around 16 gauge, do some practice welds first. And maybe you might be able to do that with that.

25:49
Do you think it would be good enough for folks that were wanting to do artwork, metal artwork? Oh, absolutely. And that’s the one thing that covered in the video. If you want to do artwork where it’s not, you know, it’s non-structural or, you know, non-weight bearing, if you will. Absolutely. If you wanted to just dabble a little bit, you know, I was thinking about what Wendy was doing also for her women’s off-road network. Yeah.

26:18
It’s perfect for things like that. Now we did overheat the gun a little bit and I showed that in the video where it actually from running it so much, it was distorting a little bit of plastic because I’ve been running it for probably about 45 minutes to an hour straight. Wow, that says a lot, I think. But I think for what it is for a 110 welder, if you’re trying to keep your material under eighth inch, I think it would do a pretty nice job. And

26:48
Once again, it gets you addicted so that you can move on to bigger and better things because I’ve not met many people who try it and say, yeah, that’s not for me. Just having that ability to stick two pieces of metal together can be very advantageous. I mean, it’s another tool that you have that you can go, oh, you know what? I can just weld this and I’d be able to fix it. I think this is a great idea. I mean, if we didn’t already have a machine, I’d be like, I want to do this because I did practice and have fun with it. But…

27:18
It’s a great way to practice and I love that you’re doing this, Larry, because somebody might be saying, hey, I want to try something. They don’t really know what they’re doing and what a great way to do it, not have all this money invested into it, if you don’t like it. Right. And the machine, you would have to buy the TIG torch. That wasn’t included on that price. You’d have to buy a TIG torch, but the machine will run a TIG torch as well. You have to buy gas and everything else. But,

27:47
this Fluxcore MIG welder, so you wouldn’t need gas bottles, you wouldn’t need anything but a hood and this thing. I mean, clothing, the proper clothing would be a good idea. Yes, good gloves. But you could still, oh yeah, but you could still get away with just, probably a set of gloves and a hood and this thing, if you, just to get started. Absolutely, I mean, you could, I would suggest maybe like a flannel shirt or some kind of cotton shirt, just to button up so you don’t, you know, burn your arms at all, a hood.

28:16
And I mean, you can run down to the local, I buy the spools for that machine at Lowe’s. There’s a Lowe’s just about everywhere nowadays. Buy you a little roll of Lincoln flux core, the 030 wire, and have a good time with it. And we now have two Zoom channels. So you could literally, people could call in and say, hey Larry, can we get on Zoom? And you can tell me what I’m doing wrong on my welding. Yeah. Right.

28:45
And we’ve had some actually we’ve done some of that on our YouTube channel done a live welding like that And that’s you know, that’s part of that’s kind of how Oh, I lost his name Matt Matt right how Matt learned to weld through some of the YouTube lives we did and that that was gonna be my next question was Specifically about Matt and him building that trailer would this be enough welder?

29:14
to do what Matt did with the trailer? I think I’d want a 220 machine just to drive a little more amps, but I actually think he welded everything with the 110. So what do you think the limits of this machine would be? I think the limits of that would be eighth inch material you’re welding together, right? Now, if you put a couple multi passes in and welded it right, I think you could still do it. That’s the one thing nice about flux core.

29:42
is that you can weld a little bit thicker material with the flux welder than you can with gas. Oh that’s right, I remember you saying that. Yeah. But you’d need, probably need a brush and a little hammer to clean it up and a grinder to clean up the weld. Right, if you could use, if you could afford a little, a little ankle grinder that you could buy a flap wheel for and a wire wheel, you could do all your work, you do your cleanup, your fit up work with the

30:10
with the flap wheel, put the wire wheel on and you can just weld and go back and clean it and just keep going. It’s really just a matter of, I mean, correct me if I’m wrong on this, but if you’ve got a grinder and the time to do all this stuff, you can make really nice looking welds. I mean, but the weld itself may be crap, but the way the funnel product looks great. But it’s all a matter of the time out of time that you put into it. So

30:35
As you learn how to weld and also to you get a better welder so it has better penetration, you don’t have to clean up the weld. Am I getting that right? Yeah, well you don’t have to clean the weld up if you’re running gas, right? If you’re running flux core you always clean the weld afterwards because there’s always going to be slag. Okay. But it’s not hard, once you get used to it, clean up on a flux core wire is not very hard and…

31:02
You know, once again, you’re not out very much just to get yourself started. You know, which is always a hard part. Yeah. The thing that crosses my mind on this is that, you know, that, uh, that light rack that I made for the gladiator, I had to figure out mechanical ways of putting that thing together because I didn’t have any welder and it sounds like, cause this, it wasn’t thick material. Uh, I just needed a way of welding a cap on the end of that square tube that I could put a bolt and weld a bolt onto it.

31:31
So I’d have something to screw into and then weld it to the end of that square tubing that I had all this stuff on. I mean, I went through getting this solid rod that it would fit in the square tube and then drilling holes in it and threading it so I could screw the round, the metal dowel to the square tube. And it’s a nice solid setup, but the whole thing is 50 pounds. So. Right.

31:58
Where a little dab of weld would do you, right? Yeah, exactly. It’s nice to have that glue and it’s that special glue that really holds well, holds together very well. Yep. Metal glue. Metal glue, yeah. Not JB Weld. Not JB Weld. No, no, no. And that would be cool too to actually be able to put stuff together that you didn’t have to use JB Weld for. Yeah. Once again, people like Matt who built that trailer, I mean,

32:27
Little welders like this can do a lot of work. You’re not doing structural work or anything like that. As long as you test it, make sure it’ll hold the weight that you’re trying to put it through. And maybe that’ll be a future show. How do you test your welds after you create them? That’s a great one. That would be good. Yeah, that would be my concern. And I’ll just mention, I don’t know if he’s still in Montana, but Matt and his wife are towing that trailer, currently in Montana.

32:55
And where’s he at? North Carolina, South Carolina. He’s one he’s East Coast and he’s taking that right there all the way over there. He’s brought it down here to Texas. So the trailer is holding together. I mean, some of the stuff that he bought to go on it that wasn’t welded has had issues, but everything he’s welded is stay together. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He said we’re troubled with the axles and he did nothing to. He has everything else.

33:21
This is great. This is a great find. And so this is one of your YouTube videos. I think I made a comment on it about this would be a great PC case for a welder. Right. Yeah. And all that’s on jeepingmo on YouTube. And you go out and check out the video, check out the welder, leave me a comment and nothing else. Come out on the Jeep Talk Show, get into Discord room and we can talk about it there as well. That’s right. Just jeeptalkshow.com slash contact to find out how to join our Discord server.

33:51
Well, I have some really cool stuff to bring to the listeners. We have a brand new publication from Trails 411 called Off-Road, or Explore Off-Road, sorry, I’ve got to get the name right. 32 pages of information from Trails 411, everything that I talk about on the show, all kinds of tips. There’s some different techniques and, of course, maps of our San Bernardino mountains, which is always great to have. Redlands Jeep, which I talk about too on the show, they actually helped to sponsor it.

34:20
Lots of great information to help you when you’re wheeling. What I think is cool is Don actually put in an ad in there with me on there with our JTS QR code. I was gonna ask you where that was from because it looked like something you printed on the printer, but no, this is a newspaper article. Yeah, it’s like a flyer type stuff. Yeah, and it’s so anybody who gets this can log on with the QR code and check out the JTS show and log in and check it out. So I’m pretty excited about it.

34:49
If you’re local to Southern California, you can pick up this publication at Relensjeep. We have a Discovery Center, which is the Forest Service up here in Big Bear. Bear Valley Overland also has them. And if you’re not in Southern California, you’re like, how do I get it? You can actually go onto our website at Trails411 and download it. It’s free. There’s no charge for this, but it’s great information. If you’re new to the wheeling world, if you’re thinking about doing something, just check it out. I mean, obviously we have books that go into more details.

35:18
but this is a great little flyer. It’s a good little publication and there’s no major ads in it except ours for Jeep Talk Show, I thought that was pretty cool. I have a link in the show notes where you can go directly to the website and you can just download the PDF for free. I just scanned that QR code from the show notes and was able to- And it worked. Yeah, and it worked. Yeah, so cool. So Wendy, is this a lot of information? Like when you guys, I know you guys take out a lot of people from a Ritalin’s Jeep on how to use their Jeep and-

35:47
you know, how to operate and how to go through everything. Is it that a lot of that kind of information in that? Yeah, it’s like it’s kind of everything I’ve ever talked about. So it’s things like, you know, how to, you know, take care of the trails, how to wheel proper, how to pick your line. It’s not as in depth as the books that Dawn does that we’re involved in, but it’s enough little snippets to give anybody a good thing. I mean, how to do four wheel drive, how to overland their stuff about, you know, what do you do with?

36:16
you know, ruts in the road, what to take in your Jeep as far as equipment and, you know, recovery gear. So there’s a lot of information, including manners and, again, things that I really talk about myself as far as being a newbie and trying to help people out there. But it’s just a great little flyer. So I think it’s going to be a great little addition to anybody who just wants to kind of get started. But again, the PDF is free on the website. So check it out. Did you say manners?

36:44
Yeah, she did say that. I did, unfortunately, I’m sorry. But you know, just trail etiquette, how to be nice out there in the world. I’m always gonna push that, because it’s important. We always run into people that are not very happy, but come on. Sure. You’re out wheeling, why are you not happy? It’s a fun thing to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, because there’s other people out there, you wanna be other people. There is. By yourself, I think is the problem. Some people. Perfect. I enjoy seeing the other folks out there.

37:11
Well, very cool. And yeah, you never know who that’s going to reach. You never know who that’s going to enable them to go. Well, you know, I’ve always so many people say I’ve always wanted a Jeep. And then they’ll say, well, I’m just too old to get one now. Or I can’t do that because I’ll be accused of having a midlife crisis. I mean, if if if a Jeep is the only thing that you do for a midlife crisis, you’re doing a good job.

37:38
That’s right. That just means you can afford it now. That’s right. And have fun. Joy. Go out and see what this beautiful country has to offer on the back roads. I love it. And don’t be nervous about getting a red Jeep, because you know you want a red one. You want to be seen. Here we go. Is that in the publication? Yeah. No. No, I’m just kidding.

38:01
Red heads and red Jeeps. Exactly. I mean, there’s things in here about trail rating. We talk about that and what do the numbers mean. And of course, out here, we have actual symbols. But other parts of the country, it’s rated like 1 through 10. And what does that mean? So it’s just a great little publication, 32 pages. It’s simple. Download it if you want to check it out. If you’re local in SoCal, pick one up for free. And we’ll have them on board if you see us out wheeling. So let us know. Is there an online version? Yes. We’ve been posting in all the.

38:31
Facebook, Instagram, you can just download it right then. The links are there too. Because I was thinking if you had an online version, you might actually be out on the trail and people could look that stuff up while they’re on the trail. You know, like, oh, I remember seeing this in that publication. Let me pull that up. You can also just open it up and save it as a PDF and you’d have it, no matter what. You wouldn’t have to have connections or anything. Yeah, oh yeah. How’s that training going, you’ve been doing with RedLens, are you still getting a lot of groups from that or?

38:58
Yeah, and you know it’s nice because that’s anybody who buys a new Jeep at Redlands Jeep, they are offered a free trail ride so we take them out. We’ve had to make some diversions with our snow this year and also the Hurricane Hillary tropical storm that we got, but yes it’s working out great and you know from there we get students who will go and further their education and how to drive off-road.

39:22
Um, and we’ve gotten some other corporate stuff out of that too. So it’s just kind of a nice relationship that we have with junior. So it’s nice. It’s fun. It’s I love working with people that are brand new to this. I mean, they just like, I have a Jeep, I drive on the highway. I didn’t even know I could go on the dirt kind of newbie. And we don’t really go through all the training that we do in this run, but I, I can’t help myself. I do have to help a little bit and give them suggestions and ideas. And.

39:49
They all come away with, I had no idea I could see this part of the country and or I could do this with my Jeep. So to me that’s a win-win for everybody. You know, I love those people that think that the vehicle is like pavement only and I didn’t realize I could go off that pavement and drive this thing and be okay. Those are the most fun ones. Those are like newbies, like kids when you’re teaching kids. It’s just so much fun to see that wonder.

40:17
And as an adult, can you imagine having that same wonder that you did when you were three, four, five, six years old? I mean, that’s a gift in itself. Well, and actually, go ahead. I would say how fun is it to see when someone gets out for the very first time and they drag their Jeep across a rock or something happens, just a look in her eyes when they get over, you know, that terror goes to joy real quick.

40:43
Yeah, it’s interesting too when you get somebody who’s maybe never been off-road and they’re very sort of, I won’t say intimidated, but nervous. You know, you can see the look on their face. You just know. And I love working with people like that because I tend to help them to feel comfortable, sort of like, trust me, it’s going to be fine, kind of a deal. And then when we get through, the look on their face is this enlightenment and they’ve got the smile and they can’t wait to go again and oh my gosh, it’s so interesting to me to take somebody from…

41:12
I didn’t even know this was possible to even through the experience of I don’t think I can do that to oh my gosh, I can do that. And you know, my story when I first started was exactly the same way. I did not know that vehicles like this could climb and go over rocks and do things that we were told as kids, you know, our vehicles stay on the highway, you don’t go over rocks, you don’t touch rocks, you know, you’re safe, everything stays together. So…

41:38
I feel like I put myself back in that position every time. So it’s really cool, but I love it to be able to share that with new people. So, yeah. And I just wanted to point out, you know, when you’re not rolling your eyes, you’re not, uh,

41:49
You know, you gotta come on, come on, hurry up. We don’t have time for all this stuff. You’re excited about them being their first time and experiencing this. It reminds you of what you went through. It kind of brings you back to that time period in your life. So it’s fun and you enjoy it. So you enjoy people learning. So, and I think that- And when you were here too, Tony, you had the same experience. It’s like, we weren’t saying, hey, why didn’t you know how to do, you know, this major rock climbing on a gatekeeper? You were like,

42:18
I love it. Yeah, absolutely. So, you were excited. So, I just want to encourage people not to be timid about they don’t want to be browbeat, they don’t want to be looked down on, and I mean, they wouldn’t expect that. But I think that’s in the back of your mind that you kind of worry about not knowing anything about it. Like, you have to learn something before you go out there and learn something. And that’s not the case. Go out there and just do it. If you’re ever in our area, reach out to me. I’ll give you some suggestions. From the M…

42:48
NICKEY G! Hey, this is Nicky G and it was really good to hear from Josh. But come on man, taking time off from your work to call in to the Jeep Talk Show, that’s just lame. Well that’s not why I’m calling. I’m calling to tell you that my therapist said I have a hard time expressing emotions. Yeah, I can’t say I’m surprised. That has got to be at least 18 and a half percent funnier.

43:18
Alright boys and girls, I’ll chat with you later. Have a good one, bye. I said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m laughing and that’s all that matters. I’m not sure I got that one, so I’ll just say, good job, Nicky G. Well, isn’t that special? Yes, I understand. That’s very special. Yes, I understand.

43:41
Well, something that is special, we’re having a brand new interview tomorrow, Friday, which is our interview episode. You don’t want to miss Friday, because it’s always fun talking to somebody new. We recently spoke with Chris, one of the Jeep Talk Show team members. And I think that interview did really well. Got to know Chris a little better. And we’re going to be doing that with Wendy and with Julianne. And Larry, you’ve done an interview for us already, haven’t you? Yes, sir. We’re just trying to work up a duke.

44:10
It’s going to have to be a video interview though. Exactly. And I think he is, the current bid is 42 McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches. Well, we’ll work that out in a video. Oh, so he doesn’t want Duke to hear. Anyway, we’re excited to announce that our next interview episode will be featuring a special guest interview with Mary from the Rubber Duck Regatta.

44:37
And if you’re in Texas, this is something you certainly should go. October 14th, which is a Saturday, and they’re giving away a Jeep and a Jeep talk show team member won last year. Tony, Larry, Wendy, Bob. Hey, you guys were talking on the last episode here about not paying attention to the road and why you need disk it.

45:02
That’s not the only thing you need. You know, you need a good bumper because sometimes road signs are in front of you and you’re not paying enough attention to the road and you hit them. And then somebody has to get out and stand them back up and everybody laughs at you and choose you out for editing video while you should be trying to drive and stuff. So I totally understand the need for extra protection because you don’t pay attention while you drive. Well, it’s just going to get worse. That’s why we need a self-driving vehicles.

45:32
we might have seen the incidents he’s talking about. I know, I know. Bob’s outing himself. Alright, so actually something for your Jeep this time, must have stuff pick of the week for your Jeep. Yankum ropes. This is one of those elastic type of ropes. Kinetic rope I should say. This one is a 7 eighths by 20 feet kinetic rope Python series. It is a lovely shade of red.

46:00
uh… and it uh… realty retails for a hydrogen i know why it was picked 189.99 and i have this yankum rope in the back of the gladiator uh… actually i need to check to make sure it’s still back there uh… but uh… have not had to use it yet but i’ve got one dammit i actually have quite a bit of gear for recovery uh… including one of those what are those things uh… that you doubles up the uh… the pulling power a little pulley type thing

46:28
I’ve even got a snatch block, tree saver, I think I got a 30,000 pound strap back there. I’ve got it all in a bag. The yankham rope is… Soft shackles? Oh no, I don’t have any soft shackles. You don’t have it all then. Oh, I’ve got everything I need. Lots of D-rings. The way God intended it, damn it. No. Okay, go ahead.

46:53
You can’t break a window with a soft shackle. You have to have some heavy metal that goes taken off. And besides that, if you set it upright, it’s not going anywhere. Anyway, try this thing out. We’ve interviewed. Yankum Ropes has been one of our interviews. In the past, you could do a search on JeepTalkShow.com and learn a lot more about Yankum Ropes. So I’m going to ask, are you… Well, of course you know because you carry it.

47:22
when you would use this rope for recovery? Like if you have a really stubborn rose bush and you need to get a running start. And yeah, no, I mean, this is great for something that was not necessarily submerged, but stuck like in sand or, I guess you could use it on rocks as well. The great thing about it is that the cable or I should say the kinetic rope actually helps you pull softer.

47:51
So it doesn’t jerk the vehicle, and as far as that goes, it doesn’t jerk your vehicle either. So it kind of lets you get a, I think you get up to like five miles an hour is what they recommend. And it just kind of pulls the other vehicle up and out. And if it doesn’t come out, it’s not really damaging anything. Well, and just to let listeners know, the kinetic rope and the tow strap are not interchangeable. They are two completely different tools that you would use for different situation. And the kinetic rope too,

48:21
You can get about three pulls before you need to completely let it go back into the elasticity that it needs. So if you’ve done it two or three times and you didn’t get that vehicle out, you need to stop because the rope is not going to do anything for you at that point. Kinetic ropes need to be able to retract back into like a rubber band, if you will. How much time do you have to give it or you just make it loose and it goes back? It depends on the brand. This is a pretty good brand. So it could be 20 minutes, half an hour.

48:50
depending on what that elasticity needs to do. But a lot of people think that they need that kinetic rope as part of their recovery as one of the first things they would buy. And it’s usually most expensive. And it runs up to about 250, $300 for these ropes. Really a toe strap is your first choice. This would be the third down the list. And then your winches after that too. So it’s not something that you have to run out and get.

49:16
But if you do, you need to understand when to use it and how to use it because it’s not a toe strap. Use a toe strap like a kinetic rope because you’ll lose your teeth and everything right there. That’s what I was just gonna say. And if you’ve got a kinetic rope that you’ve used, do not then switch to a toe strap and think you’re gonna get a run of stop at it because you’re gonna lose bumpers. And we’ve talked about people that have had serious situations and death. So be aware of your recovery gear and what it’s used for, when to use it and.

49:45
use it properly. Yeah, for the toe strap, you need to tighten it up before you apply any power for the pulling, right? And it’s usually a tug. It’s not like your, it’s a toe strap. It’s not designed to get a running start and yank it. No, no, no, no, absolutely not. But that’s what people do, because they see something on YouTube, they don’t realize it’s a different situation or a different product. And so they think that’s how I’m gonna yank somebody out is I’m gonna put my toe strap on it and I’m gonna go. Well, there’s a failure level that happens and…

50:12
you know, what is the weakest point on the vehicle of the attachment points? So it’s kind of why we don’t push the D rings as much the metal ones either for that same reason. But yes, just, just please as listeners know when to use these products. So it sounds like we’re, uh, we’re talking about an upcoming segment or I can, and I have it. I have the information. Yeah. I’d like to know because, because I don’t really know. I mean, I’ve done, I’ve used the tow strap once to pull somebody out of some mud.

50:38
I’ve never used the kinetic rope. I mean, I think I have a good idea that basically, like what I was telling you, five miles an hour, it’s not tight, you get a little run on it, but you’re not getting up to 30 miles an hour. Correct. Even if it is a Bronco. Well, and I’m sure other parts of the country, like Larry’s in, there’s a lot of mud. I think that’s a good use for it as well. We don’t use it as much here in Southern California because we’re more dry and we’re on rocks.

51:08
Possibly sand if you get stuck in the desert somewhere you’re gonna use it so for us It’s not one that we’re running to in the very beginning. You know, it’s like that’s not a first thing I’m gonna grab so yeah, I’m thinking of stuff. That’s kind of submerged like mud Sand something that gets down into something and it’s just you need something to kind of jerk it forward so we can You know get out and then use its own traction and and then keep pulling it so that it gets them out of it So that’s kind of the way I look at the the kinetic ropes

51:43
So it’s always a little sad when we hit the end of the trail, but there’s always end of the trail ride just down the road. The Jeep Talk Show has four episodes a week and every other week we have five episodes a week with ChickChat. So Tuesday through Friday every week and then every other week ChickChat on Monday. Subscribe and never miss an episode. And hey, speaking of subscribing, consider keeping the Jeep Talk Show going by subscribing to the show via Patreon.

52:10
The place to go for all the information on how to subscribe and how to contact us is at CheapTalkShow.com slash contact. I just want to say really quick we have 40 Patreon subscribers. Thank you guys so much. The goal is a hundred and we may be having annual subscriptions in the next couple of months. I found out recently that what we needed to do is get to a certain level.

52:37
of income for three months and then that would be turned on for annual subscriptions if you like those kind of things. I kind of like just not seeing that money come out every month. I like just doing it the one time and being done with it and then it just renews year after year. So we really hope you get something out of the show and feel that it’s worth five bucks

53:01
Also too, we recently sent out a lot of Patreon merch, so if you were not in the round one of getting the merch, we actually ordered some more stickers. Once those came in, we sent out quite a bit, quite a few of the Patreon merch, the stuff you get when you become a Patreon subscriber. So if you’ve been waiting for your stickers and other things like the Embroidery Patch, if you were a Patreon promoter.

53:29
You should see that, hell you probably won’t have seen it before you hear this episode. And if you’re a Patreon subscriber and you haven’t received your merch, let us know. Just go to gtalkshow.com slash contact and reach out to us.

53:46
Broadcasting since 2010.