Episode 918 – Fat vs. Skinny
317 Miles of Jeep Trails Closed
Feds Closing 317 Miles of Jeep Trails Around Moab
Bureau of Land Management has approved a plan to close hundreds of miles of off-road driving trails outside Moab, Utah, capping a yearslong fight between environmental groups, off-roaders, and the federal government over trail access in the region. The new plan will shutter 317 miles of OHV routes across the spectacular Labyrinth Canyon and Gemini Bridges area just west of Moab, including a handful used during the annual Easter Jeep Safari event, to protect the sensitive desert landscape. With the closures scheduled to take effect this Saturday, October 28, the off-road community is in an uproar and gearing up for a protracted legal battle to keep the trails open as long as possible.
A 2008 lawsuit was filed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance against the BLM for improperly managing public access to federal lands in Utah. As part of a 2017 settlement, the BLM has to revise and enforce new travel plans for 11 areas with an eye on protecting wildlife habitats, sensitive ecosystems, and cultural resources. But few places hold the significance Moab does for off-roaders, who claim the new Labyrinth/Gemini plan is overly restrictive and could have huge economic consequences in a region that depends on tourism.
317 miles of trails is ⅓ of what is available, and I promise you this isn’t the end. This is why we need to fight to regain these trails. The harder we make it for these anti-people anti-off-road groups the better. We need to remove the will to fight them.
Hey Joe Canyon and Day Canyon Point, both of which are Easter Jeep Safari spots; Ten Mile Canyon, a popular side-by-side trail; Mineral Bottom Road, which leads to a series of beautiful dispersed campsites at the edge of Canyonlands National Park; and a number of lookouts over the Green River along Labyrinth Canyon. The BLM points out that the plan still keeps over 90% of Easter Jeep trails open, but many off-road advocacy groups see it as a disaster that will start pushing them out of Moab entirely.
What about the people that make a living on us going to Moab?
Reid Racing all steel knuckles
As you may be aware, certainly after this story you will be, your JL/JLU or JT Gladiator came with aluminum knuckles. The knuckle is what pivots on your front axle that allows you to steer your vehicle. If you have a Jeep Gladiator diesel or Mojavi you have steel knuckles, all others do not, not even the Rubicon Gladiator comes with steel knuckles!
The front axle, Dana 30 or 44, connects to the knuckle by two ball joints. These joints are the pivot points for the knuckle to move left and right. Your brakes, wheel bearing assembly axle shaft, wheel, and tire all connect to the knuckle.
What can happen over time is the holes the ball joints are in will deform and get larger. That means the knuckle and all those critical bits start moving in ways they were not designed to move.
You can replace the aluminum knuckle with another aluminum knuckle or you can just step it up and get one that is made of steel and likely be done with this design flaw altogether.
To be fair to Jeep, aluminum is generally lighter and they probably went with aluminum due to weight and MPG, so blame the EPA. Thankfully, at least not yet, we can replace the aluminum knuckles with stronger, and yes heavier ones.
Could cause death wobble.
I’ve done work on Jeep XJ and TJs but not on the Gladiator so I went to the YouTubes to see if it was any different. It isn’t.
YouTube: Barely Made It Offroad
How to install Reid Steel Steering Knuckles Jeep Gladiator JL – Replace Jeep Aluminum Knuckles
The new Jeep JL/JT Dana 30/Rubicon 44 knuckles are heavy-duty stock replacement knuckles. OEM knuckles are made out of Aluminum. Any amount of serious Off-roading wallows out the ball joint and tie rod tapers leaving the steering dangerously loose and sloppy. Reid Racing knuckles are made from the same high-strength ductile iron used in all of our other nearly indestructible steering knuckles. The ductile iron is so rigid that the ball joints & tie rod ends remain firmly locked in place.
JL001L (left, driver’s side)
JL001R (right, passenger’s side)
Uses stock 2018 + Jeep JL/JT brake rotors, calipers, stub shafts, and U-joints.
Fits JL/JT Dana 30, JL/JT Rubicon Dana 44, and Mopar & aftermarket JL/JT axles.
Easy bolt-on installation with no machining required.
Cast in steering stop prevents stop bolt bending common to OEM knuckles.
Aftermarket high-strength axle shafts, U-joints/CV joints, and stub shafts can be used.
Antilock Brakes, Traction Control, and Electronic Stability Control systems remain fully operational.
Both knuckles have machined drag link arms so they can be used on right-hand drive vehicles.
-F: This option has the drag link taper machined from the top so that a flipped drag link can be used, putting the drag link on top of the steering arm.
When the drag link is flipped, it gains height to correct the steering geometry for the common suspension lifts. This option requires a “flipped” drag link, available from many 4×4 part companies.
$499 EACH!
Jeep Talk Show Gladiator Update
Skinny or Fat Tires?
I watched a video from Tinkerer’s Adventure, “3 Scientific Experiments to Settle This | Wide vs Narrow Off-Road Tires”
Two tires were tested for their airing down and contact patch.
Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT 315/70R17 and 255/85R17 (34.4” and 34.1” diameter) Actual measured sizes were nearly identical.
Lowering the pressure on both tires developed a circular contact patch. The skinny tire was more of a longer circle, an ellipse.
Now step up the testing to a mock obstacle. Changing the tire pressure and measuring the wrap around the obstacle the skinny tire forms around the obstacle better than the fat tire!
The obstacle that was tested wasn’t long, like something you might find offroad like a shelf or a wide rock. So the testing moved to a test obstacle that was wider than the tires.
Again the skinny tire outperformed the fat tire at the same PSI. Even at 1 psi, the fat tire did not wrap around the test obstacle as the skinny tire did.
Additional testing was done by throwing the BFG KM3 into the mix. 315/70R17 a FAT tire. This tire performed better in the air down tests than the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss, skinny tire! The KM3 has a “Linear Flex Zone” which may be the reason for this better performance.
As you might suspect the more you air down the more flex you get around the obstacle. This may be the best reason to get either internal or external bead locks.
So if you’re like me, you need performance and good looks. You need to do your tire research to make sure you’re getting the best of both worlds.
I recommend going to YouTube and watching the entire video. Kai put a lot of time and effort into all the testing. He drives a Toyota but a tire is a tire, right? lol
Jeep Off-Road communication
The 2-way communications you use off-road may be dependent on the area or group that you are wheeling with.
We have heard from our listeners that the club or group they wheel with uses CB radios. We here at the Jeep Talk Show advise against using CB as we believe GMRS is a much better alternative.
GMRS provides
Higher power output, 4 watts max on CB, 50 watts max on GMRS
Quieter channels – You can use the squelch
Much shorter antenna
The downside to GMRS is if the group is using CB you won’t communicate with them! No, seriously GMRS has no other downside as compared to CB, in my opinion.
Midland radio recently came out with its first 50-watt GMRS mobile radios. Prior to this, the max output was 40 watts. If you are using GMRS for wheeling and everyone in your group is under a mile, you don’t need nearly that amount of power!
You can probably get by with a handheld GMRS radio, however, we recommend a mobile installation with an external antenna.
Having that additional power, 40, or 50 watts, is great to have! It’s like lockers. It’s a great tool to have if you need it.
I highly recommend that you run low to mid-power while wheeling. Running max power can cause issues especially if you haven’t run the proper size power wires, and what you have connected it to. For example, running 50 watts on a cigarette lighter may lower the power output of the radio, or even start something smoking.
We recommend running the 12-volt wiring directly to the battery even for the 4-watt CB. If you want the radio to turn off with the RUN setting on your Jeep you can always include a relay that turns that connection to the battery on and off.
If you’re in a group that uses CB let the leaders know about GMRS and all the benefits of it over CB. We here at the Jeep Talk Show believe strongly that GMRS is the way to go. Some of you may be asking “What about HAM radio?” Absolutely! HAM radio has a limit of 1000 watts on frequencies very near GMRS, and a lot more frequency real estate than GMRS, however, if you don’t need 50 watts why would you use 1,000?
The bottom line is GMRS is much like HAM radio 2 meter or 70 centimeter radio but you have to pass a written test to get a license. GMRS license requires no test. You just fill out the FCC form, pay your $35 dollars and you have a license that up to 5 family members can use.
I promise you it’s going to be a lot easier getting your family to use a radio when they don’t have to get a license first.
A personal pet peeve of mine. The roger beeps. This is the sound that is made at the end of a transmission. No one liked this on CBs that it’s f*cking irritating on GMRS. TURN IT OFF! We’ll figure it out when you’ve stopped talking the old-fashioned way.
Must-Have Stuff for your Jeep!
Jeep JL/JLU/JT PPF Door Sills $62.50
Underground graphics CLEAR door sills paint protection
I highly recommend this for your new Jeep and if you don’t mind do some cleanup and touch-up on your well-worn Jeep.