Welcome to botches off-road podcast your source to overlanding in your stock element to wheeling something wild
I'm here with Gavin. He's one of our hosts and he is going to tell us about his rig
Well, how you doing Alex?
Doing pretty good. Yeah, so
I'm uh, I'm running an o7 fj cruiser
base model and automatic
I bought it about two years ago and
Yeah, I bought it about what I think it was about a hundred and ten thousand miles and I'm about just just about hit a hundred and forty five
Thousand so still a brand new a lot of mile a
Lot of miles in one year. No, no, no, no, it was did I say one year? I meant like two
Oh, maybe I'm bad at math. Yeah, no, it was a it was two years, but
I
Thought I did okay, but then you know, I like driving it so much that I don't mind putting the miles on it
Yeah, I mean, that's why you buy them right to drive them not to let them sit
Yeah, should I probably put 400 miles on it every trip that I do
Every other you know every weekend so
400 miles with five one being off-road
Yeah, yeah, probably
Probably yeah, most of its highway and then probably I don't know
It's been a good six to eight hours off-roading each day
Depending on what we're doing, but so yeah, I guess
That's actually kind of a cool question for me, but I
Probably say
20 ish 20 or more. I don't know. It'd be an interesting thing for me to try out
Because when you think about it when you're going as slow as you are on some of these trails
It feels like it's a lot longer, but in reality
Not so much
What do you what are your plans with off-roading? What why'd you get into off-roading? How's that?
That's a better way to ask that question. Well, I've been like I've been camping like my whole life
Started as a young kid my dad would take me out
and
I want to camp and I want to adventure and I
Don't know. I was looking at car camping once I got the FJ. I wanted to sleep in the back and
Looking that up. I kind of came through and found like overlanding and stuff and kind of fell in love with the idea of what that is, you know, I
Like the idea of traveling
Stopping a night at a beautiful area that you've spent hours off-road, you know that not a lot of people can get to
You know stay in the night and then going to your next spot and just looking for the next adventure and the next
most beautiful scenery so I think that
You know and the love of the wilderness and being out and wanting to discover more is kind of what brought me into it
But you know, I've kind of met a lot of people joined a lot of groups
that have kind of opened my eyes to the realities of
Overlanding and off-roading and stuff and
kind of helped me
Kind of helped me realize what I need and don't need kind of things like that. So it's a lot of that
A lot of that's personal too, you know, it's something that might work for like you won't work for me
So you might have a different gear than I do and yeah, yeah, like well for my gear
I just a little background on me. I have a wife and a 10 month old son
so my gear does kind of pertain to keeping the family comfortable, so I
I'd like to I'd like to have them comfortable while we're out there the way they want to keep doing it and
So yeah, my my gear is a little bit different more. I want to stay comfort
You know pointed towards comfort without going too far without getting a trailer and a camper and all that so
That's a that's a tough and fun
Challenge with an FJ cruiser because they don't really have a whole ton of space in them
What's the it's kind of squirrel thought but what's the towing capacity in your FJ?
hmm
I
Don't
Something like five six. Yeah, 5000 pounds. I mean
I would just when you said camper. I'm like, could you even pull a camper? But yeah, you could yeah
Yeah, and you'd be surprised in what you actually see some of these fj's pole whether they're supposed to or not
I've seen a pulse a pretty large
campers
Actually now that you mentioned that I was gonna tell you this yesterday. I had to go out to
Hudson at Cooper'sville and
In front of me there was this big trailer full of hay and when they turned I saw that it was a berry colored fj cruiser
Full in that big trailer full of hay. It's nice. Yeah
I mean, they're a tough engine. I don't know. You know, I know the transmissions are pretty decent, but
I don't know. I've never wanted to tow like anything crazy and
The trailer is is good on paper. But the type of off-roading that I want to do to get to these spots
trailers
Just aren't ideal and if I don't have to go to one. I don't want to
So that's definitely part of it. So
Um optimizing space in the fj has been pretty important
Yeah
I think the trailers are good if you're going to be setting up a base camp
But if you're wanting to go to a new spot every single night
In michigan a trailer is not really that convenient because we've got some tight trails
I think they're easy trails, but they're tight kind of hard to maneuver with a trailer
Yeah
Yeah, well and for me, um
You know we a lot of it's like expedition. I don't really know like
destination base just as much as it is the drive and I think with the typical overlanding
Mindset I think by the original with air quotations around this definition of overlanding or it's more about
The drive than it is the destination and I'm really mixed in between the two because I like to do both
Um
So yeah, I'm trying to configure my truck to where I can
enjoy both do both
without
getting a trailer
So I'm I'm assuming
Right now that a rooftop tent is probably going to be my best bet
But just from talking with everybody else on
pros and cons about that versus a trailer with a rooftop tent or
Just a teardrop camper in general
I think I'd agree with that the way that you wheel I think that a rooftop tent is your best bet. Yeah
Yeah, I like to I like to stop one night. Um, for instance, I just we did a 1200 mile
Uh
trip around the up in Michigan, um, and
It was very pointed towards different
Destinations that I thought would be cool
Um, not necessarily like touristy destinations
But just places that I flagged on the map that are like cool. We can do this during this day. We can go
You know an eight hour
eight hour drive and hit this this and this
Find this campsite scout this one
and then
You know as do it and plan it out for four or five days
So that's that's kind of how I like to and then you know, we get to the coolest spot
It's nice and beautiful. It's quiet
But we enjoyed the whole time there like I'm not I'm taking the scenic option. I'm not taking highways
So that adds to the miles and time but
So with your uh, you want to camp?
Not necessarily camp in the fj, but camp out of the fj. What have you done to facilitate that?
Um, well right now, I'm not going to be camping on the roof for probably next summer. That's
Roofed up tents future plans. So
Right now we did some backpacking and stuff when we had the kid
and that's pretty much what I
wanted to kind of mix in
with the uh with overlanding so
Oh, we have a lot of backpacking stuff. So
um, like my tent is a
A nemo dagger. It's a two person. I tried to do something small and light
Um, that way didn't take up a lot of space in the fj
Um, we have thermoresco thermoresco compression pillows
Um, big rad or big agnes repede the insulated sleeping pads
Um, big agnes echo part 20s for the sleeping bags
Um, which is a synthetic bag
um, and then we uh for like when then we have like a cheap amazon toilet that we have so
Well, for for camping that's you know the the real basics around that. Um, and then kind of
For cooking which is a big part of that
That uh, that rear space
That I've been trying to optimize uh all of it
Yeah, I mean if you look at the back, uh, you open the door. It's basically
based cooking. I mean
I
See my wife can and will eat frozen dehydrated meals and we honestly we enjoy them for the most part, but
There's something to be said about a really nice hot cooked meal on a cool night or a night of just
Bumming and driving and being in the truck all day
Something about a nice, you know
Nice steak and some fried veggies and stuff that is just
It just completes it right so adds to that
And then I'm over here eating the hot dogs. Yeah. Yeah. Hey some people can I know Derek part of our mst group
He just eats hot dogs constantly. I think they there's a joke that
Is going around right now on instagram that people just saw him cook for the first time on a grill that he brought himself
But I only seen him touch it a couple times. I'm pretty sure his wife was the one cooking behind closed doors, but
he uh
But yeah, no, I mean I my my cooking in the back
um
You know I
With as much as I wanted to cook I decided I wanted to get a propane
um stove
um, and I went propane stove instead of like uh, like a black stone griddle
Just because I planned on making things
like other than
um, like things that you could just fry on the griddle so
Um boiling water boiling making rice stuff all that so I'm sure you could probably get over with it
on the griddle and somehow do that but
I wanted to be able to have that full capability and
The the Coleman than I have it's I think it's a Coleman 222
And I think that it has equal btu burning on both sides of the stove so I can do two different
types of cooking at the same time so if I want to
Uh, you know cook steak on one side
And make rice on the other. I'm not taking heat away
So that was something that was pretty pretty important for me
um
And then keeping like my food
Um fresh and being able to have fresh food
Um not soggy food. I wanted to get a fridge
so
I ended up looking all over amazon and youtube and
I ended up settling on the eco flow
Glacier
Which was like half off at the time it comes with a battery
It's 38 quarts and it's got a ice maker not that I use it
But it was really nice bang for the buck. It's it's been a pretty nice fridge
And I charge it while I'm driving and overlanding
And then over the night that I'm staying at camp it runs off of its own battery
So I'm really you know, unless I'm staying there for multiple days
I really don't have to worry about my fridge losing power or having no battery
And then the nice thing is I could always pull that battery out and use it as a battery charger
it's uh
So I can use it for like to charge phones or charge a plant, you know charge whatever I need to
So I really like that and for I think it was about $500
originally $1,200
It was a really good deal and I figured there's something too good to pass up
I mean that's more than half off. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was a great deal
Um, so yeah, so I really like the fridge and you know, you could turn into a freezer if you want and but I primarily use it for fridge
Keeping fresh veggies and fruit. I brought raspberries and mushrooms and stuff this last week
And uh, they stayed fresh and they looked really good still after two or three days. So it was kind of nice
Um, but yeah other than other than the fridge
I think I have I have a jet boil minimo
That I use for making coffee or just boiling water real quick like if I'm gonna make
instant mashed potatoes or an instant dehydrated meal
I'll use that while I'm cooking. So it's like I have three stoves right then
And that's really nice. It's really good for making coffee though. I can boil water in like 90 seconds. So I can't wait
I can't wait to use that on our trip coming up to make my coffee with my new french press
Yeah, dude. It's uh, it's pretty nice. I use uh, I use a pour over system actually
um, stanley came out with a
Uh, a pour over system that I wanted to give a try and it's not bad
You know with pour overs you use you have to have like a medium grit style coffee. So
You know, which uh, which stanley pour over do you get? Do you get the single serving or do you have the camp sized one?
I have the camp sized one. So you just keep pouring
You just keep pouring over it for however much water you want. But what I do
Is I make camp like a cowboy coffee. So I'll put the coffee grounds in the minimo
boil it in the water let it steep and then I will
And then I pour it over the pour over to filter all the grounds out. So it's jet fuel
I'm not gonna say I'm a coffee snob, but that hurts my soul. Yeah, does it?
Like I've done I do cowboy coffee occasionally, but that's like my least favorite way to make coffee
Well, I've I've only done it a couple times so far and it seems like it brings out the flavor a little bit more
Because I I notice that even with a thick it's it's kind of a with this certain pour over system
It's a fine line with your uh, with your coffee grains
of like
Like how it filters through
So like if you can have them you can have a little thicker and it goes too fast and you don't get
Uh, the right steep with the coffee
Or you go too slow and it just sits there with the fine grain or it goes through the filter
So I'm still monkeying with it. Um, I did that for a couple times just to see if it worked
But I was kind of worried and I don't know that I like burning the coffee in the minimo. So
I think that's the downside is that it was burning it. I don't want to burn the coffee itself. So
Have you you ever tried a percolator?
Um, my dad used one like the old enamel
percolators and stuff. Um, I
never really thought of it
and my my only thing was uh
Again space so percolators are typically a bigger system
So I tried to stay away from that
I might end up going to a french press though and
Jetboil does make a french press
So did you
Did you ever look up that one I told you about the I did not I didn't even I didn't even start with it yet
brewtrek overlander. Yeah
is it
Because I I was just gonna you know when I get a dual battery setup and an inverter honestly
You start weighing it out like why not just get a small single serve coffee maker or something then
You know, I mean you can make better coffee than a single serve coffee. You can yeah, you can
So but back to the brewtrek what's cool about it is it's a like a normal coffee mug size
So it's making single serve coffee
um
But it's a french press and when you press it down it seals the grounds away from the water
So you can remove the bottom and clean it without having to drain the thing and then you drink it right out of the
Brewtrek as if it was a mug. Yeah, that's that's pretty cool, man. I have to look that up for my wife. She is the primary
Coffee drinker. I just make it for her most of the time
And the colder it gets the more that she wants her and you know, I might right
But for me, I I primarily drink energy drinks. So I just wake up in the morning crack went out of the cooler
um
or the refrigerator
So yeah, I mean cooking wise that's been really good for me and I'm gonna have to look at that for coffee
Because it's I mean the jet-move mini mose
I might I might stick with that because it's such a good
Uh universal system and just to get some use out of it
Keep it around
right, I mean
It's it's quite nice. So it's just nice having around though too
Um, I we do like dehydrid meals like peak
Uh dehydrid meals. I just turned on another guy at camp actually
He was really excited. We went I we went on this camp trip because he was like dude
Dude, I I got the the biscuits and gravy that you that you fed me the one day
He's like I got it is so good and then he then he uh shared it with his wife and she liked it too
So they shared one and
that they're yeah, if I'm
If I'm eating dehydrated stuff, it's MREs every time because they're cheap
They're not that much cheaper as far as like by by singles but like so but like bulk. Yes, absolutely
I uh, I get boxes of them from, you know, my old unit. So
Well, shoot hook me up brother
I gotta head to my storage. Yeah
Yeah, but yeah, so um other than that that's yeah, I just use some cheap plates and stuff. Um
I try to recycle as much as I can so I'm trying to use
Uh, I have some cheap
plastic plates from uh walmart that I clean and use a lot and then if I'm serving others I
paper plates like
Um, so like the cutlery and the plates and stuff are nothing special
So try to just put emphasis on the cooking and then I have like an old
Teflon or not Teflon, but just so like uh
A cooking pan that I had just laying around
You're not even running cast iron
No, I have cast iron
Um, but again the problem with cast iron
Is that when you want to boil water?
Um or cook something like making a sauce
It starts to pull up the
The seasoning
That I mean we only use cast iron. Uh, we don't have anything else even at home
And they say that but really man, you're fine. Um, I I have a cheap, uh lodge and
My issue is that when I try to like let's say make spaghetti or
Or anything that like I turn into a sauce with
It maybe I just have the heat on too hot and that's probably because I'm trying to rush and do
15 things at once, but it actually pulls the coating off or at a
It leaves really dry and I don't have that oil coating on anymore. So
I have what do you what do you what do you use to season it? I oil mine after every cook
Yeah, I I typically would too the um
I use a little bit of olive oil sometimes and then the rest is like high
High flash, uh, like like what is it grape seed oil sunflower sunflower oil?
so
in uh, I I've experimented with a lot of different seasoning types and I found that things like, um,
Like flax seed great boy or the grape. Um
Even even a little bit of olive they tend to break down more when you're doing sauces and stuff
But if you use canola oil
If you get a decent enough seasoning with canola oil it lasts forever
Yeah
But I may apply after every cook. So yeah, I I tried to as well like I I don't skip it out. But after I wash it
um, I just noticed that the
You can tell that it's not coated how it was or seasoned how it was
But so so for quickness and ease of use
Um while I'm camping I don't tend to use it and I'm not using it over fire
Um, that would be a little different like if it was over the fire. I'd probably use cast iron a little bit more
Um, I used to have a cast iron pan that I brought all the time
But for weight
I just kind of took it out just extra to bring in and out and then here I have a pan that's dedicated
Because I mean in the house I cook with cast iron every time
Um, but when I'm out camping I just have a pan that I threw in there that's dedicated for camp cooking. So well, uh
now into the fun stuff
What have you uh performance wise? What have you done to the truck?
um engine wise nothing, um recovery
I guess that's not really performance, but um
suspension wise
I have bilstein
In the front and rears I bilstein 61 20s in the front and then the bilstein
51 60s with an external reservoir on the rears
And then in the back because of all the extra weight I have old man emu
Um, I think they're like 200 or 250 pound constant load springs to help take some of that stress off of the back
Um, I might have to actually add
Eventually I'm gonna have to go up a little bit on those springs
but yeah for right now that's kind of all I have for
Performance I think yeah, yeah
Yeah, maybe an upgraded alternator from an o7 to coma that puts out maybe just a little bit more amperage
But that's about it
And I know you're on you've got you do at the mxc 275 for comms, right?
Uh, yeah, I did. Um, I think I went off of that on
um, yeah, I think it was actually
Your recommendation to look at midlands and the comms on the hat so
Uh, yeah, I got um
Midland I really like um, that's the mxc 275
um, and then I had a
I think it's retrovis or some like re tevis. I don't even know how to say it. Um
It's a a mobile antenna. It's just a large antenna to help uh extend the range of the communication
Mounted that in the the back of the fj
um, I got a uh
What was it? Oh the um
It's like a little uh external speaker so that I can actually hear
people when I'm driving um on comms because
That that kind of just does not get loud enough. So and then uh
Yeah, I think I have the
uh a pack it's like it's a two pack
of hand-held radios with a extra battery pack that to give my wife if she's uh
If she needs to spa or someone else if they don't have one. So that does happen time to time
And then uh, and then what else for navigation and comms
comms. Oh, yeah, I got the wee boost overland the wee boost reach
Um, and that's a signal booster for cell phones and that works pretty well
You know no big deal. Just like the most expensive piece of comms gear you've got. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty unless I was to get uh
What is that the the star star link? That's gonna probably stay
The most expensive comms gear that I have
It you know what for what it is and I
In other people that ride with me can attest to it
I beat the crap out of that thing because I don't set it flat. I set it at an angle
when I'm going down trails it it's constantly being hit by trees and
Honestly, the thing's held up quite well
um, I flip it straight up when I'm on the highway on the roads and or on uh, like uh logging trails and stuff
And uh, I use that for just uh having a little bit of extra comms. Um
talking, you know back home
Making you know sending updates or for navigation like with onyx off-road google maps, etc
Yeah, it's uh
The wee boost is pretty cool. Um, I mean, you know my take I uh, I try to get away from cell phone coverage
So I don't really want to bring it with me. Yeah, and that's and that's the thing is I like um
I do like uh, like uploading sharing my adventure
You know, we have some family that likes to watch it and stuff
So it's a lot easier for me to share it as I go like at the end of the night
Uh, you know work on the pictures while everyone's sleeping and stuff and I enjoy that
um
But it does get a little daunting when like you get to the end of the trip and you have 400 pictures and you're like, oh
because I'm I constantly take pictures and videos and make little compilations and stuff. So it's
So it's it's a lot easier to do it when you know every day and split it up. Yeah, so uh
What are some future trips you've got playing anything cool for the next year?
Um
You know, I really wanted to hit porcupine mountains up this year, but I think that's gonna have to wait till next spring
I want or maybe next fall because I really want to hit it when the fall colors
Um, I do have we have yours coming up
Yeah, um the botches uh yearly trip. Yep, and then I
Created an event from one of our off-road routes
It's a a cryptid hunting event. So
I have that I'm putting it out. We're look we're gonna go search around for dog man
We're gonna go hunt his ass down
Um, but I went right to the source for one of the first sightings in michigan was in wexford county
So that's where we're camping is wexford county
Um, so that that'll be fun. I guess uh
as
A little side tangent from there, but as the only non original botches member, how did you become a botch?
Um
Probably actually through the off-road group originally uh, mitten state tours
Um, I met alex through that and we started talking he said he was in in my area too and
We were like, oh, really? You know what area? Oh grant. Oh me too
And then all of a sudden I'm like, yeah, you know went to talk to my wife
Like hey, yeah, I met this guy. He lives in uh lives in grant with us. He off-roads and stuff and she goes well
What's his name? I go oh his name is alex blah blah and she goes. Oh, yeah, I went to high school with him
so small world but uh
So then uh, you know, of course alex alex knows my wife too and
So it's uh, it was she's a nice lady. Yeah. Yeah. She yeah, she's she's a nice lady
But yeah, dude, uh, I mean it was pretty it was pretty cool small small world though
And he only lives like uh five minutes away from me. So he gets to help me with any of the issues that I have like
Uh any of my um
engine issues or something
And then I help him hold flashlights. Hey, son. You're not holding it. Uh smooth off. I know
I know. You get ptsc from that. Yeah, me any? Well
Oh, no, I was just gonna say it was uh, it was nice learning a little bit about you and it'll be cool to
Watch your rig progress as uh the next uh coming years come up
Yeah, yeah, once I uh once I start upgrading the exterior a little bit. It's gonna be nice. I don't have a whole lot
You know just the the crap I got on my roof and
stuff it'll be nice to take that stuff off optimize it, you know, I do plan on getting like a prind zoo
uh roof rack and then
Which sucks because I'm gonna have to take all the gear off and put it back on
Planning to get some new lights a front bumper eventually. I think I'm just gonna get a
One of those hidden winch bumpers because I don't mind the look of my front end
Yeah, I don't mind the look of your front end either. And you know, usually when you add a bumper depending on what it is
Of course, it does affect your approach angles. So
I uh the one I originally wanted before I started doing this was like the big arv safari brush bumper
And uh that has changed
so
You know once I
What then you just weld the tow hitch
To the front and make a shovel and then everything's okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I could help dig the holes out for everybody else behind me
So yeah, I mean at that point I could just be a bulldozer
Oh, this hole is too crazy. It won't hold on. Let me go through. Let me go through it first
I'll get stuck hook the winch up and pull everything out of it for everyone
Yeah, well man, thanks for uh coming on and introducing yourself and your rig a little bit
We'll definitely get to know you a little more over the next couple of episodes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for uh, thanks for having me
I'll definitely uh, definitely keep bugging everyone on here. So
Well, all right. Yeah, she grilled me all about my stuff and my rig and what I like to do
I guess it's uh, it's only fair that I ask you a little bit about yours since I don't honestly know a whole lot about it
so, uh
I
I guess we'll start off with uh, like what is it? What are you?
I know it's a you know Toyota 4runner, but what year?
So I mine's a
very clapped out 98 Toyota 4runner
Um
She'd been through the ringer by the time I got her about 240 ish thousand miles when I bought it
And I've put almost 23 or 24,000 on it in the last year
Um
which
I worked from home. So all pretty much all of that is trips
Yeah, that's fair
Yeah, you do definitely. Yeah, as I was gonna say you definitely do a lot of a lot of trips
So you don't really have any reason to to run around long long distances with it
so
Well, so when year did you buy that?
A couple years ago
No, I bought that in 23 april of 23. Oh, okay. Yeah, so that's not too bad. So yeah
And how do you I really like it very long?
Yeah
Well, and you're uh, you're a jeep guy before this right you're a jeep guy before you bought this one
yeah, I had a
My first car was an 83 cj7
Um, just one that my dad had bought when he got back from Saudi Arabia because he loved him over there
So he bought one and it was our family jeep until I totaled it in 2013
always um
Then I bought a 2000 tj when I was in Korea
Uh, I my dad bought it with my money. I because I couldn't have cars over there
but I uh, I built that um
Most of 2016
Wealed it all over the southwest Arizona, Colorado
um
You know, Nevada, Utah those kinds of places and then I mean I've had I had a 73 j4 000 that I towed it with
So it mostly all jeeps and then I bought a toyota
Well, how you liking it is it better is it worse? What's the what's your ups? What's your downs?
Well, I miss solid axle ifs is all right. If it's a smooth, you know daily driving
I probably prefer the ifs
But when it comes to trail time, I treat my forerunner like it's a jeep and I break it all the time because of it
That's true
I can uh, I can attest to that
I think I'm on front end rebuild like two or three in a year
you also treat your
forerunner like it's a
$500 jeep xj
That you couldn't give a fuck less about so to be fair on all the ifs systems and toyota's out there
He doesn't just beat it up like it's an off-road jeep. He just beats the living dog shit out of it
I don't matter what it is. Yeah, I mean so
So that's not necessarily a slight to uh, ifs. He's just very hard on those vehicles and knows how to fix them so
Continues to do that. So there's your disclaimer for that
So I you you beat the shit out of it, but uh, what have you done to it to actually do that?
I mean, I know that you have a lift on it, but what what do you got going on?
so in the rear, um, it's on uh
The rear is just a three inch rough country
um, it's got
Uh, I can't think the name of it right now
The correction to keep to put the axle back straight under the truck whatever that's called anyways the rear is very simple
It's nothing major. Um in the front. I've got
Now I've got gusseted
spindles since I broke one
and
It's mostly just
simple stuff freedom off-road front front suspension
Nice and cheap seems to work. I haven't really gotten out and beat on it too much since I put that on
um
I've got a northwest trail innovations front bumper
I
it's
It's pretty okay. I paid 200 bucks for it on facebook marketplace. So I can't complain about it too much
Yeah, no can't complain
And we just welded that right to the frame
I never planned on taking it off because I break stuff too often to make it removable
Yeah, what are you running for a winch?
Uh, I've got a nice cheap x-bowl 10k. Um, oh, yeah, okay. I think I paid 300 bucks for it
But yeah, that's on my list too
It just kind of works. I mean, I was gonna go with something a little more expensive and then
um
One of the guys from mst pointed me towards x-bowl and it just
I figured for 300 bucks if it only worked for a year. It still was worth the money
How long have you had?
Uh, probably eight months
Okay, well, it's yeah, it's doing pretty good. So I never have issues with it
Yeah, I mean that's on my list. I think x-bowl
One of the harbor freight specials
Something like that. I think is mine. I'm definitely not going to be going for a warrant on my first
my first winch so
um, I think I think the harbor freight special will be my uh
Probably be my thing because at least I can return it or if anything fries on it
I have I could just drive to the one at 30 minutes away and
well, that's
That's the other thing with x-bowl is we're pretty sure that they're made in the same factory as the harbor freight ones
Yeah, and they're half the cost
So, yeah, let's say let's say you buy one and you break it in six months
You can buy another one and it would be just like because if you'd bought
one
Of the badlands. Yeah, very fair very fair
so
so you have to
Yeah, you got the the bumper of the winch
the you got
Cut your fenders
You have sliced up. What is up? Yeah
Hey barely got fenders. So it looks like you have a bigger lift than you really do
So at least in the front. Yeah, um, and then you run in you go on. Is that like a three inch?
Is that a lift?
I've got it set the front. I've got it set at about 3.2 inches. I'd say and then the rear is just solid three inches
right
and then everything else
Pretty much everything else front suspension is just
From the factory because I mean if I break a cv axle, I want to be able to run
Noreily's and grab one and just throw it in there to get home
Yeah, that's fair. Yeah
What do you uh, what are you running for like wheels and tires?
I've got some relation race wheels
They're bronze, you know the whole new uh overlander thing
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. They're really sick. I want them
Yeah, I love them. They came on the truck and they'll probably stay there forever because I love them. Yeah, they're nice
And then I've got some uh good old ebay special mud trains. They're a road one kelvery
Oh, yeah, yep
They're uh, I think I paid like
550 for the four of them
I've had them on there about a year and they've been pretty solid
hmm
Then you have uh
Some kind of thing with your valve stems, right? Uh, I forget what that's called
Yeah, I'm running the apex designs rapid. No
Uh, something deflate I think but basically it's just it's got a little switch on it
You pull up on it and the tire deflates and I keep my uh
Um gauge hooked up to it and stop it where it needs to be
Uh, so yeah, it's the rpv is what they call it the apex designs rpv
Yeah, that has been pretty nice. I I watch you just pull that and get right to what you need to get to and that's quick
Yeah, my air down time is like 40 seconds. Yeah all the way around. Yeah, I was gonna say you got to like run around just to do it
but uh, so uh, okay. Well, you got the your air down. What's your air up? What are you working with? I
I've always wanted um onboard air
Uh on the tj. I had just a little 12 volt pump. I didn't have a tank or anything
Um, it was just enough to you know turn on the locker and that was it
so this time around I went with a
Just a ebay 12 volt pump that I've got plumbed into a little two gallon tank
Um, and it it works pretty well that pumps getting
Starting to see the end of its life. I think but yeah, it still works. It looks like a an off brand
Viere
compressor
It's uh vixen horns. I think is who makes that one or who branded that one
Yeah, I mean it still starts with a fucking v so might as well be
I mean, I mean they look identical, but yeah
I it's worked a lot better than the harbor freight ones. I've had so I can't really
I can't complain too bad. I went through three of them in three weeks. So
I ended up just going with a more expensive one and just being done with it, but
Eventually, I really think with your uh your harbor freight ones. I think that if you had had them plumbed into a tank
So they had some time to cool
um, oh, yeah, I helped
That I wasn't even down that much for psi like it wasn't like I was running 10 psi or anything
Going over up to 30. I was doing like 20 to 30
and
yeah, like 20 to 30 15 to 30 and
Each time the first time it was it literally the fuse melted inside of the the compressor
The second time it just started knocking and stopped working started blowing the fuse
and then the third time it literally sounded like a knocking engine
And the whole thing just came right apart out the out the side. So I said, yeah, that's enough. I got that 70 bucks back
threw it right back into a compressor off of amazon. I think it was a
Thor's lightning and that things worked really good for me. I actually used it this last uh this weekend did my tires and
Mike's tires right after mine and it was
Still cool enough that you could grab it. It was hot, but it was it's nothing near anything like the other compressors where you can't even touch it
So right, right?
So yeah, man, I it'll be really nice. Uh, maybe I'll do a tank like you because
The the less stress the better on these compressors you want them to last long
so yeah, I I really think the tank uh has really helped mine last as long as it has and that
Even though it's only two pounds that little burst of air right there. I mean, I've rebeded a tire with it like it
Oh, yeah, it can be helpful. Yeah for sure
And you have that actually plumbed into you the inside of your truck though not uh like the
Not under the hood or in the back. So you have that in the back, uh, like the cargo area, right?
Yeah, I have it on the the rear
fender well
Yeah, well and you have a lot of room back there too. So I think you're actually
So not to not to tangent off but kind of the uh, I think you're working out what the the Milwaukee Packout System
You're that's going to be your kind of avenue
for
for organization, I guess for your equipment
Yeah, I'm getting there. Um first I'm doing
The first two packouts are going to be battery boxes because I'm moving my
battery to the back so that I can make room for um tubbing for 37s
Oh, so
those
The battery is going to come to the back
um, and it'll be uh sealed agm inside of a pack out
Which will then have an anderson connector to connect for the rest of the truck
And then um on top of that i'm going to do two new compressors dual compressor this time instead of single
And those will just click into the top of that case with an anderson connector. Yeah
Yeah, no, I you kind of turned me on to the whole anderson connector thing
And uh, that's such a good idea. It's so quick. Um
And I just got limerizers for my truck and it's a pain in the ass to unhook them every time I want to pop the hood
So I'm really uh really glad you told me about those because I'm going to be making one coming out the front of my
Front of my truck pretty soon and we might as well hook you up with one too
I uh, I always look at the anderson connectors as a civilian version of the army slave cable. Yeah
Because if I could if I could do slave cables, man, that's exactly what I do right, right
so
You uh, is that is that going to be your uh, kind of do all is the mil walkie pack out or are you going to have
um, yeah
There's something I think you're like you're like your tents or something like that like
I think I'm gonna end up doing mostly just pack outs. Um, I'm getting the pack out mounts from um off-road anonymous
Who's based out of traverse city by the way? Oh, if I look at how you think that's cool. Yeah, but um
Yeah, so I'm getting the
pack out mounts from him screwing them into my cargo area. Um
It just it's nice not to have to tie things down and have a quick removable box. Um,
So I'll have one that has all my camping and tent stuff in it. I'll have one with recovery gear
I'll have you know all the everything will have its own box nice clean and sorted
Yeah, I'm gonna do something a little
A little different, but I really like that idea. Um
Maybe if I delete my seat system at all it'll kind of
Morph into that, but
I just I have such small amount of room right now that
I think yeah the more the more pack out the more boxing type material right
The the worst for me right now
So but it's gonna be super clean looking and I can't wait to see it
So, I mean you said you were running while you said you're moving the batteries to the back
You're trying to get tubbing for 37s. What's your what's your plans for it then?
If you're trying to throw 37s on there
I mean in the future. I'll probably just get I'll probably sit at 37s
Um, I just want to not feel as much on the trail as I do right now
Kind of smooth things out a little bit
Obviously be able to attack some larger obstacles. Um
To me
You know a little different than you when we go wheeling we go set up a base camp and then we wheel the area around the base camp
And we might pack up and move base camp, you know after a couple days, but
It to me it's nice because I can just get there take everything out of the truck
Set it at base camp and then go wheel
Yeah, I love that. I love that this off-road community. There's so many different versions of doing
And trying to accomplish, you know the same thing
So it's really cool that we can get together like this and uh, you have your plans
I have mine and we still can kind of coexist and and that's really fun
So do you have any uh future trips coming up either uh that you plan on doing other than
We have the boxes one that I really yeah, the botches one nearly. Do you have anything else going on?
um
Well coming up next year in june, I believe we're going to be going down
to
Um
Leatherwood with MSD
Yep. Um, yeah, I know you guys are probably going to go down to do that. I don't know
If I will be yet. Um,
I don't know if that's my thing
Uh, but it might be nice to just go down there and
See the terrain and see the other the other off-road stuff. I'm I'm more of like an off-road trail kind of guy
Um
Like I like that. I like the exploring with trails, but uh leatherwood as I understand it as a newer park
so
with like
Uh,
Like uh
5 000 acres or something like that tons of tons of trails and I think it's all ranging difficulties too
So like you can bring whatever you want really so it's looking like it's going to be kind of a really cool spot to
to run around in
I'm sorry 50 000 acres and 250 miles of trails
Ah, that's uh, you can
Ask you can actually overland inside the park
Yeah, if I do that I probably would I would
Sounds like a lot of fun too
Just don't know if I'm I'm just I'm just uh, you know weighing it, you know, do I want to
spend that much
mileage to go down there
Or spend that much mileage going in either other direction. So
We're still we're still thinking about it
I mean if I get that tow rig I'm working on then we just put all three trucks on the trailer and go down
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, that's uh
That would be fun other than being cramped in the tow rig
But yes, well the tow I'm looking at crew cab obs trucks. So you'll have plenty of room. Yeah, that's true
The um, maybe that'd be a trip not to bring the ladies with us though because that could get crowded
Ladies my son
Your dogs
That's a fun one. That's a that'd be a fun day
We would uh, we'd have to make mark drive the taco separate just to have room. Yeah
Yeah, there'd be some there'd be some choice words. I'm sure on this trip like that
But yeah, man, it's uh, well, thanks for uh, introducing me man. It's uh,
Really cool that we're actually doing this podcast together and we got uh,
Mark that we're gonna do another episode with him on eventually
But uh, I just want to say thank you for uh, for getting this kind of set up
You know, I'm more of a voice behind it, but I have no idea on the technical side of it
So it's really cool that you're trying to do
Uh, the offer of podcasts on kind of a different platform than like your typical
Spotify stuff. Um, and I'm not really familiar with it, but the value for value thing is kind of a cool concept
It uh, it mostly just streamlines the way that artists or uh, podcasters get paid
Um instead of having you know a spotify you have to have so many listens before you start getting anything and
Um, you really have to play into that ad market
Whereas with value for value whoever's listening can just decide to send some money to you
They can just you know, send you a quick message with 10 000 sats or
Uh, just shoot you maybe just a boost a blank boost with just some some sats in it
Oh, so yeah, I mean it's it's pretty cool
Yeah, that is definitely really cool, and I'm definitely glad we went this route versus the the other route
I mean, I think that it's cool that people can come by and watch and if
They don't like it. They don't have to or if they do like it. They can contribute to future episodes. So
It's uh, I think that's really cool. Um, you pay people based on what you value them at and yeah
Yeah, and
In the future I could see us having a boost segment where we read people's messages and boost
Uh, that way they can you know kind of feel like they're part of the show
Oh, yeah, dude. I'd love to interact with interact with some people
and I
I don't necessarily care about the money, uh, but I'd like to support the value for value idea
So we'll play into a little
Yeah, I mean money's not gonna do much
Um, right for us any time soon. I mean, well, we're gonna be putting it right back into this. So
Yeah, uh, eventually maybe you guys can uh can love us enough that we can
Buy us the gas that you are traveling and that
That that's when I start I start going like this and we made it boys. That's it. That's the end of the line for me
You that's what I move into my truck with my job. Yeah
Yeah, you pay you pay for my gas. That's all I need say less
That's I mean I can live off hot dogs after that. That's fine. Yeah, the value for value is pretty cool. Um
And the whole podcasting 2.0 ecosystem. I mean it gives us the ability to live streaming inside of an app
um
If you're using a modern podcast app something like, uh
I don't even know what all there is anymore. You've got podverse
um
fountain
I don't know who else has jumped on there, but yeah, if you get a podcasting 2.0 app
We'll be able to do live streams right in the app. It'll give you a notification to tell you that we're live
um
You'll with fountain you're able to actually interact and like comment on the
Podcast so you can actually interact with us that way
Um, I mean there's just there's a lot to it man. There's a lot that we can do now
There's definitely a lot to it. That's that's kind of actually over my head a little bit. So I'm glad we got tech gurus like you here
So man, it's been nice. Uh
Appreciate you for coming in telling us about your rig what you want to do and and then even explaining the value for value thing for the podcast
So anybody who's listening now can uh
To look back on this and if they did any information on value for value. This is a pretty good, uh
Pretty good intro to that kind of thing. So appreciate it. Appreciate your time. Yeah. No appreciate yours