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Deep Dive on the Ram HD AEV Prospector · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
0:10
Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and for this week's episode, Matt, Scott
0:13
Speaker 1: and I talk about the American Expedition Vehicle's Prospector. This
0:18
Speaker 1: vehicle is built on the RAM full sized chassis. It's
0:22
Speaker 1: built on their twenty five hundred and thirty five hundred trucks,
0:25
Speaker 1: and it is available in a standard Prospector on thirty
0:28
Speaker 1: seven inch tall tires, the much envied Prospector XL, which
0:33
Speaker 1: is on forty inch tires, and it has wider fender
0:36
Speaker 1: flares than some other accessories that allow for that kind
0:39
Speaker 1: of tire size fitment. We do a deep dive on
0:42
Speaker 1: this vehicle. The reason why we're covering this truck is
0:44
Speaker 1: because it is such a great fit to the overland traveler.
0:48
Speaker 1: It's available in a diesel drive train, a heavy duty
0:51
Speaker 1: diesel drive train. It's available in a three quarter ton
0:54
Speaker 1: and a one ton variant, which means that you can
0:57
Speaker 1: put pretty much is much weight as you like on
1:00
Speaker 1: the thing, with even over three thousand pounds of payload.
1:04
Speaker 1: This is a very capable vehicle with a ton of capacity.
1:08
Speaker 1: It has the durability of the Cummins Diesel and then
1:12
Speaker 1: it has the legendary engineering and quality of American expedition vehicles.
1:17
Speaker 1: So please enjoy our conversation about the Amazing Prospector. This
1:23
Speaker 1: content is brought to you by Overland Journal, our premium
1:27
Speaker 1: quality print publication. The magazine was founded in two thousand
1:31
Speaker 1: and six with the goal of providing independent equipment and
1:35
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1:41
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2:19
Speaker 2: So we're going to talk about the twenty twenty two
2:21
Speaker 2: AEV Prospector XL Today Prospector.
2:25
Speaker 3: I like it. I like it.
2:26
Speaker 1: Well, I mean they're just they're literally a super truck. Yeah,
2:30
Speaker 1: and they're kind of like this Overmogue. They're like the
2:33
Speaker 1: super Overlander truck. I've done trips all the way up
2:36
Speaker 1: to tuck Tyuk Tuk in Prospector XLS and prospectors, and
2:41
Speaker 1: you've owned a prospector and it's a really important model.
2:46
Speaker 3: AEV does a lot of great work.
2:48
Speaker 1: Why don't you kind of give a background or a
2:50
Speaker 1: backstory on what the prospector is.
2:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the prospector is basically like it's it's a conversion.
2:57
Speaker 2: It's a vehicle conversion, right, Like, technically speaking, there's really
3:03
Speaker 2: you know, if you go into a VIN search, there's
3:05
Speaker 2: no such thing as an AEV prospect Or Excel. It's
3:08
Speaker 2: a RAM twenty five hundred thirty five hundred. I think
3:12
Speaker 2: they're starting to do some chassis cap stuff on like
3:14
Speaker 2: the forty five hundred and fifty five. It makes sense,
3:17
Speaker 2: long story short, So if you want one, you've got
3:20
Speaker 2: a few options. You can either send AEV, you buy
3:24
Speaker 2: the truck, you have the truck. I do think that
3:27
Speaker 2: if you buy your own truck and you have a
3:29
Speaker 2: converted it has to have somewhat lowish miles like their
3:32
Speaker 2: I don't think they convert stuff that has forty fifty
3:35
Speaker 2: thousand miles, although maybe they can, or.
3:38
Speaker 3: You just buy an AEV VENN truck.
3:42
Speaker 2: And I know that that is a little bit of
3:44
Speaker 2: a redundant to what I just said, but there is
3:46
Speaker 2: actually like a little aev vinplate on it. So the
3:49
Speaker 2: whole thing with the prospector, there's the prospector, there's the
3:52
Speaker 2: prospect or Excel. Prospector means thirty sevens, XL means forties.
3:57
Speaker 2: For the purposes of this conversation, when I say prospector
4:01
Speaker 2: or PXL, we're talking about the one with forties.
4:04
Speaker 3: So you start with what is a pretty good truck.
4:06
Speaker 2: Mean, it's basically kind of a an uprated you know, wrangler.
4:11
Speaker 2: When you look underneath of these things, you've got a
4:13
Speaker 2: five link in the rear, you do a radius arm
4:15
Speaker 2: up front on them. They're really pretty capable trucks, no question,
4:19
Speaker 2: I think, no question, great drive line, great motors. I mean,
4:23
Speaker 2: everybody respects the Cummins, yeah, Diesel, but AV puts so
4:27
Speaker 2: much work into them, Like if you're going to if
4:30
Speaker 2: you're going to go and you're going to build a
4:33
Speaker 2: full sized truck, this AV Prospector sits in this kind
4:37
Speaker 2: of classy territory. So on the XL, I think the
4:41
Speaker 2: most distinguishing feature Aside from the forty inch tires are
4:44
Speaker 2: these big high Mark fender flares that they.
4:46
Speaker 1: Do, yeah, which look factory and they totally totally complement
4:50
Speaker 1: the truck. I may cover the tires. Yeah, I've whacked
4:53
Speaker 1: them on some stuff. I want to say. Dave said
4:54
Speaker 1: they're made from kind of like a kayak material, like
4:56
Speaker 1: they're ah, makes sense, They're they're really stout.
4:59
Speaker 2: So literally the fenders on the front and back of
5:03
Speaker 2: the vehicle end up getting cut and there's like these
5:06
Speaker 2: new fender liners and these over fenders that go in
5:10
Speaker 2: and you end up with this, you know. I want
5:11
Speaker 2: to say they're forty by thirteen fifty I think so.
5:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, they use a couple different manufacturers. I don't know
5:17
Speaker 1: what he's using currently. I know that there's a problem
5:20
Speaker 1: getting forty inch tires. I know that he's also used
5:23
Speaker 1: the forty one inch iras super swampers yeah, yeah, which
5:27
Speaker 1: they do look great on the vehicle. They're a little narrower. Yeah,
5:31
Speaker 1: the one I had a prospect Or Excel for months.
5:35
Speaker 1: I think it was in twenty remember that twenty nineteen
5:38
Speaker 1: or twenty eighteen. I had a green one and it
5:41
Speaker 1: had toyos on there. Yeah, it was great.
5:43
Speaker 3: Mine had the Toyos.
5:44
Speaker 2: I had no problem with those tires for how I
5:47
Speaker 2: use the tire or how I use the truck. I
5:49
Speaker 2: would have rather had an ultrain tire, but it's just
5:52
Speaker 2: not available, right right, Like I think they use Toyos.
5:55
Speaker 2: I think they use Coopers, and then I think that
5:58
Speaker 2: you have an option to do the super or swampers. Yeah,
6:00
Speaker 2: maybe that's a call in thing. Anyway, the whole the
6:03
Speaker 2: whole purpose of this truck at the end of the
6:05
Speaker 2: day is to fit a really large tire with as
6:08
Speaker 2: minimal lift as possible, So you end up with a
6:11
Speaker 2: three inch lift on the front and about a one
6:15
Speaker 2: to two inch lift on the rear depending on options
6:19
Speaker 2: and things like that. Like Mind had air suspension, which
6:21
Speaker 2: was really cool. I don't think they have to lift
6:23
Speaker 2: those as much because if you put weight in the bed.
6:25
Speaker 3: Do they put like a do they put a space?
6:27
Speaker 2: There's a spacer, you know, it's it's avy, so it's
6:29
Speaker 2: super well engineer, there's a spacer. There's like a some
6:32
Speaker 2: kind of extension to the height sensor.
6:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, they probably relocate the panhard rod and all those other.
6:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, everything's really I want to say, there's a there's
6:41
Speaker 2: a there's a different steering knuckle up front, it kind
6:43
Speaker 2: of gets a high steer, it gets hydraulic assist steering.
6:48
Speaker 2: The whole axle actually gets moved forward, like I think
6:51
Speaker 2: it's an inch and a half or one point.
6:53
Speaker 1: That makes sense, so they can get the sweep of
6:56
Speaker 1: that huge tire.
6:57
Speaker 3: And not yet not hit the body. Yeah, yeah, that
7:00
Speaker 3: makes sense. So it's interesting.
7:02
Speaker 2: So I actually had a twenty twenty one Ram twenty
7:05
Speaker 2: five hundred, if member that.
7:06
Speaker 3: The silver one I left at stock.
7:07
Speaker 2: I was actually just intending to send it to AEV
7:11
Speaker 2: to get it converted. Well, this was peak pandemic and
7:14
Speaker 2: it was just an absolute nightmare. I ended up trading
7:17
Speaker 2: that for a TRX, and then I traded the TRX
7:20
Speaker 2: for the for the Prospector.
7:21
Speaker 3: So I've had like all of these interesting.
7:23
Speaker 2: Kind of Ram truck experiences, and I think that it's
7:27
Speaker 2: always fascinating to actually buy the buying the vehicles yourself,
7:32
Speaker 2: and you're putting the money in yourself, I think you
7:35
Speaker 2: get a different perspective than that.
7:38
Speaker 3: And that's kind of what I want to dive into.
7:40
Speaker 2: Generally speaking, when buying an American car, the worst, the
7:43
Speaker 2: worst part of it is the dealer experience.
7:45
Speaker 3: Yeah. Always.
7:47
Speaker 2: I went through Jackson Ellis in Glendale. They're a huge
7:51
Speaker 2: AEV dealer, and it was like super painless.
7:54
Speaker 3: Which makes sense.
7:55
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a premium vehicle to a fairly affluent demographic,
8:00
Speaker 1: so they better like not screw you around.
8:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I gotta be SOT experience.
8:05
Speaker 2: So yeah, so literally we're just going to start from
8:07
Speaker 2: the beginning on how to buy one, what it's like
8:09
Speaker 2: to buy one. This particular one was one that Jackson
8:13
Speaker 2: had specked and it was already being shipped in. I
8:16
Speaker 2: think maybe somebody had dropped out from it, you know,
8:19
Speaker 2: he knew I was kind of looking for one, called me,
8:22
Speaker 2: bought it.
8:23
Speaker 3: Did the deal it was. It was. It was super easy,
8:25
Speaker 3: and it was.
8:26
Speaker 1: In Matt black too, Yeah black black, Matt Black Matte black.
8:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was Matt's black exactly.
8:33
Speaker 2: So it was this particular truck was a limited Longhorn
8:37
Speaker 2: that got you. I want to say, the Longhorn package
8:40
Speaker 2: kind of used to be on the laramie side. Now
8:42
Speaker 2: it's on the limited side. So it gets some nicer
8:45
Speaker 2: headlights that kind of swivel automatic high beams, and it
8:49
Speaker 2: was a really beautifully specked truck. The reason I typically
8:52
Speaker 2: don't like the limited Longhorns is they get like this
8:56
Speaker 2: chrome front grill. But on this particular one, I don't
8:59
Speaker 2: know if ended up being Jackson that swapped out the
9:02
Speaker 2: parts or AEV that painted them. All of that was
9:05
Speaker 2: gone and it was and it was black. So it
9:07
Speaker 2: was kind of a kind of a unique truck. It looked,
9:09
Speaker 2: it looked really handy.
9:10
Speaker 1: It was it looks a lot like that t Rex
9:13
Speaker 1: that I'm driving today, which is like all like very
9:16
Speaker 1: tastefully blacked out.
9:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
9:18
Speaker 2: Well, it's actually funny, like the t Rex and the
9:20
Speaker 2: PXL are very similar vehicles, Like the price points are
9:24
Speaker 2: pretty similar, but they're about on opposite sides of the
9:28
Speaker 2: spectrum as you could get for use case for use case.
9:31
Speaker 2: You know that they're both amazing but totally different. The
9:34
Speaker 2: PXL depending on how you spec it. You know, mine
9:38
Speaker 2: had the air suspension. It was a twenty five hundred
9:41
Speaker 2: twenty five end of the air suspension. I wouldn't get
9:44
Speaker 2: it again, you wouldn't. Didn't you like about it didn't
9:46
Speaker 2: have much travel and interesting it ended up just running
9:49
Speaker 2: through its travel really really quickly on compression. Yeah, so
9:54
Speaker 2: when you got into corrugations or something off road, the
9:57
Speaker 2: back of the truck really bounced.
10:00
Speaker 1: So you're getting a lot of step out and corrugations
10:02
Speaker 1: and stuff. Where is chattering and stuff, Yeah, chattered a
10:04
Speaker 1: little bit.
10:05
Speaker 3: I mean I would.
10:06
Speaker 1: Probably you did go from a TRX to a Prospector.
10:09
Speaker 1: So it's for those that are listening, you know. But
10:11
Speaker 1: how much travel is on the TRX fifteen inches.
10:14
Speaker 2: Or something like that, I think it's I think it's
10:15
Speaker 2: like twelve. Okay, the TRX does not have as much
10:18
Speaker 2: travel as the got it. To be fair, the TRX
10:21
Speaker 2: could blow through its travel pretty quick too. I've noticed
10:24
Speaker 2: that seven hundred horsepower. And anyway, so you have these
10:27
Speaker 2: two trucks that are like these two kind of eccentric
10:31
Speaker 2: luxury trucks, super trucks, super trucks, and you know, and
10:35
Speaker 2: and one's incredibly fast. One is just ridiculous. I mean
10:40
Speaker 2: you look at a prospect Or XL, they just look
10:42
Speaker 2: gnarling that. The new av bumper for the rams they
10:46
Speaker 2: do is so cool, the way the factory lights integrate.
10:50
Speaker 2: So new trucks have like these three sixty cameras and
10:54
Speaker 2: they even like have a camera relocation kit for it.
10:57
Speaker 2: It brings it from the grill to the bumper and
10:59
Speaker 2: it doesn't effect with the optics or really distorted it.
11:02
Speaker 2: They put a lot of work and it was really cool,
11:05
Speaker 2: and I think that's what really dominates the prospector is
11:09
Speaker 2: the attention to detail that you cannot get by having
11:13
Speaker 2: a truck.
11:14
Speaker 3: Built by your local real drive shop.
11:16
Speaker 2: I mean, no disrespect, but they're coming up with individual
11:19
Speaker 2: solutions and that's fine.
11:21
Speaker 3: Where this is fully integrated system AAV.
11:24
Speaker 2: Is integrating systems and engineering a production solution.
11:28
Speaker 3: ANEM level quality solution. Yeah.
11:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, So you know, mine was an early twenty two car,
11:36
Speaker 2: so it didn't come with the eighty one hundred XP
11:41
Speaker 2: you know, remote reservoir shocks. And the cool thing on
11:43
Speaker 2: those is the same guy that did the shock tuning
11:46
Speaker 2: for the TRX did the shock tuning for AV on
11:50
Speaker 2: those Bilstein shocks, which was a little interesting tidbit that
11:54
Speaker 2: was kind of dropped to me. So I actually, after
11:56
Speaker 2: the fact, upgraded to those, and I upgraded to the
11:59
Speaker 2: brush yard that brush guard.
12:01
Speaker 3: The brush guard made it for me. Well, it just
12:03
Speaker 3: animal strikes.
12:04
Speaker 1: You've got this incredibly expensive truck and you live in Prescott,
12:09
Speaker 1: where you know, the only time i've ever hit an
12:11
Speaker 1: animal was in Presket and you know there's deer everywhere
12:14
Speaker 1: on Williamson Valley where we both live. It's like it's like,
12:17
Speaker 1: you know, I just have to go further through the
12:19
Speaker 1: gauntlet than you do.
12:20
Speaker 2: But my favorite part of that vehicle was the bumper
12:24
Speaker 2: and the brush guard and the integration that went into
12:27
Speaker 2: everything on that. The rear bumper was great. You just
12:31
Speaker 2: don't look at it as much, so you don't get
12:33
Speaker 2: as infatuated with it, but.
12:35
Speaker 3: You know, every detail on the vehicle was was really good.
12:38
Speaker 1: And I think that's another thing that's worth noting is
12:41
Speaker 1: that when AV designs something, they're looking at it at
12:45
Speaker 1: the highest level of quality and integration possible. But they're
12:48
Speaker 1: also really thoughtful designers. Yeah, so nothing looks out of place.
12:53
Speaker 3: Now, it's just most a beefy and good.
12:56
Speaker 1: Most aftermarket components they kind of look like they're screen
13:00
Speaker 1: on the truck, Whereas the reason why you don't really
13:03
Speaker 1: pay that much attention to the rear bumper is because
13:05
Speaker 1: it just looks like a heavy duty factory option.
13:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're like you said, there's there's actual automotive
13:12
Speaker 2: designers that are working there. Yeah, there's actual automotive engineers
13:15
Speaker 2: that are working there, and it's.
13:17
Speaker 3: Not most of them, I believe most of them.
13:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not the cardboard aided design thing that you
13:22
Speaker 2: get with a lot of you know. I mean, like,
13:24
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that there aren't other strong bumpers on
13:26
Speaker 2: the market. For sure, take an impact or or whatever.
13:29
Speaker 2: That's that's not what I'm implying. But when you look
13:32
Speaker 2: at the AEV bumper and you understand what what the
13:36
Speaker 2: stamping is, and you know these thoughtful little details like
13:40
Speaker 2: on the front recovery points, they're what I presume is
13:43
Speaker 2: like a nodular iron or something. There's even like a
13:45
Speaker 2: little skid plate built in that if you ran out
13:48
Speaker 2: of a proach angle, you could just push through it
13:51
Speaker 2: on these little these little kind of little nodular skids
13:54
Speaker 2: that are built their cast iron or skid plates. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
13:57
Speaker 2: nodular iron skid plates. And then the AV bumpers are
14:01
Speaker 2: some of the few in the aftermarket period that are stamped,
14:05
Speaker 2: and the complexity of their stamps, stampings and the way
14:08
Speaker 2: that they integrate the level of quality material coatings finishes.
14:13
Speaker 2: It's all at OEM level or better, which is what
14:18
Speaker 2: means that, like ten years out, your aftermarket bumper is
14:21
Speaker 2: still going to look great. Yeah, let's talk about what
14:24
Speaker 2: it's like to drive a PXL.
14:26
Speaker 1: And maybe also like use case, So like, since overlanders
14:29
Speaker 1: are listening, how would someone use a prospector? Like what
14:34
Speaker 1: would be the reason to buy a prospector for overlanding?
14:37
Speaker 3: In your mind?
14:38
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's a bit of flash, a
14:41
Speaker 2: bit of flair, a bit of yeah, like it's a
14:44
Speaker 2: flashy car, Like it's on forties and it looks it
14:47
Speaker 2: is expensive. It looks expensive, but it looks like this
14:50
Speaker 2: factory thing. What is the use case? The use case
14:53
Speaker 2: is putting a camper in the back, or a scenario
14:56
Speaker 2: where you need really high flotation because you're gonna air
14:59
Speaker 2: down to yep, twenty PSI and a forty in a
15:02
Speaker 2: truck like that and you're just going to float over
15:04
Speaker 2: snow and mud and that kind of stuff. I think
15:06
Speaker 2: if I was an Overlander, I would not have specked
15:09
Speaker 2: mine the way I did. Mine admittedly was more of
15:12
Speaker 2: a was towing a race trailer that was kind of
15:15
Speaker 2: my thing. I needed to put dirt bikes in the
15:17
Speaker 2: back of it. It was never really a primary Overlander.
15:21
Speaker 2: For me, I looked at the Prospector in my case
15:24
Speaker 2: as a toy. It's not a toy though, It's a
15:26
Speaker 2: truck that's really made for work. I mean, you could
15:29
Speaker 2: use this on a job site, you could use this
15:31
Speaker 2: in the field, you know, for commercial work.
15:34
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things that's interesting about the
15:36
Speaker 1: Prospector Xcel to me is that it is available from
15:40
Speaker 1: everything from what you bought, which is like this amazing
15:44
Speaker 1: do it all daily driver, tow the trailer, all that stuff,
15:48
Speaker 1: but then they also sell Prospector excels that are regular
15:52
Speaker 1: cab with a tray bed that you install a camper
15:55
Speaker 1: on and you literally have an American unimog. Yeah, and
16:00
Speaker 1: they look super cool.
16:01
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
16:02
Speaker 1: If you look up for those that are listening, just
16:05
Speaker 1: look up a prospect Or Excel tray bed. To me,
16:09
Speaker 1: there is and I'm going to come out here and
16:11
Speaker 1: say it right now, there is not a single vehicle
16:13
Speaker 1: that I have lusted over more for a longer period
16:16
Speaker 1: of time than that truck period period when I drove
16:21
Speaker 1: the white one. I mean, Dave Hereton had a manual transmission. Mario, yeah,
16:25
Speaker 1: and Mario Donovan has it now at at overland and
16:29
Speaker 1: I drove that truck with Dave up to tuck Tyuktuck
16:33
Speaker 1: and I drove the other ones as well, the four
16:35
Speaker 1: doors and the ones that are more spec like your vehicle.
16:37
Speaker 1: But yeah, that one with a manual transmission on forty
16:40
Speaker 1: ones with a tray, it was like if there was
16:43
Speaker 1: ever a Scottymobile. It's I don't know why I have
16:45
Speaker 1: not bought. I don't know why I have not just
16:47
Speaker 1: bought what I really want, But like that is like,
16:50
Speaker 1: that is the truck that I realize.
16:51
Speaker 2: I think that they're the coolest because they're the least practical.
16:54
Speaker 2: I think whenever you add practicality to something that so
16:57
Speaker 2: becomes blessed inherent.
16:59
Speaker 3: That's so true. And I don't need a four door.
17:01
Speaker 1: I don't have kids, so you know it'd be me
17:04
Speaker 1: and then a camper on the back and you know whatever.
17:08
Speaker 2: I think the thing with the Prospector XL is that
17:10
Speaker 2: you don't you look at it and it looks very
17:14
Speaker 2: professionally done. I mean, yeah, everything's proper. They have their
17:18
Speaker 2: own badging that looks great. But it drives really good too.
17:22
Speaker 1: It's that's another thing that people that are listening. It's
17:25
Speaker 1: shocking to be in a truck on forties. Set the
17:27
Speaker 1: crews at eighty five and you're literally going down the
17:30
Speaker 1: road with one hand gently on the wheel.
17:33
Speaker 2: Like I've owned the exact I mean, it's not the
17:36
Speaker 2: exact same truck, but I had this twenty one twenty
17:40
Speaker 2: five hundred and I had the twenty two to twenty
17:43
Speaker 2: five hundred. Obviously there's little there's little changes here and there,
17:46
Speaker 2: but same drive train, same same transmission, same geary and
17:49
Speaker 2: same everything. The Prospector was easier to drive, It rode better,
17:54
Speaker 2: it was better on the road.
17:56
Speaker 3: Oh, that's interesting.
17:57
Speaker 2: That is so Here's like the comment thing is that
18:00
Speaker 2: the I do think that the Prospector's biggest weakness right
18:05
Speaker 2: now is that it does need gearing. But like with
18:07
Speaker 2: the the stock twenty one, it was geared so low.
18:12
Speaker 2: I think they have three seventy threes, which isn't like
18:14
Speaker 2: so low. Both with the amount of work that you
18:17
Speaker 2: couldn't act like like when we're pulling out of the
18:20
Speaker 2: office over here by the corner and you need to
18:22
Speaker 2: like kind of get on it to go go whatever.
18:24
Speaker 2: If there's like any kind of moisture or any kind
18:27
Speaker 2: of sand or anything, you're just you're not going anywhere.
18:30
Speaker 3: Sure, we're with the Prospector.
18:31
Speaker 2: Like it almost kind of geared it down a little
18:33
Speaker 2: bit and it was just really easy to drive.
18:36
Speaker 3: Sure something about again.
18:38
Speaker 1: So you do think that the Prospector needs lower gearing
18:41
Speaker 1: or you don't.
18:42
Speaker 2: Just I do, but I don't think it's essential. But
18:45
Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, would be better.
18:47
Speaker 2: I know that I know that I'm I know that
18:48
Speaker 2: I'm percent lower. Yeah, I think like a four fifty
18:52
Speaker 2: six would be perfect in that truck.
18:54
Speaker 3: But no one makes gearing for the rams right now.
18:56
Speaker 2: They have some kind of you know, there's a thing,
18:59
Speaker 2: there's a thing like the carriers integrated into the into
19:02
Speaker 2: the ring a little bit, and like, I don't think
19:05
Speaker 2: anybody's tooling anything up right now, and I think that
19:08
Speaker 2: automotive production is screwed in the aftermarket.
19:11
Speaker 3: So nothing. I can't believe that they don't have four
19:13
Speaker 3: tens available. It was it was a little.
19:15
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say frustrating, but like in previous
19:18
Speaker 2: time they have put four fifty six's in the p
19:22
Speaker 2: cells that was just part of the option. They can't
19:24
Speaker 2: do that right now because nobody makes the gears. That's
19:27
Speaker 2: good enough it just because we have to be able
19:29
Speaker 2: to talk about the things that aren't perfect. Yeah, that,
19:31
Speaker 2: and there's so much about the truck that's perfect. That's
19:33
Speaker 2: one of the things that isn't perfect. You also talk
19:36
Speaker 2: When I say it's easier to drive, I mean it's
19:38
Speaker 2: easier to drive when you're in the middle of Texas
19:40
Speaker 2: and there's no cars around you. There is there is
19:44
Speaker 2: no way to get around that.
19:46
Speaker 3: It is a big truck. It's gigantic.
19:49
Speaker 2: It's it's it's it's gigantic. It's it's honestly not that
19:52
Speaker 2: much wider than like a than a TRX, but it drives.
19:56
Speaker 3: TRX is wide. The TRX is wide. Right, when you
19:59
Speaker 3: look at a prospector in a photograph, it looks so perfect,
20:04
Speaker 3: like the dimensions, the tire size, just so that everyone
20:07
Speaker 3: that's listening are when you walk up to one of
20:10
Speaker 3: these things. It is gigantic. It's big.
20:12
Speaker 1: It's just like in a photograph it looks so balanced and
20:16
Speaker 1: perfect and at home and the terrain and everything. But
20:19
Speaker 1: your truck was gigantic.
20:21
Speaker 2: So so yeah, let's let's let's be balanced here and
20:23
Speaker 2: talk about why I sold it. I wanted something smaller
20:27
Speaker 2: to be honest, I wanted to downsize a little bit.
20:30
Speaker 2: It was you know, I have I have people. No,
20:33
Speaker 2: I have a greyhound. I'm a doting greyhound father rescue dad. Yes,
20:36
Speaker 2: And I have to lift this eighty pound dog into
20:40
Speaker 2: a truck on forties and it's just like you're like
20:42
Speaker 2: hurling him up in there.
20:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
20:44
Speaker 2: Sure, so, I mean that's a me problem, you know,
20:46
Speaker 2: like you're buying a large truck.
20:48
Speaker 3: You look at it. It's large. Yeah, it's big.
20:51
Speaker 2: It's it's not a fault of the vehicle or anything.
20:54
Speaker 2: It's it's it's a personal preference, but it's something to
20:57
Speaker 2: be aware of. Yeah, I got it with the steps
21:01
Speaker 2: that automatically come out. I didn't like that. I didn't
21:03
Speaker 2: from the factory because they're just a little bit more
21:06
Speaker 2: integrated and really lighting and stuff that made it that
21:09
Speaker 2: made it livable. If those steps weren't there, I think
21:13
Speaker 2: that I think they'd be a no go for me,
21:15
Speaker 2: Like if I was to ever buy another one.
21:17
Speaker 3: Which in you're six to one, so like put that
21:20
Speaker 3: into perspective.
21:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know, that's kind of one of the
21:22
Speaker 2: downsides I think of. It is just it, you know,
21:25
Speaker 2: you have to walk into it. Knowing that you're buying
21:27
Speaker 2: a big truck. Where that affected me was that I
21:31
Speaker 2: didn't like to drive it off road. It was black,
21:34
Speaker 2: it was really pretty. It wasn't my primary off road vehicle,
21:39
Speaker 2: and you're gonna pinstripe it and you have to just
21:42
Speaker 2: be careful.
21:43
Speaker 1: Another reason for the white or or you just have
21:47
Speaker 1: it regular cab tree bed. Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly for
21:52
Speaker 1: me when I look at that, it's it's got.
21:54
Speaker 3: The biggest challenge that we have as Overlanders is payload. Yeah.
21:58
Speaker 1: There's lots of things to love about me sized trucks, yep,
22:01
Speaker 1: but none of them have a one ton capacity anymore.
22:06
Speaker 1: You used to be able to buy mid sized trucks
22:08
Speaker 1: or compact trucks with one ton ratings, but the most
22:11
Speaker 1: I've seen is a Ranger at like sixteen hundred pounds.
22:14
Speaker 3: Or maybe funny, maybe a Gladiator at seventeen hundred pounds.
22:17
Speaker 3: But they're the same avs like real deal.
22:20
Speaker 2: So they replace the tire placards on the vehicle, they
22:23
Speaker 2: replace the gross vehicle weight labels, and all of this
22:27
Speaker 2: stuff gets replaced as a as like a secondary manufacturer.
22:30
Speaker 3: I don't know the.
22:31
Speaker 2: Exact term, but they weigh the vehicles and they take
22:34
Speaker 2: into account the weight of the accessories that's in them.
22:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I want to kind of explain this.
22:40
Speaker 2: I get payloads of conversation around the campfire with overlanders,
22:44
Speaker 2: and let's let's take the Ranger sixteen hundred pound or
22:47
Speaker 2: seventeen hundred pound payload. Great to the guy around the campfire.
22:50
Speaker 2: His truck still has a seventeen hundred pound payload. No,
22:53
Speaker 2: we'll have to put the bumper and the tires and
22:55
Speaker 2: the wheels into this and that it all reduces it.
22:57
Speaker 2: You really have a eight on payload or something like that,
23:01
Speaker 2: and then you go from there. So the stated payload
23:04
Speaker 2: on my Prospector was somewhere between sixteen hundred and seventeen
23:07
Speaker 2: hundred pounds, which really isn't that much for a full
23:11
Speaker 2: sized truck with that big of a diesel engine and whatever.
23:14
Speaker 2: So you know that's after all of this, that is Yeah,
23:17
Speaker 2: that is the actual payload capacity stated by AV.
23:20
Speaker 1: Now it's a really simple solution. You buy the thirty
23:23
Speaker 1: five exactly. You just go to the next biggure my
23:25
Speaker 1: next truck.
23:26
Speaker 2: Honestly, like, maybe it's an interesting story at the end,
23:28
Speaker 2: why I got rid of Yeah, well I get rid
23:30
Speaker 2: of this. You know, maybe I would consider another PXL,
23:33
Speaker 2: even though it's big and I get fatigued on that.
23:35
Speaker 3: I would do a thirty five hundred.
23:37
Speaker 2: There's people that actually prefer how the suspension works on there.
23:40
Speaker 2: It's a more traditional leaf sprung system versus a coil
23:44
Speaker 2: sprung system. But if you look at how Ram does
23:46
Speaker 2: the coil springs on the twenty five hundreds, they're very
23:50
Speaker 2: inboard and they're very susceptible to the crown of the road,
23:54
Speaker 2: so the car can kind of drive a little weird.
23:57
Speaker 2: I don't think it's as bad with the suspension on there,
24:00
Speaker 2: because I think it's a little bit more giving in
24:02
Speaker 2: a kind of.
24:02
Speaker 3: Adjusts a little bit. But I would get a thirty
24:05
Speaker 3: five hundred.
24:05
Speaker 2: I would also get a thirty five hundred if I
24:07
Speaker 2: ordered them, because I could do the high output motor.
24:09
Speaker 2: So let's talk about some other things that aren't great
24:11
Speaker 2: about the prospector most of that is gonna be RAM.
24:15
Speaker 2: The engines outdated. The transmission comes from the nineties to
24:19
Speaker 2: be really blunt. The six four five RFE or something.
24:24
Speaker 2: It's an old transmission. It's a six speed, it's not
24:28
Speaker 2: particularly refined, and you get into the every other competitive
24:33
Speaker 2: product that you're looking at. You know, TRX eight speed
24:37
Speaker 2: hp eight hp ZF transmission fantastic. You get into the
24:42
Speaker 2: super duties and the Chevpes ten speeds insane and they're
24:45
Speaker 2: really good good, you know, like the earth Rummer has
24:49
Speaker 2: a six speed from the Ford that's a twenty eleven.
24:52
Speaker 2: That transmission is so much better than the one that's
24:54
Speaker 2: in a twenty two or twenty three RAM. The icin
24:58
Speaker 2: that you get with the high output is even rougher.
25:02
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it's just me, but I
25:04
Speaker 2: keep hearing of people that are having problems with that
25:06
Speaker 2: ice and even though it's meant to be the heavy
25:08
Speaker 2: duty transmission, other problems with it is you look at
25:12
Speaker 2: a tremor, which is realistically it's most you know, I mean,
25:16
Speaker 2: there's the power Wagon, there's the Rebel, you know. Now
25:18
Speaker 2: there's the av Silverado HD and yeah, which is a
25:23
Speaker 2: great looking trust Yeah.
25:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, awesome.
25:26
Speaker 2: But you look at all the competition, and you're looking
25:28
Speaker 2: at Ford with twelve hundred pound feet of torque, and
25:32
Speaker 2: you're looking at and a ten speed right and five
25:34
Speaker 2: hundred plus horse power, and then you're looking.
25:36
Speaker 1: Remember when I drove the tremor. You literally feel felt
25:39
Speaker 1: like you were turning the tires on the wheels. There
25:42
Speaker 1: was so much power, like you were wondering what's going
25:46
Speaker 1: to break because it was so violently Yeah.
25:48
Speaker 3: Powerful.
25:49
Speaker 2: So you end up the positive to the prospector or honestly,
25:53
Speaker 2: the positive to the RAM platform is a is AAV
25:57
Speaker 2: And the interior Yeah no, the.
25:59
Speaker 1: Interiors, holy cow, beauty know. The cab of the truck,
26:02
Speaker 1: yeah beautiful.
26:03
Speaker 2: You know it goes back to twenty sixteen, seventeen something
26:07
Speaker 2: like that, if not before that, Like it's it's not
26:10
Speaker 2: the same cab. The fifth gen cab on the fifteen
26:15
Speaker 2: hundreds is so TRX is fantastic. Yeah, why that's not
26:20
Speaker 2: on the HD trucks. Hopefully it's coming. I'm sure it
26:26
Speaker 2: is a PXL that's on the new RAM architecture with
26:30
Speaker 2: the proper new cab, which is just you know, like
26:34
Speaker 2: the the current generation HD trucks. You know, like you
26:37
Speaker 2: pull the door out and you can kind of pull
26:39
Speaker 2: by the handle and you kind of see the door
26:40
Speaker 2: move a little bit like they're they're pretty well done,
26:44
Speaker 2: but it's it was tooled to be cheap to manufacture,
26:47
Speaker 2: and the new stuff is is better so like my
26:49
Speaker 2: next Prospector, I'm already saying it. They're good trucks. My
26:54
Speaker 2: next one, I'm gonna wait, fifth gen cab. It needs
26:57
Speaker 2: a better transmission and you want the high output man,
27:01
Speaker 2: And it's not that you need it, but I would
27:03
Speaker 2: want it.
27:03
Speaker 3: Well, if you're going to have a super truck on forties,
27:06
Speaker 3: you might as well.
27:07
Speaker 2: If you're paying on the tour, you know, like a
27:09
Speaker 2: Prospector is going to cost you somewhere between ninety and
27:13
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. That's a lot of money.
27:16
Speaker 2: The AEV upfit depending if you do just Prospector, you
27:20
Speaker 2: prospect Or Excel starts at like fifteen or twenty, which
27:23
Speaker 2: is a lot of money. But you can build that
27:25
Speaker 2: into financing, which is really important for a lot of people.
27:28
Speaker 2: And you're not think thing of the time savings. Like
27:31
Speaker 2: the coolest thing with the Prospector is I got to
27:33
Speaker 2: build a beautifully built truck from day one. Everybody knows
27:37
Speaker 2: I've built a lot of vehicles and you did nothing
27:39
Speaker 2: to it. I think I remember long range tank. Okay, yeah,
27:43
Speaker 2: you did essentially nothing to it.
27:44
Speaker 3: Essentially not.
27:45
Speaker 1: So what was the what was the size of the
27:47
Speaker 1: new long range tank fifty two gallons.
27:49
Speaker 3: Okay, that's from Titan, so maybe seven hundred.
27:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's more than you ever need to think about. Yeah,
27:56
Speaker 2: sure it's there. What did you do with the spare?
27:58
Speaker 2: Did you go with the bed mount or you just
28:00
Speaker 2: went with no spare? I went with the bed mount
28:02
Speaker 2: because that's that's the way the truck was equipped.
28:04
Speaker 3: I would do it again.
28:05
Speaker 1: I want to say, that's an interesting like loss of
28:08
Speaker 1: space I find has anybody done a swing out or
28:10
Speaker 1: anything like that?
28:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can do a swing out, so so yeah,
28:13
Speaker 2: maybe maybe that's another negative to the truck is there's
28:17
Speaker 2: no I mean, that's just an inherent problem with a
28:20
Speaker 2: forty inch tire is there's really nowhere to put it.
28:23
Speaker 2: You can put it on like a rigged swing out,
28:25
Speaker 2: which is what a lot of the PXL guys do.
28:28
Speaker 2: That gives you your full use of the bed, but
28:30
Speaker 2: then when you need to use the bed, you've got
28:33
Speaker 2: this extra step. It's not really that big of a deal. Sure,
28:36
Speaker 2: I find it a pain in the ass. So putting
28:40
Speaker 2: it in the bed, it's on the driver's side at
28:42
Speaker 2: the very front of the bed, and it's vertical.
28:45
Speaker 1: If it does and it looks, it looks cool and
28:47
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem to block the view.
28:49
Speaker 2: You can still fit a dirt bike in the bed
28:51
Speaker 2: because you can run it. Front tire goes in the
28:53
Speaker 2: passenger front of the bed and to the side, and
28:56
Speaker 2: yours had a six and a half of bed six
28:58
Speaker 2: and a half foot bed. It makes sense, dirt bike
29:01
Speaker 2: guy myself, I really it's it's really hard to beat
29:05
Speaker 2: the Ford's if you're if you are loading dirt bikes regularly.
29:10
Speaker 2: Ford has this built in bedstep with this handle and
29:14
Speaker 2: they have this six and three quarterbed, which means you
29:17
Speaker 2: can get two dirt bikes in with the tires, yes,
29:20
Speaker 2: or the front tire handlebars are turned inwards. They kind
29:24
Speaker 2: of kiss at the front, and then you have all
29:26
Speaker 2: this room in the middle. It's it's actually that is
29:29
Speaker 2: and you and you can close the tailgate. You can
29:31
Speaker 2: only do that with one bike on the rams. Where
29:34
Speaker 2: I'm going with that is even though that tires there,
29:37
Speaker 2: it didn't really matter because you can only get one
29:39
Speaker 2: bike in there. Any Yau, I had the rear view
29:41
Speaker 2: camera like that, the mirror. I think it's a system
29:44
Speaker 2: from Magna or something. It was an option of the
29:46
Speaker 2: twenty two is the clear view system, So it actually
29:50
Speaker 2: had a camera kind of on that that third brake light.
29:54
Speaker 2: It was right there, so you don't have to see
29:56
Speaker 2: the I only had a little bit of it in
29:57
Speaker 2: the corner and you can actually adjust the field you
30:00
Speaker 2: so it was very transparent. If you turn that off,
30:03
Speaker 2: you're like, oh wow, I basically can't I can't see.
30:05
Speaker 3: Anything out of the truck.
30:06
Speaker 2: That was a really, really worthwhile upgrade, and it made
30:09
Speaker 2: the truck feel and drive smaller and more maneuverable, particularly
30:14
Speaker 2: with the three sixty cameras as well. While it was big,
30:18
Speaker 2: and you just you know, if you get if there's
30:19
Speaker 2: one parking spot and the two people next to you
30:23
Speaker 2: have parked lit, yeah, you just you're probably not gonna fit.
30:28
Speaker 3: Now.
30:29
Speaker 2: A lot of that's a mental like a mental thing
30:31
Speaker 2: because the vehicle isn't actually any wider, because while the
30:35
Speaker 2: fenders and the track with increases, it's it's still the
30:39
Speaker 2: same with at the mirrors. Sure, right, that's a little
30:41
Speaker 2: bit of a mental game that you have to get
30:43
Speaker 2: used to with the truck. But you do think about
30:45
Speaker 2: it because it's it's big, it's pretty maneuverable. I don't
30:49
Speaker 2: think it's any less maneuverable than a standard twenty five hundred.
30:52
Speaker 3: I don't know.
30:53
Speaker 1: And anything that you do come in contact with the
30:55
Speaker 1: PXL is going to win.
30:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's big.
30:59
Speaker 3: I think.
31:00
Speaker 2: I think you just have to walk into it knowing
31:02
Speaker 2: that it's big. Yeah, like obviously it's big. Like like
31:05
Speaker 2: it's not like you.
31:06
Speaker 3: Can't even call it the XL. Yeah you can't.
31:09
Speaker 2: You can't fault an elephant for being big. They're as
31:11
Speaker 2: big of it as an elephant. They're an elephant. A
31:14
Speaker 2: PXL is as big as a PXL or as an elephant.
31:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So.
31:21
Speaker 2: I did the worn Mine had the worn sixteen to
31:24
Speaker 2: five winch on.
31:25
Speaker 3: It never used. It looked good, fit good in there.
31:28
Speaker 1: Just I think it's a good idea to have it.
31:30
Speaker 1: I think the problem is is when when a prospector
31:33
Speaker 1: gets stuck, you have a real problem. Yeah, because what
31:36
Speaker 1: it takes to get a prospector stuck to begin with
31:38
Speaker 1: means that you are in a place that not much
31:40
Speaker 1: else is going to get to, So you really want
31:43
Speaker 1: to have some kind of self recovery.
31:44
Speaker 2: I always liked having it around because in the same thing,
31:48
Speaker 2: if the roamer the earth romer gets stuck, we take
31:51
Speaker 2: it pretty far off road.
31:52
Speaker 3: Usually that's like.
31:53
Speaker 2: The only vehicle that could get unstuck sure, so to speak.
31:56
Speaker 2: So that was I guess one of the thoughts.
31:59
Speaker 3: So as your chase for you for the Earth throw
32:01
Speaker 3: all this sounds so terrible. What has happened? Man?
32:05
Speaker 2: I used to like ride scooters in Asia and I
32:07
Speaker 2: had like twelve dollars my name, and I think I
32:09
Speaker 2: was happier. That's usually how it goes. Yeah, yeah, anyways,
32:12
Speaker 2: so I really enjoyed it. And do I think at
32:16
Speaker 2: the end of the day it's too big it?
32:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, Honestly I never felt see I'll pull back because
32:23
Speaker 1: I think if you're buying a truck like that, you're
32:26
Speaker 1: buying something that has that kind of capability and capacity.
32:30
Speaker 1: So you're saying that I want and I want to
32:32
Speaker 1: be able to have a camper, and I want to
32:34
Speaker 1: be able to go on these really remote trails so
32:37
Speaker 1: I can get further away from all the other people.
32:41
Speaker 1: And that's why you buy. If you're looking at it
32:43
Speaker 1: not as a fashion accessory as or which that vehicle
32:46
Speaker 1: does a great job of. If you're looking at it
32:48
Speaker 1: just from like how I would want to use it is.
32:51
Speaker 1: If I bought a regular cab tray bed Prospector on
32:55
Speaker 1: forties or forty ones, it's going to allow me to
32:58
Speaker 1: get to the places that I couldn't could get with
33:00
Speaker 1: my at four, and I would put something like a
33:03
Speaker 1: scout on top, or or like a.
33:05
Speaker 3: Do you get really awkwardly tall?
33:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, but so like so does an earth rumer. Yours
33:12
Speaker 1: is almost twelve feet tall.
33:13
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
33:14
Speaker 1: You know, once you're into that category, you're going to
33:16
Speaker 1: have a tall vehicle to begin with. But with the
33:18
Speaker 1: shorter wheelbase of the regular cab and the clearance that's
33:22
Speaker 1: provided by the tray bed, you really do end up
33:25
Speaker 1: with this vehicle that is like got Rubicon level capability.
33:30
Speaker 1: Now you're not You're bigger, so you're not going to
33:32
Speaker 1: fit everywhere a Rubicon can go, but you can go
33:35
Speaker 1: so many places that others can't. And I think that's
33:38
Speaker 1: the that's the argument for the Prospector. For me as
33:41
Speaker 1: an Overlander, is I have if I get a thirty
33:43
Speaker 1: five hundred, I have over three I mean, let's call
33:46
Speaker 1: it twenty eight hundred pounds of payload by the time
33:48
Speaker 1: the conversion's done. Yep, I can put any camper I
33:52
Speaker 1: want on there. It'll also take additional fuel and water
33:56
Speaker 1: and whatever supplies I want, front winch, rear winch, whatever
34:00
Speaker 1: I want to install on the vehicle. It can do
34:02
Speaker 1: all of that, and it can get me into places
34:04
Speaker 1: that you just cannot get a sprinter van, you can't
34:07
Speaker 1: get a regular overland vehicle.
34:09
Speaker 2: I think that that's the argument for me the money.
34:12
Speaker 2: The money thing would be to look at that new Rebel.
34:15
Speaker 2: It's kind of like a I guess it's parallel to
34:18
Speaker 2: the power Wagon. It's like the diesel power Wagon, but
34:22
Speaker 2: I believe that it's meant to be a little bit
34:24
Speaker 2: more work oriented. That gets the four link front end
34:29
Speaker 2: from the power wagon with the diesel engine, doesn't get
34:31
Speaker 2: a front locker like the power Wagon does, but apparently.
34:34
Speaker 1: Flexes like but you can get a diesel. You can
34:37
Speaker 1: get a diesel in it. So what's the name of this,
34:39
Speaker 1: the ram HD Rebel. Yeah, it's kind of cool. I
34:42
Speaker 1: do not know this, Yes I do.
34:43
Speaker 2: So there's pxls that are starting to come out with
34:45
Speaker 2: those now, and I think that's the new top dog.
34:48
Speaker 2: Is this, Like, you know, you get the four link
34:51
Speaker 2: from the front end, so ram hds get a radius
34:54
Speaker 2: arms set up which just doesn't flex as well and
34:59
Speaker 2: arguably wouldn't ride as well. So if you really want
35:01
Speaker 2: to talk Cummins equipped Wrangler on steroids, the Rebel HD
35:08
Speaker 2: is real cool.
35:10
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm seeing what you're talking about here. This thing
35:12
Speaker 3: is very cool.
35:13
Speaker 2: But the cool thing with AAV is that, like if
35:15
Speaker 2: you're listening and you're like, oh, I'm not going to
35:17
Speaker 2: buy a Prospector for whatever reason, and that's fine, you
35:21
Speaker 2: still have access to all of these processories. Like I've
35:25
Speaker 2: kind of been thinking lately, I'm like, boy, like a
35:28
Speaker 2: RAM Rebel with you know, you can fit thirty five's
35:31
Speaker 2: on them stock and to do the AV bumpers, and.
35:36
Speaker 3: It has a real locker.
35:37
Speaker 1: One of the things that I think it's important for
35:39
Speaker 1: people to know is don't get hung up on the
35:41
Speaker 1: front locker thing on an HD truck. And I'm just
35:44
Speaker 1: going to be very open here. First of all, these
35:48
Speaker 1: have huge engines. They have a thousand ful much weight
35:51
Speaker 1: pressing down in those and they have one thousand foot
35:54
Speaker 1: pounds of torque. So if you have the reason why
35:58
Speaker 1: they don't have a front locker, the four doesn't have
36:01
Speaker 1: a front locker. Even the Tremor it has a front
36:03
Speaker 1: limited slip mechanical. The RAM doesn't come with the front
36:06
Speaker 1: locker outside of the power wagon, and the power wagon
36:09
Speaker 1: has never come with a diesel because if they put
36:12
Speaker 1: one thousand foot pounds of torque the locked front axle,
36:15
Speaker 1: they're going to be blow st up, gassy bind it's
36:17
Speaker 1: going to go, It's going to blow everything up. So
36:20
Speaker 1: everybody has to get over this. You know, full sized
36:23
Speaker 1: HD trucks have to have front lockers. That's not true.
36:26
Speaker 1: They have traction control, so they have these advanced systems
36:30
Speaker 1: that limit wheel spin, but they're controlled in they know
36:34
Speaker 1: how much torque is being applied to that front end
36:36
Speaker 1: and they can adjust it to protect the front differential.
36:41
Speaker 2: I don't think I don't think they need them, and
36:42
Speaker 2: they're just I don't think they need a massive and
36:44
Speaker 2: you're not, you're not. I mean, yes, you can take
36:47
Speaker 2: this truck virtually anywhere. I think the use case for
36:52
Speaker 2: a lot of it is going to be mild trails
36:55
Speaker 2: and forest service roads. With a full sized truck, you
36:57
Speaker 2: get a lot of floatation from the big tires, you
36:59
Speaker 2: get the come for it, you get the load carrying capacity.
37:02
Speaker 2: And another thing I really like about the RAMS, I
37:05
Speaker 2: guess I've talked a little bit about maybe some shortcomings.
37:07
Speaker 2: They have shortcomings that are totally fine to live with
37:11
Speaker 2: and not really have to we have to be we
37:13
Speaker 2: have about it, you know, like everybody else in the
37:14
Speaker 2: market in that segment has better options.
37:17
Speaker 3: Anyway.
37:18
Speaker 2: What I love about the Ram is it's actually a
37:20
Speaker 2: small truck if you get the you know, the the
37:23
Speaker 2: quad cab with the six and a half foot bed.
37:26
Speaker 3: What converted me away from.
37:28
Speaker 2: The Gladiator was knowing that the dimensions, for all intents
37:32
Speaker 2: and purposes were nearly identical. Like we were talking maybe
37:36
Speaker 2: six inches in overall vehicle length and nearly speaking non
37:42
Speaker 2: prospect Or Excel nearly the same vehicle with.
37:46
Speaker 3: I really like them.
37:47
Speaker 2: You know, you get into the Ford, like somebody told
37:49
Speaker 2: me and I when when you kind of stack it up,
37:51
Speaker 2: you see how it's true that, uh, that a eight
37:54
Speaker 2: foot bed RAM is nearly the same length as a
37:59
Speaker 2: six and a half foot bed. Forward, there are a
38:03
Speaker 2: little bit more compact trucks. The engine I think comes
38:06
Speaker 2: a little further into the cab, the hood's a little shorter,
38:09
Speaker 2: just the it's it's a really nicely thought out package
38:14
Speaker 2: in terms of sizing. They're not as big as you'd think.
38:17
Speaker 2: A lot to like about them.
38:19
Speaker 3: So what's the Matt spec.
38:22
Speaker 2: Okay, if I'm building, if I'm building a PXL, let's
38:24
Speaker 2: start with the truck.
38:25
Speaker 3: Okay.
38:26
Speaker 2: I don't know if I would do the the limited
38:29
Speaker 2: Longhorn again. I think I would probably just do a
38:32
Speaker 2: do a Laramie with I want to say they call
38:35
Speaker 2: it the Level two because you know you're spending, you're
38:38
Speaker 2: spending when you're already spending that much. I think that
38:41
Speaker 2: level two package, which is what gets you like the
38:43
Speaker 2: twelve inch screen and the the cooled seats and a
38:49
Speaker 2: lot of the technology on the vehicle, it gets you
38:52
Speaker 2: like the dual pain glass so it's pretty quiet inside.
38:55
Speaker 2: I would get a Laramie with the Level two package.
38:58
Speaker 2: I would love, for for now, for it to be
39:01
Speaker 2: a Rebel. I don't know if you can get the
39:04
Speaker 2: Rebel in the thirty five hundred. I think that's twenty
39:07
Speaker 2: five hundred dolls. Yeah, it looks like it's twenty five
39:10
Speaker 2: hundred dollars. Yeah, but that might be enough kind of
39:13
Speaker 2: off road fun performance for me to want to take that.
39:16
Speaker 3: But realistically I would choose a thirty five hundred.
39:18
Speaker 2: I'd get the high output motor that comes with the
39:21
Speaker 2: ice in transmission. I would do the anti spin rear differential,
39:27
Speaker 2: and then with AEV I would do the EXL pack.
39:30
Speaker 2: I think that the standard prospect Or EXCEL package is
39:34
Speaker 2: everything you could ever need. I would argue that you
39:37
Speaker 2: might want the winch. I would argue that you might
39:40
Speaker 2: want the front brush guard. I definitely wanted the lights
39:43
Speaker 2: on the front. I think that they look pretty good.
39:45
Speaker 2: I just mind didn't come with it. Yeah, yeah, that's
39:48
Speaker 2: what it would be, and that's how I would spack it.
39:50
Speaker 2: I mean, I would ideally love to see what Ram's
39:53
Speaker 2: going to do for twenty four, but they might just
39:55
Speaker 2: be running this powertrain for a long time.
39:58
Speaker 3: There's rumors of.
40:00
Speaker 2: Some kind of diesel electric hybrid kind of you know
40:04
Speaker 2: from I've been hearing that for a while. That would
40:08
Speaker 2: be that would be really really cool, because that's the
40:11
Speaker 2: only way that we're really going to get these HD
40:13
Speaker 2: trucks to be practical if they're electrified some kind of
40:18
Speaker 2: you know, like it's got to be a combination. Yeah,
40:20
Speaker 2: it's it's it's going to end up being something so
40:21
Speaker 2: that that would be my dream. But if I was
40:23
Speaker 2: to build one right now. Yeah, that thirty five hundred
40:26
Speaker 2: would be the way to go.
40:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd be thirty five hundred regular cab trade bed
40:33
Speaker 3: for you.
40:33
Speaker 2: I would still I would still do the the kind
40:36
Speaker 2: of the standard configurational call it, which a compromise for
40:39
Speaker 2: the megacab is really that next generation cab that well,
40:44
Speaker 2: we'll solve a lot of those problems. It's a little
40:46
Speaker 2: bit longer, it's a little bit more efficient inside. Like
40:48
Speaker 2: the seats end up taking up in the quad cab
40:51
Speaker 2: or crew cab or whatever we're calling that, they end
40:53
Speaker 2: up taking quite a bit of room, right, I don't know.
40:57
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed having this vehicle for a year.
41:01
Speaker 3: I had.
41:01
Speaker 2: I had zero problems on the AEV side. It's cool
41:05
Speaker 2: that they do warranty everything. I had quite a few
41:08
Speaker 2: recalls with the truck, like I think that rams for
41:12
Speaker 2: a twenty two model year, which there's still a lot
41:14
Speaker 2: on dealer dealer lots. They're on stop sale right now.
41:18
Speaker 2: Some heater grid in the intake interesting kind of a
41:23
Speaker 2: glow plug thing. But yeah, I also had a lot
41:25
Speaker 2: of I had a lot of problems with their infotainment.
41:29
Speaker 2: So for twenty two they switched to wireless car play
41:33
Speaker 2: and half of the time it would crash. They did
41:36
Speaker 2: an update on it, it would still crash. The entire
41:38
Speaker 2: screen would become unresponsive. And the problem that there's so
41:42
Speaker 2: much controlled through that sc climate control almost you've got yeah,
41:46
Speaker 2: you've got some basic buttons in the sides, but you'd
41:48
Speaker 2: have to you know, constantly reset this screen.
41:51
Speaker 3: And that did fix it.
41:52
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think there's some things that are again
41:55
Speaker 2: not on the AEV side, but the prospectors tied to
41:58
Speaker 2: the truck. Yeah, most of my journalistic key complaints are
42:02
Speaker 2: are would be related to the RAMS side well.
42:04
Speaker 1: And speaking of Prospector, it'll be interesting to see if
42:08
Speaker 1: a V does anything now with the new GM you know,
42:11
Speaker 1: either the Chevrolet or the GMC on the XL side,
42:17
Speaker 1: because it's already it already looks like a Prospector from
42:20
Speaker 1: the factory. Yeah, so if they did, if they did
42:23
Speaker 1: a forty inch tire package, that would be pretty If.
42:27
Speaker 2: You're listening to this podcast and you're and you're like, oh, man, like, yeah,
42:31
Speaker 2: maybe I want a little bit more modern of a truck.
42:33
Speaker 2: I don't maybe need something that is as large, and
42:37
Speaker 2: maybe I don't want something that is as expensive.
42:40
Speaker 3: I mean I think there's a lot of people on
42:41
Speaker 3: that boat.
42:42
Speaker 2: That is why this Chevy Silverado HD Bison. Yeah AV package. However,
42:51
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not a Chevy guy, but I'm looking
42:53
Speaker 2: at Chevy's.
42:54
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yeah, I've never been a GM guy,
42:57
Speaker 1: and I just they're listening to the market.
42:59
Speaker 3: I'm using one. I'm driving an eighty four, so yeah.
43:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, I think it's kind of public knowledge.
43:05
Speaker 2: There's a little bit of drama with AEV and Jeep
43:07
Speaker 2: and that kind of stuff. Like I think Jeep decided, well,
43:10
Speaker 2: we're going to do this ourselves with mopar, and it's like, okay,
43:13
Speaker 2: well when people want to actually spend five x what
43:17
Speaker 2: these parts cost because they have you know, Jeep performance
43:20
Speaker 2: parts on them, yeah, you know, let me know. So
43:23
Speaker 2: it's so cool to see Chevy and GM capitalizing on
43:29
Speaker 2: the quality that AEV can provide.
43:31
Speaker 1: Well, and then look, Jeep just came out with their
43:33
Speaker 1: twentieth anniversary Rubicon AEV edition because they finally realized like
43:37
Speaker 1: we probably shouldn't, like.
43:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, working out, we're going to be behind on the
43:41
Speaker 3: boat here. Yeah.
43:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that new GMC in the new Chevrolet HD.
43:47
Speaker 1: I mean, these these are very cool. They look near perfect.
43:50
Speaker 2: All of the qualms that I had using the Prospector
43:54
Speaker 2: as a daily driver or whatever yep, seem to in
43:58
Speaker 2: theory kind of fixed by this. You know, it's on,
44:02
Speaker 2: it's on thirty fives, easily fits fits thirty seven. The
44:05
Speaker 2: great looking you know AV design bumpers, you.
44:08
Speaker 1: Know, multimatic suspension, boron steel skid plates, rear locking differential
44:13
Speaker 1: and this.
44:13
Speaker 2: Boron steel stuff, if you don't know, is like, it's crazy,
44:17
Speaker 2: it's crazy. I think that Matt Felderman from AV like
44:21
Speaker 2: they had a regular like kind of differential skid it
44:25
Speaker 2: was made out of steel, and they had one that
44:26
Speaker 2: was made out of boron steel boron steels like twice
44:30
Speaker 2: as strong and it's like a billion times lighter. It is, yeah,
44:34
Speaker 2: which you know saves your payload, it does sell you
44:37
Speaker 2: put more stuff in it.
44:39
Speaker 1: So Prospector very interesting option for overland travelers. I think
44:44
Speaker 1: that we're seeing more and more migration to full sized
44:46
Speaker 1: trucks makes sense, and vehicles like this just makes sense.
44:49
Speaker 2: Like it. I think when you factor in the total
44:53
Speaker 2: cost of ownership on an AV prospect Or, Excel early
44:57
Speaker 2: models still sell bar some exams amples that have hundreds
45:01
Speaker 2: of thousands of miles. They'll still sell for sixty to
45:04
Speaker 2: seventy grand. Previous generation with fifty to eighty thousand miles
45:10
Speaker 2: on them, those trucks sold for what probably like eighty
45:14
Speaker 2: to ninety What would it cost you to actually build
45:19
Speaker 2: a truck like that. You go to your local full
45:21
Speaker 2: time shop and please support your local fourhel drive shop.
45:24
Speaker 2: That's not what we're saying. What we're saying is that
45:28
Speaker 2: they're still going to charge one hundred and fifty dollars
45:29
Speaker 2: an hour for labor to do all this stuff, to
45:32
Speaker 2: fabricate this, fabricate this, and Abe kind of has it done.
45:36
Speaker 1: That's way more efficient. So I'm sure that their shop
45:39
Speaker 1: rate is similar or maybe even more expensive, but they
45:42
Speaker 1: can do it in half the time because they have
45:44
Speaker 1: a process for it, so they just rip through all
45:46
Speaker 1: these modifyings exactly.
45:47
Speaker 2: It's that assembly line kind of mentality.
45:50
Speaker 1: There's also a snorkel available to a snorkel, which means
45:52
Speaker 1: that it's totally overland ready. Now can you imagine how
45:55
Speaker 1: deep the water would happen to be.
45:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's literally just for dust.
46:00
Speaker 2: I don't know if I would do the snorkel. I
46:02
Speaker 2: think the cabs pretty quiet inside. I would value that.
46:05
Speaker 2: I I know friends, the friends that did the snorkel,
46:09
Speaker 2: they get they get some wind noise, and I know that.
46:11
Speaker 2: It's like, oh world, so there's I'm like, okay, the
46:15
Speaker 2: wind noise is still a nooise and that's just going
46:17
Speaker 2: to be a factor reality with anything that's you know,
46:20
Speaker 2: cars are so aerodynamically tuned these days.
46:22
Speaker 3: Sure, I woulds on it. I would buy it again.
46:26
Speaker 2: Would I have a serious look at the Chevy HD
46:31
Speaker 2: Bison thing, the truck that we all know about now, Yeah,
46:34
Speaker 2: I would have a look at that. I think the
46:37
Speaker 2: Prospector X will always be a little more exotic, and
46:39
Speaker 2: I would, really it would. It would be very very
46:41
Speaker 2: tempting to me with an eventual drive line update just
46:46
Speaker 2: to get it into competition with the rest of the
46:49
Speaker 2: market for the truck.
46:50
Speaker 3: I'm sure there's nothing Ram will do that.
46:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with what's out there. I
46:53
Speaker 2: mean we're talking that it only has you know, torque
46:56
Speaker 2: in the eight hundreds, like, let's be real.
47:01
Speaker 1: Which was unheard of even a decade ago. So well,
47:05
Speaker 1: thanks for that, Matt. This is this is a good conversation.
47:07
Speaker 1: Check out the prospector x l.
47:09
Speaker 3: A v Is a good company. Yeah, we like them.
47:12
Speaker 1: Ye. So we thank you all for listening and we'll
47:14
Speaker 1: talk to you next time.