Latest / Jeep Talk Show / Why Your JL Still Wanders on the Highway

Transcript

Why Your JL Still Wanders on the Highway · Jeep Talk Show

0:32
Hi, Neil, boys and
0:33
girls, it's time for another
0:34
Jeep Talk Show
0:35
interview, and we're going to have
0:37
a repeat offender,
0:38
although I don't think you were
0:39
offensive last time, I think.
0:41
But anyway, a repeat
0:42
offender, hey, it works for
0:46
America's most wanted Jeeps, right?
0:49
I mean, being an offender is good.
0:50
It helped Tim Allen, you know?
0:53
So anyway, we're
0:54
gonna be talking with Jay,
0:56
Jay Voltovan is the general
0:58
manager, did I get that right?
0:59
Is it Jay Voltovan? You got it.
1:00
Yeah, man.
1:01
Gotta believe in myself.
1:03
Jay Voltovan is the
1:05
general manager at Steersmart,
1:06
the industry leader
1:07
for aftermarket steering
1:08
and suspension upgrades
1:09
for Jeeps, Ford, Broncos,
1:11
Boo, and trucks.
1:12
Since jumping on board back in 2016,
1:14
he's been steering
1:15
the ship, pond intended.
1:17
How many times a day do you use that one?
1:19
That's pretty good.
1:20
(laughing) Growing the brand,
1:22
rolling out fresh product lines,
1:24
teaming up with Epic
1:25
SEMA builds, think of those
1:26
badass collabs with Jeep
1:28
and Mopar, and launching stuff
1:30
like the no-drill top
1:32
mount, Griffin attenuator,
1:34
and the new Romar suspension brand.
1:36
As a true car guy from Detroit,
1:38
area with deep roots in the industry,
1:41
the performance
1:42
aftermarket, Jay is all about
1:44
pushing innovation, keeping quality high,
1:46
and making sure
1:47
off-road fans get steering
1:49
that handles the real world and makes
1:51
every drive more fun.
1:53
You can find out more
1:54
about Steersmart and Jay
1:55
over at steersmarts.com.
1:57
I would go there now
1:58
and just kind of peruse
1:59
the Steersmart stuff
2:01
and enjoy looking at it,
2:03
and you can look it up as we're talking
2:04
about the various things.
2:05
So I wanted to ask you first off,
2:08
this intro says something
2:09
about coming up with new ideas.
2:12
And I think you've experienced this,
2:15
at least in the last
2:16
interview that we did,
2:16
which by the way, that last
2:17
interview was August 2024,
2:19
and if you guys wanna
2:20
watch that or listen to it,
2:21
just do a search for
2:22
ultimate Jeep steering upgrades
2:24
with Steersmarts, fixed death wobble
2:26
on Wrangler and gladiators.
2:28
I just got the
2:28
attention of a lot of people
2:29
when I said fixed death wobble.
2:31
We're gonna talk more about that.
2:33
But anyway, so you know
2:35
how I come up with ideas,
2:36
especially like the Jeep Talk Show
2:37
million other ideas.
2:39
I think it would be different
2:41
if I was being held
2:42
accountable for those ideas,
2:44
because I would
2:45
imagine that you hear a lot
2:46
and think a lot and go,
2:48
you know, that'd be neat,
2:49
and especially your team,
2:50
you know it'd be neat if we did this.
2:53
How difficult is it to weed through,
2:56
because you have to look at it
2:57
from a manufacturing standpoint.
2:59
You can't just say
2:59
that would be neat to do.
3:01
How many people are
3:01
gonna buy this in reality?
3:03
What's it gonna cost us to do it?
3:05
Do we have the manufacturing
3:06
capabilities of doing this?
3:07
And what's the risk?
3:09
I mean, just coming up
3:09
with bullshit ideas like I do
3:11
is really easy.
3:13
Ideation is very, very fluent, right?
3:17
But a lot of ideas out there.
3:19
But yeah, the vetting
3:20
process and the development process
3:22
is really, that's where
3:24
we really hone in on it.
3:25
So our product development
3:26
teams, they're awesome, right?
3:29
And we're going
3:29
through and we're vetting out
3:31
feasibility first and checking to see
3:34
if manufacturability is there.
3:36
We'll do a spot check on that.
3:38
And then of course the
3:38
business case side of it, right?
3:40
Did the numbers line up?
3:41
Does this make sense?
3:42
Is there enough market
3:43
out there for a product
3:44
to come to market and be successful?
3:46
So we're looking at all avenues
3:48
before we really invest and dive into it.
3:53
Have you had one?
3:54
I'm sure you did the whole process,
3:55
but have you had one or
3:57
somebody came up with an idea
3:58
that you just went and it just was like,
4:00
this is a no brainer.
4:01
Why did we do this before?
4:02
And it was just a clean
4:04
sail all the way through,
4:05
lined up perfectly.
4:08
I mean, there's, I
4:10
don't know that everything,
4:11
that anything is ever
4:12
just a perfect thing.
4:14
There's always something along the way
4:15
that you're learning from, right?
4:18
But we've had a lot of successes.
4:19
I mean, the Tyrod
4:19
program and DragLink program,
4:22
initially when we started that,
4:24
wasn't a whole lot out
4:25
there, everything was off short.
4:27
We brought a lot of what we
4:29
learned over years and years
4:30
of doing Tyrods for the OEs
4:33
into an aftermarket space,
4:34
and then being able to forge those
4:36
components stateside
4:38
and our forge, being
4:39
able to do all the assembly
4:40
in-house on the sockets.
4:44
The design work, every aspect of that
4:46
start to finish again
4:47
is our product development side.
4:50
Very little outsourced, if any.
4:52
I think the most
4:53
outsourcing that we do is,
4:56
certain proprietary coatings maybe,
4:58
where there's
4:59
environmentals, hazmat risks,
5:01
if we do it in-house.
5:03
But other than that, I mean,
5:04
we try to build
5:05
everything in-house that we can.
5:09
But bringing that stuff to market
5:10
was a pretty big boost to us, right?
5:13
That's what started
5:14
really the Steer Smarts brand,
5:17
was the original linkage line for the JK.
5:21
And that one went pretty seamless.
5:24
I mean, it was pretty solid.
5:27
All the way through the
5:28
OE plant, the OE Forge,
5:31
that one was really good.
5:33
Sector brace, similar
5:35
type thing, I went through.
5:37
So, I mean, we've had some
5:38
really good product launches,
5:40
but you always do definitely pick up
5:43
stuff along the way,
5:43
and there's always got
5:45
its interesting little
5:47
bumps occasionally here and there.
5:49
Oh, I'm sure.
5:50
So, if I remember our last conversation,
5:53
you guys are actually part of Ford,
5:56
or I'm sorry, not part of Ford,
5:57
but your parent company
5:59
provides OEM stuff for Ford
6:02
for like 100 years or something, right?
6:04
They did, yep, yep.
6:05
So they were, they've
6:09
been around since 1909,
6:12
roughly, timeframe,
6:14
and they were delivering,
6:16
I think it was forged bow
6:20
rods or pins and stuff like that
6:23
to Ford for the Model T,
6:24
and then they got into pitman arm
6:25
business and linkage sets.
6:28
But now it's a tier one OE
6:31
for GM, Ford Chrysler primarily,
6:32
a lot of second stage manufacturing for,
6:35
or tier two
6:37
manufacturing as well for the OEs.
6:38
So they do a lot of stuff.
6:40
So Steer Smarts has a lot of history
6:43
making the front end
6:45
steering components go,
6:47
I mean, really literally goes back
6:49
to the turn of the century,
6:51
last century's turn of the century.
6:54
So you guys have a
6:55
lot to offer for Jeepers
6:57
and for Broncos.
6:58
I made a boo in there,
6:59
but you know, there's people with
7:00
Broncos, that's all right.
7:02
So the thing I was gonna ask you is,
7:05
you guys recently got into something new.
7:08
Oh, I know what I was gonna say.
7:09
Jeep kind of gave you,
7:11
you mentioned the JK,
7:12
and it reminded me, Jeep
7:13
kind of gave you a give me
7:15
whenever they came out
7:15
with the JL, the JLUs, the JT.
7:19
Because, and I have
7:20
seen people complaining
7:22
about death wobble on
7:24
TikTok and Instagram,
7:26
and I don't do anything fancy,
7:27
I just type in steersmarts.com.
7:32
So it's just like, this is easily fixed.
7:35
And I made the comment last time,
7:37
Jeep needs to do the
7:39
OEM stuff from you guys,
7:40
just do it right.
7:41
And not have to worry about this,
7:44
because it makes people
7:45
feel bad about their Jeep.
7:46
This Jeep is a piece of shit, it doesn't,
7:49
I mean, the gladiators,
7:50
they wander over the road.
7:52
And that just doesn't feel right.
7:55
If you're not used to
7:56
Jeeps, especially modified Jeeps,
7:58
it just doesn't feel
7:59
right when that happens.
8:00
They're used to the smooth
8:02
and hardly touching the steering wheel.
8:04
You don't like the Broncos,
8:05
because the Broncos are more
8:06
of a highway on road vehicle,
8:08
to me, than an off-road.
8:09
So they set it up nice and light and airy
8:12
and do all those fancy things.
8:13
And I always tell people, buy a Cadillac
8:15
if you need something like that.
8:17
So, but you guys fix that stuff.
8:19
And I wanna mention that,
8:21
because that's important to
8:22
a lot of people out there.
8:23
It's not even death wobble,
8:24
it's just an insecure
8:26
feeling in steering.
8:27
It is, it's kind of that numb feeling
8:30
in the steering wheel.
8:32
And again, I mean, from an OE standpoint,
8:35
at this point in time,
8:35
it probably doesn't make
8:37
sense for them to switch.
8:38
They're so deep into it.
8:41
It'd probably be pretty
8:42
costly for them to do so, right?
8:45
But that's where we can step in.
8:47
So from an aftermarket standpoint,
8:48
we can remedy a lot of the negative
8:52
sensation people have,
8:54
when it comes to
8:54
drivability and steering,
8:57
on their Jeep Wrangler.
8:59
With the heavy duty
9:00
components that we have,
9:01
I mean, we reduce a lot of frequencies
9:02
going through the system.
9:03
We firm up all that steering wheel feel,
9:07
really tighten everything up,
9:08
make it drive the way
9:09
you initially envisioned
9:11
your Jeep driving,
9:12
even with the addition of a
9:14
lift kit and bigger tires.
9:16
So offsetting that additional weight
9:18
and higher center of gravity.
9:20
Right.
9:21
And you guys, if I remember correctly,
9:24
you guys got a JL
9:25
shortly after they came out.
9:27
And I think it took you 500
9:29
miles to get death wobble.
9:31
It did, yeah.
9:33
Yeah, 500.
9:34
Brand new off the lot,
9:35
one of the first JLs that was produced.
9:38
And yeah, it was a rough one.
9:40
And it was the best case scenario too.
9:42
It was the, not even a sport S,
9:46
it was a sport, no power or anything.
9:50
I think it was 16
9:51
inch steel wheels on it.
9:53
It was supposed to be the best candidate
9:57
for no death wobble
9:58
and it had death wobble.
10:00
And I believe that one of the things
10:02
that you had stated was,
10:03
because I was really impressed
10:06
with the size of all the
10:07
components on the Gladiator.
10:09
I thought maybe Jeep
10:10
had learned their lesson.
10:12
And then I think you pointed out to me
10:13
that it's not the apparent size,
10:16
it's the thickness of the material.
10:18
And that allows it to twist and deform
10:21
enough to cause the death wobble.
10:22
Yeah, deflection is a big part.
10:25
So when they're going to
10:26
lighter weight components,
10:27
everything is more of a
10:28
tube or a hollow design.
10:30
And they're doing it for not
10:31
just a small section of it,
10:34
which would have a
10:35
relatively rigid point in it.
10:40
When it's the entire bar,
10:42
you have a lot of place in there
10:44
over a longer distance, more
10:45
deflection going through it,
10:47
which is going to create more harmonics.
10:48
And the worst offender of
10:50
it is probably the track bar.
10:52
The current level JLJT
10:54
track bar from the factory
10:56
is probably most of the numb sensations
11:03
that you get while driving your Jeep
11:05
and that axle shifting underneath it.
11:08
And that's really what we came in with.
11:09
We came in with a huge solid forging.
11:13
Our forgings, and what do we add?
11:18
Almost a two inch
11:19
solid bar for our forging.
11:22
So it's not deflecting.
11:24
It's the equivalent of a
11:25
Class A motorhome forging.
11:27
It's heavy too.
11:28
I had to use a jack
11:29
stand to hold up one end
11:31
while I was hooking the other end up.
11:33
I've never had something
11:34
that heavy duty before.
11:37
So I think there's a
11:39
bit of misunderstanding
11:41
about death wobble
11:42
because people will talk
11:45
about death wobble sometimes.
11:46
They'll show a video on social media
11:48
and they'll show the
11:49
steering wheel going like this.
11:51
And I'm going, that ain't death wobble.
11:53
That's a little wiggle.
11:55
Death wobble is really easy to identify.
11:58
If you think you're going to die,
11:59
(laughing)
12:01
that's death wobble.
12:03
Do you mind explaining to the folks
12:05
that maybe they think
12:06
they've got death wobble
12:07
and they want to fix this?
12:09
Yeah, it's just, I mean,
12:10
death wobble is a frequency running
12:11
through this system,
12:13
the steering system that's perpetual.
12:15
It's going to build.
12:17
And really the only
12:17
way to counteract that
12:19
is to induce some other type
12:21
of frequency into the system.
12:23
So it's additional drag.
12:25
If you think of a scrub on the steering,
12:29
the highest drag point
12:30
is when you're static,
12:31
not moving, standing still.
12:34
And you're turning your
12:35
steering wheel left to right.
12:36
That's the most force
12:38
input into the steering system.
12:42
So naturally as you're driving,
12:44
if you do hit a frequency,
12:45
that's going to perpetually build
12:46
throughout your system
12:48
and oscillate left to right.
12:51
The best thing to do is
12:51
to induce additional force.
12:53
People swear that you
12:54
can drive out of it.
12:56
Probably don't
12:57
recommend trying to do that.
12:59
Probably try to--
13:00
We die like men.
13:01
Yeah, come to a slower speed
13:04
that's going to induce more
13:05
resistance into the system.
13:08
That's going to counteract
13:08
the frequency and tone it down.
13:10
Eventually it'll go away.
13:12
Yeah, I've often said
13:13
it's all about the harmonics
13:14
and you can change the harmonics
13:15
by going faster or slower.
13:18
I think the only one
13:19
that might do it faster
13:19
might actually try it
13:20
would be Greg Hidderson.
13:22
I'm sure Greg's not in, power out.
13:24
Yeah, power out, screw it.
13:27
So, all right, so there's wiggles,
13:30
there's a little bit of wiggle
13:31
and I think that that's
13:32
not full blown death wobble,
13:33
but it is a symptom of maybe
13:36
a full death wobble coming up.
13:38
Would that be correct to say?
13:40
It could be a trigger, right?
13:42
It could be a trigger to a death wobble.
13:45
So again, it's always,
13:47
you're trying to find the trigger points
13:50
that are going to cause a frequency
13:51
or allow a frequency
13:53
to build in the system.
13:55
Worn out joints, worn out
13:57
bushings, things like that.
14:00
Out of round tires,
14:02
out of balanced tires,
14:03
anything that can
14:05
allow a frequency to build
14:07
through unwanted motion
14:09
or uncontrolled motion
14:10
in the system.
14:13
Motion in the system is not bad.
14:14
Compliance is not a bad thing.
14:17
Compliance will
14:18
contribute to longevity of parts.
14:21
It'll contribute to comfort.
14:23
There's a lot of things that you want
14:24
some level of compliance to.
14:27
It's the uncontrolled movement
14:32
that'll start to induce frequencies
14:34
that are unwanted through the system.
14:36
So if you've got a
14:37
little bit of a shimmy,
14:38
if you've got a bad out of balanced tire,
14:40
that can essentially expose an area
14:43
that's maybe allowing more
14:46
frequencies into the system
14:47
and then that builds like a tuning fork.
14:49
It's like tapping a tuning
14:50
fork onto a hard surface.
14:51
It'll start to build and perpetually go
14:53
until you basically
14:55
counteract that force,
14:56
you grab it, you hit it
14:57
against something else,
14:58
and then it'll disrupt that
14:59
frequency and tone it down.
15:03
Would I be correct in saying
15:04
that the more often you have death wobble
15:06
and you just live through it,
15:07
you slow down and you go on,
15:09
that that has a
15:11
tendency to weaken components
15:13
and make the death
15:14
wobble come about more often?
15:16
It is definitely inducing more wear
15:18
just because of the intensity of it.
15:22
You got the weight of the
15:23
wheels and the tires on each side.
15:26
And when those are
15:26
oscillating hard left to right,
15:28
it'd be the equivalent of
15:29
you driving down the street
15:32
and jerking left to right,
15:33
left to right, left to right constantly.
15:35
I mean, that's
15:36
obviously gonna induce more wear
15:38
into your sockets, your
15:38
joints, your bushings.
15:40
Put more things in a bind,
15:42
your control arm bushings
15:44
are gonna be more in a bind
15:45
going from left to right to left to right
15:47
in a lateral motion.
15:48
The shift of the axle under the vehicle
15:50
is gonna be put in more stress and bind
15:53
onto the track bar bushings.
15:55
So it definitely is gonna contribute
15:57
to accelerated wear on the components.
15:59
So, and you correct
16:00
me on any of this stuff
16:01
because this is just
16:02
my personal experience.
16:04
So to fix, okay, we've talked
16:07
about what the death wobble is
16:08
and why fixing it is a good idea.
16:11
Besides just feeling
16:12
better about the quality of ride
16:14
the safety of driving
16:15
your Jeep, it's better.
16:18
I think what I'm hearing,
16:19
and this is the direction I was going,
16:20
it's better to take care
16:21
of it sooner than later
16:23
because it's going to
16:24
be better parts wise,
16:26
the other parts that
16:27
you're not replacing.
16:28
So sooner is better.
16:29
Now on steer smarts,
16:32
I don't think you guys have
16:33
a kit, a full kit, do you?
16:35
You buy everything individually?
16:38
We kind of put
16:38
everything together a la carte
16:39
just because we wanna build something
16:41
that's kind of catered
16:43
to the vehicle itself.
16:45
There's so many variables
16:46
when somebody's building a Jeep, right?
16:48
What lift kit, what size
16:49
lift kit, what size tires,
16:52
not only that, then what's their budget?
16:54
Can you afford to put
16:57
everything on at once?
16:58
Or do we start with
16:59
the most likely component
17:01
that you wanna start with?
17:02
Something like a track bar,
17:04
which we know is a big
17:06
open area from the factory.
17:08
Start there and then
17:09
start to build outwards.
17:10
Perfect, that's exactly
17:11
where I was going with this.
17:13
Yeah, so we didn't wanna
17:14
pigeonhole somebody and say,
17:16
"Hey, you gotta buy this $1,200 kit."
17:19
And that's the only way you can do it.
17:20
No, everything is custom
17:23
tailored to the vehicle
17:24
that it's going on as far as,
17:26
if you wanna go a top
17:26
mount, if it's a bottom mount,
17:28
are you going with a polyurethane bushing
17:30
that has a little
17:31
more articulation in it,
17:32
or it's mostly street driving,
17:33
you're gonna go with
17:34
more of a rubber bushing,
17:36
has a little more compliance in it
17:37
that's gonna be a
17:38
little more comfortable ride.
17:40
So we wanna make sure we have
17:41
options for all the variations.
17:43
Right, so that means, my
17:46
next question for that would be,
17:47
since you could buy piece by piece,
17:49
and I believe you've already stated this,
17:52
it probably would be
17:53
best to go to Mechanic
17:54
and let them identify what part it is,
17:57
but you could go and,
17:59
was it the track bar
18:00
that's the most common
18:01
issue on the JL and the JT?
18:03
Yep.
18:04
So you could just get the track bar,
18:07
either install it yourself,
18:09
or have it installed,
18:10
and then see if that
18:11
takes care of your problem.
18:12
You could, you could.
18:14
And really, even to think about it as,
18:17
I mean, the best way I would
18:19
recommend going about it too,
18:21
is looking at it more
18:22
of prevention style.
18:25
Do it before you have it.
18:26
That's a great idea.
18:27
Right, because it's just the oscillation
18:31
and the frequencies through the system,
18:33
it's a solid axle vehicle in the front.
18:36
It's always gonna have
18:39
a window of opportunity
18:40
to have frequencies run through it.
18:42
That's the nature of
18:43
solid axles, absolutely.
18:44
I'm glad you mentioned that.
18:45
It's inherent in the design.
18:48
So what we're trying to
18:49
do is narrow that window.
18:53
Can we take it from
18:54
happening one out of 20 times,
18:57
one out of 30 times?
18:59
Can we narrow that down to
19:01
say one out of 100 times,
19:02
one out of 200 times,
19:03
one out of a million times?
19:05
Right.
19:06
There's still a chance
19:06
that this could happen
19:07
if you hit just the right pothole,
19:10
with the right angle,
19:12
trigger the right
19:12
frequency, that it could still go.
19:15
Well, you guys don't
19:15
do anything about tires.
19:17
You don't do anything
19:17
about a discount tire
19:18
balancing the tire, how
19:19
many weights they use,
19:20
or how many fell off.
19:21
So there's several things that can occur.
19:24
You can only do so
19:25
much with the suspension,
19:26
but that other stuff
19:27
is easily taken care of.
19:29
You can get your tires rebalanced.
19:32
Yeah, so the biggest thing we wanna do
19:33
is try to close the window of
19:34
opportunity of it happening.
19:36
Right, so you're gonna
19:37
strengthen the components
19:39
that are most exposed to having a
19:42
frequency go through.
19:43
Like I said, the track bar
19:44
is probably a great place
19:45
to start, pair that with something like
19:47
the sector shaft brace, so you take out
19:49
any additional strain
19:51
into the steering gear
19:52
that's gonna firm up the wheel.
19:54
And then you start
19:56
checking off a drag link in there,
19:58
a tie rod, adding a little
20:00
bit more drag into the system
20:02
with a good stabilizer.
20:05
These are gonna be preventative measures
20:07
to make sure that you
20:07
don't run into a death wobble,
20:09
and then you're not
20:10
worried about going further out
20:12
into the chassis of
20:13
wearing out control arm bushings,
20:15
wearing out ball joints.
20:17
It's more of a preventative measure.
20:19
So for-- Go ahead.
20:21
At the same time, it's gonna be,
20:23
you're gonna notice an instant
20:25
seat of the pants feel difference.
20:27
It's gonna drive like a new vehicle.
20:29
It's gonna feel firm.
20:30
It's gonna feel more
20:31
performance-oriented,
20:33
the dynamics in the chassis.
20:35
That's really what
20:36
we're really looking for.
20:38
So for those of you that don't know
20:40
what a sector shaft brace is,
20:42
where the steering box comes down,
20:44
there's a little spline that drops down.
20:47
It's basically just a
20:48
round piece of metal
20:49
that has some gear marks type in it,
20:52
and the pitman arm goes on that.
20:54
So when you're steering
20:55
the thing back and forth,
20:56
you've got the weight
20:57
of the whole front end,
20:58
tires against a rock or whatever,
21:01
so it has a tendency to deflect
21:03
that steering piece hanging down.
21:06
And with the sector shaft
21:08
brace that you can put on there,
21:09
you bolt that thing
21:11
up, not the turning part,
21:12
but you bolt that thing up so
21:14
that it has less deflection.
21:16
It gives you a more solid feel.
21:17
So, and that includes going off-road.
21:21
So when you turn that thing,
21:22
you don't have to worry about maybe
21:23
breaking it off the frame,
21:25
because now you've got
21:26
some extra force there
21:27
holding it on.
21:28
If you've ever been in a
21:30
frameless and shameless vehicle,
21:32
putting a sector shaft brace on makes a
21:34
world of difference.
21:36
When I put one on my
21:37
XJ, not from you guys,
21:38
but put one on my XJ, oh
21:39
my God, it was amazing.
21:41
I mean, they even went
21:42
from the, not the frame,
21:46
I don't wanna say frame,
21:46
but basically the frame
21:47
from one side to the other.
21:48
So they braced it, not
21:49
only where it was attached,
21:51
but all the way across the other side.
21:53
Which, if you don't have a frame,
21:55
I can certainly
21:55
understand why you would do that.
21:57
So it really makes a big difference
21:59
and it's in the quality of the feel.
22:01
Like you say, the seat of the pants feel.
22:03
You have that quality, you're steering it
22:05
and you just feel more
22:06
confident driving your J.
22:08
Yeah, even a new
22:10
vehicle right off the lot,
22:12
it's gonna, it feels okay,
22:15
it doesn't feel terrible.
22:17
But you still have a little bit of
22:21
maybe dead space at the
22:22
very top center of the wheel.
22:24
So it might feel like you
22:25
have a little bit of input
22:26
before it hits an
22:27
engagement point, left to right.
22:29
And that's a lot of the
22:31
deflection in the box.
22:32
And that's where the steering brace,
22:33
this sector gear brace is really gonna,
22:36
really gonna firm that up.
22:37
It's gonna make it feel more
22:40
like a traditional
22:41
rack and pinion vehicle
22:42
instead of an actual vehicle
22:45
with the reciprocating ball steering.
22:47
I'll just jump in here and mention this.
22:50
Jay, the last time we did
22:52
the interview back in 2024,
22:54
he very graciously offered
22:55
me all steering components
22:57
from the 2021 Jeep Talk Show Gladiator.
23:00
I have never
23:00
experienced any other manufacturer
23:03
because why?
23:05
I mean, I got steer
23:05
smarts, it works great.
23:07
But I just wanna make
23:09
sure everybody understands
23:10
that Jay sent me a bunch of great stuff
23:13
to install on the Gladiator.
23:15
And Jay, it took me two fricking days.
23:18
Not because it's
23:18
difficult, but because I'm old.
23:21
I hurt so bad.
23:23
It was really just
23:23
from getting up and down.
23:25
So anyway, I got that stuff installed.
23:28
The little bit of a wiggle
23:29
that we were getting went away.
23:31
My wife was very happy
23:32
because she has to have a
23:34
very solid driving vehicle.
23:35
She does not like death wobble.
23:37
She had it in her TJ years
23:38
ago and she doesn't like it.
23:39
But with that, I just
23:41
wanted to go to a third party
23:43
and find out what the
23:45
third party has to say
23:46
about steer smarts.
23:48
And you guys know where I went.
23:49
I went to Grock.
23:50
I was telling Jay about this.
23:51
He goes, you should have had
23:52
the unhinged Grock say this.
23:55
I thought it was a great idea.
23:56
I just didn't think
23:56
about it ahead of time.
23:57
Anyway, Grock says steer
23:58
smarts generally rate very high
24:00
among Jeep owners,
24:01
especially for those running
24:03
two to four inch or more inches of lift.
24:07
Bigger tires, 35 to 37 or plus.
24:10
Key points from user
24:11
feedback forms and reviews.
24:13
Their official site and retailers
24:16
are in satisfaction
24:17
with an average around 4.8
24:18
out of five stars based
24:20
on hundreds of reviews.
24:22
Example like on
24:23
judge.me for steer-smart.com.
24:26
Specific products
24:27
like the Yeti XD series,
24:29
tie rides, drag links and stabilizers
24:31
often get praise for being beefy.
24:34
Second that, everything is very beefy.
24:36
Durable and transformative.
24:38
Transformative people.
24:40
That means that it makes
24:41
a big difference to you.
24:43
Many users describe
24:44
night and day improvements
24:46
steering feel, reduced vibration,
24:48
better tracking and less driver fatigue.
24:51
On Jeep forums like JL Wrangler forums,
24:54
Jeep Gladiator forum, Wrangler forum
24:56
and the various Reddit Jeep sites or
24:59
whatever they're called.
25:00
The owners frequently
25:01
recommend steer smarts
25:02
over competitors like
25:03
Metalcloak or Synergy
25:05
for high performance setups.
25:06
Comments, highlights,
25:08
rock solid performance
25:09
on trails, highways and with heavy mods.
25:13
That's, I think that's important
25:14
because once we get started,
25:15
we have a tendency to go overboard
25:17
and you might as well
25:18
put some slit on there
25:18
that will handle the heavy mods.
25:20
No major widespread
25:22
complaints about failures
25:23
when properly installed.
25:25
Steering stabilizers,
25:26
the HD-N or Yeti XD HD-N
25:30
are often paired with their attenuators
25:33
or full kits that get solid
25:35
markets as upgrades over stock
25:38
with users noting
25:40
smoother street manners,
25:41
less push pull and good compatibility.
25:45
So I mentioned, I think I
25:47
mentioned this before we,
25:48
or maybe I mentioned it
25:49
while we were talking,
25:50
the Gladiator has a
25:51
tendency to wander on the highway
25:53
and you have to kind of like babysit it
25:56
because you don't
25:56
wanna like trash that Prius
25:59
that's next to you.
26:00
Oh, I didn't see you, sorry.
26:02
It's like speed bump.
26:03
So what part fixes that wandering?
26:07
What part do you sell
26:08
or parts do you sell
26:09
that fixes that wandering?
26:11
I mean, the track bar
26:11
definitely plays a big part in that.
26:14
Sector brace because it's
26:15
firming up that steering gear
26:16
right at that top center.
26:17
So it doesn't feel like
26:18
you're kind of chasing
26:19
the steering wheel.
26:20
Some of that you're not
26:21
gonna be able to 100% correct
26:23
if you have big tires, right?
26:26
Wider tires are gonna
26:27
catch more of the road grooves
26:29
that are just naturally there.
26:32
You're gonna catch the
26:32
crown a little bit more.
26:35
But I would definitely start with again,
26:37
I'd err on the track bar side.
26:40
That's your axle shifting underneath it
26:41
and your body weight's gonna follow.
26:43
And then the sector
26:44
brace from that little bit of
26:46
kind of dead area or numb
26:47
feel up at the top, right?
26:49
That's gonna make you
26:50
chase in the steering wheel.
26:51
And then probably your
26:52
drag link tie rod after that.
26:54
You know, the combination of those
26:55
will really start to firm that up.
26:59
It's gonna be the big thing.
27:02
Also too, and I didn't
27:04
really think about this.
27:05
I knew that the rear of the
27:06
Gladiator had a track bar,
27:08
but when you were talking about
27:09
sending me a boatload of stuff,
27:12
you said, "Oh, I'm gonna send
27:13
you a rear track bar as well."
27:15
And I went, "Eh, don't worry about that."
27:17
But I didn't realize
27:18
this, it makes sense.
27:19
Whenever you put a lift on the Gladiator,
27:22
you're changing, I mean,
27:23
that track bar is not adjustable,
27:25
so it's actually moving
27:26
the back of the vehicle
27:27
over a little bit.
27:28
I think you mentioned a
27:29
quarter inch at the time,
27:30
which isn't a lot, but you might as well
27:31
have it lined up, right?
27:33
So keep that in mind.
27:34
If you have a Gladiator,
27:36
you might wanna look at
27:37
the rear track bar as well.
27:38
Super easy install, two
27:40
bolts, and it's adjustable.
27:42
The only thing I'll recommend
27:43
after spending probably an hour or so
27:46
under the Gladiator,
27:47
adjusting the track bar for the front,
27:49
grease it up.
27:50
I don't have to worry
27:51
about rust and stuff down here
27:52
in Southeast Texas, so
27:53
I didn't mess with it.
27:54
But if I'd put some of that slather on,
27:56
some of that silver goo
27:58
that gets all over you,
27:59
I think it'd have been a lot easier
28:01
to adjust that track bar.
28:02
Yeah, a little bit of now overseas
28:04
goes a long way, for sure.
28:05
Yeah, anti-seize,
28:06
that's right, thank you.
28:07
All right, so I think
28:09
we've answered this.
28:09
If you've got death wobble,
28:14
or better yet, before you get it,
28:18
upgrade your components.
28:19
And are we saying, I mean,
28:21
I think I said track bar,
28:22
are we saying more than track bar,
28:24
or is that the best way to go?
28:26
I mean, I think you also wind up
28:28
replacing all of it,
28:29
but the money may not be in the budget.
28:32
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You love the Jeep Talk Show.
29:06
So if you're trying
29:08
to do this on a budget,
29:09
I would start with a track bar,
29:11
and then a sector shaft brace.
29:13
Those are the best two
29:14
things that you could do
29:16
to really prevent any type of frequencies
29:19
going through the system,
29:20
but also just to firm up your steering
29:23
and make your Jeep a little
29:24
bit more enjoyable to drive.
29:27
Those two things, start there.
29:30
Then from there, drag Lincoln Tyrod,
29:32
and then an upgraded
29:35
stabilizer at that point,
29:37
which induces a little
29:38
bit of drag into the system.
29:41
But exactly, that would
29:44
be the formula I would take
29:45
if you're trying to do
29:46
it more preventative.
29:47
If it's something where
29:48
you have a death wobble,
29:49
you need to identify
29:50
where it's coming from.
29:52
Probably don't just
29:53
start throwing parts at it
29:54
because there's a good chance you miss
29:55
where it's coming from.
29:56
Try to diagnose first, identify it,
30:00
re-torque your ball joints,
30:02
double check all the
30:03
torques on all the components,
30:05
check for movement in
30:06
any of the components,
30:07
check for worn out
30:08
bushings in any of the components,
30:10
things like that before
30:11
you go throw money at it.
30:13
But from a good just,
30:16
I want my Jeep to drive
30:17
better, and I'm on a budget.
30:20
For roughly about $600, $650,
30:24
you could do a track bar
30:26
and do a sector shaft brace,
30:29
and night and day difference
30:31
on the driveability of that vehicle.
30:33
And I will say with all
30:35
the stuff that you sent me,
30:36
I was really happy that
30:38
the steering stabilizer
30:40
and the steering stabilizer mount
30:41
was not low like the factory.
30:44
It's higher. No, we
30:45
bring everything up higher
30:46
so it's out of harm's way
30:48
when you're doing some off-roading.
30:49
Yeah, so I took that
30:50
factory steering stabilizer
30:54
that had the big dent in it,
30:55
and that was from the one
30:56
time I let Josh test this,
30:57
play with the Jeep a little bit off-road.
31:00
He's the one that did that, I know.
31:01
I swear to God, he's the one that did it.
31:03
But anyway, that one's off of there,
31:05
and I've got the Steersmart one up there,
31:07
and I made sure I put the
31:08
Steersmart sticker on it
31:09
because it's gonna look all nice.
31:11
Awesome. Yeah, and so,
31:13
by the way, your stuff looks really good.
31:15
I mean, you even have caps for the TREs
31:18
that you could put on there,
31:20
that as far as I can
31:21
tell, serve no purpose
31:22
other than to make it look nice.
31:24
Yeah, it's all about preserving it,
31:26
making sure it's nice.
31:27
That's the little detail.
31:28
I mean, because a lot of people say,
31:30
"Oh, that bullshit is important.
31:32
I don't need my Jeep to look nice."
31:33
I don't think that you
31:35
have to have an ugly Jeep
31:37
to be an off-road Jeep person.
31:38
You can have a nice-looking Jeep,
31:40
and there's nothing wrong with it
31:41
being pretty and functional.
31:44
That's right.
31:45
We try to do both,
31:46
and then we try to accommodate
31:47
different environmental
31:50
areas throughout the US.
31:52
We're up here in the Northeast,
31:55
and we get a lot of snow, a lot of salt.
31:57
A lot of margaritas. The roads.
31:58
Oh, yeah.
32:00
(laughs) And then you down there,
32:01
it's nice and dry compared to up here.
32:04
I think it's almost like a California,
32:05
like getting a California vehicle.
32:07
Southeast Texas is about the same way.
32:10
All right, so let's
32:11
switch gears to the Romer.
32:14
Is that right, Romer?
32:15
Yeah. R-O,
32:17
where was it?
32:17
I had it here.
32:18
It was R-O-M-R.
32:20
R, little O, was that a Nenya?
32:24
(laughs)
32:25
Capital M-R.
32:26
So I thought that was
32:27
really, really excited
32:29
when I saw this.
32:30
I think I first saw it on Instagram.
32:33
You guys were at an event or something
32:35
when you rolled this
32:36
thing out, weren't you?
32:36
Yeah, so we launched it at SEMA 2025.
32:39
Couldn't remember which one.
32:41
Yeah, so we came out
32:42
with the Romer brand.
32:43
It was really a way to
32:46
broaden our product line.
32:48
So Romer is dedicated
32:50
towards expanded chassis offerings,
32:51
like suspension
32:52
components, correction brackets,
32:56
things like that.
32:57
I thought it was a natural.
32:58
I'm sure you guys did too,
33:00
because you got the
33:01
suspension stuff down,
33:03
and I mean, even Grok likes it.
33:06
But this is another avenue,
33:08
and I would think that
33:09
people would consider
33:10
if they know a Stierzmarch,
33:12
whether they already have it,
33:15
or they've got a Jeep,
33:16
they've heard a lot of
33:17
good things about Stierzmarch.
33:19
I think the natural thing would be,
33:20
I need to do a lift and suspension parts,
33:25
and I can get that all from one company.
33:27
And you guys ought to
33:28
know your suspension stuff,
33:31
what lift it best goes on,
33:32
especially since it's yours.
33:33
And I was a little
33:34
unclear when I first saw this,
33:35
whenever I saw the Romer thing,
33:37
I thought, baby, you
33:37
guys had bought somebody,
33:39
or you were partnering with somebody,
33:40
and that's not the case at all.
33:41
This is Stierzmarch's brand.
33:45
100%, yep.
33:46
This is our suspension
33:47
line and chassis line.
33:49
And what we really
33:50
wanted to do with it is,
33:52
develop some new methodology
33:56
as to how we're developing
33:58
components for the chassis.
34:00
So really what we wanted to do
34:01
is take a broader vantage point,
34:03
really determine what we
34:04
wanted the chassis dynamics
34:06
to be for a fully
34:07
outfitted Romer chassis,
34:11
and then we kind of went through
34:13
and targeted those specific areas
34:14
to give us the dynamics we wanted.
34:18
So our top of the line Romer system
34:21
is gonna be our Summit kit.
34:23
And that Summit kit,
34:26
that chassis system touches
34:29
almost every single part of the chassis.
34:32
It changes the sway bars,
34:34
it changes the end links, new bump stops,
34:38
springs, shocks, full front end steering,
34:42
reinforcement brackets, geometry
34:44
correction brackets,
34:46
track bars front and rear.
34:48
It's every aspect of that
34:49
chassis gets transformed
34:51
through either Romer components
34:53
and a combination of
34:54
Stierzmarch's components.
34:57
Does that mean that you may be coming out
34:59
with some stuff in the
34:59
future that is Romer specific?
35:01
Suspension stuff that's
35:02
Romer, I'm not suspension,
35:04
steering components
35:05
that are Romer specific?
35:07
No, so what we did is we used the
35:08
Stierzmarch's components
35:10
as the baseline for steering.
35:11
Steering is always gonna be the
35:14
Stierzmarch's brand.
35:15
Stierzmarch's is always gonna be focused
35:17
on the steering side.
35:20
Romer, the product
35:21
line and the definitions
35:22
are gonna be driven by the chassis needs
35:25
to create a specific
35:27
driving characteristic
35:29
that we're chasing.
35:31
So we wanna tune the sway bars
35:33
to compliment the spring rates,
35:35
to compliment the shocks,
35:37
that compliment the
35:38
specific geometry corrections.
35:41
And then on top of that,
35:42
we wanna make sure that it's all tuned
35:45
to accommodate the steering inputs
35:47
from the Stierzmarch system.
35:50
So this thing engineered
35:52
as a whole chassis system,
35:53
instead of just piecemeal together
35:55
where we developed a lift kit,
35:58
a little bit later on we revisit
36:00
and we introduced some sway bars here.
36:03
We kinda worked backwards
36:04
from the big vision standpoint
36:06
of what we wanted this to drive like.
36:08
And then we developed the
36:11
components kind of in a harmony
36:12
or more of a systematic
36:17
approach instead of a piece,
36:20
individual piece component approach
36:22
of just filling a catalog.
36:24
And that was really the idea behind it.
36:26
We really wanted to
36:27
focus this kit specifically
36:30
on probably 90% of the market.
36:34
It's not gonna be your hardest core kit
36:36
for flex and rock crawling.
36:39
It's gonna be the best
36:40
kit for everyday driving
36:43
and moderate off-road.
36:47
So guys that are gonna go do trails,
36:49
they're gonna go do
36:50
some moderate off-road,
36:51
have some fun out there.
36:53
This kit's awesome.
36:55
Are you gonna go run
36:56
King of Hammers with it?
36:57
Probably not.
36:58
You can. That's not the part.
36:59
(laughing)
37:01
Not saying you can't.
37:02
There's always good to
37:03
have a comedic relief
37:05
in King of Hammers.
37:07
So the idea really is to target the 90%
37:10
of Jeep enthusiasts out
37:11
there that really want something
37:13
to again, drive like they
37:15
envision their Jeep driving
37:16
or wish their Jeep drove like
37:19
with everything
37:20
designed around that concept.
37:23
So it's a reduced body roll
37:25
when you're driving it on the highway,
37:26
you can take a on-ramp at a rate of speed
37:29
and not feel like the
37:30
body roll is out of control
37:32
or shift in the way.
37:33
Driving a boat, yeah.
37:34
Yeah, we want a spring rate
37:37
that's gonna be a
37:38
little bit more firmed up
37:39
so it feels like a
37:40
little bit more performance,
37:43
driving experience, not something that's
37:46
too soft and floaty.
37:47
We want it to feel like
37:49
it's firm and planted.
37:52
So again, we wanted to
37:54
develop all these components
37:55
to kind of give you that sensation
37:57
as you drive this chassis system.
38:01
And I think we got
38:02
there, I think it's exciting.
38:04
It's a neat product.
38:06
And there's not a whole lot out there
38:07
that's kind of in the same realm, right?
38:10
You have companies that develop lift kits
38:13
that are very purpose-driven that are,
38:15
I mean, very well engineered
38:17
and do a lot of things really great,
38:20
but maybe the sacrifices,
38:22
maybe in a day-to-day sense,
38:24
they feel softer because you're trying
38:26
to get all the articulation.
38:27
It's hard to get, if you're
38:30
gonna go really far one way,
38:31
it's hard to get it back
38:32
balanced the other way.
38:34
So we turn the dial and
38:36
we're kind of right there,
38:38
I don't wanna say in the middle,
38:40
we're probably more on
38:41
the on-road driving sense
38:43
of day-to-day in everyday life.
38:46
And that's where we think 90% of people--
38:49
I 100% agree with you.
38:50
I think it's more like 95% personally.
38:52
I don't think 5% of
38:53
people actually go off-road.
38:55
And I mean just one time.
38:56
Yeah, and again, but
38:58
it's still super capable.
39:00
I mean, you gotta think
39:00
how the OE does it too.
39:02
The OE's developing that
39:03
thing, it can go do Rubicon.
39:05
But the frequency of
39:06
you doing Rubicon Trail,
39:08
it happens, it's a
39:09
bucket list type of thing.
39:10
I think it's the parking lot at Rubicon
39:12
and then you get the badge.
39:14
(both laughing)
39:15
So again, we wanna
39:16
make sure we can still do
39:18
all of that stuff even a little bit more
39:20
because you're gonna have
39:22
increased ground clearance,
39:23
you're gonna have a
39:24
little bit better geometry,
39:25
things are gonna be
39:25
reinforced with heavier components.
39:29
So we think we took the
39:31
base Jeep and those packages
39:33
built off of that a
39:35
little bit better system,
39:36
a better chassis system.
39:38
It's a little bit more robust,
39:40
definitely get that lift kit in there.
39:42
The dynamics are, we think
39:44
dialed in a little bit more
39:45
from a tuning standpoint for
39:48
that 90% of the crowd out there
39:50
to run big tires, look good,
39:52
do all your day-to-day
39:53
stuff, make it feel more sporty
39:56
so it doesn't feel as soft
39:58
and doesn't feel as numb in the steering.
40:01
And I think we got there.
40:03
And I think that's what's really exciting
40:04
about the Roamer thing.
40:06
So the way you're gonna
40:07
be able to buy that too,
40:08
you can buy components, a la carte,
40:10
just like the Steer Smarts components,
40:12
or we have multiple levels of packages
40:14
and systems that you can get into.
40:17
Starting with the trail system,
40:19
that's basically our
40:21
suspension system minus any shocks.
40:24
So if a guy wants to go
40:25
pair it with King shocks
40:27
or Fox shocks or whoever
40:28
they like, they can do that.
40:30
And the core components
40:31
there are still intact
40:33
and they're all optimized to work
40:34
together with that chassis.
40:36
Then you got the trail system,
40:37
which is the system that we've developed
40:40
and we tuned it around Bilstein 5100s
40:43
or an optional 8100 shock.
40:46
And then we have the Summit kit.
40:48
And the Summit kit literally is one skew.
40:50
We just need to know,
40:52
do you have standard
40:54
width axles, Rubicon axles?
40:56
And then you take that,
41:00
you get every aspect of that chassis,
41:04
basically redesigned with, excuse me,
41:09
with our Summit chassis system,
41:11
you get new sway bars,
41:13
end links, bump stops,
41:15
correction brackets,
41:16
springs, shocks, sway bars,
41:20
the whole deal, front
41:21
end steering, sector brace,
41:23
and really just transform that.
41:25
And it takes all the guesswork out.
41:26
Everything is optimized to work together.
41:29
What are the lift ranges?
41:31
Is there, you have to,
41:33
there's some sort of
41:34
lift in there, right?
41:35
I mean, you don't start
41:36
with zero, I would assume.
41:37
Yeah, no, no, no.
41:38
So what we do is we have two options.
41:40
We have a two and a half inch lift,
41:43
and then we also have a three
41:44
and a half inch lift option.
41:46
So you can go with
41:47
either one of those options.
41:48
You can option for a 5100
41:50
or an 8100 series shock.
41:53
So those are really the only two options.
41:55
Other than that, the
41:56
system is pretty much built out
41:58
where it takes all
42:00
the guesswork out of it.
42:02
Is it home installable?
42:05
It is, it is, absolutely.
42:07
I think that's a big deal.
42:10
You may need to run to Walmart
42:11
and give you some Stanley
42:12
tools before you install it.
42:15
But I would assume that
42:18
you guys don't partner
42:19
with anybody across the country for
42:20
installations, do you?
42:21
We do.
42:22
We have a whole
42:22
dealer network, absolutely.
42:24
And so if you, go ahead.
42:26
If you go on the
42:26
website, steersmarts.com,
42:28
there's a dealer locator around there,
42:30
and we have all of our preferred dealer
42:32
and install shops on there.
42:37
Do you guys send stickers
42:40
when you send out parts?
42:41
You got Steersmart stickers?
42:44
We do.
42:45
I can't remember if I got one or not.
42:46
I think I was pissed off
42:47
because I didn't get one
42:48
or something, but.
42:48
They should be in the box.
42:49
Okay, good, good.
42:50
The boxes should have stickers.
42:51
They probably do.
42:53
At the same time, if
42:54
you catch us at shows,
42:54
we always have lots of stickers.
42:56
Of course, people love stickers.
42:57
You gotta have stickers.
42:59
All right, so, oh,
43:01
well, what's the ballpark?
43:02
I think you mentioned,
43:03
but what's the ballpark
43:04
on the suspension system?
43:08
So suspension systems, the varying,
43:13
variety of them, it's
43:14
starting right around $1,100.
43:16
Oh, it's cheap.
43:17
Full system, you're looking,
43:19
starting somewhere around $5,200, $5,300,
43:24
all the way up, and again, it depends on
43:25
what option shock you go with,
43:27
and then a couple of
43:28
the variations and parts
43:30
if you upgrade to say like
43:31
an aluminum adjuster sleeve,
43:32
over a steel adjuster sleeve,
43:33
but give you an idea, it's
43:35
somewhere right around there.
43:36
And they're on sale now.
43:37
I think when you were
43:38
doing the SEMA thing,
43:39
I think you were showing that it was
43:41
gonna be coming out,
43:42
but I don't think it was
43:43
available at the time, right?
43:44
But it's available now.
43:46
Yep, we have variations of the different
43:48
components available now.
43:50
There's some stuff that's
43:51
still rounding out production,
43:53
but most of the production
43:56
for 2 1�2 inch lift is all done.
43:58
I think 3 1�2 inch
44:00
lift will be hitting here
44:02
in the next couple months.
44:04
Same thing with sway bars.
44:05
We got a GT rear sway bar that's out now.
44:09
That makes a huge
44:10
difference for guys that are towing
44:11
or doing any type of over landing
44:13
where they're waiting in
44:13
the back of that thing now.
44:15
So again, as we develop this stuff,
44:17
as we get it through production,
44:18
it's gonna hit the website or be
44:20
available at dealers
44:21
for order.
44:22
Oh, so you could actually go to somebody
44:24
on the dealer network
44:25
and order it from there.
44:26
They get it.
44:26
You don't have to slip it down to them.
44:28
They get it and they say,
44:29
"Bring your vehicle in."
44:31
Exactly.
44:31
So is this for the JK, the JL and the JT
44:36
or just the JL and JT?
44:38
So right now the primary
44:39
focus for the Romer launch
44:40
is on JL and JT.
44:42
Makes sense.
44:43
Yeah, and then we're
44:45
thinking probably sometime early
44:46
next year, we should be
44:48
looking at the JK market
44:50
as well as some expanded
44:51
pickup truck options as well.
44:54
Oh, cool.
44:55
And that's actually a good point.
44:56
I'm only Jeep focused.
44:58
This is only for Jeeps, right?
45:01
I mean, you're not doing
45:02
it for any other vehicle,
45:04
but your suspension, not
45:05
suspension, your steering system,
45:08
who do you support?
45:09
What other vehicles do you support?
45:11
On the steering side right now,
45:13
we all line a Jeep for
45:16
JK and up, Gladiator,
45:19
and then we're doing the Ram 253500.
45:21
We have some steering
45:22
components for that.
45:24
We're in early
45:24
development of Super Duty steering.
45:26
So that stuff's coming down the line.
45:29
And of course, some Bronco stuff.
45:31
We got parts on that line as well.
45:35
So I have a Jeep talk
45:36
show, me and other idea.
45:37
We're already out of Christmas and stuff,
45:39
but if you get the red
45:40
tie rod from Steersmart's
45:42
and you got some white tape,
45:44
you can make it into like a peppermint.
45:46
You could, a candy cane.
45:47
A candy cane, exactly.
45:49
So that's a reason to get a red one.
45:52
So it was pretty funny.
45:53
There's a lot of people,
45:54
especially on the Jeep talk show,
45:57
Listers and stuff, they
45:57
just roll their eyes at my red.
45:59
I think red is great.
46:01
I think you guys did it right.
46:03
I gave you a hard time
46:03
about all the components
46:05
that need to be red.
46:06
I think you guys did it
46:07
right with the tie rod being red
46:10
and the other components being black.
46:11
Well, I think the drag link,
46:15
drag link, yeah, I
46:15
think the drag link is red.
46:17
And of course the rear track bar is red.
46:20
Track bars are red, drag
46:22
link and tie rod are black.
46:24
And then you got a silver
46:25
aluminum option on the tie rod.
46:27
Oh, and if I remember right,
46:29
you guys do do aluminum components.
46:32
We do.
46:32
Yeah.
46:33
So for you guys out
46:35
there that are interested
46:35
in aluminum components, which I'm not,
46:38
but then again, I'm not all that smart.
46:40
I want thick, heavy steel.
46:43
What components do you
46:45
have that's an aluminum?
46:45
All of them or?
46:47
No, so we offer the tie rod and aluminum.
46:49
So we have a pro series tie rod
46:51
that's offered in an
46:52
inch and three quarter,
46:54
70, 75, T6 solid aluminum.
46:58
And that's great for guys that are going
47:00
and hitting the rocks or
47:01
you're looking for something
47:02
that just has more of
47:02
a technical feel to it,
47:04
has a real nice look to it.
47:06
Very unique in market.
47:08
We're the only
47:08
aluminum tie rod manufacturer
47:11
that has clamps on their bars.
47:13
That's very specific.
47:15
Oh, I'm glad you mentioned that.
47:16
That is a big deal.
47:17
I think that's a major deal
47:19
because everybody's always bitching
47:20
about those nuts coming loose.
47:23
Yeah.
47:25
Everything I've ever put on, I mean,
47:26
really the XJ and the TJ
47:28
has always been those nuts
47:30
that you have to tighten the hell out of.
47:32
Yeah, jam nuts, thank you.
47:33
And I noticed that first and foremost
47:36
when I was putting all stuff on,
47:37
that this is great.
47:38
There's no jam nuts.
47:40
No, and it's minimal clamping force
47:42
to keep those things retained, right?
47:44
You're talking a tie
47:45
rod and a drag link clamp
47:47
on the steel goes to about
47:48
45 to 50 foot pounds of torque
47:51
versus a jam nut
47:52
equivalents north of 400 foot pounds,
47:56
maybe even more
47:57
depending on the diameter.
47:59
And then on the aluminum products,
48:01
our clamps go to, I think
48:03
about 75, right around in there.
48:05
So again, stuff you
48:07
can do, basic hand tools.
48:09
Again, we recommend
48:10
using a torque wrench,
48:11
but it's nothing you need
48:12
to get a big breaker bar on
48:13
to tighten this stuff down.
48:15
Which makes it really easy to readjust
48:18
or when you get an alignment,
48:19
guys aren't fighting with components
48:21
trying to get those things retained.
48:24
Would you recommend if somebody was doing
48:25
a sector shaft brace,
48:27
would you recommend
48:28
having somebody else do it?
48:29
I mean, you need to
48:29
have something fairly beefy
48:31
to get that nut off.
48:32
Yeah, I mean, it's more
48:36
just personal preference.
48:37
Guys that have worked on
48:39
vehicles for a long time,
48:41
they can do it, no problem, right?
48:43
If you're new to it, it
48:46
might feel a little daunting.
48:47
You won't think it's coming off.
48:49
It might feel a little daunting
48:51
or like you're doing something wrong.
48:52
Yeah, I'm gonna break this.
48:54
Just kind of depends
48:55
on your skillset, right?
48:56
It is something that is
48:58
very accessible in the driveway
48:59
if you have some mechanical skillset
49:01
or have been used to working on vehicles.
49:05
Definitely not
49:05
something that's overly scary
49:07
or something you need
49:08
specialty tools for.
49:09
Right, you don't need to lift,
49:11
you don't need to put
49:11
the vehicle up on the lift.
49:12
I would have loved to have a lift
49:13
because I think it
49:14
would have been a lot easier
49:15
for me not getting up and down.
49:17
It's just easier on your back.
49:18
Well, yeah, lower back especially.
49:21
I just put in a new
49:22
battery in the Gladiator
49:23
after over four and a half
49:25
years, the main one went out
49:27
and I disconnected the auxiliary battery
49:29
and then put that new battery in.
49:32
55 freaking pounds of
49:34
battery on a lifted Gladiator.
49:37
I had to stand on a stool
49:38
with a 55 pound battery.
49:40
(laughing)
49:43
I'm not a short guy.
49:44
So little things like that.
49:46
I think everything,
49:48
all this stuff you can do
49:50
unless there's welding involved
49:51
and that's why I like this bolt on stuff
49:53
because that's what you guys,
49:54
I had no problem installing y'all stuff.
49:57
It was straightforward.
49:59
I mentioned to you the
50:00
anti-seize would have been great,
50:01
some sort of lubricant on
50:03
the adjustable track bar.
50:05
Beautiful, heavy duty stuff.
50:06
I mean, I can't tell
50:07
you how much I appreciate
50:08
you sending me that stuff.
50:09
I'm very proud of the
50:11
Steersmart stuff on there
50:12
and I feel better about driving it
50:14
and I don't wander as
50:15
much on the freeway.
50:16
And most importantly, it
50:18
makes my wife feel more secure.
50:20
And it's really a pain if
50:23
you have a wonderful Jeep
50:25
that is just wonderful to drive
50:27
but your wife is nervous about driving it
50:29
because it does this, that and other.
50:31
I mean, she's not overly concerned.
50:32
She's got a TJ that
50:33
is a lot more bouncier
50:34
than what the Gladiator ever was
50:38
such a short Jeep,
50:39
such a short wheelbase.
50:41
She loves driving that, but
50:42
oh, she loves the Gladiator
50:44
and especially more so now.
50:45
So thank you very much
50:46
for sending that stuff over.
50:48
And that's really what we wanted to do
50:49
with that Romer line
50:50
too is build upon that.
50:52
We want it to really
50:53
just feel like it's planted.
50:56
We wanted to make it
50:57
feel very safe, usable
50:59
and fun to drive in a day-to-day sense.
51:02
And again, I think it builds
51:03
off of what you experienced
51:05
with the Steersmart line.
51:07
It's wonderful stuff.
51:08
You can install it yourself.
51:11
I think if you take your time
51:12
and read their instructions,
51:13
you could do it yourself too.
51:15
But it's nice to know that there's places
51:16
you can go to have it installed
51:18
and people that know
51:19
the Steersmart stuff.
51:20
So steersmart.com is the place to go.
51:24
Go over there and if
51:25
you're, I just want to mention,
51:26
you know, EJS is coming up
51:29
and I get several requests
51:31
about what do I need?
51:32
They know I went out
51:33
there in the Gladiator,
51:34
35 is nothing wild, two
51:37
inch Mopar lift, nothing wild.
51:39
And they asked me, what
51:40
do I need to go to EJS
51:42
to actually go off road?
51:43
And I always tell them, a Jeep,
51:45
you only need the Jeep and you can do it.
51:47
But if you're going
51:48
to make modifications,
51:49
you don't have to make modifications,
51:50
but I mean, just the drive.
51:52
I don't know how far
51:53
your drive's gonna be
51:54
from wherever you're going,
51:55
whenever you get out to Moab, Utah.
51:57
But just think of the
51:57
steering portion of that.
51:59
Why not make the
52:00
steering better for that ride?
52:03
It was, I think, 19 hours
52:05
total from Southeast Texas.
52:07
There you go.
52:08
So, and yeah, make it easier on yourself.
52:11
Get you some Jeep stuff.
52:12
I mean, some Steersmart stuff on there.
52:14
And I would recommend personally,
52:16
I know it's expensive overall,
52:18
but if you're going to
52:19
make that kind of a trip,
52:20
invest in all of the
52:22
Steersmart front end steering products.
52:25
Get it all on there at once.
52:27
You don't have to worry about it.
52:29
Yep.
52:30
All right.
52:31
You know how the kids
52:32
love the social media,
52:33
where can we find Steersmart's you
52:35
or all the above on the social media?
52:39
Everything should be just Steersmart's.
52:41
So, Facebook.com slash Steersmart's,
52:44
Instagram.com slash Steersmart's,
52:46
YouTube.com slash Steersmart's.
52:49
All should be the same.
52:49
And then if anybody has any questions
52:51
or looking for technical support,
52:53
they can always get us
52:54
either on our message
52:57
and chat on our website,
52:58
or you could always do our
53:00
dial-in phone and tech line.
53:02
That's 888-8-GO-YETI.
53:04
It's going to be that dial-in number.
53:07
Either way, we're there to try to help.
53:08
So, not just looking to load
53:10
you up on a bunch of stuff.
53:11
We want to, if you're having troubles,
53:13
help you diagnose what's going on.
53:15
If you're looking for
53:16
ideas to as starting points
53:18
and you're trying to
53:18
build a package over time,
53:20
we'll help you with that.
53:22
Or if you're looking to
53:22
outfit the whole thing,
53:23
we can cater a system that's going to fit
53:26
your specific needs, wants,
53:29
whether that be lift kit,
53:30
all the way to front end steering.
53:32
If you're doing mostly
53:33
on-road driving, off-road driving,
53:35
we can help you with either or.
53:37
So, Jeep Talk Show, million dollar idea.
53:40
You guys need to come out with a
53:42
I Survive Death
53:43
Wobble, Steersmart's T-shirt.
53:45
That's good.
53:47
Little pink ribbon or
53:49
something, you know?
53:50
That's right.
53:51
I like it.
53:52
All right, Jay, thank you
53:52
so much for being with us.
53:53
And please come back more often.
53:55
I think it helps,
53:57
because there's lots of people out there,
53:59
and you know this.
54:00
There's lots of people
54:00
out there experiencing
54:02
insecurities about their Jeep steering.
54:04
Even if they're not getting death wobble,
54:05
they may think it is.
54:07
And you can come here
54:08
and explain to them,
54:08
and I will keep telling
54:10
people on social media,
54:11
go to steersmart.com
54:13
and look at what they got.
54:14
And remember this, you don't
54:16
have to buy everything at once.
54:18
It's piecemeal.
54:19
You can buy one part at a
54:20
time, start with the drive bar.
54:22
The other thing, too,
54:23
to note quickly too,
54:24
is it doesn't have to
54:25
be a lifted vehicle,
54:26
and it doesn't have to have big tires.
54:27
Exactly.
54:28
It'll improve the driving of a vehicle,
54:31
just even on a chassis-stocked vehicle.
54:35
We'll make it firm up your steering,
54:37
make it drive more
54:38
like a performance vehicle
54:39
or something that's
54:40
more fun to drive, right?
54:42
Less white-knuckling it as
54:44
you're driving it every day.
54:46
So it really is.
54:48
Any and all Jeeps can benefit from it.
54:50
It's not something that
54:52
has to be a big vehicle
54:53
on 37s or 40s built to go rock crawl.
54:56
That's not what we designed.
54:57
We designed a linkage
54:58
to accommodate everybody
55:01
in the Jeep world.
55:01
I think so.
55:02
I just answered it, but
55:03
you do not have to have
55:04
any kind of lift for any
55:05
of the steering components.
55:06
Okay. Nope.
55:08
Excellent.
55:09
And if I've said it
55:10
once, I'll say it again.
55:11
Both men and women like it firmer.
55:13
That's right.
55:16
All right, Jay, thank you so much.
55:17
Tony, thank you.
55:18
You're my friend.
55:19
You're my new friend.
55:22
XJtalk.com, LLC, and
55:24
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55:26
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55:28
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55:30
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55:31
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55:34
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55:37
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55:42
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