Latest / Jeep Talk Show / Ep 33: Mike's 368k Mile 4.0 & Jasper Transmission Fail

Transcript

Ep 33: Mike's 368k Mile 4.0 & Jasper Transmission Fail · Jeep Talk Show

• 0:00
  Episode number 33
• 0:33
  Welcome to the XJ Talk Show.
• 0:35
  And now here's your host
• 0:37
  Tony Mutteroy on XJTalk.com.
• 0:41
  Hello and thank you for tuning in.
• 0:43
  Well actually there's no tuning, there's
• 0:45
  just downloading and listening.
• 0:47
  But you know, you're
• 0:49
  here and now I'm here.
• 0:52
  So I guess we can have a show.
• 0:55
  So playing around with some new
• 0:56
  equipment, some of you
• 0:58
  guys may have heard the little
• 1:00
  temporary podcast thing that I did and
• 1:03
  put up for you guys to listen to.
• 1:05
  And I'm hoping this
• 1:07
  thing is sounding better.
• 1:09
  Invested a little money in a new
• 1:11
  microphone and invested a
• 1:13
  little money in a digital recording
• 1:17
  device.
• 1:18
  It all looks very impressive.
• 1:20
  If you could see it,
• 1:21
  you'd be impressed, trust me.
• 1:24
  Well as you all know if you've been
• 1:26
  listening to the show in
• 1:26
  the past, we've been on a bit
• 1:28
  of a hiatus since July.
• 1:31
  But we're back and
• 1:33
  we've got some new music.
• 1:35
  We've got some new voice overs.
• 1:37
  And well hopefully the quality of the
• 1:41
  show will improve, the
• 1:42
  sound quality will improve
• 1:44
  and the content will still be all boring.
• 1:47
  So we can only do so much.
• 1:52
  We do have an interview so it's not going
• 1:55
  to just be me rambling as I was doing in
• 1:58
  several of the final
• 1:59
  episodes before the hiatus.
• 2:02
  And one of the things I'm going to try to
• 2:04
  do is I'm going to
• 2:05
  try to get you guys more
• 2:07
  involved with the show.
• 2:08
  I enjoy doing the show but I enjoy
• 2:11
  interacting with you guys
• 2:12
  just like we do on the website.
• 2:14
  I like to get you on the air
• 2:18
  so to speak for interviews.
• 2:19
  It's not important that you have
• 2:21
  something to sell or
• 2:22
  something to really talk about,
• 2:25
  just your experience with your jeep and
• 2:29
  your life in general.
• 2:30
  I think everybody would find interesting.
• 2:33
  We should all get to know each other
• 2:34
  better and develop a stronger community.
• 2:37
  At least that's what I think.
• 2:39
  I think that's part of the fun of just
• 2:41
  having the site is
• 2:42
  getting all of us together with
• 2:44
  this common interest about jeeps.
• 2:46
  Now one of the things that we have going
• 2:48
  on on the site that's
• 2:50
  been going on for I guess
• 2:51
  a pretty good while is this
• 2:53
  green jeep red jeep rivalry.
• 2:57
  And I'll just make it very clear.
• 2:59
  I've stated unequivocally, sorry, ridded
• 3:02
  lips, I've stated
• 3:04
  that I like green jeeps.
• 3:06
  Green jeeps are fine.
• 3:07
  Now not everybody feels that way.
• 3:10
  I recently was talking to a lady and well
• 3:14
  this is how she felt.
• 3:15
  Oh, red jeeps are sexy.
• 3:18
  Yes, I've heard that before.
• 3:20
  And then whenever I
• 3:21
  asked her about green jeeps.
• 3:23
  Yeah, I guess green jeeps are okay.
• 3:26
  So I don't know.
• 3:27
  It just really all depends
• 3:28
  on what you want in a jeep.
• 3:30
  If you want it to be sexy
• 3:33
  or if you want it to be okay.
• 3:38
  That little thing there is for Wayne.
• 3:40
  Wayne will enjoy that.
• 3:43
  Well first off I'd like to do is we're
• 3:46
  going to have pretty
• 3:47
  much a Mike episode tonight.
• 3:49
  Mike was kind enough to call in.
• 3:53
  Well actually he posted up on XJ Talks
• 3:56
  saying, "Well you
• 3:58
  know where's the podcast?
• 3:59
  I haven't seen a podcast in a while.
• 4:01
  Where is it?"
• 4:02
  So I responded and told
• 4:03
  him, "Hey, I'm working on it.
• 4:04
  We're going to be coming up with
• 4:05
  something here really soon."
• 4:07
  And of course these things that you're
• 4:09
  hearing now are part of what
• 4:11
  was going on in the background.
• 4:13
  But Mike was good enough to call in and
• 4:15
  leave a voicemail once I
• 4:17
  reminded him of the number.
• 4:18
  So actually let me remind you guys of the
• 4:21
  number because I need your involvement.
• 4:24
  It's not, you know, don't be shy.
• 4:27
  Call in, leave a question, a comment.
• 4:29
  It makes the show better.
• 4:30
  There's again, it's a
• 4:32
  community involvement thing.
• 4:34
  Do you have a question or comment that
• 4:35
  you'd like to hear on the show?
• 4:37
  Just call 530-675-4102 any time of the
• 4:41
  day or night and
• 4:42
  leave it on our voicemail.
• 4:43
  Hey Tony, my name is Mike.
• 4:45
  I go by Mafonzalo on the forum.
• 4:47
  I've been a Jeep guy for about 10 years
• 4:49
  and I own two XJs and one MJ.
• 4:52
  First let me say that this podcast says
• 4:54
  XJ Talk Apart from all
• 4:55
  the other Jeep boards.
• 4:56
  Even though places like Pirate 4x4 and
• 4:59
  Maxx have more members.
• 5:00
  What they don't have is a podcast.
• 5:02
  So keep it up brother.
• 5:04
  Well thanks a lot Mike.
• 5:05
  It really helps to have that
• 5:07
  encouragement because I
• 5:09
  don't know if you guys are aware
• 5:10
  of it or not, but it's a
• 5:11
  lot of work to do the podcast.
• 5:13
  It's not so much trouble talking and
• 5:15
  talking into the
• 5:16
  microphone and watching the little
• 5:17
  lights blink.
• 5:18
  That's kind of fun.
• 5:19
  It's even fun setting it up and listening
• 5:23
  to it later to see how
• 5:24
  the sound quality is.
• 5:25
  All those things are fun.
• 5:27
  The hard part is the modifying of editing
• 5:30
  and the modifying of the levels and doing
• 5:33
  the compression and blah blah blah all
• 5:34
  that afterwards, which
• 5:36
  roughly takes about an hour.
• 5:37
  It takes about an hour to do the show and
• 5:40
  it takes about an
• 5:40
  hour to get it all edited
• 5:44
  and done up where it's presentable.
• 5:46
  I won't say it's great, but you know to
• 5:48
  where it's presentable.
• 5:49
  And I just wasn't getting much feedback.
• 5:52
  I certainly wasn't getting much
• 5:53
  participation from the folks
• 5:56
  listening to the show and I
• 5:59
  just needed a break.
• 6:00
  I'll just be real open and
• 6:01
  honest with you about it.
• 6:02
  And I really need your guys help.
• 6:06
  I need you to call in.
• 6:09
  I need you to agree to be interviewed and
• 6:13
  I need you involved.
• 6:15
  This isn't the Tony show.
• 6:17
  This is a show about XJ Talk and its
• 6:20
  members and the Jeep Cherokee.
• 6:23
  And that's what we need to talk about.
• 6:24
  So speaking of that, Mike was also kind
• 6:28
  enough to interview, to
• 6:31
  agree to an interview tonight.
• 6:33
  And without further ado,
• 6:34
  let's get to that interview.
• 6:36
  [Music]
• 6:46
  Well, we've got Mike
• 6:47
  on the phone tonight.
• 6:49
  Mike, I'm going to let you say your XJ
• 6:51
  Talk handle or username.
• 6:53
  Hey Tony, how you doing?
• 6:55
  My username on the forum is Mafonzolo.
• 6:57
  And that's basically
• 6:58
  slang for my funds are low.
• 7:00
  I don't have very much money to spend.
• 7:03
  And that would be a direct correlation
• 7:05
  with the ownership of a Jeep.
• 7:07
  That would be great.
• 7:10
  Well, thank you for...
• 7:11
  I'm sure you've heard the joke that Jeep
• 7:12
  stands for just empty every pocket.
• 7:14
  Oh, absolutely.
• 7:15
  And it's living up to its name.
• 7:16
  Absolutely.
• 7:17
  Well, thanks for being our first
• 7:19
  interview after our summertime hiatus.
• 7:22
  I think our last show was back in July.
• 7:25
  So we're getting started again.
• 7:27
  And before we started the recorder here,
• 7:30
  Mike and I were
• 7:31
  talking about Leo LaPorte and
• 7:33
  podcasts and so on and so forth.
• 7:36
  And I thought you might find it
• 7:37
  interesting as well as our listeners.
• 7:39
  I'm actually using the same microphone
• 7:41
  that Leo LaPorte uses.
• 7:42
  That was one of the upgrades we did here
• 7:44
  at the show was to get a Heil PR40.
• 7:48
  And if you listen to Leo very much,
• 7:50
  you'll hear him singing
• 7:51
  high praises of the Heil
• 7:53
  microphone.
• 7:54
  So you got the big basket of pots that
• 7:56
  are filtered behind it.
• 7:57
  Well, I got a spit shield.
• 7:59
  I think that the health department
• 8:00
  requires me to put
• 8:01
  that in front of the...
• 8:02
  Is that food?
• 8:03
  It meant to be food.
• 8:06
  I have no idea, man.
• 8:07
  But you sound fine when I
• 8:08
  listen to you on the podcast.
• 8:11
  Well, that was actually a condenser, the
• 8:13
  very much hated condenser microphone.
• 8:15
  So this is a dynamic microphone and it's
• 8:19
  supposed to be a lot better now.
• 8:20
  I know Bob Heil from my ham radio days,
• 8:25
  and it's not like they're
• 8:26
  over, but not real active
• 8:27
  in the ham radio stuff currently.
• 8:29
  But I have a Heil microphone that I use
• 8:32
  in the radio, the ham
• 8:34
  radio I have in the Jeep.
• 8:35
  And the Heil mic
• 8:37
  quality is just fabulous.
• 8:39
  Now I don't know how good this one's
• 8:40
  going to sound because
• 8:41
  I'm still getting used to
• 8:42
  the mic and still
• 8:43
  getting things adjusted.
• 8:44
  So you guys hopefully it'll improve over
• 8:46
  time or maybe I'll just
• 8:48
  be surprised and it sounds
• 8:49
  great.
• 8:50
  Anyway, back to you, Mike.
• 8:53
  So as I told you before we started the
• 8:56
  interview, I might ask you
• 8:57
  about how you got started
• 8:59
  with off-road stuff, assuming that you do
• 9:01
  use your Jeep for off-road activities.
• 9:04
  Well, absolutely.
• 9:05
  I think everybody who has a Jeep uses it
• 9:07
  for off-road activity at
• 9:08
  some point in their life.
• 9:09
  I mean, even if you live in a suburbia or
• 9:13
  inside the inner city, I think eventually
• 9:15
  you have to get out and see
• 9:16
  what these things will do.
• 9:18
  And I got started 10 years ago and
• 9:21
  actually it just happened
• 9:23
  to be a random car that I
• 9:25
  happened to buy.
• 9:26
  I think I was 19 years old at the time
• 9:28
  and my first
• 9:30
  four-wheel drive was a Dachshund
• 9:32
  pickup with the L24 2.4 liter engine that
• 9:36
  has eight spark plugs
• 9:37
  while being four cylinder.
• 9:39
  And that was just the biggest pile of
• 9:41
  junk I've ever had in my life.
• 9:43
  And once I blew the motor in that, the
• 9:46
  only thing I could
• 9:46
  afford on the lot was this 91
• 9:49
  light blue colored Cherokee and it had
• 9:51
  the AW4 with the four liter inline six.
• 9:55
  And ever since I drove that thing, I just
• 9:58
  pretty much knew it was a beast.
• 10:00
  And the one thing that really got me into
• 10:03
  Jeeps, the reason that I didn't switch up
• 10:06
  to anything else is once I've had to work
• 10:08
  on it, I actually considered it a godsend
• 10:11
  because up to that point I drove nothing
• 10:12
  but imports, mostly Toyotas and Nissans.
• 10:16
  And I got a little bit used to working on
• 10:18
  them, but once I worked
• 10:19
  on a Jeep, man, there's
• 10:20
  no going back.
• 10:21
  It's just everything is so
• 10:22
  simple and straightforward.
• 10:24
  It really is.
• 10:24
  I was a little concerned.
• 10:26
  I bought my Jeep in 98 and I think
• 10:29
  everybody knows the story.
• 10:30
  My wife and I actually were looking at a
• 10:32
  Wrangler, a TJ, all black
• 10:35
  with a hardtop 4.0 liter.
• 10:37
  I knew enough about the
• 10:39
  engines back then to get the 4.0.
• 10:41
  I knew I didn't want the four cylinder.
• 10:43
  I didn't realize how badly I didn't want
• 10:46
  it until years later.
• 10:47
  But anyway, we got the Jeep Cherokee, the
• 10:50
  one I have now, because
• 10:52
  of our two small daughters.
• 10:53
  I think they were three and
• 10:54
  four years old at the time.
• 10:55
  And I was actually the one that talked my
• 10:57
  wife into getting the Cherokee because of
• 11:00
  the girls, because we both wanted
• 11:02
  Wranglers individually
• 11:05
  prior to us even knowing each
• 11:06
  other.
• 11:06
  We wanted a Wrangler.
• 11:08
  So it was actually very lucky, almost
• 11:12
  like what you're
• 11:12
  talking about, where you just
• 11:14
  happened to get it and
• 11:16
  you go, wow, what a vehicle.
• 11:18
  And actually, I guess it was probably
• 11:19
  nine years before I
• 11:21
  actually got into where I needed
• 11:22
  to start doing things
• 11:23
  to it and working on it.
• 11:25
  And I have worked on
• 11:27
  vehicles in the past.
• 11:28
  I never have enjoyed it.
• 11:30
  But whenever I started learning about how
• 11:33
  the Jeep goes
• 11:34
  together, it is a very, very
• 11:36
  simple vehicle.
• 11:37
  And I was very happy to find that out, a
• 11:39
  tough vehicle, too, which
• 11:41
  those two often go together.
• 11:43
  Yeah, I absolutely agree with you.
• 11:45
  The one I bought was actually 10 years
• 11:47
  old at the time when I bought it.
• 11:48
  So it needed work almost immediately.
• 11:51
  But I had a little bit of experience
• 11:54
  working on JAP cars,
• 11:55
  definitely not a whole lot.
• 11:58
  But yeah, I was impressed with how
• 12:01
  straightforward and easy
• 12:02
  everything was and kind of going,
• 12:04
  hey, I don't have to have really tiny
• 12:05
  hands to get down to
• 12:07
  this part and replace it.
• 12:09
  It actually was almost a pleasure for me
• 12:13
  to work on it, having
• 12:14
  come from working on imports.
• 12:17
  So I actually enjoyed it.
• 12:19
  Oh, I don't doubt it.
• 12:20
  If you're beaten all your life and then a
• 12:25
  day comes where you
• 12:26
  just get slapped around,
• 12:27
  the slapping feels good.
• 12:30
  Interesting metaphor.
• 12:32
  But that's just me.
• 12:33
  I sweat very, very easily.
• 12:35
  Always have.
• 12:36
  I've tried to explain to my wife, my wife
• 12:38
  says it's because you're fat.
• 12:39
  I said, no, before I was
• 12:41
  fat, I would sweat a lot.
• 12:43
  So me and air conditioning or raised
• 12:46
  floors, we were talking
• 12:47
  about before the interview,
• 12:48
  we were talking about IT, raised floor
• 12:50
  computer room and I get
• 12:51
  along very well because I really
• 12:53
  like it nice and chilly.
• 12:55
  So when I go out there to work on the
• 12:57
  Jeep, it really drains
• 12:58
  my energy having to get so
• 13:01
  hot.
• 13:01
  I need to get one of those big shop fans
• 13:03
  because if I can breeze
• 13:04
  on me, it's really not too
• 13:05
  bad.
• 13:05
  Well, you're also in Texas, so it's
• 13:07
  already hotter than down there.
• 13:09
  Yeah.
• 13:09
  And they say the humidity makes it worse.
• 13:11
  And I've been here all my life.
• 13:12
  So if there wasn't humidity, I probably
• 13:16
  would get real nervous.
• 13:17
  I wouldn't know what was going on.
• 13:18
  Well, the humidity is definitely, it's
• 13:22
  definitely something that
• 13:22
  will make already a bad day
• 13:24
  even more unbearable.
• 13:25
  And I'm from Virginia and I know exactly
• 13:30
  what you're talking about.
• 13:31
  When it comes to humidity.
• 13:33
  Yeah, I guess that's because your
• 13:34
  Virginia is relatively,
• 13:36
  is it close to the water?
• 13:37
  Yeah, I guess it is.
• 13:39
  Shows you my...
• 13:40
  Well, apparently it's entirely too close
• 13:42
  because the humidity is
• 13:44
  unbearable all summer long.
• 13:45
  I don't know.
• 13:46
  I guess...
• 13:46
  It's almost like a tropical
• 13:48
  climate here in the summer.
• 13:49
  Really?
• 13:49
  But it'll get snow in the winter, so it's
• 13:51
  an interesting area.
• 13:52
  Yeah, it is.
• 13:53
  It does sound that way.
• 13:54
  How did you make it
• 13:54
  through the recent hurricane?
• 13:56
  Well, actually there's a joke going
• 13:58
  around here about that hurricane.
• 14:01
  My lawn furniture didn't
• 14:02
  even blow over, brother.
• 14:04
  Well, that's good.
• 14:05
  And a lot of the people around here have
• 14:07
  the same opinion, but
• 14:08
  if you go about 10 miles
• 14:09
  from where my location is, people have
• 14:12
  missing roofs and cars overturned.
• 14:15
  I don't know, I guess I'd
• 14:16
  be unlucky this time around.
• 14:18
  Well, you know, Hurricane Ike came
• 14:19
  through here two, three
• 14:21
  years ago and I was on the
• 14:24
  internet the entire time.
• 14:26
  We had like 80 mile an
• 14:27
  hour winds here at the house.
• 14:29
  There were houses in the...
• 14:31
  Oh, within a two mile radius
• 14:33
  that lost parts of the roofs.
• 14:35
  We never lost power.
• 14:37
  I didn't lose internet.
• 14:39
  I was actually online
• 14:40
  playing a game, video game.
• 14:44
  My wife was like freaking out because,
• 14:46
  you know, there's all
• 14:47
  this noise and stuff going
• 14:48
  on and I'm sitting here playing.
• 14:50
  So you know, what are you going to do?
• 14:52
  Stand there and look concerned?
• 14:53
  So yeah, but we were
• 14:55
  in the same situation.
• 14:56
  We were very lucky.
• 14:57
  We didn't have, I think
• 14:59
  we lost one little shingle.
• 15:03
  I don't know what you would
• 15:04
  call it, just the one shingle.
• 15:06
  So it's like those three
• 15:08
  little slots that we lost.
• 15:09
  Well, the file claim.
• 15:11
  Yeah, well, I didn't want my insurance
• 15:14
  going up $10,000 a year.
• 15:16
  Yeah, I'm just kidding, though.
• 15:17
  But no, and of course I am too.
• 15:20
  Yeah, I guess people file claims because
• 15:23
  they figure they pay into it.
• 15:25
  I would just as soon do without insurance
• 15:26
  if I could get away with it.
• 15:28
  Anyway, so what are
• 15:30
  you doing with your Jeep?
• 15:31
  Is it just at a stock
• 15:33
  level or are you modifying it?
• 15:36
  Any plans to modify it?
• 15:38
  Well, actually, I have three Jeeps.
• 15:39
  I got two XJs and I have an MJ.
• 15:43
  And well, let me tell you a
• 15:44
  little bit about them first.
• 15:45
  The MJ that I have, that's the one I
• 15:47
  posted a picture on the
• 15:48
  forum when I originally found
• 15:50
  the place and introduced myself.
• 15:52
  It's an 89 and it's two wheel drive,
• 15:55
  which is why I haven't lifted it.
• 15:56
  It's a California special model.
• 15:58
  Came with a Dana 44 axle.
• 16:00
  It has a 4.0 with the AW4 and a floor
• 16:05
  shift, which I found
• 16:06
  kind of strange because I've
• 16:07
  had an MJ before and I've seen other ones
• 16:09
  and all the ones I've ever
• 16:11
  seen have been column shift.
• 16:12
  So I thought it was kind of cool.
• 16:13
  This one was a floor shift.
• 16:15
  And I basically use it for my work truck
• 16:19
  and my daily drive or grocery
• 16:21
  getter type of chores.
• 16:23
  Since it's two wheel drive, it doesn't
• 16:24
  see the trail much, but I
• 16:26
  do live in a rural area.
• 16:28
  So it helps to have a little ground
• 16:30
  clearing since we've ripped the tires.
• 16:32
  Sure.
• 16:33
  What kind of gas
• 16:34
  mileage do you get with it?
• 16:35
  Well, with the 33s on it,
• 16:38
  it's nothing to brag about.
• 16:39
  I get about 16 miles per
• 16:41
  gallon if I drive really nice.
• 16:43
  Well, that's not bad.
• 16:44
  And I guess you're still running,
• 16:45
  assuming that those are
• 16:46
  355 gears that come in that
• 16:49
  year model?
• 16:50
  Yes, there's still 355s.
• 16:52
  And you know, it's not too bad.
• 16:54
  I know a lot of people complained that
• 16:56
  you can't put 33s on a 355 ratio.
• 17:01
  And I mean, if you expect to do hole
• 17:02
  shots with it, I would
• 17:03
  agree it's not going to burn
• 17:05
  any tires, even in the floor.
• 17:07
  It might chirp a little bit, but that's
• 17:08
  all you're going to get
• 17:09
  out of that 4.0 with those
• 17:11
  big tires.
• 17:12
  But if that's not what you're trying to
• 17:14
  do, I mean, if you just
• 17:14
  drive it nice, it's not
• 17:16
  a problem.
• 17:17
  It's not an issue for me at all.
• 17:18
  Yeah, I had a lot of problems.
• 17:20
  Well, I say a lot of problems.
• 17:22
  I had to kick down out of
• 17:24
  overdrive to go over overpasses.
• 17:26
  And that was with my 32-inch tires.
• 17:30
  So this is before I had
• 17:34
  started the XJTalk website.
• 17:36
  And I got some advice from
• 17:38
  some of the folks on NAXJA.
• 17:41
  And everybody was saying, you know, I had
• 17:44
  looked up and saw
• 17:45
  where 410 is probably what
• 17:47
  I wanted to go with.
• 17:47
  My long-term goal were 33-inch tires.
• 17:50
  But I knew that the 33s weren't going to
• 17:54
  fit until I got the
• 17:56
  Bushwhackers on there.
• 17:57
  So I wanted to go to 410s.
• 17:58
  And they said, no, go one numerically
• 18:03
  lower or gear ratio higher
• 18:05
  than what you're planning.
• 18:06
  And you'll be happy.
• 18:07
  So I went with a 4.56.
• 18:09
  Well, I'm sure you have no shortage of
• 18:10
  power with that ratio
• 18:11
  because it's transferring
• 18:12
  just about all of it to the rear wheels.
• 18:14
  Yeah, it's really nice.
• 18:16
  And it made it feel like it
• 18:18
  did whenever I first got it.
• 18:19
  So it made a huge difference.
• 18:20
  And of course, now driving on the
• 18:22
  highway, I don't have to
• 18:24
  kick down out of overdrive
• 18:25
  to make it up a mild overpass.
• 18:28
  Well, that defines a great deal on where
• 18:30
  you drive and how you drive.
• 18:32
  Like I said, I live
• 18:33
  out in the rural area.
• 18:34
  So I have like one
• 18:36
  highway in a 10-mile radius.
• 18:39
  So when the time does come that I have to
• 18:42
  go onto that highway, I really don't mind
• 18:45
  taking it down until third to go up over
• 18:47
  a hill because it's
• 18:48
  just not something that
• 18:49
  happens all the time.
• 18:51
  Yeah, I got you.
• 18:52
  That makes sense.
• 18:52
  See, I was doing a lot of
• 18:53
  highway driving at the time.
• 18:55
  Of course, if you, anytime you work in
• 18:58
  the Houston area,
• 18:59
  you're pretty much guaranteed
• 19:00
  to have to get on the
• 19:02
  freeway and drive a long ways.
• 19:04
  As it is, I drive about
• 19:05
  an hour to and from work.
• 19:08
  But I have made use of GPS
• 19:13
  and found an alternate route.
• 19:15
  So I'm actually using back streets.
• 19:18
  And the neat thing about it was that it
• 19:20
  saved me, initially, it
• 19:22
  saved me about 10 or 15
• 19:23
  minutes on my drive, which is huge.
• 19:25
  So just staying off the freeways actually
• 19:28
  made it a lot faster for me.
• 19:29
  So it's definitely a lot more pleasant
• 19:32
  driving, you know, 50, 55, or 60.
• 19:37
  We have the Houston Audubon here.
• 19:41
  It's actually called Beltway 8.
• 19:42
  And it's a toll road.
• 19:44
  And if you're not doing 80, 85, well,
• 19:48
  you're taking your
• 19:49
  life into your own hands.
• 19:50
  Yeah, you know, I was listening to some
• 19:52
  of your past shows and
• 19:53
  you briefly mentioned
• 19:55
  the survival podcast with Jack Spearco.
• 19:57
  And I'm actually a big fan of that.
• 19:59
  And I've been listening
• 20:00
  to that podcast for years.
• 20:02
  And I remember when he did the show out
• 20:04
  of his car with this
• 20:05
  really cool microphone.
• 20:07
  And once in a while, he would stop the
• 20:10
  show at whatever driver was off.
• 20:14
  That was just kind of funny because I
• 20:16
  think it was right there
• 20:17
  in Texas, somewhere close
• 20:18
  to you.
• 20:19
  Wasn't it?
• 20:20
  If I recall right, because I think he
• 20:21
  moved about four or five
• 20:23
  months ago, maybe a little
• 20:24
  longer.
• 20:25
  I think he was in Dallas or the Dallas
• 20:27
  area, which I think you might be right.
• 20:29
  Yeah, I think that's right.
• 20:31
  And you know, it's
• 20:31
  interesting you mentioned him.
• 20:33
  I was listening to his podcast and
• 20:37
  there's some really good
• 20:38
  information that he gives
• 20:40
  out, not all the time, but
• 20:42
  and I say good information.
• 20:43
  Things that I think are good information
• 20:45
  mean things that pertain to me.
• 20:48
  Doesn't actually mean the information
• 20:49
  he's giving out is bad.
• 20:50
  It's just some of it doesn't really
• 20:52
  interest me or pertain to me.
• 20:53
  Anyway, I sent him an email and, you
• 20:55
  know, I tried to be very,
• 20:56
  very nice in my suggestion.
• 20:58
  But my suggestion was to him that he
• 21:01
  should get a better
• 21:04
  microphone because his audio
• 21:06
  quality of his show, it made it, for me,
• 21:10
  it made it difficult to listen to.
• 21:12
  And he was very nice and responded and he
• 21:14
  says he's not out to
• 21:15
  sound like a FM broadcast
• 21:17
  station.
• 21:17
  It is what it is.
• 21:20
  So.
• 21:21
  Well, I mean, I think you
• 21:22
  guys, you both have a point.
• 21:23
  I think you should sound well enough to
• 21:26
  where it doesn't hurt
• 21:27
  to listen to your show.
• 21:29
  But I think the other half of it is that
• 21:31
  a lot of it does have to
• 21:32
  do with content because
• 21:34
  I agree with you, Tony, his show sounded
• 21:36
  like the first day he was doing it.
• 21:39
  But his content was actually good enough
• 21:41
  to where I would be
• 21:42
  willing to put up with that.
• 21:43
  Right.
• 21:44
  And I guess my point to Jack was, you
• 21:47
  know, you have good
• 21:47
  content, you have a rhythm of
• 21:51
  how he does the show and
• 21:52
  that rhythm and it's a success.
• 21:54
  And it would be, for me personally, it
• 21:57
  would just be a little
• 21:58
  bit better if it just wasn't
• 22:00
  so hard to listen to.
• 22:02
  And it's okay.
• 22:03
  It's just if it had just a little bit
• 22:05
  more depth to the
• 22:06
  audio, it would be easier to
• 22:07
  listen to.
• 22:08
  I mean, it sounds like the old crystal
• 22:10
  radio that I built when
• 22:11
  I was like 14 years old.
• 22:13
  Okay, no, it doesn't sound that bad.
• 22:15
  But it's just I wish he would have just,
• 22:18
  you know, he's making
• 22:20
  enough money to do this
• 22:21
  for a living.
• 22:21
  He could go out and spend 40 bucks for
• 22:24
  just a condenser
• 22:24
  microphone like what I was using
• 22:26
  to start with.
• 22:27
  So anyway.
• 22:28
  Well, you know, he's improved quite a bit
• 22:32
  since those first days.
• 22:34
  But he just he doesn't strike me as a
• 22:36
  radio guy or an audio file.
• 22:38
  So, you know, it's probably something
• 22:41
  that it doesn't seem important to him.
• 22:45
  Yeah, it definitely doesn't.
• 22:46
  You and I understand that this is kind of
• 22:48
  important because
• 22:49
  we're on the receiving end
• 22:50
  of the show.
• 22:51
  But I'm not sure if he
• 22:52
  listens to his own shows or whatnot.
• 22:54
  And also depends on
• 22:56
  how he listens to them.
• 22:57
  If you have like noise canceling headsets
• 22:59
  on, it might sound a little bit different
• 23:02
  than if you listen to it in the car where
• 23:03
  you have a whole bunch
• 23:04
  of other noises already
• 23:06
  and it just doesn't matter.
• 23:07
  Well, actually, this is interesting
• 23:08
  talking about the podcast.
• 23:10
  How do you listen to the podcast?
• 23:12
  Well, I listen in the car.
• 23:13
  That's probably why I
• 23:14
  didn't mind as much.
• 23:16
  So when you're in the car, do you use
• 23:18
  headphones or do you
• 23:19
  actually hook it up to your stereo
• 23:21
  No, I hook it up
• 23:22
  through the stereo system.
• 23:23
  Yeah, that's exactly what I do.
• 23:25
  I've actually got one a little cassette.
• 23:27
  I have the original AM FM tape CD in dash
• 23:33
  entertainment system
• 23:34
  that came with the Cherokee.
• 23:36
  So when I wanted to actually use my
• 23:39
  smartphone for the podcast, I just
• 23:42
  download the podcast
• 23:43
  straight to the to the
• 23:44
  phone, including XJ talk show.
• 23:47
  And I mainly do that because I like to
• 23:49
  hear the audio quality
• 23:51
  and with using a little
• 23:53
  cassette tape adapter, I can plug that
• 23:57
  into the headphone jack
• 23:59
  of the smartphone and then
• 24:01
  it goes right through the stereo system.
• 24:02
  So I guess my family probably, well,
• 24:05
  they're probably used to
• 24:06
  it by now, but they probably
• 24:07
  think I'm nuts because whenever I got
• 24:09
  this new microphone and
• 24:10
  the digital audio recorder
• 24:12
  that we're recording this interview into.
• 24:14
  The first thing I did was
• 24:15
  I played a little music.
• 24:16
  I spoke a little bit and did some tests
• 24:19
  and then I ran outside
• 24:20
  with it and hooked it up
• 24:21
  to my stereo system in the Jeep so I
• 24:24
  could see how it sounds
• 24:25
  because that's where I'll
• 24:27
  listen to the podcasts.
• 24:28
  And if if Leo's podcast sounds good
• 24:31
  there, well, I was going
• 24:32
  to say if Jack's podcast
• 24:34
  sounds good, but
• 24:34
  there's nothing can help Jack.
• 24:38
  But at least at least I have a nice
• 24:40
  common area that I can compare things to.
• 24:42
  And I've actually turned down the bass a
• 24:45
  little bit on this
• 24:46
  microphone because it it was actually
• 24:48
  just making me vibrate in
• 24:49
  a bad way inside the Jeep.
• 24:51
  Yeah, some of the past shows there were a
• 24:53
  little bit on the bad side and the stereo
• 24:56
  that I have tends to be a
• 24:58
  little bit easy in the first place.
• 25:00
  So it's got the last show that I heard
• 25:02
  that you did back in what was it?
• 25:04
  July, I think that one sounded just fine.
• 25:06
  So whatever you did that
• 25:07
  time, just keep doing it, brother.
• 25:09
  Yeah, well, we're going to see what this
• 25:10
  microphone sounds like.
• 25:11
  I've got a it's I can tell by listening
• 25:13
  to it on my headphones,
• 25:14
  it has a lot more trouble
• 25:16
  to it than than the past.
• 25:18
  And of course, like I said, a lot of that
• 25:19
  has to do with me
• 25:20
  turning down the the bass on
• 25:22
  the mixer.
• 25:23
  But anyway, I'm sorry, we're I'm going
• 25:25
  off on these rambling
• 25:26
  tangents and hopefully the
• 25:28
  audience doesn't mind that too much.
• 25:29
  Of course, they probably
• 25:30
  just used to it by now.
• 25:31
  But you got the MJ and now you were just
• 25:33
  saying you have two XJs.
• 25:35
  Yeah, I have two other XJs.
• 25:37
  I have an 88 limited XJ and that one has
• 25:41
  the MP 242 transfer
• 25:43
  case, which to me is only
• 25:45
  real difference other than the trim and
• 25:47
  the power, everything
• 25:48
  and the leather seats and
• 25:49
  all that. And that one has actually been
• 25:52
  up on blocks for almost a year.
• 25:54
  And there's a long story behind that one.
• 25:56
  But I got a Jasper transmission for it
• 26:00
  about two years ago.
• 26:01
  And that Jeep is not
• 26:03
  something I drive all the time.
• 26:05
  So it does a lot of sitting around.
• 26:07
  And before I even hit the 10,000 mile
• 26:09
  mark that Jasper
• 26:10
  transmission went, they sent me
• 26:12
  a replacement one because
• 26:14
  it was still under warranty.
• 26:15
  And that one only
• 26:16
  lasted four thousand miles.
• 26:18
  So I was extremely, extremely
• 26:20
  disappointed with Jasper.
• 26:21
  And in my ninety six, I have a ninety
• 26:24
  nine dollar eBay
• 26:25
  transmission that I slapped in
• 26:27
  there, just not even caring because
• 26:30
  that's my trail rig.
• 26:31
  And I haven't had any
• 26:32
  problems with that one.
• 26:34
  So I decided that's what
• 26:35
  I'm going to do for this 88.
• 26:37
  I got another ninety nine dollar eBay
• 26:39
  transmission and I just put it in it,
• 26:41
  finished it up actually.
• 26:43
  And David, you originally
• 26:44
  wanted to do the interview.
• 26:45
  That's that's actually why I wasn't able
• 26:48
  to do it because I work nights and
• 26:51
  usually I come home and
• 26:52
  crash and sleep until about noon.
• 26:54
  But that entire week I pretty much spent
• 26:58
  every single day out here working on the
• 27:00
  Jeep until I just had a few hours left
• 27:02
  before I had to go back to work.
• 27:04
  And I just finished it up last week.
• 27:06
  It actually about three or four days ago,
• 27:08
  I took it for a test drive and the
• 27:12
  transmission wouldn't shift properly.
• 27:14
  And I spent about two days climbing
• 27:16
  around the entire thing, tearing up the
• 27:18
  wiring harness and testing the
• 27:20
  transmission computer.
• 27:22
  The wiring finally traced the problem
• 27:24
  down to a bad solenoid within the
• 27:26
  transmission that I just put in.
• 27:28
  So I had to drop the pan and drain all
• 27:30
  the fluid I just put in it to find that
• 27:33
  the solenoid number one
• 27:35
  wasn't even connected.
• 27:36
  I don't know if I bumped it off of there
• 27:38
  when I changed it, the fluid and filter
• 27:40
  change or if it was just never connected.
• 27:43
  But then I put that thing back in and put
• 27:46
  everything back together.
• 27:47
  The thing runs like a dream.
• 27:48
  And I'm actually very excited about that
• 27:50
  because we have this really pain in the
• 27:54
  ass of law in Virginia
• 27:55
  where we have to pass smog.
• 27:57
  And once you hit the 25 year mark, which
• 28:00
  that Jeep is going to hit next year, I
• 28:03
  don't have to pass smog anymore.
• 28:04
  Well, not that I'm looking forward to
• 28:07
  polluting the environment.
• 28:08
  It's just that you can't make an
• 28:10
  appointment the way it's set up out here.
• 28:12
  And you have to pretty much waste your
• 28:14
  entire day sitting in line waiting for it
• 28:17
  to be your turn so you can pass smog.
• 28:19
  So I'll be looking forward to
• 28:20
  not having to do that anymore.
• 28:22
  I bet.
• 28:23
  Hey, let me ask you this.
• 28:24
  You say a Jasper transmission.
• 28:25
  Is that just somebody that had rebuilt
• 28:28
  the AW4 or assuming it's an AW4?
• 28:33
  Yeah, I thought that Jasper was a
• 28:35
  relatively known name.
• 28:36
  Maybe it's just here in the region.
• 28:38
  But yeah, they're around here anyway.
• 28:41
  They're a well known remanufacturer of
• 28:43
  engines and transmissions.
• 28:44
  And apparently they had a good reputation
• 28:47
  up until I bought from them.
• 28:49
  And I'm telling you that I'm never going
• 28:50
  to buy another one from them again.
• 28:52
  Lucky you.
• 28:53
  You were in a row but didn't even break
• 28:54
  the 10,000 mile park.
• 28:56
  Well, you know, the thing that gets me
• 28:57
  about warranties, the guarantees and
• 28:59
  stuff that they have,
• 29:00
  it's like these people that go to
• 29:02
  junkyards and buy engines.
• 29:04
  And I don't hold any ill
• 29:06
  will towards those people.
• 29:07
  But for myself personally, I can't see
• 29:10
  going and getting a used engine or a used
• 29:13
  transmission if, you know,
• 29:14
  unless you're going to rebuild it, that
• 29:16
  makes a difference to me.
• 29:17
  That makes sense.
• 29:18
  But you go and get a used engine and put
• 29:22
  it in your vehicle and, you know, go,
• 29:24
  "Oh, it's got a warranty."
• 29:25
  They're not going to warranty the 12, 15,
• 29:28
  20 hours, whatever it takes
• 29:29
  you to get that engine in,
• 29:32
  find out it's not any good and take the
• 29:34
  d*** thing back out.
• 29:36
  Yeah, they absolutely
• 29:38
  will not warranty the labor.
• 29:40
  And that's actually another pet peeve
• 29:43
  that I have because they should test
• 29:45
  these things a little
• 29:46
  bit better than they do
• 29:47
  before they're sent out the door so they
• 29:49
  could save people the time that they put,
• 29:51
  you know, taking these things in and out.
• 29:54
  Yeah, I don't know.
• 29:54
  I guess they do it
• 29:55
  because they don't have to.
• 29:56
  There's people willing to
• 29:58
  go and buy those things.
• 29:59
  And, you know, I mean, I've got a
• 30:02
  mechanic friend that did a lot of work on
• 30:05
  the red Jeep and he does that.
• 30:07
  He does that for his customers.
• 30:09
  He'll go and get the
• 30:11
  engine and it's warrantied.
• 30:13
  And actually, if something happens to it,
• 30:16
  he's the one that takes it out and puts
• 30:17
  in the replacement engine.
• 30:18
  So, you know, and he
• 30:21
  doesn't charge you for it.
• 30:21
  He just charges you for the one time.
• 30:24
  So I know he knows a lot about it.
• 30:26
  I don't think he's going to reimburse them that time.
• 30:27
  I don't think so.
• 30:28
  I think what he tries to do is he deals
• 30:30
  with junkyards that he trusts and
• 30:33
  sometimes he gets burned.
• 30:35
  Well, yeah, I think
• 30:36
  that that's inevitable.
• 30:38
  Eventually, though, the law of
• 30:39
  probability will catch up with you.
• 30:41
  You're going to buy a bad part at some
• 30:43
  point if you deal with that a lot.
• 30:45
  But I suppose he makes up
• 30:46
  his money in other ways.
• 30:48
  Yeah, I would hope so.
• 30:49
  There was no excuse for
• 30:51
  the way this thing ran.
• 30:52
  I mean, from the very, very first day, it
• 30:54
  had no reverse at all.
• 30:56
  When it was cold, I would literally sit
• 30:58
  there with the gear shift in reverse,
• 31:00
  but 10 minutes waiting
• 31:01
  for this thing to warm up.
• 31:04
  So the temperature gauge
• 31:06
  was actually registering.
• 31:08
  The reverse was like neutral.
• 31:09
  And that's unacceptable to me for a
• 31:12
  transmission that has just been rebuilt,
• 31:14
  you know, had the sticker on it.
• 31:16
  I think I paid $1,500 or $1,700 for it.
• 31:20
  Oh, my God. Yeah.
• 31:21
  Well, I was going to
• 31:22
  make that distinction.
• 31:22
  I thought I'd heard you
• 31:23
  say that it was rebuilt.
• 31:24
  It wasn't a used one.
• 31:26
  I mean, used, but it
• 31:27
  wasn't from the junkyard.
• 31:29
  Well, you know, I've heard in the past
• 31:32
  that I'm not even sure where I heard it.
• 31:35
  It could have been on Max Jira, maybe it
• 31:37
  was a Cherokee Forum.
• 31:38
  But apparently it's not easy
• 31:40
  to rebuild the AW4 correctly.
• 31:43
  And it's been other people's experience
• 31:46
  as well as mine that you're better off
• 31:48
  buying a used
• 31:49
  transmission in the case of AW4.
• 31:52
  I'm not speaking for all transmissions,
• 31:54
  just in the case of the AW4, that the
• 31:56
  rebuilds are not very successful.
• 31:58
  And you're better off going used.
• 32:00
  And that's exactly what
• 32:01
  I found to be the case.
• 32:03
  Well, you know, to me, if you if you have
• 32:06
  an AW4 that doesn't work, somebody must
• 32:09
  have done something wrong
• 32:10
  or abused the f*** out of it.
• 32:11
  Because it is just I personally do not
• 32:14
  care for automatic transmissions simply
• 32:16
  because I know it's going to fail and
• 32:19
  it's going to cost an arm and a leg to
• 32:21
  have somebody fix it.
• 32:23
  Whenever I whenever I said, hey, this is
• 32:25
  a nice because the Jeep that I have was
• 32:27
  on the showroom floor and I
• 32:29
  said, this is really nice.
• 32:30
  Do you have any with a standard?
• 32:32
  Because that's what the
• 32:33
  Wrangler was going to be.
• 32:34
  It was going to be a standard.
• 32:36
  Standards are very easy for me to
• 32:37
  understand and they're very easy to fix
• 32:40
  if you actually break one, which it's
• 32:43
  very difficult to do.
• 32:45
  I mean, you know, you put in the
• 32:46
  horsepower behind it, of course.
• 32:47
  But just just from the standard engine
• 32:50
  that comes with it, it's very difficult
• 32:52
  to damage a standard transmission.
• 32:54
  And besides that, they're usually a lot
• 32:56
  smaller than automatic transmission
• 32:58
  require a lot less maintenance and
• 33:00
  they're much easier to replace.
• 33:02
  But not to mention that there is less
• 33:04
  horsepower lost through a
• 33:06
  manual compared to an automatic.
• 33:08
  Yeah, because you are controlling the
• 33:11
  amount of slip between, you know, the
• 33:13
  engine and the drivetrain.
• 33:14
  Yeah, exactly. You're
• 33:15
  hooked up direct with a manual.
• 33:17
  Right. And you can let it slip if you
• 33:19
  want to, you know, ride the clutch.
• 33:21
  But with the with the automatic and I
• 33:24
  think everybody understands that.
• 33:25
  At least I think I
• 33:26
  understand it correctly.
• 33:27
  That's one of the reasons why the
• 33:28
  automatic transmissions do not get as
• 33:30
  good a gas mileage because it is a
• 33:33
  computer controlled or a mechanical slip
• 33:36
  that is always going on.
• 33:37
  There's some slip always happening.
• 33:39
  And well, I shouldn't say always.
• 33:42
  It's common for the
• 33:43
  transmission to be slipping.
• 33:45
  And that's a loss of
• 33:46
  power going to the rear end.
• 33:48
  Yeah, I believe the torque converter is
• 33:50
  technically a viscous coupling.
• 33:52
  So, yeah, you would be right saying
• 33:53
  there's not really a
• 33:54
  direct connection there.
• 33:56
  But some slip would occur.
• 33:58
  Hopefully you don't get a bunch of email
• 33:59
  about this if we're wrong.
• 34:01
  Oh, hey, but that's part
• 34:02
  of what XJTalk is all about.
• 34:03
  It's we express what we think we know.
• 34:07
  And personally, I love it
• 34:09
  whenever I find out something new.
• 34:11
  I don't take offense at it.
• 34:13
  And that's one of the things that we try
• 34:15
  to do on XJTalk is learn and share
• 34:18
  information and and try to
• 34:20
  be friendly in the process.
• 34:21
  Well, you know, somewhere I remember
• 34:24
  reading that the AW4 is the same
• 34:26
  transmission that was used in Toyota
• 34:28
  Supers in the late in the last model
• 34:31
  before they were discontinued.
• 34:33
  Sure that they were geared entirely
• 34:34
  different and the bell housing was
• 34:37
  different in order to bolt it
• 34:38
  up to the Toyota 2JE engine.
• 34:40
  But those things are tuned up to run 400
• 34:43
  horsepower or more and AW4
• 34:46
  stands up to that just fine.
• 34:47
  So it's an excellent transmission.
• 34:49
  Yeah, I just have to keep it cool.
• 34:50
  Yeah, I just bought some some solenoids.
• 34:53
  I was having a code come up for the the
• 34:58
  one that controls the
• 34:59
  torque converter lockup.
• 35:01
  So I just.
• 35:01
  Number three.
• 35:02
  Yeah.
• 35:02
  So I just went ahead and bought a whole
• 35:04
  set and it is the solenoids for the A340
• 35:11
  transmission, I think, and the Toyota
• 35:13
  A340 with the AW4 is
• 35:15
  the same transmission.
• 35:17
  And I believe that one
• 35:18
  is used in the Lexus.
• 35:20
  Yeah, Toyota and Lexus parts
• 35:21
  are almost interchangeable.
• 35:23
  They actually have a
• 35:23
  funny story about that.
• 35:25
  Some years ago, my
• 35:26
  mom had an older Lexus.
• 35:28
  It was a 91 model and it
• 35:30
  wasn't new at the time.
• 35:31
  But the starter went out on this thing.
• 35:33
  And I remember how devastated she was
• 35:35
  when she got the price
• 35:37
  quote from Lexus dealer.
• 35:38
  They said it was 700 and
• 35:40
  some change for a new starter.
• 35:42
  And at the time I had a Toyota Supra that
• 35:45
  I was going to build to be a race car,
• 35:47
  which is a whole other story.
• 35:49
  But I actually had the
• 35:51
  entire engine taken apart.
• 35:53
  And when she went and picked up the
• 35:54
  starter, I asked to see it.
• 35:56
  And when I looked at this thing, the
• 35:58
  seven hundred dollar
• 35:59
  Lexus starter, I was like,
• 36:00
  wow, this looks really familiar.
• 36:03
  I ran down to the shop and grabbed the
• 36:04
  Toyota Supra starter,
• 36:06
  which was an older Supra.
• 36:08
  It's like an 84 with
• 36:09
  the 2.8 liter inline six.
• 36:11
  And it's the same exact starter.
• 36:13
  And if you go to the Van Sato and get an
• 36:16
  84 Supra starter, it's
• 36:18
  like in the 100 dollar range.
• 36:20
  But the same starter for a Lexus is $700.
• 36:23
  So there's a little bit of gray area
• 36:26
  there, as I'm concerned.
• 36:27
  You know, it's been going on for years
• 36:30
  that this exact thing that you're talking
• 36:32
  about, I don't know how somebody got the
• 36:35
  balls big enough to start doing it and
• 36:38
  that they can really justify saying,
• 36:40
  well, we sell this part for this low
• 36:42
  dollar vehicle for this amount of money.
• 36:45
  But for the Lexus, because somebody, you
• 36:47
  know, spent, I guess at the time, 30 or
• 36:49
  40 thousand dollars, which of course
• 36:50
  that's common now, but 30 or 40 thousand
• 36:53
  dollars for this luxury car, we're going
• 36:55
  to double or triple the price of the
• 36:57
  parts.
• 36:58
  I don't understand.
• 37:00
  Well, because they
• 37:01
  know you're good for it.
• 37:03
  No, I understand that, but I don't
• 37:04
  understand how people go for that.
• 37:07
  And of course they still do, even with
• 37:09
  the Internet, even with the.
• 37:11
  You like the customers?
• 37:12
  Yeah.
• 37:12
  The people that are paying for it.
• 37:15
  Well, that's what I'm saying.
• 37:16
  The Internet has been wonderful for the
• 37:18
  standpoint of getting information out.
• 37:20
  And you know, you could go look that up.
• 37:23
  I mean, that's one of
• 37:23
  the first things I do.
• 37:24
  If somebody tells me that this part is
• 37:26
  going to cost, you know, three times more
• 37:28
  than what I think it
• 37:29
  should, man, I'm on the Internet.
• 37:30
  And in fact, oh, gosh, I'm trying to
• 37:33
  remember what what I recently Oh, yeah.
• 37:35
  Our AC unit here in the house in July
• 37:39
  went out and I'm not
• 37:40
  talking about the one outside.
• 37:41
  I'm talking about the
• 37:42
  one up in the attic.
• 37:43
  It was a blower motor that went out.
• 37:45
  And so, you know, the whole unit's fine.
• 37:47
  It just needs a blower motor.
• 37:49
  Well, they stop making these things.
• 37:51
  They stop making the blower motor.
• 37:53
  And instead of being a three hundred
• 37:55
  dollar repair, it was twenty four hundred
• 37:57
  dollars because the
• 37:58
  entire unit had to be replaced.
• 38:00
  Now, my my BS radar started
• 38:03
  blipping like a son of a gun.
• 38:04
  And I went on the Internet.
• 38:05
  I was going to find that blower motor.
• 38:08
  And the gentleman that has been coming
• 38:10
  out and servicing our AC for all these
• 38:12
  years, I just I didn't
• 38:14
  think he was lying to me.
• 38:15
  I just figured he didn't know.
• 38:17
  Well, I did the Internet thing.
• 38:18
  I spoke to several companies.
• 38:20
  There was no way the company actually the
• 38:23
  the model that I had was linked to a lot
• 38:27
  of different fires across the country.
• 38:28
  And and the the company had gone out of
• 38:32
  business because of
• 38:33
  class action lawsuits.
• 38:34
  And I see the model.
• 38:35
  It wasn't the specific model, but it was
• 38:39
  because otherwise I could have been part
• 38:41
  of the class action lawsuit.
• 38:42
  And, you know, the unit was 15 years old.
• 38:45
  So obviously we didn't
• 38:47
  have a fire up there.
• 38:48
  But but needless to say, if I wanted to
• 38:51
  see on again, I needed to spend twenty
• 38:53
  four hundred dollars.
• 38:54
  And that's pretty rough when you don't
• 38:55
  have twenty four hundred dollars.
• 38:56
  Yeah, I agree.
• 38:58
  But anyway, I was able to go to go to the
• 39:00
  Internet and and confirm that.
• 39:02
  And I don't understand why people don't
• 39:03
  do that, especially when faced with a
• 39:05
  seven hundred dollar starter.
• 39:07
  And I would assume that that wasn't that
• 39:09
  was the complete labor
• 39:11
  and everything to put it in.
• 39:12
  Or was it just the starter?
• 39:13
  Oh, no, no, no.
• 39:14
  That was just the part.
• 39:15
  And the funniest thing was holding the
• 39:17
  two side by side, it didn't
• 39:19
  even say Lexus on the Lexus.
• 39:21
  It's still said Toyota.
• 39:23
  Oh, yeah, of course.
• 39:24
  That on the just like it
• 39:25
  said Toyota on the Super Spoder.
• 39:27
  And, you know, I was just like, you know,
• 39:29
  wow, I wish I'd known
• 39:30
  this before he bought it.
• 39:32
  Oh, no, I thought you had I thought you
• 39:34
  had found out beforehand.
• 39:35
  OK, that's too bad.
• 39:36
  Oh, no, she knows that's how I found out
• 39:38
  that she went and got it.
• 39:39
  I asked to go see it.
• 39:41
  So they go, you got the new starter.
• 39:42
  Let me look at it.
• 39:43
  So I took it out of the box and I was
• 39:45
  like, wow, this looks
• 39:45
  really, really familiar.
• 39:47
  Where have I seen this before?
• 39:49
  You know, one of I'm sorry, go ahead.
• 39:51
  No, go ahead.
• 39:52
  You know, one of the things that just
• 39:53
  dawned on me, one of the
• 39:54
  things that I had forgotten to
• 39:56
  mention, I'm very bad about this.
• 39:59
  We went through your name and your name
• 40:02
  on the site, but I forgot
• 40:04
  to ask you what part of the
• 40:05
  country that you live in and what it is
• 40:07
  that you do for a living.
• 40:08
  All right.
• 40:09
  Well, this is not going to be a short
• 40:11
  story, but it actually
• 40:12
  ties into my whole, my whole
• 40:14
  passion for XJ.
• 40:16
  I work for a newspaper company which
• 40:19
  should remain nameless.
• 40:23
  That's not good for a newspaper.
• 40:24
  A large newspaper.
• 40:25
  And I work as one of
• 40:27
  their delivery drivers.
• 40:28
  And, you know, this isn't like the old
• 40:31
  days where I'm riding on
• 40:33
  a Schwinn with a little
• 40:34
  basket on the front.
• 40:35
  This is actually quite a bit different.
• 40:37
  It's a very rural area out here and they
• 40:40
  treat us as subcontractors.
• 40:41
  So we're not technically employees.
• 40:43
  And we have to use our own vehicles, pay
• 40:45
  for our own gas, and we
• 40:47
  get a 1099 form instead of a
• 40:49
  W2 unlike, you know,
• 40:50
  most regular employees do.
• 40:52
  So the only way you're going to make any
• 40:54
  money doing this job
• 40:55
  because it doesn't pay a
• 40:56
  whole lot is if you can turn your own
• 40:59
  wrenches and fix your own
• 41:00
  cars and, you know, stay afloat
• 41:02
  without having to
• 41:03
  spend money in the shop.
• 41:04
  And I've been doing this for about eight
• 41:08
  or nine years now where
• 41:09
  I took a small break in
• 41:10
  the middle where I went out to L.A. and
• 41:13
  then came back and I got
• 41:15
  a better offer of doing
• 41:16
  the same job.
• 41:17
  So now I'm back to doing this.
• 41:19
  And this is actually where the XJ really
• 41:22
  shines, I think, because
• 41:24
  I drive a lot of really,
• 41:26
  really bad roads where, you know, I
• 41:29
  probably the closest
• 41:30
  thing I could compare it to is
• 41:32
  Beirut.
• 41:34
  Not a whole lot of people live out where
• 41:37
  I deliver and the
• 41:39
  roads never get fixed just
• 41:40
  because nobody complains.
• 41:42
  And anytime you have a lot of rain like
• 41:44
  we've had recently or
• 41:46
  if there's any kind of
• 41:47
  disaster, nobody cleans this up.
• 41:49
  And it's basically an adventure every
• 41:51
  single night because
• 41:52
  there's no cell phone signal
• 41:53
  and probably 80% of my area.
• 41:56
  We still rely on CD radios.
• 41:58
  So communications point to point radios
• 42:01
  are still going strong.
• 42:02
  And you basically have to carry whatever
• 42:06
  you're going to need to
• 42:07
  not get stuck somewhere
• 42:10
  doing your job.
• 42:11
  And we have a pretty tight crew.
• 42:13
  Then we help each other out.
• 42:14
  We carry spare parts and tools and
• 42:16
  whatever we need to do.
• 42:18
  One time one of us had to call AAA and
• 42:20
  they told us it would be
• 42:21
  about six to seven hours
• 42:23
  response time.
• 42:24
  So it's a lot easier to just bring your
• 42:27
  toolbox and fix whatever is wrong.
• 42:29
  You know what I mean?
• 42:30
  Yeah. I would get really
• 42:31
  bored waiting six or seven hours.
• 42:33
  Yeah exactly.
• 42:34
  I would also.
• 42:35
  This is done at night and
• 42:37
  we're also on a time limit.
• 42:39
  So we can't exactly call at five miles an
• 42:42
  hour over these really bad roads.
• 42:46
  So the one way that you keep the repair
• 42:47
  costs down is you modify
• 42:49
  the vehicles so they can
• 42:51
  perform sort of like Baja style where
• 42:54
  you're traveling
• 42:55
  relatively high speed on uneven
• 42:58
  terrain.
• 42:59
  Well I would think some independent front
• 43:01
  suspension would be
• 43:03
  more preferable for that
• 43:04
  kind of terrain.
• 43:05
  But one of the things I was going to say
• 43:07
  is that if you don't
• 43:10
  deliver then you don't get
• 43:12
  paid.
• 43:12
  So it's very very important that you have
• 43:16
  a vehicle that is going
• 43:17
  to make that delivery.
• 43:18
  And I would imagine that during times
• 43:21
  where it's either during
• 43:23
  bad weather or bad weather has
• 43:24
  gone through that having a nice Jeep
• 43:28
  Cherokee to get things
• 43:30
  done would be very handy.
• 43:32
  It is absolutely.
• 43:33
  And one statement of that of just how
• 43:36
  reliable the Cherokee is is
• 43:37
  that of all the people that do
• 43:40
  this job that I work with I'm the only
• 43:44
  one that's still
• 43:45
  driving the same vehicle eight
• 43:46
  years later.
• 43:48
  Wow.
• 43:49
  Yeah I think I personally believe that
• 43:51
  they did away with the
• 43:53
  Cherokee because it just
• 43:55
  wasn't profitable for them.
• 43:57
  It was too good a vehicle.
• 43:59
  And if you make something it's like that
• 44:02
  commercial where they have
• 44:04
  about the bubble gum that you
• 44:05
  chew and chew and chew and chew and it
• 44:07
  doesn't lose its flavor
• 44:08
  and they're bringing people
• 44:10
  out to slap the gum out of your head so
• 44:12
  you'll buy another piece.
• 44:13
  I think that has a lot to do
• 44:14
  with the way the Cherokee is.
• 44:16
  And if you look at the Wranglers the way
• 44:19
  they're making them now
• 44:20
  they're not making them like
• 44:21
  they used to.
• 44:23
  You're talking about the
• 44:24
  unlimited the four door versions.
• 44:26
  Yeah anything the JKs anything after the
• 44:30
  TJ I've been told and I
• 44:32
  believe that the TJ was the last
• 44:35
  real Jeep Wrangler.
• 44:36
  Well you know one of the one of the
• 44:39
  biggest issues that we
• 44:40
  have out here is deer.
• 44:42
  So there's more deer than you can count.
• 44:44
  All the more deer than stars.
• 44:46
  And it's very very common for you to
• 44:49
  total your vehicle by
• 44:50
  hitting one of these things.
• 44:51
  And since we all drive around at night we
• 44:54
  tend to hit a lot of deer.
• 44:55
  And that's actually the reason why I
• 44:57
  learned how to weld was
• 44:59
  because I hit three or four and I
• 45:01
  bought three or four new front clips and
• 45:04
  I just got tired of doing it.
• 45:05
  And I went to look to see how much one of
• 45:08
  those high end aftermarket
• 45:11
  bull bar bumpers would cost.
• 45:13
  And at the time there
• 45:14
  wasn't a whole lot available.
• 45:15
  There were companies like ARB and Trail
• 45:17
  Ready and that was about it.
• 45:19
  And they were by the time you got to your
• 45:21
  door they were close to a thousand
• 45:23
  dollars and there was no way I could
• 45:25
  afford that.
• 45:26
  And a welder was five hundred and fifty
• 45:29
  dollars here locally on sale.
• 45:31
  So I went and bought that instead and I
• 45:33
  learned how to weld by making my own
• 45:35
  front bumpers just so
• 45:37
  I could keep my Jeep
• 45:38
  together.
• 45:39
  And one of the guys I work with bought a
• 45:43
  JK the unlimited four door Jeep and
• 45:46
  instantly he wanted
• 45:47
  me to build him a front
• 45:48
  bumper to throw on this thing.
• 45:50
  And I remember taking that thing for a
• 45:52
  test drive or I think I was driving it
• 45:54
  over to my shop and I
• 45:57
  just could not believe how
• 45:59
  anemic that thing is.
• 46:00
  I mean absolutely no
• 46:02
  balls in that new engine.
• 46:03
  No.
• 46:04
  That's that's one of the reasons why I
• 46:06
  say the last real real Wrangler was the
• 46:08
  TJ because that was the
• 46:09
  last one that you get the
• 46:11
  4.0 liter engine in.
• 46:13
  And of course they had a spear coach and
• 46:15
  it did a show on the survival podcast
• 46:18
  where he's talking
• 46:18
  about design to fail how
• 46:21
  consumerism works.
• 46:22
  And it was actually a
• 46:23
  pretty interesting show.
• 46:24
  Well I firmly believe that he mentioned
• 46:26
  was how things are built to fail in the
• 46:29
  modern world because
• 46:30
  companies realize that
• 46:32
  there is no money in making something
• 46:34
  that's going to last
• 46:35
  for the rest of your life.
• 46:36
  If you're going to be driving the same
• 46:38
  Jeep 20 years from now you
• 46:40
  know they're out of money.
• 46:42
  Yeah.
• 46:42
  Well unfortunately I think Chrysler has
• 46:44
  gone very much for
• 46:45
  further the opposite direction.
• 46:48
  Yeah I would agree with you.
• 46:50
  The 4.0 correct me if I'm wrong was that
• 46:53
  not originally a design that was like a
• 46:56
  tractor engine or something like that.
• 46:58
  And I don't know it could very well be
• 47:00
  maybe somebody one of the listeners can
• 47:03
  let us know that on the on the forum.
• 47:06
  Well whatever it was it's definitely a
• 47:09
  good design and it's not high strong like
• 47:12
  the modern cars are.
• 47:13
  You take a look at something that is
• 47:14
  brand new today and it's running 10 to 1
• 47:17
  compression and it's just
• 47:19
  it's really high strong.
• 47:20
  It's got four valves and the Cherokee
• 47:23
  with that this thing runs what like seven
• 47:25
  to one compression ratio.
• 47:27
  It's a relatively mild engine and I think
• 47:29
  that's why it lasts so long.
• 47:31
  And I'll give you an example of how long
• 47:33
  these things can go on my 96 which I used
• 47:36
  for my work vehicle for a
• 47:39
  long time for many many years.
• 47:41
  It still has the original 4.0 and I just
• 47:44
  turned three hundred and sixty eight
• 47:46
  thousand miles and it still runs great.
• 47:49
  Yeah I often say so you've made it to the
• 47:51
  moon and you're on your way back.
• 47:53
  That's right.
• 47:55
  Well Mike I really
• 47:56
  appreciate the interview tonight.
• 47:58
  I generally try to keep the interviews
• 48:00
  around 30 minutes we've gone 43 but
• 48:03
  that's only because
• 48:04
  it's been very interesting.
• 48:05
  And I just want to thank you for agreeing
• 48:08
  to be interviewed and glad that you
• 48:10
  joined XJ talk and appreciate the
• 48:13
  voicemail the detailed voicemail that you
• 48:15
  had left about the fan clutch which I'll
• 48:17
  be playing on probably on the same show
• 48:19
  this interview will be played on.
• 48:21
  So with that I thought it was great.
• 48:25
  I mean I say I'm an all I
• 48:27
  don't think you said I'm all once.
• 48:29
  So like I said it was very detailed and
• 48:31
  very professionally given.
• 48:33
  I need to get to something that sounds a
• 48:34
  little better for the the audio quality
• 48:37
  that the Google voicemail is really bad.
• 48:41
  But of course it's free so you know you
• 48:43
  get what you pay for.
• 48:45
  So before we wind this thing up was there
• 48:47
  anything that we didn't
• 48:48
  cover that you wanted to say.
• 48:51
  Well that's about it.
• 48:53
  The only thing I didn't mention it was
• 48:54
  the modification is done to the 96 which
• 48:57
  it has a lot and maybe we should save
• 48:59
  that for another show.
• 49:00
  Yeah and make a good post
• 49:02
  and another good interview.
• 49:04
  Well Mike thanks again.
• 49:05
  Yeah thanks thanks again and we'll be
• 49:09
  seeing you on the forum
• 49:11
  along with the rest of you.
• 49:12
  It's been a pleasure Tony thank you.
• 49:14
  Hey I just want to remind you all about
• 49:16
  the giveaway that we currently
• 49:17
  have going on on XJ talk.com.
• 49:20
  It's for the during the month of October
• 49:23
  and it's really simple to win.
• 49:25
  All you need to be is a member and have
• 49:28
  the most number of posts
• 49:31
  during the month of October.
• 49:32
  Now that's from October 1st midnight
• 49:37
  central time through October 31st
• 49:41
  midnight central time.
• 49:42
  Whoever has the most post during that
• 49:46
  time period will win a nice set of A
• 49:50
  pillar light mounts from
• 49:52
  detours detoursusa.com.
• 49:55
  And if you're not familiar those are the
• 49:57
  little things that you know very familiar
• 50:00
  on Wranglers where you can mount lights
• 50:03
  there on the little pieces of metal that
• 50:07
  are next to the windshield.
• 50:08
  Those are the A pillars.
• 50:10
  Anyway these beautiful A pillar mounts
• 50:12
  from detours and a set of KC highlight
• 50:19
  long range 100 watt off road lights and a
• 50:25
  nice set of a KC covers black so that you
• 50:28
  can actually protect the lens and use the
• 50:31
  lights at the same time.
• 50:33
  So we're very excited about this giveaway
• 50:35
  again from XJ talk.com.
• 50:38
  Well I certainly enjoyed that interview
• 50:50
  with Mike and learned a lot about Mike
• 50:52
  and as I said as part of a community
• 50:54
  that's what we want to do.
• 50:56
  We want to learn more about one another.
• 50:58
  That's what we do when we post things.
• 50:59
  That's what we do when we post pictures.
• 51:02
  And of course that's one of the reasons
• 51:03
  why we have a general area on the site.
• 51:07
  It doesn't always all
• 51:08
  have to be about Jeeps.
• 51:09
  Obviously that's the common
• 51:11
  reason why we are all together.
• 51:13
  But there's many more things that happen
• 51:15
  in our lives than just the Jeeps.
• 51:17
  Now admittedly the Jeep is probably going
• 51:20
  to be involved in a lot of those things.
• 51:22
  But you know feel free to share what's
• 51:25
  going on with your life.
• 51:26
  Feel free to share
• 51:27
  interesting interesting things.
• 51:30
  Things that you find interesting and
• 51:31
  don't worry about people some people not
• 51:34
  finding it interesting.
• 51:35
  That's always going to be the case.
• 51:37
  Somebody is always going to find some
• 51:39
  things interesting and other things not.
• 51:41
  So don't worry about it man.
• 51:42
  Just talk about it.
• 51:43
  Well that's our show for tonight.
• 51:45
  I hope you enjoyed it.
• 51:46
  I hope it was
• 51:47
  something worth waiting for.
• 51:49
  And of course we'll be trying to do these
• 51:51
  things more frequently on a weekly basis.
• 51:55
  But again I need to stress
• 51:58
  again I need your involvement.
• 52:01
  So remember to call the number that we
• 52:07
  have to leave questions and comments.
• 52:10
  Here's the promo.
• 52:11
  We welcome and look forward to your
• 52:13
  questions and comments.
• 52:15
  Dial 530-675-4102 and leave your message
• 52:19
  on our 24 by 7 voicemail.
• 52:22
  So guys that's it for the show.
• 52:25
  I appreciate you being here.
• 52:26
  Hope you enjoyed it.
• 52:28
  Hope this sounds a little better.
• 52:29
  We are using a new microphone which I may
• 52:32
  have mentioned before.
• 52:33
  Hopefully it's not as
• 52:34
  bassy as it was before.
• 52:38
  It'll be a bit of a growing pains of
• 52:42
  getting the audio set properly.
• 52:45
  Love to hear your feedback on how the
• 52:47
  audio sounds if there's
• 52:49
  anything we need to do.
• 52:50
  Too loud, too batch
• 52:51
  based, too much trouble.
• 52:54
  Tony just don't worry about it.
• 52:56
  That's all good.
• 52:59
  So guys until the next show hopefully
• 53:01
  next week have a very good morning,
• 53:04
  evening, afternoon, wherever you are.
• 54:54
  [Music]
• 55:04
  Ooh, red Jeeps are sexy.