Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to this week's episode of the Dirt Subies podcast. got a good episode for you this week. My friend Benjamin, BMC Adventures on Instagram and on YouTube. Definitely make sure you're following if you're not already.
Speaker: I really enjoyed this episode. We talk about just kind of some of the different stuff that he's done to his Outback and some of the different adventures that he's taking it on and i think you guys will really enjoy it and hopefully get something out of it before we jump into that i gotta to give a massive shout out to two of our sponsors anderson design and fabrication is proudly a sponsor of the dirt subies podcast now i've been using their lift kits for about a decade and could not be more thankful and grateful to patrick for being willing to give you guys a discount code to use you can use dirt subies at checkout on their website awdadventure.com and it's good for all adf branded
Speaker: hard goods, skid plates, dish light brackets, lift kits, pretty much all the ADF hard goods. They currently do have a Black Friday deal going on, um I think until the end of the month. So if you're listening to this during Black Friday season of 2025, you can check that out. That's actually a better discount than what my code is. But if you're listening to this after, you can use that code to get 5% off on some goodies.
Speaker: And then, of course, Melee Design Firm. You guys know I've been running their stuff for a long time, and they are also a recent sponsor of what we're doing over here. You can use code DIRTSUBIS at checkout with them and get 10% off pretty much everything in the store.
Speaker: So if you want to get a good battery, battery boxes, strut tower braces, engine bay caps, things like that, they make a lot of really nice premium parts for Subarus, and I would appreciate if you would check them out.
Speaker: And then the Subi and You podcast, if you want more Subaru-themed podcast material, he has a massive library of good interviews that are fantastic, very well thought out, very well done.
Speaker: And he's been doing this for years now, so he's got a catalog of over 200 episodes. Go check that out if you need something to binge. And I don't usually do this, but if you guys would...
Speaker: subscribe or follow the podcast. If you're on YouTube, subscribe. If you're on any of the other platforms for podcasts, hit that follow button. That kind of lets me know that you guys are listening and it also helps in the algorithm to get it out to other people that might want to listen. So if you could do that for me and then drop a comment and let me know where you're listening from and what kind of car you drive, that would make my day. Let's go ahead and jump into this interview.
Speaker: people call me Benjamin, Benji, man um all different kinds of things. I usually go by Benjamin or BMC adventures on Instagram and YouTube.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Cool, man. Well, dude, it's good to, good to meet you. Good to finally put a face to the name. ah Can you tell us kind of, you know, kind of what kind of car you got and sort of, ah just in general, what your, just your Subaru experience has been up to this point. Like how did you get into the cars and is this your first Subaru, that type of thing? Yeah, totally.
Speaker: So this was my first, this is my first car actually in my first Subaru. Um, but our family's always had Subarus. Um, growing up, my mom's had Outbacks and my dad's had, um, he had like ah a, a Loyal wagon with low range way back. He's got Tundra now, but we've always had Subarus or Toyotas.
Speaker: So, um, This ended up being, i started looking for cars um and people just really don't know what they're selling anymore. It was so hard to find cars in our area.
Speaker: um We're in Colorado and I started driving my mom's car, which was going to, she was going to sell that. So I ended up just being like, screw this. I'm not going to look for a car and I'm just going to drive this. And I bought her a car. It's a 2010,
Speaker: ah Outback premium with a 2.5 liter engine in it. And it had like 130,000 on it at the time. It was a couple years ago. Nice. And I mean, it's been maintained meticulously. We bought it up in Denver, so not much rust.
Speaker: Kind of just started driving that around. Didn't think much. I didn't think I'd be modding it. Like most people. Now look at you. Now look at you, dude. i know. And then it was like really only about two and a half years ago.
Speaker: i started... um poking around and I really started ah camp a lot I do a lot of mountain biking and hiking on the weekends and whatever so I just started going off-road and I was like this is really awesome what can I do to make this better and I um stumbled across some videos I stumbled across I think I think it was John Deasy adventuring on YouTube and it was them doing Imogene Pass and Mountain Subian ah Milton and Milton silver bullet XV were in there. And I was like, this is crazy. Like off road Subarus. What the heck is this?
Speaker: Um, kind of just dip my toes into there. And then I started researching all the different mods that people were doing. And, um, My first mod was AT tires, you know, that made a huge difference. And so from there, it just kind of snowballed. but um I kept modding things. I kept um meeting new people and going to events.
Speaker: And it really, it really took off. And now two and a half years later, I have a pretty built up car. With about 167 on it, you know, it's going super strong.
Speaker: Yeah, they're just great cars. And the amount of people I've met is really, really cool. I didn't think I'd meet so many cool people. I didn't think there's such a community, you know. Like that's one of the main things I hear from people is, oh, you know, I bought this car just because I thought it looked cool. And I had no idea there was this massive community of Subaru owners that are all like,
Speaker: you know tight if you need help everybody's dude and honestly you know i i've got my got my other foot in the four by four community a little bit which yeah it yeah there's a lot of cool people in it um and there's a lot of helpful people in it but it's not quite the same as the subaru community i can't tell you how many people have like sent me free parts and just been like, hey I've got an extra one of those sitting at the house. Do you want it? I'll send it to you. you know It's like a yeah yeah it's good good community of people.
Speaker: No, so it's really neat. And it just allowed me to get out more. And I really, where we live, we live in Durango, Colorado. So it's like tons of off-roading here. We have the San Juan Mountains, lots of off-road trails, tons of Jeeps, you know.
Speaker: So you don't you see Subarus out, but you really, there's unfortunately not... too many lifted ones around i got a few people but um typically most summer up in the front range and so i wanted to after really modding my car out i wanted to create a group down here so i started a facebook group about a year ago and it's i'm still building it you know it's called shout it out san juan subis is the name Let's go. Go follow if you're near you. Yep.
Speaker: I've got like 50, 60 members, you know, takes time. But I'm just trying to get like a group of us, just even if it's a couple of us to go out and have some people to hang out with and run some cars. So that's been cool. I haven't done i haven't really gotten any group trail runs together yet, but um it's still work in progress for sure.
Speaker: Right on. Oh, I love that you're doing that, man. Yeah. Yeah. It's like there's so many off roaders here and I wouldn't even mind if there's like a four runner or Toyota in there, too. I just think having more people to go out with, too. It's like hard to always go solo and it's always not the safest either. yeah Exactly. One thing to do, you know.
Speaker: Yeah, that's that's one of my biggest pieces of advice, you know, to people that are new to off roading, whether or not it's in a Subaru or whatever is ah at the very least tell somebody where you're going.
Speaker: But definitely bring people with you again. i know you mentioned something a second ago, you said something about the front range. Yeah, so um I was just up there at Overland Expo Mountain West, and there's a pretty big Subaru community up there.
Speaker: You have Eric Stell, who runs off-roading Subarus of Colorado, I think, on Facebook. Okay. That's like a seven to 10,000 member group. It's been going for a long time.
Speaker: And then, you know Robert Champion? Does that sound familiar? Yeah. yeah Yeah. That's funny you mentioned that. Yeah. He's up there. um So there's a pretty strong group up there. I was up there for the expo and I met a lot of familiar faces and I also met Chris, who I think was just on here. Yeah. Yeah. Cool dude.
Speaker: Absolutely. So it's hard, though, where we are. We have lots of people that come, lots of tourists, unfortunately. um People that don't stay here don't really live here permanently. They like have a summer home.
Speaker: And so it's hard to actually find like the niche Subaru thing. there's So many Jeeps and 4Runners and Toyotas. That's great, but not a ton of Subarus. But you go the front range, you have a lot of you've got a variety of feel like.
Speaker: So is that like, ah so that's just referring to like a region there? Yeah. Like, okay. Yeah. Like a geographical area. Yeah. So the front range is like Denver, Loveland.
Speaker: um It's really just the Denver metro area, the whole Denver area. Okay. there And it's about seven hours away from where we are. Oh, shoot. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. That's a mission, bro. Yeah, it It's a day drive. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you got a lot off road stuff where you're at. Yeah. How does the terrain compare? um You know, there's three to four million people living in the front range. So it's huge like cities, you know, but um the front range hills and the um Rocky Mountain National Park and all the ranges up there have a lot of off roading.
Speaker: I did a little I camped out one night and did a little wheeling up there. And there's there's a ton of roads up there, but not quite as many um high altitude passes as we have here. We have roads that go to like 13,000 feet, 14, not quite 14, but like 13, eight, you know, jeans, almost imaging is over 13. A couple of them are around 12.
Speaker: um 11 you know but yeah a lot of high mountain passes that really you lose your engine power on well i was going to ask you that because i i've been to keystone i went there okay to snowboard like that's how i got to the whole subaru thing was snowboarding um and i remember getting up to the top of the lift and being like okay i get it like this whole high altitude thing is not really for me know yeah like oh dude i can barely walk yeah um do you do you run into um you i don't know ah know if you have a carbureted engine you can kind of tune them for that right do the cars sort of do you know if like the ecm kind of starts to accommodate for any of the air you know density differences or
Speaker: Yeah, you know, it's kind of like where we live is 7,000 feet. And then you go up to Silverton, which is about an hour away, and it's up north. And that's 10,000, maybe higher, I don't know. So, like, you even notice it.
Speaker: You just notice, like, trying to pass on the highway, like you're in a passing lane. My car really does not like it, you know, especially with all the mods. um So you kind of just got to get used to it. It's like driving a fast car slow, you know. Yeah, yeah. Slow car fast kind of thing.
Speaker: um But on the passes, it's really like making sure no one's coming uphill so you can kind of get a little bit of a run up. um As it's not great to go fast because you'll damage stuff, but you kind of have to. I always lock it in first gear from going up a steep hill.
Speaker: Because when see me too, it'll just like shift downshift and it'll bog out. And so I'll just slap it into first and then I'll mash my foot to the... Not always to the floor, but when you're above, it's like right above 10, 5 to 11, start to go up to 12. That's really when it starts to lack power. And there's, there's just not um not much you can do.
Speaker: um okay sometimes you just can't make it. Yeah. Yeah. Now, yeah um, it sounds like, you know, you're the kind of person that, you know, mods these cars and or what your car yeah for a specific purpose not necessarily oh this is going to be like a dedicated wheeler or whatever modded mine and started lifting them because i was doing a lot of like off trail like bushwhacking way out in the forest yeah um is that kind of what you built it for was like hey i want to go camping I want to go do these other things out in in nature or was it I want to build this thing because I specifically want to go like off-roading
Speaker: I would say kind of both, but me originally it was just like, I want to be able to go find the little bit more primitive campsites down that, like, like that two wheel drive ungraded road or something like that where the ah RVs can't get. Yeah.
Speaker: And, and do a little wheeling on the way. And then that turned into, um i want to also off road this, you know? And I'm able to now that once I had the lift and the skid plates, but originally it was just like access, you know, being able to get out there further because there's tons of camping, but you go anywhere with a two-oh-dreaded road and anyone can get in get up there. As soon as the gravel stops and it gets rocky, there's like 10% less people or something. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it's funny. The same thing happened to me, you know, because I was essentially what we used to do You know, I live in Oregon, man. Yeah. And some of the best hiking in the world.
Speaker: Yeah. We have some of the most dense, densely like, or just a lot of waterfalls. That was kind of my thing. We would look at like USGS maps from way back in the day, like ah when they would survey the land and we would find these.
Speaker: would just like look at like the ah top, you know, topography of the maps and And be like, okay, it looks like there's a drop right there. There's got to be a waterfall. ah and We would just take machetes and cut into the forest, you know, and right trying to try to find stuff. And once I lifted my car so that I could get into these places, I was shocked at what it would do, you know, and I got hooked. yeah I was like, dude. Yeah.
Speaker: I got to do more of this off-roading thing. Like this is so sick. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Let, let me ask you about, um, it's not, it sounds like, um, you know, the, the biggest first thing, which was really smart was the all-terrain tires.
Speaker: Yeah. Um, what did you end up putting on the car? Well, I've gone through two sets, but um originally, ah couple years ago, I put the Toyo AT3s, which were great, in the stock size, which is a 225, 60, 17. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: um okay And then ah read i had those on for about 11,000 to 12,000 miles, um just under a year. And then last year in October, well, September, I found these wheels. I found some LP Aventor 15-inch wheels on Marketplace. Nice.
Speaker: LP1s, right? Yeah, the LP1s. And I found six of them, brand new, for like $500. Oh, dude. I was like, I'm getting these. And then I saved up for like another month and a half for tires. And I ended up going with the Kenda Cleaver AT2s, which are a really good tire.
Speaker: That's a slept on. Not a ton of people use them, but they're like yeah really sweet. And they're so lightweight. yeah Yeah. Did um did you... Did you weigh them at all?
Speaker: Or do you do you know what the weight is on that tire? I can guess. um I know that tire weighs like 30 pounds. It's crazy. Oh, that's not bad. In like 235, 75, you know. Yeah. It's really light. It's one of the lighter ones because I looked at the KO2, but it's still really heavy. It's like I want to put a light tire on my car and not try to grenade the CVT yet. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: ah Yeah. So I really was happy with them. The tire shop was like, we've been putting these on them. You could check these out. And they happen to be happened to be way cheaper. Instead of like $200 to per tire, they're $140 per tire. Oh, that's not bad. And so I got five of them for a really good deal.
Speaker: want to say five of them for like $850. oh And I've been so happy with them. They've worn really well. I haven't even had them on for a year, but I probably put...
Speaker: 12 to 13 on them and they just ride really well and they're quiet for how aggressive the tread is so i definitely recommend them to a lot of people that are looking for them i'm looking at your tires right now they look like i really like that side lug pattern that they've got that is so sick yeah it's it's symmetrical but aggressive yep i love that because i Maybe this is just me.
Speaker: um I've got a set of mud terrains on my Subaru that have like a directional ah pattern on the sidewall, which is fine. ah But I really like when they look a little more symmetrical like what you have. I think that looks really good.
Speaker: looks like there's... And you can kind of see, I mean, it's going to be hard to tell. i see That tread pattern is like yeah very similar to like the Falcons and the Nitto Ridge Grappler almost. I think that's the one, yeah. yeah Yeah, it just it works perfect because the lugs are thick, there's enough sidewall protection, yet it's super quiet on the road. So...
Speaker: Yeah. And that's got um it's got a lot of variation in the pattern. So it's I'm guessing it's not a super loud tire when compared to most all terrains.
Speaker: No, I honestly thought I was so shocked the first time going on the highway. thought they'd be a little noisier than the Toyos, but honestly, probably about the same. Okay.
Speaker: That's a really cool looking tire. Yeah. yeah One of the first people that ever introduced me to Kenda tires was a ah guy out here. People that live out here might know who he is. name's Caleb Wallace. He's like a...
Speaker: pretty notorious, not notorious, but notable photographer out here. He was um building out, I think, like a third gen outback.
Speaker: And yeah, he was like, Yeah, I've been doing these some research and I want to put some Kendas on this thing. And I was like, Hey, I've heard of those. I've heard they're good, but I've never seen them on on a Subaru. so I'm glad you.
Speaker: Yeah, they're really good. A lot of people are like, what are those? How do you think of them? You know, you know, Canada doesn't spend a lot of money on advertising. So that's why they're one, a lot cheaper. And two, yeah um, they put all their, you don't see them online as much, but they're, they put all their research into the tire and not advertising.
Speaker: I mean, all their money, you know, So it's pretty cool. And I think dirt bikes, I think they've made them for wheelbarrows, all kinds of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So they make like legit tires. Yeah, totally.
Speaker: For actual for all sorts of applications. That's that's pretty cool. And when why when I was at Overland Expo, um they make a mud train too. say They make like a mud train and a rugged train.
Speaker: And I saw more Kenda Cleaver ATs and then the rugged train and mud train. I saw more of those on the rigs, like the Toyotas and the 4Runners and a lot of the new Tacomas. I saw so many Kendas. was like, these are like a really well-used tire. You know, a lot of people use them. So it was cool. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm kind of a tire nerd. I did so much research when I first got mine, but it's kind of fun to geek out, you know, check all the weights and the tread depths. I'm like, okay, what's different between these, you know? So yeah. Is that tire, is it a, is it an LT or is it available in a P metric? I would imagine it's, it's ah a P version, right? It's a P metric.
Speaker: And their sizes are like, that's the one downside is they don't have all the sizes like Toyo and, um, BF Goodrich. But I want to say they have most 17 inch sizes and some 15s and then it goes up from there. So, okay I mean, you can probably find a tire that works on most Subarus. I would think. Yeah.
Speaker: So I think I know the answer to this, but, um, that is a 28.9 inch overall diameter technically. Um, how much problem did you have fitting that on that car?
Speaker: Um, not much at all with the lift. It actually only rubbed just a teeny bit in the front mud flap or the front fender wheel.
Speaker: Um, yeah but I also removed my, um, I removed my like plastic side panels on the very bottom below the doors. You can kind of see,
Speaker: Yeah, probably not my best, best mod, but whatever. um i don't really care. It's just a bunch of plastic. I did that early on. I was like, oh, get more rocker clearance. And that ended up helping me fit the bigger tires because I probably would have had to cut that on both ends.
Speaker: um And then I did some cutting of the rear. fender well that goes down to that guard there so there's kind of like a port there's like a nice little rust port there it doesn't go into the frame or anything but when you remove that plastic cladding you open up a bunch of stuff so i didn't really have to do much i didn't have to do any hammering or any like um heat gun work so they fit they fit pretty well honestly Yeah, I've been shocked.
Speaker: I put a 235 75 15 on a
Speaker: stock, stock, no lift, no nothing. And I was like, wait, these don't rub at all except for at full lock on the yeah front of the fender liner. Like this is so sick. I know. Yeah. yeah And it looks so good. I dont see a lot of people run 17 inch sizes, but here we have so much rock.
Speaker: It's like, why not go down to the 15? One, it looks better. And two, get so much sidewall. Yeah. Well, it's like, you know, that would technically be what, like another, i don't know what the overall diameter of the stock tire is. But I mean, even if you stayed same diameter, you're still getting an additional inch size.
Speaker: Right. You know, of sidewall. Yeah. Just looks way better. You can air the heck out of them. Yeah. the Yeah. It's like, it's super cushy. Yeah. she The suspension, but yeah, it's like, right. it's great.
Speaker: Well, let me ask you about your mods or well, the, the lift mods, I guess. Um, what kind of lift kit are you running and you know, what was when you, it sounds, you know, you're, you don't seem like the type of person that's just throwing money at stuff for no reason. I'm guessing you did a lot of research. Yeah.
Speaker: So if you could tell us what you're running and kind of, ah you know, if there were any other options you were considering and what you ultimately, you know, what ultimately like sold you on the lift kit that you chose.
Speaker: Yeah, i think originally when I first first started looking at mods, I found LP Aventure and I saw their lift kit and as it seems like it's pretty great quality, it was $800. And I was like, okay, there's got to be better stuff out there.
Speaker: um And then ah year or two in Cause I got the lift installed last August. So it's been literally just over a year now. And so i ended up going with the ADF, ADF. Yeah. Um, my guy yeah, I, I love their company. I've seen you do a lot of podcasts with him and I really, um, I love how great everything's made there.
Speaker: Um, and then it's made all locally too in the U S I looked at the ADF and their rally tech, I think. Um, and I want to say it was probably just price that sold me on the ADF cause it was like 50, 60 bucks cheaper.
Speaker: Um, I think they're both great, but the ADF seemed to be, you know, the proven one, you know, it's all the camber adjustments and just like really good quality. When I got it, I was just really impressed how everything was welded so nicely.
Speaker: Um, so I've been rocking that and I've been super happy with it. Cool. And did you do, um you know, the I know their kits come with like the multi-link spacers and everything in the back to keep everything aligned. But did you do like a two and a two and a half inch lift or straight two front and back? or I did um two inch front and rear. And then I have the one and a half inch subframe drop or whatever. Okay. With the multi-link spacers. Yeah. Cool.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've literally never had a problem with any other their stuff. Their stuff's always been real solid. And, you know, I always tell people like, oh, ADF is where it's at. And, um you know, at the same time, you know, Rally Tech makes great stuff. like yeah You know, all these other companies make great stuff. It's just just what I run. You know, just what I like, you know, because you do get to a point where it's like,
Speaker: you know, it's like a basketball, you know, as long as you're meeting all the requirements and making a basketball to the best of its, you know, possible design, how much better can you really make a basketball? right You know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, so for me, you get to this point where it's like, well, I like this brand. I like the people behind it.
Speaker: And so I'm going to keep supporting it. It's just what I like, you know, just like yeah people wear Nikes versus Adidas or they yeah and you get to a point where it's hard to make a bad decision, but it's just the the stuff that i like yeah i have their ditch light brackets too um i want to get their moley panels for the rear windows in the back those would be great um i don't have anything else from them but yeah they make just a lot of cool products for sure yeah yeah yeah i think um that's you know i interviewed him a few weeks ago and uh that was like one of the one of the things i brought up was like man you're just always out there like if
Speaker: Patrick, you know, Patrick's a super personable person, but I think he's a little introverted. And if, if he could have his way, he would just be in a room or in a shop with cars, scanning them and making new parts, like yeah designing new parts. Like that's his, that's his happy place, you know? So yeah, that's a, we benefit from that. Yup. Yup.
Speaker: Yup. yeah Are you running ah stock springs or did you do anything in the rear for like an overload at all? or Yeah, I don't have any stock suspension on there anymore. those drts struts kind of went out at a like 140,000. Okay. springs were probably fine, but the struts were really blown.
Speaker: um After a trip to Moab, I came back. i was like, okay, this this car feels terrible. So i I had been looking on Rally Tech and I went... and ordered the B6 struts with their overloads for the rear, okay with their overload springs front and rear.
Speaker: And then I put put that in, and then in August I put the lift on top of those, if that makes sense. So I have the 2-inch lift plus the B6, and it's about a 3-8-inch overload in the rear, and I've been so pleased with that suspension setup.
Speaker: Really solid. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Makes it feel a little more. ah first, I was worried if it was going to be like a little too stiff. But I actually deleted all my sway bars front and rear.
Speaker: And there's there's body roll, of course, but it's really not bad with the stiffer springs. I i really enjoy how it drives. Okay. No, it's good to know. Yeah. so That's what was, I was curious, you know, since you're running just the two and two.
Speaker: Yeah. Spacer lift. I wasn't sure if you had purchased any kind of aftermarket springs or anything. You said your, your struts kind of took a dump. Yeah. Just for educational purposes, were there any specific symptoms or noises or was there any like real significant clue to you that like, Oh, these are bad and I need to replace them just in case somebody might experience those symptoms. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I think, I mean, I was still pretty new to pre pre off roading my Subaru. I didn't really know much about cars at all, honestly. But I think when I came back, I took it to our local mechanic shop and they're like, oh, yeah, your your shocks are just shocks and struts are really worn.
Speaker: And the the way I noticed it is there just like, there was a lot of loud clunks in the struts. Um, and it was also just like really like a banana car, but just like side to side. It was so funny.
Speaker: it just like, it was super squishy. It felt like there was more body roll than there should be. um and then it sagged too. It seemed like it definitely sagged too. There was, they were sagging and I don't know if the springs were bad too. Cause I just replaced the whole assembly, but, um,
Speaker: Yeah, whenever it just starts to feel like super loose, I feel like, and you get some, mean, there's always loud clunking noises in my car, but um but that was like, okay, these are the struts or something. Okay. Something's pretty worn.
Speaker: Did they, um because my understanding is, you know, when your struts go bad and they don't have any rebound in them, you're essentially just riding on the springs, you know? Right. And did you ever like push down on the car and see if it like took it a second to like level itself out or anything like that?
Speaker: but I don't think I did. Not that I can remember. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like the one thing. that the shop told me and I've heard from other mechanics is it's not a safety hazard to necessarily drive on like worn or blown struts because they're just going to get worse. The spring is fine. It's not just going to blow up, you know, like a ball joint or something. Exactly. But it's just going to feel really bad. It's going to handle really bad. that one yeah that's all.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And handling can definitely, if you don't know how to drive, you know, handling can present a safety issue, but yeah, you're a hundred percent right. i mean, you could drive on them forever, but you know, it's going to feel like piss, you know Yeah. Yeah. You're going to feel the slightest bump.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. but So, I mean, you're a young dude, right? You're 19. Is that, yeah yeahp that's, that's so sick. Yeah. ah Do you mind me asking, like, what what do you do professionally? Totally.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. So you might see a lot of my Instagram stuff, but I am a sawyer, and I'm kind of like a sawyer, an arborist, and a logger. So pretty much um I run a chainsaw a lot. I fell trees, and I work in the forest um doing sick fire mitigation, fuels management.
Speaker: Sometimes we're falling for predict um timber production for logs. Right now we're working on a... project all the woods going to firewood and some of it's going to logs so yeah i just i work in the woods with a chainsaw and absolutely love it oh that's dude i didn't even know that um yeah i i stare a screen all day for work yeah so i'm i'm real bad at social media you know so i didn't even i haven't seen any of posts yeah but i'm always recently i've always been posting a lot of um
Speaker: a lot of tree pictures a lot of big trees i've cut um this job's been really cool we've been cutting a lot of big trees and so yeah okay started doing that about four or five years ago and now it's really taken off and now i'm looking to do looking to get into it um in oregon actually next year i'm actually looking to come do that kind of work in oregon because there's tons of it um where were you yeah Do you know what ah what area? i know there's a certain part not far from Multnomah Falls where that's like a real, um like the logging industry is really big there.
Speaker: Yeah, um not totally sure yet. We're going on another trip in October, and we're going to fly into Eugene, and probably we're going to camp out more and just and i'll probably hopefully talk to some more companies. so But I would like to be somewhere on the western side where it's really wet, you know, because I love the moisture and the trees there and everything just like – we live in high desert here, so the the um coastal range is there and the Cascades. It's so pretty. so Yeah.
Speaker: And there's just tons of like, the one thing is like, you can do logging, you can do forestry, you can do 25 different things here, you could do maybe 10, if that so like, there's so many more options. So yeah, I'm getting excited.
Speaker: It's been pretty awesome. That's rad, but it's such a necessary thing. You know, totally. You if you just leave the forest unattended. i mean, yeah, old growth looks pretty and it's nice to hike, but it's a frickin matchbox waiting to ignite. Right.
Speaker: We had a really dry, hot summer. it was like It was kind of brutal. It was 95 for a couple months here, and it's usually 90 for three weeks, if that. So it it just dried out and it didn't rain, and it's starting to rain now the last couple weeks, which is great. But um same thing here. We have a lot of ponderosa forest.
Speaker: Okay. I don't think there's as much ponderosa in Western Oregon, but I'm out here tons of ponderosa and Doug fir. And when that ignites, there's oak brush on the ground floor. So it climbs and then you have ladder fuels.
Speaker: So thinning it creates, you create stands of trees, you know, and you take out the underbrush and it it makes it a much healthier forest. And it naturally, it might look like crap for a couple months and then stuff will start growing again.
Speaker: Yeah. So yeah, it's really cool. It's super um gratifying work. You get to see see your work, you know, at the end of the day. Yeah, I love that. Because yeah, you know, you go into old growth and there's there's nothing but dead stuff on the floor.
Speaker: There's nothing growing. There's moss. yeah But there's nowhere for, I mean, if you want to see a lot of biodiversity and a lot of, you know wildlife go somewhere that was cut within the last 10 years, that's where you're going to see everything growing up on the floor.
Speaker: there's going to be tons of area for you know elk or whatever to kind of bed down and do their thing right and especially there where there's no shortage of moisture things grow yeah so like here we could never they they don't really do clear cutting here you know that's a big thing in the pnw because trees grow back so quick and they replant it's crazy but here you just couldn't do that so we selective cut and that's fine and still grows back but it takes a lot longer you still might see the selective cut for 10 or 15 years you know but um yeah it's really all done in the name of fire but there's a lot of work to do and a lot of work available so it's pretty sweet do you guys have to do a lot of rigging and things like that when you're when you're working in the forest
Speaker: Um, no, like we're not, there's really no like industrial scale logging outfits out here. Um, we're right now we're doing it all by hand and falling, hand falling with chainsaws. And then we're either winching, um, logs or trees down with a tractor and a winch. Um, and then we're, um, delimbing them at the bottom or up in the hill. And then that's,
Speaker: getting loaded onto a deck, a log deck with a tractor and a grapple. So it's really just one piece of machinery, but um there's tons of different ways to do it. um okay I personally, personally like some equipment cause it balances it out, but I also like the manual labor part of it cause you still get to run a saw and he's like, I don't want to just sit in a machine all day either. You know, i can't do that.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah 100 yeah i i've got a buddy that um he does you know like residential ah or know he's like a residential area like arborist and yeah cuts down trees dude he loves it man yeah totally yeah it's you know and that's also a necessary thing it's like okay cool this 80 foot tree if it's not you know it's it's dead now and if it doesn't come down correctly it's going to come down and Yeah. You know, nuke three houses. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I did urban tree care for two years. I really enjoyed that. And then that's kind of how I first learned. And then I was like, I want to get into the more forestry side of things and work, work more in the woods.
Speaker: Cause you're not worrying about like fell and trees on people's houses. You're not dealing with as many clients. Um, that was great. But I was like, I'd rather just work in the woods a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah. So, Has has been in that line of work, ah you know, I don't know, influenced the way that you off road at all? Do you feel because I feel like a lot of people, you know, they don't even know how a winch works. They don't know how to set up a recovery rope, like, like, literally don't know, right? What do I even do here?
Speaker: Right? ah Do you feel like that kind of played into your favor when you started, you know, getting off road and getting into the business? Yeah, I mean, it really depends. But um I would say so just having a lifted car, having good skid plates.
Speaker: um Most recently, just driving around on the forest floor, there's like so much stuff sticking up and like just having all that gear has been really nice. um And yeah, a lot of the, I don't have a winch obviously, but I do know the basic principles of how to use one. And then like learning how to like set cables and chokers on logs is super similar to like setting a snatch block for winching or something like that. So it all, it all crosses over, which is pretty cool.
Speaker: Let me ask about your, your CVT. yeah I know you said you don't want to, you know, annihilate it yet. I'm assuming you haven't had any problems. No, I really haven't. um Okay.
Speaker: The fluid's been changed on it regularly a couple times throughout throughout its life, which is great. um And it doesn't get too hot. I have a scan gauge to monitor my temps. I got that pretty pretty soon after I started off-roading. was like, I need to have this. And i'll probably say it was one of the best mods because I look at it every day and I can see engine temp and CVT temp and all that. um It really never gets...
Speaker: Like on a day-to-day driving to work or driving on the highway, and might see 160 to 180. And then like hot, quote-unquote, for me would be 190 to 200. It never gets past 210 probably.
Speaker: So it's really... I have some kind of heat exchanger in their stock, but um I thought for sure when I put the bigger tires on, I need to install a bigger CVT cooler or whatever, and I haven't. It's been fine. So I just got to change the fluid again sometime soon, and it's been pretty solid. um The one thing is it's definitely a little gutless for sure.
Speaker: My CVT is a TR690. six ninety I don't know if you're familiar with many of the models. So it's like a... What is it? It's a low torque, high output. So it doesn't have a lot of low end torque. um So I actually just ordered a throttle controller from Ultimate 9. And I'm really hoping to just help help with the highway driving because like passing be like 5000 RPMs or 4500. And it's just like not going anywhere. And like, this is this is like one of safety hazards to it just sucks because then someone comes up flying behind you and you're trying to go.
Speaker: Yes. yeah so Yeah, man. That's when that's me. Like I don't own a single car that's fast. Like have a slammed legacy, which is my daily.
Speaker: um i mean, it's not turboed. And even that car is slow as balls. here I mean, you can go buy like a base model. whatever these days and they got like 200 horsepower like a camry even will smoke an 80s ferrari you know so it's good that you had all that in mind when you were buying your wheels and tires that's one of my biggest suggestions to people is when you're shopping for wheels and tires mitigate that you know that that torque loss and that unsprung weight as much as you can yeah like the lightweight wheels that you have
Speaker: finding the lightest tire that you can. If you can shave five pounds off of that, that's like throwing a thousand pounds off the rest of the car, you know? Right. I mean, that's, that's not scientific right numbers at all, but yeah it's a huge difference.
Speaker: Good. call there dude that's yeah that's like i want to go with with the lightest thing possible and really want to have this car for a while i want to have it for 200 250 maybe 300 000 as long as it'll go really so i'm like i might as well just go with a light tire you know that'll still be great you know and just i was really worried about sidewall ultimately but those sidewalls have proven to be super durable and then just shaving that weight i think the wheels are 20 pounds It's really not bad. So it's like really, um it's around 50 to 52 pounds per corner wheel and tire, which is pretty much, I think, around stock. Close to stock.
Speaker: Close to stock. Because the Toyo is where I want to say 29 in that 17 inch. And then I don't know what the rims weighed, but guessing around 20. Wow. 20 to 25, maybe more, probably more cause they're 17s. But, um, yeah, really cool that I can go with a bigger tire and still be close to stock and maybe a little less.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, you, you know, you've mentioned the sidewall a lot. Um, Can you kind of explain to people what the benefits are, at least the benefits you've experienced and what your thought process was in trying to extend the sidewall on your tires?
Speaker: Do you mean like just looking for a rugged sidewall on a tire or like um getting a sizing down? Yeah, sizing down. Yeah. Because that sounds, right you know, to even to me when I first got into this stuff and to other people, it sounds like totally like foreign language. We're like, right who cares what sidewall what are yeah what the heck are they even talking about yeah so really you want to go down to the smallest rim you can um and then you can go up in a bigger tire size so you have more rubber and sidewalls from the edge of the rim to the top of the tire pretty much um so yeah you just get more sidewall it rides better on the highway it rides better around town on crappy roads um And then it rides better aired down because you're able to air that down more. Whereas you have like a 17 inch, you only got probably a couple inches.
Speaker: By the time you air it down, you don't want to be riding on the rim and fucking that Yeah. Pinching sidewalls is oh yeah never good. Yeah. I mean, I aired down my 17s all the time and it was fine, but I still couldn't go too low. And I even felt like, okay, this just doesn't feel the best.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. There's not a lot of room between the tire the wheel that point. Right. Yeah. Is there... the wheel at that point yeah is there um Me personally, I'm, you know, I've said this multiple times. I'm just kind of a scoundrel. I just run whatever looks good. I do everything by sight most of the time.
Speaker: Right. But do you have um tire pressures that you run in specific ah situations or you just kind of see what happens? I'm typically almost always airing down to like 20 to 25, 20 on the low end.
Speaker: um I could go lower on those probably. And I have, but yeah, Typical dirt road or rocky road around 20. Maybe if it's just washboard and it's gravel um and it's just super bumpy, I'll go to 22 or something.
Speaker: But yeah, usually around there. Yeah. Sounds pretty cool. Snow, you can go lower too, but um i I've had these tires in the snow too, and they just do fantastic as well.
Speaker: They're not great on ice, but like most all-terrains are not fantastic like on ice. you know Nothing's going to do good on ice. Unless you've got studded tires. Unless you have dedicated snow tires, the ice, you better just...
Speaker: Hope your ABS is working and pray leave a lot of space between you and the next guy. Yep. Yeah. Well, let me ask you about, uh, I got a couple of questions related to tires. I feel like people have the most questions about tires. So I always hit this topic little hard.
Speaker: do Do you carry like a specific repair kit with you? Like a certain number of tools for repairs? Do you carry an air compressor and then do you use a specific deflator tool?
Speaker: Yeah, so probably I'll start with airing down. I've got a, I don't know, just a generic air down tool that screws onto your valve stem and then it removes the stem inside. the core. Yeah, the core. Yeah, yes. Removes that and then you can air it down super quick. I've had those cores come out sometimes and that's not fun. Yes.
Speaker: So that's what I carry. And then I have, I had a Vire 88P compressor, which was great. And I just got a Vire to have a bigger compressor and also just um for these bigger tires, that 88P was just kind of lugging.
Speaker: And it's good to have two of everything or a lot of things. Good backup. um So air compressor, air down tool. And then I have a basic, I want to say it's just an Overland Vehicle Systems tire repair kit. It's got plugs in there.
Speaker: um It's got the cores, extra cores. It's got extra valve stem caps and things like that and a reamer tool and all that. and I've never had to use it, but I bought that before i even had...
Speaker: um this new wheel and tire and setup. Cause I'm like, I'm going to have this, you know, just in case I do get a side roll puncture or whatever. and now I have the full size spare too. So that's another thing that was a little harder is you got to figure out a place to, uh, carry your full size spare when you go up entire size.
Speaker: Um, yes. So I got a Wilco, It's a hitch hitch drop. It drops down, actually. yeah um I've loved it. Tilts. Yep, tilts down. And I have my spare up on there, and I rotate it in. So I i do a five-tire rotation.
Speaker: and it's I mean, I've had no issues with those tires. But having a full-size spare is really nice when you're like out there. And if you can plug it, great. But if you just want to like just like jack it up and throw it on and just fix it at camp, that's always nice.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah Yeah, that was going to be my next question was, was your, um, your tire carrier. Yeah. The, the Wilco stuff's really good that, uh, the one that you have, I think my buddy had that on his WRX for a while.
Speaker: Um, what all is required to install that just a trailer hitch and it plugs right in. Yeah, kind of. On my car, i now one of the first things I did to that car was install a two-inch hitch. It didn't have one just for a bike rack.
Speaker: So it slides right into there, and there's ah kind of a camming thing on the hitch drop, and you tighten that bolt up, and it... It goes up into the hitch. And then I have a, it's just an anti-rattle hitch tightener from Amazon.
Speaker: Okay. It's like um a little U-bolt that goes down on top of the hitch. Oh, gotcha. You know, I don't really have a good photo of it. And then there's a plate and then some um washers, lock washers and two nuts.
Speaker: And so that helps it not loosen up. There's two points. But on my car, the bumper um hits and I was not able to get a hitch pin through the actual tire carrier. So I tried getting a hitch extender that would have just looked dorky. It didn't even fit. um And so I ultimately didn't end up doing anything and it doesn't loosen up.
Speaker: So I would have had to cut my bumper in the rear, which I just didn't want to. Like, I want to just have like a hacked bumper when I go to pull it off or something or when I sell the car.
Speaker: So I just um always check those bolts periodically, and I've never had them loosen up with that hitch tightener and then the main. But um most cars, they fit pretty easy, and you just you just put the pin through there.
Speaker: I'd still recommend a hitch tightener because it helps. There's no rattle, and that thing doesn't move around at all. Okay. Yeah. I, I think when I, when I first, so I don't have anything, you know, to carry spares. I honestly just, I risk it for the biscuit. I don't give a fudge. My tires are all overkill on all my cars. Yeah. ah But i remember when I first started looking into them, I remember thinking like, oh my gosh, I wonder what kind of crazy wizardry is involved in installing one of these. Yeah. And it really is just as simple as having a two inch hitch receiver. I know.
Speaker: And plugging, like, it's literally that easy. The hard part is forking over the money. Exactly. Like, that's... Yeah, totally. Do you remember what kind of hitch receiver you put on there? Did you put on, like, a Kurt or...
Speaker: Anything specific? um It's a Reese Power, I think. Okay. It's a regular Reese Power from O'Reilly's. It's like a Class 2 hitch. Nothing special. I didn't get like an Eco hitch or anything, but it's been totally fine. um i know there's ones that are like recessed and fit up into the bumper on some cars, but this one...
Speaker: It was just really so I can like put a bike rack on there ultimately. And then with this Wilco, I have an additional two-inch receiver above that. And so I can put my bike rack um on there behind the tire carrier, which is nice.
Speaker: So I can have that. And then you have to plop the bike rack down, and then you can just swing the tire down on the ground to get to the truck. Okay. You'd get definitely get a little exercise lifting the tire every time you go in the trunk, but hey, whatever, it's fine.
Speaker: It makes for a good um stool, too, to sit on or like set something on, too. Yeah. Well, I think, um you know I know you did it for ah for bike rack purposes, but man, they're what, like between $150, $200 most...
Speaker: hitch receivers right and it's the easiest and most reliable way to gain a solid frame mounted recovery point on these cars totally even if you have it on there for like towing a teeny trailer putting your bike rack or even just like you throw the hitch receiver and you throw a little um ah do you rate shackle in there yeah shackle block yeah yeah so worth it 100 yeah it's one yeah Way affordable, way affordable. And, you know, I'm a total idiot and I can install, you know, hitch receivers, you know, yeah I can do it, anybody can do it. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah That's one of my, one of my number one suggestions to people for recovery stuff is, man, go get a, go get a hitch receiver, man. That's the, that's the business right there. Yeah, totally.
Speaker: Um, you're, I, I'm backtracking here a little bit, but yeah I meant to ask, with your lift kit, and again, I know this is way off topic and I should have thought to ask this earlier. You're good.
Speaker: um It sounds like you had the shop installed the suspension. and so actually um the suspension was first, right? That blew out at 140 or so. And then, let's see.
Speaker: Yeah, I didn't i was going to get the lift and the suspension at the same time. I decided to wait. um And I actually that was one of the first things I did myself on the car. na My buddy and I tackled the suspension, the strat the front and rear struts, and it was super easy.
Speaker: um Okay, so you guys did this. Yeah, we did it. Okay. And then I took it in for alignment. And I was like, this is not bad, you know? Yeah. So then from there, i was like, the lift I want to install my buddy helped me with the lift just because it was a little more complicated for the subframe. But even then it wasn't that bad.
Speaker: It really isn't. I mean, most everything else besides like alignments and like hard stuff, I've done control arms in the front and rear. I've done a ton of ball joints, um, brakes. I did rear brakes.
Speaker: It's been awesome. Just learn how to do it all and also save myself a lot of money too. It's great. Yeah, dude, it's so much fun. you know, I, if, if I could encourage people and you know, you need to be smart and know when to make sure you have a helping hand from somebody that's knowledgeable right or to take it to a shop. Cause there are certain things where, you know, like your brakes, for example, if you don't really know what to do, you you can't mess that up because if your brakes don't work, then you're probably going to heaven.
Speaker: Um, but, um, but ah Man, i I love that because that's what I was going to ask is if you installed it yourself or not. Yeah. oh What was the hardest part of doing the lift kit install?
Speaker: Probably the subframe, like just like having to jack the whole car up and then get additional jacks to support, drop the subframe, yeah support it and drop it. And then putting the blocks in there, tightening it up wasn't bad.
Speaker: Um, it really went together super easy. And with two people, like that's definitely a two person job, I'd say, cause you can have one person on each side, loosen up the bolts a little bit, start to drop it, loosen them up more, drop it. And then you take that space around and you put the new one in.
Speaker: But, um, that was probably the hardest part. Everything else was pretty easy. Even the struts, the front struts, super easy, but the rears were just a little harder because that, that control arm didn't want to drop down all the way. The sway bar was fighting it.
Speaker: Um, yeah, I don't really have, yeah. Yeah. Always got to pull those sway bar links off, man. I hate having to do that because they've always got the goofy little Allen key you know to get those sway bar links off. It's like, could I know you could have made this easier for us, but you didn't.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I've had to pull out the hacksaw on end links on more than one occasion. Yeah, that's what I did to get mine off originally. And then I had that front bar because it's a huge bar in the front of mine. It goes through the engine bay on the bottom.
Speaker: It's like, how am I going to pull this out? And so yes I had it um ah had it strung up with some wire rattling around. Yeah, And then one day I went over to my buddy's house and I took the um angle grinder and I just cut that thing in half and I pulled it out.
Speaker: Cool. there you go is it because there's like that little plate or something that's near the steering rack that kind of holds it is that where it goes it's like bolted to the front subframe so it can't really totally move but like you can't pull it out because they're crooked on both ends you know it's like this yeah crooked pry bar you know so i just had to cut it in half and pull the ends out and i was like All right, this is never going back in. So I have it laying over at the shop and I can use it for like um additional strength to get a bolt off or tighten it because a pretty burly bar.
Speaker: When you're off road, you feel like having a little bit of knowledge about what's going on under the car under the hood do you feel a little bit more confident when you start to notice things like weird noises or hey the car feels a little funny um you know me personally i feel way more confident when i'm off pavement and i'm in the middle of nowhere and it's like hey if something breaks it's up to me to get out of here Did that give you that kind of feeling?
Speaker: Totally. um Really, just like so many people, one, don't check their oil or just there's basic things that are just so easy to prevent. You don't check your oil, you run it low, and you seize an engine. you know um It's so simple to check those things, the fluids. um I pop my hood couple times a week or something. you know It doesn't matter.
Speaker: um and Just looking in there, looking at the head gasket seals, you can see those. um and then when i do my oil change and so naturally starting to work on the car i got to like kind of just know it better so when i'm hearing noises i'm like maybe it could be that maybe it could be that you know there's always a billion things it could be but it made me feel better that i had worked on it and i'd done this work so i'm like okay i don't have to worry about struts now it's not yeah that control arm you know and i ultimately feel better when I'm going out and if I do hear noises, I might have an idea what that is, you know, instead of like, what's that? Yeah.
Speaker: It really helps. Oh, I just, I just replaced those end links on that sway bar, which obviously we're not running sway bars. Right. You know, you're like, oh, I remember I just worked on that.
Speaker: I just might need to torque that bolt down a little bit. You know, things like that. i think the fluid check that you mentioned is so overlooked, dude. Yeah. Yeah. I think Chris talked about that, actually. You know, one of the best things you can do is, you know, check what is your ah even if it's.
Speaker: You know, not before every trip, but just a monthly thing, you know, check your CV axle boots. How do those look? You know, how's your diff fluid look? Does it look like coffee?
Speaker: You know, right. All those different things that, yeah, it can be a hassle and you're going to have to figure out, okay, where is the front diff? Where, how do I check that? Where's my,
Speaker: how do I check my transmission fluid? But right dude, it can save you five digits worth of repair costs. And I mean, just checking, I check my oil every time I fill up on gas, super easy, super, super easy.
Speaker: Or if I'm going on a long trip and I know I'm going drive for like a whole day or a couple of days, you know, I'll just check it, check my coolant levels. You know, I had to do a coolant flush. So it was, check that periodically. um It's just so easy to do. And we had one of our work trucks back to a work story. um It was an old Ford.
Speaker: It was a V10 Triton. So a really really bad motor. yeah i think what an is Yeah. I think what ended up happening with that um was we starved it of oil and we blew a rod driving it. So it was things like that because when we checked the oil, dry. There was like nothing in there. So it blew a rod you know and created $10,000, $15,000 worth of damage. it was crazy you know for a 20-year-old truck. And I'm like,
Speaker: all along it could have been just checking the oil. It's such a simple thing. Yeah. so yeah Yeah, it was quite yeah yeah the disaster.
Speaker: Yep, you're not the first person to mention that, man. it ah And you're not the first person who's shared a story about learning that the hard way. Yeah. yeah i've ah Actually, the my daily driver's got got a Pretty sure roached the rod bearings in it about a year and a half ago. Uh-huh. I'm still running it. I'm going to blow it up. I've got a short walk in the garage. I've just been too busy to put it in. but Yeah.
Speaker: So your Instagram, I've seen you drive in a lot of different conditions. I've seen some snow. I've seen some, like, forest stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Where, you know, what all have you kind of tested the car in Where, what are your favorite types of terrain to drive in? And are there any types of terrain where you feel like the car either does really well or struggles a little bit?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, it really varies, but a lot in the mountains, a lot in the high country, a lot of high pass high pass roads, um tons of forest service roads too down here at 7,000 feet to 9,000 feet does really well.
Speaker: um I mean, it does really well in the mountains too. The elevation is just the biggest thing. um And I also go to the desert a lot in the winter. Moab's only two and a half hours away from us.
Speaker: so let's see it's pretty awesome so i go there so sick i go there in the winter because it's quiet don't tell anyone that because it's super busy in the summer and it's hot um yeah go there in the off season and um a camp out for a couple days or a long weekend and i do a bunch of off-roading and out there at the desert it's only a couple thousand feet lower but the car does so well on those passes um There's like Hurrah Pass and Chicken Corners and some pretty moderate trails from Moab. um
Speaker: I don't do anything crazy out there, but it does really good on the Slick Rock. um And then I also do some snow wheeling as well. um Our roads kind of close down here, which is frustrating. They gate everything because they don't want people driving up there and getting stuck because people don't know how to get out.
Speaker: So things like that. But they're open until end of December, sometimes into January. Yeah. You get a couple of storms and you could go out for like with a couple, like a couple feet of snow sometimes. I mean, at most. um Yeah. And the snow, the snow can be super fun. But I've also noticed like that's probably one of the hardest situations um to judge, like to judge.
Speaker: OK, I'm going to go down this hill. Can I make it back up? um yeah i've had situations where i'm like driving it keeps snowing the snow gets deeper and deeper and then like i go to turn around i get stuck you know i use my traction boards to get out and it's like the ground is right there and i can shovel down to the ground but it doesn't take much um that's probably the hardest situation to judge but the car still does pretty well in all situations i'd feel like I'm looking and dude, it looks like you really do have access to some of the most like fantastic terrain on the planet, dude.
Speaker: Yeah. Like the arches park. Oh, that's so sick. Yeah. Yeah. And, and you said it does pretty good on slick rock with those kindas and stuff. Yeah, I mean, I don't like... i haven't done Hell's Revenge or like any of the crazy trails out there, but um you still get to drive on some Slick Rock. And yeah, the Slick Rock, it does great. It's very grippy.
Speaker: um A lot of people may not know this, but you don't actually have to air down for Slick Rock because it's so grippy. You can just walk straight up it, and so cars can naturally go up go up it. um Airing down would just increase your traction, your contact patch, but...
Speaker: tons of people I know do Hell's Revenge and um those other trails out there like the Lion's Back and all that um not aired down simply maybe because they don't have enough clearance or they don't need to.
Speaker: So the Slick Rock's pretty cool. You can just sure drive right up it. you You kind of mentioned you know Toyotas and stuff earlier. Do you go out with people that are in 4x4s at at all Yeah, sometimes. I have a couple friends.
Speaker: used to go out with a buddy in a first-gen Tundra a lot. We'd go off-roading. That thing's got almost $300,000 on it, which is sweet.
Speaker: Yep. And they're yeah, those are good cars. They're really good. um And then I've gone out with a couple of friends that have an old four, old four runner and they have Jeeps.
Speaker: One guy's got a Cherokee and another guy's got a Wrangler or something like that. ah Yeah, i I go out with them. um But a lot of times I do solo wheel a lot because like having enough people to off-road with is still a challenge or finding people.
Speaker: And if I'm just going somewhere where I know there's cell service or something, I'll just, I'll go out there and I'll just be careful. Or if I'm going somewhere where there's no cell service, I might take satellite phone or a Jeep, a Garmin or something.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. Heck yeah, man. Yeah. I, you know, I see a lot of hate in the Subaru community towards like four by fours. I know. But I have the most fun running with those people, dude. Like, you know and, and the thing is, is I think people think that, you know, Oh, they're, they're making fun of us. Cause we're in a Subaru. Yeah, of course they are.
Speaker: But people make fun of everybody, dude. You should hear the stuff I get told when I'm out the Jeep, dude. Yeah. It's like everybody's just pitching each other crap, you know? But man, I learned, I've learned the most being off road with four by fours. You know, that's how I got to start was with dudes in like, you know, second gen runners.
Speaker: Cause it was like, okay, I can really push the Subaru and see what it'll do. And I've got some backup here that I know can get me out, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's been the most fun. And it's so different. their' Their ways of wheeling are different than ours, you know? So it's really neat.
Speaker: 100%. It's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. So you've got a buttload of lights ah on the car. Can you talk a little bit about what your light setup is? Because I'm seeing a lot.
Speaker: Yeah. I've got a couple different things on there. I've got a front bumper bar from SSD that has two five inch aux beam lights on there, which are really nice and bright.
Speaker: And they're kind of nice, a nice mid range lighting. They're not crazy expensive like the diodes or the Bajas, but I still think they're going to last for a while. I've got LEDs in the housings. I've got the auxetos in your video, which I like those. Oh, I think I remember you.
Speaker: Commenting on that. yeah i love mine, dude. yeah Love them. And then i have... um I've got two nightlight ditch lights from Amazon. I mount it on the hood with ADF brackets.
Speaker: And then I've got... um I want to say I've got some yellow tint over the fog lights, the stock fog fog lights okay um on the bumper. And then I have some grill lights. And so i i ended up just like kind of kind of just creating my own thing with the grill. I painted it and I was like, I really want to have grill lights, kind of like the Toyotas.
Speaker: um And so I bought some off eBay. like 11 bucks or something the tabs didn't quite fit and i just shoe good them in there shoe good the tabs to the inside of the grill and i mean they've been on there since probably um mid summer or something early spring and they've been they've been holding up great and they look really nice dude yeah did do you skate i don't okay okay yeah i i've probably run through like a hundred tubes of shoe goo in my life uh-huh that stuff dude it's so useful so good dude even if it's not for you know shoe gooing your shoes after kick flipping all day it's it's one of the best adhesives i've ever used yeah so it smells so bad yeah yeah yeah
Speaker: yeah I made the mistake of when I i was probably like 14 or something, I was in my room like, oh I got fix my shoes. And I shoe-gooing them. ah And I was like stumbling around the house after that, like, oh, fudge. thing Yeah, fume the fumes from Shugu are definitely. Yeah. not the best. So do it outside, but I've been stoked with the, the girl lights. They look really nice. I wired them into the, um, I figured out how to wire them into the fog light fuse.
Speaker: So when my fog lights are on, the girl lights are on. So I typically, nice um, and I don't know if any of you guys have seen, I hit a deer, I hit a deer and I cracked my headlight housing maybe a week A week, it would be two weeks ago. was a week before Overland Expo, or actually a couple days. So I've got tape over it right now.
Speaker: ah Did you put that on your story? I did, yeah I saw that. It was really hard to see, um and I got really lucky because I didn't do any other damage. um Okay. But I'm going to be getting – I'm waiting on some new housings to come in, some new – think they're like 2013 special appearance housings that are blacked out, so should look pretty nice. Nice.
Speaker: Is your guys' a snow light and and fluffy and hard to pack down, or is do you guys get heavy snow there? It really depends on the storm. But um we get a lot of powder um up in the mountains.
Speaker: and It can be dry, light powder um down here and up in the mountains, but typically it's somewhere in between of like dry and light and then a little bit of dense. but um Okay.
Speaker: We'll sometimes get warm storms down at like, rain goes at 6,500, where we live is at 7,000. So 500 feet really makes a big difference in the winter. So um town might town might get rain and then we might get snow, but it'll be really wet, heavy, sloppy snow.
Speaker: um But typically we get a lot of powder, a lot of powder here. We don't have as much um wet snow. We can get dense powder for sure, but it's the warm storms that do bring the like wet, sloppy stuff. That sucks. It sucks to shovel.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, the light stuff is fun because you can blast through it. Right. But I find that it's so hard when you're actually snow wheeling in deep yeah light snow.
Speaker: It won't pack. No. It doesn't pack. Uh-uh. You can just sit there and it's like sand. You just churn tires. It doesn't matter how low your air pressure is. It's like you really got to struggle and be like strategic about getting through it.
Speaker: Yeah. That's why the little bit of moisture in the snow is nice because it will pack under your tire so you can. Yes, dude. Make a track. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let me ask about your um your underbody protection.
Speaker: What all are you running underneath the car and how long have you had that stuff on there? Yeah, so it's pretty much all rally tech stuff. Okay. Besides the rear diff. The rear diff is just the primitive racing skid plate.
Speaker: um And honestly, I've never hit it. Like, I've dented it from jacking the um jacking it up on the plate. I've bent in a little, but I've... Don't think I've ever hit it on a rock.
Speaker: um It's nice to have, though. And then I originally got a Rallytech front engine skid when I got the suspension. I got the suspension and a skid plate for the engine.
Speaker: And then about couple months ago, if that, I got a transmission skid plate. um So now it's fully protected. Nice. I think, I mean, the Rally Tech skid plates are great. They came out with their new quarter inch ones, which is awesome.
Speaker: The thicker ones. But also, I think I see a lot of people run primitive and I know you speak highly of it as well. And ADF. There's so many options for skid plates, but just having the engine covered up first and foremost and then the transmission is pretty key.
Speaker: Yeah, i I think the transmission is actually one that gets overlooked so much because it doesn't take much at all. It's true. Yeah. Even in the, you know, automatics, I don't know how sensitive the CBTs are in there, but I know that those pans aren't deep at all. No. You know, it wouldn't take much to push up into all the, you know, all the solenoids and all that stuff. Yeah. Not fun. Yep.
Speaker: Yep. Yeah, when that happens, youre you can't even move the car. It's bad news. I'd always be pretty careful when I go out, just not having the CBT covered until couple months ago. But um I've probably hit the front skid plate so many times. I've hit it so hard, I've picked the front end of the car up you know on rocks. Same, dude. Same. I mean, it's like you can just hit it you don't want like You don't want to just go blasting through stuff, but at the same time, you can kind of mindlessly hit it and you cannot just worry about like hitting your oil pan and leaking all your oil out in the middle of the mountains and walking down the cell service or something. you know it really
Speaker: It's a really nice piece of protection to have on your car. just makes it more fun you know you to have lot more fun yeah you don't always you don't have to be in like that fight or flight mode of like oh i'm gonna hit something you know yeah and if you hit it i i remember hitting it first couple times um on those rocks and denting it so bad it would rattle on the subframe and so when i'm driving back on the highway my friend and i were just like it's rattling so bad at like 2500 rpms it's like Get back home, you take it off, and you get the hammer out, and you just bend it back.
Speaker: What do you think is your favorite model in the car? I'd probably have to say the suspension. Okay. I always go back to that. Just the... the ride quality and how robust that B6 strut is and um how nice it rides with the springs. well We actually haul spring water.
Speaker: so okay. we um Our water is really calcified. and so Sometimes people might see stories or post me having like eight water jugs. They're all seven-gallon jugs in the trunk. They're like, what are you doing? you know remember posting in the 4th Gen group asking what...
Speaker: what to get when it was sagging really bad because on the stock struts, I'd just be riding on the bump stops, you know? Yeah. And with these overload springs and the B6, you know, it it maybe sags a quarter of an inch with about...
Speaker: 480 to 500 pounds of water in the back of the trunk it's a lot and it's amazing how it just it hardly like you can notice a teeny bit of a gap in the fender well but and you notice the weight driving obviously but it rides so nice with that weight and so i always go back to the suspension probably it just handles weight really well that's impressive yeah And, you know, i think, I don't think everybody needs, you know, springs and upgraded suspension, but dude, if you have any amount of aftermarket, like, you know, whether it's aftermarket bumpers, a tire carrier, or you're planning on loading the car down, yeah it makes such a huge difference. like
Speaker: And all you gotta do to increase the off pavement, you know, ride qualities is dump a few pounds of air pressure out of the tires when you leave the pavement. Right. You know, that's how you overcome that.
Speaker: You know, because that's really my only complaint is, is it's just going to change the harshness off road. But yeah yeah, you just dump a little bit of dump a little bit of air pressure in your golden brother. Right. Exactly.
Speaker: yeah um Okay, so got any crazy off road stories in the car? I've definitely got a few. got to think. Some snow wheeling. Snow wheeling adventures.
Speaker: I might have to. Let take a quick peek in my photos because I'm thinking of one, but. It's always snow, isn't it, though? Oh, every single time. Well, actually, no.
Speaker: Okay. So this spring, ah went out um by myself and went wheeling. And it was still... um i go to an I went to this area that's maybe an hour away, 40 minutes away, and um ended up...
Speaker: getting stuck in the mud and I've been in this area a ton, but I went down this little two track and I started going down into this field and I know exactly why i used what you know what you're at.
Speaker: And so I started at the second, my brain, I'm like, I need to turn around. I need to stop. I sink down. I hit the skids. I hit the rear diff.
Speaker: And I'm slammed. I'm so high-centered in that two-track mud rut that it's up to my rear control arms. It's like up to the front skid.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, crap. I get out. And there's mud everywhere. i mean, it's just such a mess. I'd rather get stuck in snow. And I yeah don't think I've been stuck in mud before like that, that I can remember. So I was so lucky. i had a couple bars of service.
Speaker: And I um get my traction boards out. And I say, well, let me see what I can do. See if it'll budge. And it didn't go anywhere. I was just like, you know, that you could tell the car was trying. But it's like I was I don't want to break an axle. Because um one of my axles does have a slight click in it.
Speaker: And so probably going out at some point, but probably not for a little longer. So it's like, I don't want to damage anything else trying to get myself out of this. And I called my buddy who's got a Tacoma and he came and pulled me out. But, um, it was, it was bad. It was real bad. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah I'm looking at it right now. How, how long do you think you were stuck? Probably an, I mean, I don't think it was that long. um I want to say I got stuck. Let's see. It looks like it was around three in the afternoon.
Speaker: It was about an hour, which is not bad. um But a that it's not bad. Yeah. I just got really, really lucky having cell service. And that was a good wake up call that it's like,
Speaker: I literally just turned off the main road. So the main road was right up there and this was just a little two track. i was going to go see, yeah I was just going to go down in the meadow and take a look, um, see where that goes. And it only, it only took a couple hundred feet of driving down that.
Speaker: Yeah, I can see your front tires look like straight-up chocolate donuts. Yeah, the amount of mud, i i washed that all off immediately when I got back into town, but it was so it was such a pain.
Speaker: When I got on the gravel road, stuff was just flinging like mad. Yeah. Yeah, so... The mud's not very fun, but... Not at all, dude. Yeah. And it's funny to me how fast it can go bad in the mud.
Speaker: i know. quick. You know, like the snow is, you know, the snow is hard to gauge, but I find the same thing in mud. It's like you'll run into some mud where you're like, oh, this is pretty firm and I can drive right through this. Yeah. Whereas other times it's like, oh, fudge, I just sank right into that.
Speaker: Right. yep And ah couple other times I've gotten stuck in the snow But I don't think I have any photos on here But it's like when my buddy and um i would go out in his tundra in my outback we would um We would purposely get stuck for fun And then we'd pull each other out Or he'd pull me out But there was one time he he got himself stuck This is his tundra right here with the traction boards in there um sick and we had to use the front traction two traction boards in the front and i was like i don't want to have to pull them out you know full-size truck but um yeah well when you're with other people it's a little different it's more like you can just mess around but when you're buyers i just don't think you should go snow wheeling by yourself if you read if you can help it because it just 100 it can turn from like this is awesome to like
Speaker: shit out of luck situation so quick. Yeah. You know, so, so quick. And even if you don't, even if you have a winch, the thing I found in that mud situation is like, there was nothing to winch to. I would needed a land anchor or something, you know, there's no trees around. So I wouldn't need a rear winch.
Speaker: How many people have a rear winch on a Subaru? So it's just, yeah. Yeah. What's your miles per gallon look like on average? It kind of varies, but um I would say like just daily driving, commuting, driving around town, that's around 23 to 24. That's not at all. And on the highway, my gauge is off, obviously. My miles per gallon gauge is off because the tires. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Right around 23 would be like a lot of town driving and like the commute I do is lot of county roads. So I probably get 25. um And on the highway, it's probably somewhere in there, too.
Speaker: But I got the Prince U rack installed recently, and I've been so amazed how... um That actually, I'm starting to see probably the highest miles per gallon I've seen since I've started modding it. And that's just due to how aerodynamic that rack is. I was seeing, and I know this is probably not accurate at all, but on that gauge, I was seeing 28.
Speaker: So I'm guessing it was probably around 26. 26. um twenty six if you yeah Technically, you have bigger tires, so it's even better than what you're seeing. Really?
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, interesting. Because technically, your car thinks you've gone less distance than... Or hold on. it Oh, wait. No. Let me think about this.
Speaker: Am I an idiot? Yeah, it thinks you've gone less distance because you're... every rotation technically covers more ground. Okay. Right. Then stock, then stock tires.
Speaker: So yeah, dude, that's actually really impressive. I'm really, yeah. Stoked on like after what I had on there before was just the stock rack and some Yakima crossbars.
Speaker: um That worked fine, but I didn't like how much wind noise I got. I built myself a custom DIY Super Strut rack out of Super Strut Unistrut, whatever you call it. And um I had traction boards and rotopacks on there. But the printer rack, I'd been saving up for it for a while. And while it was it was a definitely a pretty in-depth install, it's so worth it. It looks so good, and it's so quiet on the highway.
Speaker: you don't hear it at all, and I've got... Two rotopaxes up there. I've got a shovel. I've got my traction boards and I've got a Rome case now um okay that Chris actually gave me. a little nice. That's his Rome case, which is really cool.
Speaker: And I've just been loving the setup. And even with that case, I'm still getting really good mileage. um When did he give that to you just recently? When we were up at the expo. Okay. Yeah. So last week, he's still had it when I interviewed him. So that's, I'm glad to hear it went to a good home.
Speaker: Yeah. He's looking to downsize a little bit. And so it really worked out, worked out perfect. And, um, I can put some recovery gear up there now. I was hoping to fit a chainsaw up there to not have the gas smell, but it doesn't fit. And that's okay. Yeah.
Speaker: But, um, yeah. Um, I, I think it's impressive. You know, you've kept so much of the factory aerodynamics of the car, you know, as much as I love bumper cuts, right.
Speaker: Your car still has, uh, basically a stock, uh, aerodynamic profile, right. You know, that's such an important thing if you're trying to,
Speaker: Because the engineers, you know they're they're trying specifically to make sure, how do we make this car still look presentable and get the best possible miles per gallon? Right.
Speaker: Yeah. And if you interrupt that airflow even a little bit, it can completely change you know, just how the car pushes through the wind. Yeah. so And probably my biggest miles per gallon killer at this point is just the offset on the tires because I have plus 15. So it's quite a bit, but, um, you know, six out a lot, but I'm okay with that. If that's my only thing, you know, the rack flows well, everything else flows well. I get a little noise from the ditch lights and stuff.
Speaker: And as I've thought about a bumper cut, I just, I don't really want to go down that rabbit hole of wanting to cut it and then having to secure it and having to relocate a washer tank. And it's like...
Speaker: Yeah, I can't do as much with that front bumper, but it still hasn't stopped me much. um With the lift, it's raised up quite a bit. um And so I just wanted to keep it because I definitely do drive on the highway enough that it's like, don't want to just be like slamming wind into the front lip, you know? yeah, yeah.
Speaker: yeah I think with the amount of money you've saved in gas, you could probably go buy a cheap four by four. If you really needed a bunch of approach angle, you could have a second car. Yeah, totally. ah Especially these days, gas is like, it's going to bankrupt me.
Speaker: Yeah. um I want to ask, do you, what kind of chainsaw do you carry with you? For off-roading?
Speaker: Yeah, just in the car. would Well, it depends. i don't I actually don't always have one. i When I do know I'm going in a pretty forested area, I'll have an electric cell, which is just... It's like a little ego power. hillll Yeah, a little... um 18 inch saw that's great you could just throw it in the back otherwise um i don't typically carry full-size chainsaw with gas and borrow it just stinks and i don't want stuff leaking um yeah but i will carry a hand saw so i have a silky hand saw that's like i don't know
Speaker: eight, nine inches long, the blades really long. And so if I come across a tree on the road or something bent, bent over onto the road, I can cut probably ah I can cut up to a 12 inch tree with that. So I just keep that in, in the car behind the seat and stuff.
Speaker: And that's really nice. That's like equivalent of a small chainsaw. You just got to do it by hand. Yeah. yeah um I think having a chainsaw is really nice. There's a couple times I've wished I've brought it.
Speaker: um but they This spring, i actually, if I know I'm like going up a road in the spring and there's trees down likely, I'll just bring it and I'll end up clearing the road out. I actually dragged a few trees out this spring and and then I ended up handsawing the one at the top because the battery died in the chainsaw. So it's always good to have a backup to a backup. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Manual backups are very valuable. Right. Do you have any, cause for me personally, and I know for a lot of people, um, just using a chainsaw, it's kind of intimidating. Right.
Speaker: Uh, you know, it's scary cause we've all seen like chainsaw massacre. yeah And I mean, if you don't use them right, you really can get hurt. Um, but do you have any, uh, just like beginner tips for somebody who might want to carry something like that?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, if you've got a good spot to store it, just like bring a small, not even a mid-range saw, like a 16, 18 inch bar is really all you need. Don't get something too big.
Speaker: Start out small if you haven't really ran a saw before. Run it at home. but um And if you're going out in the woods, bring a pair of chaps, you know? That's the biggest thing that um chainsaw act accidents happen from is not wearing leg protection, you know? It's that one extra piece of gear.
Speaker: You got to spend 80 to 100 bucks on them, but they'll save your life. yeah And that's all it takes. Chaps, maybe bring a helmet. But really, if you're like just going out there to clear some trees, some chaps, um a small saw, some gloves and some eye protection. And just um there's a lot of good YouTube videos online.
Speaker: I recommend getting comfortable with the saw. and cutting at home first you know before you really go out um yeah but the ppe is really the biggest thing any with a chainsaw one of the most dangerous tools you know what are some of the most common um things that happen like it you know obviously you know with the chaps is i'm guessing you know there's a ton of femoral artery injuries that happen where people bleed out Um, is it common for, you know, as people are cutting through something, it'll just come down or, um, do they kick back a lot or?
Speaker: It's a lot of different things, but you know, your legs kind of the most, most important part in the most vulnerable, vulnerable part, I feel like, because kickback will either go down, you'll drop the saw, it's going to go down towards your legs. You're always sawing close to your legs.
Speaker: Um, in general, um And then sometimes the saw can come back. So that's why people wear helmets too, because the saw, and that's why there's a chain break too, is if you're cutting with the tip of the bar or something, or the tree pinches or the log pinches and the saw comes back, you know I've had it happen.
Speaker: It'll catch you by surprise. The bigger the saw, the more kickback power there is. And so that'll come back and that could really change. you know mess up your head and your face and all that. so That's where the helmet comes in. but I really recommend the chaps are a huge thing for just anyone that runs a chainsaw enough, even if it's just a couple times. um you know It doesn't take much. um i've I've cut myself with the chaps and it just locks.
Speaker: that What it does is it takes the fiber and it jams it in the sprocket. It's It's terrifying, but it's like you rather have that happen than you rather like ruin a pair of chaps and be going to the hospital.
Speaker: It's like, yeah. Well, femoral artery injuries, man, those don't, you don't get a lot of time. You know, if you're by yourself, you're not going to make it back unless you know how to.
Speaker: you know somehow stop the bleeding but most people are you know you're gonna go into shock well before you can handle that unless you're like combat trained right and having a first aid kit with a tourniquet that's another thing in general your car should have a first aid kit or two but um a good first aid kit and a tourniquet knowing how to use it i mean for anything any adventure you go out on you could find someone else hurt you know on a motorcycle but um A tourniquet will also really help if you, that's more for, i mean, it can be used for anything, but um that's to stop the control bleeding on your arms, especially, you know, if you have chaps on, probably not going to cut anything on your legs, but your arms are also susceptible.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. No, this is, this really, I'm, I'm glad we're talking about this. This is just interesting. You know, I know we're supposed to be talking about Subarus, but yeah, this is sick. Yep. Well, it's good for people to know just like some basic, there's a lot of good videos out there. Um, unlike basic, um,
Speaker: basic bucking techniques for bucking logs and evaluating compression and tension and binds. It's typically, i mean, it's a whole art to it. It takes a lot, but um it doesn't, it also doesn't take much to get yourself some good PPE and just watch a few videos and then like,
Speaker: You've got some logs to cut up. um I mean, typically people are clearing trees. you know Tree felling is a whole other thing. That's a whole other rabbit hole to go down. yeah That's a whole other level of danger there. But I mean, ah just like you can clear a tree on ah on a road and it'll fuck you up you fear you're not careful. you know It won't take much because you have...
Speaker: it's suspended here and all this tension or you get your saw stuck, bring some wedges with too. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of different things you could bring, but um wedges and an ax would also be helpful.
Speaker: I want to say, um want to say Derek unpaved. He's got like a midsize chainsaw too. I think he carries wedges too, but yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. I was just out with him.
Speaker: a couple weekends ago before went to Alaska he was he rolled out to the Trout Lake area with me and we yeah camped out shot some guns hung out, then did a little bit of driving. Nice. he's ah He's definitely a G. I love that guy. Yeah.
Speaker: I'd love to meet you guys when I come out to Oregon or when I'm, like, if I am indeed living out there and working out there next year, I'm really stoked to be able to yeah i do some wheeling because there's so many people out there. It'd be sweet.
Speaker: yeah i was so bummed that i wasn't able to god i'm getting married oh nice in a few uh like a month or something and so it's just everything's been so hectic but i really wanted to come out and see you when you were when you're out here but yeah it's uh it's a mission to get out to that side of the state and just dude i feel like i'm just barely keeping my head above water i'm always always doing something and always getting into some kind of trouble, it is what it is.
Speaker: um Do you have any future plans for the car? Yeah. I mean, there always is, right? But ahu I definitely... We're talking about lights a little bit. I'd like to add a rear chase light, a couple rear chase lights, or...
Speaker: either like two pod lights for a chase light or just like a chase light bar would be awesome. yeah I love the, I love that. And also just like, that's really good for, um, stopping on the roadside, having some really like high visible, high visibility hazards or something.
Speaker: Um, maybe some scene lighting for camp, camp lighting on the rack itself. Now that there's so many shooters. Um, and then, I'd like to add um a torque locker. probably It'll probably be next year, um but I'd like to add a torque locker. I've got to figure out how to go about that and who would actually help me tear that apart. But um I've heard so many good things about those lockers. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: ah I know you got one in your foz, but um probably the torque locker, some more lights. Yeah. Just keeping up with maintenance, really, too. I'm not going to really do anything else.
Speaker: I'm not going to anything to the engine. The suspension is really good. Replacing worn parts. change in the flush and ah Changing the CVT fluid.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah yeah yes That's the biggest thing, man. maintenance Basic maintenance. yeah I know. I'll see people spend $2,000 on a big break kit.
Speaker: you know um ah STI calipers, yeah you know, big rotors and all that stuff. And it's like, or you could have just flushed your old brake fluid and you'd have probably been part of the way there, you know? Yeah.
Speaker: Right. You got 20 year old brake fluid in that WRX, man. Yeah. Um, the,
Speaker: yeah all your lights and stuff, are you running them off individual switches or do you have a switch panel system that you use? I don't. It's a little bit of a rat's nest, but um I've got a lot of zip ties, you know, so it's it's really not bad. It's pretty clean. um Yeah, besides the um besides the grill lights running off the fog, um fuse, everything else is just wired in as switches, so I have...
Speaker: uh i have like two or three different switches on the car think it's just two yeah it's two one for the ditch lights and one for the aux beams because there's two switches for that there's a drl and then there's the high beams which i don't run those unless i'm off road but um No, it's really not bad.
Speaker: i don't i don't see myself needing a switch panel, really. I don't mind having the switches um down there, and I i can always label them, but they're different right now, so I remember which is which.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. yeah yeah Yeah, that's... ah Oh, man. I'm not going to lie, dude. Even with the Oxbeam, I always push the wrong button. Yeah, right. Yeah. Even though I have them labeled, I'm just like, oh.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. It is what it is. Yeah. um Do you have any plans to do any kind of a winch or anything like that? I mean, I know you'd have to completely change the front end of the car. Yeah.
Speaker: I've thought about, um, the rally tech hidden winch mount cause they came out one for, came out with one for my year, um this year. And I was stoked to see that.
Speaker: Um, and that seems like a pretty solid, um, pretty solid mounting point. You know, it bolts up. I don't, you have to do a little bit of cutting to the bumper, but not much. And it provides a nice OEM look too.
Speaker: yeah. And then you can put a warn or a harbor freight winch in there whatever. So I thought about that. I've definitely thought about doing that. And I've also thought about like finding a fabricator to weld up a front bumper. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. But ahs it's tricky to find someone to do that. It's just like, I don't know. take us seriously. No. They're like, oh, you want to weld a bumper for a what?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. yeah Oh, doesn't Patrick with ADF, doesn't he weld some bumpers? Doesn't he do a little bit of that? You know, he used to, but he just now finished up a bunch of designing for some aluminum bumpers, which I think are going to be sick. I'm going to try to get one. Yeah. ah And he designed them in a way to where they can be shipped. So they can be disassembled and shipped, and then you just assemble it and bolt it on. hu I really want to get one, dude.
Speaker: Will they fit an Outback? Yeah. um i think he is making them for uh for your what's that fifth gen fourth gen or fourth gen yeah i it's so hard for me because legacy they didn't start outbacks until second gen so i right so second gen is first gen i always budget up but legacies were kind of my i've always had a legacy you know i've had so many of them that's like my it was my first subaru yeah yeah so i've i always mix them up. I'm like, fortune. fifteen Wait, hold on. It would be sweet.
Speaker: Like to have a bumper like that with the winch. But at the same time, feel like I don't end up going that route. I would probably just go the hidden winch mount with a nice winch from rally tech. And I did, I get, I got to see that on an outback wilderness. Um,
Speaker: at Overland Expo. And I mean, it's a really clean look and then you've got two front solid recovery points as well, which I really like too. Yeah. So that's an option.
Speaker: Love that. Yeah. Um, if, is there ever any thought in your head of being like, okay, I need to switch to a four by four. Have you ever had that thought or felt like I, I'm pushing this car to the point where I probably should get something else.
Speaker: I would say it's definitely ran through my head um for sure. But i think I think what I'll always do is always have a Subaru just because they're great cars for commuting and and mild to light off-roading really.
Speaker: um and doing some of the harder stuff you just have to modify a lot so i would definitely like to have an old toyota an old runner or an old tacoma at some point and just have both because it'd be super fun to be able to go out wheel the tacoma you know do like a mild lift and do some like 30 i don't know put 35s on it or something yeah dude just like pretty basic but also just so capable and then be able to go out on that thing too so dude that yeah that's exactly where i was it i was like okay I got to go buy a four by four too. You know, you've got a Jeep, right?
Speaker: Yeah. It's an old XJ. Yeah. I mean, it's, if, if there was a better option for front axles, I'd run 37s, but I'm just on 35s right now. Cause I'm on a D30 front end, which if you don't mash on them too hard, you can get them to last.
Speaker: Yeah. And I'm on, it's it's pretty much as built as it can be without, yeah you know, full one ton swap. And, uh, I am on a short arm kit. I have a three link sitting in the garage, but again, like, like my short block, I just, yeah.
Speaker: Lazy or busy. i don't know which one, probably a combination of both, but it's a completely different experience. You know, it's like, yeah, you just can, I can really just point it at anything and be like, oh I'm going to go up this.
Speaker: You know, it's, it's stupid, you know? Yeah. No, it'd be sweet to have. And how many miles do you have on the Jeep and the Forester? the Forester's at like 224,000. Wow.
Speaker: Which is crazy. And that car's been underwater. Is that original engine and transmission or? Original engine and transmission. I'm pretty positive it it had the head gaskets done.
Speaker: ah But dude, I don't know how it's still running, dude. wow I literally sank it underwater and it's still runs. Yeah. Jeep's at like 209. Okay.
Speaker: Wow. Yeah. It's on its like third engine. Yeah. Well, it wouldn't be a Jeep. It wouldn't be a Jeep if it hadn't been a replaced engine. Yeah. I will say it's got the 4.0, which is like a cast iron block. Yeah.
Speaker: And they're super reliable. Yeah. My, my ah theory is that they're all just owned by a bunch of degenerates who don't maintain them. Right. so once it got, you know, by the time it got to me, it had already had an engine replaced and just been beat to death.
Speaker: And so, I mean, it had a bent number six connecting rod. Jeez. And still ran. Like I had no idea. i had no idea it had bent rod until I pulled it apart for another issue.
Speaker: And I was like I guess I should just throw a used engine in this. Yeah. We're going to play it. Right. Yeah. But yeah, Jeep things, man. It's always, always something.
Speaker: Do you have, I didn't see anything in your Instagram, but do you have any like affiliate ah codes or anything like that? No, I don't. And then I know you're on Instagram, you're a BMC adventures, right? Yes. Underscore.
Speaker: And then I'm also, also on, um, YouTube as well. And that's just BMC adventures. No underscore. So I post, I post some, um, I post a mix of everything. I post some trips on there. I post some off-roading, post some tree felling. I don't know.
Speaker: ah Originally it started because I, um, back in it's probably been eight years i started with rc cars actually and i still got some rc cars that i messed around with every now and then but it used to be all rc stuff and then it turned from rc's the chainsaws and then it so it's like a whole little like time capsule and all my interests but um it's pretty fun yeah yeah i saw your email address and i was like is this for four by four stuff or for rc and then i looked at your instagram i was like oh rc tight
Speaker: Way more affordable version of rock. Oh my gosh. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: Oh man, I'm going to die here on accident. Dude. Well, thanks for doing this, man. This was absolutely sick. Yeah, totally. Yeah. If people aren't already following you, they should go hit you up. BMC underscore adventures on Instagram and then hit the YouTube.
Speaker: Hit that subscribe. Yeah, that I mean. Yeah. but Yeah. This has been.
