He Took a Subaru Where?! Cody’s Most Ridiculous Off-Road Stories and Disasters Ep. 15

Transcript

Speaker: Have you ever wondered if taking your Subaru off-road and lifting it, modifying it for overlanding is a good idea? Well, in this episode, my friend Cody kind of lays out all the challenges that he's experienced over the years, things he's run into. And also, he kind of paints a picture of what some of the realistic expectations are if you are specifically looking at buying an Outback Wilderness or planning to modify our outback wilderness for overlanding and off-road use.

Speaker: Cody is one of my good friends. I met him in 2022 on the Washington back road discovery route. We did a overlanding type of off-road trip. And it was really cool because that was one of his first off-road trips. I got to see him go from a brand new off-roader to somebody that's like way more comfortable behind the wheel and kind of knows what they're doing when they're on the trails. And so i really enjoyed this episode. he had a lot to talk about and I felt like it was a really, really good conversation.

Speaker: Obviously, we got a couple pieces of housekeeping. We got to thank our sponsors, Melee Design Firm. They are one of our biggest supporters. And the way that they are saying thank you to you guys for listening and supporting us is they're giving you guys a 10% off discount.

Speaker: So anything in their store, so batteries, battery boxes, tie downs, strut tower braces, they have all sorts of accessories for Subarus. And all you got to do to get the 10% off is just go to meleedesignfirm.com, put your stuff in your cart, and then at checkout, just use the code DIRTSUBIS.

Speaker: And you guys know that I've been using ADF products for probably a decade at this point. ah They make some of the best off-road parts for Subarus and make some solid lift kits. They now make skid plates, ditch light brackets, all sorts of little accessories that make off-roading a little bit easier in our cars. Oh, and molly racks that make some sick molly racks, molly panels.

Speaker: They are also sponsoring us and they're doing a similar deal where all you got to do is use the code DIRTSUBIS and that'll get you 5% off pretty much any ADF branded hard goods on their website. Their website is awdadventure.com.

Speaker: That discount doesn't apply to things like the torque locker and you know, other items that they sell in the store that are not their brand. ah But for their stuff, it's hard goods. You can get that deal.

Speaker: And then of course, if you're not already listening to the SubianU podcast, that is a fantastic podcast full of just tons of episodes for you guys to binge. You can listen to them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, whatever. I'm trying to get him to start putting his stuff up on YouTube, but we'll see.

Speaker: He is doing a little YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed over there. And hopefully we can grow his podcast even bigger than it already is. With all that said, let's freaking go ahead and jump into this episode with my friend Cody.

Speaker: I think you guys are going to love it. But i do I do have an Instagram. I don't post a lot. um I believe it's off.road.wilderness. Perfect. That sounds, that sounds right.

Speaker: ah can't remember off the top my head. Okay. Well, let me ask you this, since you already hinted at it, you've got a little bit of a Subaru history. ah Will you walk us through kind of your Subaru ownership experience? Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, and it wasn't all completely mine. My mom actually had some influence in it. yeah Not super old stuff, right? Not like really old. but um Back when I was a child, my mom worked for the post office in Brewster.

Speaker: okay And she would run the mail route about 100 miles a day, which she would run. And I believe um she had some old beaters. I don't really remember a whole lot, but I believe she had some old beaters along the way.

Speaker: Then somewhere along the lines, um Subaru, back in the day, i think they, I believe they stopped making them in 99 or 2000. They made the right-hand drive Subarus for postal carriers, right? But you had to prove you worked for the post office.

Speaker: That's tight. And so that was, i think that was one of her first Subarus. And my first experience with Subaru was a 95 Subaru Legacy L, I think it was. It was the wow kind of like, if correct, right before they became Outbacks.

Speaker: Yeah, I remember those. And so it was right-hand drive, and that was her first car, ah her first right-hand drive for her postal job. And so that was, again, my first experience in distributors. Four years later, um she found out they were going to stop making them.

Speaker: And she still worked for the post office. And she's like, i have to get another one before they stop making them. Because she was looking, she called it old red because it was red. um And she was looking at that one in 95 and it had, what, 200,000 miles on it by this time. Because again, 100 miles a day for your postal route, right? It's up quick.

Speaker: yeah And so she went and bought one of the last ones. I think there was like three three down at the Subaru dealership um in Wenatchee, two or three left. And she got one of the one of the three, and I think the other two went to some some local postal carriers too.

Speaker: But yeah, by the time she retired, both of those vehicles had close to, oh gosh, close to 500,000 miles on them each.

Speaker: That's so sick. so And along that along that journey, as I got older, you know, they had their problems, knock sensors here and there and ten stuff. And that's I guess that's kind of where I started tinkering a little bit um into the mechanical side with cars. It was kind of on her Subarus.

Speaker: Again, like a knock sensor would go out, I'd replace it for her. um I think she had some catalytic converters that were giving her problems. And that was a learning experience for me too, because...

Speaker: learn quick the aftermarket stuff is not what it's all crap to be and so again it is so true right it's just like oh it's cheap on the surface but yeah you're going to regret it later unfortunately yeah so we were i again i ran into those hurdles early early um i think we bought some cheap cats they wouldn't get rid of the po420 code or whatever that code that comes up for that that's the one and so i think she ended up having to take it to super and pay the money and again i was young i tried to help where i could but So that was my first venture into Subarus, I guess. And then I've had a couple of cars along the way. I've had a Dodge Charger here. okay oh gosh, a Dodge Caliber I had.

Speaker: um Again, a few cars behind it. But my very first Subaru that I had was 08 Outback. out back And it was an Outback XT, I believe. So it had the turbo with a five-speed.

Speaker: um And I loved the crap out of that car. um I honestly, and I think I remember... I was watching your other couple of episodes and I know you mentioned what a car you regret, right? And that was, that was Cobra, but the car regret getting rid of, I didn't know a lot mechanically. Yeah.

Speaker: Um, wish I would have kept it and I wish I would have built it out to be honest. Did you buy that car brand new or, or okay. Was it it, was it pretty clean when you got it? It was honestly super clean. I mean, besides the normal, I guess in the center console, the dog claw marks and the leather, right? Cause they're family vehicles, dogs.

Speaker: Um, And besides that, it was super clean. um I think it was completely stocked, completely original. No one had modified it um I even went as far as like to buy the whole JDM replacement kit for the stereo.

Speaker: No, for the stereo. Because in those, the thing they integrated the HVAC system into the stereo. So if you wanted to change out the stereo, you couldn't. Yeah. Yeah. So you had to swap the whole thing, right? Yeah. I had to buy the JDM. um Like it had, it was from Japan, I believe. And so it wired in and it allowed you to do double it, doubled in and and took the HVAC system and plugged it in separately.

Speaker: But it wasn't perfect. Things were backwards, but it worked. Right. And I'm like, it was worth it. But yeah, I did that stuff and I'm like, wish, yeah, I wish I would have kept it. Now, how long did you that car for? Oh, gosh. That was probably two years, year, two years.

Speaker: Okay. Okay. two years a year or two years okay And again, it just it was had like, I can't remember the exact mileage, um maybe 120, 130. But it just was starting at the age where things were starting to fail. And again, I didn't know what I know now.

Speaker: ah And what I know now, I'm like, I should have kept that car because there was nothing wrong with it. And I traded it into another dealership. um And I traded it in on my very first WRX. It was 2016 WRX.

Speaker: Okay. Branded from the law. Nice. Well, that's a good car, man. It was. It was. it was a nice transition, but you get into the world of payments, right? Like I really enjoyed that 08. I think I only paid like seven to grand. I think my payments were like a hundred bucks.

Speaker: Oh yeah. So then i could technically afford to put stuff into it Right. But then you jump into a new one and then I was upwards of like, well, 500 bucks a month, somewhere around there. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker: I'm, I'm fully with you on that. Uh, you know, I don't really care what people do, but once I started looking at, um, like retirement calculators, you don't look at that now. It'll scare you, scary man. It'll scare you. Oh yeah. Well, it's just, um, you know, I'm a huge proponent of like, I don't, I haven't paid a car.

Speaker: I've only had one car payment my whole life. and uh i i sold that thing i was like okay i want to pay off my school i want to build up a down payment on the house yeah haven't had a car payment since man and uh it's pretty freeing when it's kind like okay now i have extra money i can put into my retirement i can put it towards this other stuff yeah i don't know yeah i don't know you're currently financing anything or not but uh yeah my outback is still think i like three years left on that

Speaker: okay i'm guessing you're you're probably a little bit lower now though in terms of those payments The payment, I mean, no payments are technically the same. I mean, really like yeah, my payments on the, on the brand new Outback, I got it right before interest rates skyrocketed though. Okay. um So I got like 3.7%. So not horrible, not, not, not great, but not horrible.

Speaker: um So, but I think my payments were like five 60 and that's like that. Okay. Oh, sorry. I'm, I'm all digging up into your, no no i I don't care. I ask away. I'm an open book. I really don't care.

Speaker: ah Okay. Right on. Yeah, I'm curious about the that Crosstrek that's in there somewhere. what What was the deal with that? was um there's an interesting yeah There's an interesting story kind of behind that. um So getting out of the 2008 Outback into the 2016 WRX, I had that 2016 think it was probably another...

Speaker: i had that twenty sixteen wrs i think it was probably about another Oh gosh, another two years. So I had that one for probably about two years. Um, did a lot in it. And that's where I guess I kind of transitioned out of fast on-road stuff and the WRX. And, um, I, and so this there was a little bit of a story behind that WRX. Um, there was a, there was a lot that went into that car. Um, I met some really cool people.

Speaker: oh gosh, I can't remember. Um, There's someone over in Bellingham, though, that I ran into. I can't remember his name. I haven't made up i have a reached out to him or I touched base with him in a while, but that was back in my WRX days. And I did i did um whole front mount air cooler.

Speaker: Okay. Um, I did a whole stage two tune, basically changed out intake, um, charge pipe, um, all sorts of stuff. Yeah. can Almost a complete stage two.

Speaker: Letting it breathe, man. Correct. Yeah. I know. And that was, oh man, I was, that was just so much fun. and you didn't get that Yeah. And, but again, those were the days where i was like, well, you know, I mean, warranty, who cares? Yeah. Um,

Speaker: But no, that was tuned by Fat Body, tuning out of California. And towards the end of that, they came out with that snap, crackle, pop tune at the end. So it's not quite like a a backfire, but it's ah they call it like an afterfire yeah um to where I think it just releases a slight bit of gas into the exhaust when you let off. And it it does like a snap, crackle, pop at the end. So there was a lot that went into that car. um And then I was over in...

Speaker: Seattle, I believe it was seattle or Seattle area. yeah And it was snowing on the pass. And I i had just put on extreme sports summer tires.

Speaker: oh it was like It was like ice skating rink. Is that a Dunlop? Is that a Dunlop? Dude, I had the same tires. They were amazing tires. They gripped so f freaking good.

Speaker: They were crazy. When it's hot outside. Not when it's snowing and icing on the pass. Yeah, they turn into bricks, man. They do, and it wasn't fun. And I wasn't anything crazy. like I wasn't like flooring it.

Speaker: was probably doing, again, both both lanes going over that pass where we were probably doing maybe 20, 25. Okay. okay um And I was in the fast lane. All the semis were in the slow lane. And we were just cruising along, and all of a sudden, brakes in front me.

Speaker: And again again, we were just in a line, right? I couldn't go fast. I was just going the same speed everybody else, but I didn't leave enough room. And if the crazy thing is, you just don't realize, is that especially on those extreme sports summer tires, is that you can't stop. And when I hit the brakes, even with ABS, I sped up.

Speaker: Oh, correct it boggles my mind, but it's like, I think I was stomped on the brakes or started breaking about 25 miles an hour. And by the time I made impact with the other car in front of me, I was doing about 28. Oh, no downshifting would have helped either at that point. Oh, I don't think so. I really don't. Um, it was kind of key to the moment thing too.

Speaker: Yeah. And so I did my best. I tried to veer into the snow bank. Um, and that bounced me kind of off the snow bank and, No major contact between the cars um except for rim to rim.

Speaker: Crazy thing. And so it completely bent my whole front control arm in the WRX. And so driving down the road, the student was like this going straight. So I had to have it towed. and I had it towed back to the dealership.

Speaker: um And around that time, um my ex was working for one of the dealerships over there. um And so they were able to get me a really good deal on a cross track.

Speaker: And they actually, I think they took my WRX in and complete trade. I don't think I, I don't think they, yeah. And I actually used my, um they wanted me to use my insurance stuff for a little bit, paid for the repairs and then they would take it in on trade. So that's kind of how it all worked out. And that's what got me into 2018 cross track. Okay.

Speaker: okay So that begins my cross-track story. And that binges away from my fast times and my ticket days into getting away from people and getting into into the mountains days.

Speaker: And so, yeah, that's kind of what started that whole process. First picked that thing up, um took it on a long, long road trip all the way down the coast, um almost into California, i believe. okay Brand new car.

Speaker: um That was fun to kind of break it in. And then I don't think it was too long after that. I started looking at aftermarket parts, started that whole process. And that was, the that was my first venture and into kind of the off-roading scene in Subarus. Started with us, the puck lift.

Speaker: think it was a ready lift. People gave me crap about it. You know what is, what it is. I um was on a budget. yeah You start somewhere. Correct. So I, and I, I believe honestly, and I, the crazy thing is I actually sold that car um to um middle school used to be middle school principal um his daughter and i see it every once in a while come back and it's still on this still on the two inch ready lift lift it's still yeah still kicking what all did you do to it besides the lift with anything else or basically just lifting tires and then skid plates that was basically it to that car

Speaker: That's honestly, everything aside from that is just kind of gravy. And I think when I dove in, I dove straight into tires. I just went straight to BFG KO2s. So that was quite the experience. And they're not the best in snow and ice, but they're great off-road. Didn't have any sidewall punctures.

Speaker: I was just talking about that tire ah with Brandon. you You might have met Brandon at the yeah Subaru event at the Expo. Drives up.

Speaker: The black four inch lifted SH Forrester. Correct. Yep. Yeah. He, he had run that tire for a long time and, uh, you know, everybody talks trash about the KO twos. It's all, they're heavy. They're heavy. They're heavy.

Speaker: They are heavy, but it's only because they're only LT. They don't sell them it in a, in a P metric. Yep. And when you compare apples to apples, they're actually a lightweight tire compared to like,

Speaker: kind Yeah, if you compare them to another like light trucker, yeah. The question everybody's wondering is, well, why would you sell the Crosstrek and buy the Outback? So I'm guessing, me personally, I'm guessing that you won the Wilderness came out and you were like, oh, a turbocharged?

Speaker: car that i can take oh yeah and what people don't understand i mean maybe they do but i don't think people truly understand how much of a dog that two two liter engine is it really is my gosh and when you load it down with you and dogs and all your camping stuff and you're trying to pull a mountain pass you're struggling to make it up just at speed limit oh yeah there There was a times I think I had a floor just trying to keep up with everyone and it was like 5,000 or 6,000 RPM and that's all the way up the mountain path.

Speaker: Yeah. which Right? They design, I mean, that engine is essentially what is in the Impreza. You know, the Impreza is just a little daily driver commuter and then you put heavier tires and smaller wheels and ah Again, and you we're talking about having those BFG KO2s, you throw on a little 2-liter cross track. Yeah, you're... Absolutely. Not fun, not fun. And so, yeah, there I was coming from technically an 08 XT to a WRX, so two turbos, right? And then straight into a 2-liter cross track.

Speaker: Um, so I was kind of an easy transition car, I guess, in between. it got me and it got my toes into the, the off-roading scene. But I guess what sparked my, um, interest to get rid of it was, again, I kind of got it, um,

Speaker: before the whole c word started. Yeah, yeah. and then And then that all happened, right? But then you couldn't get you couldn't get cars. You couldn't get parts. You couldn't get... And so then you saw used car prices. sorry wrong Yeah.

Speaker: Right? And I wasn't here to make a profit, but I'm going to sell it for its current market value. Honestly, think I sold that car $26,000. with 50,000 miles on it. And I bought it for 28.

Speaker: Dude, same thing happened to me. Right? And like, why would I not? And so at at that time, i would with it being high, I was a positive seven grand.

Speaker: it' This is my chance. This is my opportunity. i Yeah. And so I was positive. I'm like, just do it. they just Like you said, they just came out with the Wilderness Model Outbacks.

Speaker: um I eyed them from the beginning, right? And I'm just like, here's my chance. opportunity and my chance to get into one. And so I took it. I sold that card again to a friend of mine, took that money, that seven grand and put it as a down payment on the Outback.

Speaker: I was going to say, it's funny because again, I was watching your podcast with Michelle yeah and it was so funny because our FIN numbers were really close because we both ordered them at the same time and they both came in at the same time. Oh, that's so sick.

Speaker: Did you guys know each other at that point? I know. Because I think we all met on that same trip. Correct. I believe that first same trip where you guys met is where i first met Michelle as well. Okay.

Speaker: And that's where I first met you. oh Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, dude, that was a sick, sick adventure. did Had you considered... at any point um before the outback you know they make like the crosstrek sport with the 2.5 had you eyed that at all or i had any of the foresters like an older xt or anything or wouldn't be worth it in my opinion again and it was really nice to have the space um i love the space and here not too long ago um and we might get into this with the problems the problems that i have had with my outback

Speaker: um I was stuck in another loaner and they put me in 2024 Crosstrek Sport. ah come to the It was fine. No, it was fine. It had the 2.5 because it was a Sport, right? So the the engine was fine and I really don't mind the 2.5s. They're not horrible.

Speaker: Not enough space. I struggled, man, because my dogs take up the entire back seat. yeah I just get the little trunk. And so that tiny trunk and that Crosstrek, no, it wasn't cutting it.

Speaker: Well, it it's funny to me. yeah i i feel like the Crosstrek, anybody that's purchased a Subaru for the first time in the last five to six years, the Crosstrek is their gateway drug.

Speaker: and It is. It's very interesting. Yeah, they they have no idea how small it really is. Correct. until Until they move up. yeah Exactly. Yeah. And it's surprising because, again, my adventures with my outback, I was put into another loaner and I was just put into 25 Forester.

Speaker: yeah um So I got to experience the brand new Forester. um That has surprising amount maroonment. I was not quite as much as the outback, ah but... Honestly, surprisingly, way more than the Crosstrek.

Speaker: I think Subaru has done a really good job, even in the smaller cars, of maximizing the space they do have. Oh, they beat out the competition, I believe. oh i I think you're right. I remember so i so i sold them for a little while when I first went back to the States.

Speaker: And I remember getting into like, you know, because when you're selling cars, you're also like... you know, you've got your, got your hands on the wheel of a bunch of other different things too. Yeah.

Speaker: And I remember being like, man, people paid money for this Honda. Like this thing sucks. There's no room in it. And it would be like a comparable, you know, a CRV or something like that. It's like, wait, what? no ah No, it's correct. Yeah. Yeah. no i I actually, i really like your, I like your car a lot.

Speaker: I remember meeting you on that, on that trip but and you had all kinds of, Yeah, dude. Yeah. The Outback. I remember you already had at that point a bunch of cool little, you know, accessories that you'd bought to make it a little more ah functional for, for camping and stuff like that. I'm,

Speaker: and i am fan And I continue to say it's never done and it never will be done. Building cars is just like life. It's there's always more to do, always more to learn. Correct. And yeah. And it's just like, you think you're done and like, no, there's something else that you want to add or you want this or you want to do that. Right. So yeah.

Speaker: Or you break something and you're like, well, i broke it. I might as well upgrade. Oh no. And thankfully I have not that I, that I have technically that I have,

Speaker: run over something and broken no i have not it's good good let me ask you about the mods i know you've you've probably gone through a few iterations of your mod list um correct yep some things have been swapped out yes what what are you sitting on currently for ah general mods like wheels tires lift kit um and any other major mods that you've that you've got on it I mean, yeah, I guess just start at the top. So I've been through a couple different sets of tires. I guess um the ones that came on, they were great. They did great in the winter. Those Geolenders, I believe they were.

Speaker: um But then you start taking it off-road and then I started gouging the sidewalls. I couldn't. Me and sidewalls, man, it's ah it's a it's a nightmare. just always sits in the back of my head. It's the last thing I want out there on the trail, right?

Speaker: Yeah. can't fix it No, no. I mean, especially, oh my gosh, I think, um and I know I'm going to mention his name probably more than once, but Toe. Yeah, dude. Toe, if you listen to this, you better get on here. i die If you can get him on, I'll pat you on the back. um Our German brother. but I know. I love him dearly. He's the greatest guy. I really like him.

Speaker: and he And again, i and he he's kind of changed a little bit, but when I first met Towe, he was go-getter. um He would take that cross-truck and push that freaking cross-truck to its limits.

Speaker: And i I made the mistake. I made the mistake. and i when I first made friends with him, um I told him, I was like, I'll go anywhere. You put you take that cross-truck, will go.

Speaker: Man, I almost regret it There's almost times I'm just like, what did I get myself into? Because, oh man, I have some stories. But yeah, the first sidewall damage was we he took me up above, I think it was above Cle Elum. And he took me on this mine trail is all all I can explain it up behind someone's house.

Speaker: you literally you go up there you go across the bridge and you go by someone's it looks like their driveway and then it turns into this crazy i mean we' switch back straight up this down and um i think i can't remember how many miles but yeah stock tires still i even think i didn't have a lift yet and here we are taking this brand new car up here right and um He didn't care. He pushed that cross truck to its limits. I loved it. yeah and He still got it.

Speaker: I know. I'm i'm very i'm very impressed. But yeah, I went up there and started slicing sidewalls. And then that was the first time, I think, right? And it was the craziest time for it to happen.

Speaker: um Right on the middle of this shelf road, I'm crawling over rocks. Cliff on this side. i mean I mean, yeah, I can't go anywhere on that side. All of sudden, I'm like, hmm, my steering wheel doesn't turn. And so that Outback has electronic power steering and the power steering overheated.

Speaker: Oh. It overheated the motor the power steering. have never heard of that. And it's not the first time it's happened to me since. What? And so here I was, cliff road. My dogs are in the back seat. I got all my stuff, toes ahead of me. And I'm just like,

Speaker: i I can't do anything. I literally, it's like, I would have to stand on the steering wheel to make a turn, right? Because no power steering. And I'm just, are you doing? Like, I'm up here in the middle of nowhere. cant How do I get out of here? So I think, let it sit there for a minute, open the hood, try to let it cool down.

Speaker: I think it eventually started working after cooled down. And then I just backed down um and a tow went i ahead. And I'm kind of glad I didn't follow because he said it got up there and it was just a complete, the road was all gone and there was no order to turn around. And he's like, if you would have come up here, I don't think we would have both got turned around.

Speaker: I was down there waiting for him. And then I heard that, but yeah, that was the first time I had a little bit of an issue with the car. Nothing major. It fixed itself. And then that's sidewall damage on the, on the tires. all yeah And then that's what prompted me to get new tires. And my first set tires were Toyos.

Speaker: Okay. Open country AT3s. Yep. a great tire. Which were great tires. Loved them. um Great on-road tire. um Great, I would like to say, somewhat...

Speaker: mild to a slightly aggressive off-road that's they they look good um but again i had side damage problems so i would constantly don't think there was enough um to me there wasn't enough side lugs um there yeah it's it's it's just like mild molding built into the design of the tire you're 100 right And also what I found when I would go down, when I would air down, they would squish a lot where you where it made contact.

Speaker: So that that sidewall that squished out, that would constantly get assaulted by rocks. Which is normal, but you need a little more. You kind of want a stiffer sidewall when you air down. You don't want that to stretch out and stick out and get hit by rocks and stuff. Yeah, exactly. Depending on what you're doing, that's a good tip for people.

Speaker: So yeah, i keep that in mind. but So yeah, that was my next tire. That was my next adventure, I think. And I think right when I transitioned into those Toyota tires is right when I bought Ironman Suspension.

Speaker: So I kind of did both of those at the same exact time, I believe. um Yeah, that there's a whole story behind that too. you Are you still running the Toyos or have you switched again? No. so um again, took those Toyos on crazy adventures. i but And again, this is insane. what i Again, I made the mistake of saying I'd fall to toe.

Speaker: Told you it'd be brought up a couple times, get into the crazy adventures. um But yeah, then I put those Toyos on. um First adventure, first off-road adventure with those, straight into Nachi's Pass.

Speaker: Oh, dude. Correct. You don't even have to say anything to me, but explain to other people what's up. um We'll just put it this way. We skipped the very beginning section. um And...

Speaker: <unk>t know I'd never know what to expect following to to these crazy adventures. um But pulled into the first beginning section, what do you see at the very top? You see a Jeep um cheap Cherokee, an older Jeep, like Grand Cherokee or Jeep Cherokee.

Speaker: Yeah, I've got one. yeah just And it was I think it was lifted. I swear it was bigger than 30 tires on it. And it's up there on this hill, and it's stuck.

Speaker: And I'm just like, I look at this, and we're we're literally our way up, and i'm we ah we come across that, and we're like, no. yeah So we I think we back out of there, um and we go around.

Speaker: For people that don't know, like you said, Nachi's Trail, I believe is a Jeep badge of honor trail. I don't actually know. I've never done it. believe it is. Okay. The topography out in like the Natchez area is like, it's not to be messed around with. Like it's serious business.

Speaker: No, it's not. And the looks that we got from people in their Toyotas and their Jeeps um was, yeah, they were just like, you brought that out here sort of thing.

Speaker: Yeah. um But yeah, I think, again, we skipped that first little section um and we went around and there's multiple places you can enter along the route and there's multiple places you can kind of exit along the route. um But we stuck our noses in there and plowed through it. And then, again, brand new Toyota tires come out of there, sidewall damage.

Speaker: and let me Can I ask you a question real quick? yeah can you kind of describe to people what some of the rocks and just what it looks like there like what what the uh you know just what they'd be looking at if they showed up there's muddy spots um there's the the the bins are crazy. I don't know how they get some of these full-size trucks in there. I, oh yeah I toured a Tacoma or like four runner. I believe you're pushing your luck because I was pushing my luck with the Outback. And I'm like, I'm shoving my nose up into the brush, stopping, yanking the steering wheel just to go around a giant tree stump.

Speaker: Right. And so you're, there's these crazy corners. You're going around rocks, um, everywhere. very narrow in spots. um There was a bridge we came across, I believe, that the lip to get onto this bridge, I think, again, it might not might not be good to scale there, but I think it was but like a good foot and a half.

Speaker: Holy crap. And... I come to this and I'm just like, I'm, I'm kind of done. Toes like, Nope, we're doing it. And so he goes and pulls logs out and we're shoving logs into the beginning of this bridge. And this bridge is rickety out there. Yeah.

Speaker: And, um, I think he, can't remember if that's the first time he he had to use his winter knot. Um, But it might have been. It might not have been.

Speaker: But yeah, we've got he got up on there and then he got across that little bridge section. Then I it popped up there and got all across the little bridge section. And there's tree roots everywhere. that I guess yeah that is probably the most prominent thing in Nachi's Trail is massive tree roots.

Speaker: Well, there's everything I've ever seen in that area has always, yeah, like you said, a lot of tree roots. And a lot of the rocks are sharp. Yeah. Yeah, sharp and just, and they're they're big and they're they're stuck in the ground. And so if you hit one of those, it doesn't budge.

Speaker: Exactly. It's not going anywhere. Your tire, on the other hand, is going to go somewhere. Your tire will be the one to make the compromise and move, correct? Exactly. Just physics. Just the way the world works, unfortunately.

Speaker: um so yeah, and then there was, I think the next spot we came across, the next major spot, I think, Joe actually got stuck. He got caught up. I think there was a root that was sticking up.

Speaker: I mean, again, the roots were massive and it got stuck between, kind of got pinned up between, i guess, the fender and his tire and got wedged up in there. oh Couldn't go forward, we couldn't go back.

Speaker: yeah um And so he was stuck. So yeah luckily he had a winch and so he pulled himself out. And then I did the same section, but again, so the cross-trick's a little bit shorter, the outback's longer, so different wheelbase.

Speaker: Didn't really have an issue, um kind of went right through it. and Okay. And so, yeah, made it through there and out of there, and the only damage was me, sidewall damage, and Toe lost a um rock rail.

Speaker: Oh, okay. Ripped off the rock rail, correct. Okay. No kidding. Pulled off a whole rock slide. Yeah, it was hanging on sideways. And then as soon as we popped out onto one of the major roads there, I think um we hooked it onto my, I think my hitch.

Speaker: Okay. Tried to pull it back into place, which just ripped it off. Ripped. correct and i i ended up putting it in because he didn't have anywhere to put it and i had my rooftop box at the time so i managed to barely fit it my rooftop box and so i ended up bringing that thing home so yeah that was so good so you're not running those tires anymore i presume No, but I ran them for a long time. um Quite a bit of sidewall damage um throughout the several thousand miles that I had them. I think I put them on at around 25,000 miles that I can remember on the car. And then I think I just took them off. Literally just took them off.

Speaker: 60? sixty I think I have 60,000. Well, have a little bit more now than 60, but I took them off at 60. So what was that? Like 30, 30, something, 40,000 miles on them. Well, that's not bad.

Speaker: They don't have... they have They don't have a super aggressive sidewall, but it seems like you can beat the piss out of the sidewalls and they will puncture. There was some deep holes, man. I don't know how they didn't lose air.

Speaker: i I looked at that and I peeled open the the tire and I'm like, if I went to a tire shop, they would probably tell me that is not safe. And I just put the little flap back and just said, I don't see that.

Speaker: And that was just not on one. That was on several of them. Yeah. So, yeah. And then, so, yes, I did switch out of those and um I'm glad I did um And praise to Carrie, Carrie and Milton, um they were able to get me into an amazing set of Milestar Patagonias.

Speaker: AT Pros, baby. Correct. And that has been life-changing. We'll put it that way because, yeah, those Toyos, now that I've been to these, they were soft and squishy. These...

Speaker: I feel like I'm on rails. Right. then Exactly. And they're still not that heavy. I don't know how. No, they're not. Dude. I don't know how Milestar must have like a deal with Satan or something to make magically light tires. I don't know what it is, but it's impressive. think they're either ah the same lightness or lighter, maybe even the toys that I had. um but I just cannot believe. And I,

Speaker: I just got done doing about a 1,200-mile trip off-road with Michelle, Toe, and Robin. Okay. um Yeah, and Robin, um she's a friend of Toe's, and she drives a lifted Jeep Wrangler.

Speaker: Okay. I don't think I've met her yet. but Probably not. No, she's super nice lady. Sounds like a Okay, good good crew of people right there, man. good Good crowd. And so I was able to put those milestones to their test and they outperformed my greatest expectations.

Speaker: yeah I was going down roads that I would be nervous going down with the Toyos. Again, in my head, I always worry about sidewall damage. And I always am looking and constantly scanning the road for rocks that I could possibly down. I don't want to stop and change a tire. oh That's not fun.

Speaker: Yeah, no thanks. And I, i lie this is hard for me to admit, but I rely heavily on other people for recovery. yeah I carry nothing, which people will probably give me crap about. um But i I know my limits and my thought process is if I'm going in somewhere, if i don't think I can make it out of there, I don't go in.

Speaker: If I go alone. Yeah, when it sounds like when when you're doing the stupid stuff, it's usually with somebody else. Correct, because yeah they have the recovery gear. yeah um So again, I just have my stock jack, and I have it lifted now. And I can't even get this thing off the ground with my with my floor jack now.

Speaker: Yeah. So again, if I'm off-road and I'm like, I don't even know what to use. like I don't like bottle jacks. You can't really use a high-lift jack, really, with Subarus. And so I'm like, I don't have a place to put one of these fancy off-road 50, 60-pound jacks.

Speaker: Oh, yeah. yeah so yeah know Again, I don't know how I got onto that, onto this, but yeah. Yeah. There was a question somewhere. It's applicable. It, it, it tracks. Yeah. So, oh yeah. So that's how I got into the milestone or Patagonia's. And anyway, got away from those, but yeah, those, if anybody is looking for a tire, I will highly recommend the milestone or Patagonia's.

Speaker: Yeah. And I put them through heck. I tell you, they, they, they performed no sidewall damage and I'm flying down roads that are covered in rocks. Yeah. No issue.

Speaker: And I'll get out and look and you'll see maybe a spot on the side where it might have hit a rock, but nothing. Yeah. Well, I think it's funny too, because people ah would consider Milestar like an off-brand.

Speaker: they're They're still like a new company and people are still don't respect them yet. No, and I will say this. um i have I've been trying to put their name out there um ah on Facebook and stuff. I'm part of a couple forums. And so every chance I get, I'll throw their name out there when people are looking for tires.

Speaker: um and gotten some pushback right like i've gotten some uh this person's like i had one person reply like oh those are just cheap chinese brand tires and you you go to the website no you go to the rep website yeah you and it says clearly made in the usa and i i posted that i'm not mean i just posted that and then i go back later and you look at that post and it's like yeah this you you you posted to somebody that deleted their post And then I think one of the the latest criticisms I got, which I have looked into it, which I i think is true, they're actually made by Nan King.

Speaker: technically it's a Chinese company, I think, or something. chapter i don't know. I don't want to get too involved in that. But yeah, someone did post that and I did look into it. And some of it's legitimate.

Speaker: But again... You take the tires that I've had, right? The the Toyos, the Geolanders, and the BFGKO2s, and these tires, to me, outperform all of those.

Speaker: Yeah. You say they're made by a weird ah weird company, and I'm like, i don't care. I can tell you what performs, and those perform. You know, I was just talking. So the episode that just came out today with Chris, um we kind of talked about that a little bit of like, you know, brand name is cool, but it it really doesn't matter. I don't care where it's made. I don't care who makes it. If it works, it works.

Speaker: Correct. You know, and I think another thing is. You can spend $10,000 on all these different upgrades and stuff, but finding a tire that works for the terrain in the region that you're in is, in my opinion, one of the most important things you can do. Yeah. Now, will say there's one downfall.

Speaker: And my downfall with them, and it's it's not crazy, it's not horrible, um they're on the verge to me of almost having the spacing between lugs of mud terrain.

Speaker: And so what I find a lot is I collect rocks like crazy. And so out on the trail, I constantly have to tell the people behind me, like do not follow close when we get onto the pavement because like here I am miles down the road,

Speaker: I'm still flinging out rocks. Right. And I'm yeah like so that bothers me a little bit. That's the one downfall about them. Yeah. There's all there. You can have, you know, you can have four out of the five benefits of tires. You can never have all five. Unfortunately, there's going to be something that you don't like. And if that's, that's the only thing that I don't like so far, i I'll deal with it.

Speaker: yeah yeah they you know i can't remember the last time i when i was looking at derrick's the other day i can't remember if they have stone ejectors in between the lugs or not but i don't think so but again i could be wrong and i but the thing is like i'll go out on the trail i'll come home 60 65 miles an hour I'll go to work for a week and I still see just just rocks just caked in there. And you try to peel them out of it? No, you're not getting this. They're in there.

Speaker: Correct. and And you start to shave them down. Yeah. Yeah. You start to shave them down and they're flush with the tread. It'll come out of eventually. I mean, yeah. Maybe it's just extra grip on the ice, maybe. There you go.

Speaker: Well, let me ask you this. what um Are you on stock wheels and are those 245, 65,

Speaker: So yes. And so again, I'll be a little controversial. Um, I, I, so here, let me, let me put it this way, I guess. And maybe it's cause I don't have a lot of extra money to spend. And so I like to spend my money where it counts, I guess I'll put it in that context. Um, so when I had my Crosstrek, um, that limited model came with 17 inch rims.

Speaker: Okay. Um, but with the Crosstrek, had smaller brakes, right? So it allowed you to go down entire sides and get a get a bigger sidewall and so i did do that i think i went to methods i think the standard what everyone goes with the method wheels um and so i did i think i went down to a 15 inch rim and and got the bigger sidewall for off-roading um but with the outback it especially with the wilderness edition it comes with the smallest rim you can put on it Yeah, it's a big, big brake setup. Correct, yeah. And so I think it's double pot in the front and single pot in the rear, but those front brakes are big. um

Speaker: And so it's 17-inch rim is the smallest rim you can put on it. And so I, in my head, I struggle spending money on rims if it doesn't serve a purpose.

Speaker: And again, I i get there's there's aesthetics, right? And everyone has their own opinion. And hey, you know what? If you got the money and you want you want to spend money on rims and have it look good, awesome. I'll spend my money where it counts and into my overlanding setup.

Speaker: um And then I don't worry about if they get beat up. Yeah. So yeah. And so I do have stock rims. They are beat up. There's some nice gouges in them. And then, yeah, so I did upgrade tire size. And I believe I instantly did tire size right when I got away from the Geolanders.

Speaker: Okay. um I went straight to 245, 65, 17s. Okay. okay um ah Okay. Two things. Number one, the stock wheels on those are tough. They're really tough. They are. And the crazy thing people probably don't know is, and I don't, maybe not all of them, but most of Subaru's rims are made by Inkle.

Speaker: Yeah. Or Inke, however you want to say it, right? Yeah. so you look at the back of those those stock wellness rims, they say UK on them. Yeah. Yeah, dude. And they're nice rims. I'm just like, what would I get rid of them? And to me, I guess, they remind me of the old Subaru rims. The old days. I want to say on the Justys or something. That though that that weird style.

Speaker: greg It reminds me a little bit of going back in the day. Oh, dude. um Just a little bit before... the subarus that your mom would have purchased for the postal service yeah they had a wheel on the first gen legacies okay that is almost identical in design i think it's the same like five or six spoke okay very like mild no aggressive styling or anything basically i love that wheel man it's yeah just it's clean it it doesn't have the goofy machine face on it or anything it looks and i i will think you mentioned this for michelle's interview those crosswalk rims oh my lord

Speaker: I call them starfish rims and I couldn't wait to get rid of them. They were horrible. You know what? That wheel is actually 18 inch. It's not 17. Correct. You are right. So that's, yeah, that limited came with 18s.

Speaker: It looks like some fricking, you know too bad and some, some, you know, what is it? Some, southern texas like goofy slab city type you know i don't know i just hang with the the patrick starfish i want to know what the person was taking when he designed those watching spongebob while while micro dosing maybe correct i've heard of what was made when they made disney movies and stuff so i want to know he was on when was making cross truck rims yeah dude yeah it's something like

Speaker: what's that place Port Arthur whatever, where a Paul wall is from in Texas, but they've all got like the big spinny rims and stuff. ah Correct. Yeah. that makes him in But yeah, I think, um, I think me and Michelle talked about that also where, you know, I remember back, um, you know, Oh eight to 14 when the, you know, the STIs came with, uh, like forged BBS wheels, uh,

Speaker: You'd spend anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 to get forged BBS wheels. Right. If you went and went and found from that manufacturer, you were going to spend a lot of money Yeah. And these kids would take their forged VBS wheels and buy some garbage like XXR hot boy wheels that weighed twice as much and were half as strong, you know? Or complete opposite, weighed half as much and were half were' half as strong.

Speaker: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Oh, man, what a fiasco. um Any problems fitting the 245-65 on your car? No. And i I believe there's some people out there that say rubbing, and I i guess different tire manufacturers have different tolerances. But in my experience, from from the Toyos, I think, to all of them, I think those would all fit with even outlet without lifting the wilderness initiative. Now, if you were going down to like 8.7%,

Speaker: maybe they they might do some rubbing but in my experience the people that i've told hey try it shouldn't have any rubbing one's had any rubbing with the 245 65s yeah yeah i think i think i see it on the splash guard sometimes and people consider that rubbing and i'm like hey if it doesn't damage the tire it's not considered rubbing yeah and i i'm telling you i can go full lock every direction and i have a zero rubbing and that was even before the lift and after lift yeah no rubbing okay Well, think too, you have a higher offset, you know, you're running stock wheels when you start to bring them out a little bit, people are running plus 15s or and know plus 30s or whatever it is that a lot of the 17 inch methods and black rhinos are.

Speaker: I think that'll contribute to the rubbing a little bit. so Yeah, you bring that tire out, you bring it closer, yeah. Now, I will say in the rear, there's not a lot of space left, right? like um I think, i so i swear there's probably only half an inch between between that fabric liner and that wheel in the rear. um The rear doesn't turn, so it's stationary, but it doesn't move up and down. But yeah, if it wouldnt it went forward or back any direction, it would probably rub.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, it looks like it's working. It works great. Yeah. No problems here. i love them. Yeah. 240. if you're looking for a set of tires, I say go straight to 245, 65s for further outbacks. And even i think the Forester wildernesses too. I think they but can go straight to those.

Speaker: Any, cause, cause there is a point with our cars where, you'll run out of torque, you know, cause people are like, Oh, well I've got this huge lift and I cut the fenders and all this stuff. So now I can fit 31s. Well, yeah, maybe you can fit 31s, but the motor and the transmission and the diffs are not really going to give you a whole lot of help.

Speaker: Do you feel like that size is still pretty manageable in terms of power? the back You don't notice. You just don't. I mean, I'll put it this way, and I probably shouldn't say this, but i was coming coming back home from one of my trips fully loaded.

Speaker: i mean, I had dogs in the backseat. I had all my camping gear. And I think the last time I weighed my Outback fully loaded for all my camping gear, that was maybe 100 pounds from 5,000. Oh, okay. It's a big boy. I was close to 5,000 pounds with all my camping stuff, with everything loaded.

Speaker: And I was coming... I was a while ago. I was coming back from one of my trips. And um I don't think people really understand how fast the outbound wilderness is. um i There was a WRX. I can't remember the exactly the year, but it was just being dumb.

Speaker: um i think it would... Anyway, they got in front of me and they were slowing down. And I'm like, I don't stand for BS. I just don't want to be around it. So I usually usually just try to get away from it.

Speaker: And um I think i i I floored it, man. I floored it and I passed this WRX. And I think by the time I got around him, I think I looked down. I might have... Yeah, we probably won't say. This was on a closed course, of course. Correct. No laws were broken.

Speaker: yeah No laws were broken here. um But i yeah I was doing a decent decent speed getting around them. and And I guess here's another thing people don't know in Washington State. and Yes, I do have a slight accent.

Speaker: I love it. Let's go. In Washington State, um according to the RCWs, because I had to fight these a lot when I had my WRX in my beginning days and my driving.

Speaker: um In the Washington State law, there is no speed when passing on a single like a single lane highway. Okay. No. And so I get some States, I think there you're allowed to do five over some States. They actually have in there none over, but in the state of origin 10, there is no set speed limit when passing. And I've gotten out a couple of tickets because of that.

Speaker: Um, but where they will get you is if you did it unsafely or if you endangered or if they think you're reckless or something like that, they may try to get you on that. But yeah, according to RCW, there is no speed limit passing.

Speaker: um but any, so I was passing that car. Uh, but dere They got a big engine in them, dude. It's the 2.4 DIT. It's a big engine. don't think people people underestimate these things.

Speaker: yeah And so I passed that WRX and then he apparently didn't like it. And so he caught back up to me and I was just like, let's go, buddy. And so I floored it and he could not pass me.

Speaker: He couldn't. dude and i was just like people like here i am fully loaded 5 000 pounds in a outback wilderness that's lifted with not we're talking at tires and here at wrx can't get around me yeah right people underestimate the power in these these outbacks and this for all the hate the cbt's get they shift faster than any human being could ever shift correct and i guess if you think about it how they look at it they're always in the correct gear ratio and they always keep you in peak power band technically. There's never any lag in the turbo spooling. Correct. So think about that where a normal car has to shift, you lose those few seconds. But if if you, and I think I've seen people do it, um to get there to get most newer Subarus to operate like a true CVT, you can power break them from takeoff.

Speaker: okay And when you do that, they won't shift. They will just go straight to basically peak power band and stay there and act like a CBT. okay But if you just take off from a normal stop, they will...

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. They will yeah shift yeah to shift. I know you can do like, what is it? Two step or whatever that constantly keeps the turbo spooling or something like that. I i don't know a whole lot about tuning. I don't, I don't know a whole two step. I, again, I love my manuals. I,

Speaker: I want a manual again maybe someday, and I think more kids should learn how to drive manuals. Agreed. ah But again, they're going away, right? I don't even just super even offer one besides the WRX.

Speaker: The BRZ and the WRX. That's all we got. know Acura makes a six-speed manual. i can't remember which model it is, but there's a lot of them. kind of surprised the new Taco has a six-speed manual as an option. Yeah.

Speaker: I don't think I knew that. Yeah, they come with an option. But now I don't think you can get a certain engine option when you do that. I think you can't get the hybrid system maybe when you do that. But yeah, they actually, they're they still offer a six-speed.

Speaker: Well, I love it. Correct. Yeah, I think, again, I think more manufacturers should at least offer, at least even if you don't sell it, at least make an offering. Yeah. It's hard with all the, with all the regulations around the yeah fuel economy, because you can't beat a CVT when it comes to fuel economy.

Speaker: It's, that's how they're able to do what they're doing. But yeah. Hey, let me ask you a little bit about your yeah lift kit without being too defamatory. Can you kind of share um your initial ah or just, just kind of how that whole process has gone and what you're running right now?

Speaker: Yeah, so that's ah that's kind of a whole story. And again, yeah I'm not trying to i not tremendous slam anybody. And I'll all say this, i they made it right in the end, um which is what I can say speaks volumes.

Speaker: yeah um But yeah, so I started out with Ironman, two-inch spec Cs. Okay. So you did the spec C. Correct. Yeah. So I went straight to spec C and again, that was a recommendation from Joe because I think that's what he was running. Okay. Went straight to spec C because I was already kind of experiencing some sagging in the rear end just from loading my camp and stuff. Right. So I'm like, I need the extra weight. And I thought about it. I'm like,

Speaker: I live in a house that has a wood stove. I might eventually hook a trailer. went and got a a hitch on it, so I need the extra capacity in the back. Let's go, dude. Right? So I'm like, I might end up going and getting some firewood and pulling a trailer and and doing a little bit of stuff like that. with it Nothing crazy, but... um So I needed the extra extra weight capacity in the back, and I think they... Is it extra 660 pounds overload springs?

Speaker: I think is what they um they quoted those as. I actually can't remember. I should do more research. I want to say it was 660 pounds, but I get to take it with a grain of salt, I guess.

Speaker: That actually sounds right. I think, yeah, I think that's what it was. Um, so yeah, i started off with those kind of started great. Um, and then it went into the rear end sagging. Right.

Speaker: And so I kind of dealt with that whole process. Um, I don't really think I looked a whole bunch into it. I can tell a friend of mine, Josh, was, I think, talking to somebody else that had reached out to Ironman, and i guess they were noticing that the um but bush bush machines yeah the bushings in those rear shocks were collapsing.

Speaker: yeah And I think that's where they said um the sagging was coming from in the rear. um And so I was sent a new set of rear shocks to replace those because took pictures and I was able to prove that they were um collapsing.

Speaker: Replaced the rear shocks, gave me back my give me back the height that I lost. um And then, shoot, not quite another year went on. went on with those new ones and they were sagging again. Again, i'm I'm one to use my vehicle, right? Like ah you might have someone out there that puts these Ironman suspension on and it's a grocery getter, right? And they don't put it through its paces and you never never weigh it down. You never put it into that 660 pound overload that they're there rated for. So you never experience the problem sometimes.

Speaker: And so I was eventually experiencing the sagging in the rear end again. um And that's when I think We started the whole Overland Expo thing.

Speaker: And I think I was in talks with Iron Man um a little bit. And that's right when I discovered that one of the replacement rear shocks, besides the sagging, and completely was leaking.

Speaker: So it had leaked all its oil out, right? And so I was in talks with them trying to get one before I made the 2,000 mile round trip all the way down to Redmond, Oregon.

Speaker: And they couldn't get they couldn't get it to me in time, and it would made me a little frustrated. um And so I drove all the way down there to Redmond, Oregon on a completely blown shock. Oh, man.

Speaker: um I made it work, and it way it wasn't crazy. And that's when I, so I had, I held my old ones. And so I, even though the bushing was collapsed, I'm like, it's probably better than completely blown.

Speaker: So I threw it in the car to take with, just in case things got wonky on the highway. Mm-hmm. and I've never experienced a blown shock, so I really don't know what to expect. Yeah. it's If it was really bad, you might have a problem. but you know and yet For some people, it's probably a great setup.

Speaker: um But I think people need to yeah realize $1,500 for a whole suspension setup and is not a lot of money. it's It's really not for a complete assembly.

Speaker: yeah And you've seen their prices kind of come down over time. I think when I bought mine, I think I originally paid $1,300 and that was with a discount. okay and And now you look at them, what, $800, $900 for the complete set. so Yeah.

Speaker: And I think it just, you know, when you look at things like Bilstein or, you know, anybody else that's out there producing shocks or springs and you realize, like If there's enough margin in them to sell them at $1,000, it probably is best served for a grocery getter or light off-roading. But that's not what they advertise it as, right? Exactly.

Speaker: That's exactly right. I guess here's my problem. i was um Again, I came from puck lifts, right? And I was always told that's not a true suspension lift. yeah By a lot of people. They're like, no, that's just a leveling kit. That's not a true suspension lift. That's whatever you're lying to yourself. Right.

Speaker: I can't. And so that's when I was like, no, I why i i want to have a true suspension kit. And so at that time. i believe I don't know how new they were, but that's what everyone recommended. Everyone's like, no, get Ironman, get Ironman, get Ironman, right? And so that's the path that I took.

Speaker: um Because, i again, I wanted a true suspension. I wanted to get away from puck lifts. um and So that's the direction that I went. And, again, ah in the end, they made it right. I'm not using them anymore. have have have a bit of a, an Ironman graveyard in my garage. Um, my set's not the only set that's in there. I'll say that.

Speaker: Um, so transitioned away from those. Um, and then was, um, at Overland Expo was talking to Rally Tech. Um, And I was the over there, saw what they had on display, got to chatting with them a little bit, and was still a little unsure on kind of what I wanted to But I did end up ordering the overload springs, the one-inch overload springs for the Outback Wilderness.

Speaker: And I believe it's for the 22 to 25 model year. okay Now, I think that probably will change with the new one because that's completely different setup. Yeah. But yeah, so I ended up ordering the overload springs that were an inch lift on top of stock.

Speaker: And then i would after I got them, I'm like, I'm still sitting here debating on what I'm going to do. like I don't really know how I want to to install because I experienced some issues with um the Ironmans in the front going over large bumps and stuff.

Speaker: um i would feel like I feel like there was almost too much spring in the front for what I had. lot of people running full bumpers, metal bumpers, winches on the front. like I don't have any of that.

Speaker: So I don't have all that extra weight in the front. So I felt like when I would go over a large bump, the spring weight was almost too much for the front. Yeah. And so i i here I am. i'm all i'm Again, and the project's never finished.

Speaker: I'm experimenting a little bit, even with a new suspension. um Because I'm not afraid of it like I was. Now that I've been into this scene and gone through multiple Subas and gone through, help other people fix their car. shoot I have a lady at work that drives a limited Porsche. I think it's 23. Okay.

Speaker: three and I do all our oil changes. Again, so here I am doing other people's maintenance. And I do all my own maintenance. I do all my front-route diffs. I do my own oil changes. i ge I do everything. Are you planning to just run, or currently, are you running just the springs with stock Subaru struts?

Speaker: Back to that, yes. so I got off little bit of a tangent there, sorry. um You're good. So, yes, I'm experimenting a little bit. So I ended up keeping... stock struts front and rear, adding the overload springs in the rear.

Speaker: ah have the overload springs for the front because it kind of came as a kit. I didn't install them. And okay I will lie to myself a little bit and be like, well, I just didn't want to do them because want to try it out. But springs scare me.

Speaker: Oh, no, I get it. I get it. Right. And so I was in the rear ones. They have multiple... I guess, um, circular coils that you can correct coils that you can attach the spring compressor to, but those fronts, the fronts, not so much two spots.

Speaker: And when you compress them, they're all cattywampus. Right. So I'm like, yeah I started doing, I'm like, you know what? I will wait on this. Let's install them, um, as is to see how they are. And so I ended up doing a one and a half inch so top head spacer on the front with stock springs.

Speaker: Perfect. And that put think that's a great setup. Correct, because I don't have the extra weight in the front. And so if I ever do add the front bumper on the winch, I have the overload springs that I can add. And it's actually even. So I did the overload springs in the rear, not in the front.

Speaker: One and a half inch spacer, rally Tech spacer on the front. One and a half inch Rally Tech spacer on the rear. And I did a little bit more in the rear because when I do load it down, I do have about ah about a half inch to almost of an inch of squat, even with the Rally Tech.

Speaker: But that brings it down to about even where the front is. So when it is loaded, it looks but looks even. When it's unloaded, it looks slightly lifted in the back. And that's that's exactly how they're supposed to work. Correct.

Speaker: no I love it. Absolutely love it. Well, I'm really glad you brought that whole thing up when you were talking about switching over to a true suspension lift. i I don't know how many times I'm going to have to yell and scream about how it Because when people think of spacer lifts, they're coming from the 4x4 world, and they think that it's the same thing as like a body but but body lift on like a Toyota. And see, I've never been from the 4-wheel drive world, so I really don't know what what a spacer lift is on those.

Speaker: Let me explain it to you real quick, just so you know how ridiculous it is that people compare it in the Subaru community. body on frame trucks and SUVs, they literally, you can unbolt the body and lift it off of the frame.

Speaker: Interesting. And that's what they're doing. They're just literally spacing the body up off the frame yeah of the vehicle. But Subarus don't have a ah ah separate frame and body. It's a unibody. Yeah.

Speaker: And I get so pissed when I hear people, you know, making somebody feel stupid for using a spacer lift because it's not the same thing at all. It technically, it is a suspension lift when you because it's a contained suspension piece, all you're doing is just adding length to it. Yeah, because you have the front and rear subframes, basically, and you're putting that on top of the strut, which is... Even what RAV4s don't even have, that I notice, have struts. They have a shock, but then their spring is separate. Subaru has the strut.

Speaker: Yeah, it's it's a completely different setup. and so i just If anybody's listening to this, I want them to just not... Listen to the stupid hype. And because there's literally nothing wrong with running spacer lifts. I've been running them for a decade.

Speaker: Love them. They're the most reliable way to lift a car. And if you need overload springs, you need overload springs, but that's a completely different conversation. Yeah. so And here's something else I learned also. This is mind boggling that I learned at Overland Expo down there.

Speaker: Everyone prays how tough these stock um Outback Wilderness struts are. They are, dude. People don't. I didn't realize it. Six-speed manual 2012 Outback.

Speaker: Love that car. I just swapped out a top hat because, you know, the bearing was starting to get old. While I'm swapping the top hat out, I pull the strut apart.

Speaker: Speaking of springs and being a little nervous and scared. yeah so i raing Dude, I pull the thing off. These are OEM struts from Toyota.

Speaker: Technically they would have been born in 2011 if it was model year two 12 and the strut still had full pressure. No, ah no sagging, no problems whatsoever. And I was like, well, this is going straight back in the way it came out. This is awesome.

Speaker: So um'm yeah I'm glad you mentioned that. That's a good thing for people to to realize. It's the same thing as like the BBS forged wheels versus the aftermarket stuff, man. Like, Correct. It's great. Yeah. People, again, they don't realize it's made by a really good manufacturer. So yeah, people, again, I learned that.

Speaker: And so i I, yeah. And luckily I still had my stock suspension. I left it in the garage. It had what? two years three years of dust yeah maybe a thousand miles or something correct well i think i think when i swapped it i think it was 20 or 25 000 miles but yeah freshly broken in correct so they were basically brand new i just had to give them a quick scrub down from the last time from the mud bath i gave them last time you know michelle mentioned that i don't know if you heard that part of our conversation but she said

Speaker: you know if you're going to upgrade your suspension don't make the mistake i did keep keep your oem suspension because it really is good and and i want it and i've heard this from a lot of lot of people i have i have another friend kim um i think she yeah kim she went through iron man suspension and debacle also and she i think she went ended up doing uh top hat spacers um rally tech i believe i'm not 100 sure but But she got rid of her OEM parts, I think, with her skid plates. I think there's some structural like brackets underneath that I think with um a certain skid plate brand, you actually remove them, and and the other skid plate brand, you don't.

Speaker: okay So she switched brands, and so she needed those plates again, but she got rid of them. So again, another instance of keep your OEM parts. Yeah. And, and she actually, if I remember correctly, she went for, through multiple suspension lifts.

Speaker: I feel so bad for her. ah Same. and And then somebody broke into their cars and stole a bunch of stuff. That's i sound really horrible. Chad's taco even got stolen for weeks.

Speaker: That's what happened. Okay. I couldn't remember. I think her car her car got broken into, I think. And then the the taco got stolen. For the record, if you steal cars, I hope you accidentally crash. It's not okay. I mean, people work hard for their stuff.

Speaker: Exactly. And I think when when they found that Toyota, they were actually in the process of removing the yeah um the rack on top. and dude i just i can't with all that stuff and we coddle these adults and it's like no these are people who need to because you can't force people to help themselves but you can force them to follow the law and breaking and stealing people's stuff is okay again that's costs that cost and then you know mean people correct and people you don't know what kind of life that person's living right like they could be in not a great position in life And all of a sudden they come out to a broken window and all their stuff stolen.

Speaker: I could throw them over the edge. Right. So you just don't know. Yeah. You don't know that person's life. And I just yeah don't do it. It's not a nice thing to do. Oh, I agree. And I get it, man. Life is hard, but I, you know, you know, a little bit of my story. I've had a, I've had hard life. I grew up below the poverty line. Never to this day. I've never stolen anything.

Speaker: If I can manage to make things happen and not hurt other people to take care of myself, I think other grown adults can do the same thing, man. Correct. It's harder, honestly, and in in my adult life, it's honestly harder to deal with adults than it is to deal with children, honestly. isn Isn't it crazy? Because adults have their they have their they're set in their ways, and you're not going to tell them what they're going to do, right? They're an adult. Exactly.

Speaker: Oh, I can't even with that. Oh, I could rant about that all day. Okay. Let me, um, ask, you've got a ton of cool stuff on the car. I know at one point you had a, I believe, was it a Yakima box?

Speaker: Yeah, so I'm running Rhino-Rack crossbars. And I think they're 54-inch crossbars, so they do stick over over the edges a little bit. um And then I threw a Yakima, I think it was like Carbonite 16-box, so 16-liter, I think it was, on top of that. And I ran that for... That actually transitioned from my Crosstrek...

Speaker: Over into my Outback. and okay And then for several, through my entire, career ask me how I fit in the cross track. I couldn't tell you how, im because I'm six foot two. Yeah, you're total. How I slept in that thing?

Speaker: No clue. I managed to do it though. um So yeah, I slept in the cross trek on that one. And then when I transitioned over in the Outback Wilderness, they had with the wilderness, they upgraded that. And I think you spoke about this with Michelle too.

Speaker: You're like, don't they have the built-in crossbars? I'm like, not on the wilderness. I did not realize that until that conversation. Yeah. And so they upgraded the crossbars to support the weight of, what is it now? 200 pounds 200 pounds of weight in motion.

Speaker: Okay. So if you have a rooftop tent up there, you can be up there and in it and stuff when you're stationary. So yeah, so I transitioned to rooftop tent when I, so I still have that rooftop box still in the garage.

Speaker: Don't get rid parts. Don't get rid of parts. You might need it someday. Well, what, ah what kind of rooftop tent did you end up going with? Did a lot of research. um i've wanted ah I've wanted a rooftop tent for a very long time.

Speaker: i just couldn't i couldn't bring myself to to pay the $4,000 price tag. They're expensive, dude. Right? And along with everything else, there's Chinese knockoffs, right? And so I found this one company, Top Oak Overland.

Speaker: yeah, yeah. And I think it's the Galaxy. The one I have is the Galaxy 1.0. Okay. It's a little on the head side. absolutely love it. And honestly, i know that it's kind of a little bit of ah a Chinese company. And i ah people also people don't realize they make these things in the sameb or in the same factories over in China.

Speaker: And it's the big manufacturers. So yeah in my opinion, the shell is the same. Yeah, the fabric might not have all the fancy blackout material inside, but the shell is the same.

Speaker: Dude, and and there's no denying the fact that, yes, there are cheap things that come out of China, but there's no denying the fact that at the same time...

Speaker: they have manufacturing on lockdown. there yeah there's just There's no argument there. you know They've been doing it forever. um And again, it just it comes down to just doing, like you said, doing your research yeah and figuring out, you know is this is this like a cheap Chinesium part or is this like a legit- part that's still made over there yeah and you struggle right you're like okay well the other tent manufacturer is four thousand dollars this tent with discount i think i got it and free ship or two hundred dollars shipping but i think but i think i got it for 1400 or 1300 bucks it's like 4000 or 1300

Speaker: thirteen hundred bucks so it's like four thousand or thirteen hundred And that's where at head. How can you argue that? You can't. How can you really argue with that? And again, it's literally that the exact same tint. has the pop out just like the big name brand, right?

Speaker: And even, I can't, I took my time. I watched YouTube videos of them comparing them to the same exact like big name brand tint. And yeah, they're not they're not perfect. to Their zippers might not be perfect. Again, their fabric isn't blacked out, but for what I need and for my my budget, perfect. yeah Yeah.

Speaker: You know, and, and the other thing too, as long as something is not a, you know, cause what I don't like is when I find out that somebody stole a patent and started selling it, like if, as long as it doesn't hit those requirements.

Speaker: Does it count if you don't look into it if they did? I don't think. I honestly have no idea. I have no idea. I didn't check. Yeah. You know, there there are a lot of situations where you'll find... um Or their patent expires and then they start making them. think the same thing happened with the diesel heaters, right?

Speaker: Really? Yeah, the there's these... I didn't know that. Ash Bar or something, that big name brand diesel heater, they had patent lockdown on those. As soon as that patent ran out...

Speaker: you had $50, $100 diesel heaters flood the market. Exactly the same design, right? And it's like, why would you go out and spend $3,000 on the same if you can buy the cheap $100 training stock up? It does the same.

Speaker: Yeah, they're not perfect. Yeah, they might have a few error codes are here and there. you might have to buy a sensor here or there, but it's like, It's worth it to save that money. Do your research and you're good. yeah know So maybe it's something like that. Maybe the patent just fell off and they were able to steal the shell design or something. I'm not sure.

Speaker: um and But again, I'm not faulting them anybody, but yeah, great manufacturer. They've been great at responding to issues. Cool. um And yeah, I've sold probably like three or four of them.

Speaker: Should be sponsored of by, I think I got total by one. I think I got, um, yeah, i got some, some, two, two or three people to actually buy the tent. I think.

Speaker: Well, dude, if, if the customer service is there, if it's not, and you know, it, How many people are there really out there ah patenting rooftop tent designs? Probably none. Correct. You know, um but yeah, if, you know, if you can find something that works and it fits your budget.

Speaker: And again, I've lot of one for a long time. Yeah. The option is i either buy this or I just don't buy one because I don't have $4,000. And that was my option. I'm either sleeping in the Outback, which was Fun with two dogs, right? And what I experienced a lot, it' sleeping inside is condensation all the time on the windows on the inside.

Speaker: And people will be like, oh, leave your window down. I'm like, I leave all the windows down. I still get condensation dripping down the front window. So and that was a pain to clean in the morning when you got up. and and Yeah, and it's kind of gross.

Speaker: it's not It's not a pretty sight. And if you don't worry about it, you let it dry, and then you have water spots on the inside of your window. And I'm like, that's not pretty. Yeah, exactly. You got to get in there and really get down and dirty with the yeah window cleaner. Correct.

Speaker: Let me ask you about spare tire stuff. Yeah. This is a, this is an issue that I have no idea what your setup is. um Yeah. But a lot of people have this question.

Speaker: um How do I store a spare tire? Should I run a full size spare? you know, all those different questions. What's kind of been your approach to that whole thing? I believe if you're going to do anything off-road, you should always at least have some option, whether it's a donut, preferably a full-size spare is ideal.

Speaker: um But yeah, at least something to get out of there. I mean, it would be a nightmare situation, right? You get in there and it's like, all you have is a fix-up flight kit and you have sidewall damage. There's no fixing that. Yeah.

Speaker: Um, so yeah, I do. And again, I think most wilderness models come with full size spares. I think the one, ah um, is the cross shirt wilderness, I believe does not have a full size matching. i want to say it has Jonah, not a hundred percent.

Speaker: Okay. I didn't actually know that either. Correct. Forrester and the Outback have both have full size spares. So, um, I fit mine in the in the wheel well in the back underneath everything.

Speaker: There's some controversy about that. um Every tire, the Toyo that I've had and now the Milestar tires, I can fit back there. One caveat, you do have to let all the air out.

Speaker: And I think Michelle mentioned that too. And it is possible to get it in there, but with her issue, I think it was a height issue when she's a little bit smaller, right? So getting... in the trunk and pulling out even a deflated tire is hard for her, right? So I understand that that concept, where for me getting in there pulling that out isn't a big deal.

Speaker: Okay. does it, does it fit in in there? Um, do you have to hear it down a lot? and It's pretty snug. Okay. Yeah. I, when I, when I, when I do tie rotations myself, I, um, i don't let all the air out, but I let, I let most out to where there's not a lot more coming out.

Speaker: Um, and again, it's a snug fit. I have to like, Push it into place to get that center center cap to kind of lock it down. Yeah, okay. And I can't put the styrofoam piece in there. I just took that thing out.

Speaker: Okay. Yeah. I know that, you know, the big concern for a lot of people is if you have to really deform the tire to get it in is that you'll, it it will take on the shape over time, but it sounds like you're not even having to, uh, you know, pushing black I would not say the tires deformed to get in there. It's, it's pushed in maybe a little bit on the sides, but like, it's not deforming the tire. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. That's not enough to really, um, you know, change the shape of the sidewall. So that's good to know. Correct. Yeah. So it does fit. um Now, again, i every manufacturer is different. So there are slight tolerances. So if you happen to have a tire manufacturer that has, what, an extra two or three 30 seconds on it, like or you buy a light truck tire that has more tread on it, it may not fit in there.

Speaker: yeah But in my experience with what I've owned, it does fit in there. And again, back to the tire carrier, I like the idea. um I struggle though, cause I don't want to have to deal with something when I want in the, when I love the trunk.

Speaker: Yes. I don't want to have to stop and move something out of the way or fold something down. And I don't want to deal with it in the way of my backup sensors or the camera. I'm just like,

Speaker: i just would rather not and again you well i guess you also have a lot of weight that's extended out past the vehicle yeah which puts more stress on those rear struts and the shocks yeah i think if you can get away with without running any kind of a uh the only unfortunate part though is if i do have an issue i have to unload it everything That's a good point. That is a good point. Which I have a refrigerator back there. Like I have everything back there.

Speaker: All that would have to come out mid trail to get to my spare, which is the downfall to get back there. Well, let me ask you actually about the refrigerator and some of your, your camping stuff. So the refrigerator, what is it and, and how do you kind of have it set up in terms of ah powering it?

Speaker: Yeah, and so that's been a little bit of a journey learning that too. um Started in beginning, I think with just, um I think it was an EcoFlow River. It was an EcoFlow River Max. I think I had like 500 watt hours or whatever.

Speaker: Started out with that battery um and I was just charging off the cigarette lighter. You only get about 100 watts from your car when you do that. yeah And so if my fridge is running it, even on eco mode, pulls about 30, 35 to watts.

Speaker: And you're only charging it 100, right? But your compressor kicks on and off, so it's not always taking that much. But that's what I started on. And um then I moved up, I think from there, moved up to double capacity on battery. So I moved up from a River 2 to a Delta 2 EcoFlow.

Speaker: And just for my knowledge, and I'm sure other people are going to be curious, that's kind of is it like a power bank type of a thing? Yeah, it's it's similar to Jackery. It's similar to Blue Yeti. It's similar to lot other manufacturers out there. Each has their own unique take on the battery. Each has their own unique um accessories.

Speaker: I think even DJI now makes a battery bank um that you can take. really Yeah. um I like the EcoFlow, and I like the EcoFlow ecosystem, I guess.

Speaker: I think they were the first ones to come out with an alternator charger. I don't know if you've ever heard of that before. No, no, explain it to me. now I'm curious. So, and, and so that double size capacity battery, right? Like if I'm only charging that sucker at a hundred Watts from the cigarette lighter, it's going to take all day to charge up. Right. Yeah.

Speaker: So I needed a way to charge it faster. And I think I originally started with a 200-watt solar panel. It's kind of cumbersome to pack around and unfold and constantly keep in the sunlight. And even a 200-watt panel, I'm getting maybe 150 watts max. so you're not even getting your true rated power out of it. So i was like, i have to have become something better. So that's when EcoFlow released their alternative charging, they called it.

Speaker: And so what that does is it um connects to either your battery or a main terminal um gotcha underneath the hood. And you run that um huge thick cables all the way back um to the actual alternator charger box.

Speaker: Okay. Like a big two gauge wire or something like that? some A two gauge, maybe. Yeah, it's a thick beast. And I struggled to get it in the car and back there.

Speaker: But I just leave my alternator charger sitting in my front seat. And then that huge battery cable plugs into the back of that. And then they have what's called an XT150 connector. I'm not sure. but A lot of people might not be connected or familiar with XT connectors. um they're They're kind of popular, I guess, in a lot of... um I guess inside, i guess even the EcoFlow batteries, a lot of them use XT60 or XT90 connectors inside those, but they have what's called an XT90 connector that comes out of the are that and it plugs into the side of your Delta II where some of the newer batteries have... um

Speaker: external battery ports. and So that port on the side of that Delta II could be used to extend the battery. So you could hook another battery into it, or I can plug my alternator charger into it.

Speaker: Okay. And that allows me to charge that battery at 800 watts. Okay. Yeah, i just I just looked it up. I absolutely know what XT connectors are. but yeah right yeah want just it's ah It's a two-prong, and you can get the bigger ones, the 150. It's a beastly connector. A beefy one? Yeah, i think and it's a special one, too, because they I think they have some sense pins in with the two main 12-volt connectors.

Speaker: There's some sense pins in there, so they actually... the alternative charger actually talks to the battery. Yeah. Well, and that, that makes sense. Cause you don't want to, um when you're messing with that stuff, you got to make sure that you're not overcharging correct or all these other weird little things that come into play. Correct. And what's nice about that thing um is you can actually do, if you use the one 50 connector with the Delta two or higher end models, you can actually do reverse charging.

Speaker: With that, so like let's say you're out camping, right? And you yeah left a light on, you left something on, um and you have battery in your camping battery, but your battery's dead on your car you can actually go in there and either do um battery maintenance or you can do reverse charge. It'll push 800 watts back into the battery, or it'll trickle charge the battery at 100 watts.

Speaker: Okay. Now, are you just ah since we're on this topic, um are you running a stock battery or have have you swapped to anything like an AGM or anything? Interesting subject. I'm kind of torn right now what to do.

Speaker: um i am still running the stock battery from day one. kidding. So it's it's three years old, even with... Even with hooking my alternator charger and I have lights hooked into it now, I'm, I, and I've drained that. I think I've drained that battery to completely zero twice.

Speaker: That's impressive. I do not hear that a lot. Still running. And again, I heard, I think, I think Kim, I think, um, shoot, maybe some others. It literally had battery problems day one.

Speaker: And I've heard it that that Subaru would back then was kind of known for having battery problems. Yeah. So yes, I'm still running the same battery. But I'm kind of torn because i was kind of when I bought my car brand new, they they pushed battery warranty on me.

Speaker: Really? Yeah, so it's this Forever Start battery lifetime battery replacement. Okay. um And so i think there's up to a $500 deductible. So technically, if I wanted to, I could maybe push for an AGM battery replacement. I don't know what my limitations are on that.

Speaker: okay But I think that warranty, I think they charge me like $299 or $399. So not bad, but it covers for as long as I own that car, ah covers every battery replacement I i have.

Speaker: So I'm just like, Everybody bought the service. do i just But they make it difficult, right? So I call the company today because i am I'm starting to see little signs of slight issues like all day today.

Speaker: um It didn't seem like it had quite the starting power it used to. okay So here I am. I'm starting the process of reaching out to this company to start the battery warranty process. okay they wouldn't pick up the phone oh of course um again they that to me and warranty companies right there they'll do everything in their power to kind of detour you being like I don't want to mess with this I'll just go buy my own then they already got the money and you're spending more money yeah yeah so I'm currently going down that road right now i'm trying to see where that takes me but yes I am three years into ownership and I'm now just now starting to see some slight battery issues

Speaker: Well, that's, um yeah, that's actually really impressive. So yes, it is impressive. thanks Especially during, because batteries don't like to be drained to zero. And there's been twice where there's been zero voltage. I can't even, I have to force the jump starter to even see it because it's, it just says there's no battery.

Speaker: Interesting. Okay. That is impressive. I've been, yeah, that battery's, it's been road hard. Well, you, you, you got a good one then. i got one of the good ones, but.

Speaker: One thing I did not get good in that car was my transmission, unfortunately. Did you have to get a warrantied? Yeah. um So I'm at 66,000 miles now, but at 34,000. And an interesting story on that too, because it's where I met some really great people.

Speaker: Okay. I'm not even sure if you might've, you might've heard his name, Super Ambassador Robert. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I know who that is. He drives the Ascent. Mm-hmm.

Speaker: I, that, that um when I started having transmission problems, it was in the middle of that Colorado vacation i took with Super Ambassador Robert. Okay.

Speaker: So I actually, yeah, I was in the middle of Colorado and i actually kind of Colorado, Utah, um several thousand miles away from home. Oh, no. And here,

Speaker: Again, this was i was I will say that was an amazing trip. I met that crew up on the top of a mountain at 10,000 feet. had no I'd never met these people before in my life. I think Josh was like, hey, I know some people that are going on this Colorado trip. And I'm like, I want to go.

Speaker: They're doing a pass or they wanted to do imaging pass, I think. And I was like, i want to do imaging pass. It's kind of a bucket list thing for me, I guess, ah to go get some of those done.

Speaker: and And not necessarily in like a vehicle that's capable of doing it. It's easy, right? i want to I want to do it in a vehicle that is kind of the underdog. Oh, absolutely. And so that's that was the plan is to go do that. And um so had a blast. I think we got we did engineer past, and I think we were supposed to go do imaging.

Speaker: But when we, we get made at the top of engineer pass. And when we were coming down engineer pass, um, we made the decision to take mineral Creek road. Oh, tell me all about it.

Speaker: yeah Holy crap. That was, that was an adventure. Um, the people at the top, um, when we started down that road, they were in side by sides.

Speaker: Okay. And, um, yeah, They looked at us in those cars. I think it was, uh, Robert Ennis ascent. It was, um, William in a 22 outback wilderness with no lift.

Speaker: I don't even think he had skids on at the time. They were in the car or no. Yeah. He didn't even have them on at the time. They were in the car, but didn't have them on. um, uh, I forget what year was an older Forester. Um,

Speaker: named Gump, I think. And then it was me and then Josh in a forest wilderness. okay Okay. And we saw this for the side-by-side of the top and we were talking to the lady and she's like, you're taking those down there?

Speaker: and we're like, yes. And she looked all of us in the face and with no doubt in her mind, she looked at us and said, you're ballsy.

Speaker: Straight out of her mouth. She was probably right too, right? Oh, when we got there, I will put it this way. and We couldn't have gone up the same way we went down. I don't believe.

Speaker: Cause there were times to where it was just, we were building straight. Oh yeah. We were building trail. There were, there were some drop-offs, um, where your cliffside on this side, drop off on this side, and then the ledge to go down it and these these holes with these massive rocks. It was just, we had to pile rocks in these holes to not fall into them.

Speaker: So that was that was quite the adventure coming off that side of the mountain. And again, I had just met these people the night before and they rolled at midnight. at midnight So you didn't even really know him at all? we woke up. then That's when i basically first met him is the next day when we woke up and then we went and did that.

Speaker: Holy crap. So, and I think Robert, um, he has a whole channel. He, um, he has, I think the video of us doing that trip. And then I think the next couple of days we did some Utah stuff. And so he, he actually made some videos of that. And so some of those videos of us coming down Mineral Creek are out there on YouTube. If you search up Robert's YouTube channels. Sick. Okay.

Speaker: But that was an adventure. And i again, met some great people. Um, so yeah, that was a blast. Absolute blast. and it beat the piss out of the CBT. Is that what you're saying?

Speaker: I don't know, to be honest. Um, I don't really know because we did the mineral Creek road and then, um, we were on our way into Utah, I think.

Speaker: And here's the crazy part. Uh, Robert, I think right before that trip, completely changed out every piece of his suspension.

Speaker: He went to, I think, GR40s, which are made by, I forget the name of the company, FlatOut. Went to FlatOut, went to um Rally Tech, I think, lower control arm, adjustable lower control arm, the whole nine yards, right? Yeah.

Speaker: We were in the middle of Utah. I forget exactly what trailer we're on. um He was right in front of me and all of a sudden I see his rear end chest sink. Oh shoot.

Speaker: And it was right after he went over a pretty deep dip. And that, I don't know if you've seen Robert's, uh, I sent when he's on vacation, but Oh my gosh, that thing, it must weigh thousand pounds.

Speaker: yeah Yeah. He's, he brought everything on the kitchen sink and every, and, and 40 pairs of silverware for everyone that goes. Um, so that thing is heavy. And so when it hit that, that led or that bump, one of the, um, rally tech, um,

Speaker: but adjustable lower arms, the weld broke. Oh, frick. And so I guess they they have since redesigned them. it's I think when they designed those, they were welded in each section and they were vertical welds. I think now they're just a straight piece of steel instead of having those welds. And so it broke right in the middle of one of those welds.

Speaker: I think right where the GR40 strut attached. Walks in. Correct. Right there, it broke. And I think it even slightly bent the GR40 lower attachment point when it did that.

Speaker: And so what do you do? Right? You broke this part. We're out here in the middle of this crazy Utah trail. So I start getting on the phone with Subaru dealers, trying to find the nearest one that has a rear, oh gosh, rear trailing arm is what it is. Trying to, calling, nearest one, and that one doesn't have one. Call the next one, doesn't have one.

Speaker: And so I think we, there's um I forget the name of the Subaru dealership um that's in Utah there. um We just came from there, went to Utah, slept that night. We're out on the trail the next day when it broke. And so they had two, I think.

Speaker: Nice. One or two, I think. I can't remember. I think I just got one. But anyway. Talked to a friend that worked at the dealership um because I could not make it there in time to pick the part up before they closed. Because it was from where he broke down back to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Subaru dealership had it was.

Speaker: We're looking at a four or five hour drive one way. And so here I go. i He says he will meet me at this town just outside of Salt Lake City.

Speaker: I load the dogs up. Me and the dogs make it off this trail in the middle of Utah down to the road. I hear up and me and the dogs take off and go get the part from this guy that works at the dealership. And I'm on my way back and it's seven, eight o'clock at night.

Speaker: I'm going up a mountain pass. um I'm pushing it. Right. I have a lot of stuff loaded and then get over the mountain pass. Start coming down. And i throw a check engine light.

Speaker: And we're talking in the middle, nine o'clock at night, middle of Utah. I'm alone after just picking up this part. Dash is a Christmas tree. I'm like, this is the last thing I need out in here in the middle of nowhere, right? um And so I think I call one of the friends that I'm out there with. And they're like, well just turn it off, turn it back on.

Speaker: And I think I had my code reader with me. um I just didn't have it charged. So i didn't I couldn't reset codes. I didn't know what it was. um And I carry it with me every time. Now, every time I go somewhere, I always carry code reader. If you don't have one, you should have one because it's nice to be able to clear it or know exactly what it is instead of posting online your dash and being like, yeah what's wrong with my car?

Speaker: I have no idea. yeah um so yeah, that's where I first started having transmission problems. kind that And I think it was at 30. No, but when I first started having problems, it was at 28,000.

Speaker: Okay. 20, 27, 28,000. And then it just kind of got worse from there. I think I i ended up having that night that I heard through that code, it was for a pressure solenoid inside the transmission.

Speaker: um so it could have just been a valve body or solenoid in the valve body. um But I didn't know. So I reset, pulled the battery cable because just turning off the car and turning it back on wouldn't fix it.

Speaker: Yeah. Pulled the battery cable, put it back in Codes went away. Continued on my way. i think we did a couple more trails. No more issues the entire trip.

Speaker: And i pushed my vacation to the max. And so I think I started the trip back home in, um oh gosh, down there in, um where is that recovery guy from that deals with all those cars in the sand. Yes. hurricane Yes. That I started, my journey home after that vacation that morning, we, we went to a diner, had a, had a goodbye breakfast. I think I, I left there at about nine or 10 AM, drove straight home.

Speaker: That was 15 hour drive. Holy fuck. Cause I had to be to work the next day. So I drove straight home all day, all night. I think I got home, don't know, it's late. I think I got to bed. think I might've got one or two hours of sleep.

Speaker: Showed up the next day I was there. Nope. But I wanted to go on that vacation. And then, and again, i I begged my boss at work to give me it off because it's like, it was right when school started and I'm the it guy, right? I have to be there.

Speaker: And so, um, i don't know what happened my camera. I don't know. yeah I probably need some more light in the room. Always something with the cameras. Correct. It's always some technology.

Speaker: It died on me, and then I reset the battery. Never happened again the entire vacation. Never happened again the entire trip home. That 15-hour drive home. Never once happened again. No problems.

Speaker: And then I think I came back and I went out and did another off-road adventure. And it's the weirdest thing. It's not like in the middle of the adventure. It wasn't when I was pushing it, going slow or anything. It's like... I got done. i was i just aired up my tires, got back on the road, same code.

Speaker: Limp mode. It wouldn't shift. It wouldn't do over certain speed. Lights on the dash. Scan it for codes. I had my code reader that time. code. And so I ended up taking, I think, the Subaru. The first time it happened, and they were just like, you reset the battery.

Speaker: We can't do anything. Even though the code was in the computer, they refused to even do anything. That's kind of silly. It is. It's a little weird. um And so string, whatever, go with it.

Speaker: I think the next time it sets, I was coming out of Yakima, and I was like, after they told me that time, I'm like, i'm not I'm not touching it. I read it to see what it was, to see what code it was, but I'm like, I'm not resetting it. I'm not unplugging the battery. I'm not doing anything.

Speaker: yeah So I think I turned the car off and I think I turned it back on and i think it let me continue. um So I got into Yakima, drove all the way home, never came on again and got another appointment into Subaru.

Speaker: Got it down there. They put me in a loaner. And this is where the story gets a little weird, but the yeah, a little frustrating because it left me on the side of the road again and took it to Subaru. And that every time they were just like, it doesn't do it to us. We can't do anything.

Speaker: And I'm just, I'm sitting here, I'm just dumbfounded almost. I'm like, I'm being left on the side of the road in a brand new car. You can clearly see that it's throwing transmission codes like in the computer. It just wouldn't do that randomly or on purpose for no reason.

Speaker: was this Was this after it had been warrantied or is this still on the OG transmission? Still on the OG. Okay. And so I think, um again, I think the first first first code on that first um pressure solenoid code was about 25,000, 27,000.

Speaker: five twenty seven thousand Okay. And then it got replaced at 34,000. So I drove on that thing probably, what, 10,000 miles? And again, that was a constant fight to try to get it replaced. I think ultimately in the end, it ended up leaving me on the road four times on the side of the road. Oh, wow.

Speaker: and And I start to get a little paranoid, not paranoid, but annoyed because it's like, yeah this is a brand new car. It's leaving on side of the road. Here I have Subaru saying, it won't do it to us when they test drive it. So they're like, I don't know. Can't help you.

Speaker: Correct. And I'm just like, so at what point does this become a safety problem? You take me pulling out onto a highway. Mm-hmm. And you take me trying to get up to speed because I pulled out in front of someone because i ah have the power to do it.

Speaker: yeah Goes into limp mode. All of a sudden it won't speed up. Let's say it's a semi. I get rearing it. I'm like, at what point does this become a safety problem? And so I think it it took me saying that safety problem.

Speaker: Yeah. And then they were like, okay, we'll we'll replace it. Yeah. Like this guy's not going to let it go. And you shouldn't. Correct. No, I'm like, no, it's a brand new car. Again. I push it.

Speaker: Right. I don't overly do it, in my opinion. You know, you you take the advertisements that they have for these wilderness editions. They're up there on Imaging Pass at Poser Rock.

Speaker: Imaging Pass is no joke. Right. So I'm just like, if they're advertising these things, doing that. I don't push it any harder than what they show. yeah um so, and again, it's almost, they, they tried to blame it a little bit on the ah larger tires. Imagine that.

Speaker: Um, and they tried to blame it in, in that, in my paperwork where it shows they replaced the transmission. It's clearly states in there. He has aftermarket tires, larger tires in stock. He has an aftermarket lift that wasn't installed by us. That's clearly laid out in there. So, but they ended up doing it.

Speaker: They ended up replacing it. Um, and And so far, I've had zero issues with the new CBT. Good. Now, let me let me ask you about that a little. I got a couple of questions I want to ask, but since getting it replaced, did you do any sort of additional um cooling modifications at all?

Speaker: I did not know. Still running it? Okay. because they Still running stock. They come with a cooler, though. that The wilderness editions come with a CBT cooler. Okay, perfect. Is that mounted somewhere up? It's up near the radiator, I'm guessing, by the driver's side fan. think you have your radiator, and then kind of it's up in the driver's side corner, in the top little corner of above the radiator there.

Speaker: You'll look up in the grill, and you can see another little radiator-looking thing, and that is your CBT cooler. Perfect. Okay. And as far as I know, no issues. And i've I've scanned it for codes, or not codes, but scanned it for data.

Speaker: After I've taken a long, slow drive up a mountain on a hot day, i don't have an issue with um CBT temps. What I deal with a little bit more is oil temps.

Speaker: Even with the Wilderness Editions having that oil cooler. And it's it's a water, I believe, a water-to-oil cooler. But I still struggle a little bit with um oil temps, it seems like. And then we'll get into this too. I have something else. I had replaced that. i learned what it was that I didn't know what it was.

Speaker: And it might have been contributing to my overheating of my power steering. But I ran into that, besides that one time that i had it, I ran in, think, three total times my power steering has quit completely. that is That's crazy. And I get the little symbol on the dash, it shows a little power steering symbol. No codes, no warning messages or anything. It just shows you the little power steering symbol and then nothing in the steering wheel.

Speaker: Oh, fudge. Yeah, wonder if they have some sort of temperature-based failsafe on it or something. has to be because if you read into the power steering computer, have a scanner that can actually read into the power steering computer, it actually will show you how many times it's overheated.

Speaker: Really? And mine, I believe, says 10, but I've actually only ever had it completely shut off like three or four. okay But again, I wonder if it was what was wrong, which was causing it to overheat. um I had the infamous um exhaust manifold crack and exhaust leak.

Speaker: So I don't know if a lot of people know, but on the early model as since, so with the 2.4 liter turbo and in specific, all the way up, I think, until towards the 2023 model,

Speaker: um It's common right where they attach to the head of the engine, yeah right below that plate. There's a weld there where it turns circular. It breaks there. So I didn't know that it was broken. dump an exhaust. right Correct. But it started at...

Speaker: but it started at about 30,000 miles, I think. um And I was in the middle of the Waiye Canyonlands when it started. And how I know it started is my car started to make a whistle sound.

Speaker: And a high-pitched whistle when you would give it gas. And I have i was always like, wonder what the heck that is. And it took me getting under there one day after I changed the oil and I just had cold started. i got under there.

Speaker: I could smell exhaust. And I'm like... there's an exhaust leak. yeah So again, but I'm wondering if that exhaust leak contributed to excess temperatures in that general area, which overheated overheated that motor.

Speaker: Because I haven't had it ever since that fixed. It hasn't happened since. Well, and the other thing, exhaust temperatures are hot. like Coming straight out of the head, you're looking like 700, 800, 900 degrees.

Speaker: not you're not far off though. I mean, that's pretty, it's hot. It's fire. So that's leaking there. And then i also kind of thought about the other aspect of that too.

Speaker: Cause I do have a full skid plate under there. Right. And so I've always wondered, and I don't know if I wish somebody would design this in those skid plates and because I don't know if it really is an issue, but if you look at the stock plastic undercarriage that comes on that Outback wilderness, it's,

Speaker: They actually have a vent built into the stock um that runs air from the front all the way around the headers, points directly on the motor for the power steering.

Speaker: So that is there on the stock one, but the on all the aftermarket skid plates you have, it's just completely open under there. There's no vent that directs air directly to the power steering motor.

Speaker: Okay. So I always wondered if why there's not a vent there, if there is on the stock one. I mean, it has to be there for a reason that maybe it does overheat. Yeah. That's interesting. yeah i just never reached up to lecture Yeah. About that baby. yeah Yeah. but's And I haven't really seen it online either. Other people mentioned on the forums. I've looked, um, about overheating, that motor on that power stream.

Speaker: Man, that's a big no thank you for me. Right? I'm like, well i do why do I rather have the good old the good old hydraulic power steering? Yeah. Or this new fan-dangled electric power steering?

Speaker: Which is usually pretty good, except for i mean if it stops working. Right. And if you I mean, again, if you're on the road all day and you're on highway, you're getting a lot of airflow. You're not doing aftermarket skid plates. You're not getting rid of that du that duct that's installed, right? So you probably would never experience it.

Speaker: But you start modifying things, you start modifying the way things work, you might run into some issues. Oh, I want to ask you this question. You know, obviously we just talked about how they show the advertisements of them doing some real gangster stuff in these cars.

Speaker: Correct. But let's say something. Yeah, you see them. Yeah, yeah. stuff Let's say somebody either is in the market for a Subaru or is it just bought a Subaru.

Speaker: What's a realistic expectation that they can have as to what they can reliably and consistently do in these cars? Can, you know, I feel like there's this...

Speaker: thought amongst a lot of our community where they're like oh if i just put bigger tires this is going to be a rock rock bouncer and i'm just going to be out there keeping up with jeeps and all this type of thing um do you have any thoughts on that just like realistic expectations that people can kind of have yeah i mean i will say this um subarus won't press the hell out of here I want to say in the older day, maybe not quite as much. only And the only reason I say that is because you didn't have like the whole ABS. You didn't have the whole where if one wheel's slipping, it'll and grab that wheel and send power somewhere else, right?

Speaker: So where in the old days you get tires and they would just correct it, it wouldn't go anywhere, you'd have to either do the rear dip, something like that to to be able to bypass that. But nowadays I will say they are getting better year by year.

Speaker: um even Even looking at the differences between um technically the wilderness models and maybe like even say Toe's cross track. gave my He gave my outback a name. It's called the Airbus um because fast and it's giant.

Speaker: um But yeah, that thing will surprise me what they have done even in the wilderness models. Like there's times where he has to use his winch. I don't. And there's times where I can see where I can get tires in the air and and not in and where I can power through it.

Speaker: But even another one can't. And so yeah I don't know if they've tweaked the systems in those. It's like gear ratio. I don't know if I would say it's all gear ratio. I will say on the Wheeler Smalls, I think they went to 411s in the rear ends.

Speaker: You've got 444s. Or 444s, whatever it is. Whatever they went to, correct? Yeah, that's a good ratio. So I will say fast takeoff. um But again, I will say that they've probably done something to the computer system in those because there's times where I'm like...

Speaker: you see another Subaru struggle. And I even saw this on the Wabater in, I think in some of those trips, there's some people that had some older Outbacks before the 2020 model year.

Speaker: Mike. Yeah, Mike. And they got up there and even I think Sarah and Lizelle and no, I think they had their older car at the time, but there were some other Outbacks there and they got on that section three of the Wabater, that Warshaw or that but section three there and they'd get up to hell they would be completely floored right and it would go anywhere And here I am. I'm like, they're like, oh, you're ready to give a gas to get through here. And I'm just like, no, I'm going to take my time. Right. and

Speaker: I think I did get a little bit of gas, but I did not struggle one bit, even if I had tires in the air. So you can kind of see where they've been slowly perfecting that system.

Speaker: The TCM also, you know, the transmission yeah control module. i i think I think you're right. I think they have done a lot. So again, back to the expectations, um, they will surprise the heck out of you. yeah Um, they will probably get you into some situations that you're not prepared to to handle.

Speaker: Um, but again, I, I am the kind of person that will push my luck a little bit. I won't push it as far as like, I'm going to go rock crawling. Again, I know my limits and I think people, like you said, I think people really should have, have expectations out of these things. Like again,

Speaker: They're not rock crawlers. um But again again, on the other side, they will surprise the heck out of you. yeah And I'll say this, like I did the entire Wobbiter stock.

Speaker: Stock tires, stock suspension. Granted, it was a wilderness, so you have the 9.5 inches of ground clearance or whatever. but But yeah, it was completely stock. And I did the full Wobbiter start to finish.

Speaker: Yeah. And i I was there on that trip. You had no problems. No problems at all. Then you were at camp all safe and ready to go. Correct. So yeah, again, they will surprise you. Have your expectations. Don't go too far. They're not they're not going to take you on the Rubicon Trail.

Speaker: you you If you want to, go for it. And now you could take... I guess that bit on the extreme side, you take Kerry and Milton. right I think they will push it a little harder than I will. I mean, I would try to keep up, but I know my limits. And again, i I have in the back of my head, this thing is, I don't have another car. This is my daily. This gets me to and from work. like I can't be out of here and break it.

Speaker: Yeah. And I would say that they probably spend almost an equal, ah ah like their ratio of time in the shop, maintaining their cars fixing stuff that they break.

Speaker: Correct. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. I think that's another thing too, is, is you kind of, if you have the money, go for it, go break your car. Right. And again, I'm not going to tell someone, no, don't go it, but just be warned. You better have the money when it does break.

Speaker: yeah yeah and i you know as a kid or you know a new new to off-roading i had that mindset of oh all cars are the same.

Speaker: If I put the same tire as a, you know, Jeep Rubicon, I will get to the same places. as Little did I know that's not how it works. Great thinking. Yeah. But just not yeah completely logical thinking. Not even a little, well, you know, i didn't know anything about four low cause I'd never driven a four by four, you know, yeah it was, it was eyeopening to me to, to actually buy one and start, you know, start doing that stuff. I was like, okay, now I get it.

Speaker: Don't get me wrong. Like I said, i I go with Robin and she has that lifted Jeep. Right. And that thing is a beast where, where I struggle, where I'm like, I have to go slow because there's a lot of rocks. She's just like, this is a highway. what are you talking about?

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so I see that difference as well. Yeah. And, and then there's other things where the Subaru's really outperform. You take me on a straight ground road.

Speaker: You're left in the dust. It's the same thing. So I've, I've got an XJ, like an old Cherokee. It's, it's about as built as it could be without, um, doing a full axle, like one ton axle swap.

Speaker: And, you know, that thing will go anywhere. It's literally a point and shoot vehicle, which then makes you be like that, that thing of like, Oh, I don't want this to be a walk in the park. Well, to do that in something like that, you really have to start doing real stupid stuff.

Speaker: Yeah. But put me on a gravel road. And like you said, I'd rather have the forester all day long. Yeah. I love to go exploring. Yeah. Yes. And not into breaking stuff. And I guess I'm more into, i like more overlanding.

Speaker: Yeah. That's my cup of tea, right? I'm sure you can go rock crawling and break stuff, but I'm more of getting out into the wilderness and seeing the sights to see, getting off the beaten path where yeah people don't normally travel and seeing some awesome stuff.

Speaker: And I think that's where these cars really shine is using them as ah way to get to a specific activity that you want to do. Like that's how I've always used mine. Yeah. and I think that's why a lot of people buy them, right? They buy them because they're they're avid skis, they're avid hikers and they want to, they, they want to get to the trailhead.

Speaker: Yeah. You know, and I've seen, I've seen the shooters at the trailhead and I've seen the other cars down the road and they're hiking their little booty up to the start of trail because they couldn't make it. Right. So I've seen that ah case scenario too.

Speaker: Yeah, you're 100% right, though, on the um the reality that they will shock the heck out of you. i Correct. And I don't think people underestimate them. And I get the crazy looks on the trails. I get the like, what in the heck is that thing doing out here? And here I am going by them.

Speaker: And i almost I almost like those looks. Those looks of like, I can't believe you're bringing that out here. I've told people in the past, that's my favorite part of going off-road in a Subaru is people being like, what are you smoking?

Speaker: Correct. In what world do you live on thinking that thing is going to make it out here? Dude, it's it's kind of like, oh yeah, like... but so But then you almost want to prove it wrong. Yeah. You're like, no. like Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. You watch. Yeah. Yeah. It's just kind of a, well, again, I've said this multiple times on the podcast, but it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Speaker: And it's more fun to push the piss out of a car that's not supposed to be on these trails than it is, you know, something that I'm 42. I guess it is that thrill of like,

Speaker: I did it as Subaru, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's way more exhilarating. doesn't go out and wait to put it I guess, I guess, I guess Toe got a forerunner, right? Awesome. But you're going to out there and yeah, he got I think it's the older gen forerunner. He's working and fixing out now.

Speaker: Nice dude. Good for him. And so, but it's like, Yeah, you're going go out there and you're going to have an easy time. You're going to be like the Jeep, right? I'm going rocky road and you're going to be like, what do mean this is a highway? But then again, on the opposite side, I will be on a straight gravel road.

Speaker: will be gone. Yeah, exactly. Well, he's still got IFS, so it'll still handle somewhat decent on the on the rough road. I want to say it's... I can't remember exactly what gen it is, but... Okay.

Speaker: Yeah. Those are good cars. I would love ah straight axle swapped for runner, but it's, it costs so much, just the fabrication cost for that. Yeah. It's like, that makes sense more than my Subaru.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. It's total sense. Yeah. Okay. Let me ask you this, your car, what are the future plans? If you said it's never done, so I'm just going to assume. And someone that says that they're done, you're not. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. i don't know. i I really don't know. It's hard to say. i guess my my main goal right now is to probably just pay it off. I don't have any i don't have any big plans to add something major. Again, i I'm extremely happy with my Raleigh Tech suspension.

Speaker: Great. No crazy noises off-road. It's quiet. Again, very nice. So I've solved that problem. um i have a full power setup.

Speaker: um I'm... As I transitioned more into electricity off-road and camping, I used less and less propane and fuel. So i yeah everything's transitioned. I have an electric kettle to pour water if we're coffee in the morning.

Speaker: Coffee gang, dude. So yeah, everything as I transitioned, so I'm going more electrical related and less gas. Since I already do carry the battery to run the fridge... Yeah. i was going to say that. I might as well just have it to run everything else. Yeah. Yeah, dude.

Speaker: Yeah. No, that's a good idea. So yeah, I'm looking more into transitioning to electric. um I think I still have, I have a backup stove just in case something completely fails and i have to cook something. I at least have something.

Speaker: Yeah. And I do carry a fire can. It's a fire can deluxe and I do carry propane. So because ah Around here we can't have fires a lot of times in the summer because we have fire bans, but they will usually, most cases, allow you to have propane.

Speaker: So I will carry the propane fire can around, and that will act as a grill too. But yeah, as far as plans, um I did recently add some lights. um I added the windshield lights. um Nice.

Speaker: and that Now I've kind of got the light bug, I guess, a little bit. And so they're expensive, I guess, unless you go cheap. But if you go cheap, don't last long, not as bright. So I actually got lucky.

Speaker: um The lights that I installed, I really have to thank William um back when I did that Colorado trip. After the blue, he's like, he brought up, he's like, hey, I got these diodamic pod lights. Anybody want them?

Speaker: And so I was the first one to speak up. And so he gave me, it was a full wiring kit. Um, yeah, bless his heart. But yeah, he gave those to me. And so I recently just got installed. Now that's sparked the lighting bug. So if I do anything, it might be some more lighting or something, but nothing major, nothing major in the works.

Speaker: Dude, what your setup is like fully kitted. Let me ask you about the, uh, are you running a, like a switch panel for the lights at all? I'm not super fond of it um but it works for where i need I think I got it on sale it's just an 8-gang Oxbeam I think um axbeam i think Yeah, that's what I'm running. love them. And the only reason I don't like it is what sits under the hood where everything plugs in, right? All your lights plug

Speaker: Yeah. But then the flaps don't cover all your connections. that's They're just exposed. And so, and I will probably get crap for this, but I am a huge proponent of keeping your engine bay clean.

Speaker: I take a pressure worship the entire thing. People will tell you, oh, you can't do it all you're gonna I've in every single car I've owned. I've never had an issue. I spray the alternator. I spray it. you have to understand, like this under there is designed. All your connections are waterproof.

Speaker: You're going through mud puddles, right? like You can't say that's not going in your engine bay. yeah So they're designed to have water. and So I've been a huge proponent of keeping them clean. So I don't like on those, the exposed...

Speaker: It's exposed connection, points because now im when I wash under there, I'm going to have to try to avoid it. do you think dielectric grease would help? Because I never maybe thought about that. Maybe I should go do that tonight, put dielectric grease on my aux beam connections. Yeah, I've never thought about it. They have those clear plastic flaps, and then if you look in there...

Speaker: You have where your connection points are, but then you can kind of see even farther in down where all the relays are inside. And I'm like, I don't want water to get in there. So that's the downfall that I could see that particular Oxbeam. I think the fancier ones, they might be more sealed. Like IP67 or whatever.

Speaker: Yeah. or think Garmin makes the one that will use your phone and you can remotely control it. Those, I think, are more sealed. Okay. I was on a budget. I bought the cheap single color eight gang switch.

Speaker: I only have, I literally have the pot, the pot lights and then the back lights for the pot lights. okay All I have wired up to it. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was even, I was on even more of a budget. I'm on the six gang gang.

Speaker: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. and I probably single color or could you upgrade? Could you become part of the elite club and get the RGB? No, single color. I hate RGB. So I just was like, Oh, give me the blue light. blue light special yeah Blue light here as well. Kmart gang. There you go. You mentioned that you do, you know, your oil changes and stuff.

Speaker: All my maintenance. Yeah. Now you, i mean, you do, you do use the car when it was made for. Correct. And you do have bigger tires. Yeah. have you adjusted your maintenance schedule at all?

Speaker: Correct. And this, i'm i'm glad you brought this up, to be honest, because I wholeheartedly believe, I really think people should follow the severe maintenance schedule. And I, I don't think people know that Subaru has a severe rain maintenance schedule.

Speaker: Hmm. You know, when you, and I, I don't want to say, maybe I do want to say this car brands and not just Subaru, right? Car brands in general, in my opinion, Well, throw out crazy numbers. Like, what what did Subaru say in the beginning? Like, your CVT is a sealed unit. Don't touch it. It's lifetime fluid. And I'm like, you're freaking nuts.

Speaker: yeah you're There's no way in heck you're telling me that an oil is never going to break down yeah when it gets to 160 degrees and it's me mechanically, like, being twisted, right? It changes. It changes the molecular structure of it, yeah.

Speaker: And I think, and so where I see manufacturers going with that, um... is it cuts down on what they can tell their customers are of maintenance costs.

Speaker: Ownership costs. Correct. So if they can start cutting that out, if they can start telling you your oil changes are 6,000 miles, right, instead of every three, your maintenance costs get lower and lower and lower, right?

Speaker: They're even pushing them to 10, bro. i That's insane to me. like i And again, like they say like short trips, towing, off-road use, anything follows this follows of your schedule, which is every 3,000 miles of dollar change.

Speaker: I think every 30,000 is diffs and CBT. Um, every 60,000, I believe is, is spark plugs. Again, i really wholeheartedly believe these people should be following these severe immediate schedules and not, and not just because like I'm trying to be like, well, you should do it. But like, in my opinion, it's cheap insurance.

Speaker: oh a hundred percent 100%. Maybe not if you're taking it to the dealership and paying $100 and some odd for oil change. But in my opinion, I'm like, I spend $35 on jug and go buy a $10 filter.

Speaker: like That's $40, right? I'm done. yeah That's cheap insurance. Oh, I agree. and And, you know, your car's just going to run better longer. Correct. And I don't really think people understand how hard turbines specifically, and not NNAs, but your Foresters, your cross trucks, you could probably get away with five, 6,000 mile changes if you wanted to. I wouldn't.

Speaker: There's so much extra heat. Correct. But that turbo, you have to think that's, that is literally going through that turbine bearing. Yeah. And that's extremely hot. That's exhaust. That's cooking that oil.

Speaker: Yeah. And so I've been a very strong component. If you're running a turbo car, 3000 max, change that oil. Yeah. Well, and the other thing too, you know, the turbo is such a finely machined, the the tolerances are so Precisely, very you know precise tolerances. in Yeah. And so, yeah. And I guess, I don't know if they stopped doing them.

Speaker: An issue that I kind of dealt with back when I had my 08 Outback with the turbo is, The filters. The screens, correct? The banjo bolt screens.

Speaker: yeah I don't know if they still put them in the new ones, but if those are in there, if you don't change that will your oil gets a little sludgy, gets spilled up, clocks those screens, all of a sudden you have half the oil sludgy.

Speaker: And that's what was killing those old turbos and those cars. So many people lost TDO fours out of their Forster XT people were, but the pain in the butt part was to get back there to the banjo bolts.

Speaker: Oh dude. Yeah. Like you had to take, take everything off to get to those banjo bolts. And people would get to them and then rip out the screens and shove it back in there. But then it's like, well, I mean, they put the screen in there for a reason, right? like And here you are, maybe not changing your oil as often you should again. And then now all of a sudden you have chunks going through ah very tight tolerance bearing.

Speaker: Exactly. And just nuking the turbo. Yeah, I think a lot of people, that was the fix. They would just pull the screens out, but then you got to be on top. Correct. of your and And don't use a cheapo Walmart filter either when you do your oil changes. Use something actually...

Speaker: And I know people out there will have their own opinions on their oil. And it I know oil is touchy. i I've been in some forums, but I'll throw out there what I use. I use Pins Oil Ultra Platinum. And I will say why I use them. It's because if you show all your receipts and you can prove that you've specifically used Ultra Platinum, they actually will warrant you the engine on your car for 750,000 miles.

Speaker: What the fuck? Correct. And if you don't use ultra-platinum and you just use platinum, which you can get pretty much anywhere, it's kind of hard to find the ultra-platinum. It's 500,000 miles.

Speaker: that is actually really impressive. I didn't know that. Correct. And so I'm like, shoot. And that to me, I've been running it in all my, my WRXs got ultra platinum. Um, it's a, to me, it's a very good oil. And the fact that they're backing it with that warranty, as long as you show all your receipts and you, you go on their website and put in all your services, um,

Speaker: They will warranty your engine. And I think anything to do with the engine, including turbo. Anything that's that's lubricated, essentially. Correct, by that buy their oil, yeah. So you think about it, 750,000 miles, that's almost a million miles that are warranty your engine. That is crazy. Subaru won't even do that.

Speaker: Yeah. So that severe ah sense of air duty ah maintenance schedule, is that in the owner's manual or is that something that you managed to find? I don't know if it specifically shows it in your owner's manual, like say the manual that you get in your glove box. um But I know i use the My Subaru app, especially on the newer Subarus.

Speaker: And that actually has an option in there. You can switch between normal and severe maintenance scheduling. Interesting. Okay. And I think once you switch it, I think it stays on the severe schedule.

Speaker: I think i' I've gone back in there a couple of times and I've had to manually switch it back. Will you actually send me screenshots of that? Yeah. Yeah. I think that would actually be real helpful because ah you're the first person that I've ever talked to that has brought this up.

Speaker: Correct. And I'm surprised more people don't talk about I brought it up on a couple of forums and stuff and Facebook and and said something and people are like, oh yeah, I've seen it. But like I really don't even think Subaru does a good job.

Speaker: Again, they really want you to see that lower cost of ownership. They don't want to tell you, oh, if you're taking it off-road, oh if you're driving, and stop and go traffic's one of them. So if you live in a bigger city and you're stopping to traffic, that's consider considered severe driving.

Speaker: So you should be following a severe schedule. Yeah, it makes sense. You know, a lot of like you said, stop and go or just idling. Yeah. A lot of that stuff, especially if you're turning the car off and turning the car on, I think the way it works is, you know, you wash down the, you know, the car has to...

Speaker: Yeah, exactly. The car has to warm up. And so then it dumps a bunch of extra fuel into the cylinders and it runs it rich. Well, that washes down your oil. you know you bain Or if you think about it, like if you're sitting there idling, right? Like you don't have as high as oil pressure as you would going down the road. And so you don't have the oil feeding the cylinder walls. And so you have all that fuel being dumped in and that just floods those cylinder walls with.

Speaker: So yeah, it just causes extra wear and tear. So again, Oil, yeah, oil dilution, you just want to stay on top of it. It's cheap and easy insurance, right, in my opinion. 100%, or even just um temperature changes. i change mine every season, even if I've hardly driven the car, because...

Speaker: you get condensation inside. you know there's There's moisture in the air. There's no way around it. yeah And you have the heating and the cooling, you're going to get condensation. Even if you drove it out of the you're still going to... And I think people even people probably freaked out. like You take off your oil cap in the middle winter, right? And it's extremely cold and you warm it up.

Speaker: You'll take and it looks like sludge on the bottom. There's nothing wrong. It's just that's where condensation has built up and turned technically your oil to sludge, but it's yeah only in that spot, right? so Yeah.

Speaker: Well, and I think isn't H2O is a partial byproduct of combustion? You know, so you're- Technically, yeah, you'll have- And you'll have water pour out of your exhaust and stuff. Exactly.

Speaker: Yeah. No, man, this is great because I think, you know, so many people, especially in our community, we beat the piss out of these cars and we really do have to take, you know, necessary steps to make sure. And again, it's like, sure, if you don't want to, you want see that lower cost ownership. How long is that car actually going to last? Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, your cost of ownership goes way up when you have to sell it and buy a new car because you blew up the engine. And it's really interesting how sometimes these manufacturers, again, not just Uber, other manufacturers, they'll be like, again, back to that lifetime fluid.

Speaker: What is lifetime of the vehicle? Is lifetime when it blows up? Yep. So if it blows up at 50,000 miles, that was the life of the vehicle? Exactly. Exactly. 100%. When I think of life the vehicle, I'm expecting three, four, 500,000 miles on this thing, right? Like that's my lifetime expectation, not your lifetime fluid expectation.

Speaker: Exactly. Maybe one or two short blocks later, maybe. At whose expense at that point. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's real interesting because there's all sorts of weird stuff behind the scenes that, you know, it usually takes an insider to kind of shed some light on.

Speaker: Correct. And people don't think that the manual, people think that the manufacturer is there for you, but unfortunately I'm sorry to tell you these keats companies and manufacturers aren't there for you. yeah Again, if they can make it look better and show you a lower cost of ownership, it's going to make you gravitate towards that company. It's going to, again, it's going to create sales for them. Right. So yeah it looks good but that six thousand mile change probably is not the best you know and and you know sure if you're driving all highway yeah go for it do your 6k but yeah um you know what's gonna what's gonna make the headline in car and driver magazine oh yeah these cars are reliable if you use the extreme duty um you know maintenance schedule no nobody's gonna talk about that they're gonna wow subaru just broke records and

Speaker: gave us a 10,000 mile oil change. and And I don't understand now what I think Subaru is falling the lead with a Toyota and they're going to this zero 16.

Speaker: Yeah. so i crazy like That's like water. My zero 20. I put in my car, I drain and it's hot. It literally looks like water when it comes out. yeah It's that thing. Well, even 530 that was in, you know, Subarus for the longest time, even that when it's hot, it's like, oh, that's not very thick at all, you know? And again, in my opinion, there's the manufacturer trying to squeeze more fuel economy. Yeah.

Speaker: Because in my opinion, that's all you're doing. and that That lighter oil creates less drag on the engine, which bumps your economy. So there they're trying to say that it's better because it's lighter. No, they're just trying to squeak it that way so they can market it that way.

Speaker: Yeah, you know, and the buzzkill of that is, yeah, obviously the manufacturers want to sell more stuff and make more money and all that. But the buzzkill of it is, you know, the EPA has all these requirements on these companies. And it's like, okay, it's great to have better gas mileage, but now this car is going to end up in the scrapyard sooner.

Speaker: Is it really any better for the environment in the long run? Yeah. all that extra like you talk about egr that was in the name of emissions that just clogs up your car's intake uh-huh yeah there's a lot of stuff yeah i was built in and another one ah honestly probably one of the worst things they could have added is auto start stop oh my it's horrible so bad for the so bad for the starter so bad i i don't even know much about it but i cannot imagine that being good for the vehicle over the long time all mechanics will will tell you

Speaker: where When does the most wear on cylinder walls happen? Startup. Correct. There's no oil. And your start-stop, those run dry every single time. There's not a pump in there pumping oil all the time.

Speaker: And that's where your wear comes from is startup. Yeah. And granted, you know, you, it's not like it's going to be sitting overnight during, during that, but it's, do you really think that's thick oil that's clinging for a long time? No, it's, it's hot and it's going to drain straight down.

Speaker: And after hundreds of thousands of intervals, you're 100%, you know, going to get way more, you know, where, i mean, cause know, the rings going up and down a dry cylinder wall, dude, yeah. again that's where you get the most wear yeah i would love to pull apart something that's had that for a long time yeah like to start stop and see if there's any cross hatchings left like i'd love probably not it's probably gone to be honest like a glass mirror yeah i mean look back on there look back on some of the older um v8s and stuff that these other manufacturers had with their cylinder deactivation

Speaker: right That was the first thing to fail. Destroyed engines left and right. People would be like, turn that thing off. Get rid that cylinder deactivation because it's still yeah it's almost a dry cylinder. It's still moving.

Speaker: Yeah, and it doesn't doesn't operate the same. Exactly. Yeah, oil pressure is such an interesting conversation you know because it's for the same reason that i always tell people who are driving manuals don't lug the freaking engine going uphill you need your rpms because you've still got the throttle open yeah you're not getting that oil pressure up into all the all the oil galleys correct what is oil pressure when you're driving down the highway 50 60 80 90 sometimes but when you're sitting there idle and at a low rpm you're 20 20 psi yeah it's really yeah

Speaker: Yeah, no thanks. Oh man. Okay. So we're at two hours and 24 minutes. I'm not even keeping track of time. Dude, same. There's just so much more, man. I don't even, again, like so many more adventures that I've had. It's just, yeah, going every summer. I completed the Wobbitter, the Oregon BDR, the Idaho BDR.

Speaker: And if you want to know my opinion, the absolute best BDR out of the three that I've done is Idaho. Michelle was telling me the same thing. yeah She was like, you've got to go check it out. i yeah i don't I think she hasn't done it, but yeah, that was absolutely the most, most beautiful. And there's times you're up there,

Speaker: in the middle of a nowhere on the top of a mountain ridgeline and you just look out for miles and there's nothing and you're up here in the middle of nowhere, right? And yeah, it's just, it's an amazing feeling.

Speaker: I love that. i I need to get out there and until I've just been so busy. I'm getting married in about a month and I've been, I don't know whether to say congratulations or good luck. so ah Well, I will say this. I waited a long time. Dude, I'm ah i'm turning 37 in a couple days, so i'm I'm old. Okay. You're slightly behind me then.

Speaker: I just turned 38, believe. okay okay yeah it's crazy how you start to forget you're like i actually had to i had to i had to do the math a couple weeks ago i was like wait yeah how old am i i was like i was born in this year okay okay okay i got it no i found a good one though man she's uh she's way out of my league and she's waited you're ready yeah i feel like a lot of people sometimes rush into that sort of stuff dude if i'd have gotten married thirty years ago oh man have you been married know I've been in a 10 year relationship wasn't the best but it was almost being married sometimes we'll cut this out too just so that people are all up in your business again I don't really care I'm open book yeah I'm kind of the same way but yeah I've just been slammed with stuff lately so I haven't hardly been out on the trails I need to get out there more I every weekend

Speaker: Do you really? Yeah, and I usually go with tow. um had The last couple weekends, I haven't really gone. um but yeah, we we usually go every single weekend. um We usually have at least one big trip a year. I think um next year we're kind of planning on doing possibly either an Alaska trip all the way up to where you can't technically drive anymore.

Speaker: Dude, I'm just in Alaska. so Okay, okay, awesome. It's just there over the weekend, dude. It's kind of a bucket list thing for me. do I want to do it. Bro, do it. And I'm just like, don't be scared of it. like I watched some YouTubers, right? And there was this there is a single short, skinny black lady that took her Forrester and went all the way out alone. And I'm like, if she can do it, I can do it, right? You know what?

Speaker: I'm going to do it. and So many people will be like, no, it's so scary. You've got to have all this. You've got to have all this and your new windshields. And I'm like, you can't be scared. Just go do it and go have fun. Yeah.

Speaker: and And I will say this. Alaska has some of the best people in it that I've ever met. just I've seen that. Again, i watch a lot of YouTubers, right? And so you see them break down on the side of the road up there.

Speaker: Every trucker will stop for you. Every single one of them. And make sure you're okay. To survive in a place like that, you have to, you have to help thy neighbor.

Speaker: Exactly. Yeah. yeah They're just good people with really solid morals and values. I mean, you have hit and miss everywhere, but um once you get outside of Anchorage, it's just a very tight knit group of people that genuinely do care about their family, friends, and even strangers, you know, it's a good,

Speaker: good group So it's either either that trip, which is going to happen, whether it's the next year or next year or next year. um And then I think To also really wants to do the entire, i think it's a trek. I think it's a week or two week trek all the way around um Vancouver Island.

Speaker: Oh, shoot. That would be sick. I think... And it's a long trip. I think it's all dirt. um and I think it takes at least a week. At least. Dude, that is tight.

Speaker: That would be sick. So again, it's either Alaska or that trip next year. That's that's okay at least one of my big planned trips. And I think Robert robert um that I did that one trip in yeah Colorado and Utah with, he's doing... He just did another Colorado trip this year.

Speaker: Wanted to go. I just... fans just couldn't make it work and I was just like I don't want to push myself so so I i opted to do the Overland Expo event instead of going to Colorado but yeah so that's kind of like the only trip that I did this year but I think Robert wants to do the Alaska trip.

Speaker: So I might try to work with him and see what maybe when he wants to do it, maybe I'll coordinate all together and get touched back because it's been two, three years since ive actually went back out with him since I did the Colorado trip. So such, a dude such a cool group, such a cool guy. Yeah.

Speaker: and you And into a lot of super stuff. Yeah. No, I'll let you know too. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Even if I can't make it, let me know what's up. Cause I mean, I I'm in Alaska regularly. i was there for about a week and oh nice I probably spent a couple months there last year. i go up regularly for work.

Speaker: Okay. But maybe yeah, if we're going up there and you're, you're already up there, maybe could meet up somewhere. Heck yeah. Okay. so I've talked your ear off for literally two and a half Again, could probably go for another two hours, be honest.

Speaker: Yeah. I need to get food and get into bed at some point. You speak about food. This is my dinner that I cooked before I started and I haven't eaten anything. That is sick. Dude, you're crushing it too. You said you lost 80 pounds?

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. i lost. That's impressive. So I started it, I think last October, I started it to 268 is where I started. Look at you now, man. Down to 190.

Speaker: Okay. And I, it was my mind, man. I, I've never been, um I've never worn a medium shirt. I'm in mediums. Um, I've never worn 30 and 34 inch waist.

Speaker: It's, it's now too big. Dude. that's I think again, I did the tux measurements today. cause I'm, I'm being a part of my sister's wedding coming up in September. Okay. And I had to get to my measurement waist and I actually had a tape measure and my waist measured at 26 and a half inches. That is crazy. And I came from 38 inch pants.

Speaker: That is sick. Okay. Let me, let me pick your brain about this in a second after, uh, cause we have to sit on the call for a minute anyways to let everything upload. Um, anything that I missed about the Subaru stuff and anything that you think would be like, if you had to share one piece of advice with people, if they're wanting to get into all this stuff, what would it be?

Speaker: Oh gosh. That's, And you're talking into like the Subaru off-road world, yeah? Yeah, or just anything, man. don't don't Don't leave it open like that. That's scary. but even open um yeah i Don't I guess I don't have a whole lot of advice. um that's As far as like the Subaru girls, don't I guess don't be afraid to jump in. um Yeah.

Speaker: Yes, it's interesting. Again, i'm I don't post a lot in social media. i don't and I'm not a lot into social media because to be honest, it kind of scares me when you have... When you have the CEOs of these big companies that are in charge of these these um social media accounts and they're like, there's no way in heck I would allow my child even touch it.

Speaker: Oh, dude. But then we let our 10-year-olds use it. Like, what is that doing, right? like So you see that, right? And I'm like, I kind of keep my distance. There was one point I deleted Facebook.

Speaker: Don't blame me. And then I was just like, crap, how do I keep in touch with these Subaru groups to go do off-roaderance? Because that's the only place they're at. Yeah.

Speaker: yeah And so then I think I even tried to make um ah tried to make a generic Facebook account, not with my name. And Facebook's like, get out of here with that. No. And so I had to make my name. I had to have my picture.

Speaker: ah whatever, I did it because that was the only way I could keep in touch. But yeah, just don't be discouraged. And again, that's where I was going down that road with a little bit social media.

Speaker: um a lot of people will be naysayers. Again, like the whole spacer lift. Oh, that's not a real lift. Oh, go get a real lift. Oh, whatever. And I'm like, Again, I guess do what you want. Do your own research.

Speaker: But don't let don't want somebody tell you what to do. Again, take all the take all of it take all it with a grain of salt, I guess. There's a lot of tire manufacturers out there, and here I am saying what Milestar product going to be. Don't buy anything else. right But again, like that's that's my opinion.

Speaker: But we're not even being paid to say that. so No, and i get I'm not, right? And I had to buy those tires. And you see those people out there, they get sponsors, and they're just like, oh, yeah, this is the best thing since I spread. I'm like, I've had to pay for everything I own.

Speaker: I don't have sponsorships, right? Like, I have to spend my hard-earned money, and I'm going to put my money where I think matters. Mm-hmm. And so, yeah, and im in my experience, again, i that's all I have is my experience. i'm not Someone's not paying me to say it, but in my opinion, that's the tire I would go with just from what I've experienced.

Speaker: But yeah, take everything with a grain of salt. Do your own thing. If you want to be a naysayer and be like, no I want to do my own thing. And I'm kind of that way a little bit, right? Like, yeah I'm usually not, and I could have went with Falcon Wild Peaks.

Speaker: you see everyone on their dog buying them, right? Like that's what everyone buys. And I'm like, no, I want to be the outlier. And that's kind of why i went with the Toyos. Yeah. I think is what was, I think is what was, word what, what was tow was running.

Speaker: And I'm like, you don't see him very often. and want to be the outlier, but yeah, just don't get discouraged. Just do what you think is best. And if you want to reach out for opinions, do it, but take, take their opinion with the green as all.

Speaker: Don't take their hatred towards a spacer lift or this manufacturer or that manufacturer with grain of salt. Again, I have some animosities against some manufacturers I've dealt with. yeah For a warranted reason. Correct. If you want more detail, you're more than welcome to reach out. keep I won't hold back. Again, I don't...

Speaker: and i so and i i see this too and i'm like um if you did buy iron man don't don't feel bad about reaching out asking for your money back um i know that we talked about that in our little round table um but i've actually seen some people that weren't part of that round table post on on social media and say and i i wasn't going to say anything right because i'm just like no maybe they did it for enough but i've seen more and more people get their money back because they're not happy so again if you have iron man and you're not happy don't feel bad about reaching out and asking. Again, you can ask, right? And yeah they can say no, or they can say yes, we want to make you a lifelong customer.

Speaker: And because they did give me my money back on my suspension, it technically paid for all my Raleigh Tech stuff, all my Raleigh Tech upgrades. They kept me as a customer, maybe not for suspension use, but for awnings and some other things. Like they kept me as a customer because it showed they they at least cared a little bit.

Speaker: And they do make some really good stuff. It's just this is new product. Yeah. Yeah. The Subaru stuff is, is new, you know, even though it's a few years old now, it's still what I would consider to be a new product.

Speaker: Correct. So yeah, I love that. And I like what you said too, uh, don't be afraid to jump in, you know, get your feet wet, dude, that trip where I met you. I don't know how many people on that trip they'd never been off road. I think you even said something about that with Michelle, how far she has come from seriously when she first went on that trip to where we just went a week ago.

Speaker: Like ah you wouldn't know it's the same person off road. So much more confident. She knows what she's doing. um yeah And again, yeah don't be afraid. Yeah.

Speaker: I love that. Yeah. And have buddies. That's the key, man. Yeah. I mean, and I say that and again, I don't have a lot of friends myself. And so there are times where I go out and do a lot of stuff by myself. And if you do that,

Speaker: look at it like like look at it like I do, I guess. um if you're If you don't think you can make it out of there, don't go in. Turn around. Correct. Because the minute you go in there and you're like, crap, I shouldn't have done that. And you're out there with no cell phone service, no one's around, no recovery options.

Speaker: You're stuck at that point. So yeah make the best decision for you. Yeah. I love that. Dude, I could talk your ear off. Oh, I know. I could too. Dude, thanks for doing this, man. i know ah I know you expressed a little bit of...

Speaker: hesitancy or nervousness but i appreciate i'm always nervous a little bit again because i'm almost afraid of what i'm going to say sometimes but again i i feel like i did okay well dude this was my mouth gets me in trouble

Speaker: Well, thank you, dude. this yeah like Seriously, this is rad. So thank you, man. Yeah, and if again, if you know my but handle, again, feel free to reach out. um I don't do the best at messaging back, so it might take me a week. I think I did the same to you. You're like, don't you ever check your your messages on Instagram? Nope, I don't use social media, really. so I would love to get back into it, though. I'd love to start posting more and doing a little bit more, but and it's hard to get back into.