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6 Ranch Podcast
6 Ranch Podcast
Land Cruiser: The Ultimate Adventure Vehicle
Ever wondered why the 70 Series Land Cruiser tops the list of vehicles for doing cool stuff? Evergreen Off-Road shares the process of importing these the vehicles, transforming a part-time into a full-time business for overlanding. This episode is your gateway to the world of vehicle customization, as we talk about transforming vehicles like the iconic 70 Series Land Cruiser into beasts ready for any terrain.
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Nobody ever talks about the stories of like. When they drove to Starbucks in their cool truck, Like. It's always the stories of like. Oh man, I went up this road I saw, totally got stuck using Max Trax, got out by myself. It was freaking awesome. I saw whatever. I saw a deer coming along Like who knows what could happen. Right, yeah, that's where all the adventure happens.
Speaker 2:These are stories of outdoor adventure and expert advice from folks with calloused hands. I'm James Nash and this is the Six Ranch Podcast. For those of you out there that are truck guys like me. I want to talk to you about one of our newest sponsors, DECT. If you don't know DECT? They make bomb-proof drawer systems to keep your gear organized and safely locked away in the back of your truck. Clothes, rifles, packs, kill kits can all get organized and at the ready so you don't get to your hunting spot and waste time trying to find stuff. We all know that guy. Don't be that guy. They also have a line of storage cases that fit perfectly in the drawers. We use them for organizing ammunition, knives, glassing equipment, extra clothing and camping stuff. You can get a two drawer system for all dimensions of full-size truck beds or a single drawer system that fits midsize truck beds. And maybe best of all, they're all made in the USA. So get decked and get after it. Check them out at deckedcom. Shipping is always free. Today we're in Auburn, Washington, at Evergreen Off-Road yeah.
Speaker 1:Evergreen Off-Road.
Speaker 2:And I just bought a 70 series Land Cruiser. You sure did yeah.
Speaker 1:How cool is that? Dude? Great way to start your day, A really good Veterans Day.
Speaker 2:I think I think you're doing it right. Yeah, yeah. How cool is that, Dude? Great way to start your day A really good Veterans Day. I think I think you're doing it right. Yeah, yeah, I feel good about it. So what do you do here?
Speaker 1:Here at Evergreen Off-Road we do a few different things, you know. Obviously we import land cruisers from Australia. We can source them anywhere in the world, but typically it's Australia. You bought probably probably the 17th one that we've brought into the country between myself and my business partner. Uh, one of the cooler ones too, with the flatbed tray on it.
Speaker 2:Um so very utilitarian. Very utilitarian, I mean, it's called a ute right, it's a ute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, chuck her in the ute, yeah, um, so we we import vehicles. We have a, an online store, evergreenoffroadcom, that we sell bumpers, winches, suspension, you know, lights, you name it. It's like a one-stop shop basically for all things overland, yeah. And then we also offer some vehicle outfitting services here locally and kind of help people get their vehicle set up to do long-term adventure, short-term vehicle-based adventure, you know, set up for a hunting trip, these kinds of things, yeah from the outside in.
Speaker 2:People might think that this is like a side hustle, but this is your full-time job.
Speaker 1:It is yeah, officially about 12 months ago it became my full-time job.
Speaker 1:But you're totally right, it was a side hustle, kind of just bred out of you know the passion that I have for this space. I found myself camping all the time um, about four years ago and I knew I wanted to outfit my vehicle. I've been kind of a car guy for like my whole life, so I wanted to like get into the truck scene camping, shooting, hunting, all these things Like I wanted to go out and have comfort outdoors in my vehicle, and so I decided to build my Toyota Tacoma and I knew I was going to spend a lot of money on this truck. So I was like I better make some relationships with some manufacturers and some brands and stuff to like help soften the financial impact of like buying all these things. So it started out as like I just need to basically get discounts on the stuff that I want and my friends and then they tell their friends and it just kind of grows organically from there and so it was a side hustle that is now kind of my full-time thing how cool is that?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, have you lost any of the passion for it as it's become like your, your professional endeavor?
Speaker 1:I haven't lost any of the passion. No, actually, I think it's just like it just keeps getting a little bit more. I get a little bit more passionate about it, but, like, the deeper I get into it, it's I don't know. As the years go on, I feel like I I've seen it all done at all, but it's just. There's endless things that you can do in this space from, like, the install side yeah, I'm kind of burned out on that like I've seen enough on that. But, um, like, when you're outfitting a vehicle, there's so many different things you can do to like, uh, customize it for your own applications. And it's really exciting to see when a customer comes in the shop what they want to do with it, from just the weekend warrior or a guy like you who's going to outfit it for hunting excursions. I think it's just really cool to see and be a part of that journey for customers to, you know, help them get their truck built the way that they want it.
Speaker 2:Now the folks who are listening to this in Africa, asia, australia. They're going to be like why are these guys excited about a Land Cruiser? Right Like that's you know it's such a Tuesday of a vehicle for those continents. However, in North America a lot of people don't really know what it is and I guess what's the difference between these imported 70 Series Land Cruisers and what people might think of as Land Cruiser in the US today?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean these cruisers that we're bringing in from overseas mostly Australia, sometimes Japan, venezuela, south America. They're everywhere they're and the cool ones are like everywhere. But the US. So like we, we specialize really in the troopy in the 70 series generation really. So the troopy is in there, the 75 series troopy and the 78s now are able to come in and they're just different.
Speaker 1:They have legacy to them that we didn't really get to have in the US. We've got our 80 Series spec, the 60s, the 100s and everything, and those are everywhere else too, but it's the 70s that you don't see in the States really, and I don't know why that is. It's probably something to do with the EPA and and emissions and things like this, but it's. They've got solid front axles, really robust frames. Now you can get them with the coil sprung front ends and I think they just have like this legacy of being a very rugged, utilitarian, focused vehicle that you see all over the world being used for who knows what Utes in Australia or you know rugged militarized versions of them and you know war, war, exposed countries and things like that. So they're yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, you don't see them doing it with other platforms? It's usually just the Toyotas, the Hiluxes that are getting machine guns thrown on them in some countries, or yeah you know flatbeds and others. It's just interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the 70 series was first made in 1984, and it's been made continuously since then, with very, very few changes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I can't think of another vehicle that can make that claim.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:For 40 years it's been made as the same series and hasn't been modified significantly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's incredible I mean that just speaks to the legacy of the platform the fact that you can get the grab handle that you use to pull yourself into the vehicle on the A-pillar. It's still made to this day and you can buy it in a nice made-by-Toyota baggie. You can get that today for a vehicle that was made in 1984. They're still making the exact same vehicle in 2024.
Speaker 2:It's insane so I saw land cruisers when I was in the military in various countries, but my first real exposure to them was hunting in africa about a ago, and I spent a month there basically living in this Land Cruiser, and the things that we did with and to that vehicle, that it, you know, not only survived but just handled elegantly, blew my mind, because there was nothing that I'd ever seen in the States, vehicle wise, that could do the same thing, and it was a diesel that was quiet, which you know we, we certainly did not have 10 years ago. You know, diesels in the us 10 years ago you about had to wear earplugs just to drive them. Right, they've gotten better, um, yeah, so I, I was just, I was very, very impressed by what this machine could do and I was like why can't we get these in the states? They're like I don't, was like why can't we get these in the states? They're like I don't know, you just can't like, oh, that sucks, I would love to have this truck.
Speaker 2:Uh, then it sort of fell out of my mind a little bit until, and over the last seven years, I've used side-by-sides a lot and we use them for hunting, we use them for hunting. We use them for ranch work and unfortunately they tend to have a lot of problems, if not catastrophic problems, between 5,000 and 10,000 miles. Now those miles are tougher miles than road miles that we usually see on our odometers. If you've got one with a cab on it and it's got a windshield wiper and a pressurized cab, you're going to be between 35 and 45 thousand dollars which is just shocking.
Speaker 2:That's a lot, it's a lot of money and and in so many ways they're trying to rebuild what we have sitting outside right now, which is the 70 series ute. Right, they're just trying to to do it, but do it lighter. So instead of metal, they're making it out of plastic, um so that it's trailerable, um so that they can use lighter, cheaper suspension parts and all these things. But as far as like off-road capability, they don't necessarily have a higher capability, they don't have more load rating. I think it's curious that people aren't considering what I've just done as an option more often than you know, buying these crazy expensive side-by-sides.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think what you're doing is super exciting. For your specific application, the 75 Series Ute, I'm excited to see what you do with it because it's going to be perfect for what you're trying to do. Take it across a river and drive it up a mountain, get an elk throw it on the back, drive it back down and it's got the Toyota reliability behind it. It's still a pretty narrow track, like it's not probably much wider than some of the side by sides you're using no, I think it's going to be very similar.
Speaker 2:I think it's going to be similar like it'll squeeze between trees oh, dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you hit a tree with this thing.
Speaker 2:It's going to keep ripping yeah, it's like, especially with that big arb bumper.
Speaker 1:Oh sure, yeah oh sure it's not afraid to do some logging, that's right. Yeah, man, I mean these trucks are just made to be beat up. If you want to beat it up, I mean it could be a sema truck or it can be, you know your l collar it could be whatever you want it to be.
Speaker 2:Really, and you just got back from sema. So overlanding and off-roading have have this incredible dichotomy in their worlds where on one hand you've got show vehicles that are like the most prepared way you could possibly get to starbucks.
Speaker 2:You know they don't have a scratch on them right they're worth huge amounts of money, they have every accessory, they're very well thought out, they're like a curated showcase of what it could be, but it's never going to go do the thing. And then you've got the like the kind of more redneck side of off-roading, where these things look like they've been off-roaded and they've been, you know, cut with, with cutting torches and, um, you know, they've got they. They've had bad things happen to them, but they're incredibly capable at going places that most vehicles cannot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What was your experience like at SEMA this year?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it was a good show. So this was my first SEMA going representing Evergreen Off-Road and we partnered with James Baroud, which is a tent company out of Portugal. They make like really high-end rooftop tents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw one on your website here. Yeah, really high-end rooftop tents.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw one on your yeah, on the 80 out there, yeah, um yeah, super high-end stuff, and so we were really fortunate to be able to partner with them to go to sema this year. Uh, we were helping support their booth with the setup, the speaking, with all the people coming into the booth really cool. Uh, as a first time, like I thought that was an amazing experience. The industry yeah, I mean to touch on what you're saying about the ultimate starbucks getter like a lot of builds out. There are like just the instagram build right, like it's just got everything you can throw at a truck. There's a thousand things hanging off the side of it bumper, armor, suspension, all that stuff but yeah, they're immaculate, they're show trucks, it's like.
Speaker 1:For what I like to do is more focused on, like the utilitarian side. I typically try not to add anything to the vehicle that I don't think I'm going to really end up using um to tie up your finances in something that isn't going to be used. Like you know, these I you could give a thousand examples, I suppose, but I mean bumper armor, suspension, tires I think those are essential from a utilitarian standpoint because they protect your vehicle when you're actually out using it where you're supposed to be using it, like off the pavement.
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Speaker 2:For 60 years, nix has been building work boots for wildland firefighters, tradespeople, hunters and ranchers, as well as heritage styles for anyone who values quality footwear made in America. Visit NixBootscom today to find your next pair of high quality American made work boots. Add a pair of boots and a work belt to your cart and use the code six ranch that's the number six and the word ranch to receive the belt for free. Let's get into that a little bit, sure, because I, I want to, I want to get into the weeds on this because you are, you are a user of this and this is your profession, right? Um, and my, because I? You don't know this about me, but I was a tank officer in the marine corps. So when you say armor.
Speaker 2:My, my little heart goes pitter patter, I'm like oh, let's talk about armor, uh, but let's start with, uh, with bumpers. Um, there's a whole lot of them out there. Yep, what are things that you look for? What are brands that you like, like? What is the, what is the task and purpose of a bumper?
Speaker 1:yeah, so bumper first thing that comes to mind. Yeah, armor is the key word there. It is to protect the front clip of the vehicle and the front end of the vehicle and the front end of the vehicle so that if, if you're driving at night and you have an animal strike, your radiator is not going to cave in. The vehicle is still going to be able to get to where you need it to go. Really like animal strikes is one of the first thing that comes to mind. Second thing is like adding the ability to add a winch into the front of the vehicle to either recover yourself from a muddy, sticky, snowy situation uh, help you get up the last bit of a hill or recover your friends, your community members. If there's weather incidents in the, in the town you live in, you're able to kind of help people out in a in a pinch. That's. That's always fun to do.
Speaker 1:And a front bumper will also host lights like front facing lights, side facing lights that will help you illuminate the path you're driving down at night. So it protects the vehicle, it adds utility for the winch and it also hosts lights that kind of allow you to see a little bit further, which makes your experience safer, especially when you're using it, like in a trail situation where there aren't street lamps, you know, or things like that. So bumpers, I think, is a great place for people to start when they think about outfitting a vehicle. Getting that winch in there is it's just going to help you have that like sense of that peace, of the peace of mind, right, like so you know, like if I get a little off road here, I get a little stuck. You know, I at least have an option. If I'm by myself, I have an option to get out, provided that there's a tree somewhere around that you can anchor off of, so something.
Speaker 2:I've found with winches. That isn't super typical of the off-roading scene, but I think needs to be considered more. Are the, the winches that isn't super typical of the off-roading scene, but I think needs to be considered more. Are the, the winches that go into trailer hitches so you put a hitch on the? Uh, you know just a square tubing piece on your front bumper. But a lot of times when you get stuck you don't necessarily want to keep going in the direction that you got stuck in, right. So if you can swing that thing around to your um, to your rear bumper, and you can pull yourself backwards, that can be really, really nice. Um and I see that on ranching vehicles quite often. I don't see it on um off-roading and overlanding vehicles as much. I think part of it is because a lot of the off-roaders um aren't packs right. They're going out as a crew. There's multiple vehicles to help with recovery, whereas um ranchers and hunters might be solo a lot more often I could see that being the case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, yeah. So from what I've seen in the industry I'm in uh, I haven't seen a ton of like hitch mounted uh winch platforms that can pull a vehicle backwards. But you're totally right, like typically, the first direction you want to go if you get stuck is back out the way you came, yeah, and so having a winch on the back of the truck is is pretty smart uh. But I have seen people that do like when they have their full trays, like you've got a tray now. So like I've seen guys that have a winch that is mounted to the frame somehow or underneath the tray and tray.
Speaker 2:Tray is just, tray is just. Land cruiser for flatbed. Yeah, sorry, the flatbed, yeah yeah, um, that's what?
Speaker 1:yeah, exactly. So mounting a winch the rear of the vehicle, underneath the tray, around the tray, on the frame somehow, so that you do have a way to, like, pull from something that is behind you. Because a front mounted winch if you're trying to go backwards, it doesn't really help you a ton. Yeah, unless you're doing some multi-point uh, recovery where you've got tree straps and pulleys and you can kind of get the thing behind you somehow. Yeah, um, getting real fancy there. But, um, yeah, a rear mounted winch is something you don't really see in this community. Yeah, but I think there's a lot of utility in that with, like, if you could back your truck up over the edge of a cliff where you just shot a big game and tie the winch around an animal, you could drag them back up the hill too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's guys that do that and they'll bring mule tape you know what that stuff is. So it's like a thin webbing that you can get massive spools of when they're trying to pull say, they're trying to pull a big section of power line through an underground pipe.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Right, like through a bunch of conduit. Well, they'll and I recently did this when I built my house, but it's kind of a funny thing. So I had like about a quarter mile of conduit under the ground and I needed to get um string through it and then mule tape and then uh, and then the actual line. So what you do and this was so fun and crazy you get just some string that is tied to a, uh, like a safeway bag, like a plastic bag, and then you put a vacuum on the other side of it.
Speaker 2:That's like a quarter mile away, and you run your vacuum and it shoots through there at like 30 miles an hour and pulls all the string through so that's, that's super fun yeah, and then you pull this mule tape through that has a you know, multi-thousand pound tensile strength and then they tie that to the power line and then they drive with her truck and pull the power line through all this conduit. Well, some hunters are taking this mule tape which you can get relatively inexpensively and you can get a thousand yards of it, you can get a mile of it on a spool and you can run it out to where that animal is and then you can winch or drive it back up out of a canyon. Interesting, somebody's got to walk with a critter so he doesn't get hung up on stuff but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is something. And then you know something that used to show up while we're talking about winches that I see more on boats than anything else are the capstan winches. Have you seen those? It's just like a spindle that spins and you just take a couple wraps.
Speaker 1:Oh okay, Is it a hand crank one?
Speaker 2:No, so some of them are actually on old cruisers are connected to the drive shaft. Okay, so you can put it in neutral and engage this and this thing's just spinning. But you put a couple of wraps of rope around it and give it some tension and then it binds and you can just winch indefinitely with however much line you have Interesting. Lots of ways to get unstuck, oh dude, yeah, lots of ways to get unstuck.
Speaker 1:Oh, dude, yeah, lots of ways to get stuck oh sure enough, yeah, sure enough that.
Speaker 2:Which brings me to another question, which is, tires, highly debated. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1:First thought mud terrains are a scam. Hashtag mud terrains are a scam Really. I've had just such bad luck with mud. Terrains are a scam Really. I've had just such bad luck with mud terrains, like for a tire that's advertised to be in the mud. I go in the mud and I get stuck. What's up with?
Speaker 2:that man.
Speaker 1:It's just no good. So I've had KO2s, which aren't mud terrain, those are all trains and then I've had just a bunch of different all terrains and I've decided to go mud terrain. On my I have a 22-ton draw up front that you saw, and I've got the Yokohama Geolander mud trains on it and I've been stuck with those tires more times than I can count. On one hand it's probably because of the weight of the vehicle. Maybe I'm bashing the tires too hard because my truck's super heavy. But I put mud terrains on the 80, the 80 series out there too, the the km3s, 35 inch km3s on that, and I guess they're not great in the snow, but I find myself it could be dry. It's probably driver error a lot of times. Um, like I got stuck in the tundra, uh, this summer and last summer, and just you know muddy lake beds. When the water goes out in a lake bed, oh yeah, that's a good kind of mud to get stuck in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:You just belly up, you're, you know, into the mud up to your skids, and then you get that suction factor and it's just like I had to call Buddy to come out and he has like a 16,000-pound winch on his power wagon. He had to pull me out and that power wagon was just trying its best. It was tough, it got me out eventually but it was like half hour of making fun of me for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you sink, you're done. I got tank stuck multiple times.
Speaker 1:Oh dude, I don't know how you get winched out of that.
Speaker 2:Well, you use a tank recovery vehicle which is the M88, and it's the old version of a tank that doesn't have a gun on it. But now it's got a boom and a 76 ton um winch. They can theoretically pick you up, but if there's suction and friction then it's. It's an ordeal all right, it's an ordeal to get a tank out, but one time when I was training in north carolina I backed up into like actual quicksand like the thing that we were so worried about as children, that never developed for anyone as an actual problem in our lives.
Speaker 2:It happened to me. Wow, I, I backed my tank up into quicksand and it sunk like eight feet. Um, real bad deal. The worst of it, the absolute worst of it, was because I was the platoon commander. I had to, like continue with the mission, which meant that I had to leave my guys to get my tank out which was my fault and take a tank from another one of my platoon members and go and continue like this training exercise. So in like that's tactically sound like that's what you would have to do in that situation, but the reality of it is I made a mistake that caused a bunch of extra work and I'd leave my guys to do it and, oh man, it cost me a lot of pizza it cost me a lot of pizza um, and probably not nearly enough.
Speaker 2:I I think about that often and feel bad. But yeah, I mean, getting stuck is almost part of the adventure with a lot of this stuff it is yeah, yeah and figuring it out that's part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, like I, I encourage people that are out there. If you're new in the space or you know you're experienced, I, the experienced guys, would agree like that's, that is the adventure, like getting into the situations and then just like getting out of your truck, jumping into the mud, looking at what you've done and then trying to solve problems. Yeah, it's, it's just advanced problem solving like anything in life. You know, like you find yourself in a situation where you're bellied up in the mud and like, okay, what do we do? Are we going to try the winch first? Are we going to try our max tracks? Are we going to try, uh, the kinetic rope, which is my favorite way to get out a little?
Speaker 1:you know, 30,000 pound, rated, like yoink strap bungee ropes, the bungee ropes yeah yeah, you know, just a textbook, yoink is typically all you need to get out of a jam and a lot of times.
Speaker 1:So trying to turn the yoink into a yeet dude, yeah, just crank up the yeet man and uh, yeah, it gets you out. That little kinetic rope I've got, like the factor 55, one the long like three-eighths inch or whatever it is. That thing has gotten me out of jams more often than any other bit of kit that I carry. Yeah, but it requires two player two to jump in and, right, get you out. You can't use it by yourself, obviously, yeah, but yeah, that is half the fun is getting jammed up and then solving the problem. And then, once you're out of it, you're like, okay, I've learned something, I'm not going to do that again. And then you go to camp and you laugh about it later. It's half the fun.
Speaker 2:And you figure out where the edge of the envelope is so that you can actually become more capable, and you're like, okay, I got stuck here, but so many people would never even get to the point of getting stuck that they're just going to stay on the hardball. Yeah, and pretty soon they're missing out on the adventure because they're afraid of getting themselves into a problem that they can't get out of. They're afraid of getting themselves into a problem that they can't get out of, and that fear is just building up a life for them. That means that, like they're, I don't know they're just going to experience less.
Speaker 1:You're going to experience less and you're not going to know what you're capable of and what level of, like stress and discomfort you're individually willing to go through to have. You know the experience that you think you want to have or you're not ready to have. Whatever it may be, um, like, certainly, if you're not comfortable getting stuck, you're probably just going to stick to some simpler trails or or the pavement even. Um, but I think I would encourage people to like go out of your comfort zone and take the trail that looks a little rougher than you're used to and just see where it goes. You know, that's really what it's about is like seeing where that road goes.
Speaker 1:I find myself all the time like just driving in a new area, like through Idaho or wherever, or Montana or Oregon or something, and you're just driving down a road you've never been on and you look to your left and you see a dirt road that goes up into the mountains and you always ask, oh, I wonder where that goes. And I think it's just great to like find the time to go and see where that road goes and see what happens when you go down it, and it's that's where your coolest stories come from. You know, nobody ever talks about the stories of like when they drove to Starbucks in their cool truck. It's always the stories of oh man, I went up this road I saw, totally got stuck using Max Trax, got out by myself. It was freaking awesome. I saw whatever. I saw a deer coming along who knows what could happen. Right, that's where all the adventure happens.
Speaker 2:The Max Trax are a good piece of gear, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a good piece of kit. You know I I always have them on my truck. You can always tell the guys that aren't like about it when they got max tracks on the trucks and they have all the teeth on them. Still it looks perfect, right. Like you can tell, it's never been in the mud yeah um, but yeah, I think it's a great piece of kit.
Speaker 2:You know, if you're just that's, that's like the first thing that should come out, typically if you're by yourself and you get stuck well, that or the shovel yeah, those are usually out at the same time, yeah yeah, I think in my experience of getting stuck, the shoveling is the last thing that people do and it's probably the first thing that they should be doing, but it's the least fun of the methods. Yeah, it's hard to have fun with a shovel.
Speaker 1:No, yeah pretty much in any situation in life, dude. If you got a shovel in your hand, you're either flipping dog crap over the fence or you're digging yourself out of a jam.
Speaker 2:Best case scenario, you're killing a snake, but yeah, even that's shifty digging a hole of shit into yeah, so no man. Um yeah, getting stuck and getting out is good sports, so, uh. So you don't like mud trains, is? Is there an all around tire? That's just treated you well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the. So the Falcon wild peak, atw three whatever order those letters are in AT3W, something like that. That is the tire that I had on my 200 series Land Cruiser and I was like so impressed by that tire, never had an issue with it. I've never had actually really an issue with any of my tires, but that one I drove like all throughout Montana and Idaho up and down crazy mountains in Stanley, idaho have you been out there? Yeah, yeah, like there's some cool tracks up there you can do Like just you point the truck up a hill like a 45 degree angle when you hit the gas and it just just crawled up. Whether that was a 200 doing it or the tire, I don't know, but I just had really good experiences with the atw3s they just came out with like the new version of it that I think that's going to be the tire I go to next when my geolanders wear out. I just want to get back to an all-terrain tire like the ko3 that just came out or whatever. I think that's like a pretty decent tire. I've had like multiple sets of ko2s, um, so I would probably go back to an all-terrain because they're better in the snow, they're quieter on the freeway and I, when you air them down, like I think they're just going to be a better all-around choice for what we do or what I do, and majority of the driving like, if we're honest with ourselves is on the pavement to get to the places we're trying to go off yeah of course, um having like a nice quiet tire that wears well, I think is the way to go yep, yeah, and, and something that you can drive in the snow as well
Speaker 2:the snow peak rating is something I always go for yeah, that's important something that people are going to notice on this vehicle and americans will almost immediately either misunderstand or will refer to dante's peak is going to be the snorkel.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. So what does the snorkel actually do for you, and why are they so common on foreign land cruisers?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that snorkel you've got is factory-issued, comes like that from Toyota and one of the main advantages is it's going to put your air intake above and outside of the engine bay, so it actually kind of acts like a cold air intake in a way, where you've got fresh, cold air coming in from outside the engine bay and now that your intake is sitting well above your windshield really well above the above your like windshield really, um it'll, it would allow for you to do like some fun things, like what you mentioned you want to do on the ranch later is do like a river crossing type of thing. Um, so because your intake is above the engine bay, you can actually do water crossings up to whatever you're comfortable with really, but as long as that snorkel is above the waterline, you can typically should be able to drive through that water crossing. There are other things you'd probably want to consider too, like diff breathers and things like that.
Speaker 1:that kind of help out with that too. But yeah, it helps bring cold air into the engine and it also will allow for you to drive in deeper bodies of water, should the opportunity arise opportunity arise.
Speaker 2:Another thing that a snorkel does that I think is a little bit slept on is it keeps the air intake into the thinnest part of the dust, like when you're going down a dirt road, you're following somebody, you're kicking up a bunch of dust. A lot of that is ending up in your engine compartment right.
Speaker 2:And if that's where your intake is, then you've got dirty air Definitely, the higher you get above the ground, less dust there is. So by putting that, that snorkel, up high above the cab of the rig, then now you've just got cleaner air coming into your vehicle, it's true. So you're going to go through air filters less often because of it it's true, yeah, and you can also turn the face of that snorkel.
Speaker 1:instead of pointing it forward into the dust, you can turn it backwards so that the dust isn't going to be just blasting straight into that air box. And yeah, I think it's a great tool for that. It's actually a very good example.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's some foam filters you can put over the top of them. I've heard mixed theories on turning them forwards or backwards. Like I've heard some people say, backwards creates an eddy and you'll actually get more dust that comes into it that way maybe um, I mean we're getting into aerodynamics, which? Yeah, I'm not a scientist, so theoretical for me that I just can't hang with it. So I'll just listen to people take their opinion and kind of move on with my life. Yeah, and air filters aren't that expensive? No, they really not.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can swing it, I can get a new air filter.
Speaker 1:I think you can afford the $10 filter yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, why 70 Series?
Speaker 1:70 Series.
Speaker 2:That's your thing, right.
Speaker 1:It's our thing. Yeah, you bring 70 series cruisers to the states it's kind of just like what we've built our brand around is a 70 series like. If I just think it's like one of the coolest trucks out there, like solid front axle, it's just built tough, like it's. It's a heavy duty vehicle, like it's what does a solid front axle do?
Speaker 1:for you. I just think it's. It's just more reliable. You get a little bit cooler flex with it. It's just you can put a lot more weight on it. Um, I like the idea of having like equal pressure down on the tires with, like it's a beam that's just running across both tires, so like when you're doing like articulating, you know your suspension and you're one tire's down, one tire's up, you're, you're getting like a lot of pressure down on it. Like independent front suspension obviously is like also really good too. But um, I don't know, like the crawler guys, it just seems like anybody that's crawling up a mountain really wants like that front, solid front axle. I've my tundra obviously has ifs. The 80 out front has a solid front axle. So I kind of have a little bit of best of both worlds there. But I don't know, there's just, it's just been the thing right.
Speaker 2:It's like tried and true jeepers have it it's fewer moving parts fewer moving parts indeed, yeah yeah, less arms going around, quite a few fewer yeah no upper and lower control arms, it's just, yeah, it's just. Simplicity, I think, is what gives it that edge yeah, what else about the 70 Series do you like?
Speaker 1:I really like it when we bring in the diesels. Like I'm not a diesel mechanic or anything you know, I don't have like the deepest knowledge pool in the diesel world, but when we bring in those diesels, I love the way they sound, I love the simplicity, like you know, the fuel economy. When you load them up with a bunch of weight they still get good gas mileage like upper teens, 20s, whatever mpgs, and the sound is just obviously iconic. You put like if you bring in like a 1hdt toyota like turbo diesel and you put a three inch man exhaust on it like a turbo back exhaust, I just love, you know that whistling turbo through the exhaust, the reliability, it's just I don't know, it's just something that you can't get in the States really anymore. Like beyond getting some crazy big super duty Ford or your big old Rams and stuff. It's just cool to see a diesel in a smaller truck. I think they're doing a good job now in the States with, like the Rangers that are diesel and some of the jeeps that have the diesel option now.
Speaker 1:So I don't know like, I just think they're.
Speaker 2:It's just probably a personal thing, but I just think it's cool because you don't see it much yeah, you know if if somebody didn't want to get an imported older vehicle because they've got to be 25 years old, for us to get them here. Uh, I think that these, these rangers, are a legit choice as well. Um, that they're. They're stepping up and doing big things that like they're not the ranger of of 2002, even though all those are still alive, somehow they're still on the road yeah, um, but it's kind of a slept on vehicle yeah yeah, yeah, they're, they're becoming more popular.
Speaker 1:Uh, you're starting to see those options be more available, like the. You can get a diesel jeep, like with the solid front axle now, which a diesel with a solid front axle is just kind of like. That's, like the, the way to go, I think, if you can swing it, and that's why some of these land cruisers are becoming more popular, because you can get that option. And then there's other guys that just want the gas engine. You know, they just don't care about the diesel, which is fine. I'm not biased one way or the other.
Speaker 2:I think both are great I would have preferred for this to be diesel, but everything else about it is so just right that I'm cool with the gas engine, and this is the more powerful of the gas engines that they offered yeah, yeah, dude, like a 1hz, like if you were to get this in a one HZ, which is the diesel equivalent of the one FZ that you have in your truck.
Speaker 1:it is gutless, truly gutless. Like going over mountain passes you're going to be in third gear, going 35 miles an hour, getting passed by semis people honking at you. It's just a thing, until you turbo them. Um, they're just real, it's a tractor motor it really is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but you know that's not really what they're for either right yeah, I mean, you're not winning any races.
Speaker 1:You're not meant to go fast in those trucks yeah, and the nice thing about the truck you just got, uh, the one fz in your, and the engine that you have now is the same as the 80 series land cruiser that is made here in the states, and so you could go to O'Reilly's or your local auto parts store and get parts for this engine oh no kidding which you wouldn't be able to do if you had the diesel equivalent.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's good news. Yeah, I was fully getting ready to be begging parts out of other countries, as I needed them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If you get the diesel, you're going to be importing stuff from outside of the us to get parts and things like that. But yeah, you can get anything for that engine here yeah and the parts are already in the state, so it's not like you're pulling them from japan or anything, and it's a really quiet v6 too.
Speaker 2:It is. Yeah, it makes good power, and I I mean a lot of people like their rig to make some noise. I kind of want it to be sneaky.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it needs to be very stealthy, I think for what your application is going to be. You don't want a big old, loud diesel cranking while you're driving through the woods trying to sneak up on something.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you something that is also appealing about Land Cruisers from a hunting perspective. This is a door that you can actually close quietly and even on any modern rig like it's tough if you want to close it quietly, um, which, you know, I think a lot of uh, a lot of city folks would never even think of. And I know that because when you come hunting with me, you slam that door like you just had a bad conversation with a boss that you don't like. Yeah, but yeah, you can just slowly close these and just give them a little shove with your hand and the doors close. Yep, that is an absolutely lovely feature, something I've wanted for, like even an F-150, you know how some of the minivan doors like close on their own, like nice and like. I wish that we had that on the swinging doors so that we don't have dudes slamming doors in the woods, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, these doors, man, there's just nothing to it. It's just a basic little door card that's made out of pleather, and that's about it.
Speaker 2:There's a manual window regulator that you can crank, and there's just nothing to it. So there's a few aftermarket things that are luxuries but almost get into that necessity category, and I think one of those is an armrest. Yeah. There's some magnetic armrests that you can get onto those wind wind on those windshields. The base of the windshield it's. It's not a necessarily vehicle that was built to keep somebody comfortable for a long period of time.
Speaker 1:No, no, this truck. I'm so glad that you're the guy that ended up with it, because this truck belongs on a ranch. Yeah, it's a farm truck, it's a utility truck. You're not meant to be super-duper comfortable in this thing, but yeah, actually there's a company I think it's called One Stone, out of Australia. They have armrests that will go into the windowsill on the inside and it has a cup holder at the end of it.
Speaker 1:So you can actually have a padded armrest, have your drink there, because there's no cup holders in that truck. You'll notice.
Speaker 2:Right, and they were clever enough to to make the cup holders big enough that you can fit a can with a koozie around it.
Speaker 1:Oh see, they were thinking about us.
Speaker 2:I think they were thinking about the Australians.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Based on my recent experience there, I think they were thinking about the Aussies.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Gosh, I love adventure vehicles and I love just the capability of being able to move around. It's something that's always been important to me. And then, after being in tanks in the Marines, you know, and the tank Abrams, main battle tank, it's a terrific overlanding vehicle.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, like you can really really go places and we're able to go places in the tank that were outside of the operating envelope that was described in the manual, and there's times that my crew were pretty upset with me because of where I was making it go, but it'll really go.
Speaker 2:I see this in my post-military life quite often, where I'm looking for these sort of niche vehicles that can do extraordinary things. And if they can do extraordinary things, they can get me to places that very few people can get to, and I love that, because I like to be able to get to these places on my own and I want to get as deep as I can with a vehicle so that my body's fresh for going in further on foot, you know. So, whether that is a jet boat that's charging up Hell's Canyon or a land cruiser that can, you know, go down some road, that, yeah, you could. You could do it with a side-by-side, you could do it with a motorcycle, but the difference with this is that I can drive it on the highway on the way there, right, yeah, and I'm doing it for less money than a new side-by-side costs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's going to be able to do this repeatedly for decades. This truck will outlive us both. Yeah, I hope so.
Speaker 2:Talk to me about the process of getting a vehicle here from Australia like nuts to bolts. How do you even find them?
Speaker 1:oh, so it's. It's a lot of relationship building and just forming trust with people over there. So typically we'll we'll find a dealership that is specialized in lane cruisers. That's what we've got over there, um. So we've got relationships there where they'll bring in good cruisers and we know that we're going to get a good one. It's just not like we're buying this from some guy on Gumtree which is like the Australian Craigslist. We've done that once and it was a good cruiser, a little rustier than advertised, but it cleaned up good and the current owner of it is super happy. That was last year's truck that we brought in.
Speaker 1:So so identifying which cruiser you want to bring in, uh starts usually with our dealer partner and we'll try to do like two, three, four trucks a year at our current stage and so we'll source a vehicle over there and then typically it's just a waiting game because exporting vehicles out of australia is it's just like it just takes a long time to get a spot on a vessel, and so we need to work with shipping agents and brokers, um that kind of help coordinate that on the back end. So they'll work with the like, we'll work with a broker who will kind of coordinate when and and where we need to deliver the vehicle to be on a ship at a certain time. But there's just not a ton of boats going out of Australia regularly for the type of shipping that we do, which is roll-on, roll-off or row-row. So they'll roll the vehicle on the ship and then it'll sit on an open deck in the Pacific. It typically will travel up through Southeast Asia. It makes a bunch of stops at different ports to offload vehicles, bring new ones on, and so that's why it takes about three months to get a vehicle from australia to the us. Once it's on the boat, two to three months typically is what we see.
Speaker 1:Um, but yeah, it's a waiting game like it. It sometimes takes two months to even get a spot on a boat out of like Brisbane or Melbourne or anywhere on the Gold Coast, and so once the boat's on or once the truck's on the boat, it's yeah, you got to just sit there and hurry up and wait for the truck to get to the Port of Tacoma here, and then, once it's in the port, it takes another two weeks typically for them to go through agriculture inspection and things like that. Um, the the us side broker has to like release the vehicle from the port with the vessel crew and they have to sign off on everything. The port has to sign off on everything. It's a ton of paperwork, it's. It's a lot of work actually actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's very complicated and like if you're just a guy who wants to bring in a cruiser just to do it on his own, it's overwhelming. It kind of is Like we've done it enough times now where we kind of have the process pretty down pat, but it's intimidating. You don't know like you know who needs what paper at what time if you're just kind of figuring this out on your own. So that's what we like to do is just kind of take that bit out of the equation. We'll kind of offer that service. So, uh, if a client comes to us and has found a vehicle over there, we'll help them bring it to the us. Um, we also will help source the vehicle and then bring it.
Speaker 2:If a client kind of gives us specs like here's what I want that's what I was gonna ask, like, if somebody wants to, if they want something, can they? Can they call evergreen and be like hey, this is what I'm after. Can you find it for me?
Speaker 1:yeah, exactly so. Like that's, that's like a perfect example, like, uh, we get these calls all the time where it's like I want a 79 series four-door ute. You know that is a and I want it left-hand drive. Well, can't really get that truck in the US yet because the 79s are not. They didn't really make them until like 2007.
Speaker 2:Okay For the four-door version of what you have. So we're eight years out from that.
Speaker 1:We're eight years out from that. So, like, first off can't do it. Like, first off can't do it. Some guys are like, well, what if we buy a brand new one and then buy, like, uh, an old 75 like the one you just got, and just swap the body onto the old frame because the vin is what matters? Like you would just swap bodies and basically have the vehicle would be registered as a 75 series, like a 1999, like you have, but it would have all the new goodies of the newer vehicles and you're just using the frame and the firewall at that point.
Speaker 1:But that's kind of a gray area. We don't do that. Um, so yeah, we'll get calls like, yeah, this is what I want, go find it. Sure, we'll do that, take a deposit and make it happen for the guy or what we've. More commonly, we just source really good ones and bring them in and find the buyer later, or you know, while the truck is on the way, we'll have it all photographed and like videos and stuff of the vehicle so that we can advertise and say, here, this is what we have coming now and if you're interested in what we have coming, you can buy the one that we have. Or if you have specific, you know requirements that you want for the vehicle, we can source that for you as well, and Evergreen's blown up right now.
Speaker 2:You guys were at sema last week. That's a huge deal. Um, you know, I just came up, I flew up here, I took an uber from the airport um bought this thing. You guys have a vehicle sold right now. That's on a boat, yeah right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not even here yet. Yeah, yeah, that just sold as well. I mean, we're doing well yeah, you're hitting your stride, man.
Speaker 1:Things are finally happening, man, like it's. I started this company like four years ago, just like I said, out of you know, passion for the industry. Uh, brought on ernesto, my business partner, a year and a half ago and he's just brought so much fresh air into this business and, like he's really the brains behind the troopy thing, he's the super. He's like the passion behind the troopy portion. I have the same passion, but he is just like the guy that knows how to get these trucks here quickly, affordably and sourcing the best that we can get. Um, so yeah, we're doing great. I mean the the e-com site's really going well. I mean we're like one of the only overland shops that you can just pick up the phone and call and we're picking up the phone and chatting with you right away on whatever you need. It's kind of tough these days. We're like you'll call another company in the space and you just go through a phone tree and you're never getting in touch with a person.
Speaker 2:We had, like the ai phone bot conversation earlier yeah, I mean, I was sitting here for half an hour getting my insurance set up, which you know should have been a an eightminute call, but I had to go through all these AI chats in order to do it. Eventually you talk to a human being and they're like, oh yeah, well, of course, this fin is different because it's coming from a different continent.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we'll just put it here and there you go, you've got insurance. But yeah, the AIs just aren't AI enough yet. They're not AI enough enough, dude there's not enough.
Speaker 1:I in that ai uh yeah, that's, that's something we're really proud of is like our customer service, like I genuinely care about every customer that calls in and like or emails or does our little shopify chat thing. Um, like I want to help people build their trucks. I want to help make sure that they're getting the gear that they need for their adventures and I'm not interested in like selling you a remote reservoir you know crazy suspension because you want to take your family on a nice road trip to you know wherever the Oregon coast. Like that's not going to help your adventure or or amplify your experience in any way. Like I just want to make sure you have what you need for your experience. So it's a lot of like questions and fact finding that go into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you need for your experience. So it's a lot of like questions and fact finding that go into it. Yeah well, I really appreciate, you know, the offers that are very genuine from you and ernesto of like, look whatever, whatever you need, give us a call and we'll figure it out yeah um, that's huge, and instead of me beating up the internet and trying to find the stuff and not knowing if it's the right piece of gear or whatever, this is your.
Speaker 2:So now I can just call you and be like, hey, I want my truck to be able to do this. And you'll be like, okay, well, give me your credit card and then it'll be able to. Exactly, that's more better.
Speaker 1:That's a little smoother, less friction for the customer. Right, there's tons of information out there on your truck because it's been out forever and you're welcome to come to us with the things that you found and say, hey, I found about, found out about this is it possible and we'll be like, yeah, totally do it and we'll help you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know like uh, ernesto and I have tons of experience in this industry. Uh, we just want to share it with people and make sure that everybody's getting whatever, exactly what they need, and nothing less, you know.
Speaker 2:So how do folks get ahold of you? So let's say they want, they want a 70 series. They, they want to import something like like this similar but different Maybe. Um, they want to know you know what you have coming Like. How do they, how do they get ahold, how do they get involved?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we're. We're on Instagram, evergreenoffroad. On Instagram you can go to our website, evergreenoffroadcom. Info at evergreenoffroadcom is our email you can email us. That goes to both Ernesto and I. Our website has our current vehicles that are for sale. We've got that white Troopy that's going to be here at the end of the month. That one's pending, that one's actually going to be sold. It's sold.
Speaker 2:You just bought one today.
Speaker 1:That one's sold. So we actually are uh out of trucks at the moment. You gotta get more trucks. Gotta get more trucks. Yeah, need more trucks. Uh, we just love seeing these trucks on the road too, like in the us. We just think it's so cool. You're gonna get heaps of waves from people just like oh dude, what's up? Cool truck man. Yeah, like, um, you're gonna go through a drive-thru and you're gonna have a tough time because you're a right-hand drive.
Speaker 2:Now I know I'm gonna have to go through drive-thrus backwards backwards, bro. It's gonna be a wild time, yeah, yeah when I was, uh, when I was at the bank withdrawing money to to buy this, they're like, well, bring it by. And I was like, well, it's gonna look goofy when I do but I'll do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're gonna get money through the tube thing that they shoot that tube down. It's like you have to really lean over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's going to be great. I'm stoked for it. I think you know I don't have to hypothesize that this is a great hunting vehicle, because every country that has access to these uses them exclusively. Yeah, like Africa uses land cruisers exclusively, australia uses land cruisers exclusively for hunting. Um, like they're. They're so tried and true over many decades, so that's, that's not a thing. I'm just so happy to have found a way, through you guys, to be able to get one here. It's, it's incredible yeah, it's incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're really looking forward to seeing what you do with it too, and like following along your journeys with this thing as a a new tool in your belt for accessing more remote areas, for a hunting perspective. I think it's gonna be sweet. I'd love to see send me a photo when you get an animal on the back of that thing like it's gonna be a powerful tool, I think, and it's so narrow that you're going to be able to do the same side-by-side tracks anyways yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's white. The paint's white, so you're not going to have to worry about scratches.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, there's going to be some.
Speaker 1:Guaranteed. Guaranteed.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much, and I encourage folks to reach out. This has been a really enjoyable process for me and I'm looking forward to to the things that are to come thanks for having me on, james all right, bye everybody.
Speaker 2:I just want to take a second and thank everyone who's written a review, who has sent mail, who sent emails, who sent messages. Your support is incredible and I also love running into you at trade shows and events and just out on the hillside when we're hunting. I think that that's fantastic. I hope you guys keep adventuring as hard and as often as you can. Art for the Six Ranch Podcast was created by John Chatelain and was digitized by Celia Harlander. Original music was written and performed by Justin Hay, and the Six Ranch Podcast is now produced by Six Ranch Media. Thank you all so much for your continued support of the show and I look forward to next week when we can bring you a brand new episode.