Outskirts Overland Podcast
Welcome to the Outskirts Overland Podcast, your go-to source for all things overlanding! Hosted by a seasoned adventurer with over 15 years of experience, this podcast offers a genuine and down-to-earth exploration of the overlanding lifestyle. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting out, join us as we delve into the essentials of gear and equipment, share captivating stories from the road, and provide practical tips for your next adventure. Tune in for insightful interviews, expert advice, and a community of like-minded explorers who share a passion for discovering the world beyond the beaten path. Get ready to fuel your wanderlust and embark on unforgettable journeys with the Outskirts Overland Podcast!
Outskirts Overland Podcast
Why I Always Wash My Truck After Hitting the Trails
Have you ever considered that cleaning your overlanding rig after an adventure might be just as important as checking your oil or tire pressure? After returning from a muddy trail run with multiple water crossings, I noticed my truck giving me some trouble starting – and it got me thinking about how vehicle cleaning is one of the most undervalued forms of maintenance in the overlanding community.
In this candid discussion, I take you through my complete post-adventure cleaning process, from the initial rinse to remove loose debris through the application of specialty cleaners and final detailing. Drawing from my background in car detailing, I share specific products, techniques, and the reasoning behind my thoroughness. This isn't about vanity – it's about protecting electrical connections from moisture, preventing rust on expensive metal components, and extending the life of everything from suspension bushings to engine components.
Beyond maintenance talk, I reflect on the mental benefits of long drives and seeking moments of "boredom" in our otherwise chaotic lives. Whether it's a solo drive to record a podcast with a friend or simply mowing the lawn without headphones, these moments of mental decompression are vital to my wellbeing and likely yours too. The overlanding lifestyle offers these quiet moments of reflection that many of us crave.
I also touch on the importance of checking out previous episodes for detailed coverage of topics you might be interested in, from DIY builds to gear recommendations. There's a wealth of information already available if you're willing to dig through the back catalog. Whether you're a seasoned overlander or just getting started, remember that proper post-adventure cleaning isn't just about aesthetics – it's an investment in your vehicle's future reliability. Subscribe now and join me on this journey of vehicle maintenance, adventure, and finding those precious moments of clarity on the trail.
The Good morning guys, happy Wednesday and welcome to Outskirts Overland. If you guys have a receptionist, today is receptionist day, so maybe I caught you early enough, or maybe before the day's over, so you guys can go grab you some donuts or something for your receptionists, or a card or a thank you, or a half day off or whatever you guys do. Um, I, uh. So, yeah, that's always a good thing. I, whenever I worked at the gym, um and I've talked about that a little bit here I did that forever. I couldn't have survived without our receptionists. They were freaking office managers. They saved my life like actually a lot slash many times. So those are really important people, so make sure you guys are treating them right, being good to them, and today is their day, so they probably know it too, so make sure you're paying attention. But last night I washed my truck and I went to start it and I was click, click, click so it started. I mean, it ends up starting. I don't know if it's my starter or my battery. Obviously I'm in it right now, so it started. It wasn't anything crazy. I did go through quite a few water crossings, so I'm thinking a connection got wet or corroded or had some moisture in it. Maybe driving it'll help. But my battery is three years old. Four years old, I don't know. It's an agm battery. It's supposed to be a 10-year battery, but who knows, it's uh might need to change the battery. Place the battery, exchange the battery. Better, better yet, exchange the battery, because it's definitely not out of warranty. So we'll see. I don't know. It's doing fine right now. I got a no-go Jumpstarters. It'll do what it does. We shall see. All Jump starters. It'll do what it does. We shall see. All is well after it started. So who knows? This is the story of my life. But I did wash it. It ran fine the whole way home too, after all the water and everything. So who freaking knows? Who knows? I don't know. I didn't get under it and dig through the starter connection to make sure that the connections are good. Nothing's loose on the relay. So I will eventually. But you know, here we are yawning again. But yeah, so I would just like to say, guys, that's what's going on with me. But I'd like to say go on over to apple podcasts, give the podcast a rating and a review. It helps me out, it helps me keep doing this. It would mean a lot to me if you guys did it Like actually mean a lot to me. I appreciate you all.
Speaker 1:I'm going tonight to record with Benji for New Found Overland and that's going to be a fun time. And that's going to be a fun time, that's going to be a good time. He mentioned that we may do one or two podcast segments, like one or two episodes tonight record. So I don't know, we'll see what comes of it. I'm not down for that, but I don't know that that's what will actually happen or what will get done. We're usually actually we're pretty whenever I do go down there on these weeknights to record, we are pretty productive. So I think it will be. You know it's going to go well anyways. So that's always fun too.
Speaker 1:I like driving, I like having that long drive really always fun too, I like driving, I like having that long drive. Really. I don't know if anybody else does this, but like I don't listen to music much, like I'm talking to you guys now, but I don't listen to music much, I kind of just like to drive sometimes, and it doesn't really matter the vehicle, I just like to drive, you know, and I wanna, I just want to do that. So I enjoy it. You know, at these times where we get the opportunity to do these podcasts together and stuff to get a drive, um, oh, sideways, hey, man, he said hey, loving the new content, keep it up. Just had a quick, quick question. My bussy is so fat and juicy that it leaks sometimes any advice. Trolls gotta love it anyways, appreciate it, man. Nonetheless, trolls help me out too. So appreciate you, man. I'm happy at least made a long enough comment to read. So, anyways, guys, so I like the long drives and, uh, it helps me clear my mind, it helps me keep going.
Speaker 1:Um, anytime I get a chance to kind of just decompress, whether it's a long drive to think or camping, of course any of those things are very helpful, you know like to just decompress and get a little bit of like, just some. I always talk about it a lot, but the thing I need the most always and I say this often is boredom ways, and I say this often is boredom like it. It's a tough when I'm bored. My brain, you know my brain goes a million miles an hour, like I'm sure many of you guys do, but when I'm bored, eventually I run out of a million miles an hour to think about or mess with, and so then it finally I get some quiet. You know, even in my head, just like what? Like life is so loud sometimes that it's nice to get, get to a point to where it like that even quiets down. You know, and I think that everybody that is in this hobby or probably watching this podcast to some extent, like all of you, if you like to do this and get out in nature and it's quiet, all of us like a little bit of that.
Speaker 1:I would be willing to say Long drive, anyways, long drive to get to Benji's. Nice, I enjoy it a lot. Sometimes I just need to take an hour and a half drive during the week. I don't know. Leave me a comment. What do you guys think Is? Is that how you guys are? Is that what you guys think? Is it like sometimes just nice to decompress, or is that what you're camping for? Or do you guys go on drives too? Or hey, heck, I mow the grass. You know, I raw dog mowing the grass, like I don't have any headphones or anything, in just a time to kind of save the amount of headspace. It's good, it's, it's good for me. Um, I don't know what everybody else's deal like, what everybody else got going on. That's why I asked let me know.
Speaker 1:I I have had a couple people hit me with some subjects. Fortunately, I've already covered them, so I just prefer. Which leads me to tell you guys, don't forget, this is like my set episode so, and I try to do a job of explaining the episode and if not, the description absolutely explains the episode. So you guys know, if there's a piece of content that you're looking for or there's something you're looking for, don't hesitate to go back in my past stuff, cause there's. There's stuff that I covered earlier that in depth, like specific subjects Again, it's just I'm not going to go into some of them in that depth again when they're already there, that's all. So don't think that like podcast started yesterday, like there's a bunch of bad content and I don't talk any different this year than I did last year or the year before, nor is my knowledge different. Really, I have a few different experiences, but I'm pretty straightforward. So go back and see if there's anything I talk about.
Speaker 1:Diy stuff, platforms, bed platforms, 12-fold frigging, I don't know bed racks, rooftop tents, ground tents, maintenance, bug repellents, you know just whatever. Waterproof winter, all of it. I mean, I do really kind of cover a lot of stuff you guys have questions about. I do get questions that I haven't covered, though. So I do really appreciate you guys that are still continuing to give me subjects. It's not that I don't appreciate it. Some of them I just already covered and I'll let you guys know. So I messaged you back. You guys know that I'm very responsive. If you've ever messaged me, I'm very responsive. Try to make sure I give that 10,. You know takes 10 seconds, it's not that hard. I always say just be a good human.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so I washed my truck yesterday. It was an absolute filthy disaster and so, yeah, it's cleaner now. Cleaner it's, you know it was. I got stuck in a mud hole like even after I got it clean, the cleaner, cleaned up, there's just so much, you know, like loose mud dripping, just stuff's everywhere. My tires are brown, like they're. I'm not gonna sit and scrub them like. It's just not gonna happen.
Speaker 1:So the truck's getting better, but that's something that I feel like is the subject I want to talk about today is like so I got back and I usually don't do this, so I'll preface there, but I got back from my trip on Sunday midday because it's Mother's Day, so I got back a little early and I didn't wash my truck until last night. Typically I don't do that. Typically I get back and wash it that day because I don't want all the stuff caked on it's like it sometimes will leave like I can see where the mud was like after like the mud baked in it long enough that like it's going to take up some washing, like some real, like multiple washes probably. And I did not do that. I mean I got it looking. It's looking pretty good, like let's call it 80%, but I didn't do the interior or anything. And I usually always do it like right after I get back, just so that when the truck's sitting it's not sitting with a bunch of crap on it, which very well could be why you know I was having issues with it. You know I was having issues with it. You know, give me a couple clicks this morning. Could be battery terminal, like who knows what it could be. Could be background, could be a caked, mud-caked ground, who even I don't know. No idea, I'm not going to look right now, that's just not going to happen. But yeah, making sure you do it like immediately. So, yeah, make making sure you do it like immediately.
Speaker 1:I have a pressure washer and I typically use some stuff like a wheel, like a like a non-acid wheel cleaner too. So I usually rinse the truck off like just with water. Then I use a non-acid wheel cleaner like to foam the truck. So, like that wheel cleaner will get a lot of grime off it, typically a little loose and mud, dirt and clay, and then from there I can and then from there I can kind of get into the, get into the wash. So I typically use a wheel cleaner as a like under the frame and you know, to try and in and not like probably ten to 1 like ratio and, if you guys like, if this is like way over your head, let me know, like I detailed cars for a living for some time. So it's, you know, maybe I'm talking over your head, but anyways so like a 10 to 1 ratio which is, like you know, one ounce for every 10 ounces. But I, uh, I do that, let it sit, rinse it back off, then I do a mixture of soap in the foam cannon and so I do a 10 to 1. So pretty much I do two ounces of about two ounces of that wheel cleaner still, and then two ounces of soap wash, soap foam, whatever you want to call it. And then do that, do that on everything, let that soak down and come down, and then I go straight to straight soap foam it again and then I wash it with like a mitt, then after that rinse it off, dry it off. That's what I do.
Speaker 1:I do, do all that, you know, on the wheel wells and the um. I do the wheel wells, I do under the frame, I do under the engine. I do all of this stuff, um, try to get as much of the loose stuff off. Those of you, the guys that wheel a bunch, you know, like some of it like burns on and like just it looks dirty but it's, it's clean, like it's not there, it's not hanging anywhere. So that's that's what I do.
Speaker 1:I use a wheel cleaner as a pre-wash. Some people use a degreaser, um, a non-acid wheel cleaner, and in my experience it's not as harsh sometimes as a degreaser. Degreaser can be pretty rough on your stuff. So I use I use a non-acid wheel cleaner. What I use is it's called dark fury. You can get it at o'reilly's by like the gallon. Just, I just use that and uh, I have for a long time and it works really good. It's a, it's a wheel cleaner, slash, bug and tar remover, so it's decently aggressive and it gets it done. So I like that a lot and it's done me. It's done me nothing but well, so I got no complaints. But yeah, that's something I never talk about.
Speaker 1:Is like if you guys have ever seen my truck, every time somebody sees my truck and it's and it's and I've cleaned it, they're like, dang, that thing is clean. I do like it gets scratched up and it gets messed up. But like sometimes a lot of the off-road soot, sand grit, you know, like you get caked in your radiator it can mess up your fans, it can do like there's a lot of things it can do negatively to your vehicle. So I use it like that for sure and hard. But I try to make sure that I also, on the same, take it just as serious to clean it off, try and get it cleaned off, because I mean also I have steel, you know I got steel skids, I've got um frame sliders, I've got steel bed stiffeners and naturally powder coating, you know, chips and brakes and stuff. So I'm trying to mitigate you know some of the too aggressive of rust you know from happening there. So that kind of stuff I think it goes a long way.
Speaker 1:I think I see it as just another piece of maintenance, like making sure stuff's greased. Like my upper control arms have grease certs I got to grease those Checking bushings, you know fluid filming stuff, making sure it doesn't get too tore up. I see that as a part of maintenance. I know that that's not a I don't think everybody sees that as a part of maintenance. Some people just let it go, you know, just let it happen. It is what it is, it goes how it goes and we move on. But I do that stuff. I check, you know, connections, make sure stuff's tight. For the most part, like I said earlier, I'm not going under the truck to check on my starter connection at this moment.
Speaker 1:You know, clean off the driveway. I do always do it at home. I don't like to do it at the car wash. It costs way too much money. And one thing that'll save you guys a lot of time is a turbo nozzle. It's a nozzle that spins and it'll get a lot like. It'll help get chunks off, but like even I'm looking at my mirrors right now, there's even like mud within, like the mirror housing I didn't get, and like it just gets everywhere.
Speaker 1:Stuff gets everywhere, man. I always tell people when they go out in the mud, you know, for the for the first time I'm like that that before you did that was the last time your vehicle was ever truly clean, because it's. It's just like never the same again, like you'll never get it all off, like ever, like never, ever, ever. I've got yeah, you just can't get into everywhere with water, nor do you want to. Sometimes you don't want to get everywhere, you know. So that's, that's just a piece of maintenance that I think is important. I've never touched on it, but I do almost always get comments Like if I'm out on the trail, starting, I almost will always get stopped by somebody or somebody out there and they'll be like it gets pretty gnarly down there Cause my truck looks nice, stopped by somebody or somebody out there and they'll be like it gets pretty gnarly down there because my truck looks nice, you know, and I'm like, well, I just wash it, you know, like it's not, and it's not a metallic color, it's like more of a flat gray so it doesn't show the scratches and stuff so much.
Speaker 1:But I always get that Like, yeah, it looks like a nice truck and it's like, well, it and it is. But also I just maintenance the. You know, maintenance, keeping it clean. I don't want I live in Missouri. There's limestone, there's salt, there's stuff that can eat away at things. I've got a ton of money invested so I want to keep it clean. You know, just like my house, like I don't live in a fancy house or in a big house, but like it's still a hundred, some thousand dollar house, like that's a lot of money. I keep it clean. I vacuum every day Like I'm maybe I'm just that guy, I don't know, but I definitely feel like nobody ever talks about it, ever.
Speaker 1:So if you guys are interested in a video, I that is a video. I'm not a YouTuber Like this is on YouTube and I'm streaming. But like, if you guys want to see a video like of of me washing the truck, kind of see what I use and what I go through, that's a video I could easily make, like I don't want to say easily, but like I could do that I've done it so many times I can make a decent video about how that process for you guys and what I use and you know like stuff I use, I can link stuff on Amazon and my power washer and stuff. I have nothing super crazy. I have like a Ryobi power washer from home Depot, foam cannon from Amazon. I use products from you know O'Reilly's detailing line, like you got to get them from the body shop side at O'Reilly's. But I don't use nothing crazy Like every single thing I use you can get at O'Reilly's. But I don't use nothing crazy, like every single thing I use you can get at O'Reilly's. I had a foam canner from Amazon and a pressure washer from Home Depot. I mean for probably for 200 bucks you could get it all like power washer included. I think the power washer was like $150, $40, something like that. Nothing crazy going on here guys at all.
Speaker 1:Um, but I think that that's one part of maintenance that gets that gets slept on kind of. You know, like we check our wheel bearings, we grease this stuff, we make sure we got fluids here and there in the next place but like, what about all the mud and stuff that gets in these bushings that dries them out? It'll dry them out, even your tires. I mean you've got seals in places like keeping stuff clean goes a long way, I feel like, in making something last longer. So I wanted to touch on it. Like I almost always do it right after I made it.
Speaker 1:Two days after this time and for those of you listening you might be like man, I'll go on two or three trips for a wash. Maybe maybe you wash it after every time, I don't know. Um, but it's also a good way to go through and inspect after your trip too, you know, after you're done washing it now you can see everything. And because you were all up in it washing it, you know you can just give stuff peak. You know it's a good. It's a good like I don't want to say it's a pre-check, but it's a post-check, because you can see it all. Again, I think you can't even probably do a post-check. If you went out and did a trip and your car's not clean, you won't even know what the hell's going on.
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to touch on that briefly, because I just did it last night and while I was doing it I was thinking man, nobody talks about this. I mean, we all have seen the videos on YouTube where they detail dirty cars, but nobody, specifically in this space, you know, really talks about detailing. You know, product companies do. Here's our mud wash. Like soap is soap, guys. Like it's, yeah, it's fine. Like it's not, like it's not, that mud's not that specific.
Speaker 1:Now, to neutralize salt or concrete or something, yeah, you want something that's acidic, like I just use vinegar, but we could talk about that when winter gets closer, how I mitigate that from affecting my vehicle as a part of maintenance, I mean and that involves, you know, distilled vinegar, water and fluid film. Like clean it off, dry it, fluid film it. But I'll go over what, what parts. I make a priority of doing that too, and different stuff, you know. So, anyways, that's what I got for today, guys. Make sure, don't forget, you're a receptionist and I will keep you guys updated on what's going on with the truck, like is it continuing to start? I will keep you guys updated on what's going on with the truck, like is it continuing to start? Let's see right now. Like what's the date it's going to start Right up? I have no idea, dude. No clue, no idea. It's good now, though, or right now. We'll see after work's over. I'll catch you guys later. Have a good Wednesday. I'll see you tomorrow. You might hear from me.
