June 6, 2025 • 48 mins
The podcast episode commences with an exploration of the intricacies of enhancing one's truck suspension system, particularly focusing on the merits of the Road Active Suspension. This innovative suspension upgrade is positioned as a superior alternative to traditional load-bearing solutions such as airbags or Timbren products. Eric Stark, the host, shares his personal experience with Road Active Suspension, elaborating on the transformative effect it had on his truck's handling and drivability. The discussion delves into the technical aspects of the product, including its variable rate tension coil springs, which are designed to engage seamlessly with the vehicle's existing leaf springs. This engagement not only mitigates the common problem of vehicle squat when towing but also enhances ride quality both under load and when unloaded, making it a versatile solution for truck owners. Stark interviews Nolan Mass from Road Active Suspension, who provides insights into the installation process, customer service ethos, and the brand's commitment to quality and durability. The conversation underscores the importance of proper maintenance and the longevity of the product, appealing to RV enthusiasts seeking reliability and performance in their towing experiences.
Takeaways:
- The podcast episode discusses the important aspects of RV maintenance, particularly the necessity of having a reliable tire pressure monitoring system to prevent blowouts.
- Listeners are introduced to the concept of micro gardening, emphasizing its practicality for RVers who wish to enjoy fresh produce while traveling.
- Eric Stark shares a cautionary tale about RV awnings that can potentially trap individuals inside their RV during unexpected circumstances, highlighting the importance of safety.
- The episode features an interview with Nolan from Road Active Suspension, who discusses how their suspension systems can significantly improve towing performance and ride quality.
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa is presented as an underrated destination for RVers, with its rich cultural heritage and community events adding value to potential visits.
- The hosts encourage listeners to explore new products, such as innovative air conditioning systems for RVs, that enhance comfort while traveling.
Wholesale Warranties RV Extended Warranties
TST Tire Pressure Monitoring System
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you're considering addingor replacing the overload springs
or load leveling system onyour truck, stay tuned for the road
active suspension interview.In staying on the road and then enjoying
the RV life, we're going totalk about micro gardening today
while RVing. So Alexis isgoing to take the lead on that one.
So that'll get interesting.And then in the next stop, we're
(00:22):
going to visit Cedar Rapids,Ohio, a little hidden gem in the
Midwest. Then in shadows ofthe past, the towns that once were,
we're going to visit ProtoVin, Iowa. And then in RV Envy, we're
going to talk about stickybooks and a new air conditioner that's
taken the RV market andoverlanding market by storm. This
is Eric Stark with the SmartRVer podcast, your trusted source
(00:46):
for tips and insights toembrace the RV lifestyle without
worries. So let's talkeverything RV today. And this is
episode 178. So let's digright in. In. And so we have Alexis
on the show today.
Hello.
Who's gonna just stun us?
I am.
I am with her. Her insight onProtovan, Iowa. Yes, said it right.
(01:11):
I've got the name down finally.
I've actually been there, sothis is exciting.
Exactly. So she's gonna tellus about her hometown. Maybe not
her hometown, but a place shebeen before.
Yes.
Or has been before. So here wego with the bad grammar already.
Oh, no.
Oh, well, it's the way ithappens sometimes. So. Hey, I just
want to share one little thingthat came up last week in a conversation
(01:35):
with a customer. So theybrought it, bought a brand new RV
from a dealership in Missoula.They get it home and the AC doesn't
work, nor does the heat. So noheat, no ac. So they call the dealership
and the dealership says, oh,you just need a new thermostat. It's
probably defective. They hadto go get the thermostat from the
dealership, take it home andinstall it. Then the. The heater
(01:56):
worked after that. So theheater is working now, but there's
no ac. We're going in thesummertime, so it's a little bit
of a panic for them. And sothey call the dealership up and say,
this is what's happening.Said, well, and the dealership tells
them we have no technicians.So this is the husband talking to
him. And so the wife's like,what? You know? And so she calls
(02:18):
him back and gets the sameresponse. We have no technicians.
What?
Doesn't that seem impossible?A dealership would have no Technicians.
So it got me a little curious.So I called and the guy says, well,
we have technicians here. AndI kind of explained what was going
on. Not in great detail. Iactually more like I was just calling
their behalf, you know, orsomeone's behalf. He's like, I don't
(02:39):
know. So I don't know. Butit's an interesting thing, though,
that the customers walked awaywith that kind of confusion.
Yeah.
Or with that answer. So it'shard to say. So this is kind of that
dealership thing. We just hearit over and over and over again.
Yes.
So before you ever buy the rv.Oh, and they did have the RV checked
(02:59):
out thoroughly before theyactually paid for it. Everything
worked so mysteriously, itstops working. But that happens,
you know. So one other thingwe're going to talk about today at
the end of the show, how an RVawning can actually block your door
and keep you trapped in yourrv. So stay to the end to hear what.
What happened in this one caseor one scenario. So now let's jump
(03:25):
right into enjoying the RVlive. So Alexis is going to share
with us micro gardening whileRVing. So this is going to be very
interesting. So let us haveit, Alexis.
Here we go. This is for theplant lovers. Okay, so picture this.
You're parked at a stunninglakeside camp campground. The sun's
(03:45):
setting, and you're tossingfresh basil and cherry tomatoes from
your own RV micro garden intoa sizzling campfire skillet. Sounds
wonderful, doesn't it?
Oh, it does. I mean, I'm allover it.
Cherry tomatoes and basil.
Right. Bacon in there, too.
Micro gardening is actually ahot trend for RVers, especially those
craving homegrown flavor onthe road. And all about herbs. It's
(04:09):
about microgreens, even tinypeppers in pots, jars, or hanging
baskets, perfect for cozyrigs. You got fresh, nutritious eats,
you save a few bucks, and youfeel like a eco warrior.
Eco warrior.
I don't know about that. Butyou do feel, I think, closer to earth,
(04:30):
all while adding this type ofnutrition to your travels. It's actually
a really good thing. And youcan save money, so that's part of
it. Securing pots for thebumpy roads is an important thing
to do because you don't wantyour plants flying all around. Managing
water when you're boondockingis also an important thing. And then
keeping plants happy through.If you're in the desert heat or the
(04:53):
mountain cold air, that can bea little tricky. So you do need to
know what you're doing beforeyou just jump into this, it is very.
It's a very good thing to do.But you do need to do a little research
before starting. So startingsmall can be a good idea with just
basil or microgreens. Strapthose pots down with bungee cords
(05:13):
and use a little spray bottleto water them. Keep it very simple.
You'll end before you know it,you'll be whipping up pesto pasta
or salad.
In your RV or something.
Something. But it's a. It's avery trendy thing to do. It's very
cool. So.
Yeah.
Learn about it.
Or more people are doing.Yeah. Gardening. They are. I would
(05:35):
think this have to be more forthe full timer living in it or someone
who's RVing a lot.
That would be good.
I don't think it's gonna befor everybody.
Yes. You know, because ittakes time and.
I don't think you have to. I'mnot gonna go down that road. I'm
just gonna leave that one.Yeah. It's interesting, though. So
it's just another aspect ofRVing, so you can incorporate your
(05:56):
life into it, you know, soyour life isn't closed out.
Exactly.
So micro gardening, you know,it may not be for you. It might be
for some, not others. Youknow, if you do it, it's going to
help you save some money.
Yeah.
Which, you know, saving moneythese days is very important. It's
what we like, you know. Sothis episode, I'm trying to think
(06:17):
here. So the. Some of thetariffs have already kicked in. These
supposed tariffs are going towipe out the world. So we're seeing
some price increases rightnow. So we're actually in. I don't
know what month are we in?May. In May.
Yes, we are.
So this episode will be outJune something or other. June 6th.
I think we'll see that. Andthat helps us or makes us think more
(06:38):
about how to save money.Because we still have to buy certain
things regardless. Whatever'sgoing on in our life, we have to
buy certain things. Brings usto our money saving tip. So when
it comes to the RV life,there's little things we can do to
help us save money. Andsometimes we can actually boost up
our safety as well, so we cansave a little cash, make our RV travels
(06:58):
a little bit safer. And whenthings are safe and we're saving
money, it brings us some peaceof mind. And so what we're going
to talk about is tire pressuremonitoring systems today for tires.
You know, everybody's heard ofthem. Well, I think so. A lot of
people have. Maybe somehaven't. I don't know. It's like
in that Geico commercial. Ifyou're living under a rock, maybe
(07:19):
you haven't. But tire pressuremonitoring systems, they can help
you keep track of what's goingon your tires to help you avoid a
blowout, keeping your pressureat the highest level possible, which
is normal for a trailer. Ifyour trailer tires call for a maximum
pressure of, let's say 80 psi,that's where you keep it. You don't
(07:39):
try to lower it to make theright softer, and you keep it at
the highest pressure possible.There's some reasons for that. You
know, it's a tire thing fortrailer tires because the sidewalls
have so much load on them thatthey need that. But you know, when
you have a blowout, it's notjust the tire that blows out. You
(07:59):
know, that can be a couplehundred bucks for a tire itself,
but it's all the other damage.And that's where we've talked about
the RV Defender before aswell. We'll put a link to RV Defender
in the description of thispodcast so you can see what I'm talking
about. But when you have atire pressure monitoring system,
you can kind of see that ifyour tire pressure is dropping while
you're driving, if the heat'srising, oh, I got a problem. So you're
(08:22):
gonna pull over and addressthat problem. And when you're keeping
them pressured up or you'remonitoring the pressure, it's gonna
reduce the wear and tearbecause you have a better idea when
the pressure is dropping, ifit's low. You know, before you set
out on a trip, maybe you justdidn't have time to air up the tires,
but you have a tire pressuremonitoring system that's gonna be
low, looking at you in theface saying, hey, you need to do
(08:44):
something. So it might be thatreminder. Then you're also going
to save money by not wearingout tires prematurely, you know,
because they do add up. Andalso when they're aired up properly
the way they should be, you'regoing to have less wear and or less
drag as you're driving downthe road or rolling resistance. And
so that's going to help youget better fuel economy, which that
(09:05):
you would carry over to yourvehicle. If you're using a truck
to tow your trailer or if it'sa motorhome, keeping those tires
aired up properly will giveyou better fuel economy. So that'll
save you some money as well.It might not be like tons of money
all at once, but over time, ifyou travel A lot, especially in the
summer. You're gonna save somecash, which helps, you know. And
(09:26):
all these tire pressuremonitoring systems are very do it
yourselfer friendly. You don'thave to be a genius to install them.
And then most of them haveapps that you can monitor on a smartphone
or, or they'll have a monitor,they'll sit on the dash. I kind of
like the monitor on the dashthing because it's right in front
of you. One less hat or ahobby you have on your phone. And
you know, some of these appsdon't work that well. They don't
(09:49):
refresh quick enough. So itcan be kind of a hassle. But that's
a simple upgrade andunfortunately you're gonna be looking
at several hundred dollars toget a decent one. But over the long
haul it might save youthousands depending on what happens
with your tires. And if you'relooking for a brand that you want
to just buy and know you cantrust it. TST Tire Pressure Monitors
(10:09):
is a good brand. That's whatwe sell in our store, that's what
we recommend. So we'll havemore on this on our website, the
smartrver.com so this will beunder a money saving tips and you'll
be able to read all thearticle with a couple links as well
to some different brands. Now,in staying on the road today, it's
not going to be just meyakking. We're actually going to
(10:30):
have an interview with RoadActive Suspension with Nolan from
Road Active Suspension. AndRoad Active Suspension is a, as I
mentioned, it can replace yourleveling system in your truck or
if you're looking to upgrade.This system is absolutely amazing.
I put it on my truck andthat's kind of what tuned me into
this. They've been aroundsince the 90s. I haven't heard of
(10:51):
them till recently. It's like,man, what have I missed all these
years? We're gonna start thatinterview and then you guys can take
what you get from it. Andit'll also be a link to Road Active
Suspension's website in thedescription of the podcast as well.
All right, so let's check outthat interview.
We have Nolan Mass from RoadActive Suspension here today. We're
(11:13):
going to talk about suspensionupgrades for pickup trucks, primarily
pickup trucks, but it works onvans and some other vehicles. And
it's for the rear, so it'sgoing to replace products like Firestone
or Timbren, things like that.Or if you don't have anything, this
might be the upgrade that yourtruck will need. To tow, just to
have a better ST drivability.It's an awesome product. And what
(11:33):
brought me to this was acustomer of ours told me about it,
and I got curious and calledup Rodactive Suspension. Talked to
Sean there. He convinced me Ihave to have it on my truck. And
I was looking at replacing myFirestone airbags, but I went with
Road Active, and, man, what adifference. This product changed
how I felt about the truck.And they had a video that kind of
(11:55):
showed that too. And I didn'treally think the video was accurate.
I'm thinking, nah, these guysare full of it. Well, it turns out
they're not. This product isabsolutely unbelievable. It changed
the way I felt about my truckand how it drove. So I had to talk
to them and get them on herebecause I got to share this with
everybody. Everybody needs toknow about Road Active suspension.
That's how I feel about it.So, Nolan, I'm glad you could make
(12:17):
it today. We nice conversationhere. So welcome to the Smart RVer
podcast.
Hey, Eric, thanks for havingme. I really appreciate it. Also
love that, that you love ourproduct. That makes us really happy.
Well, that's good. It's greatproduct. So, you know, as I was installing
it, I really thought this isgoing on too easy. Very simple installation.
You know, I watched the videoand it just like, nah, it can't be
(12:39):
that easy. It really is. Sothat's what's cool about it. It's
a do it yourselfer typeinstallation. It doesn't have to
be done at a shop. So anybodycould do this. Maybe your grandma
even, I don't know, dependingon her age and shape. But that's
what's so cool, is it's suchan easy installation. And there's
no cables to run, no wires torun. Just tighten up those springs,
and you brought them a littleor put them all disc in the kit to
(13:00):
make it accurate. So that'sreally nice. So, Nolan, how long
have you been with Road Active Suspension?
Yeah, Eric. So I started withRoad active suspension in 2010, and
this initial position was anaccount manager. So I really got
to talk with, you know, somany of the customers and pickup
owners out there that wereexperiencing the problems that. That,
(13:22):
you know, that you experience.A lot of the RV ERs and travel owners,
you know, experience, and whenthey hook up their trailer, which
is, you know, the initial, youknow, visual cue they see is, you
know, the squat. So I get to,you know, talk with a lot of folks
about that. I got to talk witha lot of RV dealers, trailer sales
(13:43):
places, pitch installers, 4x4shops that, you know, are in this,
in the industry, sold otherproducts, rear suspension upgrades.
You know, obviously notlimited to that, but it really gave
me a, it gave me a good basisfor, for what I do today. In 2018,
2019, I transitioned over tothe marketing just to really bring
a lot of the stories ofcustomers that we were speaking with
(14:06):
and just really, you know,satisfied, happy customers that we
were speaking with. So, youknow, bringing their stories to more
pickup owners like, like Ericand like your, like your audience.
So it was just, just a joybeing able to bring, you know, a
product that actually worksand does what it says to the pickup
owners and that, that needthat additional support and are having,
having issues, you know, with,with drivability and, and need. Need
(14:29):
that additional safety assets.
Awesome. So Nolan has a lot ofexperience with the company, a lot
of experience with theproduct. So that's great. And you
know what's nice about that iswhen you have a company, even like
when I talk to Sean, he knewthe product inside and out just like
you do. You guys know it well,and that's what makes a difference
sometimes. And you guys answeryour phone. I forgot about that.
(14:51):
You guys answer your phone.That's customer service. And that's
going away these days. And Ilike companies that answer their
phone.
They, they're becoming my favorite.
Credit goes to all the, allthe credit goes to Sean. Sean is
one of the best guys here.He's been here since 2012 and he
started in the warehouse. Sohe knows every single bill. He knows
every little, the minutedetail about every little thing.
(15:13):
So if there's a question, ifanybody has a, anybody here has a
question about anything, he'sgoing to know anything about the
product. So him, him beingkind of the lead on, on the phone
talking to guys like, likeEric is really valuable to the company.
And he's just such an awesome guy.
Yep. Yeah, it makes a bigdifference. Okay, so now that was
the easy question.
How long you been there?
I mean, obviously you knowthat. So let's get into a little
(15:34):
more difficult ones. So thefirst one I have, and.
This is probably one that I think.
A lot of people will bewondering about, what makes Road
active suspension differentfrom other suspension upgrades like
airbags, sumosprings or evenTimbren products?
Yeah. So I mean, just knowright out of the gate, you know,
all those products areworking. They're. They're essentially
(15:55):
resisting the weight at theframe of the vehicle. You know, the
bump, stop, Snubbers like,like a Sumospring or Timbren, you
know, they're obviouslymanufactured with different materials
and what have you, but they'reresisting the weight. So you know,
as you're, you hook up yourtrailer or put, you know, load in
the bed of your truck, youknow that the frame is going to come
down and with that snubberit's going to hit the axle of the
(16:17):
vehicle. So same with anairbag setup. You'd obviously pump
air in and out there with ourproduct instead of resisting the
weight at the frame of thevehicle. Our spring is a variable
rate tension coil springs. Youknow, when you set the hooks over
the rear half of the leafspring. So when you set the tension
on our spring, it works like amuscle to hold the leaf spring in
an arch position. There's areally an interaction between our
(16:40):
tension coil spring and theleaf spring of the suspension itself.
And so the outcome and whatyou feel as the driver is going to
be much, much different. Thena product is going to resist that
weight at the frame of thevehicle. And then so you're going
to see obviously somedifferent benefits than some products
that are going to resist theweight at the frame of the vehicle.
(17:02):
Okay, very good.
Yeah, that explains this bigdifference there. And you said something
about it affects the way thevehicle drives or rides afterwards,
which it does. I was veryimpressed with that. It was so noticeable
and it was.
Such a good difference wherelike you.
Put on Firestone airbags likewhen I did, there's no change in
the way it rode. It just gotairbags now. No excitement, got airbags.
(17:24):
All right, so now anotherquestion here. How does road Action
suspension, how does it changethe ride quality when the truck is
loaded versus unloaded?
Yeah, no, great question.That's, that's probably, that's one
of the most common questionsthat we get. And that's one of the
most common questions that Igot when I was speaking to customers
every day. So, you know, theanswer is gonna, is gonna vary based
(17:48):
on the truck that you have,how worn your leaf springs are, how
sensitive you are, how youdrive your truck. The answers that
we get vary. And if you lookat all the reviews, there's a lot
of guys that'll say, hey, youknow, I installed my kit, love everything
about it because, and partlybecause it didn't hurt my unloaded
ride, I didn't feel adifference in my unloaded ride quality.
So that's kind of one end. Theother that's kind of, I guess, worst
(18:11):
case, best case, Is like wehave customers like Eric that they
put it on and they canimmediately feel a difference in
the way the truck handles. Andso it's also going to depend on you
know, how the tension settingthat is set. So we've got a range
of adjustability on ourspring. So if you set it at a lower
tension setting, it's notgoing to output as much suspension
strength and I guess stiffnessin quotes to the, to the leash spring.
(18:36):
And when I say stiff, it'sstiffness. It's not in a negative
way. For example, if you have,if you've got a half ton truck and
you set the tension at the 1millimeters tension setting and you,
you kind of, you know, baby,you, you don't really drive above,
ever drive above the speedlimit. You kind of, you know, drive
a little bit slower aroundcurves and corners, that kind of
(18:58):
thing. And you drive primarilyon smooth roads and your neck of
the woods doesn't have roughroads. You may not notice a huge
difference in the unloadedride quality. But when your truck,
when you're towing that,you're going to feel that that spring
really kick in to provide overand above what you were getting before
the other end is. And the waythat for myself and I would say the
(19:19):
majority of our customers thatthey feel immediately and again it
also is going to depend on thecondition of your leaf spring. If
you have like an, for example,another example, if you have an older
pickup truck that maybe theleaf springs are a little bit worn.
And so you know, if you havemore leaf springs, you're going a
lot more kind of wallowy, softaround curves and corners type feeling.
(19:40):
And you install our kit,you're going to notice that bigger
difference because our springis engaging with those old leaf springs
and really bringing them backto life. So you're going to notice
going on curves and corners,going over bumps, potholes that you'd
say more, it's more, thevehicle is going to drive more like
a sports car essentially. Andso that's what, that's the feeling
it's going to, it's going tohelp the truck hug the road much,
(20:01):
much better. And so that's,that's the typical experience of
pickup truck owners when thevehicle is not loaded. When you're
loaded, you're also going tohave obviously a much greater degree
of improvement and reducing ofsquat, obviously better control because
when you're squatting thefront of your, the nose of the vehicle
(20:21):
is going to be up in the airand you're going to lose Some tire
contact and some. Some controlthere. So obviously, adding the suspension
component and to the existingleaf springs is going to improve
the unloaded or the loadedride quality as well as.
Yeah, you know, you said ithugs better like a sports car, and
it does. You know, it's hardto imagine a truck feeling that,
(20:41):
and that's what I did. Thatwas one of the things like. Yeah,
that's how you describe ithugging the road. It just feels like
it's clamping down on the roadand like claws. So it's pretty nice.
Makes a big difference, youknow. So as you're answering questions,
you're kind of, you know,covering other things, which is great.
So you. Yeah, like, I wasgoing to talk to you about adjusting
it, which you talked about.You got into that. So the adjustment
(21:01):
is pretty easy on it, prettystraightforward. But another question
that might come up because,you know, so many products that get
put on vehicles needmaintenance. You know, they got to
be lubricated. You got to dothis, you got to do that, you got
to adjust them from time totime. Is there anything like that
with road active suspensionthat you have to do after you install
it?
Yeah, I can actually expoundon first the adjustment part, because
(21:22):
that is a. That is a questionthat we get a lot just kind of expound
on that. So we have a range ofadjustability. So our kit really
is designed to be. Set it andforget it. So once you, you know,
once you find that correcttension setting at the start, you
know, you shouldn't have toconsistently readjust that. So that's
a definite positive on themaintenance side. I mean, we e coat
(21:45):
everything we can e coat.There's certain parts that we need
a zinc. Zinc plate. So, youknow, we do everything we can to
help with corrosion andresistance. There one thing that
we recommend. It's always agood idea to use some sort of lubricant,
like an amsoil, something likethat, to just spray down your. Spray
down everything like, youknow, you would otherwise. If you.
Especially if you live upnorth where there's a lot of salt
(22:07):
in the roadways in thewintertime, always a good idea to
do that. So definitelyrecommend doing that. But other than
that, you know, you don't.There's no, you know, as opposed
to like an airbag setup whereyou deal with leaky lines, you know,
and that kind of thing. Wintercan really be a detriment to. To
those lines and. And the bags.I mean, you don't have to worry about
any of that. Everything'sMechanical metal and it's built to
(22:28):
last, right?
Yeah.
No air compressors, nonothing. Yeah, so that's pretty cool.
So just spraying it down withsome metal lube is awesome. And that's
pretty simple. Yeah, just dothat and you're done. You know, a
lot of this stuff come. Youknow the questions I'm coming from,
they're coming or asking,they're coming from forums, you know,
like Tacoma World and thingslike that. Because these are people
that have vehicles where likea Tacoma is kind of a sporty truck,
(22:52):
you know, so they don't wantto put something on there clunky.
And so when you think aboutsome of the vehicles that are using
these full size trucks,Tacomas, it's a product that's very
universal. It goes across thedivides of different vehicles. You
know, because a Tacoma driveris definitely different than a let's
say a Ford F350 driver. But itworks in all those vehicles and it
works I would say equally well.
(23:13):
Would that be correct?
I would put a caveat on that.Our product is such a great. We really
tune the springs and we, wefeel that we've provide, provided
the best product out there foryour less than half ton, half ton,
three quarter ton and thedemands of those there is some diminishing
returns once you get toespecially the one ton market. Now
we could obviously we couldtune these stronger. We are working
(23:34):
on some things to be able tooffer a more competitive product
for the 1 tons. But on the 1ton market you've got something unique
is, and it mentioned it to youbefore, is that those 1 tons, they
pretty much all nowadays comewith a factory top overload spring.
And obviously the, the, thespring pack in general just on a
one ton truck is going to bemuch, much thicker. So when you apply
our heavy duty spring to athicker leaf spring pack number one,
(23:57):
it's not going to have thesame impact on that thicker one ton
pack as it would on your and ahalf ton truck with maybe two or
three leaf springs. And thenadditionally those one ton trucks
at the factory come with thatfactory top overload spring. So that
factory top overload springneeds to be removed in order to fit
our product on top of there.So you're taking a step back in order
(24:18):
to install our product from a,from a ride height standpoint, you
know, squat standpoint reallyisn't going to offer too much on
those vehicles. I just kind ofgive you about the same in terms
of, you know, reducing squat.What it is going to do for those
vehicles is it's going toengage sooner because that factory
top overload spring meets a.It requires a few inches of squat,
(24:38):
about 2 or so inches of squatbefore hitting a snubber that's connected
to the frame. And so when allof that is removed, our spring is
put on. It's going to engagemuch sooner than that. Factory top
overload spring was, was, wasengaging. But then also in. One of
the common complaints withfolks with factory top overload springs
is oftentimes the, the, thesnubber and the top overload spring
(25:03):
bounce off each other and sothey cause a bouncy ride when going
over kind of, you know, bridgeabutments and, and kind of rough
roads. So you take that out ofthe equation, add our product, our
product already is going tohave a significant impact in bound
reducing bounce and you know,all of that. So it's going to be
huge benefits. There's,there's a lot of pickup owners that
will in those one ton caseswill install our product just for,
(25:26):
just for that and helping.It's going to be a bigger impact
on stability but the impact isnot going to be the same in terms
of you know, reducing squat ona one ton truck. And that's you know,
very oftentimes if, if you, ifyou've got a one ton truck and need
to reduce squat, we typically,and Sean and the other other guys,
they'll recommend, they'll sayhey maybe our product isn't for you,
(25:50):
you know, maybe go with thedifferent suspension upgrade. So
I would say for your hat foryour Tacomas, you know and we've
getting, we're getting a moreand more footprint with your Tacoma,
your Overland type guys that,guys that have truck bed campers
and they're going, you know,an off road type situations. I mean
remarkable, we're getting someremarkable results. A lot of our
(26:10):
growth has, has been and ourpopularity is, has been from your
half ton, three quarter tonguys towing travel trailers, RVs.
That's our, that's been reallyour bread and butter and what you
know, I guess we're a greatmatch for we found out, you know
was we've been a great matchfor. But I would say over the last,
especially the year, last yearor two we've had more and more Tacoma
owners especially and Overlandfolks that have begun testing and
(26:34):
using our product and thoseoff more off road type situations
and additional support withsome really, really good results.
So I mean you know, but thoseare, those are great applications
for our product too.
Yeah, great. Also you broughtup the Tacomas and Overlanding that
type of stuff. Does yourproduct work with trucks? Let's say
(26:57):
with lift kits, three inchlift kits, six inch lift kits.
Yeah. So great question.Typically, yes, but we recommend
if you've got a, if you got alift kit, we recommend reaching out
to us first to confirm properfitment. If you order from our website,
there's a very good chance orif you order anywhere, there's a
very good chance that ourproduct is going to fit your vehicle
(27:18):
if you've got a lift kit onit. But there are certain, there
are certain lift kits and it'sgoing to vary because there's so
many different lift kits outthere and packages, you know, different
year make models of trucks.It's difficult for us to keep track
of every single one and knowspecifically when, when a lift kit
is mentioned that hey, yes,it's going to work. So our process
typically is if you got a liftkit, send us an email and Sean or
(27:40):
the other people will take alook at it. To confirm fitment, we
just request picturestypically and we'll work on a customer
by customer basis if we haveto. We just want to, you know, we
don't want a customer. We wantto prevent a customer from ordering
the product and figuring outthat it doesn't work and then have
to like incur restocking feesand things like that. And we just,
we just want to, don't wantthat, any of that to happen.
(28:02):
Right?
No.
That's good.
Yeah.
That's one thing. I kind of,while you said it too, that if it's
not the right fit, you guysaren't going to recommend it. And
Sean seemed to be that waytoo. It might not work on your truck,
but send me some pictures.
Let's make sure if, I will sayif, you know, if it does fit on the
truck, guys with lift kits aresome of the happiest customers because,
you know, you get a, get alift kit on your truck, you got a
(28:22):
higher center of gravity andget a lot more instability sway you.
Also a lot of those guysexperience axle rat wheel hop issues
and our product really helpswith that. It doesn't typically completely
get rid of it, but there'sgreat benefit and improvement in
the axle wrap wheel hopproblems that those guys with lift
kits experience.
Yeah.
So that's good. So most ofthem are, you know, my customers
(28:43):
aren't going to have liftkits, but some do, you know, or.
Yeah, different vehicles,different things. So another question
is, is there a heavy dutyversion versus a medium duty version?
Yeah. So for many years we youknow, so the product was originally
designed in South Africa forpickup owners that were driving in
the bush. And that product,initial product design was much,
(29:04):
much smaller than what we'reseeing today. We've built, built
it up and beefed it up so muchto better fit the United States market.
So we've went through severaliterations and spring sizes. So we've
got actually right now we'vegot three different spring sizes.
We've got kind of thesmallest, which is the original original
that we still utilize. On someof the older Ford Rangers S10, some
(29:26):
of the super small vehicleswe've got a standard duty which we
offer for most of yourTacomas, your newer Ford Rangers,
your newer Chevy Colorado'sand Canyons. And then we, and then
we offer that also on your,for your half ton trucks. And we
have a heavy duty kit. And ourheavy duty kit is by far our most
(29:47):
popular offering. We came outwith a heavy duty kit in 2011 and
since we've came out with thatheavy duty kit, you know, we first
initially offered the heavyduty kit for your, your three quarter
ton and your one ton truck. Soyour F250s, F350s and equivalent.
And then in 2017 after testingat using on those vehicles and the
three quarter one ton, westarted offering it for the F150s.
(30:10):
So your half ton guys. Andsince that time, you know, that's
really when we've seen the,the most growth in popularity is
that that heavy duty kit is anamazing match for the, for the half
ton truck market. So if you'retowing or hauling with the half ton
or three quarter ton truck, wehave that heavy duty kit's going
to be great, a great fit for you.
Okay, so that sounds good. Sothat explains that. Another question
(30:33):
too is how long do these last?What's the lifespan? Buy it once,
forget about it or every 10 years.
Yeah, you know, the kit isreally designed to last as long as
you're going to have yourtruck. I mean, you know, Sean still
talks to guys that they've hadtheir truck for 20 years and they're
like, you know, I'm gettingit, finally getting a new truck and
I still have it on my old one.Can I put it on my new one? You know,
(30:55):
so you know they're built tolast for a really long time, you
know, as long as you're goingto have your truck. I mean, so the
lifetime of the vehicle again,you know, it's a good idea, you know,
to help along with it, youknow, prolong just like you do everything
else. And under the, underyour vehicle, if you're in a. If
you're up north or somewhere,we experience, you know, you know,
(31:15):
salty air, that kind of thingto you spray down over a few years
and that's.
Right.
So that's good. Unlike so manyproducts today where they don't last
a lifetime. Well, I shouldn'tsay a lifetime, but a long time.
And, you know, it's not likein three years, you got to buy some
parts, have it repaired, yougot maintenance, so you put it on,
forget about it. There's nosoftware updates. You know, it's
(31:37):
pretty simple. You don't haveto look at your phone to do anything.
You don't have a compressorgoing bad. So, yeah, that product,
your product just absolutelymakes perfect sense. Put it on, forget
about it. So I'm glad I usedit. I'm glad you're able to come
on today and answer thesequestions. I mean, I have more questions,
but we just don't have thetime to go through them all. But
I'm going to put all thequestions on our website@the smartrver.com
(31:58):
and also road ActiveSuspension has a very interactive
website. Tons of videos, allsorts of stuff happening. I think
whatever page you go on,there's things moving and things
happening. And of course, youcan call me if you have questions.
Sean will answer the phone.And he's the man. He knows it all
there, right?
Sean is the man. He's the manhere, too.
So, yeah, so that's. That'sabsolutely awesome. So, Nolan, I
(32:22):
really appreciate you comingby today and sharing these answers
to these questions. Questions.And I'm sure I'll have more as time
goes on. And I'll. In fact,what I'll do is I'm going to run
these by you first before Iput them on our website, and maybe
you can help me out.
A little bit, but I think itwill clear it up.
And if people have anyquestions again, they can go to the
RoadActive website, which allthat information will be in the description
(32:43):
of this podcast or the video,whichever, how you're taking this
in. So, again, thank you verymuch. Very helpful information. You
guys have a great company aswell, and so pat everybody there
on the back for us. We reallyappreciate good products.
Amazing. Thanks for having me, Eric.
All right, my pleasure.
So that was great interview.We really appreciate Nolan's insight
on Road Active Suspension. Andso you're going to want to check
(33:05):
it out if you're looking toupgrade your. Your suspension in
your truck. Like, I Said I putit in mine. It was a day and night
difference. And, you know, Iexpressed some of that in the video,
so I'm not going to belaborthose points. So now that's going
to bring us to our next stop,which today I'm going to be doing.
Yeah, Alexis and I have donethe old switcheroony thing here.
(33:28):
Sorry to throw you all off.
Yep. So now we're going tosuffer a. A journey through Cedar
Rapids, Ohio, with me.
Iowa.
Iowa. See, that's how badit's. At least it's not Obama Nebraska,
like last time.
Yeah. Yeah.
So, you know, Cedar Rapidsmight not be the first place you're
going to think of going on anRV trip. It's not something I. Or
(33:50):
a place that I would think ofgoing to.
Yeah.
In fact, Iowa in generalisn't, you know, for whatever reason,
you just. We just get theseideas of states and places and kind
of run with it and we, youknow, work our life around it like
we'll avoid that state, youknow, at all costs, for whatever
reason. But it really soundslike it is going to be a good place
to go for an RV adventure.Now, I've never been there myself,
(34:12):
and I'm kind of more inclinedto want to go there now. Good. After
reading this article, Iowa orCedar Rapids. It's along the Cedar
river, and it's a city knownas the City of Five Seasons.
Yeah.
And so the fifth season isn'twhat you think. There's not another
season. But what they say isthe fifth season is the time to enjoy
(34:35):
all the other seasons, likespring, summer, fall, and winter,
without rushing. So that's whythey call it a fifth season, you
know. So in other words,they're saying, hey, enjoy this place.
Don't be in a rush to do it.Now, it's not a big, massive city.
It only has 135,000 people.That's the population. So it's not
huge. It's. It's a manageablecity. You know, It's. You can go
(34:58):
there and enjoy it. It has allthe big city amenities. Like every
city this size anymore, youget over 50,000 people. It seems
like they got all these, youknow, helicopters, bring in these
big box stores and stuff, landand everything, you know.
True.
All of a sudden, it looks likeevery other city with a red Robin,
a Walmart and a target, and800 gas stations. Besides that, it
(35:21):
sounds like a cool place. Soit's the second largest city in Iowa,
if that matters to you. Butthey have a lot of arts and culture
there. And they have a veryrich Czech and Slavic heritage.
Yes.
And so those two things initself, they run through the city.
And so that gives everythingsome flavor there, including the
(35:41):
food, which is we wouldexpect. And then they also have festivals
to celebrate the Czech andSlavic heritage. So those types of
things can be very easy to goto. Go to a city and enjoy some festivals.
It's a reason to go there, andyou're there for the festival, but
then you get also the flavorof the city as well. And you can
determine whether you like itor don't like it. It's up to you.
(36:04):
But there's a lot of historythere. Not only just history in general,
US History, but a lot offoodies like going there because
different types of food. Thereis nature around Cedar Rapids, so
there's something forEverybody there, including RVs, RVers,
there's parks, there'smuseums. They've got it all.
(36:25):
They do.
So it sounds like a reallycool place to go and explore. Spend
a week there or a weekend ifyou're passing through Iowa, going
someplace else. Maybe swinginto Cedar Rapids and check it out
for yourself. And now theydon't have RV parks in Cedar Rapids
that I could see. They'rearound the area, but that's all right.
You know, who wants to be inthe city anyways? On the outside,
(36:48):
tons of restaurants, like Isaid, and they have some interesting
restaurants. We don't havetime to get into all of them and
all that fun stuff. And youcan get propane, dump stations. Everything
you need is in Cedar Rapids,even a good time. So check it out
and we'll have the entirestory on our website, the smartrver.com
so you can have get the entireflavor of it without ever even leaving
(37:11):
your house.
Right.
How was that?
It's amazing.
That is awesome. Only here atthe Smart rver. All right, so that
wraps up Cedar Rapids. And nowright next door, there's another
town, and it's calledProtovent. Now, this is where Alexis
grew up. Well, not really. Shevisited there once, so it has a soft
(37:33):
spot in her heart. So she'sgoing to share the shadows of the
past with us today. In thiscase, I took. I tore the page out
of Grandpappy Popeye's bookand gave it to Alexis. You did all
right, Alexis, so let's hearwhat you have to say or what you
can share with us aboutProtovent Iowa.
All right, here we go, ladiesand gentlemen. Towns that once were
(37:55):
we take a quiet detour off themain roads into the rolling Farmland
of northeast Iowa, a placecalled Protavan. Tucked just along
the boat border of Howard andChickasaw counties, Prodvan was never
a booming metropolis, but itwas a proud little town, founded
in the 1870s by Czechimmigrants chasing opportunity and
(38:18):
freedom, carrying with themtheir language, their music, and
their faith. At its heartstood Holy Trinity Church, its twin
steeples rising above thecornfields like a promise. Prodovan
was the kind of town wherefamilies gathered on front porches,
children played under thewatchful eye of neighbors, and the
(38:38):
rhythm of life was marked byharvests, holidays, and polka dances.
At Sokol hall. By themid-1900s, the population hovered
around 300. A post office, afew taverns, a general store. It
had what folks needed. Buttime, as always, brought change.
Young people left for thecities. Farms grew bigger, but fewer
(39:02):
businesses shuttered one byone, and the sound of Czech songs
gave way to silence. Today,Protovin remains on the map. Barely
a few dozen residents stilltend their homes, and the church
still holds mass, but the townfeels more like a memory than a moment.
Its high school closed yearsago. The baseball diamond sits quiet,
(39:23):
and the Sokol hall, now mostlyused for reunions and remembrance.
Still, once a year, lifereturns. Czech Days, a celebration
of heritage and heart, fillsthe streets with laughter, kolaches,
and accordion tunes. For aweekend, Protovan is alive again.
But when the tents come downand the visitors head home, Protovan
(39:47):
goes back to sleep, its legacyliving in its stories, in old photographs,
and in the hearts of those whocalled it home. Because some towns
don't vanish at all. Theysimply fade, like a song in a language
we used to know.
Wow. That sounds just like anNPR reading.
Wow.
Thank you.
(40:07):
That was very nice. So ProtoVin is a pretty cool place.
Yeah.
Or was.
It was. I love going back. It was.
I don't know why I said I wasthinking of another town.
I said was, but no, it'sgreat. It's very homey there. And,
man, I actually want to takehole there because during check days,
they have bratwurst galore andthe kolaches, which are like this
(40:28):
pastry, Czech pastry. It's delicious.
Oh, they're not shoes.
No. I mean, if they're hardenough, you could probably wear them
as shoes, the.
Pastries, and that's a bigdeal. That's one of their big things.
It is, absolutely.
So Protivan. Sounds pretty cool.
Yeah.
All these little towns haveall this rich history, and, you know,
speaking of rich history inlittle towns, I'm going to talk about
(40:50):
Ogden, Utah, for A splitsecond here.
Oh, yeah.
Nothing do with Proto vin.Nothing like Proto Van, but you were
just there. Ogden is kind ofa. Well, it's a town. So if you're
in Ogden, Utah, or near it, Igotta tell you to go to McLaren's
collectibles. If you're intoantiques and collectibles and stuff,
talk to Neil there. He's theowner. This store is absolutely awesome.
(41:13):
It's well lit and it's cleanand it's organized.
That's awesome.
Which, you know, a lot ofthese stores you go into for collectibles
and stuff, they're eclectic,to say the least. They're different.
But this store, you can seeeverything. So you're not looking
at something, you want to buyit, and you got to take it outside
(41:33):
and find out it's really apile of junk. You can see it in the
store. And he has somephenomenal stuff there. Absolutely
phenomenal stuff.
Great.
In fact, that's where we gotthis radio sitting, right? Yeah.
You can't see it if you'relistening, but in the video you'll
be able to see it.
Very cool.
And he has other stuff. Imean, it's just incredible. So you
got to go check it out. Andthat's In Ogden, Utah, McLaren's
(41:53):
collectibles. All right, sonow the full article on Cedar Rapids
and Proto VIN will be on thewebsite, the smartrver.com. i kept
calling it Proto VIN orsomething. Yeah, or whatever. Probiotic.
I don't know.
You're doing good, so.
But yeah, it's another placeto go check out. So we want to thank
(42:14):
Alexis for that. Nice readingtoday. Very nice. So that brings
us into RV envy. And todaywe're going to talk about sticky
books. Oh, what are stickybooks? So, you know, sticky books
are these small little books.If you're watching the video, you
can see I'm holding one up.And so they're a very quick read.
(42:34):
And they have one on StarryNights or Night Skies. Not Starry
Nights, Night Skies. One onTracks, which is Animal Tracks. One
on charts. So just to lay thisout, if you've ever looked at a chart,
like a stock chart, and theygot lines and things on it, this
book will help you understandwhat all that stuff means. Probably
(42:57):
within an hour.
That's neat.
I mean, within minutes youstart going, oh, I get this. I get
that. You know, it's not somuch for investing, but it's understanding
how what all that stuff means.
Yeah, sure.
So you can sound like you're asmart investor, you Know you're losing
all your money. Oops.
Now at least you sound smart.
And so there are books ontracks and night skies are the same
(43:17):
way. You'll learn veryquickly. It has little. It's a workbook
as well. So you're doing stuffas you go along and that helps you
remember it more. And thenthey give you tips for memorizing
or remembering these things soyou just don't forget it all. It's
like, you know, a lot of booksyou read and you forget it.
Yeah.
So they want you to rememberit. These books are just absolutely
awesome. And you can get themon their website@stickybooks.com
(43:38):
so I highly recommend checkingthem out. And especially for RVing,
you know, you got some downtime.
Yeah.
Waiting, killing some time.
Learn something.
And the night skies and thetracks definitely falls into RV Cool,
you know.
Yeah.
And the charts. Yeah. Youdon't want to become a day trader
and lose everything you have.That's not a good thing. That goes
against that money saving tips.
Yeah.
(43:59):
That's in RV envy. And also Imentioned something about a new air
conditioner and it's theBreeze Onyck. Oh man. I can't pronounce
the name of the company thatmakes it as Eber Eberstocken or something.
It's a German company. Howpathetic is that? Right?
Okay.
(44:19):
But if you Google or BreezeOnic. I said the Onyx Breezonic.
So this air conditioner isvery small, is very compact, you
know, you can use on RVs,vans, Class Cs, van conversions.
And it's super quiet and superefficient, super cool. So if you're
(44:41):
trying to run your RV off ofan inverter, I mean your AC off an
inverter, this is the airconditioning for you. You know, recently
I talked about the Furion airconditioner and it for RVs and it
definitely is a cut above allthe others. But this one now is better
than the Furion. But it doescome with a price tag. You know,
you're going to spending wellover 2000 bucks for one of these
(45:02):
things. That's just for theair conditioner. So it's an investment,
but it'll probably be worthit. So I haven't touched one yet.
I've talked to the company.I'm waiting for some more information.
So we're gonna check back inon this maybe in the next couple
episodes. Not sure when, butwe will come back to it. In fact,
we'll probably have them on asan interview.
Cool.
Because it's such a cool air condition.
(45:23):
Commissioner.
Yeah, that'd be great.
All right, so that pretty muchbrings us to the end of the show
today. As a reminder, go toour website or our web. Not our website.
Our go to, like, itunes,Spotify, wherever you get your podcast
and subscribe to our podcast,share it with others. Go to our YouTube
(45:43):
channel and subscribe as well.Keep us out there. Let other people
know we are moving up in theranks on our podcast rating. Yes,
we are number three onfeedcast. So we are making some headway
in the RV world in ourpodcast. So share it with others.
We're doing something right,and everybody needs to hear about
(46:03):
it. All right, so in our nextepisode is 179. Now, before we stop
here, I forgot about this. Ibrought up the awning in the beginning,
blocking the door. So this isa true story. A husband and wife,
they're using their rv.They're in a windstorm, and the awning
tears off the rv. You know,the arms come off the awning. Now
(46:25):
you got to picture this. Theawning just falls down, straight
down the side of the rv. Sothey're at an age where now they're
trapped in their rv. And I'veheard this story, not this story,
but similar stories more thanonce. The door is closed. They can't
get out. And now they'reolder, so, you know, they don't have
the physical strength, thewhatever, the stamina to bust out
(46:46):
of it. So they actually had tocall for help, and someone had to
rescue them. So that's prettybad. So you got to think about that.
And I've heard it from otherpeople, too. The same thing. I couldn't
get out. I couldn't get out.You know, and then the other windows,
you know, you aren't escapewindows. And do you really want to
jump out of an escape window?So kind of think ahead about your
(47:07):
awning. If it were to happen,you know, it sounds like it would
never happen, but it doeshappen. So, you know, if you can
get that door open or windowopen, you know, make sure you got
a knife and you can cut yourway out.
Yeah.
You know, if you get the dooropen just a little bit and cut a
slit from top to bottom, youknow, that's the starting point.
You know, at least you. You'reaccomplishing something, because
(47:27):
if it happens to you on theside of the road, it might be a while
before someone stops or youcan get some help. So that's just
a real life story. So don'tget yourself locked in your RV because
your awning failed. All right,everybody, so it's been a great show
today. I want to thankeverybody for watching and listening.
And of course, you can go toour website and everything we talked
about today will be there. Sothis is Eric Stark with the Smart
(47:50):
RVer podcast, your go to guidefor smarter RVing and unforgettable
adventures on the open road.
If you're considering addingor replacing the overload springs
or load leveling system onyour truck, stay tuned for the road
active suspension interview.In staying on the road and then enjoying
the RV life, we're going totalk about micro gardening today
while RVing. So Alexis isgoing to take the lead on that one.
So that'll get interesting.And then in the next stop, we're
(00:22):
going to visit Cedar Rapids,Ohio, a little hidden gem in the
Midwest. Then in shadows ofthe past, the towns that once were,
we're going to visit ProtoVin, Iowa. And then in RV Envy, we're
going to talk about stickybooks and a new air conditioner that's
taken the RV market andoverlanding market by storm. This
is Eric Stark with the SmartRVer podcast, your trusted source
(00:46):
for tips and insights toembrace the RV lifestyle without
worries. So let's talkeverything RV today. And this is
episode 178. So let's digright in. In. And so we have Alexis
on the show today.
Hello.
Who's gonna just stun us?
I am.
I am with her. Her insight onProtovan, Iowa. Yes, said it right.
(01:11):
I've got the name down finally.
I've actually been there, sothis is exciting.
Exactly. So she's gonna tellus about her hometown. Maybe not
her hometown, but a place shebeen before.
Yes.
Or has been before. So here wego with the bad grammar already.
Oh, no.
Oh, well, it's the way ithappens sometimes. So. Hey, I just
want to share one little thingthat came up last week in a conversation
(01:35):
with a customer. So theybrought it, bought a brand new RV
from a dealership in Missoula.They get it home and the AC doesn't
work, nor does the heat. So noheat, no ac. So they call the dealership
and the dealership says, oh,you just need a new thermostat. It's
probably defective. They hadto go get the thermostat from the
dealership, take it home andinstall it. Then the. The heater
(01:56):
worked after that. So theheater is working now, but there's
no ac. We're going in thesummertime, so it's a little bit
of a panic for them. And sothey call the dealership up and say,
this is what's happening.Said, well, and the dealership tells
them we have no technicians.So this is the husband talking to
him. And so the wife's like,what? You know? And so she calls
(02:18):
him back and gets the sameresponse. We have no technicians.
What?
Doesn't that seem impossible?A dealership would have no Technicians.
So it got me a little curious.So I called and the guy says, well,
we have technicians here. AndI kind of explained what was going
on. Not in great detail. Iactually more like I was just calling
their behalf, you know, orsomeone's behalf. He's like, I don't
(02:39):
know. So I don't know. Butit's an interesting thing, though,
that the customers walked awaywith that kind of confusion.
Yeah.
Or with that answer. So it'shard to say. So this is kind of that
dealership thing. We just hearit over and over and over again.
Yes.
So before you ever buy the rv.Oh, and they did have the RV checked
(02:59):
out thoroughly before theyactually paid for it. Everything
worked so mysteriously, itstops working. But that happens,
you know. So one other thingwe're going to talk about today at
the end of the show, how an RVawning can actually block your door
and keep you trapped in yourrv. So stay to the end to hear what.
What happened in this one caseor one scenario. So now let's jump
(03:25):
right into enjoying the RVlive. So Alexis is going to share
with us micro gardening whileRVing. So this is going to be very
interesting. So let us haveit, Alexis.
Here we go. This is for theplant lovers. Okay, so picture this.
You're parked at a stunninglakeside camp campground. The sun's
(03:45):
setting, and you're tossingfresh basil and cherry tomatoes from
your own RV micro garden intoa sizzling campfire skillet. Sounds
wonderful, doesn't it?
Oh, it does. I mean, I'm allover it.
Cherry tomatoes and basil.
Right. Bacon in there, too.
Micro gardening is actually ahot trend for RVers, especially those
craving homegrown flavor onthe road. And all about herbs. It's
(04:09):
about microgreens, even tinypeppers in pots, jars, or hanging
baskets, perfect for cozyrigs. You got fresh, nutritious eats,
you save a few bucks, and youfeel like a eco warrior.
Eco warrior.
I don't know about that. Butyou do feel, I think, closer to earth,
(04:30):
all while adding this type ofnutrition to your travels. It's actually
a really good thing. And youcan save money, so that's part of
it. Securing pots for thebumpy roads is an important thing
to do because you don't wantyour plants flying all around. Managing
water when you're boondockingis also an important thing. And then
keeping plants happy through.If you're in the desert heat or the
(04:53):
mountain cold air, that can bea little tricky. So you do need to
know what you're doing beforeyou just jump into this, it is very.
It's a very good thing to do.But you do need to do a little research
before starting. So startingsmall can be a good idea with just
basil or microgreens. Strapthose pots down with bungee cords
(05:13):
and use a little spray bottleto water them. Keep it very simple.
You'll end before you know it,you'll be whipping up pesto pasta
or salad.
In your RV or something.
Something. But it's a. It's avery trendy thing to do. It's very
cool. So.
Yeah.
Learn about it.
Or more people are doing.Yeah. Gardening. They are. I would
(05:35):
think this have to be more forthe full timer living in it or someone
who's RVing a lot.
That would be good.
I don't think it's gonna befor everybody.
Yes. You know, because ittakes time and.
I don't think you have to. I'mnot gonna go down that road. I'm
just gonna leave that one.Yeah. It's interesting, though. So
it's just another aspect ofRVing, so you can incorporate your
(05:56):
life into it, you know, soyour life isn't closed out.
Exactly.
So micro gardening, you know,it may not be for you. It might be
for some, not others. Youknow, if you do it, it's going to
help you save some money.
Yeah.
Which, you know, saving moneythese days is very important. It's
what we like, you know. Sothis episode, I'm trying to think
(06:17):
here. So the. Some of thetariffs have already kicked in. These
supposed tariffs are going towipe out the world. So we're seeing
some price increases rightnow. So we're actually in. I don't
know what month are we in?May. In May.
Yes, we are.
So this episode will be outJune something or other. June 6th.
I think we'll see that. Andthat helps us or makes us think more
(06:38):
about how to save money.Because we still have to buy certain
things regardless. Whatever'sgoing on in our life, we have to
buy certain things. Brings usto our money saving tip. So when
it comes to the RV life,there's little things we can do to
help us save money. Andsometimes we can actually boost up
our safety as well, so we cansave a little cash, make our RV travels
(06:58):
a little bit safer. And whenthings are safe and we're saving
money, it brings us some peaceof mind. And so what we're going
to talk about is tire pressuremonitoring systems today for tires.
You know, everybody's heard ofthem. Well, I think so. A lot of
people have. Maybe somehaven't. I don't know. It's like
in that Geico commercial. Ifyou're living under a rock, maybe
(07:19):
you haven't. But tire pressuremonitoring systems, they can help
you keep track of what's goingon your tires to help you avoid a
blowout, keeping your pressureat the highest level possible, which
is normal for a trailer. Ifyour trailer tires call for a maximum
pressure of, let's say 80 psi,that's where you keep it. You don't
(07:39):
try to lower it to make theright softer, and you keep it at
the highest pressure possible.There's some reasons for that. You
know, it's a tire thing fortrailer tires because the sidewalls
have so much load on them thatthey need that. But you know, when
you have a blowout, it's notjust the tire that blows out. You
(07:59):
know, that can be a couplehundred bucks for a tire itself,
but it's all the other damage.And that's where we've talked about
the RV Defender before aswell. We'll put a link to RV Defender
in the description of thispodcast so you can see what I'm talking
about. But when you have atire pressure monitoring system,
you can kind of see that ifyour tire pressure is dropping while
you're driving, if the heat'srising, oh, I got a problem. So you're
(08:22):
gonna pull over and addressthat problem. And when you're keeping
them pressured up or you'remonitoring the pressure, it's gonna
reduce the wear and tearbecause you have a better idea when
the pressure is dropping, ifit's low. You know, before you set
out on a trip, maybe you justdidn't have time to air up the tires,
but you have a tire pressuremonitoring system that's gonna be
low, looking at you in theface saying, hey, you need to do
(08:44):
something. So it might be thatreminder. Then you're also going
to save money by not wearingout tires prematurely, you know,
because they do add up. Andalso when they're aired up properly
the way they should be, you'regoing to have less wear and or less
drag as you're driving downthe road or rolling resistance. And
so that's going to help youget better fuel economy, which that
(09:05):
you would carry over to yourvehicle. If you're using a truck
to tow your trailer or if it'sa motorhome, keeping those tires
aired up properly will giveyou better fuel economy. So that'll
save you some money as well.It might not be like tons of money
all at once, but over time, ifyou travel A lot, especially in the
summer. You're gonna save somecash, which helps, you know. And
(09:26):
all these tire pressuremonitoring systems are very do it
yourselfer friendly. You don'thave to be a genius to install them.
And then most of them haveapps that you can monitor on a smartphone
or, or they'll have a monitor,they'll sit on the dash. I kind of
like the monitor on the dashthing because it's right in front
of you. One less hat or ahobby you have on your phone. And
you know, some of these appsdon't work that well. They don't
(09:49):
refresh quick enough. So itcan be kind of a hassle. But that's
a simple upgrade andunfortunately you're gonna be looking
at several hundred dollars toget a decent one. But over the long
haul it might save youthousands depending on what happens
with your tires. And if you'relooking for a brand that you want
to just buy and know you cantrust it. TST Tire Pressure Monitors
(10:09):
is a good brand. That's whatwe sell in our store, that's what
we recommend. So we'll havemore on this on our website, the
smartrver.com so this will beunder a money saving tips and you'll
be able to read all thearticle with a couple links as well
to some different brands. Now,in staying on the road today, it's
not going to be just meyakking. We're actually going to
(10:30):
have an interview with RoadActive Suspension with Nolan from
Road Active Suspension. AndRoad Active Suspension is a, as I
mentioned, it can replace yourleveling system in your truck or
if you're looking to upgrade.This system is absolutely amazing.
I put it on my truck andthat's kind of what tuned me into
this. They've been aroundsince the 90s. I haven't heard of
(10:51):
them till recently. It's like,man, what have I missed all these
years? We're gonna start thatinterview and then you guys can take
what you get from it. Andit'll also be a link to Road Active
Suspension's website in thedescription of the podcast as well.
All right, so let's check outthat interview.
We have Nolan Mass from RoadActive Suspension here today. We're
(11:13):
going to talk about suspensionupgrades for pickup trucks, primarily
pickup trucks, but it works onvans and some other vehicles. And
it's for the rear, so it'sgoing to replace products like Firestone
or Timbren, things like that.Or if you don't have anything, this
might be the upgrade that yourtruck will need. To tow, just to
have a better ST drivability.It's an awesome product. And what
(11:33):
brought me to this was acustomer of ours told me about it,
and I got curious and calledup Rodactive Suspension. Talked to
Sean there. He convinced me Ihave to have it on my truck. And
I was looking at replacing myFirestone airbags, but I went with
Road Active, and, man, what adifference. This product changed
how I felt about the truck.And they had a video that kind of
(11:55):
showed that too. And I didn'treally think the video was accurate.
I'm thinking, nah, these guysare full of it. Well, it turns out
they're not. This product isabsolutely unbelievable. It changed
the way I felt about my truckand how it drove. So I had to talk
to them and get them on herebecause I got to share this with
everybody. Everybody needs toknow about Road Active suspension.
That's how I feel about it.So, Nolan, I'm glad you could make
(12:17):
it today. We nice conversationhere. So welcome to the Smart RVer
podcast.
Hey, Eric, thanks for havingme. I really appreciate it. Also
love that, that you love ourproduct. That makes us really happy.
Well, that's good. It's greatproduct. So, you know, as I was installing
it, I really thought this isgoing on too easy. Very simple installation.
You know, I watched the videoand it just like, nah, it can't be
(12:39):
that easy. It really is. Sothat's what's cool about it. It's
a do it yourselfer typeinstallation. It doesn't have to
be done at a shop. So anybodycould do this. Maybe your grandma
even, I don't know, dependingon her age and shape. But that's
what's so cool, is it's suchan easy installation. And there's
no cables to run, no wires torun. Just tighten up those springs,
and you brought them a littleor put them all disc in the kit to
(13:00):
make it accurate. So that'sreally nice. So, Nolan, how long
have you been with Road Active Suspension?
Yeah, Eric. So I started withRoad active suspension in 2010, and
this initial position was anaccount manager. So I really got
to talk with, you know, somany of the customers and pickup
owners out there that wereexperiencing the problems that. That,
(13:22):
you know, that you experience.A lot of the RV ERs and travel owners,
you know, experience, and whenthey hook up their trailer, which
is, you know, the initial, youknow, visual cue they see is, you
know, the squat. So I get to,you know, talk with a lot of folks
about that. I got to talk witha lot of RV dealers, trailer sales
(13:43):
places, pitch installers, 4x4shops that, you know, are in this,
in the industry, sold otherproducts, rear suspension upgrades.
You know, obviously notlimited to that, but it really gave
me a, it gave me a good basisfor, for what I do today. In 2018,
2019, I transitioned over tothe marketing just to really bring
a lot of the stories ofcustomers that we were speaking with
(14:06):
and just really, you know,satisfied, happy customers that we
were speaking with. So, youknow, bringing their stories to more
pickup owners like, like Ericand like your, like your audience.
So it was just, just a joybeing able to bring, you know, a
product that actually worksand does what it says to the pickup
owners and that, that needthat additional support and are having,
having issues, you know, with,with drivability and, and need. Need
(14:29):
that additional safety assets.
Awesome. So Nolan has a lot ofexperience with the company, a lot
of experience with theproduct. So that's great. And you
know what's nice about that iswhen you have a company, even like
when I talk to Sean, he knewthe product inside and out just like
you do. You guys know it well,and that's what makes a difference
sometimes. And you guys answeryour phone. I forgot about that.
(14:51):
You guys answer your phone.That's customer service. And that's
going away these days. And Ilike companies that answer their
phone.
They, they're becoming my favorite.
Credit goes to all the, allthe credit goes to Sean. Sean is
one of the best guys here.He's been here since 2012 and he
started in the warehouse. Sohe knows every single bill. He knows
every little, the minutedetail about every little thing.
(15:13):
So if there's a question, ifanybody has a, anybody here has a
question about anything, he'sgoing to know anything about the
product. So him, him beingkind of the lead on, on the phone
talking to guys like, likeEric is really valuable to the company.
And he's just such an awesome guy.
Yep. Yeah, it makes a bigdifference. Okay, so now that was
the easy question.
How long you been there?
I mean, obviously you knowthat. So let's get into a little
(15:34):
more difficult ones. So thefirst one I have, and.
This is probably one that I think.
A lot of people will bewondering about, what makes Road
active suspension differentfrom other suspension upgrades like
airbags, sumosprings or evenTimbren products?
Yeah. So I mean, just knowright out of the gate, you know,
all those products areworking. They're. They're essentially
(15:55):
resisting the weight at theframe of the vehicle. You know, the
bump, stop, Snubbers like,like a Sumospring or Timbren, you
know, they're obviouslymanufactured with different materials
and what have you, but they'reresisting the weight. So you know,
as you're, you hook up yourtrailer or put, you know, load in
the bed of your truck, youknow that the frame is going to come
down and with that snubberit's going to hit the axle of the
(16:17):
vehicle. So same with anairbag setup. You'd obviously pump
air in and out there with ourproduct instead of resisting the
weight at the frame of thevehicle. Our spring is a variable
rate tension coil springs. Youknow, when you set the hooks over
the rear half of the leafspring. So when you set the tension
on our spring, it works like amuscle to hold the leaf spring in
an arch position. There's areally an interaction between our
(16:40):
tension coil spring and theleaf spring of the suspension itself.
And so the outcome and whatyou feel as the driver is going to
be much, much different. Thena product is going to resist that
weight at the frame of thevehicle. And then so you're going
to see obviously somedifferent benefits than some products
that are going to resist theweight at the frame of the vehicle.
(17:02):
Okay, very good.
Yeah, that explains this bigdifference there. And you said something
about it affects the way thevehicle drives or rides afterwards,
which it does. I was veryimpressed with that. It was so noticeable
and it was.
Such a good difference wherelike you.
Put on Firestone airbags likewhen I did, there's no change in
the way it rode. It just gotairbags now. No excitement, got airbags.
(17:24):
All right, so now anotherquestion here. How does road Action
suspension, how does it changethe ride quality when the truck is
loaded versus unloaded?
Yeah, no, great question.That's, that's probably, that's one
of the most common questionsthat we get. And that's one of the
most common questions that Igot when I was speaking to customers
every day. So, you know, theanswer is gonna, is gonna vary based
(17:48):
on the truck that you have,how worn your leaf springs are, how
sensitive you are, how youdrive your truck. The answers that
we get vary. And if you lookat all the reviews, there's a lot
of guys that'll say, hey, youknow, I installed my kit, love everything
about it because, and partlybecause it didn't hurt my unloaded
ride, I didn't feel adifference in my unloaded ride quality.
So that's kind of one end. Theother that's kind of, I guess, worst
(18:11):
case, best case, Is like wehave customers like Eric that they
put it on and they canimmediately feel a difference in
the way the truck handles. Andso it's also going to depend on you
know, how the tension settingthat is set. So we've got a range
of adjustability on ourspring. So if you set it at a lower
tension setting, it's notgoing to output as much suspension
strength and I guess stiffnessin quotes to the, to the leash spring.
(18:36):
And when I say stiff, it'sstiffness. It's not in a negative
way. For example, if you have,if you've got a half ton truck and
you set the tension at the 1millimeters tension setting and you,
you kind of, you know, baby,you, you don't really drive above,
ever drive above the speedlimit. You kind of, you know, drive
a little bit slower aroundcurves and corners, that kind of
(18:58):
thing. And you drive primarilyon smooth roads and your neck of
the woods doesn't have roughroads. You may not notice a huge
difference in the unloadedride quality. But when your truck,
when you're towing that,you're going to feel that that spring
really kick in to provide overand above what you were getting before
the other end is. And the waythat for myself and I would say the
(19:19):
majority of our customers thatthey feel immediately and again it
also is going to depend on thecondition of your leaf spring. If
you have like an, for example,another example, if you have an older
pickup truck that maybe theleaf springs are a little bit worn.
And so you know, if you havemore leaf springs, you're going a
lot more kind of wallowy, softaround curves and corners type feeling.
(19:40):
And you install our kit,you're going to notice that bigger
difference because our springis engaging with those old leaf springs
and really bringing them backto life. So you're going to notice
going on curves and corners,going over bumps, potholes that you'd
say more, it's more, thevehicle is going to drive more like
a sports car essentially. Andso that's what, that's the feeling
it's going to, it's going tohelp the truck hug the road much,
(20:01):
much better. And so that's,that's the typical experience of
pickup truck owners when thevehicle is not loaded. When you're
loaded, you're also going tohave obviously a much greater degree
of improvement and reducing ofsquat, obviously better control because
when you're squatting thefront of your, the nose of the vehicle
(20:21):
is going to be up in the airand you're going to lose Some tire
contact and some. Some controlthere. So obviously, adding the suspension
component and to the existingleaf springs is going to improve
the unloaded or the loadedride quality as well as.
Yeah, you know, you said ithugs better like a sports car, and
it does. You know, it's hardto imagine a truck feeling that,
(20:41):
and that's what I did. Thatwas one of the things like. Yeah,
that's how you describe ithugging the road. It just feels like
it's clamping down on the roadand like claws. So it's pretty nice.
Makes a big difference, youknow. So as you're answering questions,
you're kind of, you know,covering other things, which is great.
So you. Yeah, like, I wasgoing to talk to you about adjusting
it, which you talked about.You got into that. So the adjustment
(21:01):
is pretty easy on it, prettystraightforward. But another question
that might come up because,you know, so many products that get
put on vehicles needmaintenance. You know, they got to
be lubricated. You got to dothis, you got to do that, you got
to adjust them from time totime. Is there anything like that
with road active suspensionthat you have to do after you install
it?
Yeah, I can actually expoundon first the adjustment part, because
(21:22):
that is a. That is a questionthat we get a lot just kind of expound
on that. So we have a range ofadjustability. So our kit really
is designed to be. Set it andforget it. So once you, you know,
once you find that correcttension setting at the start, you
know, you shouldn't have toconsistently readjust that. So that's
a definite positive on themaintenance side. I mean, we e coat
(21:45):
everything we can e coat.There's certain parts that we need
a zinc. Zinc plate. So, youknow, we do everything we can to
help with corrosion andresistance. There one thing that
we recommend. It's always agood idea to use some sort of lubricant,
like an amsoil, something likethat, to just spray down your. Spray
down everything like, youknow, you would otherwise. If you.
Especially if you live upnorth where there's a lot of salt
(22:07):
in the roadways in thewintertime, always a good idea to
do that. So definitelyrecommend doing that. But other than
that, you know, you don't.There's no, you know, as opposed
to like an airbag setup whereyou deal with leaky lines, you know,
and that kind of thing. Wintercan really be a detriment to. To
those lines and. And the bags.I mean, you don't have to worry about
any of that. Everything'sMechanical metal and it's built to
(22:28):
last, right?
Yeah.
No air compressors, nonothing. Yeah, so that's pretty cool.
So just spraying it down withsome metal lube is awesome. And that's
pretty simple. Yeah, just dothat and you're done. You know, a
lot of this stuff come. Youknow the questions I'm coming from,
they're coming or asking,they're coming from forums, you know,
like Tacoma World and thingslike that. Because these are people
that have vehicles where likea Tacoma is kind of a sporty truck,
(22:52):
you know, so they don't wantto put something on there clunky.
And so when you think aboutsome of the vehicles that are using
these full size trucks,Tacomas, it's a product that's very
universal. It goes across thedivides of different vehicles. You
know, because a Tacoma driveris definitely different than a let's
say a Ford F350 driver. But itworks in all those vehicles and it
works I would say equally well.
(23:13):
Would that be correct?
I would put a caveat on that.Our product is such a great. We really
tune the springs and we, wefeel that we've provide, provided
the best product out there foryour less than half ton, half ton,
three quarter ton and thedemands of those there is some diminishing
returns once you get toespecially the one ton market. Now
we could obviously we couldtune these stronger. We are working
(23:34):
on some things to be able tooffer a more competitive product
for the 1 tons. But on the 1ton market you've got something unique
is, and it mentioned it to youbefore, is that those 1 tons, they
pretty much all nowadays comewith a factory top overload spring.
And obviously the, the, thespring pack in general just on a
one ton truck is going to bemuch, much thicker. So when you apply
our heavy duty spring to athicker leaf spring pack number one,
(23:57):
it's not going to have thesame impact on that thicker one ton
pack as it would on your and ahalf ton truck with maybe two or
three leaf springs. And thenadditionally those one ton trucks
at the factory come with thatfactory top overload spring. So that
factory top overload springneeds to be removed in order to fit
our product on top of there.So you're taking a step back in order
(24:18):
to install our product from a,from a ride height standpoint, you
know, squat standpoint reallyisn't going to offer too much on
those vehicles. I just kind ofgive you about the same in terms
of, you know, reducing squat.What it is going to do for those
vehicles is it's going toengage sooner because that factory
top overload spring meets a.It requires a few inches of squat,
(24:38):
about 2 or so inches of squatbefore hitting a snubber that's connected
to the frame. And so when allof that is removed, our spring is
put on. It's going to engagemuch sooner than that. Factory top
overload spring was, was, wasengaging. But then also in. One of
the common complaints withfolks with factory top overload springs
is oftentimes the, the, thesnubber and the top overload spring
(25:03):
bounce off each other and sothey cause a bouncy ride when going
over kind of, you know, bridgeabutments and, and kind of rough
roads. So you take that out ofthe equation, add our product, our
product already is going tohave a significant impact in bound
reducing bounce and you know,all of that. So it's going to be
huge benefits. There's,there's a lot of pickup owners that
will in those one ton caseswill install our product just for,
(25:26):
just for that and helping.It's going to be a bigger impact
on stability but the impact isnot going to be the same in terms
of you know, reducing squat ona one ton truck. And that's you know,
very oftentimes if, if you, ifyou've got a one ton truck and need
to reduce squat, we typically,and Sean and the other other guys,
they'll recommend, they'll sayhey maybe our product isn't for you,
(25:50):
you know, maybe go with thedifferent suspension upgrade. So
I would say for your hat foryour Tacomas, you know and we've
getting, we're getting a moreand more footprint with your Tacoma,
your Overland type guys that,guys that have truck bed campers
and they're going, you know,an off road type situations. I mean
remarkable, we're getting someremarkable results. A lot of our
(26:10):
growth has, has been and ourpopularity is, has been from your
half ton, three quarter tonguys towing travel trailers, RVs.
That's our, that's been reallyour bread and butter and what you
know, I guess we're a greatmatch for we found out, you know
was we've been a great matchfor. But I would say over the last,
especially the year, last yearor two we've had more and more Tacoma
owners especially and Overlandfolks that have begun testing and
(26:34):
using our product and thoseoff more off road type situations
and additional support withsome really, really good results.
So I mean you know, but thoseare, those are great applications
for our product too.
Yeah, great. Also you broughtup the Tacomas and Overlanding that
type of stuff. Does yourproduct work with trucks? Let's say
(26:57):
with lift kits, three inchlift kits, six inch lift kits.
Yeah. So great question.Typically, yes, but we recommend
if you've got a, if you got alift kit, we recommend reaching out
to us first to confirm properfitment. If you order from our website,
there's a very good chance orif you order anywhere, there's a
very good chance that ourproduct is going to fit your vehicle
(27:18):
if you've got a lift kit onit. But there are certain, there
are certain lift kits and it'sgoing to vary because there's so
many different lift kits outthere and packages, you know, different
year make models of trucks.It's difficult for us to keep track
of every single one and knowspecifically when, when a lift kit
is mentioned that hey, yes,it's going to work. So our process
typically is if you got a liftkit, send us an email and Sean or
(27:40):
the other people will take alook at it. To confirm fitment, we
just request picturestypically and we'll work on a customer
by customer basis if we haveto. We just want to, you know, we
don't want a customer. We wantto prevent a customer from ordering
the product and figuring outthat it doesn't work and then have
to like incur restocking feesand things like that. And we just,
we just want to, don't wantthat, any of that to happen.
(28:02):
Right?
No.
That's good.
Yeah.
That's one thing. I kind of,while you said it too, that if it's
not the right fit, you guysaren't going to recommend it. And
Sean seemed to be that waytoo. It might not work on your truck,
but send me some pictures.
Let's make sure if, I will sayif, you know, if it does fit on the
truck, guys with lift kits aresome of the happiest customers because,
you know, you get a, get alift kit on your truck, you got a
(28:22):
higher center of gravity andget a lot more instability sway you.
Also a lot of those guysexperience axle rat wheel hop issues
and our product really helpswith that. It doesn't typically completely
get rid of it, but there'sgreat benefit and improvement in
the axle wrap wheel hopproblems that those guys with lift
kits experience.
Yeah.
So that's good. So most ofthem are, you know, my customers
(28:43):
aren't going to have liftkits, but some do, you know, or.
Yeah, different vehicles,different things. So another question
is, is there a heavy dutyversion versus a medium duty version?
Yeah. So for many years we youknow, so the product was originally
designed in South Africa forpickup owners that were driving in
the bush. And that product,initial product design was much,
(29:04):
much smaller than what we'reseeing today. We've built, built
it up and beefed it up so muchto better fit the United States market.
So we've went through severaliterations and spring sizes. So we've
got actually right now we'vegot three different spring sizes.
We've got kind of thesmallest, which is the original original
that we still utilize. On someof the older Ford Rangers S10, some
(29:26):
of the super small vehicleswe've got a standard duty which we
offer for most of yourTacomas, your newer Ford Rangers,
your newer Chevy Colorado'sand Canyons. And then we, and then
we offer that also on your,for your half ton trucks. And we
have a heavy duty kit. And ourheavy duty kit is by far our most
(29:47):
popular offering. We came outwith a heavy duty kit in 2011 and
since we've came out with thatheavy duty kit, you know, we first
initially offered the heavyduty kit for your, your three quarter
ton and your one ton truck. Soyour F250s, F350s and equivalent.
And then in 2017 after testingat using on those vehicles and the
three quarter one ton, westarted offering it for the F150s.
(30:10):
So your half ton guys. Andsince that time, you know, that's
really when we've seen the,the most growth in popularity is
that that heavy duty kit is anamazing match for the, for the half
ton truck market. So if you'retowing or hauling with the half ton
or three quarter ton truck, wehave that heavy duty kit's going
to be great, a great fit for you.
Okay, so that sounds good. Sothat explains that. Another question
(30:33):
too is how long do these last?What's the lifespan? Buy it once,
forget about it or every 10 years.
Yeah, you know, the kit isreally designed to last as long as
you're going to have yourtruck. I mean, you know, Sean still
talks to guys that they've hadtheir truck for 20 years and they're
like, you know, I'm gettingit, finally getting a new truck and
I still have it on my old one.Can I put it on my new one? You know,
(30:55):
so you know they're built tolast for a really long time, you
know, as long as you're goingto have your truck. I mean, so the
lifetime of the vehicle again,you know, it's a good idea, you know,
to help along with it, youknow, prolong just like you do everything
else. And under the, underyour vehicle, if you're in a. If
you're up north or somewhere,we experience, you know, you know,
(31:15):
salty air, that kind of thingto you spray down over a few years
and that's.
Right.
So that's good. Unlike so manyproducts today where they don't last
a lifetime. Well, I shouldn'tsay a lifetime, but a long time.
And, you know, it's not likein three years, you got to buy some
parts, have it repaired, yougot maintenance, so you put it on,
forget about it. There's nosoftware updates. You know, it's
(31:37):
pretty simple. You don't haveto look at your phone to do anything.
You don't have a compressorgoing bad. So, yeah, that product,
your product just absolutelymakes perfect sense. Put it on, forget
about it. So I'm glad I usedit. I'm glad you're able to come
on today and answer thesequestions. I mean, I have more questions,
but we just don't have thetime to go through them all. But
I'm going to put all thequestions on our website@the smartrver.com
(31:58):
and also road ActiveSuspension has a very interactive
website. Tons of videos, allsorts of stuff happening. I think
whatever page you go on,there's things moving and things
happening. And of course, youcan call me if you have questions.
Sean will answer the phone.And he's the man. He knows it all
there, right?
Sean is the man. He's the manhere, too.
So, yeah, so that's. That'sabsolutely awesome. So, Nolan, I
(32:22):
really appreciate you comingby today and sharing these answers
to these questions. Questions.And I'm sure I'll have more as time
goes on. And I'll. In fact,what I'll do is I'm going to run
these by you first before Iput them on our website, and maybe
you can help me out.
A little bit, but I think itwill clear it up.
And if people have anyquestions again, they can go to the
RoadActive website, which allthat information will be in the description
(32:43):
of this podcast or the video,whichever, how you're taking this
in. So, again, thank you verymuch. Very helpful information. You
guys have a great company aswell, and so pat everybody there
on the back for us. We reallyappreciate good products.
Amazing. Thanks for having me, Eric.
All right, my pleasure.
So that was great interview.We really appreciate Nolan's insight
on Road Active Suspension. Andso you're going to want to check
(33:05):
it out if you're looking toupgrade your. Your suspension in
your truck. Like, I Said I putit in mine. It was a day and night
difference. And, you know, Iexpressed some of that in the video,
so I'm not going to belaborthose points. So now that's going
to bring us to our next stop,which today I'm going to be doing.
Yeah, Alexis and I have donethe old switcheroony thing here.
(33:28):
Sorry to throw you all off.
Yep. So now we're going tosuffer a. A journey through Cedar
Rapids, Ohio, with me.
Iowa.
Iowa. See, that's how badit's. At least it's not Obama Nebraska,
like last time.
Yeah. Yeah.
So, you know, Cedar Rapidsmight not be the first place you're
going to think of going on anRV trip. It's not something I. Or
(33:50):
a place that I would think ofgoing to.
Yeah.
In fact, Iowa in generalisn't, you know, for whatever reason,
you just. We just get theseideas of states and places and kind
of run with it and we, youknow, work our life around it like
we'll avoid that state, youknow, at all costs, for whatever
reason. But it really soundslike it is going to be a good place
to go for an RV adventure.Now, I've never been there myself,
(34:12):
and I'm kind of more inclinedto want to go there now. Good. After
reading this article, Iowa orCedar Rapids. It's along the Cedar
river, and it's a city knownas the City of Five Seasons.
Yeah.
And so the fifth season isn'twhat you think. There's not another
season. But what they say isthe fifth season is the time to enjoy
(34:35):
all the other seasons, likespring, summer, fall, and winter,
without rushing. So that's whythey call it a fifth season, you
know. So in other words,they're saying, hey, enjoy this place.
Don't be in a rush to do it.Now, it's not a big, massive city.
It only has 135,000 people.That's the population. So it's not
huge. It's. It's a manageablecity. You know, It's. You can go
(34:58):
there and enjoy it. It has allthe big city amenities. Like every
city this size anymore, youget over 50,000 people. It seems
like they got all these, youknow, helicopters, bring in these
big box stores and stuff, landand everything, you know.
True.
All of a sudden, it looks likeevery other city with a red Robin,
a Walmart and a target, and800 gas stations. Besides that, it
(35:21):
sounds like a cool place. Soit's the second largest city in Iowa,
if that matters to you. Butthey have a lot of arts and culture
there. And they have a veryrich Czech and Slavic heritage.
Yes.
And so those two things initself, they run through the city.
And so that gives everythingsome flavor there, including the
(35:41):
food, which is we wouldexpect. And then they also have festivals
to celebrate the Czech andSlavic heritage. So those types of
things can be very easy to goto. Go to a city and enjoy some festivals.
It's a reason to go there, andyou're there for the festival, but
then you get also the flavorof the city as well. And you can
determine whether you like itor don't like it. It's up to you.
(36:04):
But there's a lot of historythere. Not only just history in general,
US History, but a lot offoodies like going there because
different types of food. Thereis nature around Cedar Rapids, so
there's something forEverybody there, including RVs, RVers,
there's parks, there'smuseums. They've got it all.
(36:25):
They do.
So it sounds like a reallycool place to go and explore. Spend
a week there or a weekend ifyou're passing through Iowa, going
someplace else. Maybe swinginto Cedar Rapids and check it out
for yourself. And now theydon't have RV parks in Cedar Rapids
that I could see. They'rearound the area, but that's all right.
You know, who wants to be inthe city anyways? On the outside,
(36:48):
tons of restaurants, like Isaid, and they have some interesting
restaurants. We don't havetime to get into all of them and
all that fun stuff. And youcan get propane, dump stations. Everything
you need is in Cedar Rapids,even a good time. So check it out
and we'll have the entirestory on our website, the smartrver.com
so you can have get the entireflavor of it without ever even leaving
(37:11):
your house.
Right.
How was that?
It's amazing.
That is awesome. Only here atthe Smart rver. All right, so that
wraps up Cedar Rapids. And nowright next door, there's another
town, and it's calledProtovent. Now, this is where Alexis
grew up. Well, not really. Shevisited there once, so it has a soft
(37:33):
spot in her heart. So she'sgoing to share the shadows of the
past with us today. In thiscase, I took. I tore the page out
of Grandpappy Popeye's bookand gave it to Alexis. You did all
right, Alexis, so let's hearwhat you have to say or what you
can share with us aboutProtovent Iowa.
All right, here we go, ladiesand gentlemen. Towns that once were
(37:55):
we take a quiet detour off themain roads into the rolling Farmland
of northeast Iowa, a placecalled Protavan. Tucked just along
the boat border of Howard andChickasaw counties, Prodvan was never
a booming metropolis, but itwas a proud little town, founded
in the 1870s by Czechimmigrants chasing opportunity and
(38:18):
freedom, carrying with themtheir language, their music, and
their faith. At its heartstood Holy Trinity Church, its twin
steeples rising above thecornfields like a promise. Prodovan
was the kind of town wherefamilies gathered on front porches,
children played under thewatchful eye of neighbors, and the
(38:38):
rhythm of life was marked byharvests, holidays, and polka dances.
At Sokol hall. By themid-1900s, the population hovered
around 300. A post office, afew taverns, a general store. It
had what folks needed. Buttime, as always, brought change.
Young people left for thecities. Farms grew bigger, but fewer
(39:02):
businesses shuttered one byone, and the sound of Czech songs
gave way to silence. Today,Protovin remains on the map. Barely
a few dozen residents stilltend their homes, and the church
still holds mass, but the townfeels more like a memory than a moment.
Its high school closed yearsago. The baseball diamond sits quiet,
(39:23):
and the Sokol hall, now mostlyused for reunions and remembrance.
Still, once a year, lifereturns. Czech Days, a celebration
of heritage and heart, fillsthe streets with laughter, kolaches,
and accordion tunes. For aweekend, Protovan is alive again.
But when the tents come downand the visitors head home, Protovan
(39:47):
goes back to sleep, its legacyliving in its stories, in old photographs,
and in the hearts of those whocalled it home. Because some towns
don't vanish at all. Theysimply fade, like a song in a language
we used to know.
Wow. That sounds just like anNPR reading.
Wow.
Thank you.
(40:07):
That was very nice. So ProtoVin is a pretty cool place.
Yeah.
Or was.
It was. I love going back. It was.
I don't know why I said I wasthinking of another town.
I said was, but no, it'sgreat. It's very homey there. And,
man, I actually want to takehole there because during check days,
they have bratwurst galore andthe kolaches, which are like this
(40:28):
pastry, Czech pastry. It's delicious.
Oh, they're not shoes.
No. I mean, if they're hardenough, you could probably wear them
as shoes, the.
Pastries, and that's a bigdeal. That's one of their big things.
It is, absolutely.
So Protivan. Sounds pretty cool.
Yeah.
All these little towns haveall this rich history, and, you know,
speaking of rich history inlittle towns, I'm going to talk about
(40:50):
Ogden, Utah, for A splitsecond here.
Oh, yeah.
Nothing do with Proto vin.Nothing like Proto Van, but you were
just there. Ogden is kind ofa. Well, it's a town. So if you're
in Ogden, Utah, or near it, Igotta tell you to go to McLaren's
collectibles. If you're intoantiques and collectibles and stuff,
talk to Neil there. He's theowner. This store is absolutely awesome.
(41:13):
It's well lit and it's cleanand it's organized.
That's awesome.
Which, you know, a lot ofthese stores you go into for collectibles
and stuff, they're eclectic,to say the least. They're different.
But this store, you can seeeverything. So you're not looking
at something, you want to buyit, and you got to take it outside
(41:33):
and find out it's really apile of junk. You can see it in the
store. And he has somephenomenal stuff there. Absolutely
phenomenal stuff.
Great.
In fact, that's where we gotthis radio sitting, right? Yeah.
You can't see it if you'relistening, but in the video you'll
be able to see it.
Very cool.
And he has other stuff. Imean, it's just incredible. So you
got to go check it out. Andthat's In Ogden, Utah, McLaren's
(41:53):
collectibles. All right, sonow the full article on Cedar Rapids
and Proto VIN will be on thewebsite, the smartrver.com. i kept
calling it Proto VIN orsomething. Yeah, or whatever. Probiotic.
I don't know.
You're doing good, so.
But yeah, it's another placeto go check out. So we want to thank
(42:14):
Alexis for that. Nice readingtoday. Very nice. So that brings
us into RV envy. And todaywe're going to talk about sticky
books. Oh, what are stickybooks? So, you know, sticky books
are these small little books.If you're watching the video, you
can see I'm holding one up.And so they're a very quick read.
(42:34):
And they have one on StarryNights or Night Skies. Not Starry
Nights, Night Skies. One onTracks, which is Animal Tracks. One
on charts. So just to lay thisout, if you've ever looked at a chart,
like a stock chart, and theygot lines and things on it, this
book will help you understandwhat all that stuff means. Probably
(42:57):
within an hour.
That's neat.
I mean, within minutes youstart going, oh, I get this. I get
that. You know, it's not somuch for investing, but it's understanding
how what all that stuff means.
Yeah, sure.
So you can sound like you're asmart investor, you Know you're losing
all your money. Oops.
Now at least you sound smart.
And so there are books ontracks and night skies are the same
(43:17):
way. You'll learn veryquickly. It has little. It's a workbook
as well. So you're doing stuffas you go along and that helps you
remember it more. And thenthey give you tips for memorizing
or remembering these things soyou just don't forget it all. It's
like, you know, a lot of booksyou read and you forget it.
Yeah.
So they want you to rememberit. These books are just absolutely
awesome. And you can get themon their website@stickybooks.com
(43:38):
so I highly recommend checkingthem out. And especially for RVing,
you know, you got some downtime.
Yeah.
Waiting, killing some time.
Learn something.
And the night skies and thetracks definitely falls into RV Cool,
you know.
Yeah.
And the charts. Yeah. Youdon't want to become a day trader
and lose everything you have.That's not a good thing. That goes
against that money saving tips.
Yeah.
(43:59):
That's in RV envy. And also Imentioned something about a new air
conditioner and it's theBreeze Onyck. Oh man. I can't pronounce
the name of the company thatmakes it as Eber Eberstocken or something.
It's a German company. Howpathetic is that? Right?
Okay.
(44:19):
But if you Google or BreezeOnic. I said the Onyx Breezonic.
So this air conditioner isvery small, is very compact, you
know, you can use on RVs,vans, Class Cs, van conversions.
And it's super quiet and superefficient, super cool. So if you're
(44:41):
trying to run your RV off ofan inverter, I mean your AC off an
inverter, this is the airconditioning for you. You know, recently
I talked about the Furion airconditioner and it for RVs and it
definitely is a cut above allthe others. But this one now is better
than the Furion. But it doescome with a price tag. You know,
you're going to spending wellover 2000 bucks for one of these
(45:02):
things. That's just for theair conditioner. So it's an investment,
but it'll probably be worthit. So I haven't touched one yet.
I've talked to the company.I'm waiting for some more information.
So we're gonna check back inon this maybe in the next couple
episodes. Not sure when, butwe will come back to it. In fact,
we'll probably have them on asan interview.
Cool.
Because it's such a cool air condition.
(45:23):
Commissioner.
Yeah, that'd be great.
All right, so that pretty muchbrings us to the end of the show
today. As a reminder, go toour website or our web. Not our website.
Our go to, like, itunes,Spotify, wherever you get your podcast
and subscribe to our podcast,share it with others. Go to our YouTube
(45:43):
channel and subscribe as well.Keep us out there. Let other people
know we are moving up in theranks on our podcast rating. Yes,
we are number three onfeedcast. So we are making some headway
in the RV world in ourpodcast. So share it with others.
We're doing something right,and everybody needs to hear about
(46:03):
it. All right, so in our nextepisode is 179. Now, before we stop
here, I forgot about this. Ibrought up the awning in the beginning,
blocking the door. So this isa true story. A husband and wife,
they're using their rv.They're in a windstorm, and the awning
tears off the rv. You know,the arms come off the awning. Now
(46:25):
you got to picture this. Theawning just falls down, straight
down the side of the rv. Sothey're at an age where now they're
trapped in their rv. And I'veheard this story, not this story,
but similar stories more thanonce. The door is closed. They can't
get out. And now they'reolder, so, you know, they don't have
the physical strength, thewhatever, the stamina to bust out
(46:46):
of it. So they actually had tocall for help, and someone had to
rescue them. So that's prettybad. So you got to think about that.
And I've heard it from otherpeople, too. The same thing. I couldn't
get out. I couldn't get out.You know, and then the other windows,
you know, you aren't escapewindows. And do you really want to
jump out of an escape window?So kind of think ahead about your
(47:07):
awning. If it were to happen,you know, it sounds like it would
never happen, but it doeshappen. So, you know, if you can
get that door open or windowopen, you know, make sure you got
a knife and you can cut yourway out.
Yeah.
You know, if you get the dooropen just a little bit and cut a
slit from top to bottom, youknow, that's the starting point.
You know, at least you. You'reaccomplishing something, because
(47:27):
if it happens to you on theside of the road, it might be a while
before someone stops or youcan get some help. So that's just
a real life story. So don'tget yourself locked in your RV because
your awning failed. All right,everybody, so it's been a great show
today. I want to thankeverybody for watching and listening.
And of course, you can go toour website and everything we talked
about today will be there. Sothis is Eric Stark with the Smart
(47:50):
RVer podcast, your go to guidefor smarter RVing and unforgettable
adventures on the open road.
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