During this week’s episode of the Oakley Podcast, host Jeremy Kellett is joined by Steven Barras, President of Gulf Coast Filters. In this episode, Steve talks about the advantages of their oil filters for truck owners. He explains how Gulf Coast Filters can save up to 75% on oil changes and significantly reduce environmental impact by keeping oil clean and extending engine life. Jeremy and Steve discuss the history of the company, the technical aspects of the filters, and real-life success stories. The episode emphasizes cost savings, environmental benefits, improved engine performance for those in the trucking industry, and more.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Welcome from MATS (0:58)
- History and benefits of Gulf Coast Filters (2:30)
- Steve’s background and early experiences with Gulf Coast Filters (5:11)
- Transition of leadership at Gulf Coast Filters (9:25)
- Purpose and function of Gulf Coast Filters (13:16)
- Mounting and placement of filters (15:38)
- Effectiveness and impact of Gulf Coast Filters (17:37)
- Extended engine life (20:20)
- Importance of continuous oil maintenance (23:52)
- Oil sample analysis (25:20)
- Environmental impact (30:21)
- Fuel polishing system (33:03)
- Customer success story (35:59)
- Cost-saving analysis (41:09)
- Oil Change Cost Reduction (43:09)
- Installation Process and Over-the-Road Package (45:50)
- Engine Specific Adapter Kits (46:23)
- Customer-Centric Approach (47:30)
- Final thoughts and takeaways (48:47)
Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruce oakley.com.
Transcription
Steven Barras 00:12
We’re changing the oil, but we’re not pulling it out. Now, when you pull the drain plug out on your truck, if it’s got a 10 gallon system, you have to replace 10 gallons plus whatever the factory filters hold. Whereas with the Gulf Coast Filters, you’re going to service the filter, which means replace the two elements that are in there with two new ones, and you’re going to add two and a half gallons of orange. Well, the difference between 10 gallons and two and a half gallons is 75% savings. That goes to your bottom line. If you’re buying oil and you have to buy 10 gallons, which one would you rather buy 10 gallons or two and a half? And if you get a cleaner engine continually, it is really beginning to be a no-brainer.
Jeremy Kellett 00:58
Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business, and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley Trucking, headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The purpose of this podcast is to communicate with Oakley owner-operators and their families by giving them up-to-date information concerning Oakley Trucking and the trucking industry. From business advice to safety updates to success stories. Also to give an inside to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family. So with me with me today, I have Steve Barras and he is the president of Gulf Coast filters. And I’m gonna tell you, I’ve heard of Gulf Coast filters ever since I’ve been in trucking. You know, it’s just a name that you hear about, especially with owner operators that pay very particular attention to their truck and their fuel mileage in their old changes and the expense that goes into owning a truck. And, you know, I was looking for some people to talk to, at the truck show about just different things to help our owner operators and this is one that I came across the name Gulf Gulf Coast filters. And then I got in touch with Steve and we had a conversation the other day that was with Rob. What I was thinking was just to tell him about, you know, the history of Gulf Coast filters, and what all the benefits are of Gulf Coast filters. And there’s a lot to that, and we had a good conversation. But now I got Steve in person with me here at the Mid America truck. So appreciate you coming over and sitting down with Misty here,
Steven Barras 02:41
man, it’s a pleasure to be here. I saw the invitation. I was like, Yeah, I could do that. I want to do that. That would be great. I was a single horse operator, so to speak. And so sometimes it’s like, well, it might be a little challenge. No, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do it. It’s a good opportunity. I can address the world that we deal with here. The owner operators are near and dear to my heart, I deal with them every day, every day. I look at all samples from customers. I basically and I grade the papers is what I say I read, I read the laboratory reports and their comments. And then I take it a step further and do the human interpretation of it because a laboratory will spit out a computer generated report, which is limited to what you program into the computer to look for. Whereas I can look at the report and analyze the data and add to what the laboratory report spits out. And at the end of the day. I couldn’t help. But like our goal in life, my goal is to safely extend the life of an individual vision
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Jeremy Kellett 04:40
Okay, so before we get into that because I know I can tell you’re passionate. You want to dive into this guy. Listen, we’ve got a lot of listeners out there that might not have any idea what we’re talking about. So first, I’d like to get a little history out of Gulf Coast filters and what they are. But first tell me about Steve Barra. Give me a little bit of, you know where you live, your family. What do you like to do?
Steven Barras 05:11
The most basic information is that I’m a God fearing individual that has a great passion for working with people. I’ve always been a sort of person of respect for God and for the country. I like the opportunity to work with people in this venue. I had never heard of Gulf Coast filters, like so many other people. And back in 1986, I had an oilfield, an oilfield boat rental company. And so I rented boats in the oil field people had, I had a boat that was working out of Venice, Louisiana, and that was getting slaughtered with contaminated fuel. And so we’re here talking about oil filters. But my initial Bush was Gulf Coast filters, which and I’ll go back a little bit and talk about the origin of Gulf Coast filters. But my original blush was because of contaminated fuel. And I met a guy and somebody said, Well, you need to call Charlie sim. Okay, now called Charlie Sims, Jolly jolly is, was the originator, the founder of Gulf Coast filters. He had worked with a guy in County from California who was tinkering around with filtration, he created a model that would work. But he didn’t have any interest in the long haul and to be able to consistently reproduce and put that product out. Surely, a retired military veteran was all over that. He had a great interest in it, great passion in it, and developed the system that we have today. And out of an old machine shop on Canal road and Gulf Coast Mississippi, surely did something which that the average man would have thought would be a possible antique machinery. A guy who is a mechanic but sort of retired and, and, and, and sons and a son in law, who were not machinist and trying to consistently produce a product with inconsistent machinery with borderlining career crazy so fast forward Charlie was the developer slash inventor of the Gulf Coast filter as we know it today. He and I came in contact back in 1986. I bought these filters to put on his boat that was struggling and so I mean, every day we were having fuel filter changes on our generators. So at the end of the day, I’m like I need you know, I’m struggling, struggling struggling and I’ve got I’ve got to spin on filters and I’ve got an aftermarket filter before it’s called it was called now I’ll name no name and it was adult filter and I felt like it was better than the records because it had a better quality housing any other my filter through him was changing filters every day. And I’m calling around to this guy and one of my friends and bullying him or saying culturally he says, Hey, again, I call joy. I bought some of his filters and told my people to put them on the boat. Let’s see what’s gonna happen: run that generator, 24 hours, change the filter, run that generator, 24 hours change a filter. And let’s see what happens. Call me as soon as you have a problem. Well, that was the first shock of my life, I guess. Because a week later, and they had not called again about engine problems could have called it filters. I’m like, Sue, oh, my God. We got something here. Oh my God. And that was the beginning of my experience with Gulf Coast filters. That was almost 40 years ago, but Gulf Coast otters actually had started about roughly 45 years ago in the 70s when it was when they first incorporated it’s gone a long ways 4040 years 44 and a half 45
Jeremy Kellett 09:21
Whatever you you, you partnered up with them at that time, I became a honorary
Steven Barras 09:26
distributor as Shaunie said here and I’ll make you an honorary distributor and at least you’ll be able to get your filters at a better price might be great. I’ll be glad to do that. Well I led the company in sales for numerous years outside of the office. Nobody could touch me. I lead the company and sales. It was like not because I swapped but I got a great product and oh wow. Yeah, it was something that surprised me. I’m sound like a pat myself on the back but I was I’m quite humbled by the fact that I really
Jeremy Kellett 10:02
so how long you’ve been with him almost 40
Steven Barras 10:05
years now. 1986 and 27 two years from now, it’d be 40 years.
Jeremy Kellett 10:10
Wow. That’s impressive 33 years ago
Steven Barras 10:15
almost Well, not quite three and a half years ago. Jerry Jolie’s want to Charley soon as was heading up the company and he was ready to get out. And there’s people here that know Jerry and his wife Colleen and loved them he and I are great friends I love Jared Killeen myself but they were ready to do something else in life and Trent transition and I was ready to take the bull by the horns and run with it I’d like I love what I’m doing and I can’t Yeah, so like I took charge of Gulf Coast filters and I’ve been steadily moving forward with it to some family took it and carried it and Charlie actually passed away in 2004 Jerry and I went our way to a fuel filtration demonstration the guys that were We were exhibiting at the Miami International Boat Show as a matter of fact, and I told her I said Jerry you know we left a funeral home and gotten an acid you don’t have to come I can do this he and I went I think Charlie would have wanted it no other way he’s like no you need to go we went and so here I am the owner of Gulf Coast soldiers president of Gulf to civilization said the owner in whatever title you want to call that I’m also the chief chief cook and bottle washer and Whatever it takes I do what it’s it’s my it’s a one one man operation basically yes I have a we we have had for several years now a machine company in Mobile Alabama and we I refer to them as my manufacturing and distribution arm so they do everything from source raw material to get it in process it make it into the filter canister the painted the painting the sticker the everything it’s on the shelf and ready to ship out when a customer places an order I send I send them a purchase order they respond to that with shipping it out to the customer according to the directions that I give him in the purchase order. Okay, yeah. And
Jeremy Kellett 12:23
then and I mean it’s uh you know the it’s it’s moving right along growing I mean it’s grown a lot since you’ve been in it I’m assuming it
Steven Barras 12:32
really has the the key element is that I’m boots on the ground every day and when somebody nobody wants to talk to Gulf Coast Realtors they’re not calling the 800 number they’re calling mine my direct cell phone number and when when you when you call me hear me it’s not like you’re going through red tape and barriers of Wilson’s like I answer the phone like Jeremy what’s happening? How are you today? Where are you? And that’s a relationship in his like Yeah, yeah you knew it was me did you have like absolutely I know issue i I Have you programmed in.
Jeremy Kellett 13:11
So for us, I don’t know what a gulf coast filter is. What is his purpose in his
Steven Barras 13:17
in the industry that we’re talking to today of the Gulf Coast over is a bypass oil filter. Essentially you have to filter systems aren’t you have one basic filter system on your truck today used to be the bypass oil filter was the standard in the industry. But that changed. And today, the standard in industries you spend on oil filters, you have one on your core, your trip whatever, everybody’s got to spin on an oil filter. The bypass oil filter, on the other hand allows one and a half to two quarts of energy to flow through it and wide fluid through at a gradual rate into a media which is very absorbent, it removes moisture and we have proven it we have gone to testing in monta Vista laboratories report that I have on my website and it shows that they did they did the testing I say we but it’s actually they did the testing on our filter and a competitive filter and a documented that that the Gulf Coast filter will remove particles below one micron in size at a 99% plus efficiency rate. So we’re taking out all these impurities. The experts in engine wear and tear say that you must control below one one micron particles and below in order to effectively control the wear rates in your engine. Well, we nailed it. We would ‘ve proved that we can effectively control the rates of particles Hello one micron in size. We also the
Jeremy Kellett 14:55
so it does it replace the existing old filter
Steven Barras 14:59
It does not. Good question. Good question what it is, the full flow filter has its purpose, I’d say it, it’s there to catch the nuts and bolts and stuff like that. It really is the smaller particles that it catches, but it’s limited to between 20 and 25 micrometers. And I tell people ever do that, using a 2520 25 micron filter element to control one right micron particle, as IT experts say you have to do is like using chicken wire to KEEP MOSQUITOES OUT. It’s not going to work. That ain’t happening. Exactly. So
Jeremy Kellett 15:38
Where does this mount? And how big is it, I guess
Steven Barras 15:42
it’s about 28 inches tall, okay, and so, most commonly, you’ll find them mounted on frame rails, sometimes people will mount them on the exhaust stack. So other people mount them on a toolbox. Be
Jeremy Kellett 15:58
right next to the engine,
Steven Barras 16:00
I keep it. I like to keep them out of the engine compartment. It’s like keep the heat, keep it away from the heat, keep the heat out of the kitchen. And the reason for that is expressed by people who have run the SOAP. We’ve been running into the desert during the summer months where extreme heats are encountered. And their before and after is once they put the Gulf Coast filter on the reduction is like six to eight degrees Fahrenheit. All jump a tour. It’s like whoa, that to them. That’s astronomical to me. All right. Well, that sounds good. But what they tell me Oh, no, that’s, that’s significant. That’s revenue,
Jeremy Kellett 16:41
it’s all lines run to the filter and back to the Moto X, right? Okay,
Steven Barras 16:46
are you connected to a pressure point on your engine, and you’re going to the filter through the filter, and then back out at a rate of one and a half quarts a minute to one and a half to two quarts a minute and Max those back from the filter to the oil pan. And so it just constantly cycles like that, where’s your full flow filter, while it’s doing a different job, it’s catching like I said the nuts and bolts. And so now you have your full flow filter doing its job, but you have something that’s purified the oil and we’re again removing the harmful particles, the moisture which contributes to acid buildup. And so now you have a system that will really really do an effective job of extending the life of your engine safely.
Jeremy Kellett 17:37
Because it’s the whole plan for it to be brand new all the time. Right I’ve
Steven Barras 17:45
I put oil on my hands . I put oil on my hands today out of a bottle when a customer brought me in and I showed you my hands a while ago and you looked at him and you can’t tell which hand I put the oil on. If you would do the same demonstration with Motorola out of one of those trucks in the parking lot that doesn’t have a gulf coast filter and you just use a standard filtration, you call it dipstick out and touch it in the rotor rod, rub it around in your hand. It takes you a week to clean your hands off. I mean, I tell people here he’d probably have to sandblast it and get it off with the Gulf Coast filter. You can’t tell which hand I put the oil in today and I haven’t washed my hands. I’ve wiped it off with a towel. And that’s it. You can’t tell no, it’s so what that means is it looks like it till you turn the visual to the visual it looks like new Motorola are pretty darn slightly it’s like coffee here is coffee is not dirty. It’s just a door. You can dip your fingers in coffee and you still see your fingerprint. You can dip your finger in a Motorola that’s been cleaned with a Gulf Coast filter bypassing all filters and you can see your fingerprint.
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Jeremy Kellett 19:49
This is revolutionary if somebody thinks about it with me trying to do what you have done for years by putting this bypass filter and pumping your old, existing old fluid into get all the impurities out of the old to keep it. So your engine thanks, it’s new old all the time. And you can do that. I mean for how long? See,
Steven Barras 20:18
he has the answers and definitely you know all things being equal. It is just it. It’s incredible that I’ve seen a few examples of Jeremy, a few examples or a guy named Joseph Van Buskirk, who, whose filter was published on my Facebook page, and Joseph engineered 1.6 million miles without pulling the drain plug out simply servicing the filter on a regular basis. And at that point, he rolled in a set of rods and main bearings. And that was it. I said, how they look. He said, a little mechanic, let’s say they look great. There’s nothing. There’s very little sign anywhere on 1.6 million $1.6 million. I’ve had numerous and he never changed the old. I tell Pat, that’s hard to swallow, you know that that slate the brighter it is? It’s hard to swallow. It’s basically. Yeah, in a sense, it’s absolutely true. Here’s what the real interpretation should be. I tell people don’t say you never change also that he changed oil two and a half gallons at a time. Because every time way to look at
Jeremy Kellett 21:36
it, you’re changing the oil all the time,
Steven Barras 21:39
I’m changing, we’re changing the oil, but we’re not changing and would never pull the drain plug out. So you call the drain plug out on your truck, if it’s got a 10 gallon system, you have to replace 10 gallons a wall plus whatever the factory filters hole. So it’s a 10 gallon system. Whereas with the Gulf cold filter, we’re going to service a float filter, which means replace the two elements that are in there with two new ones. And you’re going to add two and a half gallons of water. Well, the difference between 10 gallons and two and a half gallons Erica gives this is 75% savings that goes to your bottom line. So if you’re buying oil, and you have to buy 10 gallons, which one would you rather buy? 10 gallons or two and a half? Right? And if you had a cleaner engine that couldn’t fit continually is really beginning to be a no-brainer.
Jeremy Kellett 22:35
And how often how often do you service the Gulf Coast filter
Steven Barras 22:40
There’s a little variation there because I look at the bottom line as I look at laboratory reports. And if I see that your engine is there’s something that’s not exactly right. It’s the fuel so it’s beginning to build up a little bit we’re going to ask questions, but at the end of the day, how often the answer is between 10 and 15,000. We have some engines X 50 DD 15 such as that 15,000 mile service. So you go off go Filter your 34 if your cats and so you’re serious You’re serious 60s Who is X is about 12 With most most of those in the 12,000 12,500 range service animals. So with those service animal Yeah, yeah, it’s keeping the oil clean continually that’s the that word continually you got to highlight that because at wouldn’t know all that I put in my hands with 918,000 miles on that which I put on my hands today is is that kind of all it’s been process has been service that frequently
Jeremy Kellett 23:52
so the way I see it so you know just like my vehicles you know I change the old myself and all my vehicles always have something my grandpa taught me you know to do this forever so I’ve always done it’s been it’s super simple on GMCs old school to do you know and I enjoy doing it but as thinking about this it makes sense because you’re changing the OHL continuously to wear me I’m putting new all in I’m running it three to 5000 miles well when I take it out it’s black so I get a I get a between that three and five of say 4000 Miles will so many 1000 of those miles I got some good new Oh in there. Well the last half I’ve got Bart battle so your motor is not always operating with good ol in there. He’s got some used oil in there that’s getting worse in your mind now I see what you’re doing. He’s just continuously that whole time
Steven Barras 24:58
I asked the question, ” Why do they tell you to change oil? And the obvious answer is because they want you to have clean oil in your engine data, it’s not good to have dirty oil in your engine. So they tell you. So by default, they’re also telling you that those factory filters aren’t keeping you all clean, duh. So, we get to the Gulf Coast filter. On the other hand, when you reach the service that is prescribed, whether it’s 10,012, 12, five, or 15,000, whatever it is, the first thing you do is pull an oil sample. Because we want documentation, I’m, I tell people all the time, I want to, I want those up, I can’t help you and and tell them I’m the resident biatch when it comes to that, I will get all over your case about getting all samples in because I have to know what’s going on in order to be able to help you. And I get a little preachy about that, a little bit passionate about it, but I smile when I do it and I let them know I’m so how does that help you by having when I get to reports when I get the laboratory report, if there’s something not right, I spot it now. And my job is to be able to spot these things early on, nip it in the bud and prevent a catastrophic failure. I go to a continuing education program with Polaris laboratories, I build it on a regular basis to the to the to the annual summit. And then intermittently during the year, they have programs, continuing education programs that are offered online, and I attend to those things so that I can stay on the leading edge of the technology. And I know what’s going on in the industry. I know what I’m better able to serve here
Jeremy Kellett 26:47
makes a big difference to you know, as the Gulf Coast filters. I’m assuming you get we ever looked into being with you know, it’s always aftermarket. I mean, they’re not going to build trucks. I mean with anything like this or the innovation that you figured out. I mean, you think at some point maybe they would want to do that on a brand new truck. I mean from the beginning. Have you ever had any talks with them or anything Steve?
Steven Barras 27:17
I think the term planned obsolescence probably rings a bell at this point in the conversation Hey, they want to sell porch. Yeah, and look I’m not trying to make them look like the bad guy. I mean, they’re there , they’re trying to get all companies to manufacture better oil so that they can look better environmentally speaking. They’ve tried to get you know there’s different reasons why they want a better all they want to a want to offer a an extent a greatly extended drain animal. But it’s not reality. I see. I just recently saw our lab report from an engine one of those so you can wander 50,000 miles between servers between oil changes, and I got that report. And it was just a random report and it’s kind of like a godsend fell into my hand Hudi I don’t know how that guy he must have gone to a truck stop that he had at one of my old samples he hid that way up got it. They sent the results to me and a 53 He says I think I’d rent a little overall was my oil changes and really what was it how much about 3000 Over six will you granted say 15 18,000 Oh no no, I had 53,000 on it. I like oh you’re one of those guys as well let me let me let me tell you your base number reading on this sample is 0.03 bright red I mean like red X item if you want to call it Dell if in back in my Air Force days if you’re if you hit a red X it was you definitely want yeah that’s a no fly for that airplane and know what anyhow red x red X on that report me new training and they suggested that he monitored they’d all drain an alarm like suggest sick change and all that change it much more frequently. 0.03 What would that mean is your is it is nothing in that oil to protect from acid buildup and from corrosion that happened because of acids. You’re gonna destroy it. It’s a it’s a it’s a recipe for disaster. His oxidation number was 32 Again, a red a red X or a bright red. Wow, just a horrible looking report and I’m like I am so glad to have that report in my hands because I can show people how to look. Here’s what here’s
Jeremy Kellett 29:57
a lot of your a lot of your jobs educate when it does educating people, it is basically owner operators a big part of that.
Steven Barras 30:04
A huge part of it. Absolutely. I get, we can go talk about the environmental aspect of this whenever you go hit. Thank you. I hesitate to say this, but I can’t wait. Let’s talk about the environmental standpoint. The big big companies are out there, and the oil companies and the injured companies are working in conjunction to try and produce a better motor oil and achieve maybe a 2% Better carbon footprint for these engines. And maybe it may be an even greater reduction in carbon footprint on the light timeout. You see this filter right here, you see these laboratory reports, I, I am safely extending oil drain animals by adding two and a half gallons of oil instead of dumping 10 gallons and adding 10 gallons. So there’s a 75% reduction in oil purchase. Therefore, carbon footprint right there. And the spin on filter, you change it every third time that you service the Gulf gold filter, because of the 66 to 30% reduction in carbon footprint right there. You’re running a cleaner engine, and a healthier engine is going to be more efficient. And it’s going to reduce the carbon footprint and I can’t quantify that. But I can tell you that it’s it’s just plain good old common sense that cleaner and cleaner, healthier engine that runs better and has less emission than a worn out engine,
Jeremy Kellett 31:38
you would think environmental people are coming after you to help push your product. I mean, really, I mean, cuz that’s what it’s, that only makes sense.
Steven Barras 31:47
You’re absolutely right. I tell when when I have here at the show today and yesterday, and when I did when I have somebody with a fleet, a significant fleet, then I say look, your your brain trust up in the offices, they’re, they’re gonna have a hard time swallowing this business of using these filters, and because they they it’s self preservation, basically, they’re taking care of their own jobs. They can argue with my dollars and cents. And they can even argue with Well, that’s not it may be it may be profitable in some ways. But they can argue with that when it comes to their environment and I say, look, there’s your 75% reduction, or 80%. If you got a 12 and a half gallon salt, there’s where your carbon footprint really gets taken to task. We can really do something about it. And so it’s like, and, and I really feel that look, they can argue with you with dollars and cents, but they can’t argue with the carbon footprint thing because there it is a drop. Yeah, I’m like, Whoop, there it is. And I really am passionate about getting that message out there. I hear and I tell people to look, and I’ll use the exact language. I’m not no damn free. However, I believe in doing my responsible thing toward the environment. And this is a great opportunity. It really is changing, switching subjects a little bit but one ago, when the Gulf War ended, the military hit a wall and Abrams tanks had come back from overseas, and they will write back into the story, George and so forth. Well, the Abrams tanks had two fuel cells, one forward and one aft. And you could not control which you could not choose which tank you couldn’t override it manually, you know, so you always ran out of the fall we’ve taken. The Saudi never lasted long enough to get into the F tank. So consequently, the F tanks came back horribly contaminated, you start thinking in terms of Okay, so that’s 500 or 1000 gallons in each one of those tanks and you multiply that times 1000s And there was a gazillion dollar impact. What did they do they put a gulf coast fuel polishing system. It was trailer mounted big big old system trailer mounted systems and went to each one of these tanks and they pulled the fuel out of the one shell and then the one that had two tanks on their two tanks on the trailer itself that the fuel parser was knotted on and pulled pulled the dirty fuel out and put clean fuel in and had slight recycled the dirty fuel. And then the next tank that they went to did the same thing. It saves taxpayers and the environment because in adulthood the cost of writing the original cost of purchasing the fuel, the cost of removing it and Rick rationing the fuel. And the cost of disposing of all those costs is unbelievable. Oh, that’s gotta be a boy. I kind of digress and cut into the fuel policy a little bit. But, you know, that’s what we do. Yeah, we were able to keep our fuel polishing systems. And I’m beginning to introduce that to the trucking industry. I’ve been doing some years and tests for the last few years on some applications. And next year, I expect to be talking a whole lot more about the fuel systems for trucking.
Jeremy Kellett 35:35
Well, I can tell you, one believer you got that was at our booth just a little bit ago before we started recording. This was Louie Pierre. Yeah. And Luo Man, He is praising the Gulf Coast filters when he had a truck. He had them on his truck, and he was super excited about it. And you had him I had a conversation here about it,
Steven Barras 35:57
though, I hadn’t really had a good conversation. I’ve had some conversation with Louis before, but he was fired up. Is he what he wanted you to know? Jeremy No, no, no question about he wanted you to know how much he thought of golf coach filters and I mean, you are what are you saying?
Jeremy Kellett 36:18
I mean, he loves people like you companies like you companies like Oakley Yeah. Because you know, we’re passionate, we’re honest. We want this, we want people to succeed. We want to show him how and dislike Louis helps them succeed in Washington DC you know, he does his best he can do that. And you help him with the filter aspect of it and their motor and saving money. And I mean that in Oakley, here, we are trying to, you know, help owner operators succeed. I mean, it’s just, it was great to hear him talk about that and good on Gulf Coast filters, too, because he’s a firm believer in that.
Steven Barras 36:57
I wanted you to say what Louis said and let the audience hear from your language what he had to say because I’ve been doing a lot of talking. And it’s like, you know what, he said it you repeat it that way? It’s like okay, Steve didn’t I’m not I’m not putting words in anybody’s mouth.
Jeremy Kellett 37:18
No blue Louisa left the lane and he did it. You know, he’s not gonna say it if he hadn’t done it and experienced it and he is all about
Steven Barras 37:26
it. He’s got a great reputation in the industry. If people trust anybody in the industry, they don’t trust him. They trust Oakley. And thank God they trust Gulf Coast filters. Thank goodness.
Jeremy Kellett 37:39
Oakley Trucking is a 100% Owner Operator company. We specialize in Hopper, bottom and dump and pneumatic drivers. We provide the trailer free of charge and you provide the truck. We have a large customer base that reaches the whole United States as well as parts of Canada. Our owner operators live anywhere from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and everywhere in between and we get them home weekends. We take it seriously when you join Oakley trucking because we need you to be successful. Oakley offers great benefits and a competitive mileage base so you know that when your wheels are turning, you’re generating money no matter if you’re loaded or empty. We understand that you want to make a good living and that you make our living. We only take on independent contractors and to be honest with you we are very particular on who we lease on. You must have a good driving record, good work history and a clean dependable truck. So if you’re interested in Oakley trucking or just want more information, you can go to Oakley trucking.com Listen to our weekly podcast, the Oakley podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Anything else you’d like to add?
Steven Barras 38:42
I would simply say there is our oil analysis program. Again. It really stands out. We do it hands on, we do it like I said, eyes on, we really pay attention to what’s going on. We call the customer and ask him you viscosity is getting a little higher are you using glucose are you using some other product as as an additive and the usual typical response when I see an elevated viscosity is young I am using Lucas it will find what you can cut back on the use of it. You’re no longer dumping all the oil out 10 gallons so you don’t you’re only replacing 1/4 of the oil. Therefore put one quarter of Lucas Edyta and the viscosity come right back into the sweet spot and all and away we go what is that working with the customer and getting getting getting they’re getting their pulse on things no one was doing and now if something is not right, if they’ve been idling a whole lot and begins to feel certain begins to and I catch things early early on. So
Jeremy Kellett 39:54
how often do they send the old sample to art preach
Steven Barras 39:58
send send in and also Apple every time you service you filter, okay, okay. And you’ve gotten roughly $26, which is every
Jeremy Kellett 40:07
10 to 15,000 miles, they’re going to service their field. That’s
Steven Barras 40:10
right. That’s what you bet and $26 against $70,000. Yes. Now, which one do you want? Would you rather spend this one or that one? It’s a no brainer. They all understand stuff like that. They’re very, it’s amazing how great most owner operators, great businessmen, oh, most owner operators, oh, they understand their business. I tell them, Look, I’m not gonna tell you how to run your business. I can give you suggestions, and I can attempt to help you. But I’m not beginning to tell you how to run your business. I respect you as an owner operator and a professional. And that’s, that’s kind of where we are with that.
Jeremy Kellett 40:51
Yeah. And I bet some of these guys have put a pencil to it, and come back and told you how much money they’re saving. And in a year’s time, I mean, I bet there’s a bet you got a lot of stories like that. Oh, you even got some numbers? Don’t you know that I have walked out some numbers?
Steven Barras 41:09
I got some numbers. And matter of fact, why I don’t know, runs a 680 Kw with a PAGCOR engineering a, he created a spread the guy’s a brilliant guy. He’s really good at what he does. He’s meticulous about his business. And he is a man who micromanages if you don’t mind me saying we’re really shocked at what he did. And he created a spreadsheet which basically, and I actually bought what didn’t what he created was rather amazing. Said a regular pm versus a gulf coast filter PM. And the first year, the total cost for the regular pm if you did it yourself was roughly $3,600. Whereas with the Gulf Coast filter, including the investment for in ports and labor for the installation of the Gulf Coast filter system came out to be 3300. So you’re caught that you bet better than breakeven after the first year if you’ve got money in the bank F in the first year. And in the second year. Well, your total annual for that year. For the regular way that you don’t do your own change in your own shop is 3900 $4,000 round numbers versus $1,000 Gulf Coast filter way that people understand numbers like that. And his other sheet was if you went into Techstop and had them do it. And those numbers are like 6000 or better. Oh,
Jeremy Kellett 42:52
okay, so the 4000 was him changing his own? Oh,
Steven Barras 42:55
wow. At 70 It’s like it was like $7,600
Jeremy Kellett 42:59
I mean, you’re saving three to $5,000 A year after the first year.
Steven Barras 43:06
That’s right. It’s basically a three to one reduction in cost. You do it yourself versus doing it to golf Coldfield when they tell me looking at it only takes me about 10 minutes. I’ve got it. I’ve got it down. Pat. I can do it in 10 minutes. Back on the road. Where’s it if you take it into the shop? What is your time worth? You could be rolling down the road instead of messing with that. And if you have, you pay in your shop hand to change all for you. Well, maybe Chopin is gonna instead of instead of an hour, it will take him 10 minutes. Once again. Yeah, it just makes so much sense. And yeah, I’m not believe in projectors, okay. It may even sound like prejudice.
Jeremy Kellett 43:57
But I have a question. Yeah. Has it ever been introduced to just vehicles? My personal vehicle, the pickup or car? Has it been any experiment with that, Steve?
Steven Barras 44:09
And well, yeah, that has been introduced. And when I first started in 1986, they had a little one quart filter for automotive applications. Today. You see these one quart filters in the trucking industry? And I’m like, no, no, that’s not nearly big enough. Can you use the one quart filter on an automotive application back in those days, I could literally open the hood, hop up and sit on the fender well, and I could change my plugs, points, condense my roller and all that kind of stuff. today. If you raise up the hood and put a Kleenex in there and you can’t close the hood, there’s so much room so I finally like at Jump to debt market full wall and finally figured it out, I spend more time trying to figure out how to mount this thing. It’s not worth it. So I got away from it. There’s some people out there that do it but the challenges are still the same there’s no room.
Jeremy Kellett 45:17
Yeah, I was kind of wondering what that would be like if it was a great
Steven Barras 45:21
concept and it just with the tractor trailer. I looked at a really nice bobble yesterday, and it’s gonna be a challenge to find a place to put it on that truck, he got 182 inch sleeper. And he’s like, wow, wow,
Jeremy Kellett 45:46
where, but who does the installation Do you have?
Steven Barras 45:50
We don’t do the installations I have. Again, I’m back to back to that. So they have to go to a mechanic or some one horse operation. And anyone can install one of these filters. So people say look, I’m just totally not mechanically in on fun. And I say in that case, you have a mechanic. And it doesn’t, you don’t have to bring it into one of the big trucking companies. Your regular mechanic could do this. It’s gonna take him roughly four, four and a half, four and a half, five hours to complete the installation. But what I shipped to you, the over the road package at Gulf Coast filters sells includes the filter housing, it includes 35 feet of wire braid hose with fittings that are Aeroquip quality hose fittings, it includes a six pack of spare filter elements which used to have those each time it includes three all sample kits and includes shipping. And then it includes Engine specific adapter kits. So if you’re driving a 3406, I got a kit for that if you have a series six, I got a kit for that a nic 15 of all this, I got, I got a kit for whatever you got, okay, and so that package mean, when I send you that package, what you receive is everything that you need for you or your mechanic to do the inspiration without having to go get ports from anybody. And that is another huge savings when you go to start rendering DOT port. I’ve been there and done that we all live,
Jeremy Kellett 47:27
then they can call you in order more for you if they need them. Yeah,
Steven Barras 47:30
they can. But they don’t have everything they need to have that mobility to know. And then the newer engines come out and then I upgrade kits. And that newer PAGCOR engine is a good example. For example, the guy that created that spreadsheet, he sent me port numbers. I told him I wanted all the details. And so he sent me port numbers and I incorporated that into my engine specific app adapter kit for the Pimcore MX 13. And so a customer has everything that they need in hand when it arrives, they go put it on they are not going to they’re not going to the supply house. It’s designed for the customer with a customer in mind.
Jeremy Kellett 48:27
Good information, Steve. Very good information. I learned a lot about Gulf Coast filters just sitting here with you during this podcast and I’ll tell you why I’m impressed very impressed impressed with your you know being passionate about it and the product and it seems like a great product for any owner operator have on this drone.
Steven Barras 48:47
Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity to be here to share with you. I appreciate the great questions that you asked and I put the table at the top and y’all y’all y’all. Y’all y’all are. We’re kindred spirits. You know, we were out there to help the individual owner operators and help our fellow man. Yeah, it’s a good thing. It’s a good feeling.
Jeremy Kellett 49:10
Well, thanks, everybody for listening to the Oakley podcast, check out Gulf Coast filters. Give Steve Barah a call and ask him about him. And I promise you he will. He will answer all your questions. And if you have a question, you know, you want to ask him, send me a comment, send me an email. I’ll be glad to get you in contact with Steve and talk about the Gulf Coast. Good to tell you that. We appreciate it. And thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Oakley podcast: trucking, business, and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show on the podcast platform of your choice and share it with a friend. We love hearing from our audience, so if you’ve got a question, comment, or just want to say hello, head over to our website, theoakleypodcast.com, and click the “leave a comment” button. We’ll get you a response soon and may even share some of the best ones here on the show. We’ll be back with a fresh episode very soon. Thanks for listening.