diff --git a/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml b/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml
index 7ba26c0..e117fe0 100644
--- a/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml
+++ b/files/ansible-playbooks/sot-updater.yml
@@ -2660,7 +2660,7 @@
           sshpass -f "{{ dev2_passfile_used }}" ssh {{ ssh_opts_common }} \
             -o ConnectTimeout={{ ssh_timeout }} \
             -p "$PORT" "{{ dev2_ssh_user }}@127.0.0.1" \
-            "grep -i block -A2 /tmp/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep enab | head -n1 | grep -Eo 'true|false' | head -n1 || true"
+            "cat /tmp/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep -i block -A2 | grep enab | head -n1"
           exit 0
         fi
 
@@ -2669,7 +2669,7 @@
             -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o PubkeyAuthentication=no \
             -o ConnectTimeout=15 \
             "{{ dev2_ssh_user }}@{{ lldp_dev2_ip }}" \
-            "grep -i block -A2 /tmp/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep enab | head -n1 | grep -Eo 'true|false' | head -n1 || true"
+            "cat /tmp/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep -i block -A2 | grep enab | head -n1"
           exit 0
         fi
 
@@ -2682,7 +2682,7 @@
                -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o PubkeyAuthentication=no \
                -o ConnectTimeout={{ ssh_timeout }} \
                '{{ dev2_ssh_user }}@\[${IP6}%{{ dev1_iface }}\]' \
-               \"grep -i block -A2 /tmp/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep enab | head -n1 | grep -Eo 'true|false' | head -n1 || true\""
+               \"cat /tmp/config.json 2>/dev/null | grep -i block -A2 | grep enab | head -n1\""
           exit 0
         fi
 
@@ -2697,7 +2697,16 @@
     - name: Dev2 | Normalize payredirect value
       delegate_to: localhost
       vars:
-        payredirect_raw_clean: "{{ dev2_payredirect_raw.stdout | default('') | trim | lower }}"
+        payredirect_raw_clean: >-
+          {{
+            'true'
+            if 'true' in (dev2_payredirect_raw.stdout | default('') | lower)
+            else (
+              'false'
+              if 'false' in (dev2_payredirect_raw.stdout | default('') | lower)
+              else ''
+            )
+          }}
       set_fact:
         payredirect_value: >-
           {{
@@ -2752,7 +2761,7 @@
       delegate_to: localhost
       set_fact:
         non_ts_diff_found: true
-      changed_when: false
+      changed_when: false    
 
     # ----------------------- Dev2 indoor_ip resolution (ppp0/eth0.4000 preferred) -----------------------
     - name: Indoor | Compute fallback connected IP (as used for Dev2 reachability)