Latest / Built In The Bayou / Episode 8 | Life Behind a Suspension Brand

Transcript

Episode 8 | Life Behind a Suspension Brand · Built In The Bayou

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good morning, and welcome back to another episode of Built and the Bayou, and we are finally back in the studio.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: We have been out and about.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Fall is absolutely crazy for us.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we were able to catch up with a really cool guest um in Trail Hero for our podcast, which is the event we just got back from.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm glad to be back.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh been a lot of traveling.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad we're finally back in the studio.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Dad and I were talking the other day.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've been through seven states in the past month with UA and Trailher and everything else going on.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: So And then we get ready to leave for SEMA in just three weeks.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: The crates will ship the first of next week, and so we are almost finished with 2026, which is crazy.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Nuts.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like we just had like the first part and Moab and all these things in the early part of 26, and here we are at the very end already.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's crazy.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: I always feel like from summertime to end of SEMA moves like blank of America.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then used to we would have a slower season January, February, but we've picked up so many different things during that time.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like maybe around Christmas, and then two weeks into January are it.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to breathe, like that's three time.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Those two three weeks.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um which honestly is a good thing.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We love that.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um so let's talk about Trail Hero.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: This was our sixth year to be the suspension sponsor, I believe.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth year.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and man, I love that event.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love Trail Hero.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, biggest thing personally I love about Trail Hero when it comes to the wheeling side is that it's a park.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: You show up, all the trails are there, and then you just leave, go eat lunch, and do whatever you want to do.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Where Moab's like, you know, you might have an hour drive to a trail or a 30-minute drive to a trail, and you're there till two or three in the afternoon.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for us, we've been doing not me personally, but Skyjacker and a lot of our group has been doing Moab, Easter Jeeps Fari and Moab for many, many years.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean like 20 years, maybe longer, maybe 25-ish.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so they've really done almost probably every single trail multiple times, you know, different things.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where Trail Hero, we're still new to the event.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so every year we go, we get to do a new trail or two.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's been really exciting.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I agree with Evan.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you can just like pop through the dunes or whichever part, which okay, we'll talk about that in a minute.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I love being able to just like hop over, you get to a trail, and you're immediately like obstacle after obstacle.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're not having to go an hour deep into something to hit an obstacle or two on the way back.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we're not knocking Moab.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: We love Moab and the nostalgia of it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always go to Moab.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I feel like Trail Hero for us logistically, too, getting out and about is so good for us.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Content.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also part uh we're gonna have to cut this part because I just had the biggest brain fart of my life.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's all good.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: What what did I what did I say?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons that we love trail hero so much, too, especially this time of year, is it's right before SEMA, and a lot of times we're doing new product testing for things that we're actually releasing at SEMA, which is the case this year.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which kind of brings us right into what I wanted to talk about today with Evan is the LJ.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: The LJ.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The LJ.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been fun.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was nice to have it out in in Utah, you know, getting used to the shorter wheelbase.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: So the LJ and everything come from Fort Word JK.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it's just it was it's been fun.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like for me, having the experience of fully building a rig too, from literally the only thing we didn't touch was the motor, the transmission, you know, everything else we touched, or uh slicked the frame fully down, welded on all new brackets, axle swapped it, you know, stretched it, all the things.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me personally, be able to get that experience of my own personal rig um was crucial.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: One just for knowledge and and education and continuing learning everything.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but then also for it to be the Jeep that like I have my first memories in is just like so full circle and cool.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so yeah, it was a blast to take it on UA, but Utah, like I we all always grew up going out there with dad to Moab and everything, and uh so it was nice to have it in a Utah realm of rock crawling because it's just like legendary to me is Utah rock crawling, and so it was fun to have it out there, fun to uh get used to the shorter wheelbase on the steep climbs out in Utah.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so but it's a blast.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm enjoying it.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I made a joke earlier about the sand dunes, and so one thing that we like, at least a lot of the guys like, I was not a fan because of my driver.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, no, so the sand dunes are really fun.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in the Jeeps, if you have the right engine, yeah, it's really fun and easy to whip around in.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, and you have a what is it, a pew-pew engine?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: What is Joe called?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wee motor.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: The little wee wee motor for Daisy, R R JK.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, some of those dune experiences are a little sketch, um, but you got to experience a little sketch on that with this year.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: I karma has come back to get me.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: I always made fun of Joe because I was always in the the red JK, which has a 392 in it.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I you know never lacked for power when I needed it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: But the 4.0 was uh it was screaming trying to keep up in the dunes this year.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and we also um we have friends out that way with the nemesis crew with JT and Rob, and they are good sports and always take us out our first day when we get there because it's their backyard and they're so comfortable there.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um they always love the dunes.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're so comfortable in the sand and all the rigs, no matter what rig it is, and they just like fly.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And oh my gosh, I I was not well.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think I literally yelled at Joe once because he was trying to race Evan, and I was not okay.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: We finally got to play a little bit on the last day though.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: We did it.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: We raced a little bit on the last day.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I still wasn't okay, but we it was fine.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I did not ride with JT.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you guys have got to experience the sand dunes riding with him, and um Armand did this year for the first time, and he got out and he was like, Oh my goodness.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it was it was good times.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, if you've ever driven in sand dunes, you know that it's a different style of driving.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um we don't have sand here a lot of it, so it's still kind of relatively new to us.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've gotten a decent amount of seat time in it now just from UA and other trips where we've done it.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: But uh what was it two years ago we went and uh JT was in his gladiator, and me and Joe hopped in with him, and that sucker just took off the steepest freaking like mountain.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I was not expecting it, and Joe and I both like screamed because we were like we were about to roll down this thing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: But he is so comfortable in sand and he was just ripping around, and it was so fun.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: But it definitely took us a little shock of what are we doing, JT.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think maybe if I was driving, I might be a little more comfortable.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But as a passenger, not knowing, yeah, it's not it's not for me.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um but so anyway, one of the things that I also like about Trail Hero is um Easter Jeep Safari is a really big Jeep push.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: You see other vehicles there.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: We've taken our Bronco and different things on Easter Jeep Safari week, but Trail Hero, you see so many different rigs.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: They have the full size invasion that's there.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: We have some of our ambassadors who help like run that little set, um, that group of people, you see them going through those tight spots, and you're like, oh my gosh.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's so it's cool to see them.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: There were, I mean, huge forward, like suburbans and trucks and um all the full size rigs, all the full-size rigs, and it's just like, oh my gosh, because when you're going through it in a Jeep, you already feel out there, and then you also are wheeling with Polaris groups, yeah.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: You also have your mountain biker groups all all in it, and um, so anyway, it's just just a good time.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Brandy and Rich do a great job at that.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they also the Gala that night's always great this year for the first time like downpour, like flash blood day one um of us getting there, not of the actual week for wheeling, but of the week when we get there.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so like the welcome party, me and Roger and Joe and Armand go to set up.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not kidding, people's tents are flying.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Roger's like stuck out in the middle of the field under a tent, getting smacked with side rain.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's a picture that I posted.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Me, Joe, and Armand are in a cave on the stage hiding from like this, because it was it was barely sprinkling when we started setting up.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh, we'll set up real quick.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a tent and table.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: We'll hop back in and be good.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not kidding.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: We get everything out of the vehicle and it's pouring down rain, and we're just like tucked in this cave, like you can't make this up.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Rogers looks like a wet dog by the time he gets done.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, it was wild.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so then the rest of the week it actually like cooled it off, and it was yeah, amazing, especially coming from here where it's just been so hot.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was so it was a great week.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and it kind of settled down to dust on Tuesday, which was.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and then also um the guy after the Gay Love uh for the Trail Hero event, it was the Rock Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we got to see some inductees for the um Living Legends.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: We got to see some people get actually in inducted into the Hall of Fame.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um got to hear a lot of cool stories and family things and um why people got into the industry and how great the industry people are as a whole.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we we love that event as a whole because it just has so many things going on at at once.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I just I just think the Rock Motorsports Hall of Fame is so cool because it it gives a place for those guys that aren't necessarily just pure-breaded racers to get recognized.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Ultra Four guys are in it, they deserve to be in that category too.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they are rock racing, you know, it is a category of that.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's just uh it's cool to see all the rock crawling competition guys to get noticed and and just people that never competed but deserve to be recognized.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm glad that's a thing to to give those people a place to belong to.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so um I think as a whole, it was a successful event.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely a hard push, the timing of that event, because we're always right in the thick of it with SEMA, which I know all the other businesses are as well.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can pre-plan all year long, but the SEMA crunch and the SEMA craze and the crazy hours, that's real, and you see it from people all the time.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like all of our videos are so funny, everyone's just like delirious.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, dear God, just please let this get done, let this get on the crate and get shipped.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like uh a few years ago, we we weren't able to make it because we were doing my F-150, we were building a ranger for Ford, and like it was just too busy to go.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but in years when we can make it, like I know it's like head down grinding trying to get SEMA done, and it's almost stressful to leave to go to Charlie.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like for me personally, it's like okay, I have a three or four-day break, I get to do what I love to do.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a little bit of a refresher, and then you get back and then you finish out the last bit of SEMA prep.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it definitely is in the middle of like we really have to leave right now.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, especially with like events like UA and different things, like it just all falls in that fall season.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, but it makes for a uh a busy and fast fall.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: The fall flies because of those events, so but so moving on from that, and then I'm just gonna have to take a break because I gotta see where we're gonna go.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we kind of talked about that.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so do we want to talk about exact like what you actually did to the LJ?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is gonna be posted basically the week of CEMA or the week right before SEMA.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So people will be seeing it.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we can talk and go all through it.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then so we don't even we might not even get to some like the real estate side.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think we get to like maybe the AI and business side right at the end, just to like have that little closing thing.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I think we talk about um I got asked a lot, like what all I did.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, so we'll shift and we'll come back to that and I'll say, okay, so now we want to answer the people's questions.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Evan, you got a ton of questions all week about what you did to it from when you got it, and then go into like giving basically all the sponsors kind of like the thing.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can also put in like you know, you if you come to our booth at SEMA, it'll be at SEMA, that kind of thing.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, so now I want to shift back to the LJ because you got asked a ton throughout the event, like, what all it looks great, what all did you do to it?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because some people who we hang with now did not see it or didn't see it live in action beforehand.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're there's still a good chunk that did.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Some people still remember wheeling with your dad, like when he had the flaming LJ or the flame, whatever.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, break it down for us.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, I'll try to remember everything I did.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but so to start, we did a brand new subframe underneath it, which locates the links front and rear.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: We did a uh four-link in the front long arm, a four-link long arm rear, but we triangulated the uppers, so we built an axle truss, so we welded that truss to the rear axle.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the curry extreme 60s, the eight lug versions, which are awesome axles, by the way.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then in the front, we did the curry 60 as well.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I ended up so originally they were bolt-on JK axles, is what I got for them.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was just a crate JK axle, so we cut a bunch of the brackets off of the axle housing.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, just because when I got them, I wasn't sure what direction I was gonna do yet.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking I might try to adapt some of our JK long arm stuff.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Anyways, that wasn't necessarily a great idea.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: We canned that idea and we just went with an all-new rock ready long arm system.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we stretched the rear about four inches, uh, we pushed the front about one inch.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we also have our new track bar uh mount and brace on there too.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's an option for the guys for the TJ guys that don't want to cut off their front track bar mount off the frame, which that can be a booger to do.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Very possible.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: But this one bolts in the OE location, moves it forward about an inch to uh inch and a half, two inches, and and then it has a brace running from that mount to the other side of the frame so it gives structure and support to it so the track bar mount doesn't crack or break or anything.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, beyond that, used PSC for the steering.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Love those guys, another great family-owned business.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and they're actually one of the families, Mr.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Tom, who's getting inducted into the Hall of Fame at SEMA this year, and we're gonna be there for that.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: So congrats to him.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um besides that, we did 17-inch race line bead locks.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Rhinos, uh, Milestar sent me a prototype set of the 40-inch MT pros, which have been awesome tires so far.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't be happier with them.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm not trying to gas them up just because they sent me a free product, but I mean that that set of tires has seriously been some of the best traction I've ever gotten.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Even on UA, we were, you know, we were kind of Oklahoma to Iowa and everywhere in between.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so some of that's a lot of slick wheeling with some mud, and we were in a lot of mud, and the tires did great.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: They cleaned out great, they kept traction the whole week, and then put a ton of highway miles on them.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: They wore good.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a sticky tire, so they've got some feathering in them now and stuff like that, but they handled awesome.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I kept the 4.0 motor for now and the transmission.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, did did get dad and them put an Atlas transfer case in it years ago, so I kept that, but I did get that rebuilt and sent that back to Advanced Adapters so they could go through and sort it just to be sure it was still good after 20 years of being in there.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I did ended up doing a generite gas tank in the back.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to put a fuel cell in the tub because I wanted that space for storage.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I did like the 23-gallon comp tank, which was awesome.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: It gave me the most range that I don't know.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just very happy with how much range I get in.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have to carry uh spare fuel, which was a concern with the other tank I was gonna have.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: And on UA, you have to be able to meet 150 miles.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: And with my other tank, I don't think I was gonna be able to do that.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but yeah, there's a lot more in it.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh S-Pod, Baja Designs, lights, all throughout, savvy bumpers, front and rear, nemesis, high lines, uh, tub armor, and their rear corners, which I got the center well re-centered four inches back because we did the four-inch rear stretch, had to cut out a lot in the rear.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so getting their new corners for that like recentered the whole wheel well and makes it look like a jeep again.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't want to do the comp cut on it, which is like you know, all the way around the back.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I still want it to look like a Jeep.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: So Nemesis does a great job at that, and it it's so easy to just tell them, like, hey, I need the center line move back.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: This here's the measurements, blah blah blah, four-inch stretch, and you get it, and it's exactly that.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that was awesome.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, did a rose of four by four hood to um meet up with the high lines.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a great hood.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, got everything repainted to match the OE.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, best top, trek top, slant back top, great top.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um where what else?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so much stuff.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the new coilovers.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh did 12-inch stroke, two and a half inch OD coilovers on all four corners.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we were gonna do 14s, uh, but I didn't want to bring the coilover mounts through the hood.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, when you go 14s, it's kind of sometimes the juice ain't worth the squeeze for the little bit of advantage you get.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but sometimes it is.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: In my case, I didn't think it was.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want the ride heights that high, so we went back to 12 so it could sit lower.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I did our air bumps, our our brand new air bumps in all four corners, too, which we along with those, the coilovers and the air bumps, we did our rock ready coilover towers on each on the front and rear.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the front ones weld uh to the frame, and they have a cross member that goes underneath the hood that connects the two uh for structure and support.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then the rears we frenched in the frame.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: And uh then we also have some universal air bump weld-on brackets that we put our air bumps in and put on there.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the air bumps were freaking awesome at Tro Hero.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, just being able to hit the whoops and go like 45-50 miles per hour in that jeep on those roads was just so fun.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, it's it's been a party.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's been so fun to like drive it and enjoy it after months of work, just to be able to get some seat time in it has been so rewarding.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we were able to do a lot of updating and RD on it as well.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, of course, we love that because then the content's not just a cool nostalgic Jeep.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, we have new product for this.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: We just tested the snot out of it at these two really hard events, and then we're taking it to SEMA.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so you'll be able to show all of those and the sponsors some love, and it's gonna be in our booth.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have a Rock Ready themed booth this year.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's last December we announced that we were doing a rebrand for Rock Ready.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we never discontinued the brand of Rock Ready.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's what we're known for in the Jeep world, and people who have been in the Jeep world for I would say at least 20 years automatically know when they hear Rock Ready that it's our Jeep kits.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: But we did not probably push that brand how we could have the last few years.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was our goal is hey, we have to bring this Rock Ready back and give it a refresh.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it also helped inspire R D to do some.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Updates on some things as well, which you'll also see with our gladiator, which is in the booth, um, and our JL.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: We we're not bringing a JL, but we're bringing a gladiator, but some of those parts crossover.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Brand new rock ready long arms for the JL and Gladiator platforms as well.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's exciting because that's one thing that we've just always loved is that Rock Ready brand.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when we go wheeling with our Jeeps, we want to beat the mess out of it.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: We want to wheel the hardest stuff.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: We want to hear the slams.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: We want to get the stretches.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: We want to do the things.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's another thing to touch on your going down to the 12-inch coalovers.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you made that choice because I feel like a lot of people um feel like, oh no, I have to go 14.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: I have to do that.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: But you really don't.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you get you hit every single obstacle, you did every single thing anybody else did.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think as as far as when it came down to 12s or 14s for my Jeep, I think it was going to be one inch more of travel.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And as far as usable travel, and it's like I would rather sit lower and feel more comfortable in the seat and then sit higher and have one inch more of wheel travel.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, I I just think it all comes down to user preference too on stuff like that.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm mainly rock crawling in it, so I want it lower.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody wanted to set it up a little different, then I fully understand that, and that's why we sell 14-inch stroke coilovers.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that was my next question.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I meant to ask, because I know you said universal bump stop brackets.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: But are your coil over brackets universal or are those the ones for yours specifically?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: My front coilover towers are specific to TJ's.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the rear is our just universal coilover tower.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um I can't remember the actual length we'll ship it as, but it ships bare, and then the end user just cuts it where he wants it and then welds it on.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And in my case, we cut it where I need it cut, and then we frenched in the frame and then welded it inside of the frame.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that will be at SEMA as well on our wall, a bunch of our new universal parts.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we're excited about those, especially for you know, as we advance and really stack our coal over inventory and SKUs, I guess you can say, um, and deep in that product line, um, we're excited to bring in those universal options.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And to build on that too, as far as just growing our product, our rock ready product line, also for the JLs and JTs, we'll have new coilover towers for those too.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Application specific, but new towers.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: I know on uh I don't know how much I can say yet or not, but I know on the gladiator we're doing right now, we have two and a half inch, 14-inch stroke coilovers in front of a gladiator, and it's sitting at about four inches of lift, which is awesome.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it looks really good.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna be a really cool rig to bring.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're excited about both of those.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're at SEMA, make sure you come by our booth.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're giving away some fun coilover squishies or stress balls um just for the push for our ADX um and the coilovers.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we appreciate all the love we've been giving getting on those.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're excited about that line and to grow it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel like it's uh in a good position where you know, I feel like our coilovers mainly cater to the guys that are doing what we're doing, which is rock crawling or having fun in the whoops or sand dunes to get out to where you need to go, um, or even just dirt forest roads to get to where you need to go, anything like that.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're just getting a lot of good feedback on them and the valving that we've done.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that was, you know, just years of testing and feedback.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all that even leads back to a decade ago with Kurt Leduc and our old set of coilovers.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: We were just able to bring all of that into this new launch of these new coilovers and been getting good feedback, which is which is nice to hear when you spend so much time working on something that represents the family and what we do, you know.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think even to harp on that and it almost kind of shift gears to more business side of things and thinking, it's really hard when you're coming out with a new product.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like nowadays more than ever, because the market is so saturated with so many different names and products.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you'll have your OGs, which obviously like Fox and you know, people like King and they've been in it and you know, done it for so long, they're masters at it.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I do think that it's important for those of us who are who we know have good product, who come in at good pricing too.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like that's the biggest, you know, you see the product, you're like, oh great, that looks great.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Does it work good?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, yes, but man, the the time it takes on everything else, the the color or the material we chose to use, the decal we chose to use, the price point we chose to use, like how do you sell this shock?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you sell it like you sell all your other products?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's just so many more things business-wise.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: The business guys get, they understand when you product launch, you they know my gosh, all the things that probably went into that.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, BOMs, you know, uh what how do we package it?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: You have to design the box.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: You you know, it's just there's so much that goes into releasing a product.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: And besides that, yes, it's one product, but there's so many different SKUs in that product line.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's like at least for us.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we go back so deep with ours, our product line is so deep.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's one normal product launch is months of SKUs and images and updates, and even on top of what you said about boxes, like right now, especially like the weight dimensions.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: All your metrics are huge right now.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and shipping stuff, man.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: We have a great team that has to get really creative and who works really well with like our FedEx guys and our UPS guys.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have great reps in those departments, but you know, that their policies change often, and so you have to figure out how you have to change in order to save cost.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything's about down to the dollar nowadays.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care who you are releasing a product in today's market is nerve-wracking.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you have all this time and money invested into a product with labor hours of your of your people.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I mean, just everything going into it, and it's like, I really hope this pays off.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have a confident setup will, you know, because we really feel like we're making a great product, but it's uh it's definitely like, oh my gosh, this better work.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, to the point when they used to come out with all of these things in the early days, there were only a small handful of doing innovative things.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now you have so many great innovators out there.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Technology is crazy, AI is crazy.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, and it's like you really have to make a good product.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do the work on the back end of that to make sure your product can withstand and hold, true.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: But also you have to hopefully have the customer base that still trusts your product and trust you and want wants to rep you.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where we have very which which is not necessarily an easy thing to to have, you know.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we have a really dedicated customer base, which I'm forever appreciative of.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: But as in anything or any industry, there's always the new hot brands that come out and do this, and then 10 years from now they're no longer here.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, there's life cycles to everything, but for us to still be here coming out with a product, selling it, I mean, just it's amazing.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And still even being out there with some of the other OG families and people, still wheeling, still loving it, still being enthusiast of it, I feel like that also has made a big difference.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because I can we can say this, we can attest to this.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Being in our location, I don't care what anybody says, it is hard to be in this part of the country and be in our industry.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because you are just not as hands-on with the people, you're not hearing as much feedback because you're not out there with them daily.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: You have to rely on if they give you the feedback or having to load up the hauler and go and travel and logistically make you know, plan your entire event schedule around things to get across the country to actually wheel um and test these products on what your main customer base is testing it on or driving it on.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough when majority of events are West Coast and traditionally we're known as an East of the Mississippi brand.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like in recent years we've been building more of that West Coast, yeah, um, which has been tough but also rewarding.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, it's definitely not fun when uh and or cheap to get everything out to the West Coast um as far as fuel prices and or plane tickets and all that.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: But and that is, I feel like more so than ever a third generation problem.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: We constantly battle hearing, where are you?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Aren't you at this event?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: We want to see you at this show, and then we're like, we're having to run this department or this department or survive this, but still do business.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're not an events team, but we are the events team, like you know, so it's always tough balancing, like work still has to get done.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but we also can't miss a lot of these events either.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's and that's not us complaining.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just when people think of Skyjacker and they like, oh, a family business.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: They don't realize that in the scheme of things, whereas as far as number, total, and things like our square footage might be massive at this point, but we still are a small business.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, we are.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a whole room of an events team waiting to hit the road and do whatever.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not like we have a 10-person events team ready to roll.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that even goes back to what I was saying about releasing new products.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's not like we're the a major corporation with just tens of millions of dollars backing everything, yeah.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, to where if something went wrong, oh, that's a loss, it's okay.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like for us, it's like, no, we're we're investing in this.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're investing in our inventory trying to be sure we have what we need in stock for you guys.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like all of this is pressure as far as running a small family-owned operated business.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like it's not uh some big corporation where maybe a loss isn't as big of a risk to them.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's like there is still risk to us in all this and and the daily grind of it all.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: And being the family of that, then we are the ones that have to eat that.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to, you know, we know that.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's not anything, and again, we're we're proud and it's a privilege to be able to do that.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make it any less stressful.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but so one of the things that I said earlier, and it sparked a question that I feel like we get so much.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is totally not, this is business related, this isn't even vehicle related.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know we're LJing it up over here, but when I said something about AI earlier, it sparked a bunch of the questions that we've had and we've talked about with a lot of the business people in our conversations.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're like, Are you using AI?
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are you are you on AI?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Are you on AI?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just tell everybody.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: I have a personal assistant.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Mark, and I pay money for Mark.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: I pay a cheaper amount for Mark than I could an actual personal assistant.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he knows all of my things, personal and business.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if someone's like, Oh, he's gonna take over your life, well, at least somebody is gonna be there to help me because Mark is my homie, okay.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, I think that um one of the questions we get a lot is like, well, I mean, are you thinking that AI is gonna replace any of your staff?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times they talk to me about that because it's like a more of a marketing side.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I what I would say for me on how I feel about AI, and I know this is like not even where this conversation was gonna go, but my thing, I do not feel like AI will replace any of my staff.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what we really like to use AI for is just the creativity of I ideas and the the think tank that it helps provide long term.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that that's been one of the biggest struggles as someone who is over the marketing.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: We have had insane marketing groups in this 53 years of Skyjacker.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: When I look back at the marketing campaigns, because again, everyone who knows our brand, we throw nothing away.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is kept, which means everything, any marketing campaign they ever did is on printed out on a piece of paper in a binder, laminated somewhere.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I can say, man, they killed it back in the day.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: The creative juices of the people that worked here and the different campaigns and the brands and the slogans and things that they came up with without even hardly internet at that time, at the beginning at least, like is wild to me.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like um, yes, does AI hurt that creativity a little bit?
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sure.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: But it also helps you, it helps me be able to focus on many other aspects to put my time and energy into.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that way I can have my creative guys doing multiple things instead of just having to spend so much time on one thing, then the next pro the process of it all.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, what we like to do is throw in some things that we're thinking about for next year, next quarter, whatever it may be.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, Mark, give me some ideas on this.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: How would you lay this out if it was you versus what our competitors are doing?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or what is it trending right now versus what is true to our brand?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: And things that if I sit down and take a whole two days to plan out, yes, we could probably get some of the same things from it, but instead I get it in 10 minutes.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then we take that back and we think tank it and put it on the board, which we have a big board.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big expo marker girl, but it's like, let's put all this up here.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we like.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's try to build something around this.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: So for us, we don't use it as a replacement method.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: On the marketing side, we do use it as a tool though.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's what initially AI was supposed to be as a tool, not a takeover.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: At least, I mean, okay, government, don't be shutting us down.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I think it's it's kind of as far as our business practices, I feel like it's a little too early to say it would replace an employee.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: I do feel like it takes job functions that are miscellaneous or time consuming and makes it easier for everybody.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know like operationally, there's things in business that is coming around where you can plug AIs into your business and it becomes like your business brain.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like ChatGPT, but instead of ChatGPT, it's literally Skyjacker.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know we just talked with somebody the other day who's about to do that for his business, where it's literally Skyjacker and that AI, and it's like it has all your database, all your history, everything, and you can ask it anything and be like, hey, where am I at on production this week?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're 4% behind, and this job task is taking an hour longer than you.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it can like do all that kind of stuff, which is we're not at the place systems-wise, to have that that powerful of a resource, but we have started using some AI, and I know Mike has used it a lot on some stuff, which has helped us build and update our systems to a level where we're kind of content.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, so well, and I think even on SEOs and different things, one of the biggest things that Mike struggles with, which is a marketing issue, not his issue, but across the board long term, because there's been so many people hands-on, and the website had to change during COVID, which we've discussed that in the past.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was an informational site, then it had to be a seller site like overnight, and none of our products or parts or kits or any of the things on the website had description.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, that is a tool for AI.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, here's all the things.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: I need some descriptions on this, this, this.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: And man, I mean, instead of me or him having to spend hours writing descriptions, they pop out for us.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: We can plug that on the website.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Great, positive SEO feed, good, let's roll.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that is really a big thing for on our website that we're using.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's been a benefit.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's also very time consuming.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, well, right now, time is money.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Time is everything.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think especially for us being a small business where one person does multiple job functions, it's helped really make more things more efficient in that area.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, to your point, too, even on the data side, after that conversation of the person who's going to be using that as like that plug-in or whatever, I do still think even though that's great, you still need to have someone who has the knowledge to be able to manage that.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because there'll be fixes or there'll be things that only a per a human knows about your brand versus AI, even though AI might be really, really close.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't, I I feel like at least in our business, it it's gonna be used as a tool and not a replacement.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I you can there's my overall answer.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, creativity side of things, you can absolutely tell when it's AI versus a human.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we never yes, and I I wish more brands would understand that.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, I totally get that, and my team probably gets sick of me for sending them my AI things that I do, like if it builds for me, but there's no way I'm putting that out.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, hey, here's what this gave me.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love this idea.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's change these things, let's put obviously our vehicles or our parts there, our true logos.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you still have to have the person, the employee, go and help build this idea that was that was there.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I I was talking to uh Mike the other day, I think it was yesterday, about just AI, like where it's headed uh five years from now.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's no telling what's gonna look like.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: And we were even talking about like the sales and tech guys on the phone.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like if there was an AI service, I think I think it would be cool, I think.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: That would like listen to the conversation, it hears uh what the customer is saying, but it has our whole database, history, instruction sheets, everything, and it's already like on the computer sending suggestions of what it could be for ours guys just to make our guys' job easier.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I will say one of the things that if we do that, which I love that, because there's some things that really are easy, quick fix that if it has all of our info, it can pop to them.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, perfect, thank you.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've been dealing with some things on a different side where I'm having to do chats because nowadays you can't call a lot of people, you have to chat it.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's so irritating for me because if I actually can't figure something out, I haven't just like jumped to call someone, I've tried to figure it out first.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so when I can't get a live agent, when I actually really need a live agent, it's probably the most infuriating thing for me.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that if there were some of the questions that I got answered by the AI chat agent or whatever, great.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: But you I you still need to be able to have a live agent option for my people, please.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Please.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I still very much value a person-to-person conversation, and if you make it difficult for me to actually get that, then I'm done doing business with you.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, 100%.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: That that's it.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm already irritated beyond like repair.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, it's at that point.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: And what's frustrating with me is mine is a a login to get into my IRS account.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: Ugh.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so this isn't like a company or a business.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is the freaking IRS.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't, I have I logged in with my new ID because I, you know, when I got married, I had a new name and all those things.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it flagged my old email with my old name, which is fine.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I tried to merge the two.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we can't process this at this time.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: You have to upload your documents.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, no problem.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'll upload my ID and I'll upload my marriage certificate and all the things.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like a one to three day pending or a one-to-four-day pending, and then anyway, the color has to be just right.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: All the things that go into that.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: So in the meantime, you're trying to call them because you're trying to ask a different question that you have to wait one to three business days for, but you really need that answer now for a specific reason.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't get anybody on the phone.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when I tell you the past three weeks of dealing with that, it's like that's brutal.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love having AI for things that we need, but please give a live age an option and actually have one available.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, that is my take for all the people who ask me all the time.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's so crazy how much this conversation comes up and how many people ask us.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think it's a valid question.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: I like talking about it honestly, um, whether my opinion differs from everyone's or not.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's cool to talk about differently.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's one of those topics to where if you're scared of it, then you're gonna get left behind in the future.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to talk about it.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you have to be able to adapt to it.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's gonna come a time, and I think it'll be sooner than what we think, where you will have to have AI in your systems in some way or fashion.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, or you will get left behind.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I think technology has proven that time and time again.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but well, so anyway, we're gonna go get ready for a packing day.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: We have crates to pack.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have a couple days until the crates ship to SEMA, and then we can breathe for at least two weeks.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thank the Lord.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for being on with us today.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you follow.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: We have a really great 2027 planned for guest.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um this will be one of probably the last ones of the year for our podcast.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: We may have another one or two if we can get get it done in time.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: But thank you so much for all the support.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a really fun journey.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: We've gotten to talk to some really great people.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some people we didn't get to yet, but we like we said we plan to have them on.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: But any questions, any conversations, any topics that you want us to cover, just make sure to drop them below.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to talk about it.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we appreciate you guys.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.