Latest / Jeep Talk Show / The Business Reality of Building Jeeps in the USA vs China

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The Business Reality of Building Jeeps in the USA vs China · Jeep Talk Show

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audio boys and girls is time for another
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Jeep talk show interview.
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And Tony is back. You guys,
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I think you've been here
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three or four times. I mean,
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I think it's actually like five times.
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If you count the round
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table that you joined us on, uh,
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you're serious about teaching people
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about what you've learned over your many
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years. I mean, uh,
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right here in this intro,
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it talks about a
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generate been around 20 years.
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And I know that you've
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been around longer than that.
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So Tony is the founder
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and current president.
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Coming back to that of generate off road.
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He has a history of racing,
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wheeling and off road camping. Uh,
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he stood on the podium
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twice at king of the hammers,
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his hours of testing and tuning shocks
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and suspension has trickled down into the
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generate product
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offering is a Jeep J K U called
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Terra Moto has set the
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standard for suspension,
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quality and durability in
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the industry since 2012.
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Tony also hosts a weekly tech talk show.
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And I often tell our listeners about that
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because it's a really good show and
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you interact with the audience. Uh,
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people can ask questions.
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They can ask add on questions, uh,
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more explanation about what you're
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talking about, which I
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think is wonderful. Um,
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it, uh, yeah, on YouTube helped teach
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off-roaders the right way to do things.
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Both Tony's boys are involved with gen
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right and love off-roading and racing to
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Jen who wouldn't love
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racing. I mean, uh, you know,
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I told you before we got started, I'm not
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a big watching a racing fan,
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but man doing it now that would be
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something. Oh, well, that's right.
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You actually take people out
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to king of the hammers and,
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and scare the shit out of them. I mean,
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to get them the enjoyable ride.
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That's another way to put it.
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Yeah. So Jen, right is also celebrating
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their 20 year anniversary.
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That's great.
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Congratulations on that. Uh,
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how many times have you been scared about
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going out of business Tony? Uh,
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probably at least three.
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That's not bad. That's not bad.
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That's not bad. Yeah.
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There was definitely times where I put it
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all on the line and if it went bad,
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I was living out of a cardboard box.
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Well, I mean, that's what you got to do.
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Right? I mean, uh, and also too,
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sometimes you just make
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bad decisions and it's
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not necessarily that it's a, a bad
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decision. It's this,
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you misread the market,
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misread what, uh, where you were going to
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go in and whatever direction I would
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think. Yeah, that I've
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been okay on it. It's,
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it's been other factors that were out of
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my control like COVID or, you know,
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the, the, the recession or, you know,
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crazy inflation that we're in right now.
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Those, those are the things that, uh, you
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know, you just can't foresee.
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So, so let me just ask, get, get right in
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here and ask you about this. Um, now,
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you make, uh, the vast majority of the
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stuff that you sell.
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So it's, it's us made.
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I think you got some things that you sell
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that aren't your stuff. I mean,
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you're, you're, you're like
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reselling. Um, yeah, the, the,
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we call them marketing partners, right?
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They're third party companies that help
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us sell our suspension.
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So it would be the coil over shocks or
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the brakes or the tires or wheels,
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right? And then what I do is I find the
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best ones and those are the only ones we
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offer. So, uh, I guess there's direct and
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indirect, uh, have the, uh,
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the Trump tariffs affected you directly.
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In other words, have the, the, the,
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the top, the tariffs themselves affected
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you directly. I mean, if,
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if it affects another company or maybe
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somebody that works, uh,
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that a terrorist effect, then they don't
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have enough money to spend with you.
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I understand that's, that's a way a
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tariff can, can affect you. What,
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what do you think about the
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tariffs and your business?
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I guess is what I'm trying to say.
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That's a great question. So the, look,
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I believe that the president knows what
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he's doing, right? He's,
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he's mastered the art of negotiation.
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So he had to do something to get the
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upper hand on these other countries.
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Otherwise what's his leverage on them to
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negotiate? So although I don't,
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I don't like it, I
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understand it. And, um, it,
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it hasn't affected us in terms of, you
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know, we're not importing products.
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So that's fine,
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but it scares people
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and it scares the market.
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And what happens is, is suppliers start
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raising their prices.
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So it just messes up the
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whole inflation thing, you know,
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so it's, it's just
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disruptive unfortunately, but,
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but I understand why he's had to do it.
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So I've had to make hard decisions like
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that too.
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Yeah. It's kind of like short term pain,
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uh, longterm benefit. Uh,
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and I'm, I'm in, I'm in the same, uh, the
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same way of thinking,
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I think is most people, because that was
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always taught in school,
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tariffs are bad. You
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shouldn't do tariffs.
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And then when Trump came out
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with that, I was like, okay.
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And then I started understanding what he
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was doing with it and it's a leverage.
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It's everything is about
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leverage. Um, you know, uh,
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I was not a Trump fan for a minute, for
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many years. Uh, and, uh,
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and I still don't, I don't have to be a
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fan, you know, just,
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just do your fucking job.
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And politics is such a crazy.
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But that's what I was going to say.
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I now want business people in charge of
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the country, not politicians.
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Right. Right. Because a lot of them are
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career politicians in there.
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It's the good old boys club, you know,
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and boy, I don't like that.
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I don't know about you, but I don't like
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it. No, I don't, I hate politics.
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I've always hated politics and I liked it
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when I was in the 20,
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in my twenties where I didn't care and I
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didn't pay attention.
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But now I understand how it affects us. I
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mean, it affects you.
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It affects your business.
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It affects people's
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ability to buy your product.
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And if they can't buy you product, you
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can't have a business. So,
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and it's not just your
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businesses, other businesses as well.
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That's right. All right. So yeah,
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I didn't think tariffs really were
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affecting you directly
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as far as, uh, you know,
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costing you things. Um,
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so, uh, the, the aluminum,
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the steel that you get
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to make your products,
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is that something that is sourced locally
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or do you have to buy a imported
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steel? So we, we buy them from, uh,
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brokers here in the United States,
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you know, American companies.
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Uh, most of it is domestic. I,
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I do know that
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sometimes if there's a shortage,
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they'll outsource it from
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other areas. Right. Um, I,
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I'm not even sure I honestly,
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I don't even want to know because I feel
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like I'm buying domestic and that's what
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I want, you know, um,
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have you seen a quality issue when it's
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not domestic or even when it's not?
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In fact, in fact, uh,
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most of the time other countries have
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picked up the slack from,
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uh, businesses that we used to do a great
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job at here in the United States,
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um, that no longer exists.
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I'll give you an example.
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I met a guy, an older gentleman, and he's
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probably in his eighties, um,
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who used to work at the
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Saginaw steering box plant, right?
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Back in Michigan. And,
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um, they figured out,
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um, the right combination of, uh,
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iron and everything to make
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the box work. Right. And, um,
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it wasn't until that plant was basically
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extinct and then the,
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it went overseas and, uh, now those are
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now made overseas. That, that,
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that manufacturing ability doesn't even
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exist here in the States anymore.
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So it's not like we even have a choice
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and that that's happened to a lot of
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things. Um, is at least
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in my lifetime, you know,
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where it used to be made here, but now
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you couldn't even buy it here if you
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wanted to. So unfortunately that's just
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the way of the world. And, you know,
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everybody talks about it as more of an
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international market and, um,
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you know, like it or not. Um, but,
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but I understand where our president's
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coming from that, you know,
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that it's lopsided, right?
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Everybody sells stuff to us.
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They don't buy
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anything from us. You know,
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we're we're trying to even that out and I
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get it. Um, and you know,
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I was going to step back, um, on your
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initial question, which was, you know,
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one of the things that really hurt us a
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couple of years ago,
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um, was when, um,
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our previous president
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took away our R and D credit.
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And, um, it was, it was even worse was
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not only did they take it away,
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they made us pay for the,
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the products as if they already existed,
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if they were finished and done.
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And, um, I know that actually put several
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companies out of business because they,
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they couldn't do that. Um,
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so that was a huge thing that we're
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actually waiting for Trump to reinstate.
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Oh, really? I'm surprised that didn't
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happen day one, like all,
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all those things take time and it's all
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part of that budget that I had heard
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nothing about this. So you,
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in this makes sense where the government,
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what the U S government would say,
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yeah, you guys are doing R and D.
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So I guess you get tax breaks or
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something like that, uh,
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to research and develop things.
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And that's what America is really known
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for is coming up with new stuff.
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So not only, and I don't know, I don't
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know that it's a tax,
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but not only did they take away the tax
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credit, they said, Oh, you're,
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you're doing stuff over there. We can't
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have none of that. So we're gonna,
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basically they would tax you for, yes.
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What sense does that
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make other than this?
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Scraping money from you.
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Earlier when you asked your question
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about, um, you know,
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mistakes or missteps, um,
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this is the stuff that I've been dealing
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with that, you know, is like,
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I could never even foresee it coming.
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Like just crazy. Yeah.
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So I always tell people,
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and this is both sides.
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I'm not picking on Democrats or
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Republicans. This is
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both sides. I always,
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they always talk about, you know,
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healthcare and stuff like that. I said,
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you've been to the DMV. Do you really
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want them in charge of your healthcare?
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And I'm sure there's some fine DMV people
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out there, but I mean,
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you guys know, I mean, if it's government
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related, there it's,
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it's just not done the best way. Just,
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it's like you poured molasses in the
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works. Yeah. Yeah. Just,
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just do research and development. NASA
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did a wonderful job. Uh,
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get the military and keep
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the military as the best one.
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And then let us do the rest of it.
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But you know, and that's part of the
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issue that you're
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talking about, you know,
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as a business person, you know, if you
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want to do a business overseas,
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those companies over there are so hungry
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that they'll fund all the R and D,
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they'll do everything.
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And then they'll sell you back the
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product that you can then sell into the
10:32
market. So, um, by the government, our
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government, taking that away,
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it really motivates American companies to
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just go overseas. Oh yeah.
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Of course. Have stuff made now.
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And you have to wonder,
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especially after, after doge,
10:48
you have to wonder how much of that's
10:49
coming back to the people making these
10:51
decisions to force
10:53
things overseas. No, I know.
10:55
I'm I'm with you. It's crazy. Uh, and,
10:58
and, and I'm, I'm sorry.
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I know people hate it when I get
11:01
political, but the thing is,
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and this is both sides guys, I'm not
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saying it's one or the other. Um,
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but the thing it gets me is Congress is
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in charge of the spending.
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So it's like the, like the movie who's
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watching the watchers.
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And it boggles my mind because that's,
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this is not the way I think. Uh,
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so not only does it have to be a
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businessman that's in
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charge of the country,
11:25
running the country, it has to be a
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billionaire businessman. So they,
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they won't be motivated to not do the
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right thing. All right.
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So enough of that. Uh, and, uh,
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why I think it's good that people
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understand some of
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the challenges that, um,
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we face, you know, as an American
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company, um, we are one of the few.
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So, um, we're, we're trying and I, I
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believe in it, you know, I,
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I like American jobs. I like
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having an American company.
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So, um, even, you know, I'm, I'll be
11:57
honest, I'm, I'm not, you know,
11:58
getting rich. I'm no
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billionaire. That's for sure.
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And I was not born with a
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silver spoon in my mouth.
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So I want to do the
12:04
right thing. I, I like, uh,
12:07
creating American jobs in
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American made parts, you know,
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so that's where I'm
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going to keep doing this.
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Based on our prior conversations, I think
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you enjoy bacon stuff.
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I think you enjoy coming up with the idea
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and then seeing it turn into something
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and especially when people are buying it
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and using it as working the way you
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want it to work.
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Well, a lot of that comes from back when
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I got into Gping, you know,
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there was this mishmash parts available
12:33
and nobody was doing it what I would call
12:36
right. Uh, you know,
12:37
it came with no hardware or crappy
12:41
hardware or you had to
12:42
buy this from this guy
12:43
and this part from this guy and then it
12:45
was up to you to merge it all together
12:47
on your Jeep. Um, you
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know, that, that was,
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that was not a good setup and a lot of
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those parts were import,
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which I didn't care for either.
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So when I decided to start Jen, right? I
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wanted to make the best.
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I wanted to offer it complete. Um, you
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know, back then I was
13:06
a working class guy in,
13:08
in my garage on the weekend.
13:09
So when it didn't come with hardware or
13:11
the right hardware or you know,
13:13
half the stuff that I needed, um,
13:16
that meant that I needed to now spend
13:18
what little time I had to work on my Jeep
13:20
out looking for parts so I could put it
13:23
back together in order to have it to
13:24
drive to work on Monday.
13:25
Yeah. A lot of people don't
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understand that you got it.
13:28
You got to drive this
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thing tomorrow. Sucker.
13:30
Are you going to be driving
13:31
to drive it to work Monday?
13:32
So you better do it right.
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Yeah. Yes. So, so I, um, that,
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that, that brings me to another, um,
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topic that that's been kind of core to me
13:43
since I started the company. Um,
13:45
I always hated it when I would hire a
13:47
contractor to come out,
13:48
work on my house, right? And, and then
13:51
what they do is they
13:51
quote you a low price
13:53
to get in the door and
13:54
then, um, oh, you know,
13:56
we forgot to charge you
13:57
for that window or, oh,
13:58
you wanted the actual
13:59
sink hooked up, you know,
14:00
like they start going through this stuff.
14:02
So the next thing, you know,
14:03
the price is much,
14:05
much higher than you were originally
14:07
quoted when you look at generate parts,
14:10
I'm trying to give you everything you
14:12
need. Yes. My price,
14:14
initial price may be higher,
14:15
but the other people might,
14:17
my competitors are nickel and diming you
14:21
to death. I'll call it.
14:22
Um, because they're not
14:24
showing you the whole picture.
14:25
I'm trying to be honest. I'm trying to
14:27
show you the whole picture.
14:29
And I'm also trying to give you the best
14:32
quality so you get the best value for
14:34
your money.
14:35
I'm glad you mentioned that cause in that
14:37
episode that is coming out today,
14:39
I believe, uh, where I have you, uh,
14:42
where you're talking
14:43
on, uh, on Instagram,
14:44
uh, I mentioned, I say,
14:46
uh, Jen writes great stuff.
14:48
It's a little expensive and I think
14:50
you're, you're known for that,
14:51
but you're also known for the quality. So
14:53
I'm glad that you mentioned that you
14:54
try to make sure that when you're buying
14:56
something, you get everything you need,
14:58
not, you know, Oh yeah, this is going to
15:01
get on the hardware store,
15:02
get these bolts and you know that this,
15:04
that the other. So that,
15:05
that's really cool. Yeah.
15:07
That's it's important because
15:09
I've been that guy that was,
15:10
had to work on it on
15:11
the garage floor. Oh,
15:12
and I also design everything as if I'm
15:16
still putting it on.
15:17
And even though I've got lifts and stuff
15:19
here, I still design it.
15:20
Yeah. You have to drive away garage type
15:22
stuff. Absolutely. Nobody has a lift.
15:25
I love how they say it's easy to install
15:27
and then they, they're,
15:28
they're in the install video with a lift.
15:29
Yeah. I can well imagine. Yeah.
15:33
Uh, I installed a, the, uh, uh, um,
15:37
Atlas in my XJ and you know, it's a,
15:41
it's a hundred pounds and I can lift a
15:42
hundred pounds, but
15:43
whatever it, you know,
15:44
it's like, you know,
15:46
the space is like this.
15:48
It's hard to get up underneath there and
15:50
your head's all, yeah.
15:53
Right. So these are things that you don't
15:56
think of until you actually do them.
15:58
Um, all right. So, uh, uh,
16:00
businesses doing well, uh, uh,
16:03
well it's going, uh, I won't say it's
16:05
well, I'm gonna put,
16:06
I'm gonna put words in your mouth. Well,
16:08
I can say, it could be better.
16:11
I'm working hard to keep it
16:12
where it needs to be. Right.
16:14
Let's leave it at that. So the thing I
16:16
wanted to circle back to,
16:18
which is this is part of the business. It
16:19
says, uh, that your,
16:20
your intro is a current
16:22
president of Genrite off-road.
16:25
Are you getting ready to throw in the
16:26
towel? Are you going to be replaced? Um,
16:29
you know, I know is the
16:32
quick answer. Right. Um,
16:34
but you know what, I, I'm no spring
16:36
chicken anymore and, um,
16:39
I want what's best
16:40
for the business. Right.
16:42
So, um, if one of my boys coming up or I
16:45
meet somebody else who,
16:47
uh, knows more than I do that would love
16:50
to work for us, you know,
16:51
anything's possible.
16:52
You're still going to be, you'd still be
16:54
part of the company. Uh, I mean,
16:56
you might be reachable in Moab or some
16:58
off-road destination, uh,
17:00
by phone if they needed you,
17:01
or just to give you an update on the,
17:03
your percentages are coming in or being
17:05
made. I understand. Uh, but, uh,
17:07
so you're not planning on leaving and I
17:08
like the idea of, uh, the, uh, uh,
17:11
the business staying in the hands of the
17:13
family. Uh, and, and, and,
17:15
and I've mentioned this before,
17:17
I really like dealing
17:20
with the owner with the,
17:23
the person that's intricately involved in
17:26
the business instead of some sort of,
17:28
some sort of business that comes in, uh,
17:30
an investment firm or something and pays
17:32
you millions of dollars and then they,
17:35
they get it. And I don't want to speak
17:36
bad about Yukon gears,
17:37
but I like Yukon gears and, and from
17:40
everything I've seen,
17:41
they're just shit now. And it was because
17:43
they got bought out and the,
17:45
the, the, the quality is not
17:46
there. And, and I, it's not,
17:48
it's not a hundred percent thing,
17:50
but the businesses are in
17:51
the business to make profit.
17:53
And if you can make it
17:54
cheaper someplace else, uh,
17:57
there's a certain limited time there that
17:58
you can make that profit before
18:00
everybody finds out
18:01
what's going on. So, uh,
18:03
and by the way, you know, I,
18:05
I've, I've gotten a CFO here.
18:07
And that guy is on me all
18:09
the time for margin. Okay.
18:11
But I'm the one that's got to
18:13
put my foot down and go, Nope,
18:14
I'm not willing to compromise on that.
18:16
You know, it's got to stay this quality.
18:19
We've got to offer these features, um,
18:21
or, or it has to be made here.
18:23
Like simple things like that.
18:25
Do you make the CFO cry? I would think
18:27
you, you probably make the CFO cry.
18:29
I don't know about cry, but he's
18:30
definitely frustrated.
18:32
Well, I appreciate you
18:35
looking out for us, the consumer.
18:37
Uh, okay. So you're not planning on
18:38
leaving, but you, you,
18:39
you may leave in the
18:40
future. Uh, and, uh, in leaving,
18:43
you know, the thing is, is that even if I
18:46
didn't own the company,
18:47
this is what I like to do.
18:49
So I'd be doing this anyway.
18:51
So I might as well stay and
18:53
do it. Right. So, um, okay.
18:55
We've already gone political, so I'll go
18:57
a little more political.
18:58
I've heard recently,
19:00
I've heard recently that in the great
19:02
state of California,
19:06
and I think the gas has a $2 and 17 cents
19:11
or something like that tax per gallon.
19:14
I mean, good God. I mean,
19:16
okay.
19:17
These people pay for all these things for
19:19
people that can't afford stuff.
19:20
Well, let, let me explain this. So, um,
19:24
during one of the elections, um,
19:27
the stupid voters were tricked. Okay.
19:31
If you didn't read it very carefully,
19:34
you thought you were doing the right
19:35
thing. They, you know, they're,
19:37
they're very tricky on how they word the
19:39
ballot, right? And, um,
19:41
they basically said, if
19:42
you want us to fix the roads,
19:43
you better vote for this tax. So,
19:46
so $2 of every gallon of
19:49
gas goes toward the roads or
19:52
supposedly right. Are the train the
19:54
bullet train? Yeah. Well,
19:55
in the problem is this, they're, they're
19:58
reallocating the funds. Talk about,
20:00
you know, not keeping an eye
20:01
on the hen house here. It's,
20:03
the spending is crazy. It's, it's
20:05
ridiculous. It's, it's
20:07
definitely fraudulent.
20:08
Okay. Um, I also know
20:11
that from, you know,
20:12
I do a lot of land use work to keep
20:16
trails open here in California.
20:18
And, um, there, the, for,
20:20
since I was a little kid,
20:22
the state has collected money for a green
20:25
sticker license for your off-road
20:27
vehicle. Right.
20:29
And those green sticker funds were never
20:32
allocated to where they were supposed to
20:33
go. They, they siphoned that off.
20:35
They used it for budget shortfalls and
20:38
it, it, I'm telling you,
20:39
it's a gross
20:40
misappropriation of funds. Gross. Yeah.
20:44
So yeah, when, when you and I were
20:46
talking about career politicians,
20:48
that's the problem. You know, we don't
20:50
have people in there going, Hey,
20:51
we got to do what we said we were going
20:53
to do or what's right there.
20:54
They're just doing it. You know?
20:57
Um, so the, the, the point I was going
20:59
for was you got a Jeep. Uh,
21:02
they're, they're known for not being very
21:03
fuel efficient and your,
21:06
your California customers, I would think
21:08
were number one, probably, uh, uh,
21:11
if you're a Jeep or you're going to have
21:12
a Jeep, you don't care. You're gonna,
21:13
you're going to figure it out one way or
21:14
another, but for the new people, uh,
21:17
which it's always
21:18
good to have new people.
21:19
And I think that's why it's a good idea
21:20
where you're talking to, uh, both the,
21:23
the, the new people and the, the,
21:25
the ones that have been doing Jeeps for a
21:26
while and just correcting them on a
21:28
few things. Um, so the,
21:30
getting the new people is great.
21:32
But if you're looking at, and I don't
21:33
know how, how, uh, how, how the price is,
21:36
I mean, they, the ones that I saw where
21:37
they were doing the stories about the,
21:39
uh, the second, uh, refinery being shut
21:42
down and moving out of state, uh,
21:44
they were talking about $7 a gallon, uh,
21:46
in fuel. I mean, I don't,
21:47
I think five is, is
21:48
the normal, you don't,
21:49
is there $7 a gallon gas in California?
21:52
You know, I've heard that
21:54
too. Um, here, here's the fact.
21:56
The fact is that it's really hard to do
21:58
business in California.
22:00
So when, when I've gone up to Sacramento,
22:03
you're, you're going to love this.
22:04
This is, this is going to
22:04
like blow your mind. Um, I,
22:07
I met with Newsom before
22:10
he was the governor. Um,
22:12
and these people flat
22:14
out told me, you know,
22:16
so we don't care if you leave, like take
22:18
your, your company, your jobs,
22:20
and go like, get out of here. They, they,
22:23
they know more than let the door slam on
22:26
my butt. I mean, it was,
22:27
it was ridiculous. Um,
22:30
the agenda up there with the politicians,
22:34
these people live in a bubble. I'm
22:35
telling you that they have never walked
22:38
outside. They've never bought a gallon of
22:40
gas or a gallon of milk. I mean,
22:42
they're, they're completely clueless.
22:44
And, um, it, how do you,
22:46
how do you run a state,
22:50
a government when you're, you're that
22:52
removed, you know? Um,
22:54
and it's not even like they're trying to
22:55
do the right thing. You know, they're,
22:57
they're driving companies away. Um,
22:59
like a refinery with so many restrictions
23:02
and other things that they can't
23:04
afford to do business here. Why,
23:06
why would they reinvest in it when they
23:08
can do it cheaper somewhere else? Um,
23:10
now here's the reality.
23:13
California is still what the number six
23:17
economy in the entire world.
23:18
Oh yeah. Yeah. So, um, there's,
23:21
there's going to be things that are
23:22
figured out by the way.
23:23
Also feel that this is part of how they
23:26
push their electric car
23:28
agenda. Yeah. Yeah,
23:30
absolutely. So, you know, it's,
23:33
that that's completely money motivated
23:35
too. You and I haven't talked about this.
23:37
Do you know that the gasoline engine is
23:40
so well refined that on a Honda
23:42
civic, the air coming out of the tailpipe
23:45
is cleaner than the air going in.
23:47
Wow. I did not know that. Yes. It is.
23:50
The fact that we're pushing this agenda
23:52
is absolutely politically motivated
23:55
for sure. So yeah.
23:58
Well, you know, and
23:59
I've said this before,
24:00
I think that California's goal is to get
24:03
rid of all those nasty,
24:04
smelly people that they're, they're
24:06
really messing up the state park.
24:11
We're going to turn California into the
24:13
state park. Everybody visits. Uh, yeah.
24:15
And you have to walk in and pack yourself
24:17
a teepee to live in. If you're going to,
24:19
if you're going to stay there for a long,
24:22
so I don't know. Yeah.
24:24
I don't know. So anyway, that's a, that's
24:26
my political thing. I just,
24:28
I just find it amazing and it's going to
24:29
be so frustrating, uh,
24:31
for Californians. I think it must be
24:34
frustrating even if you are the most
24:36
supportive, diehard liberal, whenever you
24:39
go to spend that much money on gas.
24:41
Yes, I know. And maybe you have the EV,
24:44
maybe you have the Tesla or some other
24:46
electric vehicle and you're charging it.
24:49
But you have brownouts during
24:51
the summer. Uh, you, you, you,
24:54
I'm sure you pay a
24:55
lot for electricity. So,
24:57
and now they're going to start charging
24:59
you if they haven't already for using the
25:01
roads, the mileage that
25:02
you, you know, they got to,
25:03
they got to monitor your usage because
25:05
you're not buying gas anymore.
25:07
That's right. So it's, it's an
25:09
interesting world. You know,
25:10
they're talking about Newsome running for
25:12
president in 2028. Uh,
25:15
it would be wonderful to have the whole
25:16
country run that way, wouldn't it?
25:21
Everything would be outsource.
25:24
We have over a hundred.
25:25
I appreciate your sarcasm.
25:28
All right. So let's get
25:29
to the technical things.
25:31
I want to talk about a Terra Moto. Now,
25:34
the first thing is I noticed here in the
25:35
intro that you, you, you gave me was,
25:37
it is a JKU, which makes sense. It's been
25:39
around for a while. So is,
25:41
is the Terra Moto two or the new Terra
25:43
Moto? Is it also a JKU?
25:45
Also a JKU. Yes. Yeah. I, I still,
25:49
believe that the JK, if you,
25:51
if you really want to build
25:52
an all out crazy, you know,
25:55
off-road machine, the JK is still a
25:58
better platform than the JL.
26:00
So, um, it's, it's,
26:03
it's more computerized
26:05
than say a TJ or YJ, but, um,
26:09
the TJ and the YJ
26:10
have their own benefits.
26:13
And I'm also building one of those too.
26:15
You know, I'm doing a TJ,
26:17
a budget TJ right
26:18
now, um, series on that,
26:20
that will eventually turn into a
26:22
full-blown, you know, build. So, uh,
26:25
but for the meantime, you know,
26:27
our flagship vehicle for
26:30
GenRite is still the JKU.
26:33
And, um, you know, they
26:35
made 6.7 million of those,
26:37
which is more than CJ,
26:38
YJ, TJ and LJ combined.
26:42
So there's a lot of them out there.
26:44
They're affordable for people,
26:47
like me that have a family, you know,
26:49
you need the extra doors and
26:50
room and place to put stuff,
26:52
even if you want to just go
26:53
camping, you know? So, um,
26:55
the four door platform is good.
26:57
So you may have just answered my
26:59
question. I was kind of
27:00
hoping you were going to
27:00
say it was JK, JKU for the new one,
27:04
because in my mind and
27:05
teach me if I'm wrong on this,
27:07
the TJ is a much better
27:09
platform for off-roading. It's,
27:11
it's thicker metal. It's just
27:13
in general, a better vehicle.
27:16
And of course you can always stretch a
27:17
TJ. It's not as easy as
27:21
doing a four door, but you can always
27:23
stretch a TJ. So did,
27:24
did you ever have a racing TJ?
27:28
We did. Um, so my son
27:30
Jordan, um, when he was 15,
27:33
he raced a TJ and what at KOH that's
27:37
called the modified class.
27:39
And he built it with a bunch of old parts
27:42
I had off one of my race cars.
27:44
And, uh, he did very well in that. And
27:47
that eventually led to,
27:49
uh, today, the kit that we call the
27:51
tracer. So it's part trail, part race.
27:54
We call it tracer. And, uh, that is a,
27:57
it's a very good platform.
27:59
And it's, it's by far one of our most
28:01
popular ones today. Um,
28:03
it works really,
28:04
really well. Now that said,
28:07
you kind of helped me step right into
28:09
where I wanted to go with the TJ.
28:11
Perfect. And this also applies to YJ. Um,
28:14
we sell a kid that takes the
28:16
TJ or the YJ to an LJ and I'm,
28:18
I'm talking a real LJ like
28:21
the top fits, the everything,
28:23
the corner guards from an LJ fit,
28:25
everything about it is into a full LJ.
28:29
Um, that kid is,
28:31
I think it's under five grand for the
28:32
interior and the frame portion, uh,
28:35
which includes a rear bumper
28:37
and a bunch of other stuff.
28:38
It's a very complete kit going back to
28:40
what we were talking about before. And,
28:43
um, you know, you can
28:44
pick up a TJ really cheap,
28:46
or maybe you already have a TJ now you
28:48
can turn it into an LJ,
28:49
which if you go to buy an LJ you're
28:51
paying top dollar for, um, which is,
28:54
you know, great if you want to keep it
28:56
kind of factory like, um,
28:59
but now we're offering a great way to
29:02
build yourself, you know, uh,
29:04
a Jeep on forties or forties twos and a
29:08
have a 115 inch wheelbase.
29:10
So with a better departure and approach
29:12
than a JKU. So yeah,
29:15
maybe this has to do with racing.
29:17
I just realized that maybe there's
29:18
limitations whenever
29:19
you build a Jeep for a
29:21
king of the hammers. If it's not a
29:22
modified class, it has to,
29:24
there's a certain amount
29:25
of stuff that you can do.
29:26
Like maybe you can't stretch the JK, uh,
29:29
into thing. You need,
29:30
the platform needs to be, uh, uh,
29:33
stockish is, is that the case? Yes.
29:35
So that is the case. Another good
29:37
question. So that
29:38
they've got the stock class,
29:40
which means 35 inch tire
29:42
max. You have to, oh, wow.
29:44
You have to keep
29:45
whatever style suspension.
29:47
So if you pick something with leaf
29:48
springs, it's got to
29:49
stay with leaf springs.
29:50
If you get coil springs, then
29:52
it can have coil springs. Um,
29:54
it has to stay with the
29:56
factory motor platform.
29:59
So if you get a ZJ and it came with a V8
30:02
and you can have a V8,
30:03
if you get a TJ that came with a straight
30:05
six, you got to have a straight six.
30:06
So those who goes with the constraints
30:09
behind the stock class,
30:11
the modified class allowed you to stretch
30:13
it. It allowed you to go to coilovers.
30:16
You could put a bigger
30:17
engine in the, honestly, the,
30:19
the 37 inch tire and the coilovers were
30:23
the limiting factor as to how
30:25
fast you could go, not the engine.
30:27
So, um, because you
30:28
could put a giant engine in,
30:29
but you're never going to realize the
30:31
power and speed that
30:32
the vehicle could have
30:33
based on the tire size and suspension.
30:37
Then you go to the unlimited
30:40
glass, which is any size tire,
30:42
any engine, whatever
30:44
suspension, whatever you craziness,
30:47
you think you can build and bring it.
30:48
That's the unlimited glass.
30:50
Yeah, that would be pretty cool. I
30:51
imagine people really
30:52
like seeing those, uh,
30:53
the, uh, they do. Yeah, they're, they're
30:55
awesome. Now, you know,
30:56
some of them are pretty out there and
30:58
they don't work very good, but hey,
31:00
it's that's part of the fun. That's how
31:02
you learn. That's right.
31:04
And then since then they've introduced
31:06
what they call the legends class,
31:08
which is for old unlimited class cars to
31:12
come down to one shock per
31:14
wheel. And they have to go
31:15
back down to a 37 inch tire,
31:17
but then they can race in
31:18
the EMC, which the EMC, uh,
31:21
class races 100 less miles
31:25
than the unlimited class.
31:27
Those are that they raised 230 miles.
31:31
So you, you mentioned land use, you're
31:33
being involved in land land use.
31:34
I haven't read this a lot of detail,
31:37
but I was a little concerned about the U
31:39
S military, uh, act with, uh,
31:42
acquisitioning the, uh, King of the
31:44
hammers area. Uh, how's,
31:47
how's that going? Well, you just love
31:49
circling back in politics.
31:52
Is the military politics? I mean, I know
31:54
there's a lot of politics.
31:56
It's politics. So let me,
31:57
I'm going to tell you a story and we're
31:58
going to get to the question you just
32:00
asked ever since I was a
32:02
little kid, um, right here,
32:03
I grew up right here in thousand Oaks.
32:06
And, uh, when I got home from school,
32:07
I can hop on my motorcycle and go for a
32:09
ride, my dirt bike. Um,
32:11
in 1976, the, uh,
32:15
state government took
32:17
away everyone's right to
32:20
ride right around their
32:21
home. And they said, in exchange,
32:24
we're going to give
32:25
you this chunk of land,
32:28
which we now know is Johnson
32:30
Valley or the hammers. Okay.
32:32
Now it's a 30 square
32:33
mile by 30 square mile, uh,
32:35
area and it's open OHV right now. It is
32:39
four hours from here.
32:41
So that was a pretty big
32:42
screw you, you know, you're,
32:43
you're going from being able to ride
32:45
right outside your
32:46
house or even, you know,
32:47
nearby to now you got to go four hours.
32:50
But you know, back then,
32:51
that was like not going
32:52
to happen. Right. Right.
32:54
So then, um,
32:57
certain areas of the desert started to
32:59
open up under limited use under the BLM.
33:02
So about an hour from here and mostly two
33:05
hours from here, um,
33:07
which, you know, when I say from here,
33:09
I'm talking about the
33:09
greater Los Angeles area, um,
33:12
of which 7 million people reside. Okay.
33:15
So, so within a couple hours,
33:17
you could go riding, but there was always
33:19
this thread of, well, you know,
33:21
there's a lot of natural desert tortoises
33:24
and other things that we don't want
33:26
you guys, you know, off-roading and
33:28
ruining, blah, blah,
33:29
blah, blah, blah. Right.
33:30
So we fought this forever to keep
33:32
closures from happening.
33:35
So meantime,
33:37
I grew up got a family and
33:39
transitioned over into Jeeps.
33:41
And, uh, now when I go to those same
33:45
areas of the desert,
33:46
you know, what's there
33:48
solar panels. So what,
33:50
what they were trying
33:51
to do back to politics,
33:52
they were trying to stop
33:55
all recreation from happening.
33:56
They're the public that
33:57
the land we pay for, um,
34:00
and put solar panels there of which the
34:02
BLM leases back to whatever company,
34:04
right? So they're making money back to
34:06
money, right? Right. Um,
34:08
and even worse,
34:10
remember the tortoise that they told us
34:11
they wanted to protect and guard. Oh,
34:14
they just bulldozed all the land to put
34:16
the solar panels there.
34:18
So, so much for the poor tortoise. Yep.
34:21
So now we come back to what you just
34:22
asked me about the military. Okay.
34:25
So the military land that
34:27
is adjacent to the hammers is
34:29
the size of Rhode Island.
34:31
It is the largest of land.
34:34
Okay. They don't need the little bit of
34:37
land we have that was given to us.
34:40
And I absolutely over my dead
34:42
body, will they get it? That,
34:43
that is not going to happen. No, that we,
34:46
we as off-roaders will put up a hell of a
34:48
fight and they are not getting that
34:51
land under any circumstances. So Tony, I
34:53
was given to us. Yeah, Tony,
34:55
I would recommend that if the military
34:57
starts giving you guys blankets,
34:58
don't take them. Yeah.
35:01
Yeah. Cause you might need them.
35:03
I'm referring to what
35:04
the, uh, what the government,
35:05
our government did to the Indians way
35:07
back when I'm sorry, is that too soon?
35:13
So, uh, yeah, that's, that's horrible. I
35:15
mean, it's horrible.
35:17
It's horrible. And it's political. Why
35:19
are we here? I mean, we're not here.
35:21
I guarantee you, I guarantee you it's so
35:23
they can put more solar panels.
35:25
All they want to do is take the area and
35:26
then put more solar panels. Yeah.
35:28
It's just ridiculous.
35:29
Yeah. I was going to ask you with those
35:30
solar panels out there.
35:31
That's not good traction, right? I mean,
35:32
it's hard to get, uh,
35:33
get over those solar panels, but I bet
35:35
you could do it to stare down.
35:37
And it's, it's all
35:38
fenced off, you know, so,
35:40
Oh, a Jeep, a Jeep can go through a
35:42
fence. They better put
35:43
a note and alligators
35:44
in them. Um, so yeah,
35:46
that's, that's very interesting.
35:48
I'm glad I asked cause I'm
35:49
learning a lot of stuff. I mean,
35:51
I'm here in Texas. Uh, oh, and I was
35:53
going to mention this earlier. Uh, yeah,
35:54
California's not alone in the shenanigans
35:57
that, that happened. We have a,
35:58
a Beltway eight, uh, here that goes
36:00
around the, the entire city of Houston.
36:03
I think it's over 200
36:04
miles, uh, uh, Beltway eight.
36:07
And they said before they started
36:09
building it, you know,
36:09
they have to get elections
36:11
and then these things approved.
36:13
They said it was going to be a toll road
36:16
up until it was paid for.
36:18
And then it would no
36:19
longer be a toll road.
36:20
It would go towards our schools to help
36:22
pay for our schools and stuff. Well,
36:24
nope. Uh, it's 30 years
36:27
later, it's still a toll road.
36:29
And now they've built another one that
36:32
goes around that
36:33
loop. Uh, the highway 99,
36:35
must be, I mean, I think that you could
36:37
spend a vacation just traveling 99 around
36:42
Houston. So, uh, we do need roads. It's,
36:45
it's important to have roads and stuff,
36:46
but, uh, my God, just, uh, uh,
36:48
stop figuring out ways to tax us.
36:51
Well, and it's, it's
36:52
not about the road. What,
36:53
what happens is is the government's
36:55
trying to do so much for everyone,
36:59
right? And instead of saying, Nope, you
37:01
can't be on welfare or whatever they call
37:03
it now. Um, you know, they're, they're
37:06
just trying to help everybody. And,
37:07
you know, yeah, pay for everybody. Get a
37:09
job. Like, yeah, I don't know. It's,
37:11
it's, it's a very
37:12
difficult situation. And, uh,
37:15
unfortunately the people
37:16
that are making the money, um,
37:19
are the ones paying for
37:21
all this stuff. And, um,
37:24
it's pretty frustrating to
37:25
say the least. Yeah. Well,
37:26
my personal opinion is, is that one of
37:28
the reasons why, uh,
37:29
funds are not being allocated properly in
37:31
California is because they're using it
37:33
for, well, you've already said they're
37:35
using it for things that, uh,
37:36
it wasn't intended for. And I think a lot
37:38
of it is paying for the folks that,
37:40
uh, that need assistance. And, uh,
37:43
and I'm like that to a certain degree,
37:45
right? Right. But, but there's also some
37:48
stuff that's being paid for with a
37:50
political agenda agenda back to the Doge
37:53
thing. Right. And it's, it's
37:54
like, come on, you know, like,
37:58
we need, we need term. I know that it's
38:00
going to, the power would just move,
38:01
but we need term limitations. People
38:04
don't need to be in government their
38:05
entire life. Uh, so I
38:08
probably have never told you this.
38:09
I think this is a wonderful
38:10
idea. I wish it would catch on.
38:11
I think that the political office should
38:14
be like jury duty. Yeah.
38:15
You get a thing in the mail. It's like,
38:19
Oh, what is it? What's the matter, honey?
38:20
You know, you moan. What is it, honey? I
38:22
said, I'm president again.
38:23
I was this president. And
38:26
your wife says, weren't you just,
38:28
weren't you president
38:29
just four years ago?
38:33
That and collecting
38:34
funds for the government,
38:35
like PBS had to get money
38:37
to, uh, to pay for their stuff.
38:39
Yes. Yes. Pretty funny. All right. So,
38:43
uh, let me ask you this, uh,
38:45
I'm going to try really hard folks.
38:47
I'm going to try really hard to stay away
38:48
from the political stuff,
38:49
but this is great information. I'm
38:50
especially with California. You know,
38:52
you guys that aren't in
38:53
California know that you're,
38:54
you're curious about these things. Uh,
38:56
and here's the deal. Like we still have
38:58
the Rubicon. We still have to do some.
39:00
It's a beautiful, the hammers, right?
39:03
California has good stuff here. So even
39:06
if you live somewhere else,
39:07
you should be paying attention for sure.
39:09
Oh yeah. Cause we all, I mean,
39:11
that's bucket list. I mean, certainly
39:12
Moab EJS was a bucket list. Uh,
39:15
but you go into Rubicon, go into the
39:17
several little places there. It's a,
39:18
it's a beautiful state. And I think they
39:20
use that to their advantage.
39:22
That and the AC that's always on, uh,
39:25
keeping a nice 74 degrees
39:26
and no rain, you know? So, um,
39:30
all right. So, uh, what is, uh, oh,
39:33
and then you mentioned this before we
39:34
started recording, uh,
39:36
tell folks about, um, the, the,
39:39
the thing that you're going
39:40
through with new products.
39:41
I did not have any idea, uh,
39:44
about all the products
39:46
that you're working on, uh,
39:47
because you're not sitting on your,
39:48
you're not resting on your laurels.
39:50
You're coming out with new stuff.
39:52
Sure. Um, well,
39:53
one of the things that I
39:54
think separates Jen, right?
39:56
From the other companies is that I, the
39:59
president of the company,
40:00
the founder live eat and
40:02
breathe off-roading, right?
40:04
So it's really easy for me to, you know,
40:07
take a rock crawler seriously,
40:09
built Jeep like Terra Moto out. Um,
40:12
then I've got my jail
40:13
that's all overland outfitted.
40:15
I've got my budget TJ that we're, we're
40:18
building for, you know,
40:19
roughly $20,000 that could go do the
40:22
Rubicon, you know? So, um,
40:25
I'm trying to fit in each
40:27
one of the aspects that,
40:29
that you folks that are
40:30
listening might all into, right?
40:33
Just based on what, whatever spot in life
40:37
you've landed, right?
40:38
Or, or, or that you've chosen to like get
40:41
into jeeping and I, you know,
40:43
say I fit here, right? I
40:45
mean, when I first got into,
40:46
it was just to go remote camping. All I,
40:48
all I wanted to do was get away from the
40:51
public that stays in the public camp
40:53
grounds. I wanted to go further back,
40:55
find a good fishing area,
40:56
or just peace and quiet.
40:58
Go someplace where not
40:59
everybody's going, uh,
41:00
just having a vehicle that can go
41:02
anywhere. Absolutely. Yeah.
41:04
So one of the other national parks that's
41:06
here in California is death Valley.
41:08
Well, you only 10% of
41:11
death Valley is paved.
41:13
So, so if you drive through there in a
41:15
car, you only get to see 10%.
41:16
The rest is off-road. Okay. So there,
41:19
there's a ton of trails out there,
41:20
but if you want to see it, you better
41:22
have a jeep. Like it's,
41:23
it's the only way you're going to see it.
41:25
So, and it is beautiful. Um,
41:27
obviously you don't go there in the
41:28
summertime, but, um, there,
41:30
there is a lot of, uh, beauty and areas
41:33
to explore here in California,
41:34
even though it seems like there's a lot
41:36
of people live here.
41:37
Those people all live in concentrated
41:39
areas around Los Angeles,
41:41
San Diego and San
41:42
Francisco. So anyways, um,
41:45
so for those of you that don't know, if
41:48
you've never heard me say it,
41:49
Jen, right. Assured for
41:51
genuine ideas engineered, right?
41:53
So by my involvement in off-road as a,
41:58
um, person just like
42:00
yourselves, right? An enthusiast.
42:03
Um, what I'm looking for is better parts,
42:06
uh, new ways, right?
42:08
Other things that we could
42:10
be doing or should be doing.
42:12
And, um, I'm constantly trying
42:16
to develop those new products.
42:17
So I have, um,
42:19
over 100 new products
42:21
in the pipeline, um, for,
42:24
for my staff to, to finish, you know,
42:27
getting through to, uh, being
42:30
done and on the website, right?
42:31
So some of those things are revisions to
42:34
products we currently have that we
42:36
figured out a better way to do.
42:37
Some are completely brand new products
42:40
that don't exist on the market.
42:42
And I'll give you an example. When I
42:44
started Jen, right? Um, there,
42:46
there was no aftermarket gas tank. Like
42:49
we started the company with, um,
42:52
that, that gas tank was
42:53
revolutionary in the industry, uh,
42:55
because it was reshaped in a way that
42:58
allowed you to put a bigger differential
43:00
in like a Dana 60 and
43:02
move it back, right?
43:04
That you could run a bigger tire and not
43:06
have yourself a wheeling machine
43:08
because the wheelbase was too short. So
43:10
now, obviously that's come a long way.
43:12
We offer 20 different models of gas tanks
43:15
now from CJ all the way through
43:17
JT. Um, so there, there's a
43:20
lot going on, you know, um,
43:23
not only with that and we continuously,
43:26
um, evolve the gas tanks too.
43:27
We reshape them. We give you more ground
43:30
clearance. We give you more capacity.
43:32
We're constantly making
43:33
changes to even those,
43:34
or even coming up with a lighter weight
43:36
version, you know, um,
43:39
weight is if you're not concerned about
43:41
weight, you should be. Um,
43:44
earlier when we were talking
43:45
about like TJ versus JK, um,
43:48
just those two platforms. And it doesn't
43:51
matter whether you're talking about LJ
43:52
or TJ. Um, the, the JK
43:55
is 1000 pounds heavier
43:58
from the start. Wow.
43:59
I didn't expect that.
44:00
It's, it's a lot. Okay. Now,
44:03
you know, it's a four door.
44:04
It has a much higher towing
44:06
capability. You know, there's,
44:08
there's things about that
44:09
vehicle that, um, you know,
44:12
not to mention that it had to meet
44:14
completely different safety standards,
44:17
you know, 10 years later, right?
44:19
Like these are all the things that people
44:21
don't understand, you know, the, that,
44:23
that, that also could be falling under
44:26
the politics category, you know,
44:27
just the safety stuff. Um, but I'll tell
44:30
you when the JK first came out,
44:32
I immediately hopped on a plane and I
44:35
flew back to Michigan and,
44:37
and I looked at the engineers and I said,
44:39
did any of you even drive this?
44:44
Like, like when you,
44:45
you roll down the window to look out and
44:47
see where the front tire is,
44:48
the fricking mirror is right
44:50
in the way. I'm like, come on.
44:53
This, this is like the,
44:54
the people that were involved in this
44:56
obviously clearly were not G people.
44:58
Right. And they were like, Oh, Tony, you
45:01
know, thank you for coming by.
45:03
Show you all of the challenges, you know,
45:05
we're, we're faced with. And, you know,
45:07
basically what he ended up doing was
45:09
explaining to me that the
45:12
way the world works,
45:13
Tony is this, if we don't,
45:16
if we don't build a vehicle that meets
45:19
the safety standards,
45:21
your wife will never
45:22
let you buy it. Okay.
45:25
Because she's not about to put your
45:26
children or her children in a death trap
45:29
Jeep. Right. So, so it's got to meet the
45:31
safety standards or you,
45:35
Mr. Cool guy, consumer off-roader guy,
45:38
will never even get to build a Jeep
45:40
because your wife
45:41
never let you buy one of
45:42
the first place. Okay. So once the guy
45:45
said that, I was like, okay, now once,
45:47
what was really cool was he backed it up
45:50
with this. He goes, Tony,
45:53
I'm so stoked you're here because you can
45:56
fix all the stuff that we couldn't do
45:59
here. He goes, you can actually make this
46:01
Jeep the right way off-road capable.
46:05
And he's like, we will give
46:06
you whatever support you want.
46:09
Yeah. So, so it was interesting, you
46:12
know, I went in, they're all pissed off.
46:14
And by the time I came out, I was like,
46:16
wow, they're, they're,
46:17
they're patting me on the back and like
46:18
telling me whatever I need to do.
46:20
Like how bad at Tony.
46:21
So I think they still have Jeepers in
46:24
there, but they're, they're so,
46:26
uh, hands are tied.
46:28
They are, they are to make a
46:30
real Jeep and an aftermarket.
46:34
Ding, ding, ding.
46:35
Yeah. So because of
46:36
the, the cafe requirements,
46:39
meaning the mileage requirements, right?
46:41
And the safety requirements,
46:43
their, their hands are tied. Then, then,
46:45
you know, you look at a car company,
46:47
we're, we were talking
46:47
about, you know, we're,
46:48
we're a miniature version
46:49
of a car company, right?
46:51
That it's run by nothing but bean
46:53
counters, right? So, so these guys,
46:55
they're constantly battling, you know,
46:58
and, and honestly, I,
47:00
I felt bad for them. They're, they're so
47:01
beat down at the end of the day.
47:03
The fact that they can even still get
47:05
something out the
47:05
door with a solid axles,
47:06
like a miracle.
47:07
Oh yeah. Because Congress was going to
47:09
look into this whole deathwaffle issue
47:11
that with the front solid axles, it's
47:13
like, don't you dare,
47:14
touch the solid axle.
47:19
So at the end of the
47:21
day, you know, we're,
47:23
we're doing what we do,
47:24
which is make it better, right?
47:27
And that's a big part of the reason I
47:30
started my tech talk show
47:32
is because I'm,
47:33
I'm constantly trying to dispel
47:36
everything that's out
47:36
there on the internet.
47:37
You got a bunch of web
47:38
wheelers that you know,
47:41
think they know what
47:41
they're talking about,
47:42
but don't have actual
47:44
experience. Right. And, um, I'm,
47:46
I'm there to like fix that and give
47:49
people the straight scoop,
47:51
um, about, you know, why it is the way it
47:54
is or how it's done or how it should be
47:56
done or whatever the case may be. So,
47:58
I'm going to set up an
47:59
account that isn't cheap talk show.
48:01
Come onto your tech talk and say,
48:03
why don't you sell multiple state
48:05
steering stabilizers
48:06
so I can get rid of my
48:07
death bubble? That's a
48:09
perfect way. And you know,
48:11
I still see the, the, the steering
48:13
stabilizer stuff from knowledgeable,
48:15
knowledgeable people.
48:17
Yeah. Well, so it's an interesting one
48:20
because it will solve the problem for
48:23
some people, but it doesn't get to the
48:25
root cause. Exactly. Right.
48:27
Which is what you're
48:28
getting at. Yeah. Yeah. And,
48:31
and I think it was my wife's TJ and she
48:34
got death wobble around 70 miles an
48:36
hour on I 10 between two 18 wheelers.
48:38
So I had to fix that and I was shocked,
48:42
shocked this when I was moving the stuff
48:44
around and it's in my,
48:46
my experience is almost
48:47
always the, the track bar. Uh,
48:50
there was a like a 16th of an inch
48:52
movement. It was tiny.
48:55
And I had never experienced that before.
48:57
And I was like, well,
48:57
she's got the death
48:58
wobble. This is the old,
49:00
this is only the amount
49:01
that it's moving. And I, I was,
49:03
it's amazing that they all don't have
49:05
death wobble all the
49:06
time. Um, yeah, well,
49:08
what, what happens is, you know, that,
49:09
that rubber in all the joints, right?
49:11
Has a certain amount of movement, right?
49:13
So even though you saw a
49:15
physical one 16th play,
49:18
well when, when you get
49:18
that moving, right, it's gonna,
49:21
it's the rubber's quarter inch thick on
49:22
each end that it's going to start
49:24
moving like a half an inch.
49:25
And then you magnify that between all the
49:27
links and everything else in the front
49:29
end. Um, not to mention, you know,
49:31
clapped out ball joints and
49:33
tie rod ends and you know,
49:35
the steering box might be loose or, or
49:37
it's just plain old worn out.
49:38
You get all those things together and you
49:41
got one scary situation.
49:43
And just like you, you,
49:44
you put your wife in those circumstances
49:47
two or three times that keeps for
49:49
sale. Like she wants it out
49:51
of it. Oh, she loves her TJ.
49:52
It was more like fix it, but you know, I,
49:54
I spent a couple of hundred dollars,
49:56
replaced all the front end parts.
49:58
It still hasn't had any death wobble some
50:00
10, 12 years later. So it's,
50:02
it's, it's not a hard situation.
50:04
The thing that surprised me fixed it
50:06
fast. You fixed it fast.
50:07
Cause if you don't fix it
50:08
fast, it wears the tires.
50:10
Even if you put in all new parts, it's,
50:13
you got to get rid of those tires cause
50:14
they're wasted too. Yeah.
50:15
Well I fixed it fast because you know,
50:17
it's the wife and she's going to make
50:19
sure why aren't you
50:20
out there fixing it? Um,
50:22
and I was really surprised and this goes
50:24
back to the same thing we were talking
50:25
about. Uh, the Jeep engineers having to
50:27
do things, saving weight, uh, the,
50:30
the, the, the, the,
50:32
the steering components that they were
50:33
using on the JL JL you, uh, that, uh,
50:37
uh, I found out through a talking
50:39
interview with a steer smarts,
50:40
J S steer smarts that they found 500
50:42
miles and brand new, uh, JL,
50:45
they were getting death wobble out of it.
50:46
And it wasn't because the parts didn't
50:48
look beefy because all my gladiator,
50:51
that those, those parts were huge, but
50:53
they're not thick walled. Uh,
50:55
the tie rods and stuff
50:56
isn't thick walled again,
50:57
saving the weight because
50:59
you know, over 20 years,
51:00
save a 0.0003 miles per gallon.
51:06
So yeah, uh, death wobble is easy to fix,
51:09
replace what's on there on the modern day
51:11
Jeeps. Uh, and you know,
51:12
you want to modify it anyway, which,
51:14
which takes us back to you.
51:15
You have great modify modifiers. Let me
51:18
ask you this. We have this, uh,
51:19
this conversation time to time, uh, on
51:22
the, the show on the round table,
51:24
aluminum versus steel. Uh,
51:27
and you made the comment earlier about a
51:29
weight is important.
51:31
And certainly you have a weight savings,
51:33
uh, by using aluminum. So, uh,
51:35
I personally, uh, like the skid system, I
51:38
got a skid system for the gladiator,
51:40
uh, but going before going
51:41
out to the EJS the second time,
51:43
cause I learned the first time that a
51:44
full skid system is a good thing to have,
51:46
especially on a gladiator that hangs its
51:49
ass way out there. Um,
51:50
I went with steel.
51:51
And so what are the, uh,
51:55
other than weight, what are the downsides
51:57
to steal over aluminum?
51:59
Okay. That great question. So, um,
52:03
if you're going to add steel to your
52:05
vehicle, um, you want it down low.
52:08
Yes. Okay. And,
52:09
and you want it to be things that are
52:10
going to be constantly rubbing on the
52:13
rocks, the trees, the, you know, some
52:15
kind of a trail obstacle, right?
52:17
Because steel has a better
52:18
abrasion, uh, longterm than,
52:22
than the majority of aluminum. Okay. And
52:24
I say the majority of aluminum,
52:25
because we use a skid
52:28
plate for our suspension
52:30
systems. Um, that's made
52:32
out of 70, 75 aluminum,
52:34
which has the same
52:36
hardness as steel. So, so it,
52:39
it will also scrape over the things with
52:42
good abrasion resistance. Um,
52:45
but it's the very high end of product,
52:48
right? Like Jen, right?
52:49
Right. We're like the Mercedes of, of
52:51
Jeep stuff. Absolutely. And, and,
52:54
um, the other thing about 70, 75 is you
52:57
can't bend it and you can't weld it.
52:59
So as long as it's flat, you can use it.
53:02
Interesting. Yeah. So you
53:06
can't bend it. Oh, that's,
53:07
that's interesting.
53:09
So you have to machine it. So
53:11
if you want some shape to it,
53:13
you got to buy a bigger piece
53:14
and mill it out or turn it. Oh,
53:17
like CNC is somebody switch it. Yeah. Uh,
53:20
that's really interesting.
53:21
And you guys have a lot of aluminum
53:25
parts, don't you? I mean,
53:26
bumpers, uh, so, so bumpers and,
53:29
and corner guards and things that
53:31
occasionally get bumped can be out of a
53:33
different grade of steel or sorry,
53:35
aluminum that, um, you
53:37
don't want the weight of steel.
53:39
So I'll give you an example, um, on a JK,
53:42
like a four door vehicle,
53:44
J K J L U. Um,
53:47
the difference between steel
53:49
and aluminum is 600 pounds.
53:52
Wow. Okay. So do you want to carry,
53:54
do you want to carry 600 pounds extra for
53:57
the one time you pull forward and bump
53:59
into a tree with your bumper or back up
54:02
into something? No way.
54:04
The aluminum will do a
54:05
plenty good job. Um, and, uh, why,
54:08
why carry all that extra weight? I mean,
54:10
that's like having three full size adults
54:13
in your Jeep with you, you know,
54:16
then you think about, okay, well, yeah,
54:18
you load up your Jeep with, you know,
54:20
gear and people and, you know,
54:22
those things turn into 7,000 pound
54:24
animals or monsters,
54:26
I should say, um, real quick. And you
54:28
still got that little V six,
54:30
just plugging away in there, trying to,
54:32
trying to get it along the trail or the
54:34
highway. Right. So, um, yeah.
54:36
So really don't, don't add a lot of
54:39
weight to the vehicle, um,
54:42
or only in the areas
54:44
that you really have to,
54:46
so, so I'll tell you this,
54:48
we make rocker guards, um,
54:50
just like on the Jeep behind me in the
54:52
picture there. Yep. Um,
54:55
that are aluminum, right? But they, they,
54:58
I sell a little steel piece that goes
55:01
over the top of it called a rash guard.
55:03
And it's only in the area that you would
55:05
actually touch against a rock or a tree
55:07
or something. Uh, but mostly that rocker
55:10
guard, is it therefore a step?
55:12
Okay. So it gives you the
55:14
ability to protect the Jeep,
55:15
but if you really just need a first step
55:17
cause you're not a serious wheeler,
55:19
then that's fine. But we make other
55:21
rockers that are, you know,
55:23
quarter inch thick, super BP bolted to
55:26
the frame or welded to the frame,
55:28
um, that you can just beat
55:30
on all day long. Um, and,
55:32
and those are for the guy that's more
55:35
serious about off-roading or,
55:37
or knows that he wants to get more
55:39
serious for off-roading and,
55:41
and you should be made out of steel
55:43
because you're just going to be, I mean,
55:44
you got a 6,000 pound vehicle, you're
55:47
landing on the rocker guard, right?
55:49
All off something and bam, you know,
55:52
my personal opinion is,
55:54
is that you need to protect
55:55
the expensive parts of the Jeep.
55:57
And I always advise people don't go with
56:00
anything that has steps. Uh,
56:01
if you have to have a step, uh, uh,
56:03
look at something that has dropdown
56:05
steps, but you, I think you always need
56:08
something to protect the rocker panel and
56:10
the bottom of those doors. So,
56:12
I mean, there's nothing,
56:13
there's nothing wrong with something that
56:14
looks nice. Uh, and,
56:16
and it doesn't, uh, hold
56:18
the weight of the Jeep,
56:19
but things happen on the road too. Uh,
56:22
and sometimes, uh, I mean,
56:24
you're out in California, you can have
56:25
earthquakes. I'm down here in Houston.
56:27
You can have hurricanes and you may need
56:29
to use your Jeep to keep it from being
56:31
flooded to get you up out of the way.
56:33
Keep you alive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
56:35
And then able to get you out of the way
56:37
and you do not want to get hung up on
56:39
steps that hang down and you do not want
56:42
to have damage to the Jeep because you
56:45
didn't have a good rock
56:47
sliders. And, uh, there's a big,
56:49
a big difference there. So no offense,
56:51
any products that you have,
56:52
but I think that heavy duty is always the
56:54
best way to go to protect the Jeep.
56:56
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um, all, all of
56:59
those are great considerations and,
57:01
um, you know, everybody, like we talked
57:03
about earlier, you know,
57:04
people just want to go
57:05
camping a little bit further away.
57:07
Some people want to go
57:08
rock crawling, you know,
57:08
some people want a good looking Jeep to
57:12
drive around instead of a Corvette or a
57:14
hot rod, you know, like it, everybody,
57:17
one of the great things about a Jeep is
57:19
that it's one of the few vehicles left
57:22
that is so modifiable that you can
57:24
personalize it the way that you can.
57:27
And, um, that's, that's, I know I enjoy
57:31
building the Jeep as much as I do
57:32
driving. So it's part of the fun for me.
57:35
Yeah. And it really, uh, and I'm not
57:37
saying this is the reason to do it,
57:38
but it really turns heads. I think
57:40
everybody has all one
57:43
point of their lives
57:44
have, has always wanted to Jeep. And, and
57:46
when you want to Jeep,
57:47
you don't want a factory
57:49
Jeep. You want to modify Jeep.
57:52
And modified is so
57:53
fun. And I'll just say,
57:55
I really appreciate you
57:57
being part of the problem. Uh,
57:59
can't make it all these,
58:01
these parts that could be, uh,
58:02
they help you modify that Jeep.
58:05
Yeah. I've got friends of mine that have
58:07
owned all kinds of cars, you know,
58:09
Lamborghinis and Ferraris and Mercedes
58:11
and just fancy stuff.
58:13
They say their Jeep turns more heads than
58:15
those fancy cars ever did. So,
58:17
well, especially when you
58:18
modify it, because it is,
58:20
and that's the wonderful thing about
58:21
Jeeps is you can make the Jeep so unique.
58:25
Uh, you know, the, the, the,
58:27
and this is the combination of things
58:28
that you put on there.
58:29
The one thing that I hate though, is
58:31
whenever you make modifications,
58:32
I told you about putting the Atlas and
58:34
the XJ. I can see the Atlas.
58:37
I know what it looks like. I
58:38
can get another look at it,
58:40
but nobody else can see it. They can't,
58:42
they can't enjoy just that
58:44
gorgeous piece of equipment.
58:46
Yeah. I know. Unless they look inside and
58:49
see the two handles,
58:51
they'll never know.
58:52
I would go to a thing, uh, some sort of
58:54
event or something. And all I have,
58:56
I had an XJ, you know,
58:57
everybody's had an XJ and I had an XJ.
58:59
I said, did you have one?
59:00
And I pointed the two handles that were
59:02
there and they go, uh, what's that?
59:06
Oh man, you've run the whole thing.
59:10
I mean, who, who puts a, uh,
59:12
uh, who puts an Atlas at an XJ?
59:14
I guess got tired of the
59:15
chain stretching. So, uh,
59:16
it's like gets rid of the
59:17
chain is what I figured. All right.
59:19
So this is the other thing
59:21
that I was trying to remember.
59:22
I was going to tell you that
59:23
whenever we get to the end,
59:24
something along the lines
59:25
of so about social media,
59:27
so that you could prepare yourself.
59:28
You've been doing this a long time.
59:29
You know what all your social media stuff
59:31
was or is. So let me just,
59:33
I'll just say it the way I always say it.
59:35
You know how the kids love the social
59:36
media. They like seeing the pictures.
59:38
They like seeing the
59:39
videos and stuff. Where,
59:40
where can we find you
59:42
guys on social media?
59:44
So you've got, you
59:45
got several choices. Um,
59:47
we've got a great Facebook
59:48
page, just Jen right off road, um,
59:51
Instagram Jen right
59:52
off road. And of course,
59:54
our website, Jen,
59:55
right.com that's G E N R I G H T.
1:00:00
And, uh, both even, even on our website,
1:00:03
you can still see some of the videos that
1:00:05
are related to the products. Um,
1:00:07
we've got a whole G
1:00:09
build gallery there. Um,
1:00:12
we also have a whole
1:00:13
tech talk resource section,
1:00:16
uh, there with downloads that you can use
1:00:19
for checklists and things.
1:00:21
So work on your Jeep or camping packing
1:00:23
lists and tools and other things.
1:00:25
So a tremendous
1:00:27
resource. And then of course, um,
1:00:30
one of the fundamentals of when I started
1:00:32
this company was a live person always
1:00:35
answers this phone.
1:00:36
Nice. So all you gotta do is pick up the
1:00:38
phone and you will never go to voicemail.
1:00:41
Somebody will answer that phone and you
1:00:43
can talk to a live person.
1:00:45
So do you have a paddle in case they let
1:00:47
it go to voicemail? You can, uh,
1:00:48
they've already agreed in their contract.
1:00:50
It doesn't even do that. It'll ring till
1:00:52
somebody picks it up. Oh, okay.
1:00:54
Don't we only, only at night does it get
1:00:57
turned on to a recorded message,
1:00:59
you know, that says we're closed. Right.
1:01:01
Wonderful. Oh, and, uh,
1:01:03
which do you prefer?
1:01:04
Do you prefer people go into your YouTube
1:01:06
YouTube channel or go into your
1:01:07
website? Cause I would imagine that the
1:01:09
embedded videos in the website are,
1:01:11
are YouTube videos. Uh, yeah, they, they
1:01:13
are YouTube videos and they're
1:01:14
typically product related, right? So if
1:01:17
you were interested,
1:01:19
yeah, but, but the,
1:01:21
the YouTube channel has thousands of
1:01:23
videos now, not only about the product,
1:01:26
but us off-roading, um, and, uh, racing.
1:01:30
And you know, there's,
1:01:30
there's tons of stuff to see there. You
1:01:33
can sort it, you know, however you want.
1:01:35
Um,
1:01:36
we even have things about installation
1:01:38
and tips and tricks on, you know,
1:01:40
if you have one of our
1:01:41
tire carriers and, um,
1:01:42
you're not happy with how it opens
1:01:43
anymore, watch this
1:01:45
video and we'll give you
1:01:45
all the tips on how to, you know,
1:01:48
adjust it and make it open perfect again.
1:01:51
Um, so lots of stuff, um,
1:01:54
lots of good resources for sure.
1:01:55
Now we've mentioned the tech tips that
1:01:57
you do. And this is every week,
1:01:59
every Wednesday, I
1:01:59
believe. Uh, is that right? Yeah.
1:02:02
Five o'clock Pacific standard time. And
1:02:04
it's, it's live on YouTube. I think you,
1:02:06
uh, you're,
1:02:06
you're still doing the streaming on
1:02:08
Facebook and some
1:02:09
other platforms. No, no,
1:02:11
we just push the whole
1:02:12
thing to YouTube. Yeah.
1:02:13
Cause I know you've had some issues where
1:02:15
one would work and the other one
1:02:16
wasn't work or it would work, but there
1:02:18
was no audio and yeah, just,
1:02:20
just do it on one. Yeah, I agree.
1:02:21
This one. Yeah. So, um, and,
1:02:23
and for the public, you know,
1:02:25
doing a live show is
1:02:26
extremely difficult. You know,
1:02:28
a recorded show is like
1:02:29
a completely, you know,
1:02:33
and you can go back and
1:02:34
fix things and you know,
1:02:35
even when you upload it, like say
1:02:37
something doesn't come through,
1:02:38
you just delete it and reload it. You
1:02:39
know, um, when you do a live show, man,
1:02:42
there's, there's no forgiveness there. So
1:02:44
that's a, that's a tough thing.
1:02:46
So, uh, the, the, the YouTube channel is,
1:02:49
is it Jen, right? So,
1:02:51
Jen, right off road. So what's to put
1:02:52
this on their calendar or something, uh,
1:02:54
get an alert, uh, put a
1:02:57
reminder on their phone. So, uh,
1:02:59
I'm sorry, did you say 5
1:03:00
p.m. That specific time?
1:03:02
I said, I think standard time. Yes.
1:03:03
Wednesday and every Wednesday.
1:03:05
And you can always, they see you, uh, do
1:03:09
you have topics or is it all,
1:03:11
uh, uh, uh, the, uh, viewer driven?
1:03:15
So both, right? I always
1:03:16
come with specific topics,
1:03:19
but then I answer any
1:03:20
question, Jeep related, of course.
1:03:23
Um, you know, yeah, it's, it, it takes
1:03:27
some turns every once in a while.
1:03:28
Of course. That's okay. Um, and we
1:03:31
almost, it's an hour long show,
1:03:33
but we almost always run over an hour and
1:03:36
I've never missed one in five years.
1:03:38
So I'm on every Wednesday
1:03:40
regardless. All right. So, uh,
1:03:42
we're recording this on
1:03:43
Tuesday. So, uh, the, the,
1:03:45
the next one is tomorrow and uh, yeah,
1:03:48
we're very, very, very cool.
1:03:50
So check it out. If you haven't done a
1:03:52
tech talk with, uh, with Tony,
1:03:53
you need to check it out.
1:03:54
It's, it's fun. It's entertaining.
1:03:56
Uh, it is a, yeah,
1:03:57
because some of the people have questions
1:03:59
that maybe you would ask,
1:04:00
but you didn't want to. So it's,
1:04:02
it's interesting to see how that, uh,
1:04:04
kind of spirals out, right? Yeah. Um,
1:04:07
the other thing I want to mention that we
1:04:08
just uploaded on Sunday,
1:04:10
this last Sunday, um,
1:04:13
the, what was that? The,
1:04:16
whatever 12, 14, the 14th, um,
1:04:19
was our latest real
1:04:21
hammers experience. Number four.
1:04:24
I did see that. Yes. Did you see that?
1:04:26
Yeah. That's, that is really cool.
1:04:27
So that is where we
1:04:29
take a street legal Jeeps,
1:04:31
including Terra Moto that you and I were
1:04:33
talking about earlier. Um,
1:04:35
this means they've got to have working
1:04:36
headlights, uh, windshield wipers, uh,
1:04:39
windshield, you know, uh,
1:04:41
brake lights, horn, every,
1:04:43
everything to make some street legal. Um,
1:04:45
they can be modified, right? But the,
1:04:47
that most Jeeps are anyways. And, um,
1:04:50
we run the original OG 13 race course.
1:04:55
And, um, it is a
1:04:56
super fun thing to do. Um,
1:04:59
you can watch all the trials and
1:05:01
tribulations of the different guys.
1:05:03
Everybody's got a different platform and
1:05:05
a different engine. And, uh,
1:05:07
I'm sure if you've watched it,
1:05:08
you would find it interesting.
1:05:09
It's about an hour long and, uh, wait, if
1:05:12
you get a chance to check that out.
1:05:13
That sounds great. And the cool thing is
1:05:15
you can legitimately tell people you've
1:05:17
run king of the hammers. Yeah. I wouldn't
1:05:20
say that you won or anything like that,
1:05:22
but you can say, Oh yeah, yeah, I've done
1:05:24
king of the hammers.
1:05:25
And just, just to give you an idea, um,
1:05:28
during our Turkey
1:05:29
run, which is, you know,
1:05:30
over Thanksgiving that we just did,
1:05:32
I had eight customers with completely
1:05:35
bill Jeeps that said, Tony,
1:05:37
can we just go and try and
1:05:39
drive that course? Right?
1:05:42
Cause it's 11 Amherst trails and then a
1:05:44
bunch of desert. Um,
1:05:46
only three of us made it out of outer
1:05:49
limits, which is the first.
1:05:52
So that's really eight bill Jeeps. Like
1:05:55
it, it's that the hammers is
1:05:58
definitely legit. Um, a lot harder than
1:06:00
most people even realize.
1:06:02
So to make it through all eight or 11
1:06:03
trails is pretty unbelievable.
1:06:06
So Tony, I know there's ups and downs and
1:06:08
everything, but what a life. I mean,
1:06:10
you know, what a, what a great life, you
1:06:13
know, somebody had to live it.
1:06:14
Might as well be you right? Yeah. Yeah. I
1:06:17
can't. You're two boys. I mean,
1:06:18
I love the idea of where the two boys are
1:06:20
involved in it as well. Yeah.
1:06:23
Yeah. And my, my oldest son, Jamie,
1:06:26
took my original YJ that we
1:06:28
called the growler and, uh,
1:06:31
he like took it out of
1:06:32
mothballs and revived it.
1:06:34
And he did our YJ to LJ stretch on it and
1:06:37
threw a big LS three in it.
1:06:39
So he, he drives that. Now
1:06:41
that's growler 2.0. And, uh,
1:06:44
he's, he's great in that thing. Yeah.
1:06:46
You gotta be very proud,
1:06:47
especially just having your boys
1:06:49
interested in doing the same thing you're
1:06:50
doing. I mean, that's cool. Cause you
1:06:52
know how kids, kids are. Yeah. All right,
1:06:54
man. Well, thank you so much.
1:06:55
Always interesting. I have no, and I did
1:06:57
not run out of questions.
1:06:58
I just ran out of time.
1:07:01
Thank you so much for being
1:07:02
here. Always a great guest.
1:07:04
And we'll have to get you back on. We're
1:07:06
gonna try to get you back on sooner.
1:07:07
Cause you know, we've,
1:07:09
there was so many things I wanted to ask
1:07:10
you about and we just see it and get to
1:07:12
it. Again, Tony, thank you
1:07:13
very much for being with us.
1:07:15
You're welcome. You're welcome. Thanks
1:07:16
for having me. You're my friend.
1:07:18
You're my new friend.