Episode 919 – Tony Pellegrino Genright
Tony Pellegrino
Tony is the Founder and President of GenRight Off Road which is an American Made aftermarket Jeep parts company. Born and raised in California, he has raced dirt bikes from age 5. Background in machining and manufacturing. Started GenRight Off Road in 2006 and is responsible for new product development. He has also driven in the Ultimate Adventure and podium’d multiple times at King of the Hammers. He is the only person from the off-road industry to be invited to Jeep’s private “proving grounds” in Michigan. Can be seen in person all over the country wheeling or at Jeep events.
California Dreamin’: An Off-Roader’s Origin
There are so many people moving out of California. Your business is in California
Tony: California. You were born in California. Your business is in California. There are so many people moving out of California. Is there a possibility you could be moving, you and your business out of California?
Speaker B: I don’t know.
Jeep Talk Show interviews with Tony Genride from Genride Offroad
Tony: How do you boys and girls, it’s time for another Jeep Talk Show interview. Tonight we’re going to be talking with, uh, Tony from, uh, mean, I understand that it could be a mistake, this doing it once, but if you come back, you kind of know what you’re in for, right?
Speaker B: For sure.
Tony: Tony is the founder and president of Genride Offroad, which is an American made aftermarket Jeep parts company. Born and raised in California, he has raced dirt bikes from the age of five, background in machining and manufacturing, started Generite Offroad in 2006 and is responsible for new product development. I mean, this is the boss. The president is still in charge of new product development. That means something to me. Uh, he is also driven in the ultimate adventure and podium multiple times at King of the Hammers. Uh, that means you didn’t come in first, right?
Speaker B: I did not. I was 28 seconds away.
Tony: Uh, no, that’s something, that’s something to be said, but I got to give you a hard time about it. He is the only person from the off road industry to be invited to Jeep’s private proving grounds in Michigan. I thought you couldn’t talk about that. I thought that was part of the understanding between you and Jeep that you.
Speaker B: Couldn’T that’s all I can say is that I was there.
Tony: Can’t be seen in person all over the country wheeling or at Jeep events. And Tony, I got to say, you invited, uh, me and the other Jeep Talk Show, uh, team members and listeners that were at, uh, EJS last year to come out and join you. And, uh, as I mentioned, we were all scared because you had such built rigs and there were so many built up rigs. We were scared we weren’t going to be able to make it. We didn’t want to be those Jeepers that got like, oh, well, they can’t make it, let’s just leave them. So I’m sorry we couldn’t go with you, but it was great to be invited.
Speaker B: Of course, anytime.
Is there a possibility you could be moving your business out of California
Tony: So I got to ask, um, now, uh, this is going to be one of the tough questions for you. You are a ah, californian. You were born in California. Your business is in California. There are so many people moving out of California. Is there a possibility you could be moving, you and your business out of California?
Speaker B: I don’t know about that. California, um, has really kind of gotten a bad is if you’ve ever been here, the weather is perfect. There’s no bugs, there’s little or no humidity. Um, you’re close to the beach, you’re close to the mountains, you’re close to the desert.
Tony: It’s got everything.
Speaker B: Yeah, it’s got everything. Right. But it also has all the politics that go with that. Right. Because everybody’s got their own agenda and what they want to protect or preserve.
Tony: They can get away with it because it’s such a neat state.
Speaker B: Yeah. And um, unfortunately it’s all the good people that are leaving and we’re getting left with all the turds. So I don’t know. Oh no, it’s just one of those things.
Tony: Should I edit that part out? Cool. Uh, but uh, I’m sure that you understand what I’m talking about. And I’m not being political one way or another. It’s just very expensive to be there. And there seems to be so many things going on that are uh, just negative to offroaders besides just being a citizen, uh, trail.
Speaker B: Yeah. It’s highly populated. It’s political in nature. Right. Everybody has their thing and they’re all fighting for it. Like um, you said, it’s expensive. Now one of the reasons we’ve decided to stay here is obviously that close proximity to um, all the offroading, um, is a big part of it. But um, this area was highly known in the late eighty S and ninety S for aerospace. So many of the welders that we have are all aerospace guys. And uh, that’s where we get the super high quality. It looks like a machine on those welds, but it’s actually a human.
Tony: Yeah. No I can understand that. Yeah. Aerospace was big, of course. Uh, I’m here in Texas and a lot of uh, not, I won’t say a lot of it, but a big aerospace company, uh, or the space company, has moved here from California. I mean still Tesla. I’m not Tesla, but SpaceX still has offices in yeah. Uh, but that makes a lot of sense. I could well imagine because the standards necessary for aerospace are very high. And it’s great that they can find a uh mean, it has to be kind of cool too, for the welders to actually be able to get in a Jeep where they couldn’t really get into the airplane or whatever it is they were building to fly it or travel to space. This is actually something that they can get directly involved in.
Speaker B: Yeah, it’s interesting you say that. Um, just four weeks ago, we actually had every single person from our company, right down to the receptionist front desk, go with us out wheeling. And uh, many of them, um, some of them have been with me for years, have never been in a Jeep. Everybody got to go. And um, we switched them around so that everybody ultimately got to ride with me too. And uh, really experience the suspension talk knowledge.
Tony: You scared the hell out of somebody, didn’t you?
Speaker B: Oh yeah. And two people since then have bought Jeeps. I inspired some too.
Tony: Yeah. Now uh, I’m going to take you down the Bronco Trail, uh, which is uh, almost like military intelligence. Those two things really don’t go together. Sorry, Bronco. You know, I have to give you a hard time.
Speaker B: It’s the Jeep talk show. What do you want?
Tony: That’s right now, specifically to genrite looking at your products, you have stuff for Jeeps. You have not included any bronco stuff in there, which seems to be the thing to do these days for manufacturers, uh, especially aftermarket manufacturers, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But as somebody that’s interested in Jeeps me and not interested in Ford Broncos I mean, Ford for a truck, for a tow rig, sure, that’s a great choice. Dorsal is a ram, but I’m not interested in a bronco. So you have got to have somebody there saying, hey, we need to make stuff for Broncos.
Speaker B: So, um, we do have, uh, some of our better customers have switched over to a bronco just for something different. Um, they’ve already come to me asking me to make bronco parts. Lauren Healy called me, asked me to make bronco parts. Um, the reality is, we specialize in Jeeps. We live, eat, and breed Jeeps. And, um, that’s where we’re comfortable, and honestly, we’re busy. So, um, it’s only those companies that aren’t busy enough that are kind of trying to expand in a bronco to keep their company going. We don’t need that. I have 92 new products in the pipeline just for Jeeps. That’s everything from CJ XJ all the way up to TJ and JT. It’s crazy how many different things we have going on. And I think you just recently saw, too, that I actually went backwards to my YJ. I got a little budget YJ that I built up and just took that on the rubicon a few weeks ago.
Tony: Oh, yeah, I definitely saw that. I’ve been in a couple of your live videos asking questions. This last live that you did, I tried to do it on the up and up. Not no smart ass questions.
Speaker B: Where we were building the yeah, yeah.
Tony: Where you were talking about the, uh uh, cages are just so cool. But we’ll get into the YJ here in a minute.
As far as being sold, I love my XJ. It’s not going anywhere
Speaker B: Okay.
Tony: All right, so good. So no bronco stuff. I mean, I love what I’m hearing, because I’m a Jeeper. I’m not a Bronco fan, I’m not a Subaru fan. Uh, I mean, I can enjoy those mean hell, I can enjoy a Prius for what it is. But when I’m thinking off road, I think not Toyota either. I’m thinking, uh, jeep. And I’m really glad to hear that’s your position now, of course, things could always change, but right now, that’s exactly what your position is, and I love it. And as an XJ owner, uh, the first Jeep I ever bought, it was brand new. 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ. It’s out in the garage since I’ve got the Gladiator now, but it’s out in the garage. It’s not going anywhere. As far as being sold, I love my XJ. So the first thing I do when I look at a site is, do they have any XJ parts. And boy, howdy you got XJ parts.
Speaker B: We do.
Tony: Yeah, it’s great. I like seeing that. Uh, I don’t know that it’s very profitable because XJS are going up in price now, but back when they were like five to $700, it’s hard to put a $700 or $1,000 bumper on a $700 rig.
Speaker B: Yeah, I was just in St. George yesterday, m and um, on my drive back to Simi Valley, um, I saw a whole line of XJS that were loaded up with stuff on the roof. They were all going overlanding. I mean, people were still having a ton of fun in those vehicles and uh, there’s nothing wrong with them. Man, they did the high output 40 in those things with the four speed tranny. They were great.
Tony: Yeah, I mean, I love mine, but I have been spoiled by the Gladiator, especially seeing how I was able to drive all the way to Moab and all the way back. And it was, uh, comfortable and luxury. And uh, I did metal Masher, uh, Hell’s Revenge, uh, several of the trails, and it did just fine. I mean, I do have a two and a half inch lift on it, so I have modified it somewhat, but not, uh, wild or anything like that. So it’s really nice to be able to get out there in comfort and get back home again.
Speaker B: Is it a rubicon, too?
Tony: No, I uh, can’t afford a rubicon. I got a Sport S with the Max Tow, so I’ve got the big axles on it, the 44s that are from what I’ve been told and read, it’s the same rubicon axles, just no lockers.
Speaker B: Sure.
Tony: Okay. But boy, it was great. It did a wonderful job out there, uh, uh, on everything that I drove. It was scary as hell at some points, because it’s a 2021. I don’t want to scratch it.
Speaker B: Right. Yeah, I know.
Tony: Well, I’m less concerned about scratching the Jeep as hearing from my wife. We can’t have nice things. Why are you taking this thing to go off road? She loves it. She absolutely loves it. Um, now, uh, I know you go to EJS. Do you do it every year? Have you been there for, gosh, I guess since 2006?
Speaker B: Yeah, uh, for over 20 years. I was going there before I even had Gen. Right. That was part of what sucked me into wanting to do a Jeep parts company, because I saw everything that was being offered out there and it was just a bunch of Frankenstein junk. And I, uh, was like, man, I know I could do a better job than this. And that’s when I started.
Tony: Yeah, that’s, that’s great.
You have a machining manufacturing background; it started in high school
Tony: Uh, that’s interesting because I was going to ask you, uh, you have machining manufacturing background. What was that in? Was that just, uh, on your own? Or did you work for a company that you did, uh, this on a day to day basis. I think it’s hard to make the jump from, uh, I can make parts to then having to figure everything out at the beginning.
Speaker B: Yeah. So um, my work experience is quite broad. So it started with um, in high school. Back when I was in high school, they still had metal shop. And uh, I won the Industrial Arts Award for um, the most advanced in metal, uh, shop. My shop, uh, teacher was super impressed with what I was able to machine and build. Um, so he nominated me for that and I won that. That kind of inspired me to continue on with that. And um, I actually studied to be an engineer, but then kind of lost interest when I found out what an engineer actually makes after going to four years of school. So uh, I hired on as a salesperson for this machine, uh, tool company. Now I didn’t know what that meant. I thought it was like selling, ah, tractors or something. But it’s actually the machines that you make everything, whether it’s a specialized grinder or CNC mill or CNC lathe or some of these were manual machines too. Um, but because I’d been in the metal shop, I knew what all these tools were. And um, then as I got into that, CNC became more popular, which is computer numeric control. So basically automated, right? So you load the part in and it cuts everything. And um, that really took off. I learned a lot. I actually got to go um, to all different parts of this country and other countries to learn manufacturing. Um, and then when I came back, I was helping other American companies be more profitable and productive. And uh, then eventually, um, started my own company. Now back then, that was a long time ago, that was uh, in the mid ninety s. And I started a company called Adventure Components, which is a mountain bike company. And, uh, I did that. I actually ran a full machine shop. And uh, we did everything, um, in steel, aluminum. I mean we were doing crazy stuff that was heat treated and anodized. Um, but we actually sold 95% of it outside of the United States. Because everywhere else in the world bicycles are transportation and here they’re recreation. So a little bit different. The other side of it was that I learned through the process, I learned a whole bunch about business in that company. Um, was that uh, back then anyways, people that rode mount bikes didn’t really have any money. So people with Jeeps typically have a little bit more money.
Tony: Yeah, I’m sure it’s close.
Speaker B: Yeah. Well I think everybody takes it to the max, right? I guess it would be the equivalent of if you could afford to belong to a country club, then, uh, you’d spend every dime or whatever on golf pro lessons and special clubs and maybe even a house right there at the country club. And you’d still be broke.
Tony: Yeah, it’s an addiction. It’s an illness. But I mean, it’s a lot better than doing drugs. Probably cheaper. Uh, it is. Drugs are probably cheaper.
Speaker B: And you can take your family. So drugs, you’re only doing it yourself, right. How you take your family?
I’m surprised you had employees that had never been off road
Tony: I forgot I was going to mention this earlier. I’m really surprised you had people, employees that had never been off road. I mean, I would think during the interview process, you would say, uh, have you ever been off road? Uh, is it in a Jeep? Yeah, I think that’s great that you did that. I just thought it’s so funny that you take them along. And then I remembered, uh, the prior conversation we had about King of the Hammers and stuff. And I went, oh, this guy, he’s got people quitting because he’s just scaring them.
Speaker B: Yeah. No, actually, it was really cool because we would come up on a hill and they’d look at it and go, whoa, where are we going now? Yeah, we can’t make that. I’m like, no, just hang on. We got this. It was pretty cool.
Tony: And I bet you I’m sure you do this, uh, from time to time as far as see the look on people’s faces when they’re first doing these things. But that’s got to be the most fun, is the seeing the I survived look.
Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And one of them was going to go by a side by side prior to riding with me. And then after he wrote with me, he’s like, no way. I’m getting a JK. I’m all in.
Tony: Yeah, exactly. Uh, uh, there’s a few states. You can drive them on the road. But if I want to go off road, I also want to be able to go, uh, down to, uh, the local drive through and get a Frosty or something where I can’t do that with a side by side. I mean, I got to trailer it up and take it someplace. I mean, it’s fine if you like that sort of thing. But that’s not for me. I’d just rather have a Jeep.
How involved are you in the manufacturing process? I know you’re extremely busy
Tony: Um, so anyway, you were doing the manufacturing, you ran a business, and it strikes me that you have to be a, uh, good person and a bad person to work for, because you can’t be bullshitted about how long it’s going to take to make this part or it can’t be done.
Speaker B: Right.
Tony: It’s like, get the hell out of the way. I’ll show you exactly what I’m talking about.
Speaker B: Sometimes I have to do that. And sometimes the employees even say to me, they’ll come over, they’re all talking, trying to figure out some problem. And I’ll be like, oh, you just need to blah, blah, blah. And they’ll be like, oh, man, how do we not think of that? Like, Tony to the rescue again, uh.
Tony: How involved are you in the manufacturing process? Uh, do you actually run the machine or I know that you’re extremely busy, if not just with the business, uh, going to all these destinations.
Speaker B: So I’ll give you an example. So this morning, or typical, um, day for me, is we’ve got two sides of the business. We’ve got what we call the off road side, which is the warehouse, the sales, uh, office, and production is all in that building. Then the other building is all of our R and D. That’s where we make all of our gas tanks. That’s where my studio is. And, um, it’s where the race stuff is. We do all of our builds over there.
Tony: That’s the fun side. I got you.
Speaker B: That’s the fun side. So I’m responsible for the fun side, right, because I got to keep all those guys going. Those are our most expensive employees and make, uh, sure that they’re focused. But they’re also, um, kind of like my right hand guys, right? So when I come up and say, hey, I’ve got this idea, I want to make this for a YJ or a JK or a JL or whatever, um, I’ll give them some ideas. Sometimes I actually have to make it and then go like, here, I need you to make lots of these and figure out how to fix it and make it so that the guys across the street on the other side can produce it. So production is a much different animal, right? Those guys are used to sticking a piece of metal this way, a piece of metal this way. They’re weld them together and they just need stuff to fit perfect and then come out of the jig and get the next ones in, right? The guys on the development side, they’re thinking through everything along with myself, to say, okay, is this install? Can we improve it down the road? So if we come up with an update, can the people just update this piece? Or do they got to sell the Jeep and get a new one because they welded this one in? Uh, so, um, there’s lots of considerations. And then I’m the one that also has my eyes on the horizon, right? So I’m the one saying, okay, I think the jail is going to take off or the bronco is going to take off or whatever is going to be that hot item. And then we have to develop products for those. And then I’m also the one that sets the price point. So I’ll say, okay, um, we’re going to develop this thing and it can’t exceed this price. And then, like you were just talking about, what I do is I back into the price. So I say, okay, that means you guys can only spend 15 minutes building this, right? M. A lot of time, they’ll look at me and they’ll go, 15 minutes, Tony. How’s that even? I’ll be like, don’t worry, I got you. And I’ll show them. Um, a lot of these guys are younger guys, some of them are in their twenty s and thirty s. And um, I’ve got a lot more manufacturing experience. Everything from CNC and robotic welding all the way to full manual. And, um, over on the development side, I’ve got a whole slew of manual machines and I can literally go over there and make anything I want. Right? Those machines are not taken for production. They’re dedicated to r D. And a lot of the time I’ll go over there and make parts for Jordan’s race car or make parts for my old race car or make parts for my, um know, one off stuff that I’m like, hey, I want to try know, I don’t, like know, pulley or this fit or whatever it is. Um, we’ve got some brand new stuff on my JL that I just took to Trail Hero that, um, I was literally testing while we were there. So it’s great for me to be able to make that stuff, put it on and go, okay, let’s show it to a few people.
Tony: I think it’s so important too, because you’re a Jeeper and you go off road and you do things so you can see exactly what this part did and make modifications. Because that didn’t work out the way I thought it was going to work out. I just need to do exactly.
Speaker B: So this is what we’re getting to right now, is absolutely the difference of what separates genrite from every other company out there is that I’m the one out there. Most companies are worried about the color box that the thing comes in and their price point to be a bit against Terraflex and rock crawler and blah, blah, blah. I don’t care about any of that. I’m making the best possible thing. That’s all I care about.
Tony: I like that. I mean, I hate to, uh, plug the Jeep talk show, but that’s what I try to do here is I just try to make the show the best damn show I can. Not compared to anybody else. Uh, and the way I look at it is somebody has a better show than they deserve to have the audience. Uh.
Speaker B: I was taught a long time ago, whatever you’re going to do, you better be the best. Otherwise, uh, you’re just wasting your time.
Tony: Exactly.
Speaker B: So if you decide to do a talk show or play the trumpet or be an off roader, you just got to be the best at it.
Tony: There was a short flirtation with a stripping pole, but I was just too fat for that. But I digress. Well, this sounds so cool. I’m so jealous. Just the idea of you got your own shop there. I mean, I know there’s a lot of, uh, time and effort and money that’s spent to get it, but when you want to build something, it’s like, just go over there and do this. And if it turns out good, you actually can sell it. And that’s just so neat. It’s so neat. Customers. It’s like listeners. It’s so cool to have somebody that wants to give you money for something that you came up with. It’s amazing.
Speaker B: Well, it’s got to be good. The consumers are a lot smarter than they used to be. And, um, typically when I come out with something, I’m really talking to their, um, sense of what’s right. So, for instance, we just came out with a brand new inner fender for the JL and the JT. Well, there’s a ton of heat under that hood. Well, everybody in the industry makes this little inner fender that’s all aluminum with their logo stamped in it. Well, no heat is getting out of that thing. So you want to see my new ones? Man, they are giant open mesh. Just like, they’re protecting all the wire harnesses and everything, and they’re in there, but, man, the heat is just pouring out. So, um, yeah, we’ve really made some great progress in these things and dropped my underhood temperatures a lot.
So I got to ask you, uh, what is your fascination with aluminum
Tony: So I got to ask you, uh, what is your fascination with aluminum? I remember when I was looking at bumpers, uh, for the Gladiator. Love your bumpers. Absolutely. I mean, especially the front bumper, that stubby bumper. That really nice design. I really liked it. Uh, but it was aluminum and god awful expensive.
Speaker B: Yeah, well, okay, so aluminum, not only is it lightweight, um, it is strong if it’s built the right way, um, and it won’t rust. And for a lot of the areas in the country, that’s a huge thing.
Tony: Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker B: Even though they powder coat stuff, you just see it bubbling underneath there. It’s all crappy and nasty.
Tony: Yeah. I learned a long time ago, somebody, a manufacturer, uh, that made some bumpers for my XJ told, uh, me, he goes, don’t get it. Powder coated rattle, uh, can it so that you can just touch it up after it gets scratched. I found out later, doing these interviews, powder coating has to be done right, and if you don’t do it right, it doesn’t take rust for it to come off. So powder coating just seems like a dangerous thing to me. And that was one of the things I liked about your aluminum bumpers. It’s plain.
Speaker B: Yeah. You just leave it. And if you want to fix it, you can literally take a file and sandpaper and then some Scotch bright, and the thing will look like brand new.
Tony: Well, actually, if you have an aluminum stubby bumper, uh, you might want to run some clear coat over it, maybe, but you don’t want to do anything to it because you want everybody to go, look, I got an aluminum bumper.
Speaker B: And look at those welds. They’re beautiful.
Tony: I don’t know anything about welding, but, uh, I can appreciate nice, clean, uh, welds. And it’s just I mean, when somebody does a really good job, it really shows. Yeah, I can tell that’s important to you as well.
TJ: I think the YJ concept is brilliant. I think it’s a great idea
Tony: All right, let’s talk about the YJ. I was a little surprised about the YJ. Uh, and uh, uh, one of the things, um, uh, I’ll go in the right direction. I have this other question I want to ask you about, uh, from one of your lives. Um, but, uh, why the YJ? Um, it seems counterintuitive because everybody’s buying the new stuff and you sell things for the new stuff. What got you to do the YJ?
Speaker B: Okay, so a, um, couple of things. One is, don’t forget that we still sell products all the way back to the CJ Five.
Tony: Absolutely.
Speaker B: And uh, we’re one of the few companies that even makes stuff for those older Jeeps. Um, in fact, the CJ and the YJ have long been forgotten by the majority of the industry, if not all of them. And the TJ is already on that cusp and a lot of them have already dropped that. There’s even companies dropping the like all they want to do is focus on the brand new stuff, the jail and the JT. It’s crazy to me. Um, that said, um, what happened was I keep getting, um, kind of, um, snide comments is the best way to put it, that, oh yeah, you got to have a lot of money to, um, have anything gen, right, blah, blah, blah. And um, I was like, you know what, I’m going to pick up a used Jeep and I’m going to build this entire thing for ten grand. Now, granted, that doesn’t include the labor. I did all the labor myself, right? So if you took it to a shop, you’d have to pay for that, right. But um, man, that little Jeep, if you put the money in the right spot when we’re talking axles, lockers, gears, the right spots, right? Um, then you too can go run a trail, an iconic trail like the Rubicon. And uh, that thing did so good. It just excelled out there and it was really fun. And I’ll tell you, like you mentioned, my yellow hat is kind of recognizable within the industry. And when people on the Rubicon, they didn’t know what they’re not used to seeing me in something like that, right? So as I rolled up and said hello to them and they realized it was me, they looked at me and they’re like, what are you doing in this thing? I’m like, well, let me tell you, I’m showing people you don’t have to have a 5100 thousand dollars vehicle. You can have a $10,000 vehicle. And then, like you mentioned, the show that you just watched, our tech talk show, um, that show, what I’m doing now is taking that Jeep to the next level. So now I’m going to take the $10,000 Jeep and turn it into a $20,000 Jeep. And that’s going to include a cage, um, ram assist steering, um, flat belly, fenders, corners, more stuff on it. Um, to kind of show people again, if you’re going to go past that point where’s the right spot to spend the money? Because they get all sidetracked in stupid stereos and light bars and crap that don’t matter at all.
Tony: The stereos thing that kills me when.
Speaker B: They see they spend a lot of money on that.
Tony: That’s fine if that’s what you like. But if it’s an off road Jeep, what are you doing? I always tell people you don’t need a fancy stereo to listen to a podcast. Um, uh, just in case it came off wrong. I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s a great idea because exactly the reasons what you’re talking about is everybody thinks that you got to have the new stuff. You don’t. All you need is Jeep, a Wrangler, or a Gladiator, or uh, even a comanche. I mean, uh, the original, uh, or more modern day, uh, truck before the gladiator. So that’s really all you need. And I think it’s brilliant. And it’s great that you do this because I would imagine you just loved it. Pulling up and people doing a double take. What are you doing in this cheap Jeep?
Speaker B: Yeah, it was really fun. And um, it’s actually inspired me to also, um, once I’m done with the YJ, I’m going to build a TJ and I’m going to do our TJ to LJ stretch kit on it. And um, just continue to show people that even if you want an LJ, you don’t need to spend all that money. Find yourself a cheap TJ and you can do this stuff. I mean, it’s amazing. Everything right down to the insurance and registration on that YJ is cheap. So, um, it just all trickles down, right? Um, the other thing I was going to tell you is there was only two upgrades I didn’t do before the rubicon. And that one was a ah, ubolt flip kit where the Ubolts aren’t faced down at the ground. You flip them over. And the second was a hand throttle. I wish I installed a hand throttle. Those were especially because it’s a manual transmission. Um, but it was a blast. It went through there like a breeze. And uh, certainly more smiles per gallon than anybody else out there.
Tony: Give me just a second. Somebody’s walking outside and uh, the dog’s going off. So that’s, uh what you won’t hear it. My wife and I get an argument about you yell at the dog to hush. And she never hushes and she just stopped.
So one of the things you said on your last live
Tony: So one of the things and I’m kind of getting ahead of myself here, but damn it, I want to ask. So one of the things you said on your last live oh, first off, when do you have the lives and what is it on? Because I remember I think it was the one before this last one, you guys had some audio issues with one of the I think it was Facebook or something that the audio had problems. So you do it on multiple social, uh, media.
Speaker B: Um, that’s a we’re using a program on our laptop called OBS. And that thing is super finicky. It’s powerful, but it’s finicky. And um, what it requires is that we restart the entire computer and clear the Ram so that it can take over. And that’s all it was. The next morning we restarted the computer and did another test run and it all worked fine.
Tony: It’s not hard to do when the live event is going though.
Speaker B: Yes.
Tony: Standby while we reboot the computer. No, that’s not happening.
Speaker B: That’s not going to happen. So everybody that was over on YouTube saw it just fine. It was the Facebook people that yeah.
Tony: That’S where I watch it is YouTube. But uh, uh, when are these live events? Are they weekly?
Speaker B: They are. So, um, we do them every Wednesday at 05:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. And it’s called Tech Talk with Tony. M um, and, uh, obviously, Tony being me. And it’s funny because when I say it fast, it kind of sounds like TikTok, but it’s Tech Talk.
Tony: Yeah, this is a good point because I know from talking to you, it was either email or directly speaking to you. Um, uh, because I know you wanted to get on the roundtable to do the question and answer. Because it’s really important to you that people understand how things work. I mean, they literally could use this information to start their own business and be a competitor. Generally that’s not going to happen, but you want to share that information with people.
Speaker B: For sure.
Tony: Um.
Speaker B: I guess I wish, um, somewhere that somebody had imparted that wisdom on me. I went to MIT mistakes. I tried. And uh, it’s been a rough road, so um, I don’t mind helping other people out a little bit.
Tony: And actually with this, YJ build, it’s kind of the same thing. The mistakes people may have made is by buying something new, they could have gone saved a lot of money and actually put money into the rig and making it a ah, hell of a lot more off road worthy, uh, and daily driver, uh, and saving a bunch of money along the way and not paying interest on.
Speaker B: Okay, so that’s so the number one thing that happens in our shop, the phones are ringing, right? So people call in and they’re like, okay, Tony, what would you build if you were starting from scratch? So, uh, that’s an important question because I always tell them you pick up the cheapest Jeep you can and you put all the money in good parts. I don’t care whether you buy a CJ A YJ A TJ A JK. Some people are finding, uh, salvage title JLS, um, whatever you can. And then you put all the money in axles and atlas and tires and wheels and good brakes. All that stuff is expensive shocks. Um, those are all important.
TJ: There’s a lot of parts available for the YJ
Tony: So one thing I wanted to point out, we were talking about the YJ and parts, making parts of the YJ. I went over to Genrite.com and, uh, did a shop by vehicle and, uh, went to the YJ. And I’m looking at a page of parts and I’m noticing that, uh, the count for the page, the more pages that are there, it goes one through six. And I’m not sure it’s just six pages, because maybe it’s more than six. That’s just what’s showing up on there. So there’s a lot of parts available. Uh, YJ.
Speaker B: Oh yeah.
Tony: It’s not just a cutter or this, that, and these little things like you can get on Amazon. These are real things that you can add to the YJ, including, most recently, you talked about on your live a roll bar. I thought that was interesting, too, how you said on the live that, uh, boy, you sure wish he had had this roll bar when you were on the Rubicon with that YJ.
Speaker B: Yeah, I was nervous, I’ll be honest, because I know that stock roll bar doesn’t do anything. Uh, it’s been a long time since I’ve driven a leaf spring vehicle, right. So they flex a little bit, but you get to that point where there’s like a weight transfer and things can happen fast. So, um, I was very cognizant not to get myself in that situation. Like, uh, I’ll give you an example. I was running the little sluice, um, which has gotten deeper and more fun like it used to be originally. And I got to a point where at the very end, you got to climb this wall and then you’re hoping the back tire hits this rock and the thing slides down. Well, if you don’t get that just right, like, say the tire misses that, then the whole thing’s coming over right on the lid. Um, I only know that from years of experience and mistakes as well.
Tony: Um.
Speaker B: I guess I think ahead and know what the end result is going to be. But I was going to tell you, um, with this YJ project, I was back at Jeep Beach and, um, I was in the grocery store just getting a few things for the week while I was there. And this family came up to me and they said, hey, Tony, we got to tell you, you working on that budget. YJ, we have a YJ that sat on the side yard of the house for years. And, uh, we actually brought that thing out, washed it up and dusted it off. And we’re working on it. Like, you got us excited about taking our Jeep out. And I’m like, There you go, that’s perfect. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do right there.
Tony: Yeah. And I think that’s the trap a lot of us get into. I mean, the bright, shiny new stuff is fun. And it’s fun to just get in it and drive it and maybe make a few modifications on it. But I, uh, tell you what, when you see an older vehicle, especially, like, out at EJS, doesn’t, uh, even have to be heavily modified. Just something that’s one of the older vehicles out there, it really stands out. It’s like, wow, this is cool. I remember these, and I can do stuff in this. Uh, they’re doing this as well as somebody in the big rig. Your JL build? Is it a JL or a JLU? Mine’s.
Speaker B: Uh, a JLU. And we’ve thrown away the factory frame and everything and put our brand new frame with long travel suspension.
Tony: So driving the shorter, uh, YJ had to have been fun. Uh, the ability of well, you know.
Speaker B: What I found was interesting was the things that I would have to try and get through with the longer wheel base. The YJ would just snake right through. I almost felt like I was driving a Samurai, man. The thing was just tiny. It was cool.
Tony: My wife, uh, we got an three, uh, gosh by about ten years ago, uh, TJ. And, uh, it’s just so fun. It’s just so nimble, uh, it’s a lot of fun. So I’m anxious to see what you do with a TJ as well, because never, uh, had a YJ. Uh, we’ve got several listeners with, uh, YJS. I’ll do a shout out to Travis and his 89 YJ that he’s had since 89.
Speaker B: Wow.
Tony: Yeah. Big YJ fan. So always think of, uh, Travis whenever we’re talking YJS.
You have to weld a roll bar together for the YJ
Tony: Um, so another thing that you said in that live, the most recent live, somebody had asked you a question because, uh, the roll bar, uh, that you have produced for the YJ, you have to weld it together. And somebody had asked about what welder, can you weld it up with 120 volts welder? And you said, absolutely. And I thought that was a really critical thing, uh, for a lot of people because it’s like, I’d really like to have a cage. Uh, the cost of the cage is great, but it’s going to cost me a lot of money to have somebody weld it up for me. And, uh, it may be their first project. I mean, you might want to do a little welding on something else before a little test weld to learn how.
Speaker B: To get a few scraps and work on welding together.
Tony: Yeah, but I mean, you literally could put a cage in yourself for just the cost of the cage, like what you’re talking about, where, uh, you did for the YJ, you did all the work yourself. And it’s a great feeling to know that when you’ve done something like that, it’s a great feeling to know that you can do that. And it also has you learn a lot more about your jeep and then when you’re off road or having problems with it, oh, that’s not a big deal. I can continue on or, oh, I just need to do this. It helps with trail repairs. So that knowledge that you gain is big and it doesn’t require a huge investment of $1,000 welding rig.
Speaker B: Yeah. And that’s really nice. Um, and trust me, with your friends, you’re going to become very popular once you have a welder.
Tony: It’s worse than having a truck. Well, that’s really cool.
You go to a lot of different events across the country to build vehicles
Tony: So, uh, the YJ, you’ve got it to this level. Uh, did you go specifically to the Rubicon for the YJ? Or were you going anyway and thought, well, I’m going to get the YJ out there?
Speaker B: No. So actually, when I started building it, that was the whole pitch was, I’m going to show you guys that you can take a vehicle for ten grand. And by the way, that included the price of the Jeep. So that’s the Jeep and the parts ten grand all in. You can’t even buy a used Honda Civic for that. So we’re talking very affordable and, um, run the Rubicon. And because everybody knows what the Rubicon is. If I said Moab, people would be.
Tony: Parts of there’s parts of Moab that really don’t require.
Speaker B: Mean what’s the, what’s the popular large police vehicle? What do they use?
Tony: Oh, I’m brain farting on it as well.
Speaker B: Um, but somebody took one of those through, um, Hell’s Revenge. And I was like, well, okay, that’s not a good measuring stick for how capable a Jeep is anymore.
Tony: Well, did you see the 40 foot limo that was out there? Uh, at EJS.
Speaker B: No.
Tony: Lifted and stuff. I mean, it’s a huge, long stretched limo that was out there. I forget. I’ve watched some of the YouTube videos about it, but I saw it while I was out there and I went, what the hell is going on?
Speaker B: Yeah, but the know that’s a better measuring stick. It’s rocks, river crossings, it’s got it all.
Tony: So you go to a lot of different events across the country. What is the most interesting event that you look forward to?
Speaker B: Um, that’s a good one.
Tony: Um, you can’t name your favorite child.
Speaker B: Yeah, it’s kind of like that. So there’s different aspects. Right. So in the beginning of the season, it’s Easter Jeep Safari. Right. Moab also iconic. Great, um, traction. But when we go at Easter, it can also be snow. Like, you get a lot of weather when we go there. Then right after that is totally different. Dynamic vibe, customer. Everything totally different. But also interesting. Right. Um, then we go from there to, uh, well, and I forgot about King of the Hammers. That’s in there, too. Um, which is, again, a totally different but that’s like Burning Man for gearheads. And, uh, it’s awesome. Um, but certainly also probably out of the reach of most people. It’d be like saying, I want to race Indy. Very few people are going to be able to do that. Um, and then, uh, I just came back from trail hero. Um, that’s um, more like the hammers, but also what blend with moab. So um, a lot more open, a lot more trails, a lot more variety. Um, before that was Smoky Mountain jeep invasion. Um, also more like Jeep Beach, but definitely more wheeling like those people are. Wheelers right, right. Um, and then, uh, what did I do before that? The years are like a blur because in between all that, I was wheeling in different areas of the country, designing.
Tony: Parts and making sure everybody’s doing their job. I guess it’s a good thing that you actually go to these things because it gets you away from the day to does.
Speaker B: And you know, um, I can also give my staff some feedback. So for know, I get all the way to Michigan where a guy has just put our corner guards on and he goes, hey, Tony. On the one side when I went to mount the taillight, the holes were tapped and on the other side they weren’t. And I’m like, Ah, okay, somebody’s cutting corners back at the know mhm. So, um, I’m able to get on the phone and relay that. And then I have the warehouse manager check all the corner guards in stock to make sure that all the holes are tapped.
Tony: Absolutely.
Speaker B: It’s just the way it is. But I was going to tell you too, those guys in the shop I was telling you about the R and D side, right?
Tony: Yes.
Speaker B: But I walk through the warehouse and the production side as well and just look over stuff. Right. I’m just another set of eyes. I’m looking at how ah, if the welds look like they’ve got good penetration. I’m looking at how things are stacked. I’m looking at how many we made. I’m looking at how the bends are, how do they fit in the fixtures, are they getting packaged correctly. Um, I’m just QC, because at the end of the day, I’m the one that everybody knows, right. I’m the one they’re going to know Tony, and they’re, they’re letting things know that’s that’s not what I want to do. I want to give people value.
Tony: That’s important. I like hearing, uh, mean, there’s a lot of people out there that don’t know and they don’t take responsibility. And you do both, you know, and you take responsibility. For mean, genrite isn’t your name, but it’s basically you got your name on it and you want to make sure it’s exactly what you’re selling.
Speaker B: Yeah, because uh, what I do is I tell everybody, hey, I’m using the same parts, right. Uh, those parts that we just shipped, you are the exact same ones on my Jeep. So I’m not doing the bait and switch like a lot of people do. And um, all that’s important to me. I want people to know I’ve already sorted through all this stuff. I’ll give you another example. A few years ago, I got a Harley and um, I took the Harley to Sturgis, right, which is like Jeep.
Tony: Beach or nothing to do, right.
Speaker B: And man, uh, you get there and it’s like sensory overload. You’re looking at all these companies that have booths and stuff and I don’t know who’s good and who’s not, right. Some have brighter colors and shinier stuff and you’re sitting there going, okay, well, they’re all saying they’re the best and they all have shiny stuff that looks like it bolts onto your motorcycle.
Generite wants customers to have a good experience from when they order
Speaker B: But I don’t know them from anybody. Well, it’s the exact same way when you first get into Jeeping, right. So I want to make sure if they order something from Generite and I’m talking even something small, like if you just order a front license plate holder for $29. I want to make sure that when you open that box, you have a good experience from when you ordered it all the way to when you put it on your Jeep. And, uh, that’s important to me because if they don’t have a good experience on that, they’re never coming back, right. They’re not going to buy suspension or a roll cage from me.
Tony: Absolutely. That’s a good way of looking at it.
Do you guys do any monitoring of forums or social media for complaints
Tony: I don’t know how popular forums are anymore. They used to be a lot bigger. Do you guys do any kind of, um, uh, monitoring of forums, uh, or social, uh, media, so that you can, uh, get rid of people that maybe this didn’t understand or they’ve got a problem that they haven’t reported through normal channels? Uh, because you get these people that are, uh, keyboard warriors and they just talk. So do you guys do anything with that?
Speaker B: Yeah, and it’s funny you mentioned that, too, because, um, if you get a happy customer, they never say anything. It’s only the pissed off ones, right? So it’s just incredible. Um, we do kind of keep an ear on the track, so to speak, to make sure that none of that’s, uh, derailing, so to speak.
Tony: Um.
Speaker B: There’S several of us, there’s about five of us that are pretty active on the forums and stuff. So we’re looking and listening, uh, for the most part, knock on wood, we’ve done okay with, um, a lot of bashing. So, um, I’m going to say we’re staying on top of it. And look, we’re human, too. The hardware is missing. They got the wrong hardware, not enough hardware. Um, the box got split open on the way, whatever it is, we try and over package. A lot of people comment and praise us for how well packaged our products are, but that also adds the expense.
Tony: Yeah, absolutely. And time investment in, uh, somebody doing it. Damn it. Uh, I always have, uh, so much fun talking to you. There’s always great things to talk about and I feel like we’ve just scratched the surface.
Tony Dolenz: These parts are available for any YJ customer
Tony: I do want to, uh, mention that I see here on the YJ parts, I mean, you have uh, Atlas transfer case. You have a four L 84 speed automatic transmission, which I’m sure that these are deals that you’ve done with, uh, other manufacturers that you sell from your site.
Speaker B: These are not on my budget, YJ, but they’re available for any YJ customer.
Tony: Good point, but I mean, this is kind of like a one stop shop, so you can go here and, uh, it’s probably true for the, uh, other vehicles as well. But I’m specifically looking at the YJ, since we were talking about that. I mean, you’ve got curry axles on here as I mean, you can literally go to Genrite, uh.com, and uh, look up your Jeep, uh, although I don’t see the Compass, the Renegade. What, uh, are some of the other ones? Oh, uh, the new Cherokee. So I look at that as a plus. You don’t have to agree with this. I call them, uh, Gynos Jeep, uh, and name only.
Speaker B: Oh, interesting.
Tony: Well, you know where that came from, uh, so it’s really nice. I really like this. And uh, I wish I had gone ahead and got that aluminum bumper because that would have been shiny and nice. You can actually polish the aluminum bumper, can’t you?
Speaker B: You can.
Tony: Some people do chrome.
Speaker B: And by the way, it’s never too late. You can still sell whatever you have.
Tony: And still get a very true, uh, Tony, thank you very much.
Genwight: Jeep’s website is great. If you have complaints, go somewhere else
Tony: And now we’ve talked a little bit about social media, but you know how the kids like looking at pictures and stuff and, uh, complaining online? Where can, uh, people come complain online for you?
Speaker B: No complaints. If you have complaints, go somewhere else.
Tony: Call us on the phone. Let’s talk about it. Yeah, I understand.
Speaker B: No, I’m kidding. If people have any trouble, we want to know about it. But, um, our website is great. So, Genwight, uh.com, and, uh, on our website we have and you can check it out right now if you’re on there, we have a smart search window. So if you type anything in that search window, a description of the part, part of the part number, anything, it’ll pull up every single one that’s related on our website. Oh, I like it. We also have a really good gallery, so you can go in there and see all the different builds with different size tires and different things on them to see what’s possible for your model Jeep. Um, and then of course, you could shop by vehicle and then it shows you exactly what we offer. And like you mentioned, what I did was I kind of flushed out, um, all the BS products. So we only offer the good ones. There’s plenty of other ones available. And, um, I realize that people are on a budget or whatever, but I think that they’re coming to me to know, like Tony, okay, I’ve already replaced that three times. I want to buy this for the last time. Well, that’s what I have on my so, um, um, in addition to that, um, of course we’re active on Facebook. Um, we’ve we do a little bit on TikTok, a little bit on, um, what’s now called X. Twitter.
Tony: Right.
Speaker B: Um, and then, um, what else are we pretty active. Oh, and YouTube, of course. We do a lot of, um, um, and tech talk has been very popular. And that, by the way, is the only media, um, that I know of where somebody in the public can deal directly live with the owner of the.
Tony: And kudos to you. Uh, you’ve actually spoiled me, because whenever I go to interview somebody from a company, if it’s not the president and owner, it’s like, what the hell is going on here? If Tony Pellegrino can talk to me, why can’t, uh, this other Smuck do the same thing? So very much for your time and attention to the Jeep talk show. We really appreciate it. And, uh, we have, uh, several people, jeep, uh, talk show members and listeners that, uh, already understand the, uh, gen right parts and are very happy with it. In fact, we kind of get sick of them talking about it, but that’s another story. They love it. They love your stuff. So thank you so much for being with us. And, uh, we’ll have to get you on a lot sooner than over a year. Uh oh, and I forgot to mention, if you want to go back and listen, episode 660 was the roundtable episode that Tony was on. And episode 633, back in June of 2022, was, uh, a regular interview like this one. Uh, it was probably shorter, but maybe it was longer, I don’t know. You have to go check it out. Thank you again, Tony.
Speaker B: Yes, you’re welcome. Thanks for having me on.