The Business Reality of Building Jeeps in the USA vs China

 

 

 

In this in-depth interview, Tony from **GenRight Off-Road** opens up about the real challenges of running an American-made Jeep parts company in today’s world. From high-stakes business risks and unpredictable external factors (COVID, inflation, policy changes) to his passion for keeping manufacturing in the USA, Tony shares why GenRight prioritizes quality, complete kits, and honest pricing over cutting corners.

Full Episode & Show Notes:
https://jeeptalkshow.com/the-business-reality-of-building-jeeps-in-the-usa-vs-china/

He dives into:
– The struggles of domestic manufacturing vs. overseas sourcing
– How government policies (tariffs, R&D credits, California regulations) directly impact small businesses
– Why he refuses to compromise on American jobs and premium materials
– His frustration with career politicians and misallocated funds
– Building complete, no-surprise kits based on his own garage-days experience
– Material choices: when to use steel vs. aluminum (and why weight matters)
– Favorite Jeep platforms (JKU, TJ/LJ conversions, Tracer builds)
– The future of off-roading in California and fighting to keep trails open
– Behind-the-scenes stories from racing, product development, and visiting Jeep engineers in Michigan

If you’re a Jeep enthusiast who values American-made quality, innovation, and straight talk from someone who lives and breathes off-roading, this one’s for you.

**👉 Check out GenRight Off-Road:** https://www.genright.com
**👉 Tech Talk Live every Wednesday ~5pm PST on YouTube**
**👉 Latest King of the Hammers Experience #4 just dropped** — street-legal Jeeps tackling the OG race course!

### Timestamps
00:00:00 Tony’s Intro and GenRite Off‑Road Overview
00:01:03 Audience Interaction and Off‑Road Community
00:01:43 Business Challenges and Market Misreads
00:02:35 Product Sourcing and Marketing Partnerships
00:03:11 Tariffs, Politics, and Business Impact
00:05:19 Domestic Steel and Aluminum Sourcing
00:06:04 Offshoring Effects on Part Quality
00:07:29 R&D Tax Credit Loss and Policy
00:09:11 Understanding Policy Effects on Business
00:09:37 Critique of Government Agencies
00:11:17 Business Leaders as Government Officials
00:12:00 Personal Motivation and American Jobs
00:13:33 Transparent Pricing and Complete Kits
00:15:07 Installation Realities and DIY Challenges
00:15:58 Future Plans and Succession at GenRite
00:18:55 California Gas Tax and Refinery Issues
00:19:20 California Ballot Measures and Fund Misuse
00:23:10 California Economy, EV Push, Gasoline Reality
00:24:41 Gas Prices, EV Charging, Political Impact
00:25:28 Introducing the Teramoto JKU Platform
00:25:46 JKU vs Other Jeep Platforms Overview
00:29:15 King of the Hammers Racing Classes
00:31:30 Military Interest in Hammers Land
00:34:21 Resisting Military Land Acquisition
00:35:03 Government Misuse of Assistance Funds
00:37:37 Political Office as Jury Duty
00:38:15 Closing Political Commentary
00:38:43 New Products and Social Media Outreach
00:39:35 Product Development and Innovative Gas Tanks
00:43:44 Weight, Safety Standards, and R&D Constraints
00:46:44 Solid Axle Issues and R&D Challenges
00:47:27 Tech Talk: Debunking Myths and Fixing Wobble
00:50:07 Rapid Repairs, Tire Preservation, Modifications
00:51:15 Modifiers, Social Media, and Future Content
00:59:22 GenRite Online Presence and Support
01:02:04 Live Streaming Strategy and YouTube Focus
01:03:54 Tech Talk Promotion and Hammers Highlights
01:05:19 Family Involvement and Reviving Classic Jeeps
01:06:53 Closing Remarks and Appreciation

Welcome to **Jeep Talk Show**, the ultimate podcast for Jeep enthusiasts! Join Tony and the crew as we dive into off-road adventures, Jeep Wrangler 392 updates, Jeep Gladiator camping, and the Jeep Cherokee relaunch. From $130K Jeep resale trends to Gladiator tent reviews, we cover Jeep modifications, off-road gear, and events like Easter Jeep Safari and Great Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion.

Get expert Jeep 4xe towing tips, lightweight truck camper insights, and off-road trail guides for Jeeps. Subscribe for weekly Jeep news, join our community at [jeeptalkshow.com/discord](https://jeeptalkshow.com/discord), and hit the trail with us!

**Head to https://jeeptalkshow.com** to explore our world of Jeep madness, subscribe, and let us make your day a little more rugged and a lot more fun. Ready to roll with us? Let’s hit the trails together!

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**#Jeep #GenRight #OffRoad #JeepLife #AmericanMade #JKU #TJLJ #KingOfTheHammers #OffRoading #JeepTalkShow #JeepPodcast #JeepWrangler #JeepGladiator #JeepNews #JeepModifications #JeepAccessories #OffRoadAdventures #EasterJeepSafari #GreatSmokyMountainJeepInvasion**

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00:03 – 00:00:13:02]
All righty, oh boys and girls, it’s time for another Jeep Talk Show interview and Tony is back. You guys, I think you’ve been here three or four times. I mean, I think it’s actually like five times if you count the round table that you joined us on.

[00:00:14:02 – 00:00:33:26]
You’re serious about teaching people about what you’ve learned over your many years. I mean, right here in this intro, it talks about Jen Wright, been around 20 years and I know that you’ve been around longer than that. So Tony is the founder and current president, we’re coming back to that, of Jen Wright Off-Road. He has a history of racing, wheeling and off-road camping.

[00:00:35:01 – 00:01:10:09]
He stood on the podium twice at King of the Hammers. His hours of testing and tuning shocks and suspension has trickled down into the Jen Wright product offering. His Jeep JKU called Terramoto has set the standard for suspension quality and durability in the industry since 2012. Tony also hosts a weekly tech talk show and I often tell our listeners about that because it’s a really good show and you interact with the audience. People can ask questions, they can ask add-on questions, more explanation about what you’re talking about, which I think is wonderful.

[00:01:13:29 – 00:01:39:06]
On YouTube help teach off-roaders the right way to do things. Both Tony’s boys are involved with Jen Wright and love off-roading and racing too. Who wouldn’t love racing? I mean, I told you before we got started, I’m not a big watching racing fan, but man, doing it. Now that would be something. Oh, well that’s right. You actually take people out to King of the Hammers and scare the shit out of them. I mean, get them the enjoyable ride.

[00:01:40:25 – 00:01:52:07]
That’s another way to put it. So Jen Wright is also celebrating their 20 year anniversary. That’s great. Congratulations on that. How many times have you been scared about going out of business, Tony?

[00:01:53:16 – 00:04:47:11]
Probably at least three. That’s not bad. That’s not bad. That’s not bad. Yeah, there was definitely times where I put it all on the line and if it went bad, I was living out of a cardboard box. Well, I mean, that’s what you got to do, right? I mean, and also too, sometimes you just make bad decisions and it’s not necessarily that it’s a bad decision. It’s just you misread the market, misread what, where you were going to go in and whatever direction I would think. Yeah, that I’ve been okay on. It’s been other factors that were out of my control like COVID or the recession or crazy inflation that we’re in right now. Those are the things that you just can’t foresee. So let me just get right in here and ask you about this. Now you make the vast majority of the stuff that you sell. So it’s US made. I think you got some things that you sell that aren’t your stuff. I mean, you’re like reselling. Yeah, we call them marketing partners, right? They’re third party companies that help us sell our suspension. So it would be the coil over shocks or the brakes or the tires or wheels, right? And then what I do is I find the best ones and those are the only ones we offer. So I guess there’s direct and indirect. Have the Trump tariffs affected you directly? In other words, have the tariffs themselves affected you directly? I mean, if it affects another company or maybe somebody that works that a terrorist effect and they don’t have enough money to spend with you, I understand that’s a way a tariff can affect you. What do you think about the tariffs and your business? I guess is what I’m trying to say. That’s a great question. So look, I believe that the president knows what he’s doing, right? He’s mastered the art of negotiation. So he had to do something to get the upper hand on these other countries. Otherwise, what’s his leverage on them to negotiate? So although I don’t I don’t like it, I understand it. And it hasn’t affected us in terms of, you know, we’re not importing products. So that’s fine. But it scares people and it scares the market. And what happens is, is suppliers start raising their prices. So it just messes up the whole inflation thing, you know, so it’s it’s just disruptive, unfortunately, but but I understand why he’s had to do it. So I’ve had to make hard decisions like that, too. Yeah, it’s kind of like short term pain, long term benefit. Yes. And I’m in I’m in the same the same way of thinking, I think, as most people, because I was always taught in school, tariffs are bad. You shouldn’t do tariffs. And then when Trump came out with that, I was like, OK. And then I started understanding what he was doing with it. And it’s a leverage. Everything is about leverage.

[00:04:48:26 – 00:05:26:04]
You know, I was not a Trump fan for for many years. And I still don’t I don’t have to be a fan, you know, just just do your fucking job. And politics is such a crazy. But that’s what I was going to say. I now want business people in charge of the country, not politicians. Right. Right. Because a lot of them are career politicians in there. It’s the good old boys club, you know, and boy, I don’t like that. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it. No, I don’t. I hate politics. I’ve always hated politics. And I liked it when I was in the 20s, my 20s, where I didn’t care and I didn’t pay attention.

[00:05:28:28 – 00:06:20:01]
But now I understand how it affects us. I mean, it affects you. It affects your business. It affects people’s ability to buy your product. And if they can’t buy your product, you can’t have a business. So and it’s not just your businesses, other businesses as well. That’s right. All right. So yeah, I didn’t think tariffs really were affecting you directly as far as, you know, costing you things. So the the aluminum, the steel that you get to make your products, is that something that is sourced locally or do you have to buy imported steel? So we we buy them from brokers here in the United States, you know, American companies, most of it is domestic. I do know that sometimes if there’s a shortage, they’ll outsource it from other areas. Right. I’m not even sure. I honestly, I don’t even want to know because I feel like I’m buying domestic and that’s what I want, you know.

[00:06:21:20 – 00:09:10:06]
Have you seen a quality issue when it’s not domestic or even when it’s domestic? In fact, in fact, most of the time, other countries have picked up the slack from businesses that we used to do a great job at here in the United States that no longer exist. I’ll give you an example. I met a guy, an older gentleman, he’s probably in his 80s, who used to work at the Saginaw Steering Box plant right back in Michigan. And they figured out the right combination of iron and everything to make the box work. Right. And it wasn’t until that plant was basically extinct and then it went overseas and now those are now made overseas that that manufacturing ability doesn’t even exist here in the States anymore. So it’s not like we even have a choice. And that’s happened to a lot of things, at least in my lifetime, you know, where it used to be made here, but now you couldn’t even buy it here if you wanted to. So unfortunately, that’s just the way of the world. And, you know, everybody talks about it as more of an international market and, you know, like it or not. But I understand where our president’s coming from, that, you know, that it’s lopsided, right? Everybody sells stuff to us. They don’t buy anything from us. You know, we’re trying to even that out and I get it. And, you know, I was going to step back on your initial question, which was, you know, one of the things that really hurt us a couple of years ago was when our previous president took away our R&D credit. And it was even worse was not only did they take it away, they made us pay for the products as if they already existed, if they were finished and done. And I know that actually put several companies out of business because they couldn’t do that. So that was a huge thing that we’re actually waiting for Trump to reinstate. Oh, really? I’m surprised that didn’t happen day one, like drilling for oil. All those things take time. And it’s all part of that budget that I had heard nothing about this. So you used the in this makes sense where the government, the U.S. government would say, yeah, you guys are doing R&D. So I guess you get tax breaks or something like that to research and develop things. And that’s what America is really known for is coming up with new stuff. So not only and I don’t know, I don’t know that it’s a tax, but not only did they take away the tax credit, they said, oh, you’re you’re doing stuff over there. We can’t have none of that. So we’re going to basically they would tax you for. Yes.

[00:09:11:16 – 00:09:45:08]
Good God. What sense does that make other than this? I know. Scraping money. These are the earlier when you asked your question about, you know, mistakes or missteps. This is the stuff that I’ve been dealing with that, you know, is like I could never even foresee it coming like just crazy. Yeah. Crazy. So I always tell people and this is both sides. I’m not picking on Democrats or Republicans. This is both sides. I always, they always talk about, you know, healthcare and stuff like that. I said, you’ve been to the DMV. Do you really want them in charge of your healthcare?

[00:09:49:20 – 00:10:12:05]
I’m sure there’s some, and I’m sure there’s some fine DMV people out there, but I mean, you guys know, I mean, if it’s government related, it’s, it’s just not done the best way. Just like you poured molasses in the works. Yeah. Yeah. Just, just do research and development. NASA did a wonderful job. Uh, get the military and keep the military as the best one and then let us do the rest of it.

[00:10:13:21 – 00:11:10:11]
But you know, and that’s part of the issue that you’re talking about, you know, as a business person, you know, if you want to do a business overseas, those companies over there are so hungry that they’ll fund all the R&D. They’ll do everything and then they’ll sell you back the product that you can then sell into the market. So, um, by the government, our government taking that away, it really motivates American companies to just go overseas. Oh yeah. Of course. Have stuff made now. And you have to wonder, especially after, uh, after doge, you have to wonder how much of that’s coming back to the people making these decisions to force things overseas. No, I know. I’m, I’m with you. It’s crazy. Uh, and, and, and I’m sorry, I know people hate it when I get political, but the thing is, and this is both sides, guys, I’m not saying it’s one or the other. Um, but the thing it gets me is Congress is in charge of the spending.

[00:11:11:26 – 00:11:28:12]
So it’s like the, like the movie who’s watching the watchers. And it boggles my mind because that’s, this is not the way I think. Uh, so not only does it have to be a businessman that’s in charge of the country running the country. It has to be a billionaire businessman.

[00:11:29:28 – 00:15:32:19]
So they, they won’t be motivated to not do the right thing. All right. So enough of that. Uh, and, uh, why I think it’s good that people understand some of the challenges that, um, we face, you know, as an American company, um, we are one of the few. So, um, we’re, we’re trying and I, I believe in it. You know, I, I like American jobs. I like having an American company. So, um, even, you know, I’m, I’ll be honest, I’m, I’m not, you know, getting rich. I’m no billionaire. That’s for sure. And I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. So I want to do the right thing. I like, uh, creating American jobs in American made parts, you know, so that’s what I’m going to keep doing. Just based on our prior conversations, I think you enjoy bacon stuff. I think you enjoy coming up with the idea and then seeing it turn into something. And especially when people are buying it and using it and it’s working the way you want it to work. Well, a lot of that comes from back when I got into jeeping, you know, that there was this mishmash of parts available and nobody was doing it. What I would call, right. Uh, you know, it came with no hardware or crappy hardware, or you had to buy this from this guy and this part from this guy. And then it was up to you to merge it all together on your Jeep. Um, you know, that, that was, that was not a good setup. And, uh, a lot of those parts were import, which I didn’t care for either. So when I decided to start Gen Right, I wanted to make the best. I wanted to offer it complete. Um, you know, back then I was a working class guy in, in my garage on the weekend. So when it didn’t come with hardware or the right hardware or, you know, half the stuff that I needed, um, that meant that I needed to now spend what little time I had to work on my Jeep out looking for parts so I could put it back together in order to have it to drive to work on Monday. Yeah. A lot of people don’t understand that you got it. You got to drive this thing tomorrow. Sucker. Are you going to be driving, drive it to work Monday? So you better do it right. Yeah. Yes. So, so I, um, that, that, that brings me to another, um, topic that that’s been kind of core to me since I started the company. Um, I always hated it when I would hire a contractor to come out, work on my house. Right. And, and then what they do is they quote you at low price to get in the door and then, um, oh, you know, we forgot to charge you for that window or, oh, you wanted the actual sink hooked up. You know, like they start going through this stuff. So the next thing you know, the price is much, much higher than you were originally quoted. When you look at generate parts, I’m trying to give you everything you need. Yes. My price, initial price may be higher, but the other people, my, my competitors are nickel and diming you to death. I’ll call it. Um, because they’re not showing you the whole picture. I’m trying to be honest. I’m trying to show you the whole picture. And I’m also trying to give you the best quality so you get the best value for your money. I’m glad you mentioned that. Cause in that, at that episode that is coming out today, I believe, uh, where I have you, uh, where you’re talking on uh, on Instagram, uh, I mentioned, I say, uh, Jen writes great stuff. It’s a little expensive. I think you’re, you’re known for that, but you’re also known for the quality. So I’m glad that you mentioned that you try to make sure that when you’re buying something, you get everything you need. Not, you know, Oh yeah, this is going to get on the hardware store, get these bolts and you know, that this, that, the other. So that that’s really cool. Yeah. That’s it’s important because I’d been that guy that was had to work on it on the garage floor. Oh, and I also design everything as if I’m still putting it on. And even though I’ve got lifts and stuff here, I still design. Yeah. You have to drive away garage type stuff. Absolutely. Nobody has a lift. I love how they say it’s easy to install and then they they’re doing the install video with a lift. Yeah. It’s I can well imagine. Yeah.

[00:15:33:26 – 00:15:52:04]
Uh, I installed a, the, uh, uh, um, Atlas in my XJ and you know, it’s a, it’s a hundred pounds and I can lift a hundred pounds, but whatever it, you know, it’s like, you know, the space is like this. It’s hard to get up underneath there and your head’s all yeah.

[00:15:54:04 – 00:16:07:11]
Right. So these are things that you don’t think of until you actually do them. Um, all right. So, uh, a business is doing well. Uh, uh, well it’s going, uh, I won’t say it’s well, I’m gonna put, I’m put words in your mouth.

[00:16:08:13 – 00:19:06:07]
Well, I can say it could be better. Working. I’m working hard to keep it where it needs to be. Right. Let’s leave it at that. So the thing I wanted to circle back to, which is this is part of the business. It says, uh, that your, your intro is a current president of Genrite off-road. Are you getting ready to throw in the towel? Uh, are you going to be replaced? Um, you know, I know is the quick answer. Right. Um, but you know, I, I, I’m no spring chicken anymore. And, um, I want what’s best for the business. Right. So, um, if one of my boys coming up or I meet somebody else who, uh, knows more than I do that would love to work for us, you know, anything’s possible. You’re still going to be, you’d still be part of the company. Uh, you might be reachable in Moab or some off-road destination, uh, by phone if they needed you, or just to give you an update on, uh, your percentages are coming in or are being made. I understand. Uh, but, uh, so you’re not planning on leaving and I like the idea of, uh, the, uh, uh, the business staying in the hands of the family. Uh, and, and, and, and I, I’ve mentioned this before. I really like dealing with the owner with the person that’s intricately involved in the business instead of some sort of, some sort of business that comes in, uh, an investment firm or something and pays you millions of dollars. And then they, they get it. And I don’t want to speak bad about Yukon gears, but I like Yukon gears and, and from everything I’ve seen, they’re just shit now. And it was because they got bought out and the, the, the, the quality is not there. And I, it’s not a, it’s not a hundred percent thing, but the businesses are in the business to make profit. And if you can make it cheaper someplace else, uh, there’s a certain limited time there that you can make that profit before everybody finds out what’s going on. So, and by the way, you know, I, I’ve, I’ve gotten a CFO here and that guy is on me all the time for margin. Okay. But I’ve, I’m the one that’s got to put my foot down and go, nope. I’m not willing to compromise on that. You know, it’s got to stay this quality. We’ve got to offer these features. Um, or, or it has to be made here, like simple things like that. Do you make the CFO cry? I would think you, you probably make the CFO cry. I don’t know about cry, but he’s definitely frustrated. Good. Well, imagine. Well, I appreciate you looking out for us, the consumer. Uh, okay. So you’re not planning on leaving, but you, you may leave in the future. Uh, and, uh, you know, the thing is, is that even if I didn’t own the company, this is what I like to do. So I’d be doing this anyway. So I might as well stay and do it. Right. So, um, okay. We’ve already gone political, so I’ll go a little more political. I’ve heard recently. I’ve heard recently that in the great state of California, you guys are losing yet another oil refinery.

[00:19:07:10 – 00:23:12:07]
And I think the gas has a $2 and 17 cents or something like that tax per gallon. I mean, good God. I mean, okay. You need to be able to pay for all these things for people that can’t afford stuff. Well, let, let me explain this. So, um, during one of the elections, um, the stupid voters were tricked. Okay. If you didn’t read it very carefully, you thought you were doing the right thing. They, you know, they’re, they’re very tricky on how they word the ballot, right? And, um, they basically said, if you want us to fix the roads, you better vote for this tax. So, so $2 of every gallon of gas goes toward the roads. Right. Or the train, the bullet train. Yeah. Well, in the problem is this, they’re, they’re reallocating the funds. Talk about, you know, not keeping an eye on the hen house here. It’s, it’s, the spending is crazy. It’s, it’s ridiculous. It’s, it’s definitely fraudulent. Okay. Um, I also know that from, you know, I do a lot of land use work, uh, to keep trails open here in California. Sure. And, um, there, the, for, since I was a little kid, the state has collected money for a green sticker license for your off-road vehicle, right? And those green sticker funds were never allocated to where they were supposed to go. They, they siphoned that off. They reused it for budget shortfalls. And it, it, I’m telling you, it’s a gross misappropriation of funds. Gross. Yeah. So yeah, when, when you and I were talking about career politicians, that’s the problem. You know, we don’t have people in there going, Hey, we got to do what we said we were going to do or what’s right there. They’re just doing it. You know? Um, so the, the, the point I was going for was you got a Jeep. Uh, they’re, they’re known for not being very fuel efficient and your, your California customers, I would think were number one, probably, uh, uh, if you’re a Jeep or you’re going to have a Jeep, you don’t care. You’re going to, you’re going to figure it out one way or another, but for the new people, uh, which it’s always good to have new people. And I think that’s why it’s a good idea where you’re talking to, uh, both the, the new people and the, the ones that have been doing Jeeps for a while and just correcting them on a few things. Um, so the getting the new people is great, but if you’re looking at, and I don’t know how, how, uh, how the price is, I mean, they, the ones that I saw where they were doing the stories about the, uh, the second, uh, refinery being shut down and moving out of state, uh, they were talking about $7 a gallon, uh, in fuel. I mean, I don’t, I think five is, is the normal, you don’t, is there $7 a gallon gas in California? You know, I’ve, I’ve heard that too. Um, here, here’s the fact. The fact is that it’s really hard to do business in California. So when, when I’ve gone up to Sacramento, you’re, you’re going to love this. This is, this is going to like blow your mind. Um, I, I met with Newsom before he was the governor. Um, and these people flat out told me, you know, so we don’t care if you leave, like take care of your company, your jobs and go like, get out of here. Uh, they, they, they know more than let the door slam on my butt. I mean, it was, it was ridiculous. Um, the agenda up there with the politicians, these people live in a bubble. I’m telling you that they have never walked outside. They’ve never bought a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk. I mean, they’re, they’re completely clueless. And, um, it, how do you, how do you run a state, a government when you’re, you’re that removed, you know? Um, and it’s not even like they’re trying to do the right thing. You know, they’re, they’re driving companies away, um, like a refinery with so many restrictions and other things that they can’t afford to do business here. Why, why would they reinvest in it when they can do it cheaper somewhere else? Um, now here’s the reality.

[00:23:13:17 – 00:23:56:02]
California is still what the number six economy in the entire world. Oh yeah. Yeah. So, um, there’s, there’s going to be things that are figured out by the way. I also feel that this is part of how they push their electric car agenda. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, you know, it’s that that’s completely money motivated too. You and I haven’t talked about this. Do you know that the gasoline engine is so well refined that on a Honda civic, the air coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than the air going in. Wow. I did not know that. Yes. It is the fact that we’re pushing this agenda is absolutely politically motivated for sure.

[00:23:57:05 – 00:24:07:29]
So yeah. Well, you know, and I’ve said this before, I think that California’s goal is to get rid of all those nasty, smelly people. That they’re, they’re really messing up the state park.

[00:24:11:17 – 00:24:21:25]
We’re going to turn California into the state park. Everybody visits. Uh, and you have to walk in and pack yourself a teepee to live in. If you’re going to, if you’re going to stay there every day long. Yeah.

[00:24:23:05 – 00:25:19:07]
So I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t know. So anyway, that’s a, that’s my political thing. I just, I just find it amazing and it’s going to be so frustrating, uh, for Californians, I think it must be frustrating. Even if you are the most supportive, diehard liberal, whenever you go to spend that much money on gas, I know. And maybe you have the EV, maybe you have the Tesla or some other electric vehicle and you’re charging it, but you have brownouts during the summer. Uh, you, you, you, I’m sure you pay a lot for electricity. So, and now they’re going to start charging you if they haven’t already for using the roads, the mileage that you, you know, they got to, they got to monitor your usage. Cause you’re not buying gas anymore. That’s right. So it’s, it’s an interesting world. You know, they’re talking about Newsome running for president in a 2028. Uh, it would be wonderful to have the whole country run that way, wouldn’t it?

[00:25:21:19 – 00:25:26:05]
Everything would be outsourced. We have over a hundred. I appreciate your sarcasm.

[00:25:28:17 – 00:25:59:17]
All right. So let’s get to the technical things. I want to talk about, uh, TerraMoto. Now, sure. The first thing is I noticed here in the intro that you, you gave me was it is a J K U which makes sense. It’s been around for awhile. So is, is the TerraMoto two or the new TerraMoto, is it also a J K U? Also a J K U. Yes. Yeah. I, I still believe that the J K if you, if you really want to build an all out crazy, you know, off-road machine, the J K is still a better platform than the J.

[00:26:00:18 – 00:27:26:23]
So, um, it’s, it’s, it’s more computerized than say, uh, TJ or YJ. But, um, the, the TJ and the YJ have their own benefits and, and I’m also building one of those too, you know, uh, uh, I’m doing a TJ, a budget TJ right now. I’m serious on that, that will eventually turn into a full blown, you know, build. So, uh, but for the meantime, you know, our flagship vehicle for GenRite is still the J K U and, um, you know, they made 6.7 million of those, which is more than CJ, YJ, TJ and LJ combined. So, um, there’s a lot of them out there. They’re affordable for people like me that have a family, you know, you need the extra doors and room and place to put stuff, even if you want to just go camping, you know, so, um, the four door platform is good. So you may have just answered my question. I was kind of hoping you were going to say it was J K J K U for the new one, because in my mind and teach me if I’m wrong on this, the TJ is a much better platform for off-roading. It’s, it’s thicker metal. It’s just in general, a better vehicle. And of course you can always stretch a TJ. It’s not as easy as just doing a four door, but you can always stretch a TJ. So did you ever have a racing TJ?

[00:27:28:00 – 00:30:35:28]
We, we did. Um, so my son Jordan, um, when he was 15, he raced, uh, a TJ in what at KOH that’s called the modified class. And, uh, he built it with a bunch of old parts I had off one of my race cars. And, uh, he did very well in that. And that eventually led to, uh, today, the kit that we call the tracer. So it’s part trail part race. We call it tracer. And, uh, that is a, it’s a very good platform and it’s, it’s by far one of our most popular ones today. Um, it works really, really well. Now that said, you kind of helped me step right into where I wanted to go with the TJ. Perfect. And this also applies to YJ. Um, we sell a kit that takes the TJ or the YJ to an LJ and I’m talking a real LJ. Like the top fits, the everything, the corner guards from an LJ fit, everything about it is into a full LJ. Um, that kid is, I think it’s under five grand for the interior and the frame portion, uh, which includes a rear bumper and a bunch of other stuff. It’s a very complete kit going back to what we were talking about before. And, um, you know, you can pick up a TJ really cheap, or maybe you already have a TJ now you can turn it into an LJ, which if you go to buy an LJ, you’re paying top dollar for, um, which is, you know, great if you want to keep it kind of factory like, um, but now we’re offering a great way to build yourself. You know, uh, a G bond 40s or 42s and have a 115 inch wheel base. So with a better departure and approach than a JKU. So yeah, pretty nice. Maybe this has to do with racing. I just realized that maybe there’s limitations whenever you build a Jeep for a king of the hammers. If it’s not a modified class, it has to, there’s a certain amount of stuff that you can do, like maybe you can’t stretch the JK, uh, into thing. You need the platform needs to be, uh, uh, stock ish. Is, is that the case? Yes. So that is the case. Uh, another good question. So that they’ve got the stock class, which means 35 inch tire max. You have to keep whatever style suspension. So if you pick something with leaf springs, it’s got to stay with leaf springs. You get coil springs, then it can have coil springs. Um, it has to stay with the factory motor platform. So if you get a ZJ and it came with a V8, then you can have a V8. If you get a TJ that came with a straight six, you gotta have a straight six. Um, those are those were the constraints behind the stock class. The modified class allowed you to stretch it. It allowed you to go to coilovers. You can put a bigger engine in the, honestly, the, the 37 inch tire and the coilovers were the limiting factor as to how fast you could go, not the engine. So, um, because you could put a giant engine in, but you’re never going to realize the power and speed that the vehicle could have based on the tire size and suspension.

[00:30:37:15 – 00:32:53:04]
Then you go to the unlimited class, which is any size tire, any engine, whatever suspension, whatever you craziness you think you can build and bring it, that’s the unlimited class. Yeah. That would be pretty cool. I imagine people really like seeing those, uh, the, uh, Oh, they do. Yeah. They’re, they’re awesome. Now, you know, some of them are pretty out there and they don’t work very good, but Hey, it’s, that’s part of the fun. That’s how you learn. That’s right. And then since then they’ve introduced what they call the legends class, which is for old unlimited class cars to come down to one shock per wheel. And they have to go back down to a 37 inch tire, but then they can race in the EMC, which the EMC, uh, class races 100 less miles than the unlimited class. Those are that they’ve raised 230 miles. So you, you mentioned land use, you’re being involved in land land use. I haven’t read this a lot of detail, but I was a little concerned about the U S military, uh, act with, uh, acquisitioning the, uh, king of the hammers area. Uh, how’s, how’s that going? Well, you just love circling back to politics. Is the military politics? I mean, I know there’s a lot of politics. It’s politics. So let me, I’m going to tell you a story and we’re going to get to the question you just asked ever since I was a little kid, um, right here. I grew up right here in thousand Oaks. And, uh, when I got home from school, I could hop on my motorcycle and go for a ride, my dirt bike. Yeah. Um, in 1976, the, uh, state government took away everyone’s right to ride right around their home. And they said, in exchange, we’re going to give you this chunk of land, which we now know is Johnson Valley or the hammers. Okay. Now it’s a 30 square mile by 30 square mile, uh, area and it’s open OHV. Right. Now it is four hours from here. So that was a pretty big screw you, you know, you’re, you’re going from being able to ride right outside your house or even, you know, nearby to now you gotta go four hours, but you know, back then that was like not going to happen. Right. Right.

[00:32:54:05 – 00:33:11:07]
So then, um, certain areas of the desert started to open up under limited use under the BLM. So about an hour from here and mostly two hours from here, um, which, you know, when I say from here, I’m talking about the greater Los Angeles area,

[00:33:12:07 – 00:33:33:27]
of which 7 million people reside. Okay. So, so within a couple hours, you could go riding, but there was always this thread of, well, you know, there’s a lot of natural desert tortoises and other things that we don’t want you guys, you know, off-roading and ruining, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. So we, we fought this forever to keep closures from happening.

[00:33:35:24 – 00:33:47:14]
So meantime, I grew up, got a family and transitioned over into jeeps. And, uh, now when I go to those same areas of the desert, you know, what’s there?

[00:33:48:20 – 00:36:29:03]
Solar panels. So what, what they were trying to do back to politics, they were trying to stop all recreation from happening. They’re the public that the land we pay for, um, and put solar panels there, of which the BLM leases back to whatever company, right? So they’re making money back to money. Right. Right. Um, and even worse, remember the tortoise that they told us they wanted to protect and guard, oh, they just bulldozed all the land to put the solar panels there. So, so much for the poor tortoise. Yep. So now we come back to what you just asked me about the military. Hey, so the military land that is adjacent to the hammers is the size of Rhode Island. It is the largest of land. Okay. They don’t need the little bit of land we have that was given to us. And I absolutely over my dead body, will they get it? That that is not going to happen. No, that we, we as operators will put up a hell of a fight and they’re not getting that land under any circumstances. So Tony, I was given to us. Yeah, Tony, I would recommend that if the military starts giving you guys blankets, don’t take them. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you might need them. I’m referring to what the, uh, what the government, our government did to the Indians way back when. I’m sorry. Is that too soon? So, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s horrible. I mean, it’s horrible. It’s horrible. And it’s political. Why, why are we here? I mean, when I guarantee you, I guarantee you it’s so they can put more solar panels. They, all they want to do is take the area and then put more solar panels. Yeah. It’s just ridiculous. Yeah. I was going to ask you with those solar panels out there. That’s not good traction, right? I mean, it’s hard to get, uh, get over those solar panels, but I bet you could do it to stare down. And it’s, it’s all fenced off, you know, so. Oh, a Jeep team, a Jeep can go through a fence. They better put a boat and alligators in them. Um, so yeah, that’s, that’s very interesting. I’m glad I asked cause I’m learning a lot of stuff. I mean, I’m here in Texas. Uh, oh, and I was going to mention this earlier. Uh, California is not alone in the shenanigans that, that happened. We have a, a Beltway eight, uh, here that goes around the, the entire city of Houston. I think it’s over 200 miles, uh, Beltway eight. And they said before they started building it, you know, they have to get elections and then these things approved. They said it was going to be a toll road up until it was paid for. And then it would no longer be a toll road. It would go towards our schools to help pay for our schools and stuff. Well, nope. It’s 30 years later, it’s still a toll road.

[00:36:30:29 – 00:39:02:11]
And now they’ve built another one that goes around that loop. Uh, highway 99. It’s the most B. I mean, I think that you could spend a vacation just traveling 99 around Houston. So, uh, we do need roads. It’s, it’s important to have roads and stuff, but, uh, my God, just, uh, uh, stop figuring out ways to taxes. Well, and it’s, it’s not about the road. What, what happens is, is the government’s trying to do so much for everyone. Right. And instead of saying, Nope, you can’t be on welfare or whatever they call it now. Um, you know, they’re, they’re just trying to help everybody and, you know, yeah, pay for everybody to job. Like, yeah, I don’t know. It’s, it’s, it’s a very difficult situation. And, uh, unfortunately the people that are making the money, um, are the ones paying for all this stuff and, um, it’s pretty frustrating to say the least. Yeah. Well, my personal opinion is, is that one of the reasons why, uh, funds are not being allocated properly in California is because they’re using it for, well, you’ve already said they’re using it for things that, uh, it wasn’t attended for. And I think a lot of it is paying for the folks that, that need assistance. And, uh, and I like that to a certain degree. Right. Right. But, but there’s also some stuff that’s being paid for with a political agenda agenda back to the doge thing, right? And it’s, it’s like, come on, you know, like, well, we need, we need term. I know that it’s going to, the power would just move, but we need term limitations, people that don’t need to be in government their entire life. Uh, so I probably have never told you this. I think this is a wonderful idea. I wish it would catch on. I think that the political office should be like jury duty. Yeah. You get a, uh, a thing in the mail. It’s like, Oh, what is it? What’s the matter, honey? You know, you moan. What is it, honey? I said, I’m president again. I was just present. And then your wife says, weren’t you just, weren’t you president just four years ago, that and collecting, uh, funds for the government. Like PBS had to get money to, uh, to pay for their stuff. Yes. Yes. All right. So, uh, let me ask you this, uh, I’m going to try really hard folks. I’m gonna try really hard to stay away from the political stuff, but this is great information. I’m especially with California. You know, you guys that aren’t in California know that you’re, you’re curious about these things. Uh, and here’s the deal. Like we still have the Rubicon. We still have to do some beautiful hammers, right?

[00:39:03:11 – 00:41:52:14]
California has good stuff here. So even if you live somewhere else, you should be paying attention for sure. Oh yeah. Cause we all, I mean, that that’s bucket list. I mean, certainly Moab EJS was a bucket list. Uh, but you go into Rubicon, go into the several little places there. It’s a, it’s a beautiful state. And I think they use that to their advantage, that and the AC that’s always on, uh, keeping a nice 74 degrees and no rain, you know? So, um, all right. So, uh, what is, uh, oh, and you mentioned this before we started recording, uh, tell folks about, um, the, the, the thing that you’re going through with new products. I did not have any idea, uh, about all the products that you’re working on, uh, because you’re not sitting on your, you’re not resting on your laurels. You’re coming out with new stuff. Sure. Um, well, one of the things that I think separates GenRite from the other companies is that I, the president of the company, the founder live, eat, and breathe off-roading. Right. So it’s really easy for me to, you know, take a rock crawler seriously built Jeep like TerraMoto out. Um, then I’ve got my JL that’s all overland outfitted. I’ve got my budget TJ that we’re, we’re building for, you know, roughly $20,000 that could go to the Rubicon. You know, so, um, I’m, I’m trying to fit in each one of the aspects that, that you folks that are listening might fall into, right? Just based on what, whatever spot in life you’ve landed, right? Or, or, or that you’ve chosen to like get into jeeping and I, you know, say I get here. Right. I mean, when I first got into, it was just to go remote camping. All I, all I wanted to do was get away from the public that stays in the public campgrounds. I wanted to go further back, find a good fishing area or just peace and quiet. Go someplace where not everybody’s going, just having a vehicle that can go anywhere. Absolutely. Yeah. So one of the other national parks that’s here in California is Death Valley. Well, you only 10% of Death Valley is paved. So, so if you drive through there in a car, you only get to see 10%. The rest is off-road. Okay. So there, there’s a ton of trails out there, but if you want to see it, you better have a jeep, like it’s, it’s the only way you’re going to see it. So, and it is beautiful. Um, obviously you don’t go there in the summertime, but, um, there, there is a lot of, uh, beauty and areas to explore here in California, even though it seems like there’s a lot of people who live here. Those people all live in concentrated areas around Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. So anyways, um, so for those of you that don’t know, if, if, if never heard me say it, generate a short for genuine ideas, engineered, right.

[00:41:53:28 – 00:42:02:10]
So by my involvement in off-road as a, um, person just like yourselves, right? An enthusiast.

[00:42:03:10 – 00:44:42:29]
Um, what I’m looking for is better parts, uh, new ways, right? Uh, other things that we could be doing or should be doing. And, um, I’m constantly trying to develop those new products. So I have, um, over 100 new products in the pipeline, um, for, for my staff to, to finish, you know, getting through to, uh, being done and on the website, right? So some of those things are revisions to products we currently have that we figured out a better way to do summer completely brand new products that, um, don’t exist on the market. And I’ll give you an example. Oh, nice. But I, when I started Gen Right, um, there, there was no aftermarket gas tank. Like we started the company with, um, that, that gas tank was revolutionary in the industry, uh, because it was reshaped in a way that allowed you to put a bigger differential in like a Dana 60 and move it back, right? So that you could run a bigger tire and not have yourself a wheelie machine because the wheelbase was too short. So now obviously that’s come a long way. We offer 20 different models of gas tanks now from CJ all the way through JT. Um, so there, there’s a lot going on, you know, um, not only with that and we continuously, um, evolve the gas tanks too. We reshape them. We give you more ground clearance. We give you more capacity. We’re constantly making changes to even those, or even coming up with a lighter weight version. You know, um, weight is, if, if you’re not concerned about what you should be, um, earlier when we were talking about like TJ versus JK, um, just those two platforms and it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about LJ or TJ. Um, the, the JK is 1000 pounds heavier from the start. Wow. I didn’t expect that. So it’s, it’s a lot. Okay. Now, you know, it’s a four door. It has a much higher towing capability. You know, there’s, there’s, there’s things about that vehicle that, um, you know, not to mention that it had to be completely different safety standards, you know, 10 years later, right? Like these are all the things that people don’t understand, you know, the, that, that, that also could be falling under the politics category, you know, just the safety stuff. Um, but I’ll tell you when the JK first came out, I immediately hopped on a plane and I flew back to Michigan and, and I looked at the engineers and I said, did any of you even drive this vehicle?

[00:44:44:14 – 00:45:02:11]
Like, like when you, you roll down the window to look out and see where the front tire is, the fricking mirror is right in the way. I’m like, come on. This, this is like the, the people that were involved in this, obviously, clearly were not G people, right? And they were like, Oh, Tony, you know, thank you for coming by.

[00:45:03:13 – 00:46:08:10]
Show you all of the challenges, you know, we’re, we’re faced with. And, you know, basically what he ended up doing was explaining to me that the way the world works, Tony is this, if we don’t, if, if we don’t build a vehicle that meets the safety standards, your wife will never let you buy it. Okay. Because she’s not about to put your children or her children in a death trap. Jeep. Right. So, so it’s got to meet the safety standards or you, Mr. Cool guy, consumer off-roader guy. We’ll never even get to build a Jeep because your wife never let you buy one of the first place. Right. Okay. So once the guy said that I was like, okay, now once what was really cool was he backed it up with this, he goes, Tony, I’m so stoked you’re here because you can fix all the stuff that we couldn’t do here. He goes, you can actually make this Jeep the right way off road capable. And he’s like, we will give you whatever support you want.

[00:46:09:13 – 00:46:09:19]
Yeah.

[00:46:10:21 – 00:46:51:03]
So, so it was interesting. You know, I went in there all pissed off and by the time I came out, I was like, wow, they’re, they’re, they’re patting me on the back and like telling me whatever I need to do. Like how bad Tony. So I think, I think they still have Jeepers in there, but they’re, they’re so, uh, the hands are tied. They are, they are to make a real Jeep and an aftermarket. Ding, ding, ding. Yeah. So because of the, the cafe requirements, meaning the mileage requirements, right. And the safety requirements, their, their hands are tied. Then, then, you know, you look at a car company where we were talking about, you know, we’re, we’re a miniature version of a car company, right?

[00:46:52:05 – 00:47:16:16]
It’s run by nothing but bean counters. Right. So, so these guys, they’re constantly battling, you know, and, and honestly, I, I felt bad for them. They’re, they’re so beat down at the end of the day. The fact that they can even still get something out the door with a solid axles, like a miracle. Oh yeah. Cause Congress was going to look into this whole death wobble issue that with the front solid axles, it’s like, don’t you dare touch the solid axle.

[00:47:19:13 – 00:48:08:16]
So at the end of the day, um, you know, we’re, we’re doing what we do, which is make it better, right? And, uh, that’s a big part of the reason I started my tech talk show is because I’m, I’m constantly trying to dispel everything that’s out there on the internet. You got a bunch of web wheelers that, um, you know, think they know what they’re talking about, but don’t have actual experience. Right. And, um, I’m, I’m there to like fix that and, and give people the straight scoop, um, about, you know, why it is the way it is or how it’s done or how it should be done or whatever the case may be. So I’m going to set up an account that isn’t cheap talk show. Come onto your tech talk and say, why don’t you sell multiple state steering stabilizers so I can get rid of my death wobble.

[00:48:09:17 – 00:48:15:26]
That’s a perfect one. And you know, I still see the, the, the steering stabilizer stuff from knowledgeable, knowledgeable people.

[00:48:17:11 – 00:51:04:02]
Yeah. Well, so it’s an interesting one because it will solve the problem for some people, but it doesn’t get to the root cause, right? Which is what you’re getting at. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and, and I think, uh, it was my wife’s TJ and she got death wobble around 70 miles an hour on I 10 between two 18 wheelers. So I had to fix that and I was shocked, shocked this when I was moving the stuff around and it’s in my, my experience, it’s almost always the, the track bar. Uh, there was a, like a 16th of an inch movement. It was tiny. And I had never experienced that before. And I was like, well, she’s got the death wobble. This is the only, this is only the amount that it’s moving. And I was, it’s amazing that they all don’t have death wobble all the time. Um, yeah. Well, what, what happens is, you know, that, that rubber in all the joints, right, has a certain amount of movement, right? So even though you saw a physical one 16th play, well, when, when you get that moving, right, it’s gonna, where it’s the rubbers quarter inch stick on each end. That it’s going to start moving like a half an inch. And then you magnify that between all the links and everything else in the front end, um, not to mention, you know, clapped out ball joints and tie rod ends. And you know, the steering box might be loose or, or it’s just plain old worn out. You get all those things together and you got one scary situation. And just like you, you, you put your wife in those circumstances two or three times. That seems for sale. Like she wants it out of it. Oh, she loves her TJ. It was more like fix it. But you know, I spent a couple hundred dollars replaced all the front end parts. It still hasn’t had any, uh, death wobble some 10, 12 years later. So it’s, it’s, it’s not a hard situation. The thing that surprised me. And you fixed it fast. You fixed it fast. Cause if you don’t fix it fast, it wears the tires. Even if you put in all new parts, it’s, you got to get rid of those tires. Cause they’re wasted too. Yeah. Well, I fixed it fast because you know, it’s the wife and she’s going to make sure why aren’t you out there fixing it? Um, and I was really surprised and this goes back to the same thing we were talking about, uh, the Jeep engineers having to do things, saving weight, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the steering components that they were using on the JL JL you, uh, that, uh, uh, I found out through a talking interview with a steer smarts, J S tier smarts that they found 500 miles and brand new, uh, JL, they were getting death wobble out of it. And it wasn’t because the parts didn’t look beefy because, uh, oh my gladiator, those, those, those parts were huge, but they’re not thick walled. Uh, the tie rods and stuff isn’t thick walled again, saving the weight, because you know, over 20 years you’ll save a 0.0003 miles per gallon.

[00:51:06:24 – 00:51:58:22]
So yeah, uh, death wobble is easy to fix. We’re place what’s on there on the modern day Jeeps. Uh, and you know, you want to modify it anyway, which, which takes us back to you. You have great modify modifiers. Let me ask you this. We have this, uh, this conversation time to time, uh, on the show on the round table, aluminum versus steel. Uh, and you made the comment earlier about, uh, weight is important and certainly you have a weight savings, uh, by using aluminum. So, uh, I personally, uh, like the skid system, I got a skid system for the gladiator, uh, but going before going out to EJS the second time, because I learned the first time that a full skid system is a good thing to have, especially on a gladiator that hangs its ass way out there, um, I went with steel and, uh, so what are the, uh, uh, other than weight, what are the downsides to steal over aluminum?

[00:52:00:00 – 00:53:04:11]
Okay. Uh, that great question. So, um, if you’re going to add steel to your vehicle, um, you want it down low. Yes. Okay. And you want it to be things that are going to be constantly rubbing on the rocks, the trees, the, you know, some kind of a trail obstacle, right? Because steel has a better abrasion, uh, long-term than, than the majority of aluminum. Okay. And I say the majority of aluminum because we use a skid plate for our suspension systems, um, that’s made out of 70, 75 aluminum, which has the same hardness as steel. So, so it, it will also scrape over the things with good abrasion resistance. Um, but it’s the very high end of product, right? Like Jen, right? Right. We’re like the Mercedes of, of Jeep stuff. Absolutely. And, um, the other thing about 70, 75 is you can’t bend it and you can’t weld it. So as long as it’s flat, you can use it. Interesting. Yeah.

[00:53:05:18 – 00:54:41:13]
So you can’t bend it. Oh, that’s, that’s interesting. Yeah. So you have to machine it. So if you want some shape to it, you got to buy a bigger piece and mill it out or turn it. Oh, like CNC is what you’re doing. Yeah. Uh, that’s really interesting. So, and you guys have a lot of aluminum, uh, parts, don’t you? I mean, bumpers, uh, so, so bumpers and, and corner guards and things that occasionally get bumped can be out of a different grade of steel or sorry, aluminum that, um, you don’t want the weight of steel. So I’ll give you an example, um, on a JK like a four door vehicle, JKJL you, um, the difference between steel and aluminum is 600 pounds. Wow. Okay. So do you want to carry, do you want to carry 600 pounds extra for the one time you pull forward and bump into a tree with your bumper or back up into something? No way. The aluminum will do a plenty good job. Um, and, uh, why, why carry all that extra weight? I mean, that’s like having three full size adults in your Jeep with you. You know, so then you think about, okay, well, yeah, you load up your Jeep with, you know, gear and people and, you know, those things turn into 7,000 pound animals or monsters, I should say, um, real quick. And you still got that little V six just plugging away in there, trying to, trying to get it along the trail or the highway. Right. So, um, yeah, so really don’t, don’t add a lot of weight to the vehicle, um,

[00:54:42:14 – 00:54:47:20]
or only in the areas that you really have to. So, so I’ll tell you this.

[00:54:48:26 – 00:58:03:26]
We make rocker guards, um, just like on the Jeep behind me in the picture there. Yep. Um, that are aluminum, right? But they, they, I sell a little steel piece that goes over the top of it called a rash guard, and it’s only in the area that you would actually touch against a rock or a tree or something. Uh, but mostly that rocker guard is it there for a step. Okay. So it gives you the ability to protect the Jeep. But if you really just need a first step, cause you’re not a serious wheeler, then that’s fine. But we make other rockers that are, you know, quarter inch thick, super beefy, bolted to the frame or welded to the frame, um, that you could just beat on all day long, um, and, and those are for the guy that’s more serious about off-roading or, or knows that he wants to get more serious for off-roading and, and those should be made out of steel. Yeah. Because you’re just going to be, I mean, you got a 6,000 pound vehicle. You’re landing on the rocker guard, right? You fall off something and bam. You know, my, my personal opinion is, is that you need to protect the, the expensive parts of the Jeep and I always advise people don’t go with anything that has steps, uh, if you have to have a step, uh, uh, look at something that has dropdown steps, but you, I think you always need something to protect the rocker panel and the bottom of those doors. So, I mean, there’s nothing, there’s nothing wrong with something that looks nice, uh, and, and, and doesn’t, uh, hold the weight of the Jeep, but things happen on the road too, uh, and sometimes, uh, I mean, you’re out in California, you can have earthquakes, I’m down here in Houston, you can have hurricanes and you may need to use your Jeep to keep it from being flooded to get you up out of the way. Keep you alive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and able to get you out of the way and you do not want to get hung up on steps that hang down and you do not want to have damage to the Jeep because you didn’t have a good rock sliders. And, uh, there’s a big, a big difference there. So no offense to any products that you have, but I think that heavy duty is always the best way to go to protect the Jeep. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um, all, all of those are great considerations and, um, you know, everybody, like we talked about earlier, you know, some people just want to go camping a little bit further away. Some people want to go rock crawling. You know, some people, um, want a good looking Jeep to drive around instead of a Corvette or a hot rod, you know, like it, everybody, one of the great things about a Jeep is that it’s one of the few vehicles left that is so modifiable that you can personalize it the way that you can. And, um, that’s, that’s, I know I enjoy building the Jeep as much as I do driving, so it’s part of the fun for me. Yeah. And it really, uh, and I’m not saying this is the reason to do it, but it really turns heads. I think everybody has all one point of their lives have, uh, has always wanted a Jeep and, and when you want a Jeep, you don’t want a factory Jeep. You want to modify Jeep modified is so fun. And I’ll just say, I really appreciate you being part of the problem. Uh, can’t make it all these, these parts that could be, uh, they help you modify that Jeep.

[00:58:05:01 – 00:59:04:26]
Yeah. I’ve got friends of mine that have owned all kinds of cars, you know, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Mercedes and just. Fancy stuff. They say their Jeep turns more heads than those fancy cars ever did. So, well, especially when you modify it, because that’s the wonderful thing about Jeeps is you can make the Jeep so unique, you know, the, the, the, and this is the combination of things that you put on there. The one thing that I hate though, is whenever you make modifications, I told you about putting the Atlas and the XJ. I can see the Atlas. I know what it looks like. I can get another look at it, but nobody else can see it. They can’t, they can’t enjoy just that gorgeous piece of equipment. I know. Unless they look inside and see the two handles, they’ll never know. I would, I would go to a thing, uh, some sort of event or something. And all I have, I had an XJ, you know, everybody’s had an XJ and I had an XJ. I said, did you have one? And I pointed the two handles that were there and they go, uh, what’s that?

[00:59:06:07 – 00:59:43:17]
Oh man. You ruined the whole thing. I mean, who, who puts a, uh, uh, who puts an Atlas and an XJ? I guess got tired of the chain stretching. So, uh, it’s like, gets rid of the chain is what I figured. All right. So, uh, this is the other thing that I was trying to remember. I was going to tell you that whenever we get to the end, I will say something along the lines of soap, about social media so that you could prepare yourself. You’ve been doing this a long time. You know what all your social media stuff was or is. So let me just, I’ll just say it the way I always say it. You know how the kids love the social media. They like seeing the pictures. They like seeing the videos and stuff. Where, where can we find you guys on social media?

[00:59:44:20 – 01:01:00:19]
So you’ve got, you got several choices. Um, we’ve got a great Facebook page, just Jen right off road, um, Instagram, Jen right off road. And of course our website, Jen, right.com that’s G E N R I G H T. And, uh, both, even, even on our website, you can still see some of the videos that are related to the products. Um, we’ve got a whole Jeep build gallery there. Um, we also have a whole tech talk resource section, uh, there with downloads that you can use for checklists and things to work on your Jeep or camping, packing lists and tools and other things. So a tremendous resource. And then of course, um, one of the fundamentals of when I started this company was a live person always answers this phone. So all you gotta do is pick up the phone and you will never go to voicemail. Somebody will answer that phone and you can talk to a live person. So do you have a paddle in case they let it go to voicemail? You can know they’ve already agreed in their contract. It doesn’t even do that. It’ll ring till somebody picks it up. Okay. We only, only at night does it get turned on to a recorded message, you know, that says we’re closed. Right. Wonderful.

[01:01:02:06 – 01:05:24:23]
Oh, and, uh, which do you prefer? Do you prefer people go into your YouTube YouTube channel or go into your website? Cause I would imagine that the embedded videos in the website are, are YouTube videos, uh, yeah, they, they are YouTube videos and they’re typically product related, right? So if you were interested in, yeah, but, but the, the YouTube channel has thousands of videos, not, not only about the product, but us off-roading, um, and, uh, racing and, you know, there’s, there’s tons of stuff to see there. You can sort it, you know, however you want. Um, we even have things about installation and tips and tricks on, you know, if you have one of our tire carriers and, um, you’re not happy with how it opens anymore, watch this video and we’ll give you all the tips on how to, you know, adjust it and make it open perfect again. Um, so lots of stuff, um, lots of good resources for sure. Now we’ve mentioned the tech tips that you do, and this is every week, every Wednesday, I believe. Uh, is that right? Yeah. Five o’clock Pacific standard time. And it’s, it’s live on YouTube. I think you, uh, you’re, you’re still doing the streaming on Facebook and some other platforms. No, no, we just push the whole thing to YouTube. Yeah. Cause I know you’ve had some issues where one would work and the other one wasn’t worked or it would work, but there was no audio and yeah, just, just do it on one. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. So, um, and, and for the public, I think that’s, that’s, that’s, that’s public, you know, doing a live show is extremely difficult. You know, a recorded show is like a completely, you know, and you can go back and fix things and, you know, even when you upload it, like say something doesn’t come through, you just delete it and reload it. You know, um, when you do a live show, man, there’s, there’s no forgiveness there. So that’s a, that’s a tough thing. So, uh, the, the, the YouTube channel is, is it Jen, right? So yeah, Jen right off road. So I want to put this on their calendar or something, uh, get an alert, uh, put a, uh, a reminder on their phone. So, uh, I’m sorry, did you say 5 p.m. That specific time? I said, standard time. Yes. Wednesday and every Wednesday. And you can always, they see you, uh, do you have topics or is it all, uh, uh, the, uh, viewer driven? So both, right? I always come with specific topics, but then I answer any question. Jeep related, of course. Um, you know, yeah, it’s, it, it takes some turns every once in a while. Of course. That’s okay. Um, and we almost, it’s an hour long show, but we almost always run over an hour. And I’ve never missed one in five years. So I’m on every Wednesday regardless. All right. So, uh, we’re recording this on Tuesday. So, uh, the, the, the next one is tomorrow. And, uh, yeah, we’re very, very, very cool. So check it out. If you haven’t done a tech talk with, uh, with Tony, you need to check it out. It’s, it’s fun. It’s entertaining. Uh, yeah, because some of the people have questions that maybe you would ask, but you didn’t want to, so it’s, it’s interesting to see how that, uh, kind of spirals out, right? Yeah. Um, the other thing I want to mention that we just uploaded on Sunday, this last Sunday, um, the, what was that? Uh, whatever 12, 14, the 14th, um, was our latest real hammers experience. Number four. Oh, I did see that. Yes. Did you see that? Yeah. That’s, that is really cool. So that is where we take a street legal Jeeps, including TerraMoto that you and I were talking about earlier. Um, so this means they’ve got to have working headlights, uh, windshield wipers, uh, windshield, you know, uh, brake lights, horn, every, everything to make some street legal. Um, they can be modified, right? But that most Jeeps are anyways. And, um, we run the original OG 13 race course. And, um, it is a super fun thing to do. Um, you can watch all the trials and tribulations of the different guys. Everybody’s got a different platform and a different engine. And, uh, I’m sure if you’ve watched it, you would find it interesting. It’s about an hour long and, uh, wait, if you get a chance, check that out. That sounds great. And the cool thing is you can legitimately tell people you’ve run king of the hammers. Yeah. I wouldn’t say that you won or anything like that, but you can say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve done king of the hammers.

[01:05:25:26 – 01:05:50:22]
And just, just to give you an idea, um, during our Turkey run, which is, you know, over Thanksgiving that we just did, I had eight customers with completely build Jeeps that said, Tony, can we just go and try and drive that course? Right. Because it’s 11 Amherst trails and then a bunch of desert, um, only three of us made it out of outer limits, which is the first trip.

[01:05:52:26 – 01:06:59:17]
So that’s really eight bill Jeeps. Like it it’s that the hammers is definitely legit, um, a lot harder than most people would realize. So to make it through all eight or 11 trails is pretty unbelievable. So Tony, I know there’s ups and downs and everything, but what a life. I mean, you know, what a, what a great life. You know, somebody had to live it might as well be you, right? Yeah. Yeah. And your two boys. I mean, I love the idea of where the two boys are involved in it as well. Yeah. And my, my oldest son Jamie took my original YJ that we called the growler. And, uh, he like took it out of mothballs and revived it and he did our YJ to LJ stretch on it and threw a big LS three in it. So he, he drives that now that’s growler 2.0 and, uh, he’s, he’s great in that thing. Yeah. You gotta be very proud, especially just having your boys interested in doing the same thing you’re doing. I mean, that’s cool. Cause you know how kids, kids are. Yeah. All right, man. Well, thank you so much. It’s always interesting. I have no, and I did not run out of questions. I just ran out of time.

[01:07:01:17 – 01:07:15:15]
Thank you so much for being here. Uh, always a great guest and, uh, we’ll have to get you back on. We’re gonna try to get you back on sooner. Cause we’ve, there was so many things I wanted to ask you about and we just didn’t get to it, but again, Tony, thank you very much for being with us. You’re welcome.

[01:07:17:19 – 01:07:19:16]
You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.