First things first. I know there are a few people left that I need to contact to refund their order or finish their order. Anyone that I have unfinished business with, please contact me via PM or email at martin@rocklizardfabrications.com so we can get things going.

As many of you know, about a year ago, I posted that I was packing up the business up so I could get my personal affairs in order. I was trying to get a divorce finalized to a very manipulative, selfish woman that only had something to do with the kids if it would benefit her financially. Needless to say, I had the kids about 80% of the time anyways. I had to work a full time job to make sure I had a steady income and health insurance to provide for my kids. Between kids and work, I had no time to get anything done with my business. In the mean time, my health was going straight in the crapper. I was suffering some pretty serious depression, and after dealing with doctors and some of the most uncomfortable testing, was diagnosed with a serious disease that was really dragging me down. Basically, my own immune system was destroying my own bowels, and the cure was a bunch of medication to put it into remission (like chemo to cancer), which basically turned my immune system off, thus making me very susceptible to getting common illnesses and letting them beat the crap out of me.

In the mean time over the last year, I took a few orders here and there to try to make a little extra cash to put into inventory, and although I was very optimistic that I could get those orders done in a short amount of time, luck was not on my side. One example, I took a small group buy of sliders, which I must say was the most impressive group buy I have ever been a part of. Every single person on the list that wanted in, bought in, and they did it all within a week. I do not think I will ever see that happen again. But anyways, the company I use to make my outer slider bars was extremely backed up, and although every time in the past they were extremely reliable and got me my stuff usually in 1-2 weeks or less, they took over two months. Believe me, I was just as upset as I am sure those that bought the sliders were. And, as my luck was going, about the time I got those outer bars finally, I came down with Bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection to follow. Doctors orders, no welding or grinding. I was shut down for a month. Anyways, I finally got the sliders done.

Over the last year, I was working on finishing up some designs and trying to get those front bumpers going. Those dang those were aggravating to say the least. I'm still not happen with the mounts, so those are redesigned. So, to wrap up the life story for the last year, things really turned around for me the beginning of 2011. I cashed in my GI Bill, and got excepted back into college, so I am going back to school full time. What does that mean? Between my VA disability and my BAH from my GI Bill, I don't have to work that full time job anymore, so I quit. Sure, school is a little time consuming, but with the classes I am taking, I have a lot more free time, and it is flexible. Therefore, I can get back to working what I love...my business. I finalize the divorce in less than two weeks, so one less thing to stress me out. I feel I have full control of my life again, and my outlook on life is much more positive and the depression is gone. My health, well, still not perfect, but it is much more under control, stress and depression I think were huge contributors to how bad it was getting, and for some reason, although studies show doctors really don't have much clue as to the purpose of an appendix, when I had mine removed last month, my symptoms from my disease have decreased dramatically. Strange and hard to explain, but I'll take it if it means more control over my life.

OK, so down to business. I have spent a lot of time restructuring the business, redoing the business plan, making goals, finishing old designs and putting together new ones, etc. Here is what I have come up with. I'm tired of messing around and being small time, it's time to go all out. One of the things I was thinking about was changing the name of the business. I was thinking, Road Kill Rock Armor. I would name my products according, just like I did with Rock Lizard. So, how about Armadillo Armor for skids to keep those pesky critters from jumping up your undercarriage, Snake Smasher Sliders for when those rattlesnakes find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, Deer Destroyer Front Bumpers...splat, Raven Reaper Racks for taking out those noisy buzzards, VW Beetle Basher Rear Bumpers for those paying more attention to their cell phone instead of that huge piece of steel aimed at their dash. Anyways, you get the point. I also had another business name in mind. Over the last few years I have noticed multiple wannabes that incorporate my designs into their own products, and they are commended for their “hard work”. Apparently it is socially exceptable now to copy other peoples hard work and research without giving proper credit. So, if that is the case, why couldn't I copy their designs, and since I have the means to do so, I can do it on a mass scale and sell it for less. And in true copy cat fashion, copy my own designs into the new business, and then give the new business the perfect name. I already have it designed up:



However, I pride myself on being unique and designing the best products out there for the liberty without using others ideas. If I use something from someone else, I am going to give proper credit for it. For example, to show just how easy this is, in my picture above, I created that on my own except for the vulture and the cactus which I found browsing through google images. They aren't mine, therefore I am not going to take credit for them no matter how much better they make my design.

The way I see it, if I cannot be creative enough to come up with my own ideas to make the product better, and I willing to cut corners in design by copying others, then what assures the customer that if I am so cheap and lazy to copy, then how do they know I didn't cut corners on build quality and safety too? I'm flattered that some people like my designs so well that they want to make their own personal item using my design, and those respectful people always came to me first and asked, and since it was for them only and not mass production and they had the courtesy to ask, and I being an understanding person that money doesn't grow on trees, then sure, I don't mind, because those people when asked on the forums where they got their whatever, they still gave me full credit and sent people my way. But if people want to get lazy and greedy and take full credit for someone else's design and open their own company, I am the wrong company to play against. My business has been around a long time, so the name speaks for the quality of my products. My products have been Ted tested and Lizard approved, meaning they have been put to the extreme in true trail testing. They are proven products, and with over 70 HD rear bumpers sold and more than 300 sets of sliders, and not one single return, my products are the real deal. My rear bumpers are steel, and they are heavy, but they will last forever. I challenge anyone to take any other manufacturers rear bumper and put it through the exact same trails that we have and see how long it lasts. Throw a 35” tire on the carrier for a year and see how long it lasts. Drop off a 3' ledge onto a rock and see if the bumper cracks, shatters, or if it can roll away with a small dent and leave the rock in pieces. Haul a 4000lb pop up camper back and forth through the Rocky Mountains and then check it for stress fractures.

I may be coming off a little arrogant, but I feel my products and designs have earned their keep. I by no means am perfect. My customer service as far as communication and timely delivery have been seriously lacking, especially over the last few years. Every company has room for improvement, and I have a lot of work to do, but it is my commitment to my customers in this new venture to make things better. I have looked at my own life, especially over the last few years, and I thought to myself “self, you can't be the only one that has rough times like these. Your customers are just like you. They have families. They have jobs that can be taken from them at a moments notice. Their heath or that of their families can take a turn for the worse in a heartbeat. Divorces happen all the time and many times one of the parties is a greedy selfish person that will strip everything away from a hard working spouse without remorse. So, self, if you were to buy from Rock Lizard and were going through any or all of these situations, how can you possible afford it, because any cheaper option out there is going to cost you more in the long run”.

So, here is what I came up with. With my disability payment and for the time being, that BAH payment from my GI Bill, I am financially stable to provide for myself and my kids without the business. Now I won't work for free, but I don't need to make it rich. My goal is to pay myself enough to build up inventory, then someday in the future, I will have enough inventory to maintain a reasonable price on my products without raising them. During my time of reflection and restructure, I have found ways to cut production costs dramatically without making any changes to design or materials. Products are exactly the same as before, but time management and using some new companies I found locally that dropped my costs have made things possible. So, what does that mean to my customers? As I stated, I don't “need” the extra money I could be pocketing from what I have saved in manufacturing costs, so instead of keeping it, I am passing it down to my customers. So, my retail prices listed on my website are discounted. I needed to redo my website to show the new prices, but here is the deal. There are no discounts on products from other companies listed on my site, nor the Godzilla SFA kit, but all of my other Rock Lizard exclusive products are discounted. So, break out your calculators. If you are unsure if the price you come up with is right and you are seriously interested in buying, shoot me an email or pm and I'll give you the correct price. So, whatever the retail price is listed on my site, take 15% off. Just for an example how big of a deal that is, the HD Komodo rear bumper with both carriers retails at $1940.00 plus shipping. 15% of drops that price down to $1650 plus shipping. That's $290 off and makes a tried and trail proven rear bumper cheaper than any other design out there.

OK, so putting myself in my customers shoes, what else can I do to help them buy my products. Many times I have found myself with my own jeep wanting something, like a new motor, and every single stinkin time I get within grasp of saving up enough money to get what I want/need, something happens and now I have to save more money for longer. My products aren't cheap, even with the awesome discounts that make my prices now lower than any of most wannabe competitors. Saving up a large sum of cash gets pretty intimidating and too easy to dip into for other things, then you end up never getting what you want. Like buying a car. If you try to save 20,000 for a new car to pay cash up front, it will take a lot longer than 5 years in most typical cases. So, what do you do to get that new car? Payments. So, I am offering payment plans. And, since I'm not a bank and can put myself in my customers shoes, how does this work?

If you need a payment plan, any purchase less than $500 (including shipping), is paid outright, unless absolutely necessary to set up payment, in which case I will do 50/50. Anything between $500 and $1000, will be 50/50/shipping. Meaning 50% upfront, 50% at the given interval, then the shipping when ships. Or we could add the shipping into the total and just do 50/50. Anything over $1000 will be 25% up front, then payments in whatever amount/interval is agreed upon. Here is how easy this gets. If we do a payment arrangement, think of it kind of like layaway, but for the most part, it is on the customers terms. There is no interest. We total up what you are getting, combine the shipping amount if you want to finance that to, 25% will be due to secure the product, spot in line, current pricing, etc. The form that is sent out will be filled out and notarized. There will be several options to choose from on payment interval. Example, payment due on 2nd and 16th of every month for those that get paid on the first and 15th of each month. Or, you can choose every other Saturday beginning on whatever date, for those that get paid on every other Friday. Or the once a month plan. Just check a box, fill in whatever blanks are on that line, like the begin date of payment. Then, you figure out your own payment. This is were I get a little picky, and probably quite the opposite of what you would think. DO NOT bite off more than you can chew. I have done this myself too many times then it gets hard to play catchup when life kicks you in the marbles. Minimum payment is $100 a month, other than that, you pick your payment. Thing is, I am not a bank, I don't want to spend all day playing math student adding up all of your random payments. You fill in the interval and the amount, and stick to it. Even if you can pay early or more than usual, put it in savings for later. I don't want it. Only thing I will take outside of payment arrangement is the payoff. If you have the rest of the money and want to pay the entire amount early, then so be it, but other than that, stick to the plan. So, what happens if you can't make a payment or need to cancel. Life happens, I understand. But as I made a commitment to do better with communication and customer service, I expect the same. If you are going to be late/cannot make the payment, then let me know as early as possible. These payments are still paychecks to me, and I still expect them, so although I will not spend it before I get it (as my momma said, don't count your chickens before they hatch) I still like to keep a budget. So, just email me that you can't make the interval payment, I will respond with an ok and that I will add it to the end of the arrangement, then I will attach a copy of the email to your payment arrangement form. Piece of cake.

Cancellations of any order at any time: Unlike most other companies, I just don't like or want to charge restocking fees. If someone needs to cancel, it's usually for good reason. So, instead of a restocking fee, you will get your entire paid amount back. However, there is one small catch. I have to pay for the materials and manufacturing of your order. I do not pay myself until the order is paid in full and the product is complete. Meaning, if I have the money, I will pay it back immediately. However in most cases whatever percentage of your payment is required to build the product is probably been paid out, so to get your money back faster, you and I will have to work together to get someone to buy you out, take over your payment plan, whatever, as long as the amount you paid is covered it will go right back to you. Before all of this, turn around on a cancellation was pretty quick due to popularity, but now turn around I would expect a lot faster due to prices being discounted so much and the payment plans making it easier to buy. If I get other orders or whatever, I will use that as well to get the money back faster.

One last quick thing on the payment arrangement. You can order as many products as you want, in fact it is a good idea so you get more and you just make simple payments. So, if you want a rear bumper and sliders, we tally it all up, and say you pay enough in that covers the sliders and their shipping, I will send them on out so you keep paying but don't have to wait to the end for everything at once.

I still have a business to run, but will cater toward the customer as much as possible, but without my own sacrifice. I have a family too. I want to improve their quality of life like anyone else would, otherwise I would just say to heck with the business I don't need it.

So, with that out of the way, what else is going on? Well, front Rock Monitor bumpers designed and ready to go except for waiting on the new mounts. Much stronger, more room for slight adjustments for leveling or what not incase jeep was in accident and not quite put back to perfect, and easier to install. Oh, and universal, as they will be used with the KK Rock Monitors as well, meaning lower cost of production. And since I brought it up, the KK Rock Monitors are designed and ready to go as well except they are waiting on mounts (of course) and I'm still figuring out the signal housing area. KK rear bumpers are real close. I have a batch of KJ rear bumpers in production, and once they get here one of them gets to be guinea pig so I can fit it up to a KK, make alterations, then they are in production. In short, besides a few alterations to match the changes in the KK body compared to the KJ, what you see on the KJ will look just like it on the KK. Basically the quarter guards to the wheel wells and the area right under the taillights will be the only slight changes in design. So if you like my KJ rear bumper, just visualize it on your KK. As for the HD and LD rear bumpers, HD bumpers will only be sold with atleast one carrier, otherwise you are getting a light duty. I'm not making carriers at a later time for an HD bumper anymore. I only make the carriers at the time of the bumper build.
Other products? Some of my XJ products and unrealized designs I plan to incorporate into the KJ/KK. Looking at rear quarter guards, A-Pillar light mounts, and tube doors. Skid plates are coming soon. I have front skids and gas tank skids designed, just need to build a prototype, make sure it fits, then into production. Sliders aren't going to change, except I may extend the outer tube bar on the supers by 1/2”. I made one like that for someone (forget who now sorry), but I really liked how it turned out. Have rear cargo racks designed and they are strong and cheap. Nothing too fancy like All J's rack, but it's a tubular rack design that is easy to make in house so I can keep cost down. These come bedlined standard. That brings up something else new that I will offer. After shooting Troys and Ted's jeeps and parts in house with this great bedliner Troy found, I will have that standard on the inner cargo racks, and will offer it on other products within reason. I won't bedline bumpers unless you are local and are coming through the area and will pick up. I am not going out of my way to package those beasts to protect the bedliner and you don't want to pay the freight for the extra packaging. At that point bedlining when you get it will be cheaper. Sliders I could bedline but I at that point will try to talk you out of it. It's like playing rock, paper, scissors, except it will be rock, sliders, bedliner, and the bedliner will always lose. Roof Racks I can probably be talked into lining, but it will have to be a collapsible model so it can ship in a box so the UPS guys don't mess up the liner because the racks ship bare steel and fully welded so they are not heavy but quite bulky, and the UPS guys will screw up the liner otherwise.

Um, I think that covers a lot of it. I will post more as I think of it, or if there are any questions, I'll post and answer those. PLEASE, no phone calls. My phone has been turned off for about four months. I still have service, just have the phone off, just no time to deal with the phone. Don't call and leave a voice mail, I won't listen to it. Email or PM only. If we have business to discuss over the phone, then I will call you after we arrange something via email or PM. In most cases, no need to do anything with the phone anymore. I love talking to my customers on the phone, but that was a big problem with time management before, because I could spend way too much time BSing on the phone when I could spend that time building. It's a business, so we need to get down to business. This brings up one more point. Unless you plan to buy right after we figure out everything via email or pm, please don't waste my time. Too many times I get an email, “how much is this and what is shipping”, then we go back and forth four or five times, I don't find out the zip code for shipping until two or three emails later when it says specifically on my site if you want a shipping quote provide your zip code, then after wasting my time emailing back and forth, I get, “ok, I'll order in spring” or “I'll get back to you soon”. Here is the notice: Prices subject to change at anytime, and quotes are not valid if not ordered within one week of last communication. If prices are still the same when you do finally order, then lucky for you. I do not hold spots unless there is money on the table. Unless I have inventory in stock, products are made to order, and for example, rear bumpers are made in batches. I have a batch of heavy duty and light duty rear bumpers on order. I have orders for some already. I only have four spots left for HD's and two spots for the LD's. I have had several people who sounded so serious about ordering, even ready to take advantage of payment plans, but then they disappeared or gave the old “OK, see you in spring”. I am not making anymore rear bumpers until probably next fall/winter, so once these are sold, it's going to be another year before any sees a rear bumper again, unless I am doing well enough and caught up enough to handle more bumpers, but as it stands so I don't stretch myself too thin, that is all I am making.

And again, if we have unfinished business, please contact me privately. I know I still have some things to clear up or finish up. I am working to turn things around and get this business going the way it should have been. I want to make everything right for everyone and I want to be proud of this business again. I have completely cleared out my PM and email box so I am ready for a fresh start.

Thank you everyone for your support.

Welcome back
and I'll be one of the first to say Martys always done right by me and his products are the best out there

now where was it that I saw that vulture before

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

Okay - I haven't read it all yet, but you're here and posting - that's good.
Welcome Back Marty

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2005 CRD
stuff
Skeptic quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur

After reading about 85% I started jumping around.

Welcome Back Glad life got turned around for you, everyone goes threw a bad time. Been there done that. I'll be placing an order some time in the coming months (after the wedding).


Be safe

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Zack A.
2005 Rocky Mountain Ed.
W4ZWA

Glad to hear, you are getting things back up and running, Email sent, looking forward to hearing from you.

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Will
05 Limited 4x4 Franky II Al's A-arms Black Moabs with MTR's Remote Start SOLD
06 TJ Rubicon Built
06 Dodge 2500 Diesel - Tow Pig
89 Wrangler not much left stock on it

Welcome back! I wish I ordered those sliders 2 Augusts ago, your stuff has always looked great

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Steve
2018 RAM 1500 Rebel
2003 KJ
Mods:Exterior: Frankenlift + 2 extra rear iso, JBA UCAs, ARB Bumper w/XRC8, Safari Snorkel, 265/75/16 AT, Mopar Skids, Boulderbars, RL Gecko Sport Rack
Interior: Infinity Reference speakers, 12" Alpine Type R Sub, Alpine radio, Gauge Pods (Oil, Volts), Cobra Cb, All J Interior Rack

OK Hemmingway... The grand is totally frozen BTW...

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I'm baaaaccckkk...
LOST Member 10
If you can read this you don't need glasses, go Wheel your Jeep!

Copy cats suck.

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2006 CRD http://www.UtahPowderCoatings.com/ http://www.gorecon.com/ I'm kind of a big deal.
RL rear bumper, ARB front bumper, Mile Marker winch, Power Tank, Skids by Mopar & Skid Row, RL Super Skink Sliders, 235/85R16 MTR, Air Flow Snorkel, DTT, 4.10 gears, Frankenlift II, Katskin leather, JL Audio stereo, Rosen video.

Copy cats suck.

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Former CRD owner... now I just sit around and stare at the wall.

Welcome back Marty. If you needed help, you should've let me know. I would've helped in the garage once in awhile. no, I don't watch kids. I probably would've had them joining me in

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New KJ Gear - Desert Armor Flak

2004 Renegade Light Khaki - 4" JBA Lift - Rock Lizard Products: Komodo Dragon Rear Bumper, Prototype Winch-mount Front Bumper, Super Skink Sliders - All J's Super Tranny Skid II - 31" Firestone Destination AT's on Moab wheels - Cobra 75W CB w/ stock Antenna mod

[b]Retired, US Military

Congrats on getting your life back on track and getting your health up!

I know you specialize in KJ/KK stuff, but any thoughts of making wrangler stuff?
Preferably YJs?? I'd like a beefy engine skid and some sliders to weld to the frame.
If you need a YJ for fitting and such let me know. I'll help with fab work too.

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'02 Jeep KJ 4x4- Gone
'92 YJ- lift, swampers, bumpers....yeah, its pretty sweet.
*DISCLAIMER*: I can not be held liable for anything I say on the forums or in real life.
I also can not be held liable for any jeep breakage or life problems caused due to my advice being taken.

Unfortunately, even if I was a big company that could handle another jeep, I would go after a grand cherokee or commander before any of the Wranglers. There is just too much out there to choose from that are more than qualified to make a good YJ product at a better price than I could. You might call my buddy Dirk at www.dpgoffroad.com and see if he can recommend any good companies for YJ stuff.

Welcome back Marty, Glad to see you got everything back in order and healthy.

Well after reading that, you got my wheels turning in my head, hopefully being placing an order in the future

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05 Liberty Renegade
2.5 Daystar Lift
Tinted Windows, De-badged, 10" Sub
Trimed Front Bumper, hopefully a front receiver soon
Boiler's Radiator Skid, Mopar Engine Skid
245/75-16 Guard Dog M/T
JBA Upper A-arms soon

Welcome back Marty. I'll be hitting you up soon for some talks

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2005 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon TJ- Impact Orange
4'' RK LA, 35's KM2's, Warn front bumper, Warn rear bumper with tire swing, Warn gas skid, Nth oil skid, 4.88's, Alloy axles shafts F&R, Rokmen Corner armor with led's, and Rokmen sliders, custom back-up lights from gen-right, piaa 510's, IPF green glow fatboy's up front.

Glad to hear your health is doing better and you are on the mend Marty! I can relate to all the inquiries with no buyers and the time it takes. I am only doing my own parts and still have problems with answering emails about my fenders. Must be 35 people out there keep sending me PMs and emails about them and only maybe 4 that are actually serious once I let them know how much it would cost to make some for them. Time is not free! If I ever get the ambition to actually BUY anything I'm sure you will be one of my first stops!! Who knows, maybe someday I can be one of your competition! (after watching you and Boiler tho' , not too sure I wanna go there!! )

Be Well and take care
Larry

i like the grand cherokee idea a nice back bumper would be great

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With enough fabbing, time & $, it's certainly possible.
That being said, it's like boinkin' your sister...just because you can, doesn't mean you should.