Company Profile
4Wheel Drive Hardware Fulfills Off-Road Fantasies
“WE DON’T SELL IT, WE LIVE IT.” Pretty cool slogan for a Jeep Parts catalog company, right? But, come on, that’s what they pay slick ad guys for — to talk the talk. The real test is whether a company actually walks the walk. In the case of 4Wheel Drive Hardware, that test is not just passed, the company aces it and turns in work for extra credit. Employees at 4Wheel Drive Hardware really do “live it.” They drive their Jeeps over boulders, through mud pits and up mountains, and they can explain to customers how to drop a new tranny into a vintage Jeep from experience, not just by reading an instruction manual. The first clue you’re dealing with the real thing is what company president Barry Ryan calls Jeep Row, a special employee parking area for all the “lifted and gifted” Jeeps on display — like a hall of fame for rock and roll. The next clue is roughly 100 running feet of a quarry rock sculpture on site for use as both a product-testing ground and an off-road fun zone.
Like so many successful off-road accessory companies, 4Wheel Drive Hardware was born out of necessity. In the late 1970s, Tom Kennedy was having trouble locating parts for his Jeep. He’d been introduced to racing the “WWII veterans” and his hobby quickly evolved into a passion.
Step one involved researching suppliers to identify the best replacement parts at the best prices. Step two: Kennedy quickly developed a reputation as the goto- guy when his buddies’ Jeeps broke or needed a good go-fast or go-tougher upgrade. Step three: Kennedy’s double garage became the site of what would eventually become the leading mail order cataloge of Jeep related parts.
Sadly, Kennedy passed away from asbestos cancer in 1997, but his wife and son have carried on the company’s tradition of quality parts and quality service. Before his death, Kennedy had brought in a friend to arrange for the sale of the company. In 2000, 4Wheel Drive Hardware was purchased by an investment group and Barry Ryan was approached to step in as president. With a background of management positions in the recreation and leisure industry, he visited the Columbiana, Ohio facility.
“What I found was an excellently run company; a company that knew who it was.” Ryan figured the one thing he could bring to the mix was more contemporary marketing. A few years later, the investment group Pfingsten Partners sold the company to Transamerican Auto Parts. “We’re very conscious of the heritage of this company,” says Ryan. “We have employees who have been here from the beginning.” Following the philosophy of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, Ryan’s efforts have been to develop more niches and be the best in each one. The emphasis had always been on the traditional CJ and Wranglers as well as the vintage Jeeps from 1941 to the mid-70s.
Now there’s a separate catalog for the Cherokee as well. “The Cherokee enthusiasts are kind of a cult,” Ryan explains. Currently, that cult accounts for 25 percent of the business. In a little over 28 years, the company one man started in his garage has grown into a 100,000 square-foot facility with over 100 employees. One of those employees, a competitive rock crawler, started the North East Crawlers club and came up with the idea for the rock park testing ground. If images of a gear-head guy spring to mind, you’ve underestimated the overwhelming passion for all things dirt (and rock) at 4Wheel Drive Hardware. The employee is the 28- year-old webmaster at the company, and female, Kelly Young. She bought her stock, low-mileage ’97 Wrangler five years ago.
The first upgrade was a set of floormats that Ryan put in the Jeep the first day it showed up in Jeep Row. In 2004, Young landed tickets to the NEUROC finals and decided this was a sport she could get into. She successfully pitched 4WD for sponsorship and the Jeep conversion began.
“I wanted the Jeep to stand out,” Young says, “so I went with a VW rally green paint job.” The suspension was upgraded, a custom roll cage installed, gears were lowered, rock crawler tires and underbody skid protection were just some additions before the 2005 season in the regional UROC circuit. Young and her green Jeep landed in the top 10 during her first year of competition.
For the 2006 season, Young dropped a 4.3-liter Vortec engine and transmission into the Jeep, giving her the power lacking that first year. Cutting brakes, a fuel cell and matching green and black seat covers from Mastercraft rounded out the upgrades. “At first I thought I’d quit the sport when I rolled,” Young says. “But I’ve rolled twice now.” She currently competes in the stock modified class but has aspirations to go up to the modified class with tire sizes up to 37-inches.
Young’s suggestion to build a rock course on the site of 4Wheel Drive Hardware came during a discussion of the company’s annual Jamboree-a Jeep celebration for suppliers, customers and employees. While rocks grow wild in the west, the primary source in the northeast are quarries. Tons and tons of quarry rock were brought to the site, then artfully arranged into a challenging course with heavy equipment. That qualifies for the “living it” part of 4Wheel Drive Hardware’s motto.
So, what’s the big deal about a mail order company, you might ask. After all, the majority of the civilized world has access to the internet and all the parts and pieces in the universe, right? If you’ve ever tried to find a set of floormats, for example, for your specific Jeep model, or any other upgrade for that matter, you’d never ask that question. Go ahead, google “floormats,” I dare ya’. You’ll spend the next hour or more flipping through worthless sites — think cocoa-mats, if you’re old enough to remember them — before you hit on a manufacturer like Husky that actually makes mats worthy of an off-road vehicle. Now, you get to wade through that site to find the exact mat that fits your application.
Another good example is wheels and tires, products the company added in March, 2006. “We’re quickly becoming the leader in wheels and tires for Jeeps,” says Ryan. “There’s an important distinction with Jeep owners. We’re not doing the oversized wheels that other truck owners are leaning towards. We stick with the 15-inch, heavy-duty looking wheels, because that’s what the Jeep customer wants.”
The big deal about a mail order company is the simple fact that they’ve already done all the work for you. “We carry all the major brands,” says Ryan, “all the hard parts and accessories. And we make sure they all work. We have to understand the product before we sell it, especially with the critical parts.” The company does some private branding, such as with fiberglass Jeep bodies. It has also worked with suppliers to provide the heavy-duty accessories that Jeep customers need.
4Wheel Drive Hardware encourages employees to use and test product. This program serves as both a way to guarantee solid, well-informed technical support and a built-in quality control, invaluable in a company that bases its reputation on the products it sells.
“When you ask people what they want,” says Ryan, “the first thing they’ll say is price. What they really want is product expertise. Our technical support staff is made up of dedicated Jeep lovers. You can’t recruit that kind of support.”
Ryan cites the frantic weekend caller with a Jeep up on chocks in his driveway, blocking access to the family car. His wife wanted the thing moved by Sunday morning so they could get to church. He called to find out how to install a transmission. “He got his answer,” says Ryan. “Our guy didn’t have to consult a manual, he’d installed enough trannies in Jeeps to talk the guy through the process.” If a customer comes up with a really tough question, there’s always the “walker” whose sole job is to jump in with tech support.
You can talk about slogans and niche marketing, but the reality is this: if you need a Jeep part, 4Wheel Drive Hardware will have it, the sales guy you talk to has probably used it and can tell you how to install it. And that’s no fantasy.
SOURCE: 4Wheel Drive Hardware 800-555-3353 www.4wd.com