GEN 2 RPG OFFROAD - going bankrupt?

[Sunburn]

Welp…. I know the story isn’t over but, I’ve seen enough to make up my mind….
Good luck man I hope you do get your money back, and thanks for the heads up.

 

[Antho]

The burns in the back window is pure sh1tty.

 

[Positive Traction]

Wow! I can’t believe this happened to you. I’m glad it didn’t impact your enthusiasm for the community. Thank you for sharing. I’ll definitely hold off on buying anything more from them until this is resolved.

 

[John813]

Well done video.
Shame about their delays, and failed promises. While I will never be on the level of doing such upgrades to my truck, it does still put a bad taste for even buying billet trailing arms or any parts from specifically made by them.

 

[Tatonka]

RPG was actually the company that set the deadline. they said 2-3 weeks initially. Had my truck for months. Truck was sitting while they released the 5 link, we changed to that order, which they said would add 2-3 months to the timeline. Think I was #2 to order that kit. They had my truck for almost 15 months, most of the time it just sat there disassembled. All this is documented. I was invoiced for the build 12/8/2022 (Total Invoice at time of $61,115.19) and I paid a deposit of $48,766.14 prior to drop off. I was told that ALL of the parts would be on hand at time of Drop off. The Truck was dropped off at RPG 3/20/2023 and was transferred to HRD 9/13/2024. I'm no stranger to complex multi-year builds. This build should not have been one of those builds.

DUDE, TATONKA! Blast from the past! Glad to see you still active with car forums. Were you into fords back then too or like me did you move from BMW's to Fords? Do you have a GT500
?!

HRD has been great. Really have had a positive experience with them. Their service and communication has been excellent. I was really in a bad spot with this build and Bailey and team really bailed me out. Like I can't even thank them enough. Generally they do full builds and make some awesome stuff and my project was more a job focused around correcting things etc. etc. It wasn't a particularly fun build for any shop to pick up. Ill 100% be doing a full build with them. Would love to give Bailey a Bronco Raptor or Ranger Raptor and just let them do their thing.



Reno to Vegas is just the route. Im based in Northern California and have a group of guys that I go out with. We used to run with EXO back in the day, but now we just go out 4-5 trucks. Generally we run around Reno with Reno to Black Rock or Fallon to Tanopah as our main runs but every year we like to do a larger run. The last large run was Reno to Vegas. Next longer run we are going to do Reno to Barstow. I’ll post more pics and videos of the truck.

Everything bro. Carrying the GT350R and the wide body GT500 now. I offloaded the Supra and Type R.

 

[TomDirt]

You sir had way more patience than I imagine I’d have. Sh!tty thing to go through.

This^^^

 

[scottp6188]

The amount of patience you had is commendable, I know if my truck was there for that long I would have made MULTIPLE trips to the shop to confront them directly with spending the money that you did. Granted its my daily driver, but they fumbled so badly on everything you touched on. I used to want to get some of their parts, but after this no chance.

 

[ilikebmxbikes]

Honestly this seems like the same business model Hennessey had.

Seems like its a more common occurrence than people think.

Welp…. I know the story isn’t over but, I’ve seen enough to make up my mind….
Good luck man I hope you do get your money back, and thanks for the heads up.

Thank you. If RPG makes it right ( Not holding my breath), Ill make sure it is known.

The burns in the back window is pure sh1tty.

It's extremely frustrating. I spent all that time finding and buying a very specific truck in beautiful condition, only to have shit like that happen. There are other minor damages on the truck it incurred while in their possession that I didn't include in the video. Minor scratches and things I can forgive because at the end of the day, I'm going to hammer the truck on the trail. That stuff happens - but the pitted glass really upsets me. In some light conditions you see it reflect inward. Its triggering.

Wow! I can’t believe this happened to you. I’m glad it didn’t impact your enthusiasm for the community. Thank you for sharing. I’ll definitely hold off on buying anything more from them until this is resolved.

Thank you. I'm determined to move forward. I'm going to continue to work with HRD to get this truck sorted and I want to bring a Braptor or Ranger Rap down to HRD and let them do a build. It's no fun for any shop as talented as HRD to do this type of corrective work. I want to bring them a project where they can make something they are proud of. I can't reiterate enough how grateful I am that they helped bail me out of this mess. I also want to be clear that HRD and RPG are friendly and never once did HRD talk shit or get involved in any of this. They are just straight professionals and wanted to help.

Well done video.
Shame about their delays, and failed promises. While I will never be on the level of doing such upgrades to my truck, it does still put a bad taste for even buying billet trailing arms or any parts from specifically made by them.

Trust me, I have two trucks that are covered in their parts with their logos everywhere. Have a lot of mixed feelings when I look at my vehicles.

Everything bro. Carrying the GT350R and the wide body GT500 now. I offloaded the Supra and Type R.

Hell yeah man. Glad to see you are thriving.

This^^^

The amount of patience you had is commendable, I know if my truck was there for that long I would have made MULTIPLE trips to the shop to confront them directly with spending the money that you did. Granted its my daily driver, but they fumbled so badly on everything you touched on. I used to want to get some of their parts, but after this no chance.

Thank you. Fortunately this vehicle isnt my daily driver, but it did force me to offroad and hammer my daily driver ( The Bronco) longer than I wanted.

 

[smurfslayer]

As you were.

If there’s one thing I harp on here, it’s to NEVER modify a vehicle that has a known problem, you’ll only make the troubleshooting worse. Here, you kept adding to the project even after several missed deadlines and obvious indicators that something was wrong. Ok, two things, the people who inarticulately use the word ‘loose’ when the should use ‘lose’...Did you ever go down to RPG to lay eyes on the truck?

I feel like a lot of this could have been avoided by taking trip to RPG, where you likely would have seen any progress, or lack of progress on your truck. You basically ghosted your Raptor for... a year?


You’re laying out in mods what you could have bought a Jen Juan Raptor for. Let’s set that one aside.

Be honest: If you had visited RPG and noticed little to now progress on your Rap, would you have even thought to say - you know what, my plans have changed, button it up and let’s settle up.
Or would you have just knuckled under and let it slide and added more work to the work order?

I’ve done this and for a whole fùck of a lot less than 30 large. There are no peerless fabricators, mechanics, techs or aftermarket shops. There are always choices.
Unfortunately, you’ve spent a good portion of the last year plus learning a very hard and expensive life lesson - well, a few.

You were correct in some of your other self assessments, but you didn’t just ‘give RPG too much slack’, you facilitated them ignoring your truck. They had all the cards and no incentive to move further, while they completed other, less involved projects while you kept stacking more work on to your project.

It sucks that this engagement with RPG went sideways. Thanks for the info.

 

[ilikebmxbikes]

View attachment 486051

As you were.

If there’s one thing I harp on here, it’s to NEVER modify a vehicle that has a known problem, you’ll only make the troubleshooting worse. Here, you kept adding to the project even after several missed deadlines and obvious indicators that something was wrong. Ok, two things, the people who inarticulately use the word ‘loose’ when the should use ‘lose’...Did you ever go down to RPG to lay eyes on the truck?

I feel like a lot of this could have been avoided by taking trip to RPG, where you likely would have seen any progress, or lack of progress on your truck. You basically ghosted your Raptor for... a year?
View attachment 486055

You’re laying out in mods what you could have bought a Jen Juan Raptor for. Let’s set that one aside.

Be honest: If you had visited RPG and noticed little to now progress on your Rap, would you have even thought to say - you know what, my plans have changed, button it up and let’s settle up.
Or would you have just knuckled under and let it slide and added more work to the work order?

I’ve done this and for a whole fùck of a lot less than 30 large. There are no peerless fabricators, mechanics, techs or aftermarket shops. There are always choices.
Unfortunately, you’ve spent a good portion of the last year plus learning a very hard and expensive life lesson - well, a few.

You were correct in some of your other self assessments, but you didn’t just ‘give RPG too much slack’, you facilitated them ignoring your truck. They had all the cards and no incentive to move further, while they completed other, less involved projects while you kept stacking more work on to your project.

It sucks that this engagement with RPG went sideways. Thanks for the info.

100% agree. Lot of areas I could have done this differently. I did add small things but none of it equaled the delays that I had. Lights, gears, etc should have only added a few days to the build. Not a year. Also the work and damages are just inexcusable. They have owed me thousands of dollars for months and just have been jerking me around with zero movement on actually resolving anything. The wild thing is that it is all in writing and they just flagrantly do not care. The fact that they fear no legal repercussions in such a clear cut case is extremely alarming.

I live in northern California and they are in southern California. Its about a 15 hour round trip for me. So I can't just pop in. I also work a rather demanding job, got engaged / married, did a kitchen & bathroom remodel, launched a popular YouTube channel based around another hobby and started a family during this period with RPG.

absolutely learned a lot of lessons on this one. I think when your truck is in parts and you are as deep as I was, you really do feel like a hostage. I just held on and hoped RPG was telling the truth. Honestly, I was in denial that they could operate this way. I have done large multi-year long builds before that are more complicated than this one. I generally am very hands on and do project manage everything. But had a lot going on in my personal life during this one. This was largely a bolt on build. It was all so bad it felt like a bad joke. At times it felt like Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out of my truck. Giving me another customers license plate? They didnt even ask me to mail it back to them to give to the original owner.

It's really unfortunate. I really was a believer in RPG when I started this build. I was extremely confident in them and their reputation and this experience really shattered that. The community has really given me a lot of support after posting this video and a lot of people have messaged me with similar stories they or their friends have experienced with RPG. A lot of people just stayed silent and many thanked me for telling my story.

I'll be making more content documenting this journey as I recover. If RPG makes it right, I will let everyone know. Ill continue to document this truck as HRD continues to sort it out. This story won't end as a negative one, positive things are coming.