"I bought a Jeep, and a friend of mine took me four-wheeling," Carline said, adding that shortly after that, he lifted the suspension on the Jeep and caught the wheeling bug.

Soon friends started having him work on their vehicles during the weekends and a couple of nights during the week out of his home in April 2004, he said.  Those same contacts led to him to commit to opening a shop only three months later, he said.

Equipped with experience as a shop foreman for a local Chrysler Jeep dealership, Carline said he worked nights out of his home and garage, and began selling parts on the Internet to local enthusiast clubs, offering to install the sold parts.

"In less than a year's time, I went from working out of my home to my current 9,000-square-foot, 12-bay location," he said.

Carline said the Axle Boy moniker actually comes from his days at the dealership.  When someone didn't know the answer to an axle question, they would direct the customer to Carline by saying, "Go ask the Axle Boy over there," he said.

At first, Carline said his business ambition was to have the biggest, best, and most well-known shop.  His aim was to build every Jeep on the road and sell every 4x4 part that could be sold in the area, he said.  It took a little while to figure out that less is more, he said, adding that he soon felt the need to streamline and focus his business direction.

"I quickly came to the realization that more isn't the answer; it's being better at what you do and providing a higher quality of work for your customers than your competition," he said.  "Off-road customers are very loyal, and once they like you and trust you, the sky's the limit."

Most of Axle Boy's business stems from different levels of off-road enthusiasts; however, a common theme for many of Carline's customers is that they want and prefer a higher level of service.

"They come in looking to us as the expert," he said. "They rely on us to know what parts they need to get the desired feel, look, and performance that they are looking for out of their vehicle."

Carline attributed some of his success and knowledge to being an off-road junkie himself.

"I think I belong to every Jeep club in the world, which allows me to keep up with the trends," he said, adding that he follows the rock-crawling circuit and watches what the professionals in the community are doing, and applies those innovations to his customers' vehicles.

For example, Carline said, about 10 years ago, customers wanted as much up and down suspension travel as possible, which makes the vehicle unstable.  He said he now usually recommends only three to four inches of up travel with as much down travel as possible, providing a much more stable ride and lower center of gravity.

Axle Boy works closely with Reuther Jeep.  They share many of the same customers, performing different levels of service for them, Carline said.  "We go to events together, we sponsor clubs together, we do joint advertising, and we compete together," he said.

Since Axle Boy is so well known in the four-wheel-drive community, a good part of its business also comes from routine maintenance, Carline said.  "We get most of our general maintenance parts from local suppliers like Al's Automotive and CARQUEST," he said, "things like filters, fluids, gaskets, and bearings.

"It's a big part of our business that could lead into other jobs like custom builds," he said. "We also get a lot of wholesale work from other businesses, the ones that may not want to replace a ring and pinion, for instance."

Carline said his goal is to become the premier four-wheel-drive and auto and tire shop in the area, focused on customer service and relationships rather than price and volume. "We're not the cheapest, so we need to be the best," he said.