METALCLOAK VIDEO: MetalCloak's Rigs & Wrenches EP.8 – Jason Cooper | Rock Your 4X4 (Knoxville, TN)
In this Rigs & Wrenches episode, we roll into Knoxville, Tennessee to visit Rock Your 4x4, a gold-level MetalCloak installer run by Jason Cooper. The visit covers the shop's history and capabilities, the team’s approach to lift kits and custom builds (including LS swaps and one-ton axle work), why MetalCloak is a top choice for ride quality and durability, a look at Jason’s own Gladiator shop rig, a quick shop tour of current projects, and Jason’s personal connection to the off-road community and business philosophy.
Complete Transcript with Time Stamps:
[00:00] Today, we're rolling into Knoxville, Tennessee, right in the heart of the Smoky Mountains, checking out a gold level dealer that's been wrenching, wheeling, and keeping rigs trail ready for years.
[00:12] At Rock Your 4x4, it's all about smart upgrades, professional installs, and rigs built to handle whatever the trail throws at them.
[00:22] Meet Jason Cooper. He's no stranger to the rocks, mud, and Tennessee trails. From late nights in the shop to long days on the trail, Jason's passion for 4x4s have made Rock Your 4x4 a go-to spot for wheelers who want to get it done right. This is Rigs & Wrenches.
[00:55] Today, we are in Northwest Knoxville at one of our gold and MetalCloak installers, Rock Your 4x4. This is Mr. Jason Cooper. He's pretty awesome. Let's go check out his shop.
[01:10] Mr. Cooper. Hello. How are you today? Doing fine. Awesome. Well, this is Jason Cooper. He's one of our gold MetalCloak installers. Pretty cool guy. So tell us a little bit about your shop.
[01:23] Well, we have been in business since 2004. We moved into this shop about nine years ago. Bought this shop nine years ago and things are going great. We stay busy, usually booked out at least four to eight weeks in that range. Most of the time we primarily focus on Jeep, truck and SUV lift kits, wheels, tires, etc. We do a lot of LS swaps, one ton axle swaps, and then a few custom suspensions here and there.
[01:50] How many square feet you got? I think we are around 6,000 square feet here. Wow, it's pretty big, as you can tell. We got, I can see a lot of MetalCloak projects going on. We have quite a few, yes. Yes, that's awesome.
[02:02] So I know you're from Tennessee. Where is your favorite place to wheel here in Tennessee or anywhere. Well, we have the largest off-road park privately owned in the country right here in our neck of the woods at 72,000 acres. And occasionally we will just head up after work and go hit a trail or two and then come home and we can be home before it gets dark. So fix all the things. We're that close. Yeah. That's awesome.
[02:28] So I know you have probably a lot of other lift kits in your inventory that you sell. So why do you think MetalCloak is probably your top tier? MetalCloak suspensions? What others do you use?
[02:41] MetalCloak offers a wide variety of options. from short arm to long arm. We have customers that will get the True Dual Rate kit and then they'll come back a few months later and upgrade that to a Game-Changer. One of the key selling points is we don't really have to talk many people into it. They come in here wanting that and they know that we are the gold level dealer in this area so they come seek us out and then we just get it all scheduled and get it done and we never really have any complaints whatsoever.
[03:10] So do you tend to put our joints? Do you get lots of requests for those to go in other suspension companies? Well, we actually have rebuilt several older, like say a Rough Country kit from 10 or 15 years ago. We've actually rebuilt the arms of those kits with the Duroflex Joints in the welder option. And then they've also got the kind with the shank that screws right in.
[03:35] Can you tell us about your shop rig. What do you wheel and what kind of things do you like about it? Well, I have a 2022 Gladiator Diesel. It's running 42" tires and a 4.5" MetalCloak spring on it. But we've got Fox shocks that we're getting ready to swap out for some RockSport Blacks. So anxious to get those on there. But we pretty much love to go wheeling, camping, hanging out with customers.
[04:02] So when your customers come in, how do you sell them MetalCloak over everything else? Well, so we've got a wide range of folks. We've got folks that come in that never go off-road. They may do something like a cheap spacer kit, but the key selling point for the MetalCloak for us is ride quality. Just the amount of rubber that is in the Duroflex Joint actually translates to a better ride quality than a factory control arm. So we tend to gravitate towards the MetalCloak just because we have such a great reputation with using their parts. And we just give them the option of telling us what they're going to use the vehicle for. And some of these people will say, I'm never going to go off-road. So if they want the best ride quality, they'll still get a Game-Changer because they want the best ride quality from all the rubber and all the free range of motion that a kit like that provides.
[04:52] Sounds good. So do you want to give us a shop tour and tell us what we're working on? Sure. Yeah. So we've got a gentleman here from North Carolina and we are doing an older Poison Spyder cage that he found somewhere in a barn. So we're putting a Poison Spyder cage in that vehicle. Over here, Drew is working on doing a 2" lift on this airbag equipped new Tundra. Back here, we've got a JK out of Kentucky and we did a 4-Link Long Arm Kit on it and in the process of doing an LS swap. Back here, we've got another JK, this gentleman came in and he wants to run 37's. So we're doing a set of Dynatrac, Dana 60s with a 3.5" Game-Changer.
[05:41] So Jason, what other challenges do you have with other suspension companies in lieu of the most awesome suspension company, which is MetalCloak? Right. So we'll have a Jeep that's in here. Maybe it's five years, the kit's five years old or it might be a year old. There's a specific company that we deal with a lot that if you need a joint, they've changed their joints so many times and we never can get the actual part. We have to end up taking the arm off the vehicle, disassemble it, take pictures, email those pictures to that company, and then they might get us the right joint. So over the span of 15 years, they may have changed their joint five or six times probably. So it's really confusing and frustrating as well.
[06:26] So you would say that it's easier to install and you don't have to do a whole lot of maintenance on our joints compared to anybody else. Correct, right. Yeah, just a little bit of that silicone around the perimeter of that joint as it slides in and it's good for a while.
[06:38] So I know you're probably involved in some club or you do things in your community. What led you into doing the shop and doing those things. Well, I've always had a passion for the off-road and whenever I was five, my parents got me a little ATC 70. And I remember doing donuts in the driveway in the snow the day after Christmas. Oh, goodness. And just enjoy being off-road and that whole aspect of things. And then when I turned 16, I joined Southern Four-Wheel Drive Association and started going to their Dixie Run event that they have annually. And that's actually coming up here just in a few weeks. But love going off-road, love camping.
[07:20] Our business model is focused on taking care of the folks in a courteous manner. We have a lot of people that come to us because how we treat them. I think just having the focus of doing the right thing in a godly manner and just supporting the off-road industry and taking care of the property that we're on, cleaning up the the terrain and that sort of thing.
[07:47] Well, that's a wrap from Rock Your 4x4. Huge thanks for Jason for letting us behind the scenes showing us what makes their shop tick. If you're rolling through the area, make sure you stop and check them out. You'll be glad you did. See you next time on Rigs & Wrenches.
For more information about this kit CLICK HERE.