MC VIDEO: MetalCloak's Rigs & Wrenches EP.4 – Brad Wilkins | OverBuilt Customs (Jacksonville, FL)
In this episode of MetalCloak's Rigs & Wrenches, we visit Overbuilt Customs in Jacksonville, Florida, where Brad Wilkins has been building and restoring Jeeps since 2004. Brad shares the journey of his shop, from CJ restorations to becoming a trusted installer of MetalCloak suspension kits. We get an exclusive look at current projects including turbocharged TJs, CJ restorations, and long arm kits. Brad explains why he prefers MetalCloak products for their quality, low maintenance, and excellent customer service. The episode also highlights a customer’s 3,000-mile Baja expedition with a fully built MetalCloak-equipped Gladiator, showcasing durability and performance. The visit wraps up with a lively CTI event and a great turnout of Jeep enthusiasts.
Complete Transcript with Time Stamps:
0:00 Hey, everybody. It is Mike here, and I am in the northern part of Florida in Jacksonville at Overbuilt Customs to meet this guy right here, Brad. Brad? Mike with MetalCloak. I'm Brad Wilkins with, Overbuilt Customs.
0:15 Yeah. So we are up here for a CTI event today. Brad is one of our gold plus authorized installers for MetalCloak. So we are here. The trailer's behind you. We're gonna be setting that up today. It's kind of a, probably like a customer appreciation thing. Invite all your people out.
0:32 Yeah. People out. Also, people that had never visited the shop before as well. We put it out there on social media, so we'll see.
0:39 Yeah. We'll see. See who shows up. We put a little plug this morning as we're leaving Titusville. Brad, tell me a little bit about shop. How long you've been in business?
0:47 So we opened a shop up in 2004 and, before that we'd always into jeeps and wheeling and stuff like that and, actually had the building since well, part of the building since ninety three. So it only makes sense to to open it up over here, and it's a nice area. It's quiet.
1:05 Yeah. And, we, used to specialize in doing basically CJ restorations. And then in two thousand eight when the economy kinda tanked, we kinda changed direction and did more installs, lifts, wheels, tires. We chose MetalCloak as our primary brand, because it was a nice product. It it looked like a great product. And then after selling it, the customer service is insane. So it's been a no brainer.
1:29 Take me a little tour of the shop.
1:31 Absolutely. So, as you can see, we this is one of our, our tech's jeeps. He, it's a 2006 TJ and he just put a MetalCloak, short arm. Oh, nice. Kit on it. It's, he's got it's a four liter. He turbocharged it. But, he put the, the short arm kit on it. He turboed the motor, put thirty threes on it. He just put a eight point eight rear axle in it, and he's getting ready to regear the front. And, hopefully, we can go to the mountain soon and, have a good time.
2:04 Nice. This is a Jeep wanting to come in for a restoration. This one that just came in for an engine conversion and a little little bit of work, but this is a brand new LS three. It's got a six speed automatic, AC, hydro boost brakes. It's good to see the CJs. I like CJs.
2:19 This is where we do our lift kit installs. We do we we have an aligner. We just bought some new tire equipment. This is a TJ back here. This one has the long arm kit on it and it's it's a ride to drive, but it's got the MetalCloak long arm. Yes. He's gonna do the coil spring corrections in the rear and then, some other stuff he's gonna do. But he doesn't really wheel it that hard. We're trying to get him out there to have fun.
2:44 The long arm kits are awesome. They, installed real nicely. Customers love them. Mad Flex, we've done, one that had Fusion sixties under it, and she is a trail boss. She, started out three years ago with the stock Jeep. We put a, true dual rate kit on it. She upgraded to a game changer kit. She regear lockers and and then she's riding on thirty fives and thirty sevens, and now she's on thirty eights with one tons and and, long arms. Progression.
3:13 Yeah. So what Oh, yeah. You, what do you personally like about our product line? I mean, we hear a lot of different reasons, but there's a common theme. I'm kinda curious what your thoughts are. What I like is quality of the kit. I don't have any comebacks. Rarely ever do we have a comeback. We don't have any squeak issues, and, so as quality wise, no no complaints there.
3:34 It used to be we would sell a kit, and we'd wait about a month to five weeks. That has changed to where I've noticed that a lot of times you order a kit, and either it shipped in the next couple days or, like, maybe a week later, but the shipping times improved immensely, so that's helped out a lot with sales.
3:51 If anything does arise, and things have happened, you guys have been amazing. When I switched to MetalCloak, I was selling another brand. A little more maintenance, you had the grease joints and stuff like that. In the two years, you had to replace or rebuild some of the joints and stuff like that.
4:07 But I had an issue with the Jeep that came in that we installed. It was a TJ, again, a Rubicon. Really clean Jeep, and we put a three and a half inch kit on it, and it started to sag. Contacted warranty. Mhmm. And they the the things they wanted me to do weren't reasonable. I had to take the coils out, I had to measure them, this and that. I'm like, we just need to get the guy new coils and put them in and he'll be happy.
4:30 So we had a little not an argument, but a little discussion. And at the end of the discussion, they finally agreed to send out coils, made the guy happy. After that, kind of soured my my my my trust that I had in in them, and that's when I made the switch. And and like I say, looking back, no complaints. We love the product. Like I say, it's it's it kinda sells itself just about.
4:53 I have customers come in, and we sit down, and I tell them this is what they ought to put on. They leave, and I swear eight out of ten call back and say, okay. What's the next step? What do I need to do? Give a deposit? When they check out online, they'll look and see that, you know, it's a highly recommended brand. That's that's been a big help.
5:12 So we have a shop Gladiator, diesel Gladiator, and I put a two and a half inch, That's the black one? The black one. Yeah. I put a two and a half inch game changer on it with all the little good you know, some of the upgrade goodies, and then I ran the black shocks. And they're amazing.
5:30 Yeah. So we we built a Jeep for a customer. We ended up putting a whole new game changer kit under it with the black shocks, thirty eight inch tires with, Dana Spicer ultimate sixties front and rear and on beadlocks, and he's shipping it out to Baja. And they wanted to run a three thousand mile trip all through Baja, So he's with a large group of people, and it's also got a ProCharger, Supercharger on it. It's a it's it's a Pentastar, and it lived.
5:57 But the three thousand mile trip, he was with Ford Raptors, Jeeps, maybe some Broncos. I didn't hear the whole gamut of what what was on the trip with him. And three thousand miles, this gentleman had zero issues. Awesome.
6:10 He stocked up with some spares, air filters. He actually bought a nut and bolt kit, MetalCloak nut and bolt kit, which they had to use on other Jeeps. But, yeah, three thousand mile trip, all through Baja, rock crawling, high higher speed through desert. He was running the blacks, and, yeah, he loves the product.
6:27 Awesome. Well, we should probably get out there, give those guys a hand. It's eleven o'clock on the dot, and we're gonna go do some CTI events. And sell some products. Appreciate it.
6:38 Alright, folks. I think that's a wrap. We are wrapping up CTI operations here at Overbuilt Customs Jacksonville, Florida. Good turnout today. A lot of people, a lot of cool rigs, a lot of MetalCloak rigs. So thanks for following along on Rigs and Wrenches. We'll see you on the next episode. Have a great one.
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