METALCLOAK VIDEO: MetalCloak's Rigs & Wrenches EP.5 – Scott Arentz | CloakWorks 4x4 (Placerville, CA)
In this episode of MetalCloak's Rigs & Wrenches, we visit CloakWorks 4x4 in Placerville, California, a shop located just an hour from the famous Rubicon Trail. Scott Arentz, the man behind CloakWorks, shares his journey from a kid riding motorcycles to becoming a trusted fabricator and mechanic in the off-road community. We get an exclusive tour of the spacious facility, insights into suspension brands with a strong endorsement for MetalCloak, and a look at Scott’s personal Jeep builds, including a Hemi-swapped JK running MetalCloak long arms. The episode also covers Scott’s role supporting trail repairs on the Rubicon and his favorite wheeling destinations, making this a must-watch for anyone interested in Jeep culture, custom fabrication, and off-road adventures in Northern California and beyond.
Complete Transcript with Time Stamps
[00:14] Good morning, everyone. It is Mike with MetalCloak. Welcome to Rigs and Wrenches. We are here in Placerville, California, a historic gold rush town nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills near the Rubicon Trail at the home of CloakWorks 4x4. They used to be in our facility down in Rancho Cordova. They got bigger, outgrew us. We needed more space, so they came up here to Placerville and they've got this amazing location.
[00:35] But today's their customer appreciation day. We have our CTI trailer here, our brand new trailer number two in full operation today. There's gonna be a show and shine. Whole bunch of people showing up here in a couple hours. So we're gonna go and interview Scott, get a tour of the facility, and see what CloakWorks is all about.
[00:51] Scott, how are you? Good, good morning. Customer appreciation day. Yeah it is. Good to see you. You too. I've only been up here a couple times, but I like the shop. Yeah, it's turned out pretty good. A little bit more room than down in Sacramento. Yeah, nice we're not tripping over each other anymore. So how many years you've been up here now? Three, a little over three. Three now.
[01:12] So tell me, how did you get into, how'd you get in the off-road industry? Oh, when I was a kid, we used to motorcycle ride, and then we got into Jeeps and stuff. And my dad was into Jeeps, so I got into Jeeps. And then I did like, eight years as a journeyman mechanic just doing the Jeep stuff kinda on the side, messing around, and then decided to make it my full time employment, and that was a long time ago. So you've kinda grown up here in Northern California for the most part? Yeah. Probably been up on the Rubicon since day one? Yeah. Since early eighties.
[01:48] So the neat thing about Placerville is we're, what an hour a little over an hour away from the trailhead? Yep. So this is probably one of the closest big shops to the Rubicon Trail. Scott's kinda the main go to down here right outside of Placerville for repairs, people coming on and off the Rubicon.
[02:04] Jeepers Jamboree, Jeep Jamboree, and Jeep Jam USA are all big groups that go through the Rubicon each year. You're one of the mechanics or one of the mechanic stations up there. Yeah, I help run the mechanic's crew at Buck Island. So we do all the repairs from basically the beginning of the trail to the middle of the trail, anything to get them into main camp. I mean, I've welded rear end housings completely back together, pulled engine rods out, and pulled the rockers and stuff to get them out on five cylinders before. It's, we've done some pretty crazy stuff.
[02:34] But that's not what we're here to talk about. We're here to talk about Cloakworks and get a little tour of the shop. Why don't you take us on a little tour. Show us around. We have basically three sets of bays, but there's six racks through the whole thing. So this Jeep is basically, he wants to get it, it's been sitting for a little while, and he wants to get it up to where it's good to go for the season, go wheeling again. So it needed ball joints and wheel bearings and control arm bushings, a whole bunch of stuff. So we're just tidying it up, trying to make it safe to drive.
[03:04] If someone comes in and says, "I'm looking at you know Rock Krawler vs Teraflex vs MetalCloak", what do you tell them? Most of the time, it's always MetalCloak depending upon what the vehicle is and what's available. You know, honestly, I've worked with MetalCloak for a long time when they first started, helping them kinda with ideas, and they build a better mousetrap.
[03:25] And you've been working on a lot of different Jeeps from CJs, TJs, JLs, JKs, and so forth. Do you have a favorite platform? I like my LJ. Yeah, I've got one, kinda one of each, but they're fun. You've got a LJ, I know you got a JK, 4-door. I have a Bob Scrambler that was in, it was in four wheel and sport utility a couple times back in the day, so it's out front.
[03:49] So what suspension do you have on your rig? Full MetalCloak Long Arm has a Hemi in it. It's got the truck VVT Hemi in it with the eight speed automatic, and then it's got a sixty and a fourteen bolt. So it's pretty well set up.
[04:02] What's your favorite? You like the rock crawling? You like the overland? A little bit of both? I like a little bit of both. I'm getting older, so the rock crawling, it's still fun. I enjoy it, but you hit a point where it's like, sometimes it's just nice to go cruise and see something you just, the average person can't go see.
[04:18] And what is the majority of the work? Are you doing engine work too? We do some engine work. Every once in a while, we'll do a hemi conversion. A lot of electrical stuff, add-ons? Yeah. We do a lot of lights, bumpers, you know, roof racks, a lot of gear work. We do a ton of gear work. So we do we do tires and wheels, you know in house, so we do a lot of that.
[04:37] Our storage pretty much is upstairs, so we got storage in the back room over the top. These two bays, and then the backside is kind of our machine area. Who's forty? That's a customer's, I get a couple of them in here. It's a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ 40. It looks like, early seventy three, seventy four. Seventy four. They're both seventy fours. Oh, that's another one nice.
[05:01] So aside from Jeeps and obviously Land Cruisers, what else do you work on? We do some truck stuff, you know basic leveling kits, lift kits, you know some wheels and tires on them. Take a walk out back and see our view of up over the Rubicon. There you go, nice. Yeah, the guys hang out out here on their breaks on lunchtime.
[05:21] So Rubicon Trail. Point to it. Basically, straight that way. Like, that telephone pole straight out. So how many shops in California have a a view of basically the mountains where Rubicon starts? I mean, it's right there. And you got some good storage down here too, which is one of the reasons why they moved up here to have this kind of overstock area. Yep.
[05:40] What are some of the challenges you face, with customers and other brands? I mean, things you've run into. Our biggest issue is just longevity of the parts and a lot of other manufacturers' parts. I hate putting something on and six months later we have a, you know bushing failure or a track bar bushing failure, and it's got, drives bad and sloppy. It's just, it's no fun, and then the customer's not happy when they come back.
[06:05] What are the common comebacks you see? You see many comebacks with MetalCloak? No. Hardly ever. I mean, back in the day there was a company that had severe bushing issues for a long time. And it was hard because you take care of your customer, but you're not getting paid for your labor to change parts out under warranty. So that's why we try to sell the best and not have those issues.
[06:30] So Rubicon's right there. I mean, if you were to load up your Jeep and could beam it anywhere in the world, where would you go to wheel? My two favorite spots are pretty much the Rubicon or Moab. Nice. You're kind of a Pritchett guy. Yeah, I love Pritchett Canyon. Every time we go out there, we've been, I've been out to Moab the last four years and done a little bit of wheeling, but Scott's usually out there helping us out. And first day or so, you're always out there. Oh yeah. That's the one we try to knock out first. That'll test you.
[06:58] And you typically take the JKU? Most of the time, I take the JK, yeah. Either the JK or my LJ. This is kind of our fab. A little fab area, nice very cool. You got a press brake. Shear ironworker. Or, this is basically like a big ironworker. It's a big punch press table. So, yeah, if you're in the area, if you're in Northern California and you need repairs done, you need some fab work, some whatever, cut bend, I mean Cloakworks can handle you. So reach out to them.
[07:30] We are going to kick off your customer appreciation day. How many people you think are gonna be here? I'm hoping a lot. The following with MetalCloak and Cloakworks here in Northern California is really big. So I anticipate there'll be a full crowd out there. And so we're gonna be walking around. We'll get some Jeeps up on the trailer, test out the new trailer. Hopefully it works good. It literally just got finished yesterday and my Jeep was the first one on it to test it out and it worked fine. So fingers crossed. We'll get out there, have a good day, follow along, and yeah just have a good time.
[08:02] Cool. Thanks, Scott. Appreciate it. Yep.
[09:30] Hey everybody, that's a wrap for our customer appreciation day out here at CloakWorks in Placerville. Thanks for watching. Make sure you subscribe to our channel. If you have any comments, leave them below. My name is Mike. We'll see you on the next episode of Rigs and Wrenches.
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