METALCLOAK VIDEO: MetalCloak's Rigs & Wrenches EP.6 – Jeff Arabia | Arabia's Overkill (Campbell, CA)

 

This video takes you on a journey to Campbell, California, just outside San Jose, to visit Arabia's Overkill, a MetalCloak gold level dealer and custom shop that has been building and repairing Jeeps since 1992. Jeff Arabia, the owner and a seasoned Jeep mechanic, shares his passion for Jeeps, the shop's capabilities ranging from general automotive repairs to full custom fabrications, and his experience running the mechanic area at major Jeep events like Jeepers Jamboree. The video showcases various Jeep projects underway at the shop, highlights the quality and customer service of MetalCloak parts used in their builds, and offers insights into local off-roading spots and the Jeep community.

Complete Transcript with Time Stamps:

[00:00] Today, we're cruising down to Campbell, California just outside San Jose checking out a gold level dealer that's been grinding gears and building Jeeps since 1992. At Arabia's Overkill, it's all about precision-built trail rigs to fully caged customs. This place is where extreme meets reliable and every bolt's got a purpose.

[00:20] Meet Jeff Arabia. He's no stranger to the dirt. Back in the day, he was part of the elite recovery team for the top truck challenge, hauling out rigs that didn't survive the madness. This is Rigs and Wrenches.

[00:46] Hey, everybody. Mike here with MetalCloak. Welcome to Rigs and Wrenches. Today, we are down here in the South Bay, California in Campbell to meet Jeff from Arabia's Overkill. He's one of our gold level shops. We're gonna go in, meet Jeff, get a tour, a little walk around, see what Arabia's Overkill is all about.

[01:03] So Jeff here is the owner of Arabia's Overkill down here in Campbell, California. Nice little shop. Thank you. What square footage? Five thousand. Five thousand, and how many employees you got? Four. Four, how did you get into this?

[01:14] I started just general automotive back in '92. And I always worked on Jeeps. Always loved them, trucks. There was a Jeep at the shop, and there was another Jeep at the shop, and then another Jeep at the shop. And I think after a year or two, I think I had five there all the time. And some guy comes up and goes, are you a Jeep specialist? And I just answered, yes I am. Absolutely am. Jeep's picked me. I really believe that. I worked on Corvettes and tractors and Hyundais and Hondas and everything. And one day, it was just nothing but Jeep.

[01:45] Met you up in Rubicon Springs for Jeepers Jamboree last year. You're one of the mechanics. So you actually run the operation up there during Jeepers and Jeep? I run the mechanic area in main camp, and I run all communication and diagnostic on the trail as well. So it's a hell of a, we do both trips, Jeepers Jamboree and Jeep Jamboree. So it's nine days of repairing people up on the trail.

[02:09] Yeah, it's amazing what we can do with a stick and a rock and a hammer. Because that's what we have to use most of the time. So anyways, but that's not why we're here. We're here to talk about you and your shop and what's going on here. How about a little tour? Absolutely. Come on out.

[02:22] So we do we do a little bit of everything here, from general auto repair to bolt-ons to complete fabrication. So a little TJ is just getting a suspension, cooling system, valve cover leak. So a nice little job.

[02:36] This has been sitting for thirty years, so we've been trying to get it going again so we can get it back on the road. Clean for thirty years. Very clean. Original owner, original owner. Yah, he's been driving it around town for the last year.

[02:46] And then, trying to resurrect the FJ back to life. For this guy, it's been sitting for a decade. What year is that? That's a early one. Sixty nine. Sixty nine, I think it is.

[02:56] What we got working up on these lifts? JL 392. We built this one last year. Of course, MetalCloak Long Arm on it. We've got Currie Platinum seventies in it, 40's, MetalCloak Long Arm, Fox 2.5" shocks.

[03:08] Rocklander? He's a Rocklander. And, we're trying to get him up actually on Jamboree this year. We're gonna see if they can make it yet.

[03:14] You got Hollister pretty close by. Are there other places to go wheeling around here? Really just Hollister. I think, I don't know if Frank Range is still open. It's a little mellower. It's more just dirt roads and stuff like that. But Hollister's close. We have a lot of people out in this area that go to Hollister on a regular basis.

[03:28] What are the majority of your service? I mean, you're doing big builds, repairs, maintenance? Like, what do you see? It's almost even, really. Maintenance is huge for us, and in the general auto repair aspect. Probably when it comes to the most things we do are just building a brand new Jeep for somebody. Most of it would be bolt-on, right? So, of course, you know, MetalCloak lift, gears, we do a lot of differential work, brake upgrades, and then of course, bumpers and rockers and stuff like that.

[03:55] You do alignments here too? We do. Solid axle yeah. We do solid, no alignment machine. We do the digital angle finder and a tape measure and straight edges and stuff like that.

[04:03] And do you get many people coming in with like, stock off the showroom floor like, "Hey, this is what I wanna do. I wanna build it up." Always. Really? Every other day, brand new off the showroom room floor or they just picked it up and bought it brought it in.

[04:15] So they come in, they say, "Hey, I want a lift kit." What do you tell them? Well, I ask them what they wanna do with the vehicle first, right? Or what size tire they envision. What they wanna do with the car, how they're gonna use the vehicle. But for ninety five percent of the people, MetalCloak. Just nothing but MetalCloak. It's just they have the best joints in the industry for that specific application for a JK or a JL or something like that, TJ.

[04:40] Very well thought out components, everything very complete. And then the customer service. I mean, I've been doing this thirty three years and we have had a lot of issues trying to get a wrong or a bad part replaced and you know, I've had vehicles here for three weeks trying to get a replacement component that was broken in the box or it was mislabeled in the box and I mean my rent's outrageous. I can't have your rig sitting on my rack for three weeks and my customer wants their car.

[05:08] So outside of quality that MetalCloak has done, it's customer service. I make a phone call, somebody answers the phone always, and I have a part the next day.

[05:17] If someone's coming in and you're explaining like, we got big competitors out there, big suspension companies. MetalCloak, we've got good customer service. You had hinted something about our joints. I mean, what is it you like about our joints?

[05:32] They're quiet and they don't break. Dealt a lot of joints over the years. I mean, a lot of joints, and I just think you guys just took all of the good points of all these different joints. And then when you came out with your design for your Duroflex, I mean you just kicked it out of the freaking park.

[05:48] Jobbers say that they stock replacement joints from the other manufacturers because they have to. I'm almost out. I mean, Rubicon's out of business now, right? But, when Transamerica imploded, I bought every single rubber joint that Myer's had to be able to take care of customers that I put Rubicon Express on for twenty years.

[06:10] You stock many of our joints? No. We haven't had to. We got them a set for the... when you guys, before you even started putting the kits together, we put them on an older fabricator that had been working for me for years, and he beats the heck out of his Jeep and to torture test them. They're still on it. And that was, what fifteen years ago? Sixteen years ago? How long has that joint been out now? Time flies. And they're still on there and, still not an issue. 

[06:33] So as far as, you know you install all MetalCloak parts, do you get any comebacks and problems with stuff? No, I don't. That's why we use it.

[06:41] So, when people come in and they're looking at you know, mixing for instance, our springs with another company shocks, what do you tell them? That's very common in this industry. People bring us parts and say, "Hey, I bought this and I ordered it for a 3.5" lift." And I go, I believe you. But it is not the proper length shock or sway bar end link or whatever. So you guys have nailed that.

[07:04] I've been doing this a long time, and there, I have never found another company that has more attention to detail than you guys have. And that's huge. That's huge, you know? Plus, love everybody down there, you know? Kind of a local company for us, and I've known people forever. But, you know if it's MetalCloak, we don't ever have to worry about it. That's why we push it so hard.

[07:22] If you could trailer that up and had a whole week to go wheeling someplace, all expenses paid. Where would you go? Everywhere I possibly could. Favorite? I mean Rubicon's my baby, right? But, I love Fordyce. Love Fordyce. So Fordyce just unrelenting and way more challenging.

[07:40] Frequent our jobbers use their knowledge, their hundreds of years combined knowledge. I mean a lot of times you got guys in here who have been in the industry for thirty four years and you've seen it all. And so, you're looking to build a rig and you want first hand knowledge of what works and what doesn't, go see our jobbers. In this case, Jeff at Arabia's Overkill in Campbell, California. Appreciate it brother.

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