A visit to ARB and a great experience with Dudebud
06-08-2007, 12:10 PM
#1
Contributing Member
Thread Starter
A visit to ARB and a great experience with Dudebud
Well this week has turned out to be great, thanks to Dudebud in Carnation, Washington. The story starts with picking up my 2nd gen ARB torsion bars at the Renton Warehouse and while there I got a good look inside the place. The guys from Arb (thanks Seth and Chris!) took me on a tour and gave me keychains, stickers and catalogues from Oz. I spoke with some of the techs and got good advice on local installs (highly recommended in Washington for 4runner ARB air locker and other ARB installs were Jason at Eastside Custom in Kirkland, and Robbie at 4wheelparts in Lynnwood). Seeing as these recommendations came directly from some of the guys at ARB I will definitely keep these in mind. In the parking lot as always were some sick ARB equipped vehicles and I am attaching some photos. The Land Cruiser in particular was absolutely pristine both interior and exterior, and I could see the air locker actuators inside. Full OME suspension and bullbar/winch on BFG A/Ts.
The Tacoma was similarly equipped.
The next day I drove out to see Dudebud with my NWMP extended range tank in the back seat, along with SDORI rear coil spacers (2") from TRDPARTS4U and my altimeter (still not installed). It was a bit far towards the cascades but once arriving and meeting dudebud I knew that a fun day was in store. What a cool guy, SO KNOWLEDGEABLE about everything to do with runners, he can weld, paint, do engine work, he has a huge garage, plasma cutter, welder, the list goes on and on. he didn't mind me hanging around while he worked on my rig and I learned A LOT.
before he got started we went to pick up a client's 4runner which had been crushed under a tree. arriving there, the vehicle wouldn't start, and luckily I had my christmas present Xantrex Powerpack HD600 in the back, which I have been using for camping lately to run radios and ricecookers
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/182/p/1/pt/29/product.asp The 4runner started up and Dudebud drove it back to his place, it was in BAD SHAPE!
luckily the engine was still running but the entire rear cabin is destroyed. Dudebud will replace the entire body on this runner, an impressive feat.
returning to the shop we determined that with the 2"sdori rear spacers that my OME shocks would be overextended. we decided not to put them on, but frank at sdori can machine these down to 1" which would be perfect. dudebud then proceeded to install the extended range gas tank (11.5 gallons) which mounts below the spare tire. This took a long time to install as the fit was not exact and some drilling was required, also the primary gas tank had to be emptied completely and new gas lines and filters had to be routed. I had bought the master install kit from NWMP and it worked out great. Dudebud did a masterful job. the fill neck is in the rear passenger wheel well well out of the way and I have since filled it up and there is NO LEAK. it hides under the spare tire perfectly and when full I can feel a more stable ride, I really recommend this tank and combined with the main 17.5 gallons there's almost 30 gal for extended trips. http://www.nwmp.com/search.asp
After that Dudebud tapped into the IFS truss and bolted the Budbuilt IFS skid so that it was no longer hanging off after I stupidly stripped the stock bolt. This is a huge relief. Dudebud also installed a rear spoiler which looks fantastic (stock black repainted spoiler) and rerouted a heater hose in my air intake that was pinched. He also determined the reason for my oil pressure gauge's maximum level reading which was that it became crispified against the header and burned to a blackened husk
This is something I will have to think about replacing someday perhaps, good to know oil pressure from time to time
anyway my experience with dudebud was totally fantastic, I had a great day, he worked really hard, his rates were fair, and the results were spectacular. (did I mention that this garage is in a beautiful natural setting?)
top notch kudos for this man, if you live in the pacific NW contact dudebud you will have a good day and leave totally satisfied with your rig like I did. oh yeah he even found a suspension leak and fixed it for me
thanks again DB!
The Tacoma was similarly equipped.
The next day I drove out to see Dudebud with my NWMP extended range tank in the back seat, along with SDORI rear coil spacers (2") from TRDPARTS4U and my altimeter (still not installed). It was a bit far towards the cascades but once arriving and meeting dudebud I knew that a fun day was in store. What a cool guy, SO KNOWLEDGEABLE about everything to do with runners, he can weld, paint, do engine work, he has a huge garage, plasma cutter, welder, the list goes on and on. he didn't mind me hanging around while he worked on my rig and I learned A LOT.
before he got started we went to pick up a client's 4runner which had been crushed under a tree. arriving there, the vehicle wouldn't start, and luckily I had my christmas present Xantrex Powerpack HD600 in the back, which I have been using for camping lately to run radios and ricecookers
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/182/p/1/pt/29/product.asp The 4runner started up and Dudebud drove it back to his place, it was in BAD SHAPE! luckily the engine was still running but the entire rear cabin is destroyed. Dudebud will replace the entire body on this runner, an impressive feat.
returning to the shop we determined that with the 2"sdori rear spacers that my OME shocks would be overextended. we decided not to put them on, but frank at sdori can machine these down to 1" which would be perfect. dudebud then proceeded to install the extended range gas tank (11.5 gallons) which mounts below the spare tire. This took a long time to install as the fit was not exact and some drilling was required, also the primary gas tank had to be emptied completely and new gas lines and filters had to be routed. I had bought the master install kit from NWMP and it worked out great. Dudebud did a masterful job. the fill neck is in the rear passenger wheel well well out of the way and I have since filled it up and there is NO LEAK. it hides under the spare tire perfectly and when full I can feel a more stable ride, I really recommend this tank and combined with the main 17.5 gallons there's almost 30 gal for extended trips. http://www.nwmp.com/search.asp
After that Dudebud tapped into the IFS truss and bolted the Budbuilt IFS skid so that it was no longer hanging off after I stupidly stripped the stock bolt. This is a huge relief. Dudebud also installed a rear spoiler which looks fantastic (stock black repainted spoiler) and rerouted a heater hose in my air intake that was pinched. He also determined the reason for my oil pressure gauge's maximum level reading which was that it became crispified against the header and burned to a blackened husk
This is something I will have to think about replacing someday perhaps, good to know oil pressure from time to time
anyway my experience with dudebud was totally fantastic, I had a great day, he worked really hard, his rates were fair, and the results were spectacular. (did I mention that this garage is in a beautiful natural setting?)
top notch kudos for this man, if you live in the pacific NW contact dudebud you will have a good day and leave totally satisfied with your rig like I did. oh yeah he even found a suspension leak and fixed it for me
thanks again DB!
Last edited by taikowaza; 06-08-2007 at 01:20 PM.
06-08-2007, 12:35 PM
#5
Contributing Member
Thread Starter
3 last pics from the ARB parking lot
3more pics...not sure what kind of vehicles these all are but some nice mods. sorry got creative on the photoshopping
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