On a beautiful (and rare) sunny spring morning near Seattle, a small group of off-road industry personnel gathered for the 2019 ARB Drive Day event.

Leave it to a company like ARB to take product training to another level. Putting together an event they call ARB Drive Day. An event that their vendors and members of the press get a chance to show up, learn about ARB products in-depth and get hands-on experience using the products in a controlled off-road environment.

For the second year in a row, ARB rented the Ridge Motorsports complex in Shelton, WA for this event and brought in ARB personnel from across the country (and Australia) to help showcase the newest ARB product offerings and how they work. When I say a small group, small it was, ARB brought in a total of 9 participants and split us up into 4 groups, moving us around through the various stages and courses they had set-up.

 

ARB Test Vehicles:

No hands-on training would be complete without some cool vehicles and ARB brought out five well built 4x4s.

2019 JL Sport

This 2019 two door JL Sport was decked out in all the new ARB JL accessories including their Bondi front stubby winch bumper, a Safari snorkel and of course equipped with the new Dana Advantek front 186mm Air Locker and rear 200mm ARB Air Locker. For tires, this JL was sitting on 35″x12.50 KM3 BFG Mud-Terrains.

 

2018 JLUR – Rubicon 4dr

Next up was this heavily built 2018 Wrangler JLUR (4 door Rubicon) that was the main test mule for the OME BP51 shock session. It too was equipped with all the new ARB JL components: Bondi Full Width Front Bumper, side bars, roof rack, drawer system, OME suspension and of course the BP-51 internal bypass shocks that were soon to be thrashed on. This JLUR was sitting on 37×12.50 BFG KM3 Mud-Terrains on AEV Pintler wheels.

 

2016 Colorado

The Chevy Colorados are rapidly becoming very popular as an alternative to the Toyota Tacoma. Of course ARB had to go bright ARB red and decked this one out with their front winch bumper, OME suspension, bed mounted ARB Roof-Top-Tent and even a 37 qt. Series 2 fridge mounted on a slide in the back under the tonneau cover. This 2016 Colorado was the demo rig for the ARB Linx Vehicle Accessory Interface sessions which my group would see later in the day.

 

2016 Tacoma Double Cab

Next rig up was this bright red 2016 Toyota Tacoma. It was also equipped with all the goodies ARB builds for the Tacoma and was going to be the truck the ARB crew would be purposely burying in the sand for the recovery sessions.

 

2013 Land Cruiser 200 Series

ARB President Doug Pettis brought out his personal 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser 200 series. It too was built with a slew of ARB/OME products. Doug was so confident in the capabilities of the OME suspension, he even let us participants bomb his high-end ride across the OME BP-51 shock test track.

 

Air Locker Demonstration Course:

First up for my group was the Air Locker demo course. A short course off the side of the Ridge Motorsports Park’s MX motorcycle track.

ARB USA’s Scott Frary discussing the techniques for driving the Air Locker demo course. The idea is to slowly crawl along in open-diff mode (Air Lockers off) and as the tires start to spin, let up on the gas pedal, lock the air lockers in and ease back on the throttle to continue on as seamlessly as you can.

Scott is a 6 yr. veteran of ARB and is currently the Air Locker Production Manager at ARB, USA. His past employment in the off road industry includes Dynatrac and some other locker company many, many years ago.

 

Scott ran the ARB 2 door JL through the traction course first to demonstrate Air Locker use and techniques and then each participant got a chance to run the course.

 

This course was all about showing the participants how Air Lockers can help give you very precise control of the vehicle over rough terrain. The more controlled and smooth you can drive the trail, the least amount of crashing and banging you are doing to the vehicle components.

 

Once through the first couple ditch crossings, the short course heads up an embankment that were dug out with holes in the perfect place to cross-up the axles, necessitating the need to lock in the Air Lockers to drive up smoothly.

Once at the top, we turned the JL back around and came down through the same sections.

 

ARB Linx Vehicle Accessory Interface:

Clinton Smith and Tom Niebauer led us through our next session covering the ARB Linx Vehicle Accessory Interface system. It is similar to other brand vehicle accessory control systems in that you can control many vehicle accessories from one central location. The big difference is the amount of functions you can control and the types of functions you can control.

Clinton Smith has been ARB USA’s National Sales Manager and is now headed for Australia to work for ARB in the land down under.

Tom Niebauer is the ARB USA’s Mid-West Sales manager and has been with ARB for almost 6 years.

 

The interface pad is the size of a standard smart phone and comes from that industry and yes, it is very smart. It’s a true touch screen that easy to read, easy to navigate and easy to use. Currently you can control front and rear lockers, air compressor, suspension air bags, freezer/fridge, and 6 universal accessories. It is expandable and will eventually be able to run 26 additional modules.

 

Inclinometer showing roll and pitch? No problem.

 

The Linx control pad will even show split screen. How about inclinometer roll on one side and fridge on the other?

 

Fridge control? Oh, yes, you can control the newer ARB Classic series 2 fridges with the Linx interface.

 

How about tire pressures? With the optional ARB Linx Pressure Control Kit, you can set your air down and air up pressure, then just hook up your air hose and go about your other pre or post trail prep. It will automatically stop when it reaches the preset pressure.

 

OME BP-51 Shocks:

Old Man Emu has been a player in the high performance suspension world for many years. Not high performance in the likes of 16″ travel shocks and long arm kits but in the form of giving you a high performance ride. Designed and built to bolt-into factory mounts, OME suspensions give you a mild lift with great off road handling and ride comfort that many other suspensions can’t match.

The aptly named AREA BP-51 was a 100 yard long suspension test track that was cut with 4″-6″ corrugations in it from one end to the other.

The BP-51 course was led by Doug Pettis, President of ARB USA. Doug has been with the company for the past 7 years, taking ARB to new heights as the off-road market has exploded.

 

The order of this session was to run the BP-51 equipped 200 series Land Cruiser and Jeep Wrangler JLU across the ruts at slow speed and then high speed to see how well the BP-51 internal bypass shocks act on rough terrain, especially at the higher speeds.

 

Old Man Emu BP-51 slowly through deep ruts:

Our first run was at slow speed and it was definitely a handful through the deep corrugations. By the time you hit the end you felt like a bobble-head.

 

Another look at the run from inside the 4 door Jeep JLU. Too much of that at a slow speed would have many people turning green.

 

Old Man Emu BP-51s at speed over the ruts:

So what did we do? We hammered the throttle down and hit it at 45 mph….. wow, did that make a difference! The corrugations smoothed right out and the cab stayed nice and smooth as the OME suspension and BP-51 shocks soaked up the abuse.

 

And another look at the 45 mph run from outside the Jeep. We just pushed the JLU harder and harder and it only got smoother the faster we hit it.

 

Tuning the OME BP-51 internal bypass shocks is real quick and easy. ARB’s Jacksonville, FL warehouse manager, Joel Steele, was the wrench turner for the OME AREA BP-51 course and he had the process down to less than a minute per shock.

Our last run on the course was with the BP-51s tuned in to ARB’s preferred setting for the heavily equipped JLU and then the tires were dropped to 20 psi. We hit an astounding 52 mph across the corrugations and it felt like butter. Very smooth, very controlled and at the upper end of the tractions limits across the deep gravelly corrugations.

I had the chance to run both the JLU and the 200 series Land Cruiser through the rough a few times. The Tech Tim test was to roll into the corrugations at a slow speed and accelerate up to 45~ mph through the course. In general, slow speed action can start to pack the suspension up and then overpower a lessor shock as it tries to catch up during acceleration. The internal bypass OME BP-51 shocks sucked it right up, performing brilliantly.

 

ARB TRED PRO Recovery Boards:

Our next session found us over at the recovery area where the ARB staff was busy burying the ARB Tacoma into the soft sand. And bury it they did, they ran it down until the Tacoma was sitting on the diffs and spinning tires.

 

Once it was properly stuck, Chris Roberts from TRED discussed the development and construction of ARB TRED PRO recovery boards and then walked us through how to use them.

 

The TRED PRO recovery boards have strategically placed hand holds to make using the board as a shovel easy.

 

Once you have the front of the tire dug out, jam the TRED board into place and pack a little dirt in underneath. This will help hold the board in place and as the board compresses the dirt, it will help “set” the soil underneath, giving it a tighter grip on the ground.

 

For the rear, set the recovery board down in against the tire, flared out to the side a little, then give it a good donkey kick to drive it under the edge of the tire and get it set a little more inline with your recovery effort.

 

With the TRED boards staged in place at all four tires, the ARB Tacoma drove right up and out with very little effort.

 

ARB Jack:

Next up in our rotation was a course on using the new ARB Jack. It was developed by ARB as an alternative to the farm jacks that you see so often strapped across the hoods of Jeeps these days.

The ARB Jack demonstration was given by the Fabulous Buddy King, an ARB vet of 35 years. He has done everything from running forklifts (in his early years) at the ARB factory in Australia to North America East Coast and Canadian Sales to his more recent gig of ARB’s video series host.

 

The ARB Jack features an aircraft grade 6061-T6 aluminum body that has 9 hooking points machined into it. The adjustable lifting hook then slides up and down the body engaging into the hooking point closest to your needed starting height. The hydraulics take over after that.

 

As the ARB Jack is hydraulic instead of mechanical, it offers that smooth power delivery you can only get from a hydraulic jack. One handled operation? Check. No mechanical jack kick-back during lifting or lowering? Check. The ARB Jack one smooth bugger.

 

Being hydraulic, lowering the jack is simple as depressing the two-speed pressure release lever. You read that right, two-speed pressure release. Push down a little and the Jack slowly lowers the load. Push the lever down full, the jack drops the load pretty fast.

 

The ARB Jack base is an optional piece that gives the bottom of the jack a wider platform to help spread out the footprint for softer surfaces like sand and mud where the Jack could easily sink under the load of the vehicle it is lifting. Bonus points is this super stout jack base is also designed to accept most traditional farm jack foot pads too. Already have a mechanical farm jack and need a decent base for it? Take a closer look at the ARB Jack Base.

 

We all got a chance to lift and lower the ARB Tacoma with the ARB Jack. It was so smooth in operation and with no chance for that dreaded handle kick-back that an improperly used farm jack can give, this thing is impressive.

Will the ARB Jack replace the traditional farm jack as the go-to off road jack? It is more compact, more stable and so smooth and easy to use, We really think that once people get a chance to try the new Jack from ARB, we’ll start seeing more of them on the trail. BUT all that awesomeness comes at a price and price will always be a huge factor in all buying decisions. Built from high end aerospace materials, the ARB Jack is not even close to the traditional farm jacks price-wise.

 

READY to outfit your 4×4 with all the latest and greatest from ARB? CLICK HERE