Armadillo Designs Aluminum Hardtop

[El Diablo]

@Chritaka Thanks for sharing this info. This is good news and it matches the timing for my slantback if I am in the same batch.

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[DUSTYcazOREGON]

It’s earlier in the thread, order 298 on July 10.

Have you received yours yet?
I am placing my order tomorrow.
Thanks

 

[broadicustomworks]

I heard back from Fabian. It is going to powder next week, takes 3 weeks to turn the top, 1-2 weeks for assembly and QC. We are scheduling the install for the last week in Feb.

I explained some of the conversation and concerns going back and forth in this thread. He responded:

“I can assure you we definitely do not have a Ponzi scheme going on. Unlike other companies, we do all of our manufacturing in-house. We did have a slight pause in production a few months back, which caused everything to be pushed back. We received feedback from our welders that certain areas were difficult to access on the hardtops, so we had to change a few files for the following batches. The order of operation was also studied and corrected, and we reorganized the shop for a better flow process throughout. We also hired about 6 new employees over the course of the past few months and studied where we had downfalls in production and corrected those by adding another welder, blenders on hand, and skilled help to move overall production faster. It's definitely been a learning curve over the past few months, but we have been doing our best to keep up with demand and get orders out as soon as possible.”

I suggested that, in addition to their brief social media updates, that they directly email these types of comms to their customers for transparency and to help keep frustrations down. Most would be understanding given all things considered and it would go a long way.

I don't have a dog in this fight other than sitting on the sidelines and an "almost ordered one" status.
This is one of the most reasonable and telling (and downright believable) posts discussing their predicament in this whole thread. Especially the quoted part from Fabian.
Anyone who has worked in starting up a production line (or even a production facility from an empty building with some 480 power available and a lot of empty concrete floor) can relate.
I have done both in my years. And it is a monumental task that takes months longer and more cash over what you budgeted and adds at least 30-50% more of both for unknowns. NOTHING works in the "best case scenario" ideas you started with.

These guys started with an idea and a dream.
Neither had any real experience in hiring, managing, HR, benefits and risk management, or production lines and/or work flow.
So they had to self-teach pretty quickly and find flaws in the system, work around those flaws.
Personally I think those words from Fabian are dead-on hard truth, FWIW.

As far as it in-house powdercoating at the other company in the same building, that's always a subjective situation. People can claim (and not saying this is true here) the capacity to powdercoat, but all they have is a $500 setup from Eastwood and a commercial-sized house-style oven to do a wheel at a time or something similar in size, one at a time.
A PC operation large enough to do these parts is not a light investment. SO I am guessing and pretty confident that whoever around them with the investment in a facility that can handle these sized and volume of parts is probably busier than the "smaller guys". They have to be to recoup the cost in their investment. The conditions to do a (repeatable) quality job in powdercoating anything larger than a filing cabinet is quite strict and is quite expensive. Even down to mandating what kind of deodorant the workers in that booth can wear due to contamination potential. I know because I've done it.
Anyway, FWIW, there are my 2 cents' worth.
Still out here wishing I had pulled the trigger most days on ordering one when the time was right.
Congrats on those of you who did and will!

 

[Chritaka]

Have you received yours yet?
I am placing my order tomorrow.
Thanks

Read the post right before the one you replied to…#644

 

[DUSTYcazOREGON]

Well I ordered my Armadillo top today.
I hope for a June-July delivery.
I went with the gull wing doors without glass, added the outside molle to those doors. Black top and I will have the molle powder coated in cyber orange....should look really cool that grated cyber orange standing off the black and add some more width to the entire top.
I will post photos when it arrives and is installed.
Thanks to everyone for the advice, comments and photos.

KEEP THOSE PHOTOS OF YOUR NEW TOPS COMING!

 

[SierraBronco]

Well I ordered my Armadillo top today.
I hope for a June-July delivery.
I went with the gull wing doors without glass, added the outside molle to those doors. Black top and I will have the molle powder coated in cyber orange....should look really cool that grated cyber orange standing off the black and add some more width to the entire top.
I will post photos when it arrives and is installed.
Thanks to everyone for the advice, comments and photos.

KEEP THOSE PHOTOS OF YOUR NEW TOPS COMING!

That’s going to look awesome. Definitely consider getting the interior molle panels. More practical storage than I was expecting. Very useful.

 

[Ninjak]

Well I ordered my Armadillo top today.
I hope for a June-July delivery.
I went with the gull wing doors without glass, added the outside molle to those doors. Black top and I will have the molle powder coated in cyber orange....should look really cool that grated cyber orange standing off the black and add some more width to the entire top.
I will post photos when it arrives and is installed.
Thanks to everyone for the advice, comments and photos.

KEEP THOSE PHOTOS OF YOUR NEW TOPS COMING!

Congrats! That is going to look good. I second getting the molle panels. I had purchased DV8 pocket molle panels, well before I recieved the top, and even before I knew Armadillo would make internal panels. They work very well also. I plant to keep my Air up hoses in that space.

 

[Chritaka]

Congrats! That is going to look good. I second getting the molle panels. I had purchased DV8 pocket molle panels, well before I recieved the top, and even before I knew Armadillo would make internal panels. They work very well also. I plant to keep my Air up hoses in that space.

That's my plan also, as well as some small quick access tools. I have some cheaper non-pocket style Broaddict molle's already, but they're open at the bottom. If their bracket that attaches to the soft/hard top mounting point extended the full length of the molle, it would box it in more...I may try to mod something up.

I like how the DV8's are done, with the sloped inside back toward the interior panel. The AD ones are squared, $200 more, and I'm thinking those metal corners sticking out on the interior may be bad thing for pets or scratching up gear when packed tight. If I need more room, I may swap to those DV8's like you have.

 

[Chritaka]

Anyone that's installed their top themselves, do you think a 3/16" bracket would fit under the AD hardtop rear crossbar mounting point? It looks like there's a slight dip on that cross bar, but the top mount is either thicker here or has a rubber isolator. There are also spacer plates installed on the side rails for the top. In another thread we're trying to determine if the Mountains2Metal Attic Shelf brackets would fit under the AD hardtop mounting point there, without impacting the fitment... I would just replace the M2M bolts with the AD M8 studs. I also sent a note to Fabian for his input...

 

[EasternSierra]

Along the same lines, does anyone know if the Lobo overhead mount system is compatible with the Armadillo top?

 

[Ninjak]

Anyone that's installed their top themselves, do you think a 3/16" bracket would fit under the AD hardtop rear crossbar mounting point? It looks like there's a slight dip on that cross bar, but the top mount is either thicker here or has a rubber isolator. There are also spacer plates installed on the side rails for the top. In another thread we're trying to determine if the Mountains2Metal Attic Shelf brackets would fit under the AD hardtop mounting point there, without impacting the fitment... I would just replace the M2M bolts with the AD M8 studs. I also sent a note to Fabian for his input...

Well in the pic you have, the rear bolt in the top pic is not used for the Armadillo top. The bolt in front, that is the closes to the front of the roll bar is the one used. I think it will all fit, I never looked at the actic shelf because I knew I would have the slant back and I think it is not enough room with the slant. But I would say maybe? It could come down to how thick this mettle is compared to the spacer.

Along the same lines, does anyone know if the Lobo overhead mount system is compatible with the Armadillo top?

I have the DV8 over head molle and it fits fine. Fabion had said I might need to cut a part off the DV*, but I did not. All I did was remove the brackets it attached to that were not needed anymore with the way the hard top. I will say it was a tight fit to screw the front screws in, tight fit as my big hands did not fit, I had to get creative, but looking at the Lobo, it seems it fit the same as the DV8/

 

[Pseudoko]

For tracking purposes ….

12/23 : email notification received it was going to powder coat. (In the middle of the holidays)
1/31 : email received it’s going to assembly and QC

 

[Slei]

Anyone else see this? Correction to my original post. This is just if you ordered it in sandblasted finish. I did not catch that in the description for the video.

 

[timbits588]

Anyone else see this? Seems that they are planning to no longer do any of the pre-assembly and the install will now take 2 days to complete. I have not verified anything with Fabian yet just saw the new vid drop.

Wow.

 

[mcinfantry]

Anyone else see this? Seems that they are planning to no longer do any of the pre-assembly and the install will now take 2 days to complete. I have not verified anything with Fabian yet just saw the new vid drop.

I’d have to assume that would be on a case by casE basis. Or at least orders going forward. (Assuming when all of yall bought them it said pre-assembled)

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