The Ram that ate the Jeep . . . My Build Thread

[jkcobra]

I've been lurking for awhile in this thread as even though I did purchase a fullsize Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins Diesel I hadn't really done much to the truck yet.

I previously had a Jeep JK Wrangler that was very well outfitted, 35's, lights, snorkel, rails, bumpers, winch, etc. but I sold it when I got the truck.

The Jeep:

I was sad to see the jeep go, but it wasn't going to work to haul this:

So after selling the jeep, I bought this:

The I bought the trailer shown above, so the upgrade funds were a little dry for a little while.

So, I finally started the process over the last few weeks of getting the truck setup to have some similar fun as to what I enjoyed with the Jeep.

So I added the following:

Carli Levelling Kit with Bilsteins front & rear

Toyo A/T II 35 x 12.5 x 17 (that was fun finding 5 of those)

Pace Edwards Full Metal Jackrabbit Bed Cover w/ Explorer Rails

NFab Side Steps (preferred beefier Whiteknuckle design but these are better for the kids and wife and I hope to weld them into the frame and beef them up eventually)

Thule Rail Kit & Surco 50" x 60" Safari Basket

And I ended up with this:

I still have a set of Sulastic Shackles to add to the rear, but I am already amazed how much better the ride is with the Carli setup and better tires. Literally finished the lift and tires and drove 1,000 mi to Colorado for Spring Break so I really got to break it in. I do plan to add Carli control arms and either rear leafs or rear air bags next year.

Side Note: Don't forget to adjust your headlights down after leveling, especially if you don't have fogs... I literally couldn't see a thing going up the mountains at night and had to pull over to fix them!

The rack will be for the 35" spare, I got lucky that it fit in the bed with the luggage this trip. Plus I need to beef it up a little more with some expanded metal welded in for the floor to handle the weight.

Future plans (in order of how soon I am likely to do them):

• Swapping out the front bumper for the fog light version
• Welding expanded metal to Surco rack to fully support 35" spare without flexing
• LED light bar recessed in bumper (I would prefer a recessed winch but not really possible with the diesel intercooler there.)
• Inverter and additional charger ports for backseat and bed
• Backup camera system for truck and trailer
• Uniden 880 CB (I have a handheld cobra from the jeep but really want better range)
• Rear Carli Leafs or Airbag system for towing
• Carli control arms

BTW, do I miss the jeep, yes. It was awesome and my and the boys had a great time with it.
Did I miss the jeep when I was driving the truck up the mountains in Colorado with almost no road noise or having to floor the gas pedal the whole time... Not one bit!

 

[tgreening]

Is that your first Surco rack? Imo you'd be better off adding the extra slat kit to the bottom, and putting a 3rd rail under it in the middle. These racks arent the most rugged thing in the world and a 35" tire/wheel combo is a pretty good load for it.

 

[jkcobra]

Yes, but I was familiar with the design of them. For the price point and getting the dimensions I wanted it was great. But yes I knew I would need to beef it up more.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[redthies]

You're not alone... I went from this:

To this:

I don't regret it for a second! Mine is also levelled and on 35" Toyo AT IIs. Welcome to the club!

 

[sdwhip]

How do you like the bed cover so far? I was planning on doing a BakFlip folding cover but also with the rack over the bed. With a basket or other equipment on the rack the cover would not be able to open though so the rolling cover would solve that. I still prefer the folding cover for the simplicity so am still deciding.

 

[Redranger90]

Haha, so apparently ex jeep owners go for the cumminses!


To

 

[ExpoMike]

Funny about the Jeeps to Cummins.

I went from this

To this

 

[CodyY]

Expanded metal will do nothing to increase the capacity of that rack, it'll just keep little crap from falling out. You need to add structure to it.

 

[D45]

Funny, I keep thinking about going from my Dodge Ram Cummins to a 4 door Jeep Wrangler

What did you NOT like about the Jeep? How was the power with 35s and a V6?

 

[redthies]

Lack of room, lack of fuel economy, lack of tow capacity, lack of passenger safety. Jeeps are great as "toys" but not very practical as real world daily drivers. The Pentastar and 35s is not a big deal (in a Rubicon with 4.10s) in my opinion, but I'm sure the "I drive my jeep like a nitro burning funny car" crowd will say it isn't fast enough unless you re-gear.

 

[jkcobra]

How do you like the bed cover so far? I was planning on doing a BakFlip folding cover but also with the rack over the bed. With a basket or other equipment on the rack the cover would not be able to open though so the rolling cover would solve that. I still prefer the folding cover for the simplicity so am still deciding.

Loving the cover. I was a little concerned as a few people had mentioned these types of covers leak. However after the 2,000 mi round-trip to Colorado with a few inches of snow and heavy rain since, it has definitely met my expectations. Its not water-tight / bone dry, but good enough to protect stuff I would put in the bed in the first place. As far as the basket / thule crossbars, it took me literally 2 minutes to loosen the bolts and slide the whole thing off yesterday so I could use the full bed to pick up a piano my wife bought. Which is exactly why I didn't want to go the full cap route.

 

[jkcobra]

Expanded metal will do nothing to increase the capacity of that rack, it'll just keep little crap from falling out. You need to add structure to it.

I plan on completely re-doing the floor of the rack with a new support structure and then adding the expanded metal. However, if I had just fully welded the expanded metal around the perimeter it would also help the rigidity of the overall structure. But for long-term use, and the load of the tire and other items in the future, I definitely agree that the extra support will be preferred.

 

[jkcobra]

Funny, I keep thinking about going from my Dodge Ram Cummins to a 4 door Jeep Wrangler

What did you NOT like about the Jeep? How was the power with 35s and a V6?

Lack of room, lack of fuel economy, lack of tow capacity, lack of passenger safety. Jeeps are great as "toys" but not very practical as real world daily drivers. The Pentastar and 35s is not a big deal (in a Rubicon with 4.10s) in my opinion, but I'm sure the "I drive my jeep like a nitro burning funny car" crowd will say it isn't fast enough unless you re-gear.

redthies answered that one pretty well for me. I will also add that I had both a 2 dr hardtop Jk and then a 4 dr softtop. Both were loud as jet engines on the highway with 35s, even duratracs. For comparison, we took the 4 dr on the same trip to Colorado 3 years ago. I could barely talk to my wife or kids on that trip, whereas this trip I hardly even noticed it. I can't comment on the pentastar as I had an '08 with the hamster engine, but the difference compared to the ram's diesel, I doubt I will ever take that trip in a jeep again. But I would happily tow one there with the Ram

The other big benefit with the ram is towing capability. I had an E1 series offroad popup trailer that was great and I could pull it with the jeep, but I have several young kids and the trailer just wasn't big enough, hence the need for the new trailer shown in my first post.

 

[jkcobra]

So one thing I will be looking to improve in the future will be fuel economy. I averaged 13.6 mpg on the Colorado trip. I knew I would drop some with the larger tires; however, I also know others have gotten much better results out of this engine. So I am looking at the Bully Dog unit and EFI live, also looking at / considering options to remove the DEF requirement as well. The DEF is more because of current refill requirements (every 2500 miles or so), but I believe there may be a flash from the dealer to improve that. Anything else I should be looking at for simple improvements, i.e. new intake, etc?

 

[CodyY]

I plan on completely re-doing the floor of the rack with a new support structure and then adding the expanded metal. However, if I had just fully welded the expanded metal around the perimeter it would also help the rigidity of the overall structure. But for long-term use, and the load of the tire and other items in the future, I definitely agree that the extra support will be preferred.

Rigidity comes from 2 things: Mass, and shape. Expanded metal has little of either. Would it help maintain the shape of the basket? Yes.

Will it add carrying capacity to meet the needs of a 100+ lb dynamic loading situation? Not in the least.