08 Dodge Ram 2500 megacab - slow build

[KSL22]

Well like most of you out there I have been bitten with the explore bug. I have been going camping desert camping my whole life. My parents rode motorcycles and as such I was raised around that lifestyle. We rode mostly either Red Rock / Dove Springs with annual summer trips to Kennedy Meadows (Kern Plateau). As such I grew up doing destination rides to places like Randsburg and Burro Schmidt's Tunnel.

Fast forward to now. Now I have a family of my own. I am 43 with a wife, three kids, and a dog. I have raised my family the same way I was. Go out to the desert, set up camp, and do little day rides here and there with the boy (11). With the internet at my fingers I have gotten more and more curious about the stuff in the areas we now camp. What is the history of these areas and what cool stuff can we go look for on these rides. We now do most of our desert camping in the following areas: Johnson valley (Means Dry Lake), Cougar Buttes, Cal City, and Spangler. We also try and get up to the Kern Plateau during the early summer and typically spend Spring Break at the beach. We have a 30' Weekend Warrior bumper pull that we load up and tow out for these trips.

My current truck is a 08 Dodge Ram 2500 Laramie Megacab 4wd. It has the 6.7 with the 6spd auto. When I bought it it was stock other than 315/70/17, the shell, and a spray in bed liner. I bought it December 2013 in Lubbock, Tx. My dad and I flew in, exchanged money with the dealer, and drove it home.

This was taken the morning after I bought it in El Paso

This was taken later that day outside Pheonix

 

[KSL22]

Here is how it sits now.

Here are the upgraded parts that are currently installed. I will update the list as I add more.
Synergy 3.0” progressive lift coils PN 855-30-HD
Synergy adjustable track bar PN 8550-01
Fox IFP non-reservoir PN FOX-985-24-019 Front PN FOX-980-24-943 Rear
Tuff Country adjustable sway bar end links w/heim joints PN 30927
Carli Suspension control arms PN CS-CA-03-MS
Mopar Ram Steering Linkage PN 52122362AF. Might be a newer part number of this. This replaces the Y-style with the better T-style. You need a different pitman arm and a new Stabilizer.
Mopar "Big Box" steering gear PN 68170214AA. Comes with new pitman and inner drag link tie-rod.
Mopar Upgrade Power Steering Pump- kit includes Pump, Reservoir, and Bracket.
EBC Green Stuff pads. HD front / regular rear.

Parts I didn't like:
Energy Suspension urethane control arm bushing. Granted I failed big time on the install, but I would probably recommend just replacing the bushings with new rubber bushings if you can't afford aftermarket arms.

 

[KSL22]

I realized once I hit I10 out of Indio that these trucks do not ride well at all in the stock configuration. So I started my investigation on how to fix this issue. After looking at all the big names I settled on Synergy 3" progressive coils, Synergy adjustable track bar, and Fox IFP shocks. While I would have loved to drop the money all at once on a complete kit, it wasn't in the cards.

The instal went fairly smooth on the driver side. I supported the frame removed the wheels and let the suspension drop out. removing the shocks let it droop some more which freed up the stock coil. I did have to remove brake line from the frame in order to get the new coil in and it was tight. I then placed the new shock in and went over to the passenger side. Everything came out the same but I could not get the droop I needed to get the new coil in. Must be the sway bar, disconnect it, nope. Must be the track bar, remove it, nope. Must be the drag link, remove it, nope. Must be the upper control arm, remove it from the axle, better but still nope. Remove the lower control arm and place a knee on the hub to force it down so I can use both hands to force the spring in, got it in. Put it all back together.

This leveled the truck and improved the ride greatly, but it triggered something else. Death wobble... I had gotten the death wobble two time prior to this but they were isolated and corrected with slamming on the brakes. The problem with the death wobble is that it take out the poly bushing on the Synergy track bar. Not fun driving with not track bar bushing. So working with Synergy I made sure the track bar was adjusted right and everything was torqued correctly. Wrecked bushing. Made sure it was aligned to their spec. Wrecked bushing. Finally they suggested I put back in the stock track bar as although it will not solve the issue, at least it will stay drivable while I figure it out.

From here I replaced the older Y steering with the updated T steering and a new matching Fox IFP steering dampener. Still has the death wobble.

Finally sick of reading the internet and taking guesses at the fix / throw money at the truck, I took the truck down to Todd at https://mercenaryoffroad.com/. I figured he was familiar with the Dodge and he is local. We spent a few hours trying this and that. Checking toe, checking bolt torque, ect. Finally he narrowed it down to the passenger upper ball joint has movement he didn't like. So he sent me on my way to purchase and replace ball joints in hope this will finally be the final fix. It worked!

I was then able to put the Synergy track bar back in and drive it without the wheel wanting to rip out of my hand every time I hit a bump at 55 mph.

So now the wife is happy again...or should I say happier. She still thinks it is my fault that the truck developed the death wobble. In her mind it would have never happened if I hadn't lifted it.

The problem is that when I replaced the ball joints I also replaced the rubber control arm bushings with energy suspension urethane parts. While doing them, the instructions sucked. In following the instructions (only had pictures) I pressed out the sleeve with the rubber bushing and put the 3 pcs urethane together in each hole. I felt it was a bad design as it felt sloppy but i went ahead and installed it. A few months later I figured out where I went wrong. I was supposed to press / burn the rubber out of the sleeve and re-use it with the urethane. At this time I didn't have the sleeves anymore and I sure the heck was not going to tell my wife I messed up and now need to spend more money on the front end...so I let it ride. For now.

 

[KSL22]

Sorry about how this is being written and for the lack of pictures along the way. I never thought I was going to post a build thread because up until recently this truck was just my daily driver and tow rig. The only time it really every saw dirt other than graded roads with the trailer, was once a year for King of the Hammers. For that week I would use the truck to get me to and from view locations, to back door night festivities, and as my grandstands at Chocolate Thunder sand hill.

The bed of the truck made great seating for the race. We put a market umbrella in the stake bed for shade and a few lawn chairs and a cooler in the bed.

The trailer on the lake bed before it got crowded.

Dad and Dave. This is right before Dave tried a 360 with a full twist on the lake bed. Well he only went 270 around before catching and went drivers side, to roof, to passenger side.

My dad in his Disco II and Dave in his Unlimited following me on my CRF450r and my son on his CRF 70. He is now on a CRF150r. Amazing how fast they grow.



I am trying to write the mods I have made so far as close to their time line as I can remember. Ask away if you have any questions on anything in particular or want to see any specific pictures.

The next upgrade I did was brake pads. I did Hawks green pads on my Excursion and loved them but more people seemed to like the EBC green stuff pads better so I went with those. I did this upgrade the same reason I did them on my Excursion. Coming down 9 mile canyon from the Kern Plateau with 12k of trailer behind you is not fun. But the camping while you up there is worth it.

I also upgraded the sway bar end links to Tuff Country's from the stock ones. The stock ones had bent at some point in their life and started to contact the spring. These were a lot less expensive to the popular brands models @ $150. They went on easy and have been trouble free.

 

[uscg2008]

That's a good looking truck any before and after pics of the suspension?

 

[KSL22]

Another lesson learned the hard way was looking for tires to replace my now balding BFG AT 315/70/17 I came across a craigslist add for 17x9 weld wheels with General red labels in 35x12.5r17. One pair was 85% and the other was just above 50% worn and he was asking $850. I liked that they were a E rated tire, even if it was only @ 65 psig. Still better than the D rating on the BFG @50 psig for towing. Did I mention My trailer is a heavy pig. Well all new trucks wheels come in off set in mm where I have always bought wheels in the past by back spacing in inches. Once again I went to the internet to try and gain some knowledge. And once again I read the conversion / description / everything i needed to know incorrect. Part of this was due to the fact I really wanted them to work and the other is that I am really impulsive when it comes to these type things.

So after work one day I drove to Palm-caster and bought them. He didn't have lugs that worked so I couldn't test fit them there. Did I mention they were a good price....

The next day I bought the right lugs after work, raced home, and got them mounted up right before dark. The wife had a work event to go to so it was just me and the kids at home and I was hungry. So I loaded the kids in the truck to run to grab some fast food. Back out of the drive, turn the wheel, and then the sound of tires eating sheet metal. I saw that they were sticking out more than I liked when installing them, but it was dark. I didn't have time to switch them back so we went to eat and then the next day I drove it to work, cringing every time I had to make a real turn. At work I decided these wheels aren't going to work at all. I got back on line learned a little more about off-set and went back on Craigslist. I found new Method Double Standards 17x8.5 zero off-set for sale...in San Bernardino for $650. So after work I drive down there and buy those wheels.

I get the wheels and drive to the closest tire shop to have the tires swapped to the Methods. Better but still rubbed for some reason. That weekend I did some inner fender mods with some body hammers, a crescent wrench, a 5 pound sledge, and a 4.5" grinder. I removed the fender liner and folded over the body seam as far up as i could and fixed the mangled sheet metal the best I could.

Much better...

If I was to do it again I would have probably went with 18s because 18" 35s have better load ratings. I would also looked harder for +18mm to +20mm off-set. The zero works but it would probably turn better with the wheels closer to factory. I also was able to do a quick sale on the Weld wheels for $400.

 

[KSL22]

So remember my issue with the control arm bushings? Well what was bad kept getting worse. I was hearing and feeling more ugly noises from the front when backing up to a stop. I also noticed what looked like some times I had less tire to body clearance than other times. I did a very scientific experiment. I drove forward into a hard stop and measured the distance of the control arm bolts center to center. i then backed up, slammed on the brakes, and measured the same. I measures 3/4 - 1" change in arm length and figured, that is bad right?

So back to my favorite place...the internet. There are fixed inexpensive arms out there. There are middle of the road arms fixed and adjustable. And then there are fixed and adjustable arms that cost a bunch. After a few other recent buy for the price and end up buying it again decisions, I decided I was going to spend the money and get quality. It was between Synergy's arms and Carli's. I decided on Carli as I didn't figure I needed adjustable, I didn't want to worry about urethane bushings, and I liked boxed. Oh, they also push the axle forward to help with clearance.

I bought them from CJC off road as I was heading to Huntington for the weekend and it is somewhat on the way. They had them in stock and they were willing to meet me there on Saturday when they are usually closed. Price wasn't the deciding factor as there are no special prices on Carli products.

Install was cake. Take one out and put the new piece in. There is a order and you need to be conscious of orientation for the grease connections. As expected there are no performance complaints. I did hear a slight rub noise this past weekend under full stuff if the tires were turned just right. I think I was on the bottom edge of the front bumper but I am not positive.

 

[KSL22]

There was a bunch of people I knew going out to Means Dry Lake the weekend of 4/30 and I wanted to go out and visit. My wife had a event scheduled the night of 4/29 so I was going to be watching the kids that night and I figure I need to help her make money when I can. I also had to work Sunday 5/01 so I didn't put much planning into the trip and didn't even think about towing the trailer out. Last minute on Thursday her event rescheduled so I decided we would leave after the kids got off school on Friday. I knew my son (11) would be down for the trip so I tried to get my oldest daughter (11) interested in going as well. The promise of lots of dogs in camp got her enough interest in going.

We arrived on the lake bed around 4pm so we said hi to everyone there already. Pulled out the stuff I didn't need in the truck and we went fro a drive out to a mine I know of from my two wheel trips. It is not to far from Means and is a great mine to get out of the heat in the warmer trips. This trip was anything from warm. there was a storm coming in and with it brought the 4 letter word that starts with W and is not to be spoken of. It also was fairly cold for how late in the season we are getting.

The mine is a narrow slot that is about 6' of clearance through most of it. I have to duck the whole time until it gets into the room that is open to the sky. There is what is left of a old rock cabin / house and a few vertical shafts in the direct area.


The kids in the open top room. There was a birds nest up the wall and they were trying to climb up to it.

What is left of the stone house. Too bad people have to ruin stuff.



We slept in the back of the truck. I have a memory foam topper from my queen bed in my trailer that we don't use. I slept on that and I expected my daughter to sleep next to me, but at her bed time she decided she wanted to sleep in the passenger seat reclined. My son was already set to sleep on the dog platform I have built across the rails of the shell. He just fit at an angle and had a self inflating foam pad under his sleeping bag. He had a wool blanket in case he got cold.

You can see the deck Shane slept on here.

 

[KSL22]

That's a good looking truck any before and after pics of the suspension?

I don't really have any before but I can take some of how it is now.

 

[Regcabguy]

The D-rated BFG's are a very common cause of dw on Dodges.
I've a friend who insists on putting them on his 10,750# Ram 3500 qclb with utility bed and steel framed Callen shell. Aired down the sidewalls just aren't built for it.
I'd love to get Thuren's control arms and some of AEV's Salta wheels. 17 x 8.5 w/6.0" backspace perfect for the Dodge's. Gotta keep saving.
Nice truck!

 

[KSL22]

The next morning we woke up and put the Jet Boil to work boiling water for oatmeal and coffee. After getting my belly filled I went to work getting the truck re-organized and packed up. The weather definitely was not improving and now this weird liquid stuff was falling from the sky. So we definitely were not hanging out here all day. Since we were on a large lake bed I figure it was as good as time as any to teach the kids the basics of driving a real vehicle. they had fun and didn't break anything.
We hung around in camp until the rest of the group I was visiting was about heading out. I said my good byes to everyone and started formulating a plan of what to do with the rest of our day. About 10:30 we loaded up and headed out. I got a wild idea of going cross country from Means to Anderson where we could connect with Camp Rock rd and take it to I40 and then to Calico. The kids had never seen Calico and I haven't been there since 7th grade out door camp.

We left Means out towards Backdoor crossed the valley keeping the mountains on our right. Trying to pick trails that were not too torn up as I was trying to make time. Once we got around the mountain range we saw the end of Soggy but kept high. We found a decent road that cuts across the valley towards Bessemer. We stayed on the lower right side of the valley keeping the hill with the rock piles to the left. I was tempted to go left to Bessemer and race the lakebed but choose again to stay right of the mountains. We found a nice graded road here but it took us right to the new base border. We turned around and back tracked to the next good road paralleling the base. We hit the Do Not Cross line a few more times and just re-routed to what felt right. Finally we hit Anderson but the Lake bed is anything but flat so it was slow going to Camp Rock Rd. Camp Rock is "graded" and we were finally able to get moving. 50 mph is easy and the suspension definitely shines though this stuff. There was a lot of soft spots that we crossed some were just sand and some were more wet feeling. We made I40 around 12:30 and crossed over to I15 where we stopped at Peggy Sues for lunch. The kids liked the turtle and fish pond in back and Shane like watching the military vehicle running down the road.

 

[KSL22]

The D-rated BFG's are a very common cause of dw on Dodges.
I've a friend who insists on putting them on his 10,750# Ram 3500 qclb with utility bed and steel framed Callen shell. Aired down the sidewalls just aren't built for it.
I'd love to get Thuren's control arms and some of AEV's Salta wheels. 17 x 8.5 w/6.0" backspace perfect for the Dodge's. Gotta keep saving.
Nice truck!

Yes, those AEV wheels are nice. If I was to start over I would burn the cash needed for the whole Carli pintop kit. Well I say that but it is a lot of money. Thanks

 

[dumprat]

Nice truck!

The AEV wheels are cool, but couldn't you get a set of Alcoa wheels for about a third the price?

 

[KSL22]

After lunch we ran up to Calico to look around. It was cool, but not something I need to do again anytime soon. It was more gift shop and less how a old mining town operates. It is cheep to get in and only took a few hours to walk main street and go through the shops. There is a train ride, mystery shack, panning for gold, and a mine tour. I let the kids pan for gold but we skipped the rest of the stuff.


After we got back to the car we drove out made a left and turned left up the first wash. I had gone up here 15+ years ago in my 92 Bronco with a few friends in 4 runners and ran Doran. We had tried to run Odessa the night before but a rock slide made it too tight for the 4 runners much less my Bronco. Needless to say that the gate keeper on Doran destroyed my worthless chrome tube steps along with my rockers on the Bronco so I had no intention of taking my Megacab anywhere near either.

A little bit up the canyon on the left is a few mines. I was surprised on how large these were in both overall depth and the number of different tunnels. The closest thing I have found to them is the talc mines in the Red Rock area on the way to Burro Schmitt's tunnel. The floor is still real dusty so flash pictures are difficult, but at least it isn't talc dust. I can't wait to go back and explore some of the other mines in the area.

 

[KSL22]

Looking down on my truck from the mines.

After exploring the tunnels for a bit we left and drove up the canyon a little bit and tool the first main right. This looked like a fairly well traveled path so I figured it would be safe. It started out well enough winding up the narrow canyon. My main concern was the fact that my power steering had been less than stellar recently. Parking lots required one foot on the brake and one on the gas to keep the rpm's up enough to turn the wheel. So a tight canyon with lots of turns gave me a bit of the sweats.

This was the first real tight spot, but it really wasn't that bad. There is a off shoot canyon that looks like it could be a blast... in a much smaller vehicle or a SxS. I continued up the canyon and was having a good time until a came up to a fork, and I didn't know which way to go. I got out and walked the trail to the right and it went up a little bit and looped back. There was what appeared to be a trail straight up the hill in front of me but there was two rocks at the top so I went up to check it out. Well, the two rocks were markers that this isn't really a trail as it drops straight down the back side. From the top I could also see where the left fork took me and it wasn't pretty. The trail went 45° left into a almost 180° right. This would have been a 3+ point turn and if that wasn't bad enough, it pinched off right after the corner. It was narrow enough that the sided had tire transfer on them.

That signaled the end of the day for me. I didn't want to get over my head while alone so I turned around and went back out the way i came. I got to the end of the canyon, aired up, and hit the highway back to Moorpark.