'97 Dodge Ram 2500, 4x4 Cummins Powered

Jeff Wanamog

Off Road Camper Guy
Wait till Mama gets to wake up to a nice warm camper in the AM:wings: and then make coffee while still in her PJ's.:coffeedrink: You are going to love your FWC.

Jeff
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Yeah, once I made the decision to go this route, the search started for each part and I luckily happened acrossed what we wanted very quickly. Luckily the funds were available at the moment so I could jump on the deals.

Today I am getting new BFG A/T KO's in 285/75-16 put on so the tire situation will be done. This weekend I will pull the camper off and get the tie down eye installed and put the camper back on. Then I can take the jacks off the side.

Hoping for our first trip in a couple weeks. :D
 

FellowTraveler

Explorer
Nice Dodge

Consider, aftermarket front chassis brace it ties the front chassis together and has a steering box pitman arm shaft bearing assembly that keeps the steering box pitman arm shaft from ever moving in a way it shouldn't.

I have a 1994 Ram w/cummins and have had three other 1994 to 1996 and all suffered from weak chassis and steering box failure w/stock sized tires, the chassis brace w/steering box pitman arm shaft reinforcement will prevent this.
 
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ExpoMike

Well-known member
FellowTraveler, thanks for the tip. Yep, it's on my list to do with the full suspension.

So I got my new tires installed today. :D Definitely give a more offroad look to the rig and the bonus of something that will work in the dirt better than the mismatched set that was on it. Also the extra height will be nice (~33" tall vs. ~31"). They are 285/75-16.

PICT6090.jpg


PICT6091.jpg


Changed the center caps to something that didn't stick out quite as far and had a better look. I think the name is appropriate. (if you can read it upside down... if not, turn your monitor over) :D
 

FellowTraveler

Explorer
Unit Hub/Bearings Frt/diff

Your spare parts should include a unit bearing hub assembly.

While I've been know too separate more than a few (so-called) sealed unit bearing assemblies to repack them it is best to practice splitting them with hub removal tool while mounted on vehicle and before it maybe needed real world, they must be marked before splitting so you know where the two halves should line up, once split and removed cleaning and repack is simple, then reassemble by putting the two halves together and seat with a slight bump of a hammer around circumference of housing.

Many DODGE, FORD & GMC fullsize trucks have sealed unit bearing hubs. Aftermarket makes conversions to conventional hub bearing assemblies for the DODGE and FORD, GMC owners are out of luck.

"As always and for obvious reasons above is informational only if perhaps undertaken then it is at own risk".
 

Regcabguy

Oil eater.
The ultimate fix is a Dynatrac Dynaloc conversion. Servicible,cheap bearings and a free-wheeling frontend,u-joints and driveshaft. I wish I had the bucks to do mine.
 

Cummins

New member
Way to go on the new truck

The 12v is a great motor I had a 1995 series 2 with a five speed but the regular cab is just too small. I sold it and was without my beloved diesel for 3 long years and just bought a 2002 series 2 with a 24v the motor is much more responsive but the six speed can get tiresome. look forward to watching your build up.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
The ultimate fix is a Dynatrac Dynaloc conversion. Servicible,cheap bearings and a free-wheeling frontend,u-joints and driveshaft. I wish I had the bucks to do mine.

Yeah, that's a long ways away. Similar system available for my Cherokee too but $$$ as well. I definitely love the idea of not spinning all of the front axle stuff when not needed.
 

White Rhino

New member
Nice truck and camper. Did they go down on the asking price on the Granby? Now I know what it would have looked like on my rig if I went and looked at it.... exact same colors.

I've been kicking around getting a popup for comfort but my Callen is so versatile and stout off road. In a perfect world i would have both.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Nice truck and camper. Did they go down on the asking price on the Granby? Now I know what it would have looked like on my rig if I went and looked at it.... exact same colors.

I've been kicking around getting a popup for comfort but my Callen is so versatile and stout off road. In a perfect world i would have both.

Yes they did make me a deal. :ylsmoke:
 

adventureduo

Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
Awesome setup Mike! I can't keep up man! Kamparoo, 1010 and now this?... very nice! I've always thought about going this exact setup. Let me know how you like it in the field man.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Not a whole lot to report. Changed all the FWC lighting to LED setups. Should help with power usage. Flushed the water tank and got the wiring done from the front batteries to the camper house battery.

Today, to help the ride, I removed the overload spring frame brackets. These brackets allow the top mounted overload spring to contact and engage when you add a load to the bed. Problem was, we were about an inch from this so every bump would cause the known "overload slap". Sounds like someone hitting the frame with a hammer. Very annoying and made the ride crappy. Removing these eliminates the overload spring engaging, which we really don't need for our use. Definitely made a great difference in ride and noise. This is only temp until I redo the rear spring setup. Likey will have National Spring build me a custom pack.

Hoping to get out next weekend for our first trip.
 

Ram5500

Observer
I can HIGHLY recommend the Steering Box Brace (arguably best $ I spent on my '01) and the Carli suspension. I just have the mini pack in the rear but the full deal for the rest as I was still towing a 36' toyhauler. But the suspension rocks on road and off. Able to haul the trailer to Moab, unhook and do Hell's Revenge (lack of front locker almost killed me on Tip over challenge though!)

The Carli suspension raises it about 3" over stock, I run 38x14.50 Toyo's with lots of fender trimming but did swap the 3.54 gears to 4.10. Tried a lot of different combo's with this truck over the years, but the Carli, Toyo, steering brace combo is-for me- just about the perfect street and offroad combo.





 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Steering brace is a definite "to do" but I am still figuring out what I want to do with the supension. Honestly I really don't want to lift it much more, maybe an inch. All of the companies seem to make 3+ lifts and are more setup for the pre-running crowd, not the slide-in camper crowd. Add to that almost everything out there is geared to the '03+ trucks. It is much more limited for the 2nd gen trucks. :(

I am running 285/75-16 (approx. 33") and am not planning any taller tires. I talked to Carli for a bit, explaining what I am doing and the rig configuration and they were pushing me to the Bilstein 2.65 kit which is WAY overkill for my needs. Again, they really don't deal with the full time camper crowd and really don't know. I have a very good friend at Blistein and he just laughed when I told him what Carli was recommending. He even knew it was way overkill.

My build is to keep the CG as low as I can, yet allow me to travel where I want to. This is not a rock crawler but it's no mall crawler either. I just want to get to the same places that our Cherokee/Kamparoo combo has gone so as long as I achive that, I am happy.

Thanks for the input but I think we have different goals in mind but nice truck. I checked out some more of your pics. Cool shots.
 

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