Hey folks. David, new here from just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. My wife and I have two children, two dogs, and both work in healthcare. We also both have serious wanderlust and live to explore all of the amazing places that our country has to offer. The Southwest and the Rockies are where we long to live eventually, but for now we are enjoying being in Tennessee.
My wife and I recently decided that it was time to start prepping our 2016 Ram 2500 for some overlanding next year so I have been scouring the web, reading up on other Ram 2500 builds, and stumbled across Overland Bound in the process.
We've been fortunate to own a variety of vehicles over the past few years and honestly turning the Ram into "yet another off-road vehicle" was never really part of the plan when we bought it. To the contrary, we were looking to get away from the off-road scene for a while and just have something big, reliable and powerful to serve as my daily driver and take care of business whenever something needed towed, hauled or uprooted. The fact that it can be transformed into something overland capable has been a welcomed discovery as we began to feel the familiar tug of the backroads and no-roads on our hearts.
I guess to give an idea of where we're headed with our build it's somewhat appropriate to talk about where we've been.
This is my former 2010 FJ Cruiser Trail Teams. We bought it new and I built it up over the course of a year for an adventure we took out in the American Southwest:
I set it up with an Icon suspension, Cooper STT tires, an Expedition One front bumper, HAM radio and a variety of other gear. I ran out of time and money before the trip to put a winch on it, but we didn't let that deter us. We plowed forth and spent two amazing weeks traveling from Tennessee to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Moab, Ouray, Silverton, Telluride and eventually back home. That photo was taken in Moab on Potash Road.
A while later we lucked into a deal too good to pass up on a 2011 Ford Raptor. We owned it up until recently and by the time we sold it (for a profit, of all things) it served as my daily driver and saw a variety of modifications. While we took it on several trips, it never made its way back out West where it really could have been some fun.
This photo was from a weekend drive out in the Land Between the Lakes area of Kentucky and Tennessee. It loved the dirt.
When the new 3.6L Pentastar engines came out in the freshened-up 2012 Jeep Wrangler, we replaced my wife's vehicle with a 2012 JKU Rubicon. She took over the Raptor as her daily for a while and I built the Jeep into what was our most capable vehicle yet. We did a LOT of off-road exploring with it and loved every minute of it.
As they say, everything is for sale at the right price, though. A gentleman offered me far more for it than it had cost me to build it, and I took him up on the sale. I kind of wish I hadn't.
But if every end is another beginning, that means parting with the Wrangler has lead me to our Ram 2500. I am dubbing it the "Land Shark" because of the Granite Crystal Paint and because deep down inside I'm still a 13-year old boy who has to give his toys super cool names.
Currently, I have installed a Pure Performance 3" lift/level with Fox 2.0 shocks, Method wheels, and it's now shod with Toyo M/T 35-inch tires. Other than that, it is a blank slate for me to go nuts with.
I have some Rigid D2 and SAE DOT legal driving lights to put in the bumper this weekend, and have started amassing the gear to put my Icom ID-4100A shortwave radio in it. Next up will be some White Knuckle rock sliders to replace the wimpy running boards, and then we'll move on to building a bed rack for a roof-top tent and then maybe a Buckstop front bumper to accommodate a winch. I won't have another off-road vehicle without a winch. We got lucky without one in the FJC.
Eventually I'll replace the Fox shocks with some King Pintops from Carli, and maybe replace some more of the suspension bits with gear from Carli as well. The Pure Performance springs are quite nice so I won't replace them unless I have to.
Anyway, that's pretty much the story of my build and a bit about me and my family. I look forward to learning from you all and sharing with you what little I know. I'm pretty handy with a wrench and electronics, so maybe I can contribute in some way. :)
