Mountain.Mike's Ram 1500 Build Thread

[OffroadTreks]

That's a nice looking rig. I'm working on a F150 but have been seriously thinking of switching to the Ram. My son runs a 2500 and he's in the process of fixing it up an I love the way it looks.

You'll be puckering up on tight trails with either rig, but the 2500's are a way better overlanding platform in terms of off road performance and upgradability. (It is hard to beat solid axels at both ends). I use my truck for almost everything, so getting the 2500 wasn't worth the sacrifice in fuel economy. I have been very happy with my truck, but there aren't near as many parts available for it as the the F150 you currently have.

Ram 2500 Power Wagon will give you front and rear lockers from the factory, disconnectable sway bar, and warn winch and 2 inches of lift over a standard 2500 4x4. It's funny, but all the work you have to do to put 35's on a 1500, I can run 37's stock. :p

That's why I stopped building my 1500 and just upgraded to the Wagon. The 1500 is a lost cause if you want to get serious.

I daily drive mine.

 

[Mountain.Mike]

Got out and explored a little yesterday afternoon. The trails got a little right in places, but never got all that crazy. These were taken around Johnson County, KY.

Stumbled across this old abandoned schoolhouse.

Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[Edward Gentle]

Ram 2500 Power Wagon will give you front and rear lockers from the factory, disconnectable sway bar, and warn winch and 2 inches of lift over a standard 2500 4x4. It's funny, but all the work you have to do to put 35's on a 1500, I can run 37's stock. :p

That's why I stopped building my 1500 and just upgraded to the Wagon. The 1500 is a lost cause if you want to get serious.

I daily drive mine.

His 2500 is a little tight around a lot of corners.

Your right about the tires. He's got 37's on his now. It did need a leveling kit but that's all and it really looks nice.

 

[Edward Gentle]

I use my truck for almost everything, so getting the 2500 wasn't worth the sacrifice in fuel economy. I have been very happy with my truck, but there aren't near as many parts available for it as the the F150 you currently have.

The 2500 is driven daily as well and it gets better fuel mileage than my F150. Even with the 37"s on it he gets 21 or so on the highway and 16 or so around town.

 

[OffroadTreks]

His 2500 is a little tight around a lot of corners.

Your right about the tires. He's got 37's on his now. It did need a leveling kit but that's all and it really looks nice.

IFS has a slightly better turning radius, but if you compare Ford and Ram turning radius, Ram beats Ford on both the half ton IFS and the 3/4 ton solid axle.

The turning radius of an F-150 crew cab short bed is listed at 47.8 feet. Compare that to our former short bed, crew cab Ram 1500's turning radius of 39.8 feet and it's clear that the F-150 does not cut a tight circle by any means. source: https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150/2015/long-term-road-test/2015-ford-f-150-wide-turns-only.html

My 1500 could cut corners better than my Power Wagon, but in the end it couldn't do the same stuff in stock trim.

A guy on Ram Forum just dumped $4200 into a 6 inch BDS lift kit and who knows what on his 37's and rims to get to the same fender height I have on 37's with a level. And his truck still won't have anywhere near the suspension travel I have.

This is why I continuously reiterate my point, that the 1/2 ton is ok, but I wouldn't start with that platform if I could do it over again.

 

[Mountain.Mike]

In the market for some new AT Tires. Found this interesting article on expedition portal. Not the results I expected.

 

[roamingram44]

In the market for some new AT Tires. Found this interesting article on expedition portal. Not the results I expected.

The coopers are fantastic tires at my old job we had coopers, toyos, and bfg ko2s on our trucks and the coopers were my favorite. That being said id take my falkien at3ws over all of them(and they are cheaper)

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[Scott.Coco]

Swapped my dash speakers to a set of Kicker KS series speakers. It's a really common upgrade for these trucks. If you are going to do it, be sure to use a speaker with a silk tweeter. A cheaper material would be way to harsh coming off the windshield. You can see the difference between the factory speaker and the Kicker unit.

Did you have the Alpine upgrade option from the factory? For the $500 option the Alpine is worth it.



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[Mountain.Mike]

Did you have the Alpine upgrade option from the factory? For the $500 option the Alpine is worth it.



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I don't have the Alpine set up, but I have heard mixed reviews on sound quality form those that do. My biggest gripe is that it is harder to upgrade than the base system. I don't plan on getting crazy with the audio in this truck anyway. The dash speaker upgrade is very easy to do and makes a big difference in my opinion.

 

[Mountain.Mike]

Sorry I haven't been active on here in a little bit. To catch yall up: I decided to go with the Cooper AT3s, they are great for all the highway miles i have to log but still get the job done out in the hills on the weekend. I finally got around to getting my Bilstein 5100s installed. Set them at 2.1 and the truck sits dead level. Can't believe I didn't do this sooner. It gets the nose up out of the dirt and looks a hell of a lot better. I did a bunch of other little things like ram mount for Phone/Ipad, DZ Tailgate assist, a few more stereo upgrades. I plan on catching up on some of your all's threads over the next couple of days. Hope everyone has been well!

 

[kostkafex]

In the market for some new AT Tires. Found this interesting article on expedition portal. Not the results I expected.

note that the article above is from 2014 and a lot of the tire models used are out of date. for example, the falken wildpeak the used is the original a/t, not the current a/t3w

 

[Mountain.Mike]

note that the article above is from 2014 and a lot of the tire models used are out of date. for example, the falken wildpeak the used is the original a/t, not the current a/t3w

I did notice that. The article wasn't the main driving force behind my decision to get the Coopers AT3. I really like the Falken AT3Ws, but my local shop had a deal on the Coopers so I went with them. I have been pretty happy with them. Only complaint I have is they pick up gravel better than a shovel, but most all terrains do that.

 

[Joey83]

This makes me want a fullsize! (not that I need one)

 

[Mountain.Mike]

This makes me want a fullsize! (not that I need one)

Ha! Like anything, there are trade offs. You can't beat the comfort and capacity, but there are plenty of trails around here that are just too tight or too technical for a full size. Just depends what you wanna do. Because of the rate of depreciation, my truck cost me less that a tacoma or jeep with similar miles but gives me double the power and more room at the same or slightly better fuel economy. If your overland vehicle is a daily driver, it is hard to beat the versatility of a full size (especially crew cab) truck.

 

[DVC]

Ha! Like anything, there are trade offs. You can't beat the comfort and capacity, but there are plenty of trails around here that are just too tight or too technical for a full size. Just depends what you wanna do. Because of the rate of depreciation, my truck cost me less that a tacoma or jeep with similar miles but gives me double the power and more room at the same or slightly better fuel economy. If your overland vehicle is a daily driver, it is hard to beat the versatility of a full size (especially crew cab) truck.

Well said. Although to be honest, the 1500 is pretty nimble for a full size...I was surprised how well it maneuvered through trees the first time I took it out in the woods in PA. If you don't mind some pin striping, there aren't many trails that it can't squeeze through.

 

[Joey83]

What I'd like to have is a late 90's/early 00's Ford F-250 crew cab dually diesel at some point

 

[MasterYota]

Ram 2500 Power Wagon will give you front and rear lockers from the factory, disconnectable sway bar, and warn winch and 2 inches of lift over a standard 2500 4x4. It's funny, but all the work you have to do to put 35's on a 1500, I can run 37's stock. :p

That's why I stopped building my 1500 and just upgraded to the Wagon. The 1500 is a lost cause if you want to get serious.

I daily drive mine.

What’s the towing capacity of your power wagon ?

 

[Mountain.Mike]

Realized I hadn’t posted on here in a while. Getting ready for a camping trip this weekend. Heading back to a spot we visited last fall. Here’s a few photos from that trip.

 

[TxasYukonXL]

Realized I hadn’t posted on here in a while. Getting ready for a camping trip this weekend. Heading back to a spot we visited last fall. Here’s a few photos from that trip.

Fellow Ram 1500 multi-use rig work in progress as well glad to see you are still at it...support and accessories has grown a lot since picking up my 2017 Sport in 2018...the Classics extending the life of our 4th gen platform I believed also helped