Ram Build!

[aaa247]

Hello my name is Kevin, I'm from Long Beach California and I'm new to OB. This is my full sized overland project truck a 2016 Ram 2500 diesel 4x4. There are many reasons why I chose this truck. The main reason was it’s versatility and the Cummins diesel motor. So far this truck is amazing and has a lot of power! I thought it would be easier to list the work I've done to my truck along with photos rather than writing about all of it. If anyone has any questions, recommendations regarding vehicle upgrades, gear, or places to visit please let me know.

Suspension:
Installed by CJC Offroad (great guys to work with)
Carli Pintop 2.5 suspension
Carli adjustable stainless steel lower steering stabilizer
Rear air bags

Wheels and Tires:
Trail Ready 17x8.5" real Beadlock Aluminum Wheels
Toyo 37x12.5 OPEN COUNTRY R/T (I love these tires)
Equal Flexx tire balancing beads (8oz bag per tire for 37x12.5) instead of lead weights

Gears, lockers, compressor:
Nitro 4:30 gears replaced stock 3:40 (made a huge difference)
Ram 3500 heavy towing finned dif cover I milled down to fit 2500

Differential and transmission breather hose extensions front (photo) and rear diff

ARB front and rear air lockers
ARB CKMA12 onboard air compressor
Compressor inlet filter is located on the truck bed wall above the compressor to help keep dirt and water out.
Air hose connections front an rear

Engine:
S&B cold air intake with mesh filter cover

Bullydog Tuner. This corrected the mpg and speedometer for the bigger tires and helps with acceleration

Lights:
four Baja Designs Squadron Pro, LED wide and spot used for fog lights and are very bright

Electronics:
Spod 8 Circuit SE System w\Touchscreen. The Spod module controls my LEDs, compressor, lockers, and cell booster, and three more switches for future upgrades. I also have Spod controls via bluetooth on my iPhone and ipad and can be operated when truck is off
RAM mini iPad mount above stereo

Fuel System:
TITAN 30gal Spare Tire Auxiliary Fuel System
Spare tank fuel port located inside truck bed on side wall
Propel Diesel-HPR this is awesome diesel fuel made from renewable biomass sources including recycled fats and oils, no sulfur, 40% higher setane, will not void warranty and is .10 cents cheaper than regular diesel. Much cleaner than fossil diesel. I also received a $10 gas card in the mail!

The Titan fuel controller is hard to see with the steering wheel in the way but there is actually a reflection of it in the driver side window.


Recovery:
Viair 450P Automatic Portable Compressor fills my tires much faster than ARB compressor and its mobile so I can help others.
Assorted tool bag

Communication:
YAESU FT-8900R ham radio with Comet CA-2X4SRB - Broadband VHF/UHF Dual Band Ham Radio Mobile Antenna
Cobra 75 WX ST Compact CB Radio with Firestik FS-4 CB Antenna
weBoost Drive 4G-X Cell Phone Signal Booster with weBoost 4G-OTR Cellular Antenna with custom fold down antenna mast

Garman Inreach


Body:
AMP Power door steps and rear bumper step
Mat black Cummins and 4X4 badges (replaced chrome badges)
Awesome OB emblems both sides. Makes the truck look like a special edition Ram!
Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Paint Coating which is supposed to last for years. I’ve had it on my truck for a year and water still beads like a fresh coat of wax.

Interior:
Custom sheep skin seat covers they're real nice for long trips.

Future Additions / wish list:
50 Gal. Ram 2500 Mega Cab Replacement Fuel Tank by Transferflow
WARN Gen II Trans4mer Mounting System (all black not chrome like the photo)

WARN 16.5ti-S winch

11.6MM (7/16") X 85' SUPERLINE XD BLACK WINCH LINE - 29,700 LBS,

Master Pull SB55000-14 snatch block, Master pull tree saver
Factor 55 FlatLink E, HitchLink 2.5
Crosby 3/4″ Shackles
GATOR JAW by Bubba Rope
CRUX HEAVY DUTY BRIDGING LADDERS

Custom rock sliders
custom roof rack
If I got a roof top tent the Skycamp hardshell rooftop tent by iKamper would be top of my list because I prefer a hard shell and this is the biggest hard shell I’ve seen. It’s large inside, insulated, and dark which is great for sleeping when it's still light out.
ARE HD Series Truck Cap. This may depend on whither or not my wife and I decide to get a 5th wheel when she retires or a bumper pull trailer.

Tanks for reading have a great day!

 

[boss324]

Nice that thing is beastly! Great gear and like what you have already done. Have you taken out yet on the trails? Since its full-size and new have thought about pintstriping protection?

 

[aaa247]

Thank you Boss324, the first time I really did any offloading was at the overland expo last year. Me and another guy drove up into the hills at night where I intentionally got stuck in mud almost above my tires. Thankfully my lockers and 4 low got me out. I also took my truck on the Cleghorn jeep trail near Silverwood Lake. That is a really fun and somewhat technical trail (for a beginner like me) especially for a full size truck imo. Not too many friends of mine are into overloading so hopefully I'll get out more now with OB.

I haven't thought about pintstriping protection. What exactly is that?

 

[boss324]

Thank you Boss324, the first time I really did any offloading was at the overland expo last year. Me and another guy drove up into the hills at night where I intentionally got stuck in mud almost above my tires. Thankfully my locker an 4 low got me out. I also took my truck on the Cleghorn jeep trail near Silverwood Lake. That is a really fun and somewhat technical trail (for a beginner like me) especially for a full size truck imo. Not too many friends of mine are into overloading so hopefully I'll get out more now.

I haven't thought about pintstriping protection. What exactly is that?

Pint striping is a term used when driving on the trail and the overgrown bush streaks across the body of your ride. Since we have full-sized rigs were going to be more succeptable to this. I am looking at some 3M vinyl wrap or xpel to protect areas of the burb. Yeah I have been doing the fast Ford thing for a while spent way too much money and none of my friends even heard of such a thing...Lol I am enjoying learning more about it and some of the unique places to explore right here where we live. You weren't meeting around with your build man I'll have to sell my Marauder if I get serious about this. For now little by little building up my burb to be more capable as my budget allows.

 

[timberwolf_120]

love this truck!!! definetly cant wait to meet up and check this rig out ive always been a fan of carli lifts and had I kept my third gen cummins I would have wanted to get their 3.0 dominator unchained kit.

 

[aaa247]

Pint striping is a term used when driving on the trail and the overgrown bush streaks across the body of your ride. Since we have full-sized rigs were going to be more succeptable to this. I am looking at some 3M vinyl wrap or xpel to protect areas of the burb. Yeah I have been doing the fast Ford thing for a while spent way too much money and none of my friends even heard of such a thing...Lol I am enjoying learning more about it and some of the unique places to explore right here where we live. You weren't meeting around with your build man I'll have to sell my Marauder if I get serious about this. For now little by little building up my burb to be more capable as my budget allows.

I got plenty of pinstriping on the drivers side from the Cleghorn Jeep Trail. Thankfully I was able to buff most of it out when I got home which took several hours. The nice part of a white truck is that it hides scratches pretty well. I thought about getting a wrap when I bought the truck but the cost to wrap my truck would have cost almost as much as my suspension system which was more important to me. Budget controls all our builds!!

 

[aaa247]

love this truck!!! definetly cant wait to meet up and check this rig out ive always been a fan of carli lifts and had I kept my third gen cummins I would have wanted to get their 3.0 dominator unchained kit.

Thanks Timberwolf, I thought about getting the Dominator which most of the guys at CJC Offroad have on their trucks and is an awesome set up. Cole who's one of the owners said I really didn't need that extreme of a system for what I would use my truck for and the Pintop was more than enough. He also said the Dominator would actually stiffen the ride more than the already stiff stock ride.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Love it. I've got an older Ram 1500 (gas) and am looking at new ones now.

Nice truck !

 

[aaa247]

Thank you Murphy! Are you looking at a new 1500? If you're thinking about the diesel model I recommend google (ram 1500 hdsslaw) because there is a class action lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler for emissions cheating on the 2014-2016. I'm not sure how legit it is but I thought you should know or ask the dealership about if you're considering the diesel.

 

[1derer]

Dream build right there!

 

[ASNOBODY]

Great looking truck @aaa247 !

 

[Truckerbizz]

I love the look of the 4th gens once they have been worked on. You've got quite the build!

 

[Desertsand]

Great build and awesome truck!!!

 

[PNW EXPLR]

How do you like the Pin Top setup? I am currently running a 2.5" spacer and stock springs on basically the same rig.

 

[aaa247]

How do you like the Pin Top setup? I am currently running a 2.5" spacer and stock springs on basically the same rig.

I really like it! It made a big difference in ride quality compared to stock and after I add the tires the ride was even better. The offloading I've done I felt the truck was responsive and smooth. I hope that helps.

 

[aaa247]

I love the look of the 4th gens once they have been worked on. You've got quite the build!

Thank you, I wasn't always a huge fan of dodges although they're great trucks but the 4th gen has a stockier appearance I really liked.

 

[Jeffrey R Zaja]

I have the warn winch mount on my truck and I've added the rack to my truck. Awesome to have a buddy that welds.


the warn rack ($550 pieced everything together off of ebay by searching the part numbers) with a Harbor freight winch because it had good reviews
the steps as well as the bed step (AutoAnything had a discount code)
I have a propane water heater(around $100), it was awesome to take a nice shower while we were out camping in Oregon (drove from Yuma, AZ with the grandkids)
I have the XBull recovery tracks because of a review by a guy with a class c motor home not breaking them
Bought the Smittybilt XL RTT got a good deal on EBay with the annex. $1265 shipped
the Smittybilt awning (the large one) I have to drill the holes to mount my brackets on the rack, will be able to pin easily to the aft section of the rack making it able to be on any side.
the Stealth Module was installed yesterday and the turbo lag is gone along with a bit more pep.

Side note is my buddy said he'd weld another rack so mines for sale we'll just do another. (Make an offer I wasn't paying what they wanted on line for em')

 

[Coolhand]

Got any pics of the backside of the iPad mini ram mount?

Sent from my SM-G950U using OB Talk mobile app

 

[Coolhand]

Really interested in how you mounted the iPad mini as I can't stand the floor mount that I have

 

[CWu21]

Very Nice ride. I am looking at getting rid of My Silverado and a Ram 2500 is very high up on my list. You haven given me some really great ideas. What I like is that everything you have done is functional and very tasteful. I’d love to see that bad boy in person.