ok I broke my chev out wheeling big time so I take out the 96 dodge deisel. to make a long story short the thing is awsome off road, nice to drive and so I get the idea to wheel it more.
problem is my off road tires are 44's. I think with a 3 inch body lift, 2 inch leveling kit, dropped bumpstops and a lot of fender trimming I can fit em.
the question is would you do it? I'd like to hear from people who have made similar commitments and do you regret it?

:eek:

my brother is in the process of putting a high pinion 60 up front and taking 2 feet out of the wheelbase to make his a wheeler, and he only spent $12,000 on his V-10 powered '98.

its a big commitment there with a $25,000 truck. you could look at it this way, sheetmetal is cheap! go for it, we need more fullsize dodges on the trail.:D

sheetmetal is not cheap when I have to trim the fender all the way into the door itself. if it was just the fender or door I would do it in a heartbeat but to modify the cab thet amount means no going back and no resale value.
how does he plan to take out the wheelbase? mine is definitly going to be shortened as much as I can resonably get away with.
(ps its 25k canadian so only 16kish american)

I always thought that it would be cool to have a newer dodge cummins as a wheeler............ but I thought it would be in about 20 years I would buy a mid 90's truck. LOL

I think it would be cool, but I think you're nuts if you cut that truck up that much. If you do, we want pics!!!! :D

never said I wasn't nuts. thing is even if I sell it now I lose money, paid too much for it, then put on 35k in a few months, had to pay all the taxes ect. if I add up everything required to fix the chev to be as nice and capable as the dodge it would cost more.
yeah its hard to start hacking the body, I'm woundering if I should go smaller on tires and move the axle forwards a bit.

don't worry if I find a set of beater wheels and commit to the plan there will be many many pics to warn off others who may make the mistakes I make.
anyone have pics of something similar? or a wrecked cab I can play with?

longer links will push the axle forward and have more travel. go 42's and just cut the fenders. oh, and i saw a '95 dodge truck cab for $300. thats what i'm gonna swap onto mine after i destroy the '75 cab ;)

Well, we all WANT to se newer Dodges on the trails, but...
This conversation has gone around a couple times, and it seems rather expensive to get a new(er) full-size Ram to wheel really well, and you're "wasting" your truck in the process.
IE. the whole resale value thing.

I was thinking it over with my 2000 Dak a while ago, before i wrecked it, and had the ins. people write it off. :D
But, i would have loved to bob the bed, shorten the wheelbase, get a solid axle under the front, and use the sawzall to chop the shit outta my truck, but it was looking like i'd waste a lot of money doing that...

Maybe what you need to think about is what do you use the Ram for now? If you make it a serious trail machine, will you still be able to use it for daily duties? Especially considering you want to shorten the wheelbase.

Ramstein had a really nice setup with his white Ram, you might want to talk to him before you make the decision.
But like Neckster said, if you do it, we want pics!!!
:D :D :D

well my tow vehicle is now a camperized bus that I use for the racebike so I am pretty much using it to drive around, a little bit of hauling but not enough to justify the capacity. yeah I'm still paying for it but I'll still be paying for it if I fix the chev. seems like there is not enough room to get 44's under without massive lift though. three inch body is a given but even a 5 inch lift added to that probably won't even get close will it?
besides I can weekend drive the dodge with the 44's on it

Well I have my 2001 Dodge and it wheels great. IT has dual duty of daily driver and trail rig though. That is why I am only running 35's at the moment. IT HANDLES REALLY WELL OFF ROAD. I have seen many 2500's running 38.5 which I really think would be better rather than all the hacking you will need to do unless you are going to be adding custom longer control arms up front and a body lift. There is the other option of the 7" lift from skyjacker and you have the added advantage of D60 front and either the D60 or D70 rear already as well. You can see the links in my sig to see the pics of where I wheel. I have been threw PET before and I know there are quite a few narrow trails out there too with lots of water and mud and the diesel is really easily modified to make it waterproof and the doors seal the cab really well from water getting in. I have still had water in my cab a couple of times but that was trying to get someone else out I had to open the door.

Many people say that at least 12" of suspension lift is required to fit 44's without cutting and the problem that you run into is that your center of gravity would be too high and you would be more of a pavement princess.

I have not had any problems with my setup. I just hop you have the manual tranny and not the auto. NV4500 at least I hope?

Another thing to check out is WHIPLASH Suspensions but their site is not working well right now and for about the same price as the skyjacker 7" they have a 10" kit that looks really AWSOME..but they are in California and might be a problem getting things from in Pet.

the whiplash stuff is out, I looked at that real close and I think I can probably build my own better. besides I don't want a lot of lift, lift adds more problems instead of solving them.

I have a 60 front now and a 80 rear, the rear 80 seems a bit on the heavy side but I won't have to worry about ring-pinion failures. yeah I have the nv4500 in there already, going to upgrade the clutch and engine anyways seeing as the clutch feels like its on the way out and the high horsepower kits are cheap for the cummins.

have you ever regretted taking the shiny new truck on the trail? my only worry here is I may really regret this later on.

has anyone built custom arms themselves for this yet? any suggestions?

I am making a set of custom arms here very soon. Well I am not but a really good shop is. Many of the trucks they have built have been in TOP TRUCK CHALLENGE. They do amazing stuff. There is an other dodge that will be getting a set made at the same time bringing down the costs for both of us.

The only regret about taking by truck out in the bush is that it is not a 2500 to start with. Being a 1500 I have the D44 and Chrylser 9 1/4 rear. I now have a D60 front ready to go in and I am deciding between a Dana60 with disks or Dana 80 for the rear. These parts are hard to find in good shape and $$$ when you do. I choose my battles on the trails as I do not want to destroy the truck but use it. Why would I baby a 4x4 only to let the next guy have a great rig....

Just my 2 cents....

so the overwhelming question in my mind is will 44's fit?
anyone seen this done anywhere and have pics or might I be the first to find out the hard way?

Originally posted by mytzlflick
so the overwhelming question in my mind is will 44's fit?
anyone seen this done anywhere and have pics or might I be the first to find out the hard way?

email this guy... He HAS DONE ALOT OF WORK and runs 44's But more for show that function...

http://www.skyjacker.com/flash/real_rides-detail.asp?ID=311

DJFiji1976@cs.com

He is really helpful and I have emailed him a couple of times...

44's and 1/2 ton axles? :eek:

that'll work :flipoff2:

he might have done alot of work, but not in the right spots;)

Originally posted by FULLSIZE
44's and 1/2 ton axles? :eek:

that'll work :flipoff2:

he might have done alot of work, but not in the right spots;)

I can't agree more about the axles....more for looks than function but it seems to all work...He has a good starting point to swap axles now.... If the 44's will clear now then all he has to do is swap in a DANA 60. Or just use a Skyjacker 7" lift and swap in Unimog axles....then 44's should clear no problem....

Originally posted by mytzlflick
....have you ever regretted taking the shiny new truck on the trail? my only worry here is I may really regret this later on.....

Nope... And you wont ;)

yeah I noticed the 1/2 ton axles and the 44's, my front 60 is not much better, its still 30 spline in the middle right? I figure eventually I'll upgrade to dana70's with 35 spline shafts.
anyone ever converted one to leafs for easier lift? I'm not big on the idea of modifying a lift that far. or maybe a custom three link setup of some kind?

try the toyota forum and search for solid axle swaps. it will be a similar procedure for your dodge, but you'll just be swapping man size springs and axles under the dodge so you'll want to step up the size of the brackets you use as compared to the toyota swaps. ;)

oh and yes your 60 is really only 30 spline at the carrier.:(

ok this plan has been revised, the truck will definitly be modified to fit the bigger tires. the reasons for this are plentifull but I won't go into them.
the axles I have settled on are 404 mog, anyone know how close in width these are to the stock dodge axles?
tires will be either 46 or 48 inch michilen (cause I can't fit 52's no matter how much I want them) this is so i can have radial drivability with off road clearance.
now the questions:
anyone have a plan for front suspension with longer links for travel they want to share? or would you convert to leafs?
any ideas how low it can be and still fit the tires? I don't need a lot of uptravel just enough for ride quality.
I'm in afganistan now so no work is possible yet, but pictures will definitly be forthcoming when the conversion starts.
oh yeah anyone have mog axles for sale cheap?

One thing you'll need to look at if you modify the length of your control arms, is the bottom stop. When you lengthen them, you change the radius of travel.

Morph.

no worries about stops at all, uptravel will be by bumpstop, downtravel will be via limiting strap, easier than building the stops into the custom brakets I will have to make for the front axle

sorry, bottom stop was supposed to be bump stop. not enough coffee when I posted. Was just trying to say you will need to relocate and check where the suspension will bottom out is all.

Morph.

anyone know a source for the front axle braketry so I don't have to cut off the stock ones?
also how much would the front axle sell for?

Originally posted by mytzlflick
yeah I noticed the 1/2 ton axles and the 44's, my front 60 is not much better, its still 30 spline in the middle right? I figure eventually I'll upgrade to dana70's with 35 spline shafts.
anyone ever converted one to leafs for easier lift? I'm not big on the idea of modifying a lift that far. or maybe a custom three link setup of some kind?



http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/specs/axle/axlespecs.html

i will post my truck when it gets done. D60 in front and a sterling rear (package deal outta an 02 Ford SD. Convering the front to leafs. 4.88s. 38s. And way more to come.

ok two questions for you all
1)anyone know where I can get front axle brakets??
2) anyone near a 96 deisel can tell me how hard it would be to offset the entire drivetrain 4 inches right for driveline clearance with the mog axles? (sorry I'm 10500 miles from my truck right now)

Damn thats alot of work. I'd say try and get some brackets from a Dodge recycler if there is one out there.

Originally posted by mytzlflick
ok two questions for you all
1)anyone know where I can get front axle brakets??
2) anyone near a 96 deisel can tell me how hard it would be to offset the entire drivetrain 4 inches right for driveline clearance with the mog axles? (sorry I'm 10500 miles from my truck right now)

2) Forget it!