2K Ram Front fender clearance issues, moving the axle forward possible?

[AZ_Ram]

Ive got a 2k ram with 1 tons under it and a 7 in skyjacker long arm kit with 10in coils. I'm running into clearance issue with my 39's hitting the back of the front fender well when i turn and have a bit of articulation. Im pretty sure that my front axle is pulled back a bit from running taller coils than what was supposed to be ran with the 7 in kit. Im looking at having some longer control arms made to recenter the front axle in the wheel well and hopefully let me flex a lot more than it does now. Aside from clearance issues with the track bar is there any other issues i may run into? Coils, shocks, steering etc? I think i recall someone moving there front end forward 3 inches and not having any issues.

If i can recenter the front end better i may even drop the lift down to about 8, i just need to keep my tires from tearing themselves up on the back fender. Thought about taking a sawzall to it but theres not a whole lot to cut there for clearance. Ill post up pics of the front end and tire clearance later.

[D45]

Adjustable arms and an adjustable track bar

You can push the front axle about 2" before running into issues, atleast this was true on my old 2004 3500

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Originally Posted by D45

Adjustable arms and an adjustable track bar

You can push the front axle about 2" before running into issues, atleast this was true on my old 2004 3500

With a lift. No lift (like mine) your uppers cant really be longer than 7/8" At around 1" the track/panhard bar contacts the diff cover bolts. Button head screws can give you another 1/4" or so.

^^ This is truce for my 05'.

[AZ_Ram]

Originally Posted by D45

Adjustable arms and an adjustable track bar

You can push the front axle about 2" before running into issues, atleast this was true on my old 2004 3500

Good to know. Ive seen the bent track bar that will clear the diff cover, looks like thats what ill need. Think itd be beneficial to measure where the wheel sits on a factory truck and try to go 2 in further than that? Im pretty sure my front axle is pulled back a good bit from the 10 in coils on a 7 in kit.

[alexdummy]

There could be a lot of variables that might be fine but could also limit the ablility to move the axle such as sway bar links, driveshaft, shocks, off set the coils will have, track bar. If the front driveshaft is stock length you might have to get it extended a couple inches.

[D45]

True

I did have the front driveshaft lengthened 1-1/2"

[djgaston]

2nd gen and 3rd/4th gen are a totally different animal when it comes to moving the axle forward. You can't go nearly as far on a 2003+ because of the track bar mount. On a 2nd gen, as long as you are running a track bar setup like ours that moves the mounting point forward, you can go pretty far. I'm at +3", which is as far as anybody really can go without cutting off the factory coil mounts on the frame. The coils will angle pretty noticeable at +3" but I've done it for many years on multiple trucks and it works pretty well. Obviously the higher the lift, the more you can go. On a stock to 3" truck, I wouldn't go more than 1.5". Did that on my V10 when it was stock and it was very close to having sway bar issues.

The issues will be the track bar (unless you go to a forward-mount like ours), sway bar end links hitting the coils (unless you delete the sway bar, cut it down, or run our torsion sway bar), shocks possibly hitting the mount if you are running 2.5" or bigger, coils angled, front driveshaft possibly over-extending. It takes some work to get it dialed in, but it's not hard.

With your setup at 10" lift (make sure it's actually 10", Skyjacker coils are bad about sagging), you can go +3" and gain a ton of tire clearance, plus trimming the fender and running a high clearance bumper will gain you even more. You don't need a bent track bar. You are rubbing 39" tires with a 10" lift, I'm clearing 47" LTBs on a 7" lift. Lots of room to be gained.

If you just want something easy, make those Skyjacker arms 1.5" longer and you'll clear the tires you have now. You won't need to do anything else other than the front driveshaft if it's not an aftermarket piece already. Your axle is pulled back at least 1" right now. The Skyjacker long arms have terrible angles so switching to a true long arm kit will solve a lot of your binding and give you a chance to upgrade to better joints, arms, and brackets, while correcting the axle placement issue. Just depends on how much you want to spend on it.

[AZ_Ram]

47's on 7 in lift sounds pretty nice, id like to drop it down a few inches. Climbing in and out gets to be a hassle sometimes. Heres how it sits and the little nick in put in my tire playing around in the dirt. Seems like the pass side rubs more than the driver side.

Front drive shaft is actually stock it still fits with the indexing ring. I got tons of room with the front bumper to, factory bumper had to go and rubbed when i had 38's on it. I have the dt pro fab track bar in it now( think thats who makes it) i actually welded the bracket to the frame to so might be stuck with it. Would love to run a true long arm set like you make but i think im stuck with the cross member on the kit i have since it hols the trans mount. Will have to see where they mount in comparison to whats on my truck now. Thanks for all your guys input.

[Wh1t3NuKle]

As said adjustable arms and ttackbar with everything else assumed fine.

Or

Reduce the coils and the axle will move slightly forward with existing arms....aka the 7" kit.

Pics of the important part...ttackbar frame mount.

You can at least flap the pinch seam away in the meantime. Lol

[djgaston]

Definitely put a 45 on that fender corner! haha That's such a bad way for the pinch weld to be shaped, I bet those have eaten a lot of tires over the years. One of the first things I do on 2nd gens is angle that part so it can't chew up a tire.

The axle actually doesn't look pulled back all that bad, but it could be the camera angle.

I remember the Skyjacker crossmember tying in with the long arm brackets. It seems like the long arm bracket could be unbolted from the crossmember. Guys used to run the Skyjacker suspension with Cepek arms so I know it works. Our long arms mount here (bad pic, sorry, it's the first one I found):



The front bracket bolts go through the rear crossmember bolts.

[AZ_Ram]

Originally Posted by djgaston

Definitely put a 45 on that fender corner! haha That's such a bad way for the pinch weld to be shaped, I bet those have eaten a lot of tires over the years. One of the first things I do on 2nd gens is angle that part so it can't chew up a tire.

The axle actually doesn't look pulled back all that bad, but it could be the camera angle.

I remember the Skyjacker crossmember tying in with the long arm brackets. It seems like the long arm bracket could be unbolted from the crossmember. Guys used to run the Skyjacker suspension with Cepek arms so I know it works. Our long arms mount here (bad pic, sorry, it's the first one I found):



The front bracket bolts go through the rear crossmember bolts.

Yeah the lower control arms bolt to the cross member. Theres a bracket that goes outside the frame to hold the lowers arms. Ill have to crawl under there and see if i can get rid of that and keep the cross member. I definitely need to take the sawzall to that fender. Cant afford to keep tearing up tires. It barely gets any flex when the wheels are turned.

[Dann'l]

Little bump for the thread:

I would like to see the cross member mounting. If I understand this correctly some setups inboarded the arms to the cross member? I think I saw another user's truck witht his but He made it I think.

Anyways bump for more pics!

[AZ_Ram]

Originally Posted by Dann'l

Little bump for the thread:

I would like to see the cross member mounting. If I understand this correctly some setups inboarded the arms to the cross member? I think I saw another user's truck witht his but He made it I think.

Anyways bump for more pics!

Heres a link to the instructions, has some pics of the cross member and mounts. The lower arms mount to the cross member and sit right under the frame and the upper arms bolt to the old lower arm mounts.

http://skyjacker.com/instructions/DO.../DC702K-DX.pdf

[evilram]

Originally Posted by AZ_Ram

47's on 7 in lift sounds pretty nice, id like to drop

What tires are those? Look sweet, and didn't know a BFG was made in a 47"....

You could always just do something stupid like this (I swear, it wasn't me...)


That was 46"s on a 5" lift, with the front forward about 3".

[AZ_Ram]

There BFG KM2's and there only 39's. Im having enough trouble clearing them, cant even think about anything in the 40+ range yet.

[Dann'l]

Originally Posted by AZ_Ram

Heres a link to the instructions, has some pics of the cross member and mounts. The lower arms mount to the cross member and sit right under the frame and the upper arms bolt to the old lower arm mounts.

http://skyjacker.com/instructions/DO.../DC702K-DX.pdf

doesn't get much better than that. Thanks!