Don's 2022 Ram 3500

[Flyin6]

Oh, and looking for some feedback here.

What do you all think of this front bumper?

I had not planned to change the front bumper, but I sort of want to carry around a front winch. I have used it from time to time in the past in the chevy. I may not ever need it, but I am just so used to having one...

[Atkinsmatt]

Good looking unit.

[oklawall]

Good looking bumper

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[JR]

I like it.

[Bigdave_185]

Meh 🫤


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[JR]

Dang Dave, just got a hit from the Dmax forums. You are a busy man!

[stlaser]

I like it but personally would want a deer guard on it. Or in my case, deer, elk, moose etc…..

[dave945]

I think Don would have to flip the deer guard so it stuck down about three inches above the ground to keep him out of the mall mulch.


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[Dustoff35]

After speaking with the boys at Carli, I should not have sold you the individual components without the shocks, as they are all engineered to work around each other like one big happy family. If you found fox 2.0 try them out before throwing in the towel on the system. as they are not carli tuned they may not be as ideal as they were intended but are likely to solve 90% of your issues. He's hard to get on the phone since it's just him, but Tyler over at Carli is a wealth of knowledge. Tyler@carlisusupension.com. just let him know you're working with me on this project.

I couldn't agree more.  The Carli suspension is a well-designed, well-engineered and quality-manufactured system.  Realize that when you substitute parts, you change the system and alter the proven recipe.  The off-the-shelf, non-Carli-tuned Fox shocks are not part of the system. I will be surprised if you get the results you want.

[Flyin6]

I like it but personally would want a deer guard on it. Or in my case, deer, elk, moose etc…..

I think you may be correct, S. Digging a bit deeper and I discovered that so-called winch bumper has no winch access from the top!

So how exactly would I flip the clutch lever on my winch?

FAIL!!!

[Flyin6]

After speaking with the boys at Carli, I should not have sold you the individual components without the shocks, as they are all engineered to work around each other like one big happy family. If you found fox 2.0 try them out before throwing in the towel on the system. as they are not carli tuned they may not be as ideal as they were intended but are likely to solve 90% of your issues. He's hard to get on the phone since it's just him, but Tyler over at Carli is a wealth of knowledge. Tyler@carlisusupension.com. just let him know you're working with me on this project.

I couldn't agree more.  The Carli suspension is a well-designed, well-engineered and quality-manufactured system.  Realize that when you substitute parts, you change the system and alter the proven recipe.  The off-the-shelf, non-Carli-tuned Fox shocks are not part of the system. I will be surprised if you get the results you want.

Well, did you get the results you wanted?

Seems to me your truck rides pretty rough as well. Have you driven the section of highway to/from Louisville, that is the only way you or anyone could access how the Carli setup on your truck managed that particular section of horrible road. And your wife stated there was no change, which is far from scientific but shows that there really is not much of a change in ride quality after the installation of the complete Carli system.

I think the elephant in the room here is the fact that these are full on 1-ton trucks. The bias with respect to design from the engineering side has to be toward hauling heavy weight in lieu of a nice ride. Look at the rear suspension. The 2500 has a coil spring setup whereas the 3500 has wide (3") thick leaves and only four of them. That leaf is designed to carry a lot of weight. If they were shooting for a compliant ride, then the leaf pack would have had many more thinner leaves.

So regardless of how many millimeters of difference there is between an "Off the shelf" Fox shock and a Carli-spec one, the butt calibration is still measuring in feet or yards. I highly doubt there will be any detectable difference between the Fox 2.0 I have and the non-available Carli units. Further, in my defense, who would have known a Bilstein shock (If that is the problem) would have married so poorly with the Carli springs. Because those springs are really the only thing from the Carli system that would/could affect the suspension. The drop brackets only bring the caster back to where it was before the front lift. The track bar only returns the axle back to where it was before lifting. The rear 1" blocks are inconsequential, and as I discovered, there was no air pressure in the Firestone bags due to a leak somewhere.

Therefore, the only factors that could affect the truck this much are the shocks or the springs. Even if one spring is upside down, the rate would be the same, and I am yet to determine if that is the case. It only affects the bowing of the spring according to a vid I just watched on the subject.

[Dustoff35]

Well, did you get the results you wanted?
[/quote]

I did.

My objectives were simple:

1. Level the truck.  Check.
2. Eliminate the harsh "donkey-kick" from the rear when crossing an expansion joint while empty. Check.
3. No towing/payload capacity reduction. Check.

I never expected this truck to ride like a coil-sprung 2500 or 1500. I can say that ride quality IS improved.

The suspension setups ARE different. I have additional components that I believe make a difference. Besides the Carli-tuned, (NON- "Off-the-Shelf"  ) King shocks, there is the torsion-type sway bar and the greaseable rear spring shackles. The Carli radius arms would not make a difference regarding ride quality.

[Dustoff35]

Additionally, my truck has the Ramboxes which likely adds a couple-hundred lbs.  I also have a bed-mounted Titan auxiliary fuel tank that adds 300-325lbs.  I'm sure that helps.

[TexasRedNeck]

https://kelderman.com/shop/air-suspension/stock-height/2019-ram-3500-p-u-4x4-4-link-rear-air-suspension

Ride like buttah!


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[Bigdave_185]

https://kelderman.com/shop/air-suspension/stock-height/2019-ram-3500-p-u-4x4-4-link-rear-air-suspension

Ride like buttah!


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And you no longer need a trailer tongue jack.  Drop the bags, back up, pull in, lift n go!!


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[Flyin6]

Yes, that is trick.

So, I got after the shock swap, this time using the FOX 2.0's

I guess I thought the Bilstein's were 2" bodies, but the FOX bodies were larger in diameter.

[Flyin6]

It was just a bunch of work, but the swap happened along with some other stuff in just a few hours.

[Flyin6]

As I noted in an earlier post, the driver's side spring was installed upside down, so I corrected that along with a problem with the exact positioning of the passenger upper spring seat.

[Flyin6]

I buttoned it all up then went on a test drive. I topped up the fuel tank then hit the interstate headed toward Louisville. I could not avoid hitting many good-sized potholes.

The result is a positive one. The Fox shock swap definitely took a lot of the bone-jarring sensations out of the ride. It was not as smooth as the factory, but much better than with the German shocks. I would say it is 50% better than it was and something short of the factory ride. It is now acceptable.

Isn't it amazing that the factory ride quality is better than the high-cost replacement stuff? I would advise not to level the truck just for the sake of leveling if you have a newer truck. If I knew then what I know now, I would have left everything stock for a couple of years and just put up with the nose-low attitude (Which I do not like).

So, it is what it is, although it no longer rides as smoothly as stock, these springs and shocks offer all sorts of an expanded envelope. I'll likely never learn about it, but is done and I am moving on.

[JR]

I believe the Fox shocks are rebuildable too.

[Dustoff35]

Did you get those greaseable leaf spring shackles installed?

[TexasRedNeck]

Don with those bags you might consider softer leafs if you aren’t going full air ride. More comfortable ride but you have the bags when things get heavy.


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[Flyin6]

Did you get those greaseable leaf spring shackles installed?

I didn't purchase them...Am stopping here for awhile...

[stlaser]

Did you get those greaseable leaf spring shackles installed?

I didn't purchase them...Am stopping here for awhile...

Glad you got the issue solved and are taking a break from the full vehicle build you started. 

[Flyin6]

Don with those bags you might consider softer leafs if you aren’t going full air ride. More comfortable ride but you have the bags when things get heavy.


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Maybe, down the road. With us possibly selling the farm and possibly buying a fifth wheel and wanting to travel, I need to see how the future is setting up to look like. Then I can make some good solid decisions about the truck.
There are some things I can do to it now, however that work in any scenario. Those are the things I will be doing.
Widening the stance may make sense. A better front bumper may make sense. A better A tire may make sense, however, I have taken this truck off road and I have to confess these LBGTires (Firestone "Trans" Force) seem to provide pretty good traction. Duane's suggestion for an aux tank wouldn't hurt either.

[Flyin6]

Did you get those greaseable leaf spring shackles installed?

I didn't purchase them...Am stopping here for awhile...

Glad you got the issue solved and are taking a break from the full vehicle build you started. 

Not going to do that with this one
I still have the burb for that
and
I keep thinking that would be a cooler truck with an updated interior and a larger motor.

[JR]

I like the aux tank idea. Plus you dont loose much with a long bed. With a tool box would be great too, as you will always needs more storage.

Put a nice 5thor gooseneck in there. I like gooseneck as it leaves the bed open when not used.

Put a load on it and see how it rides then, isn't that the idea?

[Flyin6]

I like the aux tank idea. Plus you dont loose much with a long bed. With a tool box would be great too, as you will always needs more storage.

Put a nice 5thor gooseneck in there. I like gooseneck as it leaves the bed open when not used.

Put a load on it and see how it rides then, isn't that the idea?

It's not a long bed. Has a 6'4" box (I think)
There is plenty of time, I don't need to go rushing into anything just yet.
I'll just drive it for awhile

[EL TATE]

I buttoned it all up then went on a test drive. I topped up the fuel tank then hit the interstate headed toward Louisville. I could not avoid hitting many good-sized potholes.

The result is a positive one. The Fox shock swap definitely took a lot of the bone-jarring sensations out of the ride. It was not as smooth as the factory, but much better than with the German shocks. I would say it is 50% better than it was and something short of the factory ride. It is now acceptable.

Isn't it amazing that the factory ride quality is better than the high-cost replacement stuff? I would advise not to level the truck just for the sake of leveling if you have a newer truck. If I knew then what I know now, I would have left everything stock for a couple of years and just put up with the nose-low attitude (Which I do not like).

So, it is what it is, although it no longer rides as smoothly as stock, these springs and shocks offer all sorts of an expanded envelope. I'll likely never learn about it, but is done and I am moving on.

Glad you got a better outcome with these and sad you didn't get a chance to ride the tuned shocks to match the spring rate, but this is better than 2 months wait time for sure. it is really amazing how valving and tuning have an effect on ride quality. if you had bigger heavier tires and wheels, those bilstiens might have been just the ticket.

[Flyin6]

I buttoned it all up then went on a test drive. I topped up the fuel tank then hit the interstate headed toward Louisville. I could not avoid hitting many good-sized potholes.

The result is a positive one. The Fox shock swap definitely took a lot of the bone-jarring sensations out of the ride. It was not as smooth as the factory, but much better than with the German shocks. I would say it is 50% better than it was and something short of the factory ride. It is now acceptable.

Isn't it amazing that the factory ride quality is better than the high-cost replacement stuff? I would advise not to level the truck just for the sake of leveling if you have a newer truck. If I knew then what I know now, I would have left everything stock for a couple of years and just put up with the nose-low attitude (Which I do not like).

So, it is what it is, although it no longer rides as smoothly as stock, these springs and shocks offer all sorts of an expanded envelope. I'll likely never learn about it, but is done and I am moving on.

Glad you got a better outcome with these and sad you didn't get a chance to ride the tuned shocks to match the spring rate, but this is better than 2 months wait time for sure. it is really amazing how valving and tuning have an effect on ride quality. if you had bigger heavier tires and wheels, those bilstiens might have been just the ticket.

I still have room to grow and get an even better ride.
I currently have the Mopar supplied 20" rims with a 33.5" tire.
I could most easily switch to an eighteen-inch rim with a slightly larger tire, say a 285/75R18 and get a whole bunch more sidewall to absorb the bumps. That and perhaps reduce the tire pressure by 5-10psi and all in all, I would have what I am looking for.

[Flyin6]

Kind of leaning toward this bumper at the moment:

[JR]

Whats not to like?

[Flyin6]

Whats not to like?

Exactly

Except for a 6-week lead time!

[stlaser]

That’s a reasonable lead time, I think I waited double that a year ago. I like the bumper btw, make sure the powder has some sort of warranty, mine is already compromised in a couple areas.

[Flyin6]

That’s a reasonable lead time, I think I waited double that a year ago. I like the bumper btw, make sure the powder has some sort of warranty, mine is already compromised in a couple areas.

Copy that

I'd buy it plain metal if I could and do the PC here...But, no bueno

So, haven't exactly decided, but It is warming up for me.

[BobbyB]

Kind of leaning toward this bumper at the moment:

To me there's too much open unprotected grill. I can foresee a deer or something finding it's way past the perimeter bar into the expensive stuff. But it's my unfounded opinion without any skin in the game.

[Bigdave_185]

I think with out the lift and big tires it won’t look proportionate.  But Iv never much liked the off road bumper


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[Flyin6]

I think with out the lift and big tires it won’t look proportionate.  But Iv never much liked the off road bumper


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Could be.

I think that lift is about like mine, nothing crazy, but I want to say the truck in the pic is running 37's. I'll be at 34.5ish with the next set of tires (35's)

[JR]

All the newer trucks are just plastic, so easy to damage.

[Flyin6]

Pushing forward, I am continuing to make small upgrades.

Anyone who owns one of these trucks knows the thing has a pretty significant laggy pedal.

I decided to do something about it!

[Flyin6]

Essentially a better designed, Pedal Commander. That brand had two cables, this one had one with two pigtails.

It intercepts the pedal signal coming out of the accelerator pedal module:

[Flyin6]

It's a pretty simple device and a 15 minute install.

[Flyin6]

You simply unplug the connector at the pedal, then plug in the module into the two connectors. Next secure the thing and set it to which level you desire, and you're all done.

There is a short non-mandatory learning procedure, which I accomplished, then I test-drove the truck.

Sure enough, it made all the difference. Now when I step on the pedal the truck MOVES like right now. I set mine to sport, a step below race and a step above stock. It also has an eco-mode that no self respecting American straight male would ever care about.

[Flyin6]

The other thing I did was install the Bullitt system to hold my cell phone. I chose the magnetic pad which also charges the phone while it is held in place.

I added a double mount to the Jeep as well, one for my phone, and one for hers. I fell one mounting arm short for my truck, but I will add it.

[Flyin6]

And just like last time, they sent me a useless 30-06 cartridge!

[Bigdave_185]

How did you choose that brand over edge or Banks?


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[Flyin6]

How did you choose that brand over edge or Banks?


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Availability and cost. Thoroughbred diesel likes them...

[BobbyB]

And just like last time, they sent me a useless 30-06 cartridge!

I would say you must repent after such blasphemy, however;

[Flyin6]

And just like last time, they sent me a useless 30-06 cartridge!

I would say you must repent after such blasphemy, however;

Hey, did you look at it closely????

[BobbyB]

Hey, did you look at it closely????

I did. I know it's a bottle opener, however; I threw a quick quip in the mix, then faded back.