2016 Ram 1500

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Killswitch

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Ram Year
2016
Engine
Hemi 5.7
The time came that I needed a V8 for towing and I had to let go of one of my favorite hobbies over the last 5 years or so. I built this Xterra from a completely stock vehicle and never thought I'd see the day that I sold it. I didn't have the time nor the want to tear it down and part it out so I traded it in on a 2016 Ram. Hopefully someone out there finds it that can use it for what it's built for.
Link to the build thread on the Xterra for those that are interested:
Killswitch's Xterra - Second Generation Nissan Xterra Forums (2005+)
Lightroomedit1-3_zps4e90b4b8.jpg

On to the new vehicle:
I traded the Xterra for a 2016 Ram 1500 Tradesman

Bone stock


What I've done so far/the way it looks right now:
3" front/2" rear motofab lift kit

Rear facing bed lights and flush mount reverse lights



OEM front tow hooks added



I don't intend to build this the way that I have other vehicles, but I wanted to go with a few function items and have it set up for some of the activities that I still do.

List of Modifications:
- Flush mount LED pods in the rear bumper that are tapped into the reverse light circuit on the trailer hitch.
- LED pods mounted on the bed that are tapped into the cargo lamp circuit for camping/surf fishing etc
- OEM front tow hooks installed
- MOTOFAB lift (3" front, 2" rear spacers)

Modifications in the works:
- I have a quadratec Q9500 winch that I will be hiding in the front bumper as soon as I get a mounting plate fabbed up and decide how I want to mount it
- Mevotech upper control arms as my ball joints are already separating after one day of having the MOTOFAB lift installed
- some type of toolbox/bed cover or hard camper shell...undecided at this time
- LED bar hidden behind the front grill
 

usaf2006

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Hemi 5.7
Welcome! Hope you enjoy your new investment!
 
Joined
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3.7L V6
Regarding the lift, when you say your ball joints are already separating, was that something you knew was gonna happen or did you know and lifted it anyway


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Killswitch

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2016
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Hemi 5.7
Regarding the lift, when you say your ball joints are already separating, was that something you knew was gonna happen or did you know and lifted it anyway


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, I had read mixed reviews on this site and others about these spacer lifts causing the OEM ball joints to start to unseat from the upper control arm. The majority of responses on the forums seemed to indicate that those with spacers larger than 2" would likely see this begin to happen.

I went ahead with the lift anyway as I know how forum responses can be and something that seems like it happens to every single truck can really only be happening to a small percentage.

That being said, I installed the lift yesterday and took a short road trip today (1 hour each way) and you can already see significant separation in the ball joint working its way up and out of the UCA. I'm honestly not sure what about the lift causes this as it really should not have this great an effect. Regardless, it's most definitely happening and will need to be remedied as the failure could be rather dangerous. Most posts on here and elsewhere said the Mevotech UCAs don't have this issue. They are fairly cheap on RockAuto so I'll order from there and replace them next weekend.
 

PassivAggressor

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Hemi 5.7
That Xterra was awesome! I've always wanted one. Love the mods on the truck already.
 
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Killswitch

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2016
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Hemi 5.7
So, just wanted to update on the ball joints separating from the upper control arms. I bought a set of mevotech upper control arms and was on my way to install them and had to drive by the dealership where I bought the truck on my way there.

I decided that it couldn't hurt to stop in and have them look at it and decide if it would be a warranty repair. I was fairly certain that they would blame the lift and not cover the repair.

I was pleasantly surprised. The mechanics looked at the truck and the tires (not mud terrains etc) and the year of the truck and had a discussion with their warranty department that resulted in them deciding to cover it. I just dropped the truck off today for the repairs.

I don't know that this will be a permanent fix as (in theory) the UCAs that were on there were already brand new so this may just happen again right away. I went ahead and kept the Mevotech UCAs and will do the repair myself just in case it shows back up.

Pictures of the separation:



 
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Killswitch

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Hemi 5.7
Since they fixed it now would be a good time to switch from spacers to bilsteins.


I'm fine with the spacers for now man. The OEM coilovers are brand new and the ride is still silky smooth. I'm trying not to pour money into this the way that I did the Xterra and keep this as a fairly simple, functional vehicle with some clean mods.

Also, there is nothing "magic" about the bilstiens. All that is happening there is that the shocks are limiting the down travel which just means the expensive bilstiens will wear out sooner and the seals on the shocks will blow. The true issue here is that the OEM ball joints don't have enough side to side range of movement to cover the changed geometry after the lift. I would assume that MEVOTECH has slightly better ball joints installed in their UCAs and that is why everyone has been having success by going that route.
 
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Killswitch

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2016
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Hemi 5.7
Well, warranty work has been completed. Literally when I picked the truck up from the dealer the ball joints were popping out of the UCA on the driver side (looked at it before I even got in the truck). I drove less than 2 miles two my house and the issue had already gotten worse.

So...I'm going to head back to the dealership and ask them how they want to proceed. My suggestion to them will be to ask that they install the mevotech UCAs for me as long as there is no warranty issues for that. I'll have to discuss with the warranty manager and see what they say.

To be fair, I actually took photos of my ball joints BEFORE installing the spacer lift and they were already popping out so it's not only a lift issue. Ram used some ****** ball joints and they have really limited range of motion. As soon as the front suspension goes to full droop (jack the truck up all the way on a jack) you will have issues as you drop it back down.
 

stars80

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2016
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5.7
tapping cargo light wire

Want to run bed lights and wondered if you could give a explanation how you tapped into the cargo bed lights Not sure how to access the wire that I know runs under the driver door sill. Trying to figure out how to get the plastic panels by driver pedals off without ruining anything..thanks
 
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Killswitch

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2016
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Hemi 5.7
tapping cargo light wire

Want to run bed lights and wondered if you could give a explanation how you tapped into the cargo bed lights Not sure how to access the wire that I know runs under the driver door sill. Trying to figure out how to get the plastic panels by driver pedals off without ruining anything..thanks

Sorry about that! Apparently I haven't been on here since 2016!
I hope you got your truck sorted out and added the lights!

.....For anyone else that was trying to do that, I cheated and did it the redneck way. I just popped out the brake light/bed light on the back of the cab and tapped into those wires right there by the rear window. Theres a small gap between the window and the frame of the cab. I just routed the wire all along the edge of the window and down to one corner of the bed. If done carefully, it doesn't look bad....but there are certainly cleaner (just much more difficult) ways of doing it.
 
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Killswitch

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2016
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Hemi 5.7
Has anyone gone any further with a hidden winch install?
I just bought a winch plate and am going to drill it and bolt it in myself. I'm about 99% positive I can fit it with minimal effort....I'll just have to weld on some sort of beefy bracket to extend the fairlead forward to the bumper. At that point I'm just going to cut a hole in the bumper and line it up.

I'll update here with pictures, but it should be happening over the next month or three as I have time to do the necessary cutting drilling etc.
 
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