3rd Gen Prerunner

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Mikeman13

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So I've been doing a ton of research looking for anyone that may have built a 2wd 3rd gen runner and haven't found but a very select few people and it's not by their choice I'm sure it's that there is absolutely nobody crafting any sort of long travel suspension for 3rd gen 2wd rams.... which I find very odd.

With that being said, I'm here asking if anyone knows ANYBODY at all that has a 3rd gen 2wd runner so I may ask who they got the long travel components from. I've emailed Kore twice in the past 6 months without ever getting a response back as they were who helped make a beautiful 2wd runner over at dodge talk.

I've also heard and seen pictures that Atomic Motorsports had some kit available, but from what I can tell they've either gone out of business or just haven't updated their website since 2011.

In conclusion I purchased this 3rd gen at a ridiculous deal and didn't even think twice about it as I was looking for the foundation for a pre-runner. And I still haven't lost hope

Any help would be appreciated guys

Thanks in advance!
 

usaf2006

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I thought about this as well, but as you've seen, there isn't anyone doing suspension for us. I'm sure you could find someone who could do it custom, but it's all about what you want to spend. The body wouldn't be hard to do. You could always make a street runner lol, which I've considered as well.
 

usaf2006

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If you Google say a 2003 ram 1500 prerunner bumper there's some on there, but idk what they're running for suspension. How much height do you think runners have? My front fenders to ground is 37.5", which if I d did a prerunner bumper, I could be okay with that height, but still wouldn't be jumping dunes lol.
 
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Mikeman13

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Honestly It's looking like we're going to have to mix and match parts. I just emailed a company called Michigan Machine Works to see if they have anything that we'd be able to use. If we could just find an upper/lower control arm suitable for long travel the rest really wouldn't be that hard.

And as far as clearance goes it varies, most long travel suspension kits give between 4 - 6" of lift which from what I understand is generally good enough for 12+ inches of wheel wheel travel if you have the suspension to handle that much travel.

The prerunner bumpers and body styling is very easy.

Fiberwerx.com makes the highest quality body components I've ever found. I used them for my friends 2011 Ramrunner build and I'd never go with another company as far as fiberglass goes.

N-Fab makes a great front bumper with good ground clearance and a fantastic looking skid plate

Rear bumpers a a dime a dozen and less important, than the front bumper. Just make sure you get good clearance and as much weight on it as possible for traction.

Now the damned suspension on the other hand is the only thing keeping me from having my runner up and.... well running. I simply cannot find any long travel components on the market


I'll keep you updated what MMW tells me.
 

usaf2006

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Sounds good man. I was thinking about doing a custom bumper myself. Well see. Feel free to pm me if you lose this thread. Is MMW located in the lower peninsula? I'm from the upper peninsula. I'll dig around and see what I can find as far as custom suspension.

Oh and throw up pics of the truck when you can.
 

xtremewlr

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Michigan Metal Works has an upper control arm that will help.

02-05 Dodge Ram 1500 Upper arms for Lifted Trucks

While not necessarily designed for long travel, it is designed to clear the spring buckets at full droop.

For fender clearance and some added room, Fiberworx still sells and makes fiberglass fenders and bed sides for the 3rd gens. They aren't ridiculously expensive either.

02-05 Dodge Ram Fenders - FiberwerX Off Road Fiberglass
02-08 Dodge Ram Bedsides - FiberwerX Off Road Fiberglass

To really go full-on pre-runner is going to take some custom fab work I think. Mainly for the lower control arms and to adapt the better coil overs from the 4wd trucks to the 2wd application, if possible. I haven't actually looked into that yet but have thought about it.

Bumpers aren't really that complicated and should be easy to make or have fabbed up. Just about any shop with a welder and tube bender can make one for you.
 
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Mikeman13

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Michigan Metal Works has an upper control arm that will help.

02-05 Dodge Ram 1500 Upper arms for Lifted Trucks

While not necessarily designed for long travel, it is designed to clear the spring buckets at full droop.

For fender clearance and some added room, Fiberworx still sells and makes fiberglass fenders and bed sides for the 3rd gens. They aren't ridiculously expensive either.

02-05 Dodge Ram Fenders - FiberwerX Off Road Fiberglass
02-08 Dodge Ram Bedsides - FiberwerX Off Road Fiberglass

To really go full-on pre-runner is going to take some custom fab work I think. Mainly for the lower control arms and to adapt the better coil overs from the 4wd trucks to the 2wd application, if possible. I haven't actually looked into that yet but have thought about it.

Bumpers aren't really that complicated and should be easy to make or have fabbed up. Just about any shop with a welder and tube bender can make one for you.

is there a specific set of shocks you would recommend with the MMW upper control arm?
 

xtremewlr

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is there a specific set of shocks you would recommend with the MMW upper control arm?

That's really going to depend on your budget and how much lift and travel the suspension has. Bilstien makes great shocks and have a bunch of different choices. There are several other shock options out there as well that are really good.
 

usaf2006

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I've seen a post or two with people talking about Kore offering front suspension for our 3rd gens, but they don't list it on their website. Might be worth looking into. Thinking about doing a prerunner look until I can do the full suspension. Zone makes a front leveling kit that is coil spacers, control arms and drop diff brackets for a decent price. Then with some upgraded shocks and maybe more durable cvs (for me), the front might perform a little better. Would a four link rear perform better off road versus the stock leaf springs? MMW sells universal kits that look pretty nice.
 
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Mikeman13

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I've seen a post or two with people talking about Kore offering front suspension for our 3rd gens, but they don't list it on their website. Might be worth looking into. Thinking about doing a prerunner look until I can do the full suspension. Zone makes a front leveling kit that is coil spacers, control arms and drop diff brackets for a decent price. Then with some upgraded shocks and maybe more durable cvs (for me), the front might perform a little better. Would a four link rear perform better off road versus the stock leaf springs? MMW sells universal kits that look pretty nice.


MMW said they may have something that we could use if they could have a 3rd gen ram for them to look at. I wonder how close you are.
 

usaf2006

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Unfortunately I live in Georgia. What kind of something. Ill send them pictures if theyre cool with that. Even if they want to sponsor me, ill put their name all over my truck, at a steep discount haha.
 
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Mikeman13

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I think what I'm going to end up doing is going with the MMW upper arm and find some sort of compatible lower arm, get a decent set of shocks and a lift spindle up front to level the truck out.

then I'll proceed with the appropriate body styling.
 
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Mikeman13

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My biggest concern going this route is the extra tract-width I'll gain up front from doing spindles upfront only. Depending on how much I gain I'll have to find a way to compensate in the back.
 

xtremewlr

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Lift spindles won't change the track width. The MMW upper arms aren't longer than stock, they just allow for clearance around the spring pockets. The thing that will account most for a wider track is going to be the wheel offset at this point. Unless you can come up with a true long arm kit. And take a look at some pre-runner pics online, they are almost always wider in front than the rear.

MMW does do lowering kits as well, you might check with them to see if you can adopt one of their lower arms to the truck for what you want to do.
 
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Mikeman13

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Lift spindles won't change the track width. The MMW upper arms aren't longer than stock, they just allow for clearance around the spring pockets. The thing that will account most for a wider track is going to be the wheel offset at this point. Unless you can come up with a true long arm kit. And take a look at some pre-runner pics online, they are almost always wider in front than the rear.

MMW does do lowering kits as well, you might check with them to see if you can adopt one of their lower arms to the truck for what you want to do.

Thanks again for all the help, I was under the impression that a lift spindle added quite a bit of extra tract-width.

I'm going to call around on Monday and see if I can't find a shop around here that will work with me on creating some sort of a long arm kit. I'm a wizard with CAD so this shouldn't be that hard of a thing to accomplish. I think the main concern and reason the kit doesn't exist already is that there must not be that great a demand for the 3rd gen pre-runner kit on the 2wd trucks.
 
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Mikeman13

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I just found this kit. Atomic Motorsports' Mid-Travel IFS System - Off-Road Magazine

I'd give my entire soul to get in contact with this company, I cannot find any contact information for them at all however.


EDIT: After doing some deep searching I found their number and address. I'm going to get in contact with them ASAP and I'll get back to y'all. I really hope they still offer the kit in the link above.
 

xtremewlr

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I just found this kit. Atomic Motorsports' Mid-Travel IFS System - Off-Road Magazine

I'd give my entire soul to get in contact with this company, I cannot find any contact information for them at all however.


EDIT: After doing some deep searching I found their number and address. I'm going to get in contact with them ASAP and I'll get back to y'all. I really hope they still offer the kit in the link above.

I found their Facebook page. Shows they are located in San Diego, which is where I happen to live :naughty: I'll try and swing by the address shown and see if they are still there or not. Won't be able to do it until sometime towards the end of the week tho.
 

usaf2006

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Get a quote for a 4wdif they have it. That kit is nice! What's the benefit of increases track wish, less tippage and more travel?
 

rammanriley20

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look up SketchyPhotoStream on instagram, he has a sweet 2wd 3rd gen prerunner. or just google sketchyphotostream and go to images.
 
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Mikeman13

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Update for you guys, I've been talking back and forth with MMW for the past two days and they are fully onboard to fabricate a custom made kit for 3rd Gen 2wd models so I'm going to work with them to get this done.

I'm going to continue to try and get in contact with Atomic Motorsports to see about snagging the CAD files to their kit that Both MMW and I agree will save profound amounts of time testing prototypes and what not.

However Money has been spent, and this ball is officially rolling so sometime in the near future I will be the proud owner of a rare 3rd Gen RWD runner and hopefully they throw that kit up in their site for future people to purchase.

The last missing piece is to see about getting in contact with Atomic to save me assloads of Money.
 
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