NightMares 01 Sport Build

[NightMares]

Page book marked, took a while but the whole thread has been read! Nice build up again and I hope your business goes well.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

Thanks! It's been a long journey, and I'm not close to done yet. And fingers crossed that we make it through the business aspect.

So, comp cut went alright last night. I've decided there is no avoiding it, the hitch HAS to come off. It looks ******* ugly, even with the rear runner mounted.

But, it's done, there's no going back now. I've decided I'm going to probably get in contact with Fusion about getting a rear bumper custom built. Just drop the truck off with them for 2-3 weeks and pick it up when it's all done. It looks good, but there's a bunch of reinforcements and brackets that I'm not in the mood for cutting off and welding up just for this.

I've also decided I need to go lower with the bumper than the A-Bomb. If I was running a similar front bumper to what Mercenary Off Road builds for the 3rd gen, then the A-Bomb would look good. But my Fusion hangs down lower than a real "high clearance" bumper so now the ass end of the truck is way higher than the front body wise.

So what I'm thinking, is a similar idea to how the front is. Back at the wheel well have the bumper drop low, then curve up to a thin all the way back and around towards the center of the rear of the truck. I'm going to order in a different rear hitch, one of the "no show" hitches where it's just the actual receiver that's visible under the bumper. That way I can try to keep as much clearance in the back as possible, but not lose the functionality of a truck. From there, I'll have it come down just like the A-Bomb does where the license plate would normally go, and contour to hide the hitch, then back up.

I've drawn up some fancy pictchas to show what I'm talking about at the end.

But here she is! All hacked up!



REAR BUMPER OFF



MY NEW DESK PAPER WEIGHT



OH ****. IT'S...GONE
PASSENGER SIDE





DRIVERS SIDE



EXHAUST CUT AND DONE FOR THE NIGHT.
Somewhere during the bolt purchasing process I wound up pulling one 3/8 nut and one 7/16 out of the bin so rear runner couldn't go on...plus it was almost 2:00am



REAR RUNNER INSTALLED











AND HERE ARE THE RENDERINGS OF THE REAR BUMPER.
It'll be color matched to the truck in Raptor Liner just like the front, however the picture made it really hard to see. So 2nd picture is in black so it's easier to kinda view my idea. High clearance at the back corners, and tube style tail light guards





REAR VIEW
Pretty basic. Shackle mounts, flush mount dually's and rear winch








Later today I'm going to go ahead and pull the camper shell back off the truck, at that time I'll yank the hitch off it as well. Pulling the hitch means I lost rear recovery points, so I'll have to pray tonight on the night wheeling trip I don't wind up needing pulled back off something. Also lights the fire under my ass to get the truck over to Fusion for a quote and get the bumper built.

 

[NightMares]

Alright, still gotta pull the shell off but I'm done dinking around with it for now. Got the hitch off, tucked away the trailer wiring into the frame rails so it stays safe. Got the drag link adjusted to straighten the steering wheel out, got the fender liners trimmed way up so the tires won't catch them again, and I finally got my JKS Flex Connects installed. Had to run a couple errands for the shop and man it's a night and day difference surprisingly.

With the sway bar disconnected the truck rides comfortably, but it likes to wander around. With it connected, it rides smooth and straight, but it does have a stiffer...feel to it. With the Flex Connects, it actually rides like a disconnected sway bar, but it holds its lane. Took it through a construction zone that's fairly bumpy, and I can let go of the wheel and it stays centered on the road. Pretty great.

Another truck was on the lift and I'm getting lazy, don't wanna lift the shell off the truck so plan is to back it up to the lift, slide some 2x4's under the shell once I get the clamps removed, and just use the lift to pick it up off the truck. I'll get it moved over to our bull pin Monday.

I gotta say though, removing the hitch really helped it out. Looks a lot better now. I reinstalled the bolts and nuts back in the frame rails so I won't lose them, and whenever I need to tow something it's only about 15 minutes with an impact for reinstallation.

But anywho's, here's some el photographo's

 

[NightMares]

Alright so I finally got some photo's sent over from Labor Day run. Nothing exciting, but it's pictures none the less.














Took it out Saturday night for some night wheeling. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[NightMares]

So small update related to lighting. I got an account setup with LEDConcepts so I went ahead and ordered in a whole slew of accessories yesterday, and a few more today. No account with Morimoto, so I've only got 3 items coming from them for this build.

But here's everything step by step.

-------------------------------------------------

First off I'll need new housings for the main headlight halo's. Instead of doing the traditional square, a 2nd gen on Instagram that's local around here found by Riley of all places gave me inspiration for doing something different. So these are the headlight housings I've ordered in...again. These are the same as the ones I originally put on my truck (back on page 1 of my build) that are now long gone, so yay for another set.

Housings will be disassembled and everything painted black. There's a small section that separates the signal from the headlight housing that I'll paint red, but the rest all black.

The LED's across the bottom will be removed, and the small amber reflector in the signal will also be removed. Both will be replaced with something I'll list down below.



Doing a retrofit, so Morimoto Mini H1 7.0's are required.



To go with the projectors, I'm doing the traditional Gatling Gun 1.0's with them. Shrouds will be painted red.



I'm a giant fan of LED which is fairly obvious with the truck, and am actually pretty anti HID's. Morimoto has just released some H1 LED bulbs, so those are going in rather than some 6500k HID bulbs.



First item of the customization is controllers. I ordered in 4 of the colormorph controllers and receivers, along with single splitter (turns one controller from 4 accessories to 8). Each controller includes a single splitter, but one of these I want to run with 3 total items per headlight, requiring the splitter to go with it.





From here, this is where the real customization starts. As stated, instead of traditional halo's, I'm going to install a set of 4th gen halo's into the housings. These are wider than the headlight section of the 2nd gen sport housings I have, so 1 piece headlights are required for this.



Here's a shot of them in that 2nd gen. Based on this picture, fitment wise should actually contour perfectly with that small LED strip across the bottom of the housings so it should actually look even better than this.



Next will be the traditional halos around the projectors. These will be ran with the 4th gen halos, taking up one of the controllers. (Picture shows 2 halos', but each headlight is only getting one)



Next up are the demon eyes. Pretty self explantory, they illuminate the projector to whatever color I choose.



From here, a little more customization. I ordered in a roll of LED's, which I plan to stick around the backside of the housing to create a backlight. These will be wired in with the demon eyes, taking up the 2nd controller.



Since we're going full custom on these, I decided to eliminate the traditional turn signal bulb and replace it with more backlight. I ordered in a set of the colormorph fog light bulbs that I'll trim to fit into the slot for the turn signal. This is where the splitter comes in, as I'm going to run these with the demon eyes and LED strips, which basically will make the entire housings glow.



Now, since I'm eliminating the turn signal from the corner housing, I have to do something, right? So I ordered in the sequential LED strips that I will use to replace the narrow section across the bottom of the headlight housings. They glow white, and when the signal is activated they'll "flow" amber from left to right. Because of the design on the 4th gen halo, I'm only going to do these across the bottom of the headlight section, then tuck the excess back behind the signal section (headlight and signal are 2 physical separate sections even though they're one piece housings). I know the LED strips that I'm using for backlight are able to be cut and soldered every 3 LED's, but I'm not sure if these sequential's are setup the same. So the excess behind the signal might get wrapped in electrical tape or something to keep it from glowing behind the housings and ruining the look.



Since the sequential's are only going across the bottom of the actual headlight housing, I need something that will tell those next to me that my signal is on. I spoke earlier about removing that amber reflector out of the signal portion of the headlights, in replacement of it I'm putting a 6" colormorph uber-flex strips in there. Since they're flexable, I can form them as a rectangle in replacement of the reflector, and hooked up to the same signal source as the sequential's.



Since we're doing a bunch of backlighting and such, I've decided I'm going donate some parts off this truck to my new daily driver (not the Bronco, I'll explain more after I get through this). I'm getting rid of the Rigid SAE's and spot dually's, and have decided to order in 2 sets of the new Rigid Radiance Pods in red. These I will disassemble, and install another set of the pod halo's into them. What this will do, I can flip the backlight on and the housings will glow red, and I can set the halo's to amber. The headlights will be setup the same way, red backlit housings with amber 4th gen and projector halo's.

These 4 halo's will take the 3rd controller.





Last item on this list is the Radiance already on my bumper. To match the POD's, I'm doing a 30" halo inside the radiance. This will take the 4th controller, and leave me with the option for 3 accessory's for accent lighting somewhere else on the truck in the future.




Wiring is going to change up some as well.

Headlight Switch
Headlights - Headlights
Park Lights - LEDConcepts Controller 3 (Pod Halo's)
Fog Lights - LEDConcepts Controller 1 (4th Gen/Projector Halo's)

12V Constant
White on Sequential

CTS2
Switch 1 - LEDConcepts Controller 2 (LED strips, demon eyes, and fog light bulbs for headlight backlight)
Switch 2 - Red Backlight on All Rigid Radiance Lights & Rigid Rock Lights
Switch 3 - LEDConcepts Controller 4 (30" light bar halo)
Switch 4 - LED Light Bar & LED Dually Pods (actual white light)

Turn Signal
Amber on Sequential
Uber Flex

Basically for driving around during the day only the little white strip across the bottom will be lit, which will also stay lit up at night as well. When I turn on the park lights, the halo's on the Radiance Pods will light. When I turn on the headlights, headlights will come on. And when I pull the switch for fogs, the headlight halo's will light up. All the halo's will be set to amber all the time, so no real need to keep the remotes easily accessible so into the glove box they'll go.

Turn signals will be the sequential across the bottom, and the small rectangle in the signal section.

The 4 switches on my Edge CTS2 will give me control over all the accessory and off road lighting. Switch one will turn on all the red glow on the headlights, which is the led strips, demon eyes and the LEDC fog light bulbs that replaced the turn signal bulbs. Switch two will turn on all the the red glow on the radiance lights, along with the rock lights under the truck. Switch three will turn on the halo on the 30" light bar, which will again always stay on amber. Switch four will turn on all of the forward facing off road lighting, which is the 30" light bar and the rigid dually's.

Here's a quick sketch that's labeled to show where everything will go.

The last thing I'm doing is adding those red 3/4" round flush mount LED's in the inner side of the headlight housings. Those will be wired up to my dome lights, so when I hit the unlock on the key fob the headlights illuminate in red. Should look pretty cool, and I've wanted to do this forever. Now's the perfect time to add it.

 

[NightMares]

Tail lights are also getting some upgrades, unfortunately at this time I couldn't order the items as they're on backorder for a few weeks.

I absolutely love my tail lights, my ONLY complaint is at night they do not emit any light to the sides. Without park/headlights, when I hit the brakes or flip the signal, the entire tail light lights up which those next to me are able to see that I am stopping or turning. But during the night, the top row, outside row, and lower row light up on park/headlight forming a C, and the center section is the brake/signal.





So, disassembly is step one. Plan is to get the sequential 24" strips just like what I used in the front, except getting them white and red. Plan is to imitate the current F-150 with a tail light halo sort of say. Basically around the housing I'm going to wrap the sequential strip strip forming another C, then put the red lens back over them. When I turn on the signal, they'll flow around the tail light. When I hit the brakes, they'll flow to a solid state (like the new mustang brake lights do) and then flow back off when I release the brake pedal. The will not illuminate with park lights, only when brakes or signal is activated.

Before installation of the strips, I'm going to get some red film and wrap the strips in it. From there, I'll wire in the "white" part of the light to the dome lights to imitate the 3/4" flush mounts in the headlights. With the red film wrapped over the strips, and the red tail light lens placed back over the top of it, they should appear red. Worse case scenario they wind up being a little pink...But I don't think that'll be an issue. But yeah, when I hit the unlock on the fob, the tail light halo's should illuminate red as well. I think it'll look pretty cool.






-------------------------------

Off the ram subject and over to the business/personal life side of things.

I picked up a new shop truck and daily driver instead of using the Bronco or Dodge. Got a 2005 F-250 with a bullet proofed 6.0 in it. Nothing special, extended cab short bed with some black headlights and black led tail lights. But under the hood had 16k worth of work done, including head studs, exhaust, injectors and upgraded turbo, all done 2 years ago and less than 50k since the rebuild, the entire truck only has 155k on it.

This truck will actually stay fairly basic. Already got a 4" rough country lift kit coming, have a set of 35x12.50x20 Nitto Exo Grapplers for it, and am trying to find what wheels I wanna use. Only real upgrades other than that is going to be some Fusion bumpers front and rear, no winch, no light bar, just my dually's with the halo's I'll hook up to the factory aux switches in the truck. Headache rack is for sale, bed caps are also for sale unless it takes too long then i'll just scrap them, going to put some bushwacker plastic caps on it. Then black badges and just call this truck done. Performance is already done, the only other item I'm adding is another Edge Juice With Attitude CTS2 which was actually on the truck before the dealership got it.

Wound up picking the truck up for 7k, needs a FICM which runs anywhere between 200-300 bucks. Only issue is sometimes it acts like a failing neutral safety switch, turn the key and no response. Pull the starter relay from under the dash, pop a paper clip in and it'll fire right up. Pretty sure it also is an XL with XLT badges, as it has power windows and locks, but the power accessory panels are a different shade of black, the switches are the 99-04 style and are different than a lot of the 05-07 switches we see on the other trucks, it has power mirrors with the little heat emblems, but no switch inside the truck to turn the heat on and the power mirror switch doesn't work. The doors also have the holes where the manual window cranks would be, so pretty sure someone added the tow mirrors and power accessories to it. Also, all the other badges and emblems are faded, but the F-250 XLT badges look brand new.

But I honestly don't care. Truck runs like a ***** ******* ape, fits the entire family, and it was cheap.

Here it is. In front seat photo you can see there's no lower dash panel, but in the rear seat photo you see it sitting on the seat. Until the new FICM gets here, I've moved the panel cover to my office in the shop just in case it doesn't start up makes it easy to reach down, pull the relay and jump it.

 

[NightMares]

So two BIG updates. Very big compared to recent updates.

THIS WILL BE LENGTHY, FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO READ JUST SKIP ALONG TO A DIFFERENT THREAD. THANKS.

I've come to an emotional roadblock with this truck. Between researching for customers, researching for my other projects, researching the newest and latest trends, researching for different companies to get accounts set up with, etc...I've lost the passion for the Dodge. I have yet to see anything I don't already have, or anything that I feel the need to put on it or swap out.

There's come a few times over the past week or so that I've thought about listing it for sale to see what happens...but I told myself numerous times over the course of owning this truck that I would never let it go. And I've found my solutions for this problem.

While goofing off on Instagram last night, I started questioning a guy about his exo cage and if his hood was still able to be opened. After talking for a bit, I made the decision that...this is what I can do.

I have suggestions to do it in the past, but that was back when it was still my daily driver. But it's not my daily anymore. In fact, I've got 3 vehicles in line in front of it that would be daily driven before the Dodge. So, I've established a game plan to get this going consisting of which of my vehicles are going to do what.

Powerstroke: Daily driver. Tow rig. Shop rig. Diesel performance.
Build: Typical modern era diesel build. 4” lift, flashy 20's, 35” Exo Grapplers, Fusion bumpers, Juice with Attitude, and an abundance of non-needed flashy lights.

Bronco: Show rig. Display rig. Pavement princess. Glorified mall crawler.
Build: Sticking to original plan here, minor changes. Charcoal paint with 92-96 clip swap, fancy grille, Fusion front, Protofab4x4 rear, 4” rough country with a solid axle swap, and the donated tires/wheels from the Dodge. Bronco will be used for display only, showing off we can solid axle swap and fabricate and such, but will essentially never see off road. I'll keep it cleaned and buffed for events to show off what kind of craftsman ship we're capable of, and call it good. Changes are the plans to paint the bumpers instead of raptor line them charcoal, leaving only the top being charcoal raptor lined on the exterior. Also, the roll cage I'll raptor line tan to match the interior. So yeah.

Tundra: Wife's new daily. Publicity around town when she drives it all over. Show rig and go fast toy.
Build: Prerunner style. Long travel on coilovers, fiberglass fenders and bedsides, method standard wheels on 35” fun country's, ADD prerunner front/rear bumpers, ADD chase rack and Wilco prerunner TireGate. We'll show it off at shows and such but for the most part it's just for her to daily drive something badass to get our shop's name out a little more and show off we're capable of more than just lifted trucks and rock crawlers.

Dodge: Crawler/Overland/Trail rig
Explanation: My dodge will no longer be featured in big name shows. I'm going to use it to get my name out more so on the trails than at shows. Basically it'll be the one transported across state lines to run in events such as the Easter Jeep Safari, Rubicon, All 4 Fun, and other big name events around the north west. It'll also be used on local events, trail runs, and shows where it's able to prove that we don't just build mall crawlers.

So with that said, here's the plan.

Pretty simple on the exo cage. Connecting at the front bumper, it'll run around the wheel well on the front fender, run down the rockers as a slider, run around the bedside wheel wells, and wrap around the backside as a bumper and replicate on the other side. For the cage, it'll run up the fender, over the hood, up the a-pillar, across the top of the cab and back down between the cab and bed, connecting onto the slider. For the bedside, it'll connect back at that vertical bar and run across the top of the bed, wrap around the corner above the tail light, and connect to a 3/16” flat plate I'll mount between the bedside and the TireGate. Around the tail light will be a curved tube running from the upper bed tube to the wrap around on the bumper, creating the guard. Connecting the two sides will be done at the cab, which I'll have one tube going across the windshield, one tube going across the back of the cab up top, then an X centered between the two on top of the cab to add some rigidness to the build. I'm thinking of cutting a slit open in the tube above the windshield, and flush mounting a single row 50” Rigid light bar in there for some extra flash and functionality. If I go this route, then I think I'll figure out a way to flush mount some side lighting into the exo cage as well, and also weld on some tabs for some lower a-pillar dually lights. We'll see when we get there, it can always be added later on.

Rear bumper wise I'm scrapping the Fusion and just going full custom with it. Doing a tube style commonly seen on Toyota's and K5's, pictures will be posted down below as I'm not going to go into strong detail on that. Only add on is going to be the rear winch, which I'm actually going to incorporate into the rear hitch. Basically I'm just going to weld a 1/4” steel plate to the bottom of the hitch creating a floor, drilling the holes, the welding an upright to the backside for the fairlead to mount to, and a red Factor 55 Flat Link. From there, attached to the frame rails I'm going to add D-Ring mounts, and replicate the idea of the N-Fab but bring it down far enough to properly fill the gap between the bed and the hitch.

The All Pro Pack Rack is still getting built and installed, only I'm going to scrap the platform idea. Reason being, I'm going to make it so I can transfer the Go Rhino basket from the Pack Rack to the top of the exo cage over the cab, then just build a single platform for the rooftop tent. I'm also going to mount the ARB awnings onto the side of the platform, that way I can keep just the basket on the truck for general use, and when going on camping trips my entire overland platform can just bolt down with awnings, tent and all. I've come up with the plan for the sides of the Pack Rack, which is going to be pretty simple. From the center post back towards the TireGate will be 3 RotoPax black storage cans on each side. In the cab to center post section, on one side will be my Hi-Lift and below that will be my Smittybilt W.A.S.P. (land anchor) and on the other side will be a pulaski and shovel.

Paint wise will be a little extensive, and I didn't photoshop any pictures of it. But basically I'm going to start by priming and painting both the exo cage and the Pack Rack with some single stage black. Once it dries, anything facing towards the sides of the truck I'm going to raptor line red, and leave the center bracing of both the exo cage and the pack rack black. Rear bumper will go red, hitch and winch plate will be left black. Reason for spraying it all like this is, I don't want to strip and spray my TireGate red, and I don't want to strip and paint the Fusion black. All red is too much red, and all black will throw off the look it currently has. So I figure my plan will give it enough contrast, but stick to the theme.

Here's some photo's to end phase one.

This picture shows the awning and a pulaski, but I covered where the awning will be already, and I'll post up a picture of the W.A.S.P. Down below.



Here's the wasp. Second picture is technically a pull pal, same thing different brand.





Here's something similar to the rear bumper I'll build.



I've already posted this picture here, but this is the idea for the tail light guards.













PHASE TWO

Drivetrain wise is going to take a turn...for the worse in some eyes, for the better in others. Flame me, hammer me, do whatever, but I've decided to LS swap my truck. Going to find an 03-06 GM 2500hd with the 6.0 and 4l80e that I can swap engine, transmission, and gauge cluster into my truck. Reason for doing this, business perspective. The most common engine swaps done are LS swaps into Jeeps, classic trucks, hot rods, etc. By having something to show off that's been done, it brings me into the game of doing more than just off road stuff.

To go with the swap, I'm going to order an Atlas 4 speed transfer case to go onto the 4l80e. Transmission I'm going to do another Monster rebuild, and engine will be looked over but nothing major done aside from gaskets and checking for stuff that needs replaced.

Cluster is getting swapped so I can have all the GM features of the engine, such as engine hours, an accurate range of distance, etc. Instead of steering wheel controls, I'm going to swap the horizontal style HVAC out of the donor truck into my slot where my stereo is in my dash. Where the current Dodge HVAC is I'm going to mount the SPOD flush, then include the buttons that were originally on the steering wheel into that panel on the dash. Stereo will get relocated to my center console build.

I have yet to find a truck, so this still is not 100% guaranteed set in stone, but it's the current game plan. Hemi's are expensive, and not as common to do, otherwise I would go that route. I don't want a diesel in an off road truck due to weight, and a V10 is no different. I figure an LS 6.0 will put out plenty of power for my needs, and be something different enough to draw in a new crowd to my shop.

 

[NightMares]

So no big updates to give for the Dodge right now as for what's been done. It's actually been sitting immobilized at my house courtesy of a broken idler pulley that took out the serpentine belt as well. Haven't found the time or the brought the tools home to swap it out, so just been driving the Suburban while the wife sports around in her new Tundra.

Had a scare about 2 weeks back. Mother in-law passed away on the 23rd of September. No life insurance, no savings, father in-law doesn't work, and once she passed her medicare expired leaving my wife and I to flip the bill for her funeral. Didn't have the funds available for all of it, so I threw up both my 6.0 Powerstroke for 18k and the Dodge for 22k. Dodge was the first with an offer of 20k from a guy in Colorado, after talking to his bank the most he qualified for was 17k which I told him to give me a few days and see what happens. Wound up selling the Powerstroke a few hours later for 16k.

I'm not going to cry about it, but I learned a lot from the Dodge being listed. People believe only ******'s are worth ****, even members on here had to voice their opinion, both on how the truck isn't worth my asking price, degrading my intellect, and quite a bit of name calling.

So, I'll limit myself on where I do updates for this truck, confined to this build thread right here on RamForum only.


As for updates, parts have for the most part all arrived for my headlight build, sitting in a box in my closet at the shop. Bed rack should be here next week. Still waiting on DOR parts, but not in a big hurry for them right now.

Couple larger updates regarding my plans for the exo cage.

We have decided to donate the Fusion bumper off the Dodge to the Bronco, my Ram will be getting a tube style front bumper that will flow better with the cage and sliders. Rigid Dually's and halo's will all go to the Bronco as well, lighting for the Ram is getting very, very heavily updated.

In the tube style front bumper, I'm going to in a sense replicate Fusion's idea of the stacked dual row 6" lights, only changing it up to a 6" single row on top, 6" dual row on bottom.

Here's the bumper for reference.







For the 6" lights, I'm going to use the new Rigid 6" single row SAE's. These will be hooked back up to my factory fog light wiring and used as they're supposed to. For the dual row, I'm doing the Rigid 6" E-Series flood in amber. The amber floods will help out immensely for night time snow wheeling or fog.





Towards the outside of the bumper, I'll mount some of the new Rigid Side Shot dually's in a spot pattern.



Across the top of the bumper I'm going to do a Rigid 40" E2 series combo bar.



And to top off the last of the updated lighting, I'll be replacing the red A-Series rock lights with some white ones.



As far as the bumper goes, here's a quick sketch of what I'm thinking. Tube style with the winch mount, dual 6" light buckets, floating spot lights, and a stinger above the hood. Below the lower bar/winch mount, I'll make a skid plate that runs down to the lower section of frame to hide the excess.




Here's a before picture of the photochop to kind of show what I was talking about with the skid plate.



As stated, the dually's and halo's are getting transferred over to the Bronco with the Fusion bumper. The 30" Radiance in red and the red rock lights are getting donated to my little brother for his 00 Ram. To replace the Radiance on the Fusion, we'll be doing another 30" Radiance, only in Amber instead of Red.

Speaking of my brother though, his Ram is coming together. He has a welding class in his high school where they actually cut down, straightened, and installed my old MOVE bumper onto his truck last week. He also got my old 3" BDS lift installed, and some 285/70R17 Toyo AT's for his truck to top it off. I gave him my red rear bumper last night so he can get rid of his smashed chrome one, which he'll be painting black and installing sometime this week. Truck actually looks really good.

1st picture was him mocking the lights on it asking what my opinion was, they've since been hooked up and aimed.






Other than that, everything else is going awesome with the other projects. Bronco is finally up to date on the plan of attack. Wife disagreed with a lot of my options, so instead she took over the build plan of it and gave me a list of stuff she wanted. We've settled look wise on doing a set of 17" Method NV Bronze wheels, some 33" BFG KM2 MT's, my Ram's Fusion bumper, and the front clip swap. Front end will be getting some stock fenders, I'll have some custom Bronco emblems made for the side. Hood will be the Raptor style hood, Raptor style grille with the 3 amber's across the top, and then all chrome headlights and tail lights with Putco LED's in them. Once everything is done body wise, we're going to paint the Bronco a glossy tan, then have some black MPYR decals with the skull and pistons right on the sides of the door, kinda like an old military look.

For those who haven't seen my logo, this is it.




Tundra build has yet to really start as well. Wife can't decide on a bunch of stuff, so currently the plan is fiberwerx fenders and bedsides, custom hood (undecided), custom grille (undecided), retrofit headlights (undecided on designs yet), LED tail lights (undecided). So far the only stuff we have decided on is the ADD chase rack for the bed, and a Wilco TireGate in the prerunner style instead of vertical like my Dodge. Also I told her we're doing the BFG Baja's, that is non negotiable, as we're building a "baja" style truck. That was easy. Wheels on the other hand, she disagree's with everything I've shown her and vise versa. Suspension wise I got a handle on Total Chaos and some King coilovers and shocks.

Only new project is the Suburban. I had planned on selling it, but with my Powerstroke gone and the wife behind the wheel of her new truck, I've decided to keep it as either my daily driver, or potentially a duramax swap in the far far far far far far far far future for a tow rig. Currently I'm just thinking I'll throw it up in the air 6" on some 35's and 20's, repaint the whole damn thing the same dark red, which will include color matching the bumpers and grille, throwing a cowl hood on it and some loud exhaust and call it done. Don't really want to sink a ton of money into it, just want something to be a decent looking daily driver. Tires will probably be some Ridge Grapplers or Toyo RT's, and wrap them around some Procomp 80 series or something flashy.









So that's that. I'll probably check out of here for a while until I get something new to the Ram done. Got 2 other build threads on other forums to start keeping track of as both the builds take off, along with my MPYR Facebook page documenting both our shop builds, and customer rigs.

Until I find the time to start working on the Ram again, everyone take care!

 

[NightMares]

So I know I wasn't going to update this again until I had actually done something substantial to the truck, but a situation has come up.

I'm registering for the Winter 4x4 Jamboree in Hurricane, Utah and I'm bringing the Dodge. Well, the LS swap is a strong decided no go, as the Jamboree is in January and I HAVE to get the motor out of my truck.

I replaced the idler pulley after a **** show of that stupid washer/spacer giving me hell, and have been driving the truck both yesterday and put some miles on it this morning (about 275 actually). Drove it out to Baker City to pickup some shelves and display racks for my shop, which is about 130 miles one way. While driving it this morning I started smelling burning oil, but couldn't see anything coming out the exhaust in my mirror. When I got to Baker City, I checked the tailpipe and everything, doesn't show signs of anything, even with my face up against the tailpipe and the engine running.

So I figured nothing of it, loaded the shelves onto the trailer and headed home. On my way home, I noticed temps starting to creep back up on the tuner again, ranging anywhere between 210 and 215, so nothing substantial but higher than normal. I passed it off as it getting warmer out for the morning, and the shelves weighed easily 300lbs a piece and there's 6 of them.

Got back in town and driving slower through the city the temps dropped back to normal, around 190. Got the shelves unloaded, then after unhitching the trailer I pulled the truck back into the shop to pull the hitch back off again (looks fugly with the comp cut, it'll get addressed real soon). Well while sitting in my shop, I noticed a small puddle of oil under the truck on my clean floor...back far under the passenger side behind the axle. I know it's from my truck because my tech's clean the shop every night before they head home.

I started investigating and it's leaking oil down the side of the engine, coming out of where the head meets up with the block.

I couldn't get a good visual on it, but there's definitely oil behind the header.

So either it has a severe blown head gasket, or it has a cracked head. I've been figuring something has been going on with it for a while now, as with NO thermostat (still) it still gets hot enough to get the heater working, and the heat is hot enough to make scrambled eggs on the dash. Thus the reason I haven't bothered putting the thermostat back in.



So, again, LS swap is out for good. I'm going to get the ball rolling again on building the 5.9 I have sitting in the box crate on the side of my shop.

LS swap will be converted over to the Bronco with a 5.3 and 4l60e as it doesn't need to scoot around a 9,000lb truck anymore.

 

[NightMares]

Got a smaller update. Sold the all pro bedrack to my buddy for his 08 Ram. Decided I'm going to go a different route with the bed. Going to just build off the exo cage and make it so I can install my camper shell under the cage whenever I want it. Also decided I'm going to remove the front fenders and build some tube flat style fenders like I had planned over a year ago.

Business update: Bad news. Got screwed over by my partner, might have to close doors this Friday. I'm still trying to figure out how to save it. Don't want to go into deep details with anything right now, once I figure out what I'm doing I'll explain it all at after it's settled down.

 

[BlackMagnum2000]

That's really ******. Best of luck with it all. Really hope you don't have to close down

 

[NightMares]

Alright, so finally an update on the business aspect. Not going into major details as I have a lawsuit in order, but long story short my partner withdrew ALL of the money out of the business account, including money that was customer money acquired to order parts that were unable to be ordered after what he did, and then skipped town and moved to we believe California. My personal bank account couldn't float us, particularly with having to buy almost 4k worth of parts for those customers, and finish paying off my employee's. The landlord was nice enough to give us until the end of the week to finish whatever customer projects we had going. We closed our doors on the 14th of October. One of my employee's helped me through Saturday and Sunday to clear out the entire shop and store, and then the two of us started new "jobs" on the 17th.

So now onto the good news. Another shop in town that's smaller, but doing extremely well for itself took myself and that employee in. My other employee got his old job back from before he started working for me, so we were all taken care of and not a lot of harm done to them. The other shop is RPM Wheel & Tire which is a couple miles away from where my shop was located. His main thing was dealer trucks, has contracts setup with majority of ALL the dealerships in town. When I was at Bucks we had major issues with RPM as Phabian was literally stealing all our dealer contracts, which essentially killed Buck's wholesale department.

Well when I started up with MPYR I went down to talk to Phabian regarding some business trading. I wasn't looking to put him out of business like my old job was, I was looking to help him, and in turn help myself. Basically telling him if he got overwhelmed with any work, we'd be more than happy to pitch in where we could. Well, that paid off, because when I talked to him about my partnership issue, he offered me a job if things went south...and as I stated, also offered the job to my employee I had.

So, after starting with Phabian once we got MPYR closed up, I started talking to him about buying in with him. He originally told me when I first started last week he'd have to think about it, as at this time he doesn't think we have the space to bring in anything more (single bay shop with up to 3 projects a day). He said when his lease ends at this shop, he would be more open to starting a partnership up with expanding into a bigger shop in 2 years. Well, that expansion came this week. Monday the landlord of the complex was talking to us and telling us about the tenant across the lot who skipped out early. He had apparently cleaned up the shop, then dropped his keys off and broke lease. So now a 800 square foot warehouse opened up almost directly across from our shop, giving us the additional space needed for the two shop employee's and myself. Well Phabian started running numbers about installing needed shop items over there, and it just so happened that I had almost everything he needed. 2 post 9500lb lift, 150 gallon air compressor, welder and oxy torch, pipe bender and such. I wouldn't say EVERYTHING a shop needs, but a good start to it.

Phabian signed the lease papers on the other shop on Tuesday, and we started talking about it Tuesday night with how much I would be interested in selling all my shop stuff for, to which my amount came out to about three thousand. I talked to my wife about it all of Tuesday night and into yesterday morning, and I pitched an offer to Phabian yesterday. Today, we met up for breakfast and talked it all over, and the agreement is made. Rather than him pay me for the stuff, I gave him $5,000 for a 20% buy in and am supplying all my stuff free of charge.

So it's not legal yet as at this point it's a verbal agreement, short of the fact that he has my $5,000. But we'll be heading down to the secretary of state tomorrow to get my name put on the LLC under 20% and it'll be legal!

So, what started off a ****** situation has worked out at this point.

Phabian signed a 30 month lease (2.5 years) back in February of this year, and he just signed a 24 month lease for the other warehouse. Plan is to operate out of these two for next 22 months until our lease ends on the main shop with the attached showroom, from there we'll turn the other shop into storage for the remaining 2 months while we revamp and reopen into a larger shop.

Even though Phabian has these contracts with the dealerships for lift, wheels, tires and color matched flares, his passion is cars. His project at home is an 06 Evo pushing 1000 horses (and that's a legit number, not an exaggeration). We do A LOT of import cars, for the most part just suspension wheels and tires but occasionally Phabian said he broke into the performance end of things. So with the shop expansion, we're expanding into both the street scene, and I'm bringing the off road and the diesel world to the party.

Already had about 6 customers that I referred to come here during our last week open at MPYR get their vehicles done by RPM. One is a 10k build on a 2008 JKU Rubicon, which consists of a 4" Teraflex long arm, 37" Trail Grapplers on 17" Method beadlocks, Poison Spyder front and rear bumpers, Warn winch, Vision X lights, the whole shebang. We start that Jeep next week as the last of his parts showed up yesterday.

So we're already big, I joined into a shop that's now heavily expanding, and things are finally going good.

I will post an update with the lawsuit when I'm able to and the progress we're making.




Now for the sad part. No updates for the Dodge. This entire speech was regarding the business. Although I have been enjoying the Dodge for the past few weeks haha

 

[Lil_Ram]

Glad to know everything is working out. Any changes in plans for the truck or are you still gonna swap the motor and what nit


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[NightMares]

At this point with the changes that have taken place this month, I will not be attending the runs this winter out of state.

So current plan of action is getting the Bronco lifted with new wheels and tires (or my current wheels/tires on the dodge) so that I have a daily driver.

Once that happens I'm starting with the suspension and exterior, which consists of the 7" lift and new arms, 37" Treps and 17" Hutchinsons, and then the exo cage/rear bumper/front bumper/sliders and bed rack.

Once those are done then yes, it's getting torn heavily down and I'll either build up the 5.9 I have on the crate at home, or I'm still possibly considering the LS swap.

 

[NightMares]

There's a ton to this post so it'll be separated due to the 10000 word max with the forum.

So I went out Saturday night with a local club for their Halloween Potluck & Overnight Camp. Wife and I setup the awning and the touring room for the night, and blew up an air mattress and lived the high life...short of being somewhat cold. But it lead me to some thoughts about where I want to take this truck now.

So this is just an idea I'm playing around with. Not sure if I want to go this route or not, but it's a strong possibility.

I love exploring and camping. That's probably my favorite hobby. As much fun as rock crawling is, my truck is a little wide and a little long to fit around some of the more advanced trails around my area I live in.

In order to do this, I would be scrapping the exo cage build all together. I sold my All Pro bed rack to my buddy for his Dodge, so this would be built around my camper shell, which for this idea I would actually prefer anyways.

Here's my idea:

To start this off, I need a rear bumper. Unrelated to this overland build, but since I'd be scrapping the exo cage it would leave me without one. Pretty sure I would continue with Fusion to get the rear bumper made through them, making it wrap up and around to the back of the wheel well.

Next on the list would be sliders, which is already in a sense taken care of. We just took a set of Jeep JK Rubicon sliders off of a 2008, and the customer didn't want to deal with selling them or taking them home. Rather than let them wind up in the metal bin as my new shop doesn't resell used items, I threw them in the back of the shop. They fit dimension wise almost perfectly with the cab, only section that it doesn't cover is in front of the rear wheel well which I could easily build something to fill that section up.

Now, onto the idea.

To start the overland build off, I would order in a Front Runner rack. Unfortunately for my plans with this, it's a lot of mixing and matching parts together for my application as they don't do racks that fit over the cab and shell. More than likely if I ordered all of this, I'd call them and see if I can just order in the parts I actually need so I'm not throwing crap away.

But, the rack itself would be part #KRLDT03L which is the rack for a Land Rover Defender 110. Dimensions are 56" wide and 109" long. It's the largest rack they have. Model name is the Slimline II.



Because neither my truck, nor my shell, have rain gutters, I'll have to order in the 50mm feet to go with it. I'd probably ask Front Runner to swap out the 4 pair for me. Essentially the rack would bolt down to the camper shell using 3 pairs, and over the cab I would bolt some rubber pads down to the bottom of the last pair so it's not bolted to the cab, but the weight is still supported and it doesn't bounce around.



To add to the overland aspect, a bunch of Front Runner accessories would be ordered.

Stainless Steel Camp Table kit. Mounted so it would slide out the back side.





Drop down table. This I would mount to the back of my TireGate, which means relocating the Hi-Lift Jack and my pulaski.



To relocate the Jack, I'd mount it driver's side above the camper shell.



To relocate the pulaski, I'd mount it passenger's side above the cab.



To add to my stuff, I'd get a red handled shovel (to match the pulaski) and mount it driver's side above the cab.



Now, onto other stuff.

Smittybilt has just released a new roof top tent called the XL. It's huge. Sleeps 3-4 people, length wise it's about 3" longer than the roof of my camper shell. I like it. For the tent, I'll have it mounted so it flips off the passenger side of the truck, reason why this direction will be explained below. With the tent flipping off the rack this direction is also the reason I wouldn't mount any accessories to the Slimline. To go with the passenger flip out for the tent, I would flip the ARB awning I have over to the passenger side. When the tent is flipped out, I can pull the awning out right below it. From there, I can setup the Touring Room below the XL Tent for more sleeping space.





Due to the length of the XL Tent, the Go Rhino will not fit on top of the cab without overhanging the windshield by about 6 inches. So, I would donate the Go Rhino to the Bronco and order in the front Expedition Rails for the Slimline to make the over cab section somewhat a basket.



Now, onto some more fun. Rhino Rack. This is what would ultimately transform my truck from just a camping truck, to a full on camping party truck ha. I'm thinking I would order in the Foxwing Awning and a few accessories. This awning only folds out one way, which is off the driver side, which is what would require the Smittybilt XL and the ARB awning to be passenger side accessible. The Foxwing provides shade from directly off the driver's side, then wraps around to provide shade to the backside of the vehicle.





With the Foxwing, I'd get 2 of the Tapered Zip Extensions to cover the first two openings, exactly as pictured below. I'd probably order in a 3rd one as well, just in case I ever wanted do do a little more enclosing on the setup, but ideally I think I'd want one open panel.



From there, that would leave the 3rd opening wide open, and on the 4th opening I'd put one of the Tagalong Tents, offering another space for up to 3 people to sleep. The main reason I would want this tent off the the back of the Foxwing is to keep everyone sleeping in the same general area. The ARB Touring room would be less than 3 to 4 feet away, and right above the touring room would be the XL Tent.

Tent pictured is on a Sunseeker Awning, but works on the Foxwing as well.



Last bit of Rhino Rack I would order is the Mesh Floor Saver, just to offer some kind of a floor under the Foxwing.

.

 

[NightMares]

Then there's a ton of stuff I would need to keep in the truck with easy access for these trips. The awnings can stay self sustained on the camper shell, but the Touring Room, Tagalong, wind screens and more would wind up free floating in the bed of the truck. So, if I'm spending this kind of money, I might as well spend the extra again and go with the DECKED bed storage. This would eliminate the Smittybilt Adventure box and the UnderCover Swing Case, but I have other vehicles to donate those to. The Adventure Box could go to the Bronco, and the Swing Case can go to my brother's Dodge. But with the DECKED, I can store all of the awning accessories in one slide, all the stakes and what not in the corner cubbies, and keep all of the physical camping gear in the other slide.





Now, one of the last needed items, going out on long trips requires the storage of a lot of food. I'm all for MRE's, but my wife and kids probably not so much. Week long trips would make keeping coolers with ice very difficult, so that leads onto some form a fridge.

To start off, I'd mount the fridge on top of the DECKED storage using Front Runner's fridge slide, meaning I could slide the fridge out the backside of the bed of the truck making easier access.





Fridge itself I would go with the Smittybilt Arctic 52q fridge.



Next on the list to buy would be some form of a generator which I would need to research more. Smittybilt has one, but for the price I could probably do better with something from an RV store or other places. But worse case scenario this is what that looks like.



The other things to figure out would be my trail rack. I have a Smittybilt WASP sitting in the box in my garage. It obviously doesn't do me any good if it's not in the truck, but eliminating the storage I have to store this could be a problem. So, I think final solution would be for me to buy another Rotopax extension, relocate one of the 4 gallons to the other side and stack them, then find a way to bolt the WASP down to the opposite side of my Trail Rack. Seems like a lot of people are using a Hi Lift jack mount to mount their Pull Pal's, which is essentially the same thing as the WASP. This is probably the route I would go.



The only other stuff I would need is to stock the truck up with camping gear. Everything I would put in the truck would stay in it for the sole purpose of overlanding, leaving my regular current camping gear in the garage for church camp outs and other stuff. That way when I do plan an outing with the truck, I don't have to spend days before tracking everything down in the garage.

This list would include:

1 double sleeping bag (wife & I)
6 single sleeping bags
6 self inflating mattress's
Emergency aid items (first aid, rags, emergency blankets, rain poncho's, etc)
Portable rechargeable chain saw
Cooking and dining gear
4-6 chairs
Hammock

Etc. I'm sure there's more to this list but this is the basics of what I'm thinking.

One of the last tings I want to do is to add lighting to the shell. Interior lighting for the shell, lighting for under the awnings and inside the Touring Room & Tagalong (XL Tent already has lighting setup inside), exterior lighting for illuminating the camp ground, etc. All of this lighting is lighting that I don't want to fight with killing the battery in the truck. I've thought about adding a second battery only for accessories, but even then if it gets enough draw it could kill the primary leaving us stranded. I know there's cut off's and more, but I'd rather just keep it a separate entity. The second battery will happen under the hood, but I'll keep it for everything I currently have on the truck (winch, lights, etc).

For the overlanding aspect, I think I would go with an Optima Red Top and do a solar panel for all of the lighting mentioned above.

Front Runner offers a kit that charges 5 watt's and I could easily mount it to the bottom of the Slimline over the cab. From there I'd mount the battery in one of the front cubbies of the DECKED storage, then wire all the lights for the overlanding up to that battery. From there I think I'd make a switch panel out of the center section of the DECKED between the two trays.









My biggest issue concerning me with doing all of this is storage space when I have all of this off the truck. The camper shell with the rack, tent, awnings and all of that could wind up weighing well over 750lbs, which is something too heavy to support from my garage ceiling with one of the hard top hoists they use for Jeeps. Then the storage of the DECKED, plus the trail rack and more, that's a ton of garage space I'd lose just to make my truck somewhat a daily driver. I already have issues with it now, I can't imagine with the roof top tent and widening the truck with another awning, plus the added weight how much of a pain in the ass it would be drive the truck every single day.

So one of the bigger deciding factors I have to mull over is getting another truck to daily drive, as much as I'd love to call the Bronco my for sure daily, right now it's more of temporary daily until I got the Dodge done with the suspension, wheels tires and engine swap. If I do all of this as well...then really the Bronco would become indefinitely my daily...which I don't love the Bronco that much.

So maybe once I decide what route I'm going to go with getting another pickup, from that point I'll decide if I go full crawler or full expo with this truck.

 

[Lil_Ram]

Just a theory on the lift for the topper.
Why not run a J hook on both sides of the garage and run a 550 cord support that can help with the excess weight. Its plenty strong enough and that way when you put the topper back on you just release such as a slip knot and hang it up on the other side making it take up virtually no space in the garage and making your topper secure and you a bit more reassured.


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[derekp]

Man you're always so thorough. Sorry to hear about all the troubles with the business. Hopefully it all works out for you. I'm looking foward to seeing your future plans unfold for your truck. You should bedline it. Lol

 

[NightMares]

Just a theory on the lift for the topper.
Why not run a J hook on both sides of the garage and run a 550 cord support that can help with the excess weight. Its plenty strong enough and that way when you put the topper back on you just release such as a slip knot and hang it up on the other side making it take up virtually no space in the garage and making your topper secure and you a bit more reassured.


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They make hard top hoists for the Wrangler hard tops. Smittybilt's actually includes a 2500lb ATV winch which would be MORE than enough to support the weight of the top. After doing some thinking I might be able to lift the shell, then build something with more cables that would ultimately hoist both the shell and the DECKED out of the truck as one unit, then I could essentially hold the rest of my stuff on top of the DECKED storage and keep it suspended in the air. My garage door of my house is 9' and the inside of the garage is 12' high so I should easily be able to walk under it and have no issues. I might have to pull the roof top tent off the rack and store it inside the shell, but that would be my only issue. Right now the truck clears the garage door with about 12" to spare, but replacing my Go Rhino and putting on the Slimline plus the XL tent could push me over the 9' mark, on top of adding the 7" lift over my 5" and 37's over 35's.

We'll see what happens.

Man you're always so thorough. Sorry to hear about all the troubles with the business. Hopefully it all works out for you. I'm looking foward to seeing your future plans unfold for your truck. You should bedline it. Lol

Thanks man, it was a pretty stressful month but I feel like for someone who lost an entire business and was still able to buy back into another all within about 20 days, I feel pretty successful.

And I honest to god HATE bedlined trucks. It looks cheap to me. I'd much rather wrap one, or there's people who spend quality time doing plasti dip in gallon forms using an actual paint gun that can make their stuff turn out pretty awesome.

But as far as exterior, I'm not going to bother with paint or anything else. With as many trails and wheeling I do, and plan to do, spending the time and money to paint something that's just going to get messed up anyway is a waste that I could spend elsewhere. Hell just the time for me to do an entire repaint would be the time needed to install everything I listed up top.

When I Raptor Line my camper shell and rear bumper with the same PR4 stuff I did my Fusion bumper with, I've thought about doing the bottom of the rockers in it but that's about as extensive with bedliner as I want to go. And I'm talking like maybe 6" up from the bottom to the point where it almost looks like that clear bra **** they put on the front of trucks.

 

[Lil_Ram]

They make hard top hoists for the Wrangler hard tops. Smittybilt's actually includes a 2500lb ATV winch which would be MORE than enough to support the weight of the top. After doing some thinking I might be able to lift the shell, then build something with more cables that would ultimately hoist both the shell and the DECKED out of the truck as one unit, then I could essentially hold the rest of my stuff on top of the DECKED storage and keep it suspended in the air. My garage door of my house is 9' and the inside of the garage is 12' high so I should easily be able to walk under it and have no issues. I might have to pull the roof top tent off the rack and store it inside the shell, but that would be my only issue. Right now the truck clears the garage door with about 12" to spare, but replacing my Go Rhino and putting on the Slimline plus the XL tent could push me over the 9' mark, on top of adding the 7" lift over my 5" and 37's over 35's.



We'll see what happens.







]



Oh yeah no I was referring more to like a platform in a sense to rest the bottom of in after it's been hoisted up. But sounds like you found a good method I didn't know there was such an invention. Mines leaned up against the shed haha


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[derekp]

So...you hate my truck now? Lol if it looks cheap to you then you haven't seen it done right. I thought about wrapping it but functionally I thought that wouldnt be smart. I take mine off road through brush and trees and that would just tear the vinyl off, the bedliner has a better chance of withstanding it.

I do like your camper and decked idea. I don't think the decked will just come out in one piece though, they are assembled in the trucks and are pretty tight on both sides. If anything I think your bed rails wouldn't allow it to come out whole. Would be neat though.