My '06 Build Thread

Figured after all this time, I'd make one of these lol

Bought the truck in Vernon, Texas back in November 2016. Base model ST 2WD with 106k miles on the lil 3.7. It had a couple of lights out and vandalized with spray paint, but $5,500 later took 'er home. This is my first vehicle so I'm still learning a lot. I've been on this site since 2017 but I'm just now making one of these lol

The Complete Mod/Fix List (In chronological order);
New spark plugs
New BFGoodrich 265/70r17 tires
Sway bar bushings/End links replaced
Black Nightrunner-esque headlights
A/C Condenser fan replaced
Plastidipped Bumpers
Smoked LED taillights
13" Magnaflow dual-out exhaust
New lower ball joints
New Monroe Reflex front shocks
Fan clutch replaced
Bedlined bumper DIY
Blackout door RAM emblems
New Spec-D OEM-style projector headlights
Upper control arms replaced
4th gen console swap
Paint-matched grille
Painted radio bezel
Interior LED strip lights
Paint-matched sport front bumper
Bullet-lined rear bumper
New Spyder tail lights






I now have 150k miles on er. I'll update this as I add things, but I'm a broke college kid so that may not be too often lol

Very nice.

Which headlights did you go for?


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Very nice.

Which headlights did you go for?


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...and the fun begins, look forward to your updates.

acolic said:

Very nice.

Which headlights did you go for?


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Click to expand...

The ones I have on right now are Spec-D OEM-style projector lights. The actual headlights are great, but the projectors are garbage both in light output and build-quality. If I commit to getting HIDs I'm most likely gonna get new projectors to put in these

Man I haven’t updated this in over a year LOL I’ll see if I can remember everything I’ve had done in the right order

I found a fellow forumer selling his 2017 sport power leather seats from his regular cab. They looked amazing and so I ended up buying and installing them. 10 times better than the old cloth seats I had before




So on Black Friday 2019, I ordered all the parts for a headlight retrofit from TRS— Projectors, etched lenses, halos, HID kit, etc. i tried to get it all. I also ordered up a set of amazon OEM-style headlights to retrofit. After working with TRS a couple of times to iron out my order (10/10 customer service btw), I got the new headlights all retrofitted up pretty nice. For my first time I’m quite happy with the results

I saw a few 3rd gens running around with a TRX sticker on their fenders, and really liked them so I decided to etch it onto my projectors as well. It was free for black friday so I thought why not lol


Over the early parts of 2020, I started piecing together the parts needed for power windows/power locks. Wiring harnesses, door panels, instrument cluster, regulators, etc. I also decided to get some new carpet while I had everything out. Then with all the free time I had thanks to COVID-19, I basically reassembled the entire cab to add this stuff. All that was left was the steering wheel and HVAC box lol

When I got it all put back together, the power windows worked great. Power locks are still a WIP though, I dont think the base cluster has all the circuits needed to run power locks, so thats another project I plan on getting to sometime. I ended up finding another dash bezel, I decided to leave the chrome upper portion and paint the lower portion black. I think I’ll stick with those colors for a while lol


I also decided to add some 12v socket lids out of a 4th gen. They definitely weren’t plug and play but helped give the dash a cleaner look


Also decided to buy some LED fog lights off of Amazon. They were worth every penny and almost stupid bright. Paired with my HIDs It looks like daytime in front of the truck lol


I also added some silver door lock plungers. I painted the window switches silver but decided it’d be easier to buy some plungers that were already painted. The silver ones came out of a Jeep Liberty and were actually a tad smaller than the trucks, and oddly the chrome plungers out of a PT Cruiser were about the same size as the rams


As of a couple of days ago, I installed new lower ball joints, new sway bar end links, new RC shocks, and a daystar leveling kit. Also threw on some new brake pads. Tomorrow I plan to order new wheels and tires for the rig, and Tuesday itll be getting an alignment. I’m hoping I’ll have the new shoes mounted and balanced on the truck before Christmas. Depending on when the body shop gets back with me I might have some paint-match door handles to throw on as well.

Here’s what she looks like as of today, from the inside of my warm house of course lol

Well a few weeks ago I got the new wheels n tires put on. Compared to the old tires this thing rides a bit rougher, but the look and peace of mind makes up for the decrease in ride comfort lol

I got Gear Off-Road Slayer 20x10 -25 offset wheels wrapped in 33x12.50r20 Federal Xplora RTs. I was worried they were gonna rub, but ended up with no rubbing whatsoever




I figured going from a 17” rim to a 20” rim, combined with going from a C-rated to E-rated tire would affect ride quality (not to mention they’re RT tread tires), and I figured right. Not too bad though. These tires do give off a howl as well, but not a loud enough howl for me to hate it. I actually kinda like the noise

The V6 absolutely hates the bigger tires though. Has to upshift quite often just to maintain speed, which I knew was probably gonna happen. Every attempt to change the tire size in the computer with AlfaOBD hasn’t changed much of anything, and seeing as how no dealer in the area knows how to use their scantools on an ‘06, I’ll probably have to buy a tuner or something to change it. Speedo is about 5 mph off at 65

I’m considering going to 4.10 or 4.56 gears at some point. Hemi guys seem to enjoy 4.10s with 33s, so I’m thinking the V6 may like to step up further to 4.56s with 33s. I’d like to get some sort of LSD to help with muddy days as well

As for the tires, I like ‘em. I was worried buying tires with few reviews, but they’re pretty dang good for the price. The way I see it is if I can get half the life out of these that I could with the name brands like Toyo and Goodyear, I’d be ahead


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With Christmas and New Years, haven't had much time to do much of anything with the truck. Tack on studying for my college finals, and I was booked solid lol

Just been doing a lot of driving. The Jeep Liberty door lock plungers did end up rattling, and I used some clear silicon adhesive or something on the plunger bezel to quiet that up. Been using the truck to haul a bunch of different things to our storage unit and hauling myself and friends to Christmas lights

A nice evening warranted a middle-of-the-road picture or two. Its crazy how busy some unknown county roads will get while you're trying to take these kinds of pictures lol



Still losing oil, I’m guessing somewhere north of 2 quarts every 3,000 miles. Kinda concerning, but I don’t mind topping it off every other weekend. I’m gonna drop in some of that head gasket stop-leak and see if that helps with the oil consumption. I’m right at the 175k mile mark currently, and just hoping the 3.7 doesn’t decide to blow up on me just yet. Don’t get me wrong I have no hate towards the 3.7, but when this V6 comes out, I want to be financially secure enough to make sure another V6 does NOT go in lol

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That ram is so sharp. Those wheels combined with the chrome grill inserts is killer. I might have to get those wheels too...

RPMRamFury said:

That ram is so sharp. Those wheels combined with the chrome grill inserts is killer. I might have to get those wheels too...

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Thank ya! I love these wheels. I planned on getting them 5-6 months ago but they were on backorder (thanks 'Rona) so had to wait. The discount tire guy tried to convince me to buy some other wheels, but I opted to wait it out. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find any 5x5.5 wheels I liked except these. Guess I'm picky lol

A few weeks back my A pillar grab handle broke, so i took to home depot and fixed it back up nicely.

Other than that, its been setback after setback project wise lol

I started to work on changing the tire size in the ABS module again with AlfaOBD, but my MX+ gave out on me. I’ll be ordering a replacement soon. They’re up to about 100 bucks now which is crazy

Then I finally got back my paint matched exterior door handles from the body shop. I went to put the drivers side on and..snap. There goes the threaded stud and about 50 bucks worth of door handle and paint. I didnt even have it torqued down snug and it snapped. Low-line cheap Made in China junk I’m sure

On the bright side, with everything out I was able to fix up my existing handle a bit. The keyhole was hard to turn, and some good shots of WD-40 fixed that. Also was able to tighten it down so the handle no longer moved when opening doors. I might look into ordering another door handle to get paint matched, but not anytime soon. I guess I can live with the chromy’s for now


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Truck is hating this cold weather and man is the exhaust leak loud on startup, but these tires are so much better than anything I’m used to. I’ve only ran highway treads so thats not saying much, but even my 2WD is taking on some ice and snow drifts like a champ. Even though I had no issues I threw a couple hundred pounds in the bed to help with traction. Theyre forecasting 8+ more inches so I dont think I’ll be getting out too much

I’ve been planning on grafting a 4th gen aux switch into my 3rd gen to control all my extra electrical goodies, and its looking promising. Hoping i’ll be able to fix it up


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The past few weeks I took on a pretty neat project I’ve been wanting to try for awhile. I bought a junkyard RAQ radio out of a Durango, and got it all cleaned up and disassembled. I painted the face, put in a new screen, and replaced the green lights with some red LEDs. It turned into quite the project and in my opinion turned out good, especially considering it was my first soldering and circuit board project. Added bonus is the chrome premium volume/tune knobs

Heres the REF that was in before with the green colors


And heres the “finished” product. The only problem I have is the screen is very reflective and hard to see during the day because there’s zero darkening tint. I might hit it with some sort of tint to darken it down and show the numbers a tad better





I’ll have to get a less blurry nighttime photo, the glare of overhead lights was pretty bad at that time lol

I have a PAC aux adapter coming in soon and I plan on installing a little bluetooth module back there so I can get rid of my junky bluetooth FM transmitter

I think I might go red on the window switches and as well sometime soon. I have lots of leftover LEDs lol


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So the PAC adapter is a piece of junk. Stopped working right out the gate, so I’m gonna put my aux/bluetooth project on the backburner for now while I decide where to go on that

Last week had to replace the passenger front wheel bearing and was surprisingly pretty easy. Today I just put a deposit down on a 4.56 gear swap I’m gonna have done early next month. 4.56s, a detriot trutrac, and labor is coming in around $1800. I’m comforted by the fact that if I wasn’t spending this $1800 then I’d be spending $30,000 or more on a new rig that I really don’t need lol

I’m hoping going from 3.55s to 4.56s will wake the 3.7 up on the highway. The V6 has been a solid motor for sure but it really needs some help lol. Since I currently spend most of my time cruising in 3rd gear, I’m hoping the 4.56s will let me stick in OD more and squeak out a couple more MPGs


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Love your build man! What PAC adapter did you use? I have a aux CD player in my 12. Aux makes a world of difference. If you want try on the cheap maybe I can help. I have 5 boys so money can be tight at times. I really like projects like yours. Your truck reminds me of the 02 sport that I did back in 09. V6 mine was a 5 speed, but bare bones. I added navigator leather seats, carpet, and added electric windows and door locks. I’ll look around and see if I can find my old project. 4.56 gears should help. I know with my 4th gen hemi 6spd with 3.92 gears it’s ok with the same tire size, but I am tempted to go 4.10 just because all of my old fast cars foxbody mustangs all had 4.10 gears. I like it light to light. I don’t need to run 120 plus.

Treburkulosis said:

Love your build man! What PAC adapter did you use? I have a aux CD player in my 12. Aux makes a world of difference. If you want try on the cheap maybe I can help. I have 5 boys so money can be tight at times. I really like projects like yours. Your truck reminds me of the 02 sport that I did back in 09. V6 mine was a 5 speed, but bare bones. I added navigator leather seats, carpet, and added electric windows and door locks. I’ll look around and see if I can find my old project. 4.56 gears should help. I know with my 4th gen hemi 6spd with 3.92 gears it’s ok with the same tire size, but I am tempted to go 4.10 just because all of my old fast cars foxbody mustangs all had 4.10 gears. I like it light to light. I don’t need to run 120 plus.

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Well thank ya! It has been quite a ride for sure but its been fun and have learned a lot along the way. I think it was the CHY AAI or something, I’ll have to look at the paper later on. Like most of the other reviews about it, it wouldn’t always turn on. I even spliced it to ACC instead of a 12v constant to get it to “reboot” itself on each startup, but that didn’t help. Then even when it does turn on, it didnt work properly. I opted to spoof the satellite, but the SAT mode literally never came up on the radio as it was supposed to. Then for spoofing VES, that mode wouldn’t appear on the radio sometimes as well. I’ll do some more research into it and see if I can get it to work at some point, I’ve been using an FM transmitter ever since I got the truck so I’m used to it lol

+1 on going from light to light. A few people think I’m making a mistake with the 4.56s saying they’re way too much gear, but they don’t realize just how bad the V6 is struggling to pull itself. If I had a hemi and was wanting to drag 120+ down the highway all the time then yeah I might worry about running out of gears up there, but I have a dang 210 horse V6. It doesn’t matter if I had 3.21s or 5.13s, this truck simply CANT go fast lol

My logic was hemi guys seemed to really like 33s with 4.10s with the 5 and 6 speeds, so the 3.7 could use an extra step up to give it a little extra pep


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Fishstickz said:

Well thank ya! It has been quite a ride for sure but its been fun and have learned a lot along the way. I think it was the CHY AAI or something, I’ll have to look at the paper later on. Like most of the other reviews about it, it wouldn’t always turn on. I even spliced it to ACC instead of a 12v constant to get it to “reboot” itself on each startup, but that didn’t help. Then even when it does turn on, it didnt work properly. I opted to spoof the satellite, but the SAT mode literally never came up on the radio as it was supposed to. Then for spoofing VES, that mode wouldn’t appear on the radio sometimes as well. I’ll do some more research into it and see if I can get it to work at some point, I’ve been using an FM transmitter ever since I got the truck so I’m used to it lol

+1 on going from light to light. A few people think I’m making a mistake with the 4.56s saying they’re way too much gear, but they don’t realize just how bad the V6 is struggling to pull itself. If I had a hemi and was wanting to drag 120+ down the highway all the time then yeah I might worry about running out of gears up there, but I have a dang 210 horse V6. It doesn’t matter if I had 3.21s or 5.13s, this truck simply CANT go fast lol

My logic was hemi guys seemed to really like 33s with 4.10s with the 5 and 6 speeds, so the 3.7 could use an extra step up to give it a little extra pep


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I am with you, I don't mind losing some top end to get some low end. Especially on a V6.

Treburkulosis said:

I am with you, I don't mind losing some top end to get some low end. Especially on a V6.

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100% man, I’m not worried about breaking the sound barrier, I just wanna maintain speed and make it up hills without having to shift all the way into second gear lol

The fastest I’ll ever need to go is 80-85 in the rare occasions I’m on the turnpikes. Otherwise its just around town, 65-70 on the highway, and in the fields which is what that dang expensive trutrac is for lol

Maybe after all this is done my truck can hold a speed good enough for me to install cruise control


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Welp about 2 thousand dollars later (painful realization), the new gears are installed. 4.56s, a detroit trutrac, and a G2 diff cover. It all looks nice, feels even nicer.

I’m trying to follow the shops break-in procedure so no real highway tests yet, but even at the low speeds it feels amazing. One thing I hated about my truck was the constant lethargic feeling, but so far I haven’t felt any sense of lethargy with the new gears. Taking off from a stop is effortless, even more so than our 4.8l silverado and the 6.2l sierra, both of which also feel rather lethargic to me (maybe I’m just crazy, or maybe they need a diff gear change as well lol)

I know they had to please the EPA but I feel like 4.10s or 4.56s shouldve came in these V6 trucks from the factory. So far I’d say a diff gear swap would be well worth the cost for any V6 or even 4.7l owner

Thanks to this forum every truck I own from here on out will probably have to get a differential gear swap..thanks for spending my money guys


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Just a few pictures over the past few months


I’ve definitely been keeping busy and haven’t been on here too much. I rebuilt my headlights with “flow series” leds, just a fancy name for WS2812B addressable LEDs. I control them with a couple of BlueGhozt controllers that I wired up under my drivers seat with a little fuse box I made out of an old amp (wiring is pretty ugly though lol)