2014 RAM 1500 Express Crew Cab

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hodge-xj

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Weigthed the truck today at 6200lbs. According to the RAM literature, the truck base (14 RAM 1500 crew cab 1500) weight is 5347lbs, so i have around 800lbs extra compared to stock. Damn. I guess no drag racing for her fat butt :)
That's really not that bad. Fully wet with you in it?

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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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That's really not that bad. Fully wet with you in it?

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That's without me and tools bags/recovery gear.
With me inside (195lbs) and tools bags she'll be around 6500+lbs easy (offroad trail days)
 

hodge-xj

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Still not bad at all. 4Dr jks weigh that much if not more. I would have guessed 7000 or a bit more judging by looks.

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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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Had an email conversation with the fellas at BDS to see if i could get my hands on their 3" rear coil springs. BDS seems to be some sort of Fox partner or Fox directly as the guy i was chatting with has an email domain ridefox.com. In any case, they didn't think their 3" was going to keep up with my truck weight.
Their 3" spring has a linear rate, 240lbs/inc and is 20.875" long, but because i don't know the stock spring rate i don't know how much im going to sag, i still wanted to buy and try them but Corey at BDS didn't think 3" was going to be enough to even keep them at 1" with my truck weight, maybe 240lbs/inch is stock rate ? So i'm stuck with the Icons and the damn 1" spacer i hate. Lol I really love the Icons but want to kick the stupid spacers POS away.
I like that he was honest and didn't try to sell me something it won't work.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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I noticed this today from my rear shock shafts so it seems it's time to service them.
Fronts are dry so that's a good thing but if i'll service the rears i guess this will be the time to service and revalve front and rear and be done with it.

49559898657_7096ac3e27_4k.jpg2020-02-19_09-01-56 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

And to think the rear of the truck doesn't see much abuse ha :)
Funny cause a post from @revitupmoto33 yesterday made me check today. Lol

King offer a bunch of different options so i'll check them out first as they're only 30 min away from home. I emailed them tonight to check on my options as i really want to learn to do this myself.

from King website:

page-support-header-factory-service.pngConvenient regularly scheduled shock servicing can be performed at our facility with minimal turnaround times. Our experienced shock experts can easily spot unusual wear patterns and other anomalies that could lead to reduced performance before they become an issue. Service procedures include precision honing and polishing of shock cylinders, micro polishing of shafts, seal and wear band replacement, all using original replacement parts and precision processes for a perfect fit. Each factory serviced shock is pressure tested after assembly to verify proper function.
page-support-header-service-kit.pngIf you choose to do your own maintenance, all of our shocks are serviceable with our fully stocked rebuild kits that contain all necessary original parts. All King shocks are easily adjustable by anyone with simple tools and an understanding of shock construction and valving. A complete selection of tools to service your shocks is available directly from King.
page-support-header-infield-shock.pngFor those of you who wish to take advantage of our depth of knowledge in setting up your new shocks or optimizing your existing set-up we offer weekly in the field shock servicing and tuning by appointment. Many teams include a tuning session before they go testing.
page-support-header-on-site.pngWhen it comes to race weekend we are there too, in the dirt, where you need us, with our fully stocked support trailer to handle any last minute needs including parts, re-valving or servicing. At King, our service to our customers is second to none.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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revitupmoto33

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I noticed this today from my rear shock shafts so it seems it's time to service them.
Fronts are dry so that's a good thing but if i'll service the rears i guess this will be the time to service and revalve front and rear and be done with it.

49559898657_7096ac3e27_4k.jpg2020-02-19_09-01-56 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

And to think the rear of the truck doesn't see much abuse ha :)
Funny cause a post from @revitupmoto33 yesterday made me check today. Lol

King offer a bunch of different options so i'll check them out first as they're only 30 min away from home. I emailed them tonight to check on my options as i really want to learn to do this myself.

from King website:

page-support-header-factory-service.pngConvenient regularly scheduled shock servicing can be performed at our facility with minimal turnaround times. Our experienced shock experts can easily spot unusual wear patterns and other anomalies that could lead to reduced performance before they become an issue. Service procedures include precision honing and polishing of shock cylinders, micro polishing of shafts, seal and wear band replacement, all using original replacement parts and precision processes for a perfect fit. Each factory serviced shock is pressure tested after assembly to verify proper function.
page-support-header-service-kit.pngIf you choose to do your own maintenance, all of our shocks are serviceable with our fully stocked rebuild kits that contain all necessary original parts. All King shocks are easily adjustable by anyone with simple tools and an understanding of shock construction and valving. A complete selection of tools to service your shocks is available directly from King.
page-support-header-infield-shock.pngFor those of you who wish to take advantage of our depth of knowledge in setting up your new shocks or optimizing your existing set-up we offer weekly in the field shock servicing and tuning by appointment. Many teams include a tuning session before they go testing.
page-support-header-on-site.pngWhen it comes to race weekend we are there too, in the dirt, where you need us, with our fully stocked support trailer to handle any last minute needs including parts, re-valving or servicing. At King, our service to our customers is second to none.
My pass side looks similar to your pic, still has pressure so just a slow leak, driver side has zero pressure left.
The seals and valves themselves are fairly cheap if you end up doing them yourself. The first time I did it was able to find some helpful videos on YouTube. Trickiest part is removing the floating piston out of the resi, either need to make or buy one specific tool.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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I'm going to replace my Bwoody rear track bar with the Freedom offroad performance trackbar
Freedom offfroad is DOM steel tube and feels a lot stronger than the Bwoody one.

Stocker vs Freedom Offroad

49571747432_d8810ca23f_k.jpg2020-02-22_04-02-28 by RAM RSM, on Flickr
 
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MidwestExpress

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I noticed this today from my rear shock shafts so it seems it's time to service them.
Fronts are dry so that's a good thing but if i'll service the rears i guess this will be the time to service and revalve front and rear and be done with it.

I know you push these pretty hard off road, but how long have you had them on? Like a year and half? How many miles on them?
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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I know you push these pretty hard off road, but how long have you had them on? Like a year and half? How many miles on them?

From my notes: 14 months and 23k miles.
I'm surprised it's the rear ones leaking and not the fronts considering the fronts are the ones i know have had the most abuse. it's a very minor leak so I'd think is just the wiper seals going kaput in the back but i'll know more later on. Haven't have the chance to take the shocks off the truck yet. my 1/2" Wulf front strut spacers showed up this morning so i'll try to the install the Ranchos backup this coming weekend and tackle the Kings on the side. The 1/2" spacers should put the Rancho QL's at 2.5" lift front.

Haven't decided yet what to do but i think i'll want to upgrade the front CO's to 600lbs springs and release some of the preload i've to have with the 500lbs ones.
 

revitupmoto33

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From my notes: 14 months and 23k miles.
I'm surprised it's the rear ones leaking and not the fronts considering the fronts are the ones i know have had the most abuse. it's a very minor leak so I'd think is just the wiper seals going kaput in the back but i'll know more later on. Haven't have the chance to take the shocks off the truck yet. my 1/2" Wulf front strut spacers showed up this morning so i'll try to the install the Ranchos backup this coming weekend and tackle the Kings on the side. The 1/2" spacers should put the Rancho QL's at 2.5" lift front.

Haven't decided yet what to do but i think i'll want to upgrade the front CO's to 600lbs springs and release some of the preload i've to have with the 500lbs ones.
Both of my rears were wiper seal fails, couldn't find any other issue when I had them apart.
About changing to 600lb springs, Im curious to see if the increase in rebound force would be more or less than the rebound from the 500lb ones being preloaded. Changing the rebound valving on mine solved the pogo effect I was experiencing.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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Rebuild price from Kings is $120 per CO/shock
I'm so lazy to take the front ones out because they're not leaking . The rears shocks are just a breeze so i'm getting inclined to take the rears off tomorrow to start, i'll figure around $300, The guy from King i spoke with today said i'll probablky spend around that much trying to do it myself the 1st time since i don't have any of the needed tools, plus oil and seal kits etc etc. and he recommended of course to leave it to the pros.

Turn around time is 1 week.

I'm waiting on a quote from Accutune offroad.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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Got her all done today. Easy peasy just about half day of work taking my time to torque everything and take measurements etc,etc.
Rancho QL's are just awesome, install couldn't get any easier
This are the Wulf 1/2" top spacers from Amazon
49602059553_61046db93b_k.jpg2020-02-29_07-13-17 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

49602824617_f1180999c0_k.jpg2020-02-29_07-13-27 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Installation procedure:
It's super involved lol
Put the spacer on top and sip on a beer :)
49602821902_214b7faa69_k.jpg2020-02-29_07-12-25 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

After taking the coilover out
49602559866_32bf7a835d_k.jpg2020-02-29_07-12-51 by RAM RSM, on Flickr


And running 37's on Rancho QL struts with a 1/2" top spacer. I wouldn't run any other spacer taller than that. Zero issues with the tires rubbing. (still a little cosmetic rub but the spot is rubbing about the same, 2.5" or 2.75" makes zero difference for rubbing in my case, My caster should be still more advanced than stock and i doubt caster changed just because she went down 1/4" inch, truck is tracking straight, steering is straigth so i won't bother with alignment until i get the Kings back after maintance and revalving)

Having a second set of shocks to run as backup is giving me zero downtime, so now i can take my time to decide who's going to do the job :) Accutune didn't reply so i'll have to contact them again on Monday.

49602563241_a77bc61df0_k.jpg2020-02-29_07-14-03 by RAM RSM, on Flickr
 
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RobertusvT

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Really like the look of this truck. Inspiring! Might have to get sell my tonneau cover and go with a soft topper instead.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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Some of the measurements i took today for fun. I want to see what the difference will be once i get my CO's back with different springs.

Kings
With full weight on the CO's the springs measure 8 7/8, the spring free lenght is supposed to be 14" according to what i have stamped on the Springs so the weight of the truck is pretty much compressing them 5 1/8"

With the front fully drooped the spring measures 10 3/4 (this is with 11 turns on the driver side)

Tire to fender with full weight: 5 3/4"
Suspension fully dropped: 8 1/2"

Rancho QL with 1/2" spacer
Tire to fender with full weight: 5 1/2"
Suspension fully drooped: 9 1/4"

1/2" spacer is dropping the front tires 3/4" compared to my King setup, not bad considering the Kings are providing 2.75" lift vs 2.5" with Rancho QL + spacer.
 
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hodge-xj

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Bet you can't even tell the difference in the ride.....jk lmao.

You gonna swap front springs and pull some preload out of those COs? I know you use your truck pretty hard. But I'm surprised your kings need rebuilt already. Especially since it's the seals failing I wonder what is different in their shaft seals vs say a generic one that lasts 50-100k.

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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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Bet you can't even tell the difference in the ride.....jk lmao.

You gonna swap front springs and pull some preload out of those COs? I know you use your truck pretty hard. But I'm surprised your kings need rebuilt already. Especially since it's the seals failing I wonder what is different in their shaft seals vs say a generic one that lasts 50-100k.

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Yep that's my idea. figure a little more spring rate won't hurt.
Trust me no conventional shock will make it to even 1k miles giving them the same abuse I've put the truck so far especially with the extra weight. Been there done that. Only way to make them last is to slow the heck down :)

In all fairness the fronts are still ok and not exhibiting the same buildup as the rears. It's funny because you read all the time around here things like BDS for example doesn't put 2.5 body shocks in their performance kit rear because in theory the rear doesn't see the same abuse as the fronts and a lot of people seem to invest only in the fronts because of that reason. No idea what kind of seals they put on the generic shocks that last 50k-100k miles, but i doubt the material used in race shocks will be inferior. i think the main difference is that race seals are supposed to wishstand tons more heat, so how that affects them long term i don't know. sure cheapy shocks can last 100k miles or more on a vehicle that only see streets but that doesn't mean they're absorbing bumps the same as when they were new. Change your conventional shocks every 50k miles and you'll feel the difference right away.

Performance shocks should be rebuilt
every 50k miles on road only
10k-30k with combination onroad/offroad
1k-3k offroad only

all depending on driving conditions and environment of course. I was changing my Jeep conventional shocks every 50k miles to keep them fresh doing offroad, but rock crawling and/or driving at 10-20mph to get to the rocks is way different that driving through rutted out dirt roads with washes and and hoops at 40-70mph.

You can see all the components inside a King 2.5 shock in this video of a basic rebuilt. This is what i wanted to do myself before the King guy told me to let them do it for $120 each. Oil jug is $40, the tool to open the shock cap underneath is $55 though i would guess i could try something from harbor freight, (it's called face pin spanner i believe, the trick will be finding something that can fit the holes). The tool to get the IFP from the reservoir is $45, seal pack i believe is $20 each and i'll need 4 of them. the tool to open the valve steem i think is like $20. Well worth if you can DYI. I feel i could do it but at the same time this is one of those times of the year where my hands are full between the office and the kids activities over the weekend. I missed 2 games yesterday from one of my kids and today is raining, more likely it'll take a month before i can put my performance chit back :)



The rear shocks doesn't look as bad as i thought, there is a little buildup outside the seal
49605750912_f5a7d96d2d_k.jpg2020-03-01_10-24-55 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

i don't think i should see this marks when compressing the shock by hand after cleaning the shaft.

49605501581_d068fa4cc6_k.jpg2020-03-01_10-25-18 by RAM RSM, on Flickr
 
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revitupmoto33

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Yep that's my idea. figure a little more spring rate won't hurt.
Trust me no conventional shock will make it to even 1k miles giving them the same abuse I've put the truck so far especially with the extra weight. Been there done that. Only way to make them last is to slow the heck down :)

In all fairness the fronts are still ok and not exhibiting the same builtup as the rears. It's funny because you read all the time around here things like BDS for example doesn't put 2.5 body shocks in their performance kit rear because in theory the rear doesn't see the same abuse as the fronts and a lot of people seem to invest only in the fronts because of that reason. No idea what kind of seals they put on the generic shocks that last 50k-100k miles, but i doubt the material used in race shocks will be inferior. i think the main difference is that race seals are supposed to wishstand tons more heat, so how that affects them long term i don't know. sure cheapy shocks can last 100k miles or more on a vehicle that only see streets but that doesn't mean they're absorbing bumps the same as when they were new. Change your conventional shocks every 50k miles and you'll feel the difference right away.

Performance shocks should be rebuilt
every 50k miles on road only
10k-30k with combination onroad/offroad
1k-3k offroad only

all depending on driving conditions and environment of course. I was changing my Jeep conventional shocks every 50k miles to keep them fresh doing offroad, but rock crawling and/or driving at 10-20mph to get to the rocks is way different that driving through rutted out dirt roads with washes and and hoops at 40-70mph.

You can see all the components inside a King 2.5 shock in this video of a basic rebuilt. This is what i wanted to do myself before the King guy told me to let them do it for $120 each. Oil jug is $40, the tool to open the shock cap underneath is $55 though i would guess i could try something from harbor freight, (it's called face pin spanner i believe, the trick will be finding something that can fit the holes). The tool to get the IFP from the reservoir is $45, seal pack i believe is $20 each and i'll need 4 of them. the tool to open the valve steem i think is like $20. Well worth if you can DYI. I feel i could do it but at the same time this is one of those times of the year where my hands are full between the office and the kids activities over the weekend. I missed 2 games yesterday from one of my kids and today is raining, more likely it'll take a month before i can put my performance chit back :)



The rear shocks doesn't look as bad as i thought, there is a little buildup outside the seal
49605750912_f5a7d96d2d_k.jpg2020-03-01_10-24-55 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

i don't think i should see this marks when compressing the shock by hand after cleaning the shaft.

49605501581_d068fa4cc6_k.jpg2020-03-01_10-25-18 by RAM RSM, on Flickr
On mine their was evidence of shock oil spraying the coils and axle. How does the compression feel when you push down on the shocks and is there any freeplay, most noticeable fully extended in the first 1/2", will tell you if you are low on fluid.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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On mine their was evidence of shock oil spraying the coils and axle. How does the compression feel when you push down on the shocks and is there any freeplay, most noticeable fully extended in the first 1/2", will tell you if you are low on fluid.
Compression is super tight. It takes a lot more force to push on them compared to the Ranchos. I tested both compressing them all the way but the one I was running on the driver side didn't extend back as normal the first time. It got like frozen in the middle then slowly opened up back to full extension. Don't know if it's normal or not. After that first time is closes and open normal. No evidence of oil leaking anywhere. Just the marks just see on the pic on both.
 
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ram1500rsm

ram1500rsm

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Dropped the shocks this morning at Accutune Offroad. We had a conversation about what i want out of the shocks, my mods etc etc, so they'll do the maintenance and brand new valving with whatever double flutter stack valving thing they have.
https://accutuneoffroad.com/how-accutune-valving-works/

$677 OTD for all 4 shocks.
If i was doing only maintenance it'll be close to $500 to have them rebuilt.
They should be done this week, Monday at the latest. I'm keeping the 500lbs springs based on their recommendation.
 
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