2014 RAM 1500 Express Crew Cab

[gofishn]

Excellent Upgrades and terrific write ups.

Keep it up.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Ordered UPR Billet catch can from Amazon.

 

[Oddity]

Just wanna commend you on keeping up a great and informative build thread! Also, it's refreshing to see others with the intent to build their 1500 into a capable off-road machine. It's a bit of an uphill battle with this platform, but you certainly get some surprised looks and kudos when you come up on others down a 4x4 trail.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Ordered King 2.5 coilovers and shocks with reservoirs from SDHQ Offroad Racing.

Specs:
Rear
King 2.5 25001-208, 27.25" extended, 17.50" compressed, pretty much the same as my Rancho rear shocks, so i won't loose any flex.

Front:
King 25001-207, 22.50 extended, 16.84 compressed, 1" longer than my Rancho struts.

Can't wait to get this puppies in the garage and start the install

 

[hodge-xj]

This makes me excited for you.....

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[hodge-xj]

Gonna be kinda a mid travel kit in a sense. Really interested in how the front responds to extended coilovers.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[ram1500rsm]

This makes me excited for you.....

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Thanks a lot dude, I’m salivating already, I’ll be teaching my Jeep Wrangler friends they could only run away from the Hemi because the truck was setup for the street hahaha, kidding asides, all the Coilover equipped JK’s did mop the floor with me and the truck running the Bradshaw trail last month, that won’t happen again, they’re still champion over rocks though

 

[ram1500rsm]

Gonna be kinda a mid travel kit in a sense. Really interested in how the front responds to extended coilovers.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I’ll do a review as well, hope the Zone UCA will be up to the task, I thought of pulling the trigger on the Total Chaos UCAs yesterday as well, but because the Zones are still so new, I decided to try them and see if they are worth their price. Everything on the street runs ok for the most part, but as you know once you give the suspension a workout in the dirt, that’s when things go south with the cheapy parts, I think in this case they seem nicely built, so I guess I’ll get to experience a normal BJ with hi performance coilovers, I’m not racing the truck anyways, jumping it etc, but I do want to be able to drive a little faster and have some more offroad fun with it, I don’t have a cage/harness and a long travel setup to do more formal prerunning,but this will let me how deep I’ll go with this truck, who knows, I always wanted a long travel IFS setup, maybe one day that will happen with this truck, will see, that’s an extra $15k with the fiberglass bumpers, easy....

 

[hodge-xj]

Thanks a lot dude, I’m salivating already, I’ll be teaching my Jeep Wrangler friends they could only run away from the Hemi because the truck was setup for the street hahaha, kidding asides, all the Coilover equipped JK’s did mop the floor with me and the truck running the Bradshaw trail last month, that won’t happen again, they’re still champion over rocks though

You've got them beat, maybe RTI numbers aren't as good but you have quality and quantity when it comes to travel now. Carli commuter claims 10" front 13" rear and I imagine with 1" over oem length up front you're gonna be cycling more than that. Nearly what raptors are cycling, on oem length arms mind you, this is really exciting.


I was genuinely surprised when the spacers on my own struts didn't inhibit any of the available range of operation. My f150 bound up at the uca very quickly, this truck with its spacer lift for 2.5" up front droops and jounces fully, ram engineers hit it perfect with these trucks. If you know what to look for you can't uncork some serious potential. Might need some front bumps tho with those fenders and offset.....

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[hodge-xj]

I’ll do a review as well, hope the Zone UCA will be up to the task, I thought of pulling the trigger on the Total Chaos UCAs yesterday as well, but because the Zones are still so new, I decided to try them and see if they are worth their price. Everything on the street runs ok for the most part, but as you know once you give the suspension a workout in the dirt, that’s when things go south with the cheapy parts, I think in this case they seem nicely built, so I guess I’ll get to experience a normal BJ with hi performance coilovers, I’m not racing the truck anyways, jumping it etc, but I do want to be able to drive a little faster and have some more offroad fun with it, I don’t have a cage/harness and a long travel setup to do more formal prerunning,but this will let me how deep I’ll go with this truck, who knows, I always wanted a long travel IFS setup, maybe one day that will happen with this truck, will see, that’s an extra $15k with the fiberglass bumpers, easy....

Aside from the bj they look robust, but like you said you'll find out soon. 2.5s are big tho so I hope they clear! I've run a quality mid travel on my old 2500 and that's when I became a believer in quality suspension. A good performing mid travel will suit your mentioned style well. How are they valved? Quality over quantity sometimes. Yea long travel is awesome, but so is reliability, affordability and longevity. You are building yours where my mind wants mine to go.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


Ps I just referenced the Pns you posted. Did you go with custom lengths when ordered, or is that the specs of the kings.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Aside from the bj they look robust, but like you said you'll find out soon. 2.5s are big tho so I hope they clear! I've run a quality mid travel on my old 2500 and that's when I became a believer in quality suspension. A good performing mid travel will suit your mentioned style well. How are they valved? Quality over quantity sometimes. Yea long travel is awesome, but so is reliability, affordability and longevity. You are building yours where my mind wants mine to go.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


Ps I just referenced the Pns you posted. Did you go with custom lengths when ordered, or is that the specs of the kings.

Those are King specs, i'll see if i can have a chat with SDHQ tomorrow to check whether these things come with the generic King valving, of if they add their own custom SDHQ valving / can add custom valving for a little extra.

 

[hodge-xj]

Those are King specs, i'll see if i can have a chat with SDHQ tomorrow to check whether these things come with the generic King valving, of if they add their own custom SDHQ valving / can add custom valving for a little extra.

The only reason I asked was it pulled up a filthy motorsports website, and the king OEM fitment shocks have quite a few options available. Nice to have a few options available

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[ram1500rsm]

The only reason I asked was it pulled up a filthy motorsports website, and the king OEM fitment shocks have quite a few options available. Nice to have a few options available

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I've spent some hours today watching their videos, very informative. didn't know King had some many options as well.

I've also been watching this dude and his install, and i like the fact that Kings can be adjusted while on the truck, i guess because the way the adjusting collar is shaped around our strut mount opening, I think Icon has to be off the truck, didn't check Radflo, and this guys mentions Fox can't be adjusted like this, so you take those off, Kings can be adjusted mounted as expected from a coilover.

Check from min 9:05 more or less

 

[hodge-xj]

Fox's are usually maxed out from factory, until you get into their crazy systems (2.5 DSC AND 3.0) which is annoying, icon can be done on the truck, but it's a bit tedious, kings seem like they kinda perfected it a bit more. The only reason I don't run kings is honestly my truck sees pavement 99% of the time any more so I don't need the performance and the North east winters ate my old Fox's and kings up even with coatings and maintenance. I can't afford yearly rebuilds right now, but I really miss them. You're really gonna enjoy it, especially if you valve them right, it's like riding on pillows

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[ram1500rsm]

Got the UPR catch can installed today, nicely packaged, all assembled, but both hoses were about 1" short, not a big deal as i had some fuel hoses laying around, first time they had sent something that doesn't work right from the get go though, this is like my 6th or 7th time i've ordered a catch from this company, i'll contact them to let them now.

Untitled by Wrangler RSM, on Flickr

Untitled by Wrangler RSM, on Flickr

 

[4eyedconekiller]

Enjoying watching your truck coming along... I’m learning as much from others’ build threads as anything else! Keep up the good work!

 

[AJAY]

This build has been very informative. I just bought the Icon 1.5 and trying to decide on the shocks. I want to stick with Bilsteins but want to try the Fox or Rancho. What is the part number for Metalcloak 1" bumpstops that you put on?

 

[ram1500rsm]

This build has been very informative. I just bought the Icon 1.5 and trying to decide on the shocks. I want to stick with Bilsteins but want to try the Fox or Rancho. What is the part number for Metalcloak 1" bumpstops that you put on?

Here you go, https://www.metalcloak.com/JK-Adjustable-Bump-Stops-Rear-p/7043.htm

 

[ram1500rsm]

Some info on our sway bars diameter i found in the other RAM forum, i'll leave in here in case i need to reference it

not to take anything away from the Hellwig bar...


4th gen '09-18 1500 came with 4 different rear bar options (16, 18, 20, 22mm) and 2 front bar (32 & 36.8mm)..

some trucks aren't equipped with a rear bar at all.. !



depending on what rear bar you have original,

a cheap upgrade (may be) installing a larger OE bar.


my '13 had the smallest rear bar;
from the dealer (with some wheedling) the largest (22 mm) 68061789AA was only ~$70 !



installed it with new $10 moog k3168 polyurethane bushings = NICE !

I checked my sway bars with a big adjustable wrench, i have the 20mm rear sway bar, 35.5mm front (measured right besides the bushing) so if there is only 2 front sizes, with one being 32 and the other 36.8mm, i don't have the 32mm for sure.

 

[4eyedconekiller]

Some info on our sway bars diameter i found in the other RAM forum, i'll leave in here in case i need to reference it



I checked my sway bars with a big adjustable wrench, i have the 20mm rear sway bar, 35.5mm front (measured right besides the bushing) so if there is only 2 front sizes, with one being 32 and he other 36.8mm, i don't have the 32mm for sure.

That’s some good info!