2019 Ram 1500 Classic Express Factory Mods

[HydroTopzz]

Hey guys,

Just felt like writing up this thread in order to thank and potentially help out anyone who has any questions of what mods can be made to these trucks and what input I can provide from past experience.
I want to give a huge shoutout to @Ricks Ram and @Mpgrimm2 for their expertise and great advice on questions I've had for a few mods. Of course, anyone else involved in my past posts as well.

The truck is a 2019 Ram 1500 Classic Express. It looked great from the outside but the inside was a bit lack luster for my liking.




The list of mods, in order, at the best of my memory are:

- Full LED all around
- Black housing for the fog lights
- 7 inch EVIC dashboard cluster
- Power folding mirrors
- Full center console conversion
- Upper glove box installation
- Factory remote start
- DRL changed to turn signals
- Door panels upgraded to sport trim panels
- Added passenger footwell light
- Swaped manual seats for sport leather/cloth seats (w/ power and heating pads)
- Swaped the steering wheel for a leather wrapped heated wheel with audio controls (Dissasembled the rubber wheel)
- Added factory trailer brake control
- A few other ALFA OBD settings

I know these are all factory mods. I personally like to add the factory options as its built for these trucks. I may in the future to spice things up with some aftermarket options or change the headliner to accomodate the rear dome light and upper console. For now though, this is plenty and it was a bumpy and smooth ride!


Thanks again to everyone on this forum, @Mpgrimm2 for the wonderful harnesses and all the helpful information to help us improve and learn more about our RAMS everyday.

 

[stark22]

Looks good! How difficult was it to swap the steering wheel out? Also, price of the new steering wheel? I hate the plastic and not having the audio controls that my old '13 Big Horn had!

 

[HydroTopzz]

Looks good! How difficult was it to swap the steering wheel out? Also, price of the new steering wheel? I hate the plastic and not having the audio controls that my old '13 Big Horn had!

Apologies, I didn't see this post in time.

The first step is to remove the steering column shroud. (Plastic that covers the steering column)

Lifting up the tabs that hold the airbag in place wasn't too bad, but took a couple of tries. I've accidentally honked the horn a few times. My neighbours probably thought I was a mad man. There are 3 tabs to lift up behind the airbag, you need to lift them up, one at a time, high enough to pull the airbag out. All the while being careful not to push the airbag back in once you start freeing it. It's a tight space to work with.

Disconnecting the air bag is straight forward. The plugs and sockets are colored respectively.

Pulling out the steering wheel posed somewhat of a challenge. I don't have a power tool, but I did buy a steering wheel puller for ~$15. There's some useful videos online to remove the steering wheel using a puller. It's a bit odd to explain as it's trivial depending on which toolset you have. But having a power tool on hand will be the best option for the smoothest removal. In my case, I had to use some arm grease and un-bolt the steering wheel, then attempt to unbolt it with a puller. It's very tough to remove the wheel without the combination of a power tool and steering wheel puller. I had to resort to wiggling the steering wheel with some force until it came off. It felt like it didn't want to come off at first, but after some determination, it came off. (Glad it's stuck on there though, as it should be...)

Afterwards, removing the clockspring and signal stock were fairly straight forward. There's some T-20 screws holding the clockspring in place, and a few plugs for the electrical functions. You have to make sure you take note of where the clockspring is pointing, or else your alignment will be off if it's being replaced. If it's not being replaced, you need to mark it before removing it in case it shifts. Make sure it doesn't rotate, or you'll have to re-adjust it by turning it all the way one side. Then turn it back to point upright depending on how many turn cycles you go through. (As if you're making a U-Turn and re-centering your vehicle afterwards.)
I pointed my wheels as straight as I can before starting the whole process. That way, when the new clockspring was hooked, I just had to remove a yellow tab that was holding it in place.

I dissassembled my rubber steering wheel to salvage the controls from it. I didn't buy a used steering wheel. Instead, I bought a leather wrapped, heated steering wheel from the dealership which costed $750 CAD. The one that comes on the 2024 RAM Classic models. I have my own reasons for doing so. You can definitely find a cheaper price for a used one online. I had also bought the steering wheel controls and steering wheel harness to hook everything up to the new clockspring.

If you're dissassembling your old wheel and upgrading it with leather wrapped, heated, audio controls. You're going to need to purchase the steering wheel, the audio controls, the rear cover (which have the cutouts for audio controls) and a wiring harness to plug everything together within the steering wheel. This all costed me around $920 CAD. It's expensive, but I get a lot of perks in the long run.

If you don't care how worn out the steering wheel may be, buy it used for a lot less. I've seen some for as low as $450 CAD. If you're based in the US, it should be around $350?

In case you're curious on more information about removing the steering wheel, and potentially being exposed to the internal wiring. I highly recommend giving this short video a watch.

 

[Dan Topp]

Very nice if I do anything interior it will be a replacement for the cloth seat , and a place for my wife’s ponytail plus I couldn’t bend the headrests like “you tubers” did.

 

[HydroTopzz]

Very nice if I do anything interior it will be a replacement for the cloth seat , and a place for my wife’s ponytail plus I couldn’t bend the headrests like “you tubers” did.

Definitely, I can confidently say the ride quality with higher trim level seats is night and day. The cloth and leather seat cushioning is very comfy. I'm sure the full leather seats are a great option as well.
I would definitely prioritize swapping the seats if I had to pick a mod to put at the top of my list. Everything else is trivial!