BeauDuke's "I'm not going to mod it" project.

[BeauDuke01]

It all started out as a low buck "I'm not going to mod it" daily driver...


we all know that doesnt last. First of all the factory stereo had to go, in its place is an Alpine deck, with pineer speakers, and a 1500 watt Boss amp, with two Orion 10's under the back seat.

then, i hater the faded plastic on the front bumper. It sagged and looked like an old man truck, so a buddy of mine, who is a Dodge dealership mechanic, gave me a take off front bumper from a 2013 Dodge Ram 3500. so i built new bumper mounts and got that sucker on.



i also added a painted sport grill to fill in the new gap created by the 4th gen front bumper.

after that, the stock 16" wheels and tires just looked tiny, so off to Craigslist to find me a set of 08 Ram 20" wheels.

after that, it got a pretty nice booboo one morning in a meeting with a light pole, thanks to icy roads.

so new bumper, new grill. and this time i went a little different.







I drove it like that for a couple years, and decided it needed more low. However, since the 01 is a ******* year for Ram's i had to piece and part, and get inventive to bring it back down to earth. Since out city has horribly maintained roads, i cant lay frame, what a coincidence, i also dont have that kind of money. so i went with a simple 2-4 drop.

i also added a 30" light bar to the front grill opening, and have 4 4x4 led pods to add to the fog light holes, but havent got that one finished up just yet.

i went with Western Chassis 2" drop springs out front, and 2" drop shackles out back, and flipping the front leaf spring hangers over, giving me the other 2" of rear drop. As well as a new set of nitro drop shocks to keep me from bouncing around.

i had to chop a couple inches out of the rear bump stops, because i kept bottoming out as well. sawsall to the rescue.

Ive had it dropped about a month, and decided to color match my tailights, and up next, i will be ordering a roll pan, and taking care of some dents in the bed corner.







that gets me current with the Ram, up next i will be looking for a floor console out of a 2013-2015 dodge Ram to integrate into the interior. and a sport headlight conversion out front, with an upgraded wiring harness, because the lights on these trucks are a couple steps above candles.

 

[blk05hemi]

I like!

 

[Loaded]

That is fantastic! Love to see life in an older vehicle.

 

[BeauDuke01]

well, yesterday, i broke out the hammer and dolly and got the largest part of the squished bed corner back into place. i shot some paint on it to hold off rust and make it shiny till i can pick up a DA sander and add a little filler, and make it smooth and perfect.

 

[BeauDuke01]

some of the filler primer bled through my tape, so i have a tiny grey line between new paint and old. but that will all be fixed eventually.

 

[N1ck]

Those '08 Ram wheels look awesome on there

 

[BeauDuke01]

i think i got the shape back pretty well. but its still to cool to do to much filler and paint work. so later this summer, i'll knock it all back down. but, for the first time holding a dolly, im pretty happy with the results.

 

[BeauDuke01]

Those '08 Ram wheels look awesome on there

thank you sir. its all come together how i pictured it pretty well.

 

[BeauDuke01]

got out this morning and finally got my led pods installed in the fog light holes. those things are a bit of a ***** to hold and mark with no room around em.

also, i pulled the overhead console down, and drilled a big honkin hole in it, so i can mount my switch. all in all, i think it came out lookin pretty damned decent.

 

[BeauDuke01]

its a little dirty from me man handling it to get the hole punched in it. but while i was at it, i ran a bolt through the top lip of the console base, so the damned sunglass holder would have something to bite onto, and stop flopping around.

 

[derekp]

Looks sweet! I love the pods in the fog lights. Love the light bar too. I have one and they are like a slice of daylight at night. Lol

 

[BeauDuke01]

gotta do anything you can, cause 2nd gen headlights suuuuuuck.

 

[dodge dude94]

What pods did you get and how are they at night?

 

[BeauDuke01]

not sure what brand, they where a gift. but as far as night time brightness, my brother has the same 4x4 pods on his rock crawler, and the will light up the freakin sky.

 

[BeauDuke01]

finally got around to getting some wire ran, and pictures taken, first is stock 2nd gen quality sock headlights.

next, is 4 4x4 pods, and a 30" lightbar.

amazing how ****** the light output on our stockers are.

 

[BeauDuke01]

finally got my roll pan in and installed, also i switched back to cooper 285/50/20's, the michelin 305's rubbed the fenders to damned much. also, the michelins rode like ****,

 

[txcobowhunter]

Looks awesome!

 

[BeauDuke01]

thank you sir! its a labor of love.