Hodges 2016 Bilstein Build

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ram1500rsm

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Yea I need to look at my potential replacement first and see if it's a viable option and than shop around if I decide to move forward with it. I owe 15k and i should get anywhere from payoff to 18k from what I'm seeing. But who knows. Everything is or sale for the right price. Thing is I really do like the truck, but this engine has me super leery at its longevity and it's a 10k+ replacement if it pops. It's frustrating too cuz there's no easy answer and honestly if it had a hemi, i would have no issue keeping it. New diesels suck. I also have none of the OEM stuff so truck would have to go as it sits....which makes it even harder to consider.

As for the bumps it didn't seem like they added extra anything beyond the cans on the truck autoedits has. What extra did they need to do?
Front struts for $158

Used Mevocrap UCA's are $40 from Amazon, i think i've seen their TTchit for $60 but because it's for the dealer i'll givem the cheap of the cheap.

You could also source some steelies with the crapallyear tires for cheap.

I'm telling you cause i've done the same before and that's money you can recover from parts the dealer will make for you, if you don't have a rush honestly take as much as you can out of the truck and replace those with what you can. You won't be able to trade in this weekend but whatever you think they will give you this weekend will be the same money in 2 weeks, and you'll be able to have cash in your hands to cover mods on the 2nd vehicle :)

I traded my old Jeep JKU with over $20k in mods lol, worst the only thing bad with it was a plugged heater core so it didn't have heat. everything else was in complete working order, zero leaks.
i would never recover from that mentally or financially,

As for the the Autoedit truck, i think the job was done by Edlebrock they had the generic can mounts and gas cans and they did front and rear. Later the Jason dude remove the edelbrock struts and shocks and got the Icon suspension in place. i think he removed the rear cans but left the fronts in place.
 
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hodge-xj

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Front struts for $158

Used Mevocrap UCA's are $40 from Amazon, i think i've seen their TTchit for $60 but because it's for the dealer i'll givem the cheap of the cheap.

You could also source some steelies with the crapallyear tires for cheap.

I'm telling you cause i've done the same before and that's money you can recover from parts the dealer will make for you, if you don't have a rush honestly take as much as you can out of the truck and replace those with what you can. You won't be able to trade in this weekend but whatever you think they will give you this weekend will be the same money in 2 weeks, and you'll be able to have cash in your hands to cover mods on the 2nd vehicle :)

I traded my old Jeep JKU with over $20k in mods lol, worst the only thing bad with it was a plugged heater core so it didn't have heat. everything else was in complete working order, zero leaks.
i would never recover from that mentally or financially,

As for the the Autoedit truck, i think the job was done by Edlebrock they had the generic can mounts and gas cans and they did front and rear. Later the Jason dude remove the edelbrock struts and shocks and got the Icon suspension in place. i think he removed the rear cans but left the fronts in place.
Well the wife is full on against me ditching the truck. We all know how that goes, she gives me zero grief when it comes to what I do so when she actually chimes in I listen. I swear she likes the truck and jeep more than I do but won't ever admit it. Again, I love my truck, it was more of a financial move vs looking for something new and exciting. So I guess it stays. Thanks for the input on parts, I legit had everything picked out for the swap too. I am still mentally not over selling my Cummins so i would likely be just as grumpy without the 1500 as well. Guess it's time to turbo pay it off and get to the fun stuff!

As for the bumps, I dug back and was looking for what info was floating around. The articles being from 2009 don't help. The fact they used generic cans and just set them up to bang the LCA still raises my eyebrow, but if there was truly an issue you think it would have reared its head by now. I may message that dude in IG and ask him about them. I have no issues guinea pigging it once the trucks paid for. Hell once I get that title it's getting dirt king' d and I'm going to raptor events here at Rausch Creek.
 
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hodge-xj

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Boring rainy day. Just spent a little bit fine tuning some stuff on this thing. Need a hobby other than vehicles and guns according to the wife, so I tossed this together. Gonna try and hit a race or 2 this season once I get the bike dialed a bit more. Lets see how rusty I am, used to race pro/open as a late teen early 20s so about 10yrs since I tried to go fast. Now im in the elders category.....lmaooo
 

ram1500rsm

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Well the wife is full on against me ditching the truck. We all know how that goes, she gives me zero grief when it comes to what I do so when she actually chimes in I listen. I swear she likes the truck and jeep more than I do but won't ever admit it. Again, I love my truck, it was more of a financial move vs looking for something new and exciting. So I guess it stays. Thanks for the input on parts, I legit had everything picked out for the swap too. I am still mentally not over selling my Cummins so i would likely be just as grumpy without the 1500 as well. Guess it's time to turbo pay it off and get to the fun stuff!

As for the bumps, I dug back and was looking for what info was floating around. The articles being from 2009 don't help. The fact they used generic cans and just set them up to bang the LCA still raises my eyebrow, but if there was truly an issue you think it would have reared its head by now. I may message that dude in IG and ask him about them. I have no issues guinea pigging it once the trucks paid for. Hell once I get that title it's getting dirt king' d and I'm going to raptor events here at Rausch Creek.
You can see more here in post#354, #355 and #357
 
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hodge-xj

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You can see more here in post#354, #355 and #357
I replied in the other thread but I'll continue on here instead if hijacking that thread since the OP hasn't chimed in. I'll be honest, I'm gonna do this. Idk when, but it will happen. I'm gonna message Autoedits after I post this actually. Still have no idea how I missed this post of yours!

So long as the cans are mounted and they bottom out with the shocks I don't see them point loading the LCA enough to break them. Obviously this takes into account proper measuring and placement, because you will surely *** up your LCA quickly if the geometry is wrong. I'm set on getting the DK front setup so this is a good bit away from being a thing but I 100% think it's a feasible setup.

My biggest concern is still a belly skid and I'm going to look into making something. I honestly think a tube style similar to stock 3rd gen power wagon skids would be a viable option and easy enough to fab. Wouldn't heat soak the trans, won't trap debris and would protect it from direct impacts, technically you can still sneak something between but it'll be better than zero protection and I'm not crawling this thing.
 
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hodge-xj

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Cheerio boys. I'm still here creeping. Just not as frequent. Haven't done squat to the truck. Painted the frame and entire underside with some rustoleum and haven't touched it. It's been working perfect since I finally got all the front end rebuild sorted out. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Also been laid off since April and am finally getting back to work Monday so I reeled back on spending unnecessarily. Nice part is I've only put like 5-10k miles on it this year so it was a welcomed break. We'll see if 2022 is nicer to me, I'm itching to get this thing paid off and play with it more.
 
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hodge-xj

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Was laid off from April to November so truck went untouched. Popped a cv tonight in 2wd. Backed out of the driveway after unloading 2 deer into the garage, pulled a k turn in the road and bang. Less than 7500 on the front end stuff since I did the rebuild. Swapping both tomorrow back to advanced auto premiums. Can't trust the other to survive, I've yet to even run in 4wd this winter.
 
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hodge-xj

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Notes for me...160k set of advanced auto CVs

Still have to track down where I ordered the CVs I just replaced. The shaft pulled out of the internal splines inside the CV joint, almost as if it was too short. Odd since I was on a flat road doing a K-turn. Otherwise got them both swapped in about 2 hours......im getting too good at this nonsense. Oy.
 

ram1500rsm

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Seems most aftermarket CV's if not all of them do suck balls :). I've seen this before with the Toyota Taco ones. Nothing can touch the Yota stockers and given your experiences and others i've seen with the aftermarket CV's on our RAM trucks failing after couple of thousand miles it makes me believe the factory ones are the ones to get
I did a search on the Mopar ones i guess it's the same part# for both ?
 
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hodge-xj

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Seems most aftermarket CV's if not all of them do suck balls :). I've seen this before with the Toyota Taco ones. Nothing can touch the Yota stockers and given your experiences and others i've seen with the aftermarket CV's on our RAM trucks failing after couple of thousand miles it makes me believe the factory ones are the ones to get
I did a search on the Mopar ones i guess it's the same part# for both ?
dude, they suck big time. I was in a pinch so I went with advanced auto ones and ill run them till these boots split again. I'm going to plan my next swap accordingly and have mopars on hand for sure. Same PN both sides which is nice.

Nice little plus side was the seals on the front dif kit I installed kept these looking brand new inside so that's a big win in my book! AT least these will get me through winter so I won't mind dealing with this vs sitting outside in single digits.

Edit* do you remember which flares you went with? Mine warped during storage over the summer and im looking to add another set of Oem looking without OEM cost
 

ram1500rsm

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dude, they suck big time. I was in a pinch so I went with advanced auto ones and ill run them till these boots split again. I'm going to plan my next swap accordingly and have mopars on hand for sure. Same PN both sides which is nice.

Nice little plus side was the seals on the front dif kit I installed kept these looking brand new inside so that's a big win in my book! AT least these will get me through winter so I won't mind dealing with this vs sitting outside in single digits.

Edit* do you remember which flares you went with? Mine warped during storage over the summer and im looking to add another set of Oem looking without OEM cost
Yep, they were the cheap ones from AmericanTrucks

Good to know the part number on the Mopar CV axels are the same. They're a little pricey but man they last.
 
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hodge-xj

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Yep, they were the cheap ones from AmericanTrucks

Good to know the part number on the Mopar CV axels are the same. They're a little pricey but man they last.
Yea I had to debate this with the parts store kid for a little, but they are in fact the same.

Thanks for the link I'm gonna order me up a set tonight
 
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hodge-xj

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Guess ill update this a little.

173k on the truck. Haven't done too much. Waiting for my scheduled alignment since the trucks been getting hammered on the job sites pretty good and was wearing the tires funky. Normal maintenance and corrosion prevention is all I've done. Otherwise its been working perfect. Got a new set of flares coming. I went with tyger pocket style to hopefully help fend off the junk a bit better ($160) so they fit the budget. I prefer no flares but I have just enough tire poke it makes a big mess quick on muddy job sites. Otherwise im leaving it alone until it's paid off....which is soon...so long as work gets busy again. Looking at adding a 2500 floor console for some extra storage since there's a bunch of dead space with the front bench. My buddy blew his 1500 up and we just got him a '22 Cummins so im getting some extras we can nab off his bighorn before he gets rid of it.

I still have intentions on getting a decked drawer setup and softtopper as well as some other things but discretionary funds are nil so for now we just make it work and watch FB market for potential deals.

Got side swiped a few weeks back. Somehow I avoided a potentially catastrophic highway pileup and cane away with ZERO damage. Guy decided to share lanes with me at 80mph. Caught glimpse last second in my side mirror and was able to create enough gap to thread the needle between him and a concrete divider.

Uhhhhh, that's it pretty much. Been riding my bike and jeep around trying to keep busy. Boring I know but if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 

ram1500rsm

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Hopefully something easy to buff out. it doesn't look like it went deep in the paint but just a pain exchange ?
 
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hodge-xj

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Dude that sucks....

Hopefully something easy to buff out. it doesn't look like it went deep in the paint but just a pain exchange ?

Some how by a miracle it didn't dent the door. I'm astonished as it sounded like a grenade went off in the cab when he hit me. It wasn't paint transfer as I had initially thought, it was the actual melted plastic from the mirror. Brake clean took it right off. One perk of this thing being a work truck is i don't care much for the paint, interior staying nice and no dents is really all I care for at this point. It could have been way worse so for that I'm super fortunate.
 
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hodge-xj

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Also, I tried the Tyger Auto "pocket" flares as I am getting tired of flinging clumps of mud all over at work. Needless to say, they didn't even come close to fitting. So that's to be continued.
 
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hodge-xj

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Man, im really slacking on updates recently!

To start. The truck has not been touched. The black mark from the accident came off with brake clean, otherwise I have done anything but drive it and install led headlight bulbs a buddy gave me. Once I get this all the way paid off I have a few things i want to do but currently the truck fills my needs perfectly. At some point I need to get CVs again, the boots seem to die on these advanced auto units yearly. I have yet another puking grease randomly. Otherwise, the truck is just reliable. I have a laundry list of wants, but aside from a better toolbox setup I need nothing.

Since my last post I got married, have a HodgeJR on the way, works been slow and life hectic so in all the truck won't see much outside of work duty till I get caught up with life's expenses lol. Can't complain at all, just nothing exciting relating to the truck.

Hope everyone is doing well!
 

danielmid

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Man, im really slacking on updates recently!

To start. The truck has not been touched. The black mark from the accident came off with brake clean, otherwise I have done anything but drive it and install led headlight bulbs a buddy gave me. Once I get this all the way paid off I have a few things i want to do but currently the truck fills my needs perfectly. At some point I need to get CVs again, the boots seem to die on these advanced auto units yearly. I have yet another puking grease randomly. Otherwise, the truck is just reliable. I have a laundry list of wants, but aside from a better toolbox setup I need nothing.

Since my last post I got married, have a HodgeJR on the way, works been slow and life hectic so in all the truck won't see much outside of work duty till I get caught up with life's expenses lol. Can't complain at all, just nothing exciting relating to the truck.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Congrats man!
 
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