New, slow build. Do all 2015 Ram Cummins turbo diesel. 37s and 550hp.

[Trophycummins]

Hello everybody,

I'm new to the forum, my interest in the outdoors has pushed this vehicle build towards an overland type. Background: I'm 25 years old and work as a mechanical engineer/CNC programmer/fabricator in a custom car shop. I've been building cars since high school and this truck is the 19th I've owned.

All the work, from mounting tires, to CNC design, to custom fab is done by myself. And all welds are TIG unless stated otherwise.

The truck:
2015 ram 2500 ccsb Cummins 4x4 tradesman
Purchased new on July 18, 2015.

The day after purchasing, I explored all over big bear lake, ca on any trail the truck would fit on and the stock tires would get traction.

(More coming with pics)

 

[Trophycummins]

I didn't know what direction this truck was going, but I knew I wanted to build a truck that wouldn't leave me desiring for more.

I couldn't stand the stock stance. My buddy dom is owner of the "killawhale " Cummins and hooked me up with Thuren fabrication for a leveling kit. He didn't have any track bars in stock so I went with a carli.




I explored a ton of the mojave desert with this setup and it worked great. My close friend Phil lived near Death Valley and I spent a decent amount of time there.

This picture was taken just outside of trona, ca.





This picture on a lookout above panament valley. Circa September 2015.



I grew tired of the towing tires, my trailer with my rock crawler on it is only about 9k, so I wanted to upsize. I went to 37x13.50r17 Toyo mt's.

Test fitting the method wheels


Mounted up all the wheels, our hunter balancer did not like how heavy these things were.





Took out the front springs and cycled the suspension to full stuff, steering to full lock, plasma cut everywhere it rubbed, and threw it back together.







Come December 2015 I took another trip to the mojave to see Phil. We went shooting out on blm land, I learned a lot about the capabilities of my truck on this trip. I also fabricated mounts for two 5gal fuel dump cans, two general grabbers were mounted in the bed as spares.



Continued in next post...



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[Trophycummins]

Woot! Got my pictures working.

From there, I decided I needed more light. So I waterjet some brackets, rolled some tubing, and built a light bar, also built some real recovery points while I was at it. Truck Got two rigid industries Q2 hyperspots, and a 20" rigid e2 combo.





Fast forward to about march of this year, I decided I wanted the truck to be faster. Truck got a fleece performance cheetah turbo, draconian diesel efilive tune, and a 4" straight pipe. Truck ended up dynoing in at 537hp and 1072 tq on a dynojet.




From here, I'm just about current. Work on the diesel slightly slowed down as I've decided to rebuild my 4runner.

Here's a winch mount I built for the 4runner last weekend. Designed and stress tested in solidworks, exploded into flat plate, exported to waterjet and TIG welded.






Future plans:

DIY bed slide
Overland type rack
Smittybilt RTT (I get them dirt cheap through work)
Viair Onboard air( already have the compressor and tanks, just need odds and ends)
road shower.

All of this needs to be done before my trip to moab in september.

 

[jmoney]

did you stick with the stock 3.42 gears or upgrade to 4.10s when you went to 37s?

 

[uscg2008]

Those last pics didn't work for me. But that's a good looking truck bud!

 

[jerstw]

Ditto what uscg2008 said. Image links not working for me either but LOVE the heavy duty Tradesmen builds and always a fan of anything rolling on Method's.

 

[Trophycummins]

did you stick with the stock 3.42 gears or upgrade to 4.10s when you went to 37s?

I still have stock gears, its bearable with how much power my truck makes but it kind of sucked when it was stock power.

Those last pics didn't work for me. But that's a good looking truck bud!

Thanks! I tried fixing the pics, let me know if theyre working now.

Ditto what uscg2008 said. Image links not working for me either but LOVE the heavy duty Tradesmen builds and always a fan of anything rolling on Method's.

Thanks, I really wanted trailready beadlocks, but unfortunately it wasnt in the budget at the time.

 

[redthies]

Pics are working for me. I'm running Thuren coils and Bilsteins. It is a fantastic ride. What trans did you get? I thought of running 37s on mine, but I work in the mountains and carry a 3500 lb camper so I think I'll stick with 35s for now. Did you end up trimming a bunch or just a bit?

 

[chilliwak]

Indeed a cool looking truck! Just just need to be Linda Blair from the exerocist to turn your head around at a crazy angle to see the pics. Always a problem when you upload from a smart phone....:Wow1:

 

[Trophycummins]

One thing I forgot to cover in my build was sliders. Around January I built some sliders for the truck, they arent true sliders as they arent welded to the frame, but im confident they will protect the rocker until I try to put the body weight of the truck onto them.

1.75" DOM x .120 wall, 1/8" waterjetted top sheet, black wrinkle powdercoat.




Today I decided to get my air situation taken care of as I plan to run out to the mojave this weekend.

Got a 10lbs alum c02 bottle from airgas, ran a regulator to it that was laying around the shop, added a hose coupler, just need a coiled hose and chuck.




Total cost:
10lbs bottle from airgas $62.10(with a 2.5lbs trade in i had)
regulator with broken high pres gauge(which i dont need since CO2 is constant till empty). $free.
Quick connect chuck: $1.50
Coiled hose and chuck from viair $18.25

Total $81.85 in order to have an air supply. Not bad

Pics are working for me. I'm running Thuren coils and Bilsteins. It is a fantastic ride. What trans did you get? I thought of running 37s on mine, but I work in the mountains and carry a 3500 lb camper so I think I'll stick with 35s for now. Did you end up trimming a bunch or just a bit?

I have a 68rfe, I wanted a 6 speed, but couldnt find a 4x4 6 speed at the time i was ready to buy. Its not a ton of trimming, I think it was worth it.

Indeed a cool looking truck! Just just need to be Linda Blair from the exerocist to turn your head around at a crazy angle to see the pics. Always a problem when you upload from a smart phone....:Wow1:

Sorry about that, trying to fix em

 

[herecomestony]

Your truck's looking great!

 

[redthies]

Sorry about that, trying to fix em

You don't have to apologize to Chili. His head DOES swivel 360* so he can check out all the girls at the festivals he attends every year!

 

[thethePete]

Hope you guys tuned the trans when you did the engine, they don't call the 68RFE the Really F&kn Expensive for nothing. They're kinda glass, but I've heard from multiple people that the stock trans will hold about 550hp with good programming and a BD PressureLoc. (BD makes great stuff) They hold power better than the Aisin in my experience though.

Cool truck.

 

[Trophycummins]

Hope you guys tuned the trans when you did the engine, they don't call the 68RFE the Really F&kn Expensive for nothing. They're kinda glass, but I've heard from multiple people that the stock trans will hold about 550hp with good programming and a BD PressureLoc. (BD makes great stuff) They hold power better than the Aisin in my experience though.

Cool truck.

My trans is indeed tuned. I also have a sun coast converter. I'll order a sun coast trans once I blow up this one.

I built a mount for my co2 bottle and another for my fuel jugs today. Pics tomorrow once I get to my desktop at work.


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[thethePete]

Solid. Suncoast makes good stuff, I steer my customers towards BD because they're local, but I've heard nothing but good things about Suncoast. Hope you did the flex plate at the same time! I'm a Ford guy, but I've had a few customers with Rams that make me really look hard at them.