2007 5.9 Mega Cab Build AKA: THE GIANT PANDA update with KING SHOCKS all around!

[madakira]

After these go on, I am working on lighting. I am not sure what type of lighting I want on the bed rack. I am running two Baja Designs Squadron Pro spots, and two combos up front, but I would like something less costly for the rack. I would like to place four lights on the rack. Two on the left, and two on the right. Just lighting I would use to set up camp if I arrived after dark.

 

[Inline6]

that's some serious shocking power there

awesome!!!!!!

 

[EMS WJ 2000]

Been following your build on DTX, great build and cannot wait to see it done.

How do you like the Synergy Heavy Duty Steering set up and have you had any problems with it?

Also what is your take on the Thuren alien arms compared to their control arms?

 

[madakira]

Been following your build on DTX, great build and cannot wait to see it done.

How do you like the Synergy Heavy Duty Steering set up and have you had any problems with it?

Also what is your take on the Thuren alien arms compared to their control arms?

I really like the Synergy set up. I know they tweaked a few things on it early last year, and so far their design has been great. It is a little difficult to tell how much improvement it made because I basically replaced the entire front end at once. U-Joints, Ball Joints, thuren track bar, carli stabilizer, synergy steering, steering box stabilizer, mopar big box, and borgeson steering shaft. So my truck went from driving really ************, to amazing the next day.

I really like the alien long arms because my truck is running 6" of lift. I have run his regular control arms on my previous truck. It was a 2004.5 dodge ram 2500 running Thuren kings with stage 6 valving. When running them with a regular 3" of lift, they were more than enough. I was running 37"s and would push the truck pretty hard. Lots of high speed desert runs, and plenty of jumps. If I had a quad cab, I would have stuck with his regular control arms, and a 3" lift, but since I have a megacab, I felt the 6" lift looked better. So since I was going 6", I felt that the Alien arms were the best choice. I almost went with the Carli 6" radius arms, but I liked the true 4 link set up of the alien arms. His regular control arms are awesome, and will handle everything you can throw at them. If you have the cash for the alien arms, get them. It never hurts to have a smoother ride.

 

[EMS WJ 2000]

Thank you for the info.

I am looking at going from his 1st gen control arms to his alien arms with my Carli 3 inch coils. I am also looking at getting Thruen long travel leafs as well since I am already running his LT shackles on my Carli leafs. Also wanting to do the synergy steering and the mopar big box and borgeson steering shaft. I am running Fiberwerx fiberglass fenders and bedsides on my mega cab with 37x13.5x17 Cooper STT Pros.

 

[madakira]

 

[madakira]

Shocks are looking pretty big in the springs. I am trying out some cleaner looking resi mounts that attach to the backside of the resi and are not visible from the front.

 

[madakira]

Shocks mounted. Went with the extended and finned race resi for a little more cooling. My old ones on my 2.5's used to get a little hot after long desert runs

 

[madakira]

 

[madakira]

Got some nice resi mounts from Kartek

Kind of sucks that they were like $45 each, but it was worth it for the clean floating look I was going for.

 

[madakira]

Don Thuren provides top tier parts. Very good build quality. These are the towers for the front shocks. The existing tower had to be removed, and the hole drilled bigger to fit the 4" shock. I would highly suggest Thuren for any off road application you have, as he can customize anything; from a simple overland build, to a high speed desert build.

 

[madakira]

Rear shocks cam out nice as well. They are actually Kings 3.0 quadruple bypass Raptor shocks using Thuren's stage 6 valving. Great combo. They are two left shocks.

 

[bknudtsen]

Looks cool! BTW, have you watched the video series that Gale Banks is doing on aftermarket diff covers? Very enlightening.

Here’s a link to one of them.

 

[madakira]

 

[polishammer]

Nice build and some impressive hardware. Those shocks look massive!!! I did not know "higher speeds" and "overlanding" could be used in the same sentence.