2020 Ram 5500 DIY Composite Panel Camper Build Thread
- Thread starter RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
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RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
ADS just called me and the rear shocks ship out tomorrow, just in time for upcoming Death Valley trip!
???
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RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Glad to hear!
Yeah, they made a set for my Tundra and they totally transformed the truck.
Right now i Only have my ADS on the front and just that was night and day improvement
Customer for life here
I’m kind of glad they arent super popular like King or Fox so their design turnaround time is reasonable and attention to detail is still 100% as they’re focusing on quality vs production #s
I pay full price, no discount, and can honestly say, they have some of the best customer service around.
The amount of emails me and Tyler sent back and forth to the design mine for the rear was nuts.
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StenchRV
Well-known member
Good to hear! I know what I will be getting in the spring before the big trip West!
CHEERS!!
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Christmas Came Early! Woot!
Glitch: The eyelets for the shocks are the wrong diameter, and going through my notes, that error is on me, i had them flip flopped...
ADS is next day airring a set of the right eyelets to me now, and should be good to go for Death Valley!
Take a close look... See anything different with these?
Glitch: The eyelets for the shocks are the wrong diameter, and going through my notes, that error is on me, i had them flip flopped...
ADS is next day airring a set of the right eyelets to me now, and should be good to go for Death Valley!
Take a close look... See anything different with these?
StenchRV
Well-known member
Christmas Came Early! Woot!
Glitch: The eyelets for the shocks are the wrong diameter, and going through my notes, that error is on me, i had them flip flopped...
ADS is next day airring a set of the right eyelets to me now, and should be good to go for Death Valley!
Take a close look... See anything different with these?
View attachment 757304
I will be on the look out where you mount the shock reservoir. I assume the reservoir exit post at mid shock is to aid in the mounting process ? It would be a pain to have it at the top with our frame set up, you could never get to the darn thing to adjust it.
Keep it up! You are making this easy on me...
? CHEERS!!
Craig
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
I will be on the look out where you mount the shock reservoir. I assume the reservoir exit post at mid shock is to aid in the mounting process ? It would be a pain to have it at the top with our frame set up, you could never get to the darn thing to adjust it.
Keep it up! You are making this easy on me...
CHEERS!!
Craig
Yes sir, exactly correct!
This is to get the adjuster/resi outside of the frame rail and super easy to adjust, without getting under truck.
If all goes to plan, it should be done saturday before i leave for the trip.
Lets hope the eyelet spacers they send me are the right ones! Fingers crossed
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Well, got the shocks mounted yesterday.
I totally boogered up the hose dimensions, and resi orientation, so they are temp (but secure) mounted for this trip, and i will redo the shocks, hoses, and mounting when i get back from a week in Death Valley.
I didnt take into account how stiff and thick the hose for the resi's was.
This is a MUCH needed trip off the grid, and will post a report on how the shocks work when i get back.
Have a Merry Christmas
I totally boogered up the hose dimensions, and resi orientation, so they are temp (but secure) mounted for this trip, and i will redo the shocks, hoses, and mounting when i get back from a week in Death Valley.
I didnt take into account how stiff and thick the hose for the resi's was.
This is a MUCH needed trip off the grid, and will post a report on how the shocks work when i get back.
Have a Merry Christmas
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Sooo. Just got back from a week in Death Valley..
Family trip, Bro in law, and 5 nieces staying at Panamint Springs Campground as a basecamp, and venturing out each day.
First excursion was to Saline Valley Hot Springs. Anyone thats done this, knows, its a 45 mile dirt road of suck, and its not a good time...
The Good:
The truck rode beautifully, actually better than my Tundra, on the horrendous washboard.
It was pleasant and enjoyable to drive. SUPEEEER Happy with the shocks, and they nailed the valving!!! Perfect weather, minimal people, great time with the fam.
The Bad:
About 30 miles in, heard a loud thunk, and front tire was rubbing the fender, oh oh. Pull over, get out to look, oil all over inner fender well, axle sitting on bumpstops.
Further inspection, the HD Sway Bar links i put on... I remember looking at them when i was installing them, and thinking it was an odd design, and there was nothing preventing them from inverting backwards, but they were super stout, so i continued with the install, and they seemed fine.
Well... Not a clue in the world how, but longggg story short, they did invert, and the bracket on them for the heim went right into the airbag and sliced it wide open.
Not a huge deal, have spare bags, tools, etc.. Its USUALLY a straight forward, easy job.
Disconnected front shock, and had bag assembly and front Kelderman bracket holding it off the truck in about 5 minutes.
Then came the suck...
The bags are held onto the bracket with a longggg threaded stud, and the nut holding them in place is tricky to access, to say the least..
I cant remember exactly how i installed in the first place, but a crows foot is needed. But i dont own any, so there is that...
Anyway, with the bag assembly out, bro in law and i spent 20 minutes or so trying to get the dang nut off, nothing would fit into the bracket to access it.
I carry a silly amount of tools with me, and nothing i had would work.
Since the bag was already toast, he suggested breaking the bell that the bag rides on, and trying to access the other end of the stud that way. Had nothing to lose so out came the hand sledge.
After a few minutes of going to town on the thing and bashing it into little pieces, we were able to get a large set of channel locks around the outside of it, and just manhandled it apart.
Got the new assembly back together, and tightened said nut, by one of us jamming a prybar against it, and one of us rotating the bag.
Went fairly smooth, got bag assembly back on easily, and then aired it all up, and were good to go.
Removed other sway bar link, rotated sway bar up against the frame, and zip tied it in place, turned around and went back to camp.
All in all, it was a little less than an hour for the trailside repair. If i had the crows foot, the entire thing would of taken me about 20 minutes.
Got back to camp, had dinner, gave truck a little look over, all seemed well...
Next day, we went to Cerro Gordo. Which, if you have been is a tight steep road up. Truck made it up and down, no issues, kids loved it, etc...
Got back to camp a little earlier, so got under the truck for a more in depth inspection...
Top bolt holding the rear shock was gone, and the rear shock was wedged between the exhaust and the frame, rubbing the entire time, and looks like someone went at it with a dremel..
Ok, remove rear shock, inspect, looked fine other than gnarly scratches on the body, wrapped it up and stuffed it in storage box.
Now: No swaybar, one front shock, and one rear shock on a 17k lb truck. Good times! Hahahaha
Stuck to pavement rest of the trip and showed the kids the more accessible touristy stuff and they enjoyed it.
Lesson Learned: BRING A DAMN CROWS FOOT, and always carry spares! Listen up @StenchRV and @Brad_UT
Note: Time was of the essence for the trailside repair, as we were on the outside of a curve on a narrow road, so no video or photos were taking during the repair. Video will be up later documenting the carnage.
Note2: Another reason the Kelderman is superior to the Liquid Spring in my opinion, not a chance in hell you'd be repairing a hydraulic line trailside in this situation.
Note3: Having been going to Cerro Gordo for 15+ years, it made me sad the new owners approach to "Restoring" it, and there was weird non period correct stuff all over the place, and his tour was basically unlocking a few buildings and then leaving. Bummer
Positive spin, both rear shocks had to come off anyways to get sent back to ADS for the hose replacement with 90deg fittings for fitment.
Here is a sneak peak:
Family trip, Bro in law, and 5 nieces staying at Panamint Springs Campground as a basecamp, and venturing out each day.
First excursion was to Saline Valley Hot Springs. Anyone thats done this, knows, its a 45 mile dirt road of suck, and its not a good time...
The Good:
The truck rode beautifully, actually better than my Tundra, on the horrendous washboard.
It was pleasant and enjoyable to drive. SUPEEEER Happy with the shocks, and they nailed the valving!!! Perfect weather, minimal people, great time with the fam.
The Bad:
About 30 miles in, heard a loud thunk, and front tire was rubbing the fender, oh oh. Pull over, get out to look, oil all over inner fender well, axle sitting on bumpstops.
Further inspection, the HD Sway Bar links i put on... I remember looking at them when i was installing them, and thinking it was an odd design, and there was nothing preventing them from inverting backwards, but they were super stout, so i continued with the install, and they seemed fine.
Well... Not a clue in the world how, but longggg story short, they did invert, and the bracket on them for the heim went right into the airbag and sliced it wide open.
Not a huge deal, have spare bags, tools, etc.. Its USUALLY a straight forward, easy job.
Disconnected front shock, and had bag assembly and front Kelderman bracket holding it off the truck in about 5 minutes.
Then came the suck...
The bags are held onto the bracket with a longggg threaded stud, and the nut holding them in place is tricky to access, to say the least..
I cant remember exactly how i installed in the first place, but a crows foot is needed. But i dont own any, so there is that...
Anyway, with the bag assembly out, bro in law and i spent 20 minutes or so trying to get the dang nut off, nothing would fit into the bracket to access it.
I carry a silly amount of tools with me, and nothing i had would work.
Since the bag was already toast, he suggested breaking the bell that the bag rides on, and trying to access the other end of the stud that way. Had nothing to lose so out came the hand sledge.
After a few minutes of going to town on the thing and bashing it into little pieces, we were able to get a large set of channel locks around the outside of it, and just manhandled it apart.
Got the new assembly back together, and tightened said nut, by one of us jamming a prybar against it, and one of us rotating the bag.
Went fairly smooth, got bag assembly back on easily, and then aired it all up, and were good to go.
Removed other sway bar link, rotated sway bar up against the frame, and zip tied it in place, turned around and went back to camp.
All in all, it was a little less than an hour for the trailside repair. If i had the crows foot, the entire thing would of taken me about 20 minutes.
Got back to camp, had dinner, gave truck a little look over, all seemed well...
Next day, we went to Cerro Gordo. Which, if you have been is a tight steep road up. Truck made it up and down, no issues, kids loved it, etc...
Got back to camp a little earlier, so got under the truck for a more in depth inspection...
Top bolt holding the rear shock was gone, and the rear shock was wedged between the exhaust and the frame, rubbing the entire time, and looks like someone went at it with a dremel..
Ok, remove rear shock, inspect, looked fine other than gnarly scratches on the body, wrapped it up and stuffed it in storage box.
Now: No swaybar, one front shock, and one rear shock on a 17k lb truck. Good times! Hahahaha
Stuck to pavement rest of the trip and showed the kids the more accessible touristy stuff and they enjoyed it.
Lesson Learned: BRING A DAMN CROWS FOOT, and always carry spares! Listen up @StenchRV and @Brad_UT
Note: Time was of the essence for the trailside repair, as we were on the outside of a curve on a narrow road, so no video or photos were taking during the repair. Video will be up later documenting the carnage.
Note2: Another reason the Kelderman is superior to the Liquid Spring in my opinion, not a chance in hell you'd be repairing a hydraulic line trailside in this situation.
Note3: Having been going to Cerro Gordo for 15+ years, it made me sad the new owners approach to "Restoring" it, and there was weird non period correct stuff all over the place, and his tour was basically unlocking a few buildings and then leaving. Bummer
Positive spin, both rear shocks had to come off anyways to get sent back to ADS for the hose replacement with 90deg fittings for fitment.
Here is a sneak peak:
Last edited:
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Google shows older 2500/3500s use the same sway bar link as the new 4500/5500s
Soooo.. Just ordered a set of these, and will report back:
carlisuspension.com
Soooo.. Just ordered a set of these, and will report back:
Dodge Extended Sway Bar End Links
Adjustable for 0 to 3 Inches of Lift Re-Uses Factory Upper Pillow Bushing
carlisuspension.com