my1stcummins
Adventurer
After years of slowly building my Ram's suspension for durability and mild(it's all relative) performance enhancements I've decided to sing the praises of my latest mods.
This last week I installed a set of Carli control arms up front and sulastic shackles in the rear. Both of these mods were for increasing the softness of the ride and comfort of my rig especially on washboard roads or concrete paved highways.
I first installed the rear shackles and drove for a day before installing the front control arms. Around town and on rougher roads the rear end was both more planted and less prone to bouncing as it did before without a load. I haven't yet had a heavy load in the back to compare this situation to stock shackles. Install was easy and took about 2 hours.
The next day I installed the carli control arms which arrived in nice packaging and the quality of the welds(mig on mild steel) and powder coat were tops. The install took about 5 hours in my garage and could have been expedited had I done this before or if I was in a rush. Luckily my bolts were not very rusted but I still used a hefty amount of PB Blaster penetrating oil just to be safe. Some people in salted climates might want to have spare bolts on hand. The only challenge in this install was having to remove the down pipe on the exhaust and the passenger side was somewhat more difficult to align the bolts.
My driving impressions are that these control arms make my truck handle like a completely different rig. It's still a 3/4tn truck but the ride is not as "crashy" or harsh going over bumps, I no longer feel like I need a sports bra on concrete roads, and the cornering is amazing. Before, the truck would go around corners but it it reminded me of someone with a neck brace and a cane, now the truck feels like a runningback. The suspension and steering now actually feel responsive and unrestrained. Looking at the factory parts compared to the carli arms its no surprise. Now all of the other upgrades seem to shine as they are not held back by any factory bits in the system. Simply awesome.
If you own a Dodge you owe it to yourself to do this mod! I should have done this long ago.
This last week I installed a set of Carli control arms up front and sulastic shackles in the rear. Both of these mods were for increasing the softness of the ride and comfort of my rig especially on washboard roads or concrete paved highways.
I first installed the rear shackles and drove for a day before installing the front control arms. Around town and on rougher roads the rear end was both more planted and less prone to bouncing as it did before without a load. I haven't yet had a heavy load in the back to compare this situation to stock shackles. Install was easy and took about 2 hours.
The next day I installed the carli control arms which arrived in nice packaging and the quality of the welds(mig on mild steel) and powder coat were tops. The install took about 5 hours in my garage and could have been expedited had I done this before or if I was in a rush. Luckily my bolts were not very rusted but I still used a hefty amount of PB Blaster penetrating oil just to be safe. Some people in salted climates might want to have spare bolts on hand. The only challenge in this install was having to remove the down pipe on the exhaust and the passenger side was somewhat more difficult to align the bolts.
My driving impressions are that these control arms make my truck handle like a completely different rig. It's still a 3/4tn truck but the ride is not as "crashy" or harsh going over bumps, I no longer feel like I need a sports bra on concrete roads, and the cornering is amazing. Before, the truck would go around corners but it it reminded me of someone with a neck brace and a cane, now the truck feels like a runningback. The suspension and steering now actually feel responsive and unrestrained. Looking at the factory parts compared to the carli arms its no surprise. Now all of the other upgrades seem to shine as they are not held back by any factory bits in the system. Simply awesome.
If you own a Dodge you owe it to yourself to do this mod! I should have done this long ago.
