Eating crow....2018 Ram Power Wagon build

[Tex68w]

How do you find the seat comfort between the PW and the F250? I know they're a bit different on the options spectrum, so perhaps not a fair comparison.

It's hard to say really. The Superduty has supple King Ranch leather with heated and cooled multi-contour seats, lumbar support, and they also have a massaging feature which is surprisingly amazing haha. The Power Wagon on the other hand has a vinyl and high-wear resistant cloth combo, they don't have heated or cooling options, only lumbar support. I do like the side bolstering on the Power Wagon, it's similar to the seats in my fathers Gen 2 Raptor how they hold in you in better. Rams leather offering in the Power Wagon (Laramie level??) is probably on par with the Lariat level leather/pleather in the Ford, but both are inferior to that of which comes in the King Ranch. If forced to answer I would say that the Ford seats are more comfortable by design, but the Power Wagon seats do a better job of holding you in place with their aggressive bolsters. I hope this helps!

 

[1pieceatatime]

Makes sense! Not really a fair question based on trim levels, even if you ignore the massaging function!


Another question for you since I'm full of them and overthinking this whole F250 vs. PW decision. My wife is 5'3" and my little guy is 6YO, so the PW is a long way up for them. I know that the White Knuckle Sliders are pretty much the go-to answer for PW, but it seems that is really not much of a height difference vs. the door sill. The Mopar steps are a little lower, but also have a larger cross-section and start to eat into ground clearance. I know the Amp Powerstep is not an off-road favorite, but it seems to me that it would actually allow for an easier step up for my family while also being closer to the sills / more ground clearance than the Mopar steps. Do you think that's accurate?

 

[Tex68w]

Makes sense! Not really a fair question based on trim levels, even if you ignore the massaging function!


Another question for you since I'm full of them and overthinking this whole F250 vs. PW decision. My wife is 5'3" and my little guy is 6YO, so the PW is a long way up for them. I know that the White Knuckle Sliders are pretty much the go-to answer for PW, but it seems that is really not much of a height difference vs. the door sill. The Mopar steps are a little lower, but also have a larger cross-section and start to eat into ground clearance. I know the Amp Powerstep is not an off-road favorite, but it seems to me that it would actually allow for an easier step up for my family while also being closer to the sills / more ground clearance than the Mopar steps. Do you think that's accurate?

My other half is 5'5" and she complains about the height of the step up and into the Power Wagon, in fact she won't even drive it to work until I get some steps on it. I am only considering the White Knuckle sliders since this will be a more off-road oriented rig, but the Amp Research Power Steps are awesome and likely the answer you seek for your situation. You can turn them off should you not want them to deploy when off-road or leave them in the down position too and they won't retract if they sense a load on them. I have had them on every Superduty I have owned, the current ones are the first factory version however. You used to be able to order the steps in a 8" or 13" drop, the latter of which is excellent for a rig on 37's or larger, but the standard and factory 8" drop is still more than adequate.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

My other half is 5'5" and she complains about the height of the step up and into the Power Wagon, in fact she won't even drive it to work until I get some steps on it. I am only considering the White Knuckle sliders since this will be a more off-road oriented rig, but the Amp Research Power Steps are awesome and likely the answer you seek for your situation. You can turn them off should you not want them to deploy when off-road or leave them in the down position too and they won't retract if they sense a load on them. I have had them on every Superduty I have owned, the current ones are the first factory version however. You used to be able to order the steps in a 8" or 13" drop, the latter of which is excellent for a rig on 37's or larger, but the standard and factory 8" drop is still more than adequate.

x2. One of the best things I've put on my Superduty, worth the $

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Or, you could get White Knuckle or Aluminess sliders for the PW and bolt one or more hoop steps to them until the kid grows enough to get into the truck from the sliders. The hoops are easily removable for offroading. At least one of the 3G PW guys did that years ago on a set of home-fabbed steel sliders.

 

[Tex68w]

Or, you could get White Knuckle or Aluminess sliders for the PW and bolt one or more hoop steps to them until the kid grows enough to get into the truck from the sliders. The hoops are easily removable for offroading. At least one of the 3G PW guys did that years ago on a set of home-fabbed steel sliders.

Don't the Aluminess sliders mount to the body?

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Don't the Aluminess sliders mount to the body?

Not sure, but I think they bolt to the frame, at least on 3Gs. I don't have them, but a lot of PW guys seem to like them.

I just went back and poked around the PW and DT sites re Aluminess sliders, and it sounds like they do mount to the pinch welds or rocker panels. All the old pics were gone because of the PhotoBucket greed and stupidity issue.

The Aluminess site says this for "2010 and newer": "They bolt right on to factory mounts and provide great protection to your rocker panels. They are available with or without a step..."
The Aluminess installation instructions show the sliders bolting into factory holes on what appears to be the inside face of the rocker panels. My 3G does not have those holes, so I dunno...

https://www.aluminess.com/wp-content/uploads/Dodge-Ram-Power-Wagon-Rock-Sliders.pdf

 

[Tex68w]

Not sure, but I think they bolt to the frame, at least on 3Gs. I don't have them, but a lot of PW guys seem to like them.

I just went back and poked around the PW and DT sites re Aluminess sliders, and it sounds like they do mount to the pinch welds or rocker panels. All the old pics were gone because of the PhotoBucket greed and stupidity issue.

Yea I thought they were pinch weld mounts like that other guys rails. Unfortunately it appears WNO is the only "real" option for sliders and he has monopoly pricing as well.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Yea I thought they were pinch weld mounts like that other guys rails.

It does not look like they affect the pinch welds at all. Appears that the 4Gs have large, heavy gauge steel box sections on the insides of the rockers, and those form the attachment points for the Aluminess sliders. The holes are already there. Completely different arrangement than my 3G.

 

[Tex68w]

It does not look like they affect the pinch welds at all. Appears that the 4Gs have large, heavy gauge steel box sections on the insides of the rockers, and those form the attachment points for the Aluminess sliders. The holes are already there. Completely different arrangement than my 3G.

I still don't think that's as strong as going to the frame like the White Knuckle sliders do. My truck is a 2018, I'm not sure what changes were made from the 3G to now, but it would seem that the Aluminess sliders are no better in design that the much debated Randy Ellis sliders, no?

 

[Tex68w]

I saw the vinyl decal Marshall added to the front of his PW and seeing how that was the only thing on the truck that wasn't blacked out I figured I needed one too. I like that it leaves just a smidge of silver to outline the letters so that they aren't completely lost amongst the sea of black. Hopefully they hold up to the relentless barrage of bugs in the spring and summer down here in Texas and the hard local water, if not, they are cheap and easy to replace when needed.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

...it would seem that the Aluminess sliders are no better in design that the much debated Randy Ellis sliders, no?

Not sure, but I think the Ellis sliders mount at least partially to the pinch welds, and the Aluminess appear to be completely separate from the pinch welds.

There are a lot of differences between the 3G and 4G trucks, but basically the 4Gs are longer and wider and have compromised approach and departure angles due to federal bumper height regulations. Harder to fit 37s to a 4G without suspension mods, and the 3Gs have better sight lines over the front end. 4Gs have larger interiors, more gears in the auto trans, more complicated electronics and electronic nannies, different springs (coils vs leaves), different diff ratios, and on and on. But the 3Gs are better off road...

 

[Mako1114]

So does Ram still offer the Power Wagon in (3) trim levels?

BTW - I came across this pic on the web and this it was post worthy...



Cheers

 

[PowerWagonJeeper]

nice pic. With the bilsteins too

 

[Tex68w]

So does Ram still offer the Power Wagon in (3) trim levels?

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Cheers

Pretty much, theres the stripped down, the mid grade like mine, and loaded out. You pretty much pick your options though, I'd say that the loaded version is pretty much a Laramie, I'd categorize mine as a SLT with Laramie options, and the stripped down model is pretty much a tradesman with better seats.