malibubts's 2022 Ram Power Wagon Build/Adventure Thread

malibubts

malibubts

Adventurer
As much as I loved my 2015 Ram 1500 with the EcoDiesel, I finally hit a breaking point with all of the emissions gear required by a modern diesel. To make a long story short I had just about every emissions component replaced in the past 2 years with the truck accumulating a ton of downtime. I had actually been seeing a bit of reliability in the past 6 months, but then the truck started regen cycles every ~25 miles during highway driving. I was under an extended special warranty for the emissions parts at least, but I was coming up to the end of it. I figured it was time to move on while I could.

Wanting to move the camper this left my options fairly limited. Either find/order a Ram 1500 Classic in a CC 6'4" bed configuration or do the same in a 2500. At this point I wanted reliability so I'm hoping I can get that from the 2500 platform. From there it was either a slightly optioned Tradesman and building out a bit myself or going with a Power Wagon. Looking at the numbers and the features I think it made sense, and at least wanted a bit of a functionality difference from my 1500.

After a few weeks of looking I finally found a dealer willing to accept Tread Lightly pricing and not pricing the truck at or above MSRP. The truck was in transit, but I put down the deposit. Unfortunately it sat in a rail yard for about 30 days and I was just able to pick it up this past weekend. With the assistance of a forklift I got the camper pulled, swapped trucks, and got the camper back on the truck.


DSC00175 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr

This will be a fairly tame build thread and a lot of gear will be moved over from my 1500, but I'll track it anyways.

Planned Mods
  • Have Fun?
Completed Mods
 
Last edited:
malibubts

malibubts

Adventurer
I got the Decked drawers moved over pretty easily. They work fairly well for what I use them for. I really like some of the builds people make with more cabinet styles, but at least for now the Decked is 'good enough' and also let's me use the full bed easily when I need to run to the Home Depot.


DSC00105 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr


DSC00107 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr

I'll get the fridge, battery, and water system back in soon. They just strap down to the top of the Decked, but want to keep the space open to deal with the tires for now.

There are new tie down points in the bed corners on the newer Rams, but this was easily fixed with an oscillating tool:


DSC00112 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
 
SDDiver5

SDDiver5

Expedition Leader
Love me a power wagon! Nice looking truck.

Funny you mention upgrading the tires, right as I first looked at your picture I chuckeld and thought those 33's look tiny.
 
malibubts

malibubts

Adventurer
Yeah you know you hear people say the tires are the stock Power Wagon are small, you tell yourself it'll be fine because you're spending a ton on a new truck already, then you see it in person and change your mind. Doesn't help my old truck had bigger tires either at 285/75r17.

I figure I can at least get a decent return selling the tires with only a few hundred miles on them. I also really liked the Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws I had on my last truck, so those will likely be the choice.
 
Regcabguy

Regcabguy

Oil eater.
malibubts said:
As much as I loved my 2015 Ram 1500 with the EcoDiesel, I finally hit a breaking point with all of the emissions gear required by a modern diesel. To make a long story short I had just about every emissions component replaced in the past 2 years with the truck accumulating a ton of downtime. I had actually been seeing a bit of reliability in the past 6 months, but then the truck started regen cycles every ~25 miles during highway driving. I was under an extended special warranty for the emissions parts at least, but I was coming up to the end of it. I figured it was time to move on while I could.

Wanting to move the camper this left my options fairly limited. Either find/order a Ram 1500 Classic in a CC 6'4" bed configuration or do the same in a 2500. At this point I wanted reliability so I'm hoping I can get that from the 2500 platform. From there it was either a slightly optioned Tradesman and building out a bit myself or going with a Power Wagon. Looking at the numbers and the features I think it made sense, and at least wanted a bit of a functionality difference from my 1500.

After a few weeks of looking I finally found a dealer willing to accept Tread Lightly pricing and not pricing the truck at or above MSRP. The truck was in transit, but I put down the deposit. Unfortunately it sat in a rail yard for about 30 days and I was just able to pick it up this past weekend. With the assistance of a forklift I got the camper pulled, swapped trucks, and got the camper back on the truck.


DSC00080 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr

This will be a fairly tame build thread and a lot of gear will be moved over from my 1500, but I'll track it anyways.

Planned Mods
  • 35s (Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws)
    • As much as I wanted to save the money, 33s look tiny on this truck
  • Sliders
  • VHF/UHF Radio
Completed Mods
Click to expand...
Now it's Thuren time. It never ends.
 
B

BigOrca

Member
malibubts said:
Honestly I'm pretty happy with how the truck rides already. I might possibly do a bit of work on the suspension down the line, but right now I don't really have any plans to tear into it.
Click to expand...
It seems like everyone who gets a Power Wagon ends up going straight to the Thuren kit, and as far as I can tell it's because someone told them they should. These things are incredibly capable stock, and you mentioned going 35s. Once you go with a kit like the Thuren it looks goofy without 37s. I can't confirm it, but I've heard the Thuren spring rates aren't that different from stock PW coils. I've been very happy with my stock wagon on 35s. I'm guessing you will be too.
 
U

UglyViking

Well-known member
Springs by Thuren are much softer than stock or PW coils. I would think twice about them for trucks that get loaded up with campers and drawers and such.
 
malibubts

malibubts

Adventurer
BigOrca said:
It seems like everyone who gets a Power Wagon ends up going straight to the Thuren kit, and as far as I can tell it's because someone told them they should. These things are incredibly capable stock, and you mentioned going 35s. Once you go with a kit like the Thuren it looks goofy without 37s. I can't confirm it, but I've heard the Thuren spring rates aren't that different from stock PW coils. I've been very happy with my stock wagon on 35s. I'm guessing you will be too.
Click to expand...
Yeah 35s are going to be my tire size just for logistics/cost reasons. I'd love to be on 37s, it's not the fuel economy or anything that bothers me, but they just seem like a logistics nightmare. I really don't want to run without a spare and seeing as the 37s won't fit in the stock location you're looking at losing bed space, strapping a spare to your roof, or getting a new rear bumper/stand alone tire carrier. I also think I'm going to keep the stock wheels, don't love them, the AEV look slick, but basically a needed upgrade I think if you go the 37 route. Really just not worth it I don't think, couple extra grand and all the hassle for an inch. Everything I see you can fit a 35 in the stock location, but you might have to air down that tire pretty significantly.

UglyViking said:
Springs by Thuren are much softer than stock or PW coils. I would think twice about them for trucks that get loaded up with campers and drawers and such.
Click to expand...
Yeah good to know, I like a bit of rake on a truck anyway, but with 350# in the camper, probably 200# in the drawers loaded, fridge, dogs, etc I'm going to be around the payload for the Power Wagon most of the time. I imagine it will sit pretty close to level on it's own. I'm not worried about being at those weights from what I've seen other people saying, but just kinda figured the stock suspension would be best equipped for the load.

I'm not ruling out shock or track bar or anything like that upgrades down the line to fix issues I see come up but I've been pretty impressed with the stock truck so far.
 
malibubts

malibubts

Adventurer
I got the radio and antenna installed over the weekend.

I actually decided to mix things up a bit here. In my last truck I had an Icom 2730a and I have too many HTs. My programming would always drift between different radios, programming the radio in the truck was always a challenge, and in general I was annoyed with all of the juggling between my radios. Not to mention all the differences between power, charging, batteries, antennas, etc.

Looking into things a bit I found that the older Motorola XTS5000 radios (as well as newer APX, but they are way to expensive) had vehicular adapters for the HTs. These are known as Convertacoms or XTVAs and basically are a dock for the HT, they provide power, an antenna output, and a remote mic. The Motorola XTS5000 is only single band, but I plan on running one in UHF and one in VHF. Putting a dock in my truck and at my desk will allow me to use just the two HTs with the same accessories and software and just move the radio around to where I need it. I will lose some power, 5/6W instead of full mobile power, but I don't think that will be too big of an issue. I've got a little bit of cleanup to do since I had to order some more split loom, but have it mostly finished up.

Docked:

DSC00153 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr

Outside the Dock:

DSC00164 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr

Handheld Control Head:

DSC00158 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr

For the antenna I just went with the Comet fender NMO mount, with a coax cable, and a Signal Stuff Signal Stalk antenna.


DSC00130 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr


DSC00143 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
 
malibubts

malibubts

Adventurer
Tried to order some 35x12.5R17 Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws while I was at Sam's Club today, but it appears they went out of stock since I checked last night. Guess I'm going to have to keep an eye on their site and see if I can find them in stock to order.
 
E

Eric Edwards

Adventurer
malibubts said:
Yeah 35s are going to be my tire size just for logistics/cost reasons. I'd love to be on 37s, it's not the fuel economy or anything that bothers me, but they just seem like a logistics nightmare. I really don't want to run without a spare and seeing as the 37s won't fit in the stock location you're looking at losing bed space, strapping a spare to your roof, or getting a new rear bumper/stand alone tire carrier. I also think I'm going to keep the stock wheels, don't love them, the AEV look slick, but basically a needed upgrade I think if you go the 37 route. Really just not worth it I don't think, couple extra grand and all the hassle for an inch. Everything I see you can fit a 35 in the stock location, but you might have to air down that tire pretty significantly.


Yeah good to know, I like a bit of rake on a truck anyway, but with 350# in the camper, probably 200# in the drawers loaded, fridge, dogs, etc I'm going to be around the payload for the Power Wagon most of the time. I imagine it will sit pretty close to level on it's own. I'm not worried about being at those weights from what I've seen other people saying, but just kinda figured the stock suspension would be best equipped for the load.

I'm not ruling out shock or track bar or anything like that upgrades down the line to fix issues I see come up but I've been pretty impressed with the stock truck so far.
Click to expand...

Airbags with Daystar cradles will solve many of you challenges. Fairly inexpensive way to get back to proper load on rear springs.
 
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