You might want to beef up the frame so that your truck doesn't fold up like a cheap suit when it lands hard. Ford showed a prototype F350 knockoff of the Power Wagon about eight years ago. Looked slick but never saw production. There was at least one magazine article about it, with pics. Worth looking up.
Thread Title: "Super Raptor"
A lot of us think we would like that and a couple have been home-built. Dodge showed a prototype 5.9 PW at Moab around 2006 or 2007, built by KORE, but it never saw production. The party line from Dodge was/is that the diesel would make the truck too long because the intercooler pushes the winch forward of its factory mount and then it requires a winch bumper, so long and heavy, plus the additional weight of the Cummins over the Hemi. Weight is the other issue with the Cummins, because the extra weight would violate the design parameters of the PW as a go-everywhere truck. The Cummins with its second big battery plus the winch bumper plus the additional leverage of pushing the winch weight out forward of the grill would cause the truck to get stuck more easily in mud and sand, so the Hemi is a tradeoff for keeping the weight down. So, if you combine length and weight, the diesel PW would not be able to go where the gas version does, and that would probably limit sales of what is already a niche vehicle, except maybe to the flat billers who just think a diesel is cool. And the truck is already too expensive, even without the Cummins. Regarding the jumping possibilities, KORE welds axle gussets to the front axles on their race trucks to keep them from fracturing when the truck lands hard. They told me it's not an issue with the Hemi trucks, even when driven hard offroad.
some serious progress over the last couple months. Har
th and the entire drive train will be new from pavement to steering wheel. Last but not by any means least check out my new redneck interior! All that's left is the beer cooler and we are done right?
