BoldAdventures 2015 Ram Power Wagon Build

[OffroadTreks]

2015 Ram 2500 Power Wagon Laramie


The ROCKLANDER Build


Vehicle Objective:

The purpose of this build is to support our family of four, in both on and off-road adventures. The rig needs to serve a multi-purpose role of towing regularly and handling overnight off-road adventures. We're seeking a compromise between capable trail rig, tow rig and rock crawler.

Where it stands today:
[Updated: March 11, 2018]

SUSPENSION / AXLE:

• Toyo Open Country M/T 37x12.50R17
• Dodge Off-Road Steering Brace
• Thuren 1.25 inch front coils
• Thuren tuned King 2.5 Offroad Racing Shocks (custom valving)
• Thuren front track bar
• Thuren rear coils
• Thuren Rear Trackbar
• Thuren King Front Steering Stabilizer
• Boogie Rated Bumpstops (front & rear)

ENGINE / DRIVETRAIN:

• Magnaflow 12589 muffler w/ resonator delete
• K&N Air Intake (77-1568KTK)
• AEV Raised Air Intake

VEHICLE ARMOR:

• Customized Off-Road 3/16” steel high clearance bumper
• Dethloff Oil & Transmission Skid Plate
• White Knuckle Offroad Rock Sliders .188 DOM
• Purple Cranium half spider front differential protector
• Purple Cranium half spider rear differential protector

ELECTRICAL / LIGHTING

• Baja Designs Squadron Sport S - Driving Combo
• DDM Tuning - CanBus HID Kit, 35W, 5500k (low beams)
• DDM Tunning - LED Bulbs, 36W, 6000k, (high beams)
• Auto-Vox B40 Dashcam hard wired
• ScanGauge II
• AEV ProCal Module

COMMUNICATIONS

• Yaesu FT 8900R
• Larsen NMO2/70B
• WeBoost Drive 4G-M (cellular booster)
• Surecall 9 inch magnetic antenna

EXTERIOR APPEARANCE:

• 15% Ceramic Tint on Drivers & Passenger front windows
• 5% Ceramic Tint on all rear windows Windows
• 5% Ceramic Tint glare strip on windshield
• AVS in channel vent visors
• Bakflip HD Tonneau Cover

INTERIOR MODIFICATIONS:

• Husky Weather Beater floor liners
• Koomus K2 Dashboard iphone mounts
• RAM Mounts (RAM-B-316-1-202U) Universal No-Drill Vehicle Mount 18" Rigid
• Ram Mount EZ-ROLL'R Model Specific Cradle for the Apple iPad mini
• Mopar Rambox storage organizer

RECOVERY & EMERGENCY GEAR:

• 48" Hi-Lift Jack All-Cast in Black
• 30' ARB Recovery Strap
• ARB Tree Saver Strap
• x2 Crosby 1018534 Carbon Steel Shackle, 1" Size
• x2 Crosby 1018534 Carbon Steel Shackle, 3/4" Size
• x2 WARN 92093 Epic Shackle 3/4"
• Automotive Fire Extinguisher
• Road Flares
• ARB Tire Repair Kit
• x2 Viair 300P + x2 - 20ft air hose
• MAXSA Innovations Escaper Buddy

PLANNED MODS:
(Still in the works as I evaluate our needs through trial and error.)

• Dynatrac Free-Spin Hubs with DynaLoc hubs
• 4.88 Regear
• Axle Truss - Planned for Feb 2th, 2018
• King 2.5 shocks - ordered - awaiting delivery
• Thuren 3 inch rear coils
• Thuren rear boogie bumps
• Thuren front track bar
• Synthetic winch line

VIDEOS OF THE RIG IN ACTION

 

[OffroadTreks]

WHERE IT BEGAN

A little backstory to fill you in. A few years ago I converted my wife's 2003 Chevy Trailblazer from daily driver into an expedition vehicle. The build and subsequent adventures made us fall in love with the west and off-roading in general. Our build thread can be viewed here.

One day in 2013 we realized that we felt more at home in our "Adventure Mobile" then we felt in our three bedroom, two car garage home in Florida. The road was calling to us. The desire to leave Florida was growing.

When we discovered we were expecting our first child, we dreamed up a plan to sell everything, change careers and travel across the country full time.

We grew tired of the rat race and living for the weekends and never having time to see or explore.

Fast forward to May 2015, and we set off on this adventure as a family of four living, working & exploring the USA in our Airstream.

Our first truck was a 2010 Ram 1500. I modified it mildly to maintain towing performance. That included Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks up front with 2 inches of lift and 5100's out back. Along with Tuff trucks coils that raised the rear 2-inches. And I upsized the tires with Toyo Open Country AT/II's.

For our first year on the road, she was a strong performer. But where she lacked was still in off-road capability. While in Anza Borrego, CA, I kept coming up against the limitations of the stock 1500.

We meet up with a friend who was pulling a 30ft Airstream with his 2015 Powerwagon over the New Year holiday. The wife and I began discussing upgrading to an HD truck. Specifically a Power Wagon. had talked about the desire to build another expedition rig.

We considered having the wife follow along with a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, but we just didn't want the hassle of a second vehicle with this lifestyle. We thought about a diesel which would of been better for towing, but to make it really worthy off-road we'd need to mod the truck. And that was a sore point.

In choosing this lifestyle, I gave up the garage, and it's hard for me to shell out money to a shop on things I want to do myself. So if we bought a diesel, we'd still need to get work done. Which meant finding shops while traveling.

The Power Wagon was just ticking all the marks in the PRO's column for us. In March while in Las Vegas, we came across a 2015 Power Wagon Laramie that had all the options that our 2010 had minus a sunroof. And we jumped on it immediately. Buying out of state is a bit of a hassle, but it was worth the admission price. :cool:

The Power Wagon could tow our Airstream, and give us the capability we desire to do things off-road in a mostly stock trim.

Now to get started with the mods.

 

[Johnnie Canuck]

Appreciate your thinking on your rig choice for your needs. How do you like the towing performance of the power wagon?

 

[OffroadTreks]

Really, it's been a pleasure. The Airstream weights in at 6890lbs the last time I was across the cat scales, with a tongue weight of 960lbs. She's not very heavy. So I don't really have a need for a diesel. I've been really happy with the overall performance of this truck. And we've put close to 32k miles on it since we purchased her. And we've had zero issues. Power is a lot better than 1500 we had as well. No issues with temps and unlike the 5.7 the engine doesn't feel like it's struggling with grades.

 

[OffroadTreks]

First Mods


Window Tinting

I wasted zero time getting right to the modifications. For starters, traveling around the country with kids meant one thing for me. We NEED TINT. I don't like driving around in a fish bowel. And I decided to take advantage of the lax laws in Nevada.

I ended up purchasing Ceramic Tint which claims to block 90% of the heat. And went with 5% around the back windows for the kiddo's and privacy and 15% on the front windows with a 5% glare strip on the windshield. I had the work done by Precision Window Tint in Henderson, NV. They do excellent work.

The results, perfect:

After the tint was cured for a few days, I installed AVS in channel vent shades. I've been installing these on most of my vehicles for awhile. So the Power Wagon gets them too.

Intake & Exhaust

Within the first week of ownership I was already giving money to the Jeff Bezos retirement fund (aka Amazon). I placed an order for a K&N intake and Magnaflow muffler.

We can all debate the worthiness of the next mod. Typically I'm a Volant intake guy. But K&N is the only one on the market for the 6.4L right now, so what the heck.

I had also purchased a Magnaflow 12589 muffler. On my 1500 I had installed the Mufflex 14inch muffler. And I liked the sound. This time I thought I'd try something a little similar but more custom.

Took it to a local exhaust shop in town, paid $200 even to have it installed and have the trash can resonator removed. Was very clear about wanting it to be out of the way for ground clearance.

What he came up with was fantastic. I'm very happy with the results.

You can check out an exhaust clip here. I waited a couple of days for the exhaust to break in before recording it.


Amazingly there is no drone. To be completely honest, I was disappointed at first. It was quite. And I think I am used to dual exhaust. I've owned several Camaros, a Pontiac G8 GXP and Corvette. All of which had loud, dual exhaust systems.

But after a few days break in time, it became audibly louder. But it's not extremely loud in any sense. When you mash the peddle you hear it. When you are cruising, it's barely noticeable.

 

[OffroadTreks]

Exterior Mods:

On our first truck, I ran the BakFlip G2. I was pretty happy with it, so this time, I decided to go with the BakFlip HD tonneau cover.

Really happy with the quality of the product. Both top and bottom are aluminum with a UV resistant powder coat. Add on a 2yr warranty and made in America, and I'm a happy camper.

If you own a Ram then you probably noticed that the antenna is flappy and bounces all over the place. I hate the factory antenna. Since we are always traveling we don't ever listen to actual FM or AM radio. 100% of the time my iPod is plugged into the truck.

So I swapped out the antenna for a 7 inch model by AntennaX.

 

[OffroadTreks]

Spent the afternoon catching up on a few projects I was behind on. Mostly re-installing old hardware from our other truck into the new Power Wagon.

Becuase we travel and are on the go so much; I have a WeBoost Drive 4G-M cellular booster paired with a Surecall 9-inch external antenna. It works great, and there are plenty of places where 1X becomes 3G or 2 bars of 3G becomes full LTE.

For placement, I like the internal antenna on the dash just above the stereo.

This works with our phones best, as I have two Koomus K2 phone mounts.

I am not sure where I want to mount the booster itself. For now it's just in the lower center console.

I also spent some time wiring up our dash cam.

I'm running the Auto-vox B40-C dash cam. I've had this for over a year and half and it still works great. Shoots in 1080p, continuous and has a shock sensor that can lock your files to prevent over write in the event of an accident.

 

[OffroadTreks]

Moab, May 2016

Just what can a stock Power Wagon do? A LOT. And man can it conquer terrain like nobodies business. Moab is thought of as a popular destination for Jeepers. And I can't believe how many "Are you crazy, you'll die" comments we received. But fact of the matter is we conquered a bunch in Moab.

Trails we did stock

Fins and Things
Hells Revenge
Poison Spider Mesa
Elephant Hill
Top of the World

Jamming my full size through the Devils Pocket on Elephant Hill

Wife drives Hells Gate on Hells Revenge, 100% stock Ram Power Wagon

Driving the V-Notch on Poison Spider Mesa

Playing on Fins and Things

Driving the car wash on Hells Revenge

 

[OffroadTreks]

TIRE UPGRADE

After lots of testing in Moab, new shoes for the Power Wagon. I had considered 37's and given that we tow often I decided that 35's would be a better fit for capability and retaining power and mpg while towing (somewhat). So today I had Toyo Open Country AT/II's in 35x12.50 R 17 installed on the truck.

Perfect fit with no rubbing! And these tires are quiter than the Goodyear Durtracs, also a plus.

 

[OffroadTreks]

ARMOR - DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION

I used Purple Cranium's half spider's on my Trailblazer build and they were good enough for most of the stuff I threw at them. After evaluating our needs with a lot of wheeling in Moab with no protection, I decided that the half spiders would be sufficient enough. I generally attempt to go over or around obstacles I could get my differential caught up on. But the occasional strike does happen.

FRONT

REAR

 

[OffroadTreks]

ARMOR - Rock Sliders

Well, I finally had access to a lift, and installed the sliders on the PW. These things are beefy and very well built.

Installation on the passenger side was a breeze. The drivers side, will make you curse more than once. But the lift made the work easier. I was done with the installation in 3 hours.

Also made sure to use red Loctite on all the bolts. Now for the photos:

SHOP RECOMMENDATION

If you're ever in Moab and need a garage to work on your vehicle, you are in luck. Gotomoab Garage has you covered!

It's a DIY hobby shop and really convenient when you are traveling and need to work on your vehicle. All you gotta do is go online and schedule your shop time. Really easy to do.

Today was our first visit, and we meet with the owner Joe who is a really friendly guy. The shop has tools, including a welder and plasma torch and two 2-post lifts, jack stands, etc. Most everything you'll need.

Be sure to check them out if you're in the area!

The name of the place is GOTOMOAB GARAGE http://www.gotomoabgarage.com/

 

[Daryl 32]

Love your Build!

Our truck serves multi duties also, towering 83 RV trailer for boon-docking, towing the track car and outback truck camping.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Daryl

 

[RockyMountaineer]

Nice power wagon. Ram has made some really nice off road offerings in past few years.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Very cool. Great thread.....

 

[OffroadTreks]

KEEPING SCORE

Not a huge decal guy. But this felt appropriate. Need to get a top decal made to the effect of 6th Annual Power Wagons in Moab...

Also added American Adventurist decal, fit us.

 

[OffroadTreks]

LIGHTING UPGRADES

I replaced the factory Halogens in the projectors with DDM Tuning's HID Canbus system. The color temp is 5000 kelvin. I also installed their new Canbus LED bulbs in the high beam position, it took some work, but here it is, installed and inside the cover.

I also added a Rigid 30-inch LED bar, D2 Driving and SAE Fog's. I ran all on separate power switches. I actually really like using the Fogs as DRL's and trail lights.

 

[OffroadTreks]

Thought on Power Wagon Ownership

We love this truck. I don't feel like much was needed to make it a real performer offroad. And even with the 6.4L Hemi, she's been a pleasure to tow with across all types of terrain. I have yet to find myself saying "I wish I had a diesel".

This truck really fits our lifestyle. And I'd highly recommend the Power Wagon to anyone who is considering a full-size truck that is truly capable and won't require thousands of dollars worth of modifications to actually be capable. Compared to some of my past vehicles, we have a small amount invested in this truck.

 

[OffroadTreks]

AEV Raised Air Ram intake install

The setup ....

No turning back now

Completed install

AEV ProCal Module
Managed to snag myself an AEV Pro Cal to set the proper tire size to recalibrate my speedo and set the TPMS to 35psi.

 

[OffroadTreks]

In preparation for our trip to Moab, I've been catching up on some things for the truck. My RamBoxes have been a little disorganized now for some time. So I purchased the Mopar RamBox Cargo Management system. I had it on my previous Ram 1500 and have been meaning to pick it up for some time now. Becuase I use my Ram Boxes like crazy, it's very useful.

Old Truck:

Going, to be honest here though. I really feel like this should be standard, or included from RAM when you buy a truck with the RamBox option. I don't understand how it's a dealer "extra". I can see excluding it from a Tradesman, but I have a Laramie.

Anyways, some pictures:

Also picked up two TEKTON tire gauges. The one I have now is garbage. Why two? Well, I setup my onboard air so that the wife and I can each air up a side of the truck at the same time. This saves time naturally.

 

[OffroadTreks]

Onboard Air Version 1.0

So, onboard Air. I never fully finished this project. And we're leaving for Moab in only 5 more days. So I wanted to tackle this.

Last year, I ended up loaning our compressors a few times to help others. This got me thinking about not having a permanently mounted setup. But something I can easily move around, and share with a group if needed.

What I decided to do was to recreate with wood (for speed) one of the RamBox inner compartment lids, and mount my two compressors on it. I also added a fan which I'm wiring in line to the two compressors. This is a 140mm fan and should help keep them cool when in use. Hopefully.

Anyways, it's really secure, I have two airlines, and can do both sides of the truck at once. Or if we wanted, I can lift it out of the rambox, take it over to someone else's truck, and connect to their battery. Boom, bang, go.

This will function for now, until later when I do something more permanent.