So I decided to outfit my truck, 2013 Ram 1500 with Air suspension. First started with Iron Works bumpers. Very nice bumpers. Needed to cut out the existing ball hitch mount but other than that they bolted right up.
Ram 1500 Overland Build
- Thread starter 53kemper
- Start date
Next was a bed rack for the roof tent and accessories. I took a $90 universal rack I found on craigslist and modified it. Cut the mounts off and welded plates to fit my truck bed due to the Ram boxes I have. Shortened it and cut the ends off. Then welded two square tubes across to accommodate for the tent mount. This whole set up bolts on and all equipment can be put on or taken off in less than 30 minutes.
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Took it out to Joshua Tree to test it out and was not disappointed. The winds were gusting 40 to 50 through the whole night and the tent didn't budge. Wind stayed out and the inside of the tent was nice and warm. Heading out to Death Valley on the 17th with Badlands Adventure so there are a few things I still need to finish. Roof rack with Lights and Solar panel, Deep cell battery to run my cooler and Mount a shower tube I made out of 3" PVC
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Man your off to a flying start nice truck.if you dont mind me asking where did you manage to find sliders
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Thanks Roaming, Nfab makes Sliders for the Ram. Very nicely made and bolt right on to your undercarriage. I through on a few weld spots on mine just to strengthen them up, Then can easily be grinded off.
http://www.n-fab.com/
http://www.n-fab.com/
Explorer I
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- First Name
- Michael
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- Denniston
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Great job! Your truck looks good. Its always nice when you can get a bunch done in a short time.
Just a word of caution though.....
You have 80 #'s of gas, and at least 80 #'s of tire hanging from a system that was designed to hold a couple 20 # bikes at best. The dynamic force of the load bouncing WILL generate 3-5 times that load(450# +). I worry about any of those welds tearing out of that thin gauge tube and you losing one of those gas bombs going down the highway. That could be really bad!
Just my .02 cents.
Just a word of caution though.....
You have 80 #'s of gas, and at least 80 #'s of tire hanging from a system that was designed to hold a couple 20 # bikes at best. The dynamic force of the load bouncing WILL generate 3-5 times that load(450# +). I worry about any of those welds tearing out of that thin gauge tube and you losing one of those gas bombs going down the highway. That could be really bad!
Just my .02 cents.
Thanks Wyoming, Appreciate the words of caution.
I thought about the same thing when I was building it. Believe it or not the metal the bike rack is made of very heavy gauge metal. When the swing closes there is a heavy duty hook that keeps it closed along with another piece of metal that slides in the other half to lock it in place. I welded two plates on the swing side that slide over the fixed side and distributes and carries the weight. Wheel and tire mounts now have re enforcement pieces welded under them to strengthen everything. I guess we shall see how it holds up on the trip. Only way to know is to put it through the paces. Worse case scenario, if it starts to crack I'll just take it off and throw everything in the bed til I get home. I'll be checking it constantly.
I thought about the same thing when I was building it. Believe it or not the metal the bike rack is made of very heavy gauge metal. When the swing closes there is a heavy duty hook that keeps it closed along with another piece of metal that slides in the other half to lock it in place. I welded two plates on the swing side that slide over the fixed side and distributes and carries the weight. Wheel and tire mounts now have re enforcement pieces welded under them to strengthen everything. I guess we shall see how it holds up on the trip. Only way to know is to put it through the paces. Worse case scenario, if it starts to crack I'll just take it off and throw everything in the bed til I get home. I'll be checking it constantly.
Explorer I
- 4,285
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Denniston
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- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KJ7LYZ
I am happy to hear that you have it all reinforced.
I look forward to riding along on your adventures.
Do you care to show some pics of where you have your bed rack mounted to interested in doing this
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Sure I'll get some pics when I get home tonight. I have ramboxes, so in order to mount my rack I made some plates to fit. Not a lot of area to work with. I had to take my ramboxes out in order to drill through bed. Real easy to do if you have the rambox. Just remove all the 10mm bolts unplug light and they pull right out. Very Light weight.
Oh well itll probably be diffrent becuse i have the regular bed how was joshua tree was there alot of trails you were able to run? And have you leveled and installed tires
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If you have a regular bed then the universal rack would work for you without having to modify the attaching brackets. I leveled the truck using smaller linkage. It has air ride offraod suspension so smaller linkage raises the front no leveling kit needed. I have 285/65/20 BFG AT on it now but will be swapping htem next week to 295/65/20 General Grabber X3s.
Nice the general grabbers are some sick looking tires. How was joshua tree im thinking of going there later this month?
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Joshua tree was nice. It was sunny and warm in the day so that was nice. Not much of a trail weekend as we went out to test the camping part of the vehicle. Got cold at night and wind was blowing pretty strong. I'm guessing in the next few weeks the weather will be perfect out there
