I hate to say it, but I am about to get a 2004.5 Ram 2500 QC CTD 4X4 and rarely tow. I will tow my friends CJ to the trail, but thats it. The main reason I am buying this awsome truck is for reliability/ offroad ability. I love the new Cummins and its drivetrain. I am a Chevy man, but when it comes to 4x4s and diesels I have to have straight axles and Cummins reliability.

My plans are (Like Peterson's SuperDuty, except no Michilins) to lift it enought to fit the new 40" MT/Rs. I also plan on replacing the bumpers f/r with custom built rock bumpers and also adding rock rails to the truck. I won't do anything serious at first, but grdually work into some serious trails, where I can fit that is. I think ARB is working on f/r lockers for our axles, they may be out now.

 

you are a stonger man than i am, to be able to spend $35,000 on a new truck and go use and abuse it like that. have you seen the sheet metal on petersons truck?? it would take a lot of body work to get it straight again Thats what i have the old chev for, to beat up in the hills, and rocks. But a wise man once said, " each man to their own"
Im not sayin my truck never goes off-road but it doesnt get squoze through trees and tight trails like the old chev does, it just stays on the mountain roads and tree free trails
no offense intended here im just stating my opinion

 

Thats cool, where I live the trails are alot more open and there are bypasses. I'm not going hard core just yet it will also look good too.

 

Bignutt,

Four Wheeler mag had an article on axles and mentioned that the AAM axles are same as Chevy'd HD trucks have been using. They said that ARB makes a locker for the Chevy 9.25 and it should work for the Dodge. Maybe worth looking to.

Pete

 

That's odd, because even the HD Chevies use IFS.

 

maybe he ment the rear axle.

 

I'm sure you're aware of this so please don't bash me for passing on a little friendly info....

Please remember that the weight in the nose of these beasts is alot more than any of the gassers have and will bury you in a heartbeat. I've seen a couple of guys up here who took their CTD's offroading and buried them within a few feet. They got off into the soft stuff and didn't stop to consider the tremendous amount of weight they had given the engine they were using. They were following a couple of old Chevy's and a CJ, and thought if they could go there, so could a Ram CTD...took a 966 to pull 'em out.....yep, I was the fella doing the pullin!! After I pulled them out, they looked over at my CTD and commented about how nice it looked. I just smiled and told 'em she was for pulling, not mud or tundra bogging!!

 

True, but the 9.25 is a front axle, if I am not mistaken, which I could very well be. He could also be talking about pre-88 trucks.

 

Were they running 40" tires w/ 8" lifts and front and rear lockers (not limited slips)? Plus my rig isn't mud only, its mud, rock, hills, trails, whatever. I am also gonna be doing a few engine/ computer mods to squeeze alittle more power out, ok alot more LOL!

 

Bignutt, sounds like a cool buildup your plannin. If had the money Id proly be doin the same thing, however, since my back account says otherwise ill have to stick with a wrangler .

I have taken my truck offroad a few times though and agree with XTOAK, thing sunk like boat anchor when the ground got soft (even with MT's)

good luck with your project, let us know how it goes

jeff

 

I say get your truck first then talk about the add on's. Talk is cheap, and we could flap all day about would a, could a, should a.
See how it goes after you have the dang thing for awhile, and after the first payment or two.

 

I got it tonight.

 

Yeah honestly I thought that my truck was gonna be tough **** on this one trail when i went out on it. This time I had bigger tires, a lift, the awesome RSX9000's and a CTD for super low end torque. Well lets put it this way, When the ground was soft, It sucked ***. My '01 1500 5.9L V8 could tackle the challenge without a problem with the tires it had. Not the Diesel. And I've been on that same area with my old truck when it was raining cats and dogs. That diesel adds a lot more weight, and man, it literally took me flooring it to get my *** outta there. One thing to remember though, i've heard from some guys that with the right kind of lockers and what not, and the low end torque of the diesel, you can be burried in mud and still get out. Now I'm not one to go test this, but if anyone can comment on the validity of this, let me know. thanks.

 

I've seen plenty of diesels on the beach. The only people that I have seen stuck are the ones that refuse to air down. If you offroad with skinny tires aired up, you are going to sink in just about any full size vehicle.

 

Sounds like someone with not much experience in the mud. Lets talk just mud here, it comes down to one thing, clean tires!! What that means is the key is wheel speed, you have to create enough wheel speed to get the tires to through off the mud and have clean lugs to grip with. With out wheel speed all you have is a pluged up tire that turns into a big flat slick. This is one of the biggest draw back to a diesel in the mud, their extremely limited rpm range to create a good amount of wheel speed. If you have a manual it is even worse yet because you are stuck in one gear and have no chance of shifting.

Just to put it in perspective your diesel motor is going to turn up to 3000 rpms, let say that makes 15mph in the gear you are in. Now take a stock gas motor in the same gear that will trun to 5500 rpm, now you are to 27 mph, pretty big difference. Now to compare that to the 440 I have in my mudder, I have turned that up to 7500 rpms, that is 37 mph. Thoose are the differences in go and no go.

On solid dry trails on the other hand the diesel is great because of the low end power and you can be very exact on the amount of power you put down.

The diesels are heavy in the front also on that never helps things at all. But my mudder is by no means a light weight, it weighs in at 7000#, I have the exact front axle weight at home, I will get it and let you know.

That all said I use my Cummins to haul my off-roaders to the off-road