Lightforce also makes these filters that easily snap on the front of the light to offer further protection and the ability to change color for different driving conditions. The filters can also be used to spread light into a wider pattern as well.

A smart feature of the 240 HIDs are these focusing collars.They are used to move the bulb in relation to the computer designed parabolic reflector to adjust the light from a pencil beam to a wider beam.This way each light can be adjusted and readjusted whenever the need arises.

Not wanting to mount a giant bumper on the front, we selected this light bar from Desert Racing Concepts. It doesn’t significantly alter the Dodge’s look, and it mounts in place of the factory tow hooks. It’s strong enough to still handle a tow strap since it distributes the load over both mounts. It includes four light tabs, which provide enough room for our 9 1/2-inch-diameter Lightforce HIDs.

Stock bumpers are shockingly flimsy nowadays and every truck we’ve owned has wound up with a mangled rear bumper, so we switched to this heavy-duty rear bumper from Trailready. It’s constructed of thick plate so it’s super stout. Another nice feature is that it’s a direct replacement for the stock bumper, which means no drilling or extra brackets are required.The beefy bumper even comes with perfectly cut holes for the factory license plate lights and a mount for trailer wiring.We ordered ours with two mounts for shackles as well to aid in recovery.

These optional backup lights are another nice feature of the Trailready bumper. They use one-wire hookup for easy wiring and they’re plenty bright. This allows much better vision at night when backing up since the rear window’s factory tint is fairly dark.

The TireGate spare tire carrier offers an innovative way to mount a spare tire. It replaces the factory tailgate and attaches to the tailgate’s mounts with no cutting or drilling required. Made from 2- inch-diameter, .095-inch wall mandrelbent steel tubing, the TireGate is strong enough to carry up to a 40-inchdiameter spare.

The trick feature of the TireGate is that it easily swings out to allow full bed access. It can also be rotated 180 degrees so that the tire faces rearward, which gives more space in the bed.

Opening the TireGate is fairly easy as it’s as simple as pulling out the 50,000 lb.- rated latch pins. Each pin fits in a bushing to isolate vibration, while the hinge side is bolted for strength.

HOW IS IT ALL WORKING?
So far every modification on Big Red has performed beautifully to date. The adjustability of our Banks Big Hoss Bundle with the Power PDA is great as it allows us run in stock mode and then turn up the power to put the beat down on unsuspecting wannabes. Along with the extra power from the whole package, the Power PDA is a slick way to control the Six Gun tuner and display gauges. With 4.10 gears the Dodge now pulls even harder and our RPM at freeway speeds is just about ideal. Our KORE suspension is also another great addition as it allows the Ram to traverse seriously rough terrain at surprising speeds. Even better is that the new suspension did not take away from our Dodge’s impressive towing capabilities. It is still a stable two machine without the usual loads of body sway associated with a bump-gobbling suspension. We are also pleased with the Glassworks Unlimited bedsides and front fenders. They set our Dodge apart from the other Rams and turn plenty of heads. So far we have achieved our goal with our project. Stay tuned for a long-term update.

 

Since we stepped up to a 37-inch-diameter Toyo Open Country M/T, we also wanted to regear the Dodge. A
4.30:1 gear would have been ideal but the only gears currently available for our 11.5-inch AAM rear axle (besides the 3.73:1 gears that came with it) were 4.10:1 and 4.56:1 ratios. If we were only towing and didn’t
care about going over 65 mph, the 4.56 gears would have been fine; however, we wanted more versatility from our truck, so we went with the 4.10:1 ratio.We also wanted Dodge factory gears that Randy’s Ring & Pinion stocks along with Randy’s very complete master bearing kit.

Since our Dodge will be seeing a lot of backcountry travel, we wanted someone that we trusted to handle the gear install. Over the years we’ve worked with Burbank, Calif.-based Off Road Unlimited on a lot of projects and know the quality of the company’s work, so they were a logical choice to handle the gear swap on our Ram.

To finish off the gear install, Off Road Unlimited installed one of its aluminum differential covers.The aluminum fins and extra fluid capacity help reduce heat while a fill and drain plug make changing gear oil a much easier process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KORE just put the finishing touches on their variable rate coils for their suspension systems and sent us a set to try. The initial part of the coil is softer than KORE’s standard coil to allow it to absorb smaller bumps. At stroke the coil is on par with the standard coil and becomes about 30% stiffer as it nears full compression to allow more resistance to bottoming. Kent Kroeker of KORE says the variable rate does wonders for the system, and we believe him since everything else he has said about his suspension systems has been true so far.

To wire our lights we used Lightforce's wiring harness, which is a very nice piece.Weatherproof connectors, a high quality relay, and wrapped wiring are key features.

 

 

 

 

With the stock headlights, it’s easy to see that we were left without a lot of light at night.

 

 

 

 

We put the two Light-force HIDs in the middle of our light bar as our long-range lights and the non-HIDs as our floods. The result is very noticeable as it’s easy to see how much more of the fence line is visible, along with more overall light.

 

SOURCES:

Desert Racing Concepts P.O. Box 369 Twentynine Palms, Calif. 92277 866-361-1439 (sales) 760-361-1439 (tech) www.desertracingconcepts.net Kroeker Off Road Engineering (KORE) P.O. Box 2628 Valley Center, Calif. 92082 760-749-8687 www.koreperformance.com Lightforce 28 Orsmond St. Hindmarsh SA 5007 South Australia 866-583-6723 (U.S.) www.lightforce.com Off Road Unlimited 2102 Kenmere Ave. Burbank, Calif. 91504 818-563-1208 www.offroadunlimited.com

Randy’s Ring & Pinion 10411 Airport Road SE Everett,Wash. 98204 425-347-1199 www.ringpinion.com Tiregate 1035 S. Linwood Santa Ana, Calif. 92705 877-WILCOTG www.tiregate.com Trailready 1304 80th Street SW Everett,Wash. 98203 425-353-6776 www.trailready.com