• RME Gear & Apparel

LT's Wild RamCharger

LT is new to the board, He just joined up. He is from my hometown of Los Alamos NM and we both wheel up here in Utah alot. He is a wild guy. He has been into wheeling along time. He has owned several built to the hilt CHevys, and a few Dodges. Right now he has a 87 Dodge Ramcharger which he calls his beater. The motor is a 360 bored over 0.3. He got real happy with the Sawsall and cut tons of the body off, including the roof, and front and fenders. He has a roll cage that is under fab right now. He now has a dana 60 going in for the front and a Corp 14 for the rear. He has Hydr. steering and a bunch of other stuff. He has new tires, 42 Irocs and beadlock rims.

I let him tell you about it. Here are his pictures:
 

Attachments

  • post-458-1192815070_thumb.jpg
    post-458-1192815070_thumb.jpg
    36.2 KB · Views: 185
  • post-2784-1200531333_thumb.jpg
    post-2784-1200531333_thumb.jpg
    17.1 KB · Views: 57
  • post-2784-1200531413_thumb.jpg
    post-2784-1200531413_thumb.jpg
    19.7 KB · Views: 55
  • post-2784-1200531439_thumb.jpg
    post-2784-1200531439_thumb.jpg
    22.7 KB · Views: 54
  • post-2784-1200531476_thumb.jpg
    post-2784-1200531476_thumb.jpg
    27.4 KB · Views: 49
Last edited:
Click to expand...
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
The dually used to have a two inch lift from Superlift. It is a leveling kit without the use of spacers, instead it uses new front springs. I now have a six inch lift also from Superlift. The rear hub caps will not fit because I had to use a two inch spacer to go between the rear duals. The spacer is required so that I could fit 315-70-17's (35X12.5's) on the rear. The spacer has studs that are longer than the stock ones. This makes the studs too long for the hub caps to snap onto the lug nuts. Now, I could cut the studs down about a quarter or a half of an inch and make it so that the hub caps would snap on. But, I am not too sure if I am going to keep running the stock wheels. If I step up to the aluminum wheels that I want then the mounting flanges of the aluminum will be enough that the caps will snap right on. The crew cab is big enough becasue I have the six way power seats. What I do is move the front seats forward and then I also move them up. This creates the nessassary room not only for the back passangers but also for the front as well. I did look at the Mega Cabs but, at the time the only way you could get one was with a short bed. I wanted the long bed so the Mega Cab was out. Now there are a few companies that will take your Mega Cab and put a long bed on it for about $6000.00 or so. But, they did not come about until after I had bought the truck.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time for an update on the Beater. I think that we have all the tranny leaks fixed. The main one was the dipstick tube and then there was another one some where on the pan gasket. I think that the tranny leaked about two quarts of fluid on the shop floor before we got them all worked out. Next Monday it will be going in the shop again for some minor surgery as I try to get a roll cage fitted into her. The roll cage was designed for a pickup truck and is a ten point design so it should fit but there are always suprises along the way. I already know that the cage was not measured and cut to length very well.

LT.
 
sprueitt

sprueitt

sprueitt Dodge T-Rex 6x6
LT. said:
Time for an update on the Beater. I think that we have all the tranny leaks fixed. The main one was the dipstick tube and then there was another one some where on the pan gasket. I think that the tranny leaked about two quarts of fluid on the shop floor before we got them all worked out. Next Monday it will be going in the shop again for some minor surgery as I try to get a roll cage fitted into her. The roll cage was designed for a pickup truck and is a ten point design so it should fit but there are always suprises along the way. I already know that the cage was not measured and cut to length very well.

LT.
Click to expand...


But hey.....Your king of the sawzall....you can make anything fit!

Good luck and get it in there. What ever it takes, casue it only take once to need the cage to make it worth every bit of struggle.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
sprueitt said:
But hey.....Your king of the sawzall....you can make anything fit!

Good luck and get it in there. What ever it takes, casue it only take once to need the cage to make it worth every bit of struggle.
Click to expand...

I can make it fit but that really is not the problem. I need to make it right. Just making it fit will not do me any good if the cage is not safe and fitted correctly. This is what I am worried about.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Okay time for another update. I now have six of the ten points of a roll cage installed and, I did not even use a sawzall. I did however, get to use my favorite tool. Sledge hammer! The cage was a tight, and I do mean, tight fit. The rest of the cage is now on hold until I heal from a welding accident.-_-

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
My wife and I drove up to the Salt Lake City area and were able to visit about a quarter of her family. Sprueitt and his family were kind enough to let us crash out at their house, eat their food, and keep them up till the wee hours of the morning. Then as a bonus Sprueitt took me out to a Military surplus supply house in North Ogden so that I could pick up some ammo cans to use as tool boxes on the beater. Yesterday I picked up some angle iron so that I could make some mounts in the beater for the new ammo cans. I also ran into Albuquerque to pick up some more retrieval gear and talk to some friends at the local 4 Wheel Parts store.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
I have been busy lately. I drove the beater home on Thursday night. This is also about the time that I discovered that I need a new alternator:-\. And I found this out after I just spend mega bucks $$$ on a new clutch for the dually. I ordered a South Bend Con FE clutch, flywheel, and upgraded the hydraulics, this is the clutch that is sometimes seen in sled pullers. I can't believe how heavy it is. Flywheel weighs 77 lbs., clutch weighs 44 lbs.:eek: Holy heavy metal Batman!! I got the angle iron welded up and all that I have left is to mount them to the beater, pick up my new Optimas, mount the battery trays, mount the cage to the floor, install clutch, and pick up a newer Ramcharger for my brother and deliver it to him in Las Cruces.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
New clutch is in the dually. It took my brother and I about 4 and a half hours to R&R the clutch. Which is really amazing because the book calls for 6 and a half hours and that is without the hydraulics being replaced. He did most of the work and looking back now I am wondering just how much "help" I was. The new clutch will hold all the power I can put to the ground without slipping now.

LT.
 
sprueitt

sprueitt

sprueitt Dodge T-Rex 6x6
You will love that clutch. Casper Customs installed my South Bend and I love it. Right now I am repainting and getting a bed liner in my dually.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
sprueitt said:
You will love that clutch. Casper Customs installed my South Bend and I love it. Right now I am repainting and getting a bed liner in my dually.
Click to expand...

I thought that you were wanting the flat bed for the dually. Plans change? So far I am really liking the new clutch. Grabs like crazy and holds all the power that I can throw at it.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
The beater is more ready than it has ever been. My brother and I have had everything done for a while now that we actually got a little bored and started some other projects that we were not going to do. We pulled all of the dash out of the beater, installed a huge new alternator, modified the brackets so the new alternator would fit, mounted the new tool boxes, mounted the cage, after it was welded in, removed a ton of needless electrical (under the hood and behind what was the dash), and fixed all the tranny leaks. The dually is packin some serious horsepower and torque and now has a clutch that can hold every bit of the power. I cannot wait until EJS!

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
I guess that I should post up an update. I just ordered another pair of FOA coil-overs for the front of the Beater. 2 1/2", 16" travel, remote reservoir, shocks with the triple rate kit. This includes a tender spring that I am also going to try and get for the set I already have for the rear. I did not order any more springs because I am going to see if the rates I have will work up front as well as in the back. The 440 is still waiting for me to get to it but, it will happen as soon as I have the suspension mocked into place.

Thanks to ChestionScout, CasperCustoms, and the rock God himeself, Bart for all their patience with me and all my stupid questions. It is becasue of fellas like these fine gentlemen that fourwheeling really is a hobby and sport that all can enjoy. Thanks for all your help fellas! I may be calling on you again for some link placements, double triangulated links.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time for another update. I will be ordering the new heads for the 440 before I get around to purchasing the bender I want. I posted up a poll for the bender and I think everyone is on the same page as I am. But, the heads are going for a crack head deal. 440 Source is offering some aluminum heads, assembled, for $900.00. :eek: They will flow like crazy and I will be ordering them on Thursday. I am also hoping that I will be able to order the steel, brackets, and the joints for the front and rear suspension. The bender will be ordered next, as soon as my bro comes up with his half of the money. :p The next thing on the agenda is to pull my old suspension off of the beater and get it installed on my younger brothers Ramcharger. I sold it to him for $400.00 installed. I also sold him my old Allied 32 bolt beadlocks. I am going to try and order the 17X10 Trail Ready beadlocks and the 42" Pitbulls. I hope to get the tires from CasperCustoms. So, all in all I am spending a heck of a lot more money on the beater than I ever thought that I would, I am really a Diesel junkie at heart. But, after wheeling with everybody this last time out I think the money is going to the right place. Catch y'all later.

LT.
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Another update. 440 source was not the greatest experience that I have had. I tried to spend money with them but, all I got was an answering machine during work hours. Not a good way to try and get business. So, the motor will be staying as it is. No rebuild, unless I run into something bad in it, just throw some new gaskets in it, fuel injection, headers, and we're off. The stock 410 horse power will have to be enough. Today, I am going to have my buddy in the Jemez order all my parts and joints from Blue Torch Fab. I spoke to a fella on the phone on Friday and he was VERY helpful. Answered all my questions and was cool enough to explain everything in lamans terms for me. The upper joints will be 7/8" QA-1 joints and the lowers will be 1 1/4" joints. For the tubing we are still up in the air as far as wall thickness and overall tube diameter goes. Does anyone have any ideas?

LT.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top