Ram TRX sports unique Bilstein dampers and the suspension company wants them back for evaluation.
Last week, we brought you a video of a brand new Ram 1500TRX taking on serious damage when it was jumped in poor conditions. Although media testing included jumping these trucks both further and higher, media members were using a solid dirt jump on an off-road track, landing on packed dirt. On the other hand, the YouTuber StreetSpeed717 jumped off of a sorry little mound of dirt overlooking a stream, landing in soft, grass-covered ground.
The truck landed at an angle and the nose sunk down into the soft ground, damaging the front bumper and skid plate of the new Ram TRX. Also, the YouTuber put extra wheels with tires in the bed with the hope of balancing out the front end, but those wheels took flight during the jump, crashing through the back windows on the hand landing. The truck was very beaten up, but the YouTuber was able to do donuts in the mud right after the jump before heading home.
More Damage than Expected
While the damage to the Ram 1500 TRX appeared to be mostly aesthetic, it turns out that the landing damaged the area where the reservoirs for the front shocks are mounted. Those reservoirs were evidently broken look, but more importantly, those shocks took a tremendous impact. The battery tray also broke loose, in addition to the damage to the body. He plans to fix the truck, but he has his work cut out for him.
Fortunately for the owner of this Ram 1500, the engineers from Bilstein saw the video of the TRX being launched through the air onto soft ground and they want to see how the shocks stood up to the ridiculous stunt. The Bilstein team reached out to the YouTuber and told him that they would send him all new shocks and pay for him to send the factory shocks back for evaluation, so while he will be buying some new parts for this rebuild, he will be getting new shocks for free.
In the video below, the YouTuber who does simply by Mike walks us through the damage to the truck from front to rear, and it is a bit worse than it first appeared. At the same time, the truck is still drivable, although it is nowhere near as great looking. In the end, the truck stood up to a decent jump and a terrible landing far better than most. If the YouTuber had picked a better location for the jump there would have likely been no damage, but a smooth jump without any damage wouldn’t get people to watch.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
