He guys one of my friends will be gutting my cat since he has a welder and he said he'll do it for free. My ? for you guys is is it bad on the motor to gut the cat? I've read somewhere that gutting the cat is bad because it allows the exhaust gases to expand then re compress which puts stress on the motor. Would it be worth it to just go ahead and replace it with a y pipe or would it be fine as is?

Im also thinking about lifting my truck and had a few ?'s. I believe I have the off road package because my truck sits higher than any other stock ram that I usually see. My question for you guys is how would a 5" do with 35x12.50"s. I've been looking at rough country. I haven't decided on rims yet thougb, but I'm really favoring the xd monsters probably gonna go with 20s.

 

Gutting the can't won't hurt, if it's plugging up, it will actually help. You may or may not get a code whining about cat efficiency.... can fix that with the non-fouler trick.

A hollow cat will kinda screw up exhaust flow..... just cutting it out, and putting in a straight piece of pipe would be better, but, if you have the DI/SO cat... that can be fun. Off-Road Y-pipe from Jegs or summit would work too. (no cat at all. flows MUCH better than stock)

Get a build sheet for your truck, (thread in faq section for that process) see if you do indeed have the OR package. Might also look at your suspension parts, and see if one of the previous owners hasn't already modified it some. (leveling kit, add-a-leaf, lift blocks, things of that nature. keep in mind, it came with three inch blocks in the rear from the factory.)

Five inches is about perfect for 35's. Bear in mind, if you DO have the OR package, a five inch kit will only net you three more inches of lift. Make sure the kit is COMPLETE too. For that kind of lift, you will need longer control arms, different (adjustable?) track bar, dropped pitman arm, and sway bar drop brackets.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/94-99-Dodge-...108233&vxp=mtr

I was looking at this and it has everything, what do you think? And I'll look into getting the off road y pipe since I do have the di/so. Also what tire would you recommend? As I said im looking to get 35x12.50s and since im in the city I dont want extreme off road but I would like to have the capability if need be... especially since I hydroplaned this week and got stuck in the field because my truck couldn't get up a sorry 8' hill.

 

Only thing I see missing there is the drop pitman arm. TGC's is a pretty good company.

Go with some variety of all terrain tire. BFG A/T2s, or similar. Dick Cepek Fun Country II's are good as well, but, a tad pricey.

 

It's got the drop pitman arm included it's just not listed or shown, he has multiple listings each with different shocks but everything else is the same.

 

I bought 35" Falken Rocky Mountain ATS's, and I like everything about them except that I can't get them to balance... After hours of searching I can't find anyone else online that has had the same problems, maybe I just got a fluke tire/set. Either way the shop I bought from is going to fix or replace them. If you are looking for a cheap long lasting and capable tire, these Falkens are it. Again, I haven't read anything about anyone online having troubles with this other than myself. For a little bit more money you could go for a Nitto Terra Grappler, which are supposed to be a phenomonal tire.

 

What do you guys think about nitto trail grapplers? I know there more treaded but I wouldn't mind it as long as it wasn't like riding a bull. I've seen that a lot of people seem to like them and say that they ride pretty smooth.

 

Never had any experience, but I really like the tires.

 

I've decided to just say screw it and get more off road than original... better safe than sorry haha. I'm currently stuck between nitto trail grapplers and toyo open country m/t. And I've also got stuck between choosing rims. I originally wanted the xd monsters but I also like the tis monster rims.

XD Monster 20X10


Tis Monster 20x10

 

dont forget to save about 1,500bucks to have the gears swapped to 4.56 ones to compensate for the 35's ...or you'll likely be spending more on a new transmission when the 35's burn it up with the wrong gears...... keep in mind your MPG will drop too so be prepared.. (if you put the 35" tires on with 3.55 gears the truck wont be able to get out of its own way and will be very sluggish to drive...Why no one has mentioned this yet is confusing)

Ironically even though gears are one of the most ignored areas of lifting a truck because of cost they are ultimately responsible for a good amount of the threads here which are about related issues from not addressing them like the truck being sluggish and having no power and transmission shifting issues and lets not forget our favorite brought up in a new thread every day... gas mileage...