im just wondering what i can do for my truck i have a 2003 ram 1500 and i will be doing some off roading. And with the way the air intake is right now im just asking to have my stuff flooded with water and mud. So is there any other options other then a snorkle, i may go snorkle just to be safe but if there's some good alternatives i'd really like to hear them. Thanks guys.

 

How deep of water do you plan on driving through? The stock intake is actually quite a decent distance from the ground so you're pretty unlikely to hydrolock it unless you find some real deep stuff.

And if you plan on going through something that deep you'll probably have to do some other mods to really prepare the truck for that.

 

Well i dont plan on going through anything too deep but you never know right. Im just wondering that with the inlet facing right out the front of the truck, if i was to hit water with speed would it flood into the air intake. I did notice that the actual box does have a nice set up as there is alot of space below the actual air filter. Which should help alot in preventing that kind of problem. But i guess when i get my lift kit on and bigger tires i will also be another 4 to 8 inches higher. Just curious as to what my options may be .

 

you could built a shield out of aluminum to keep it from hitting the intake or filter. also with deep water, your going to have to worry about everything below the intake before you get to worrying about the intake, ha if that makes any sense.

 

Well, if you are going to lift the truck I wouldn't really worry about it. Just pay attention until then and don't go too crazy. It would be pretty difficult to get water up that system without damn near submerging the filter. Now if you were running a CAI that had the thing hanging way down by the bumper that would be a whole different story. Some CAI's for the Ram actually have the filter higher than the stock one I think, which can help, but the filter is more exposed without the stock box.

The only other options would be going through the hood, which can be really expensive and maybe worse since water tends to splash up over the hood, or going snorkle. But I would bet you'll be fine with what you have unless you are trying to chase boats in your truck.

 

I dont know of any other suggestions other than the snorkel, but I will tell you this, get one!! If you dont, then dont hit the holes too hard. Im speaking from experience.

I just locked up my 302 in my ol' f150 right before Christmas. The hole I hit was purrrty deep. My lights would disappear when I crept into the hole. Decided to hit it a little harder, so I put it in 4hi, 2nd gear (3spd w/ granny), and hit that dam thing at about 8-10mph, and thats all she wrote.

Use me as a real good, bad example. I knew better, but I didnt know it at the time Either prepare your truck for those situations, or dont put yourself in them

 

Yeah I've heard there can be issues with the axles the breather cap or something, Haven't heard much else though, what else do i have to worry about ? I dont wanna screw anything up so i wanna make sure ive got everything i can covered. But I'm not gonna be doing much if any deep water, there could be mud holes and stuff. And then of course theres always gettin stuck in the mud/water if its over your exhaust and flooding it that way. But im not gonna be going to crazy I do only have a 2wd lol. Im petty much just gonna be out there to drive along the trails and probably wont try any of the crazy stuff, maybe flexing and what not cus with the ifs and no axle in the front i will have alot of articulation or so ive heard. But i'd like to take all the precatuions i can cus you never know what your gonna encounter out there .

 

Lol yeah thats exactly what im worried about thats why i figure its better to be safe then sorry. Lots of my friends have built snorkles for there trucks so i might just do the same or atleast somehow maybe try to re-run the stock intake so maybe its facing backwards but be able to like switch it out maybe some strong rubber housing and clamps who knows. I might talk to the guys at the 4 wheel shop but they'll probably just try to rip me off with some crazy 1000$ snorkle or something lol

 

Haha, that thing I said about "chasing boats with your truck" seems to be correct. Yeah, if you're dunking your headlights in the hole, something bad is probably going to happen. I'm sure it SEEMED like a good idea at the time though. It always does.

I love my Hemi too much to risk drowning it. Trucks are primarily land vehicles after all.

And as we've sort of touched on in this thread, if you're going through water that deep you've got some other things to worry about as well. There are a lot of things under that hood that rely on being surrounded by air not water, like that big spinning fan right in the front.

 

as for exhaust as long as you don't turn the truck off with it under water you will be fine, the exhaust will keep the water out of it. the only time you have to worry about it is if you drove like a 4cyl truck that idled way low and doesn't create lots of pressure