I took the ram up some mountains last night to check out the performance of a stock ram with open differential and a 7" lift. (I also have cst monotube nitrogens all the way around.) I have very limited offroad experience and almost no knowledge of what parts to get but am slowly learning. Here is what i learned so far.

Here is the link to the pass I took.

http://www.dirtopia.com/wiki/Main_Divide_Road

I took that road to the highest peak of the mountain which can be found here.

http://www.dirtopia.com/wiki/Santiago_Peak

It doesn't explain there but we took the difficult path up which is class 3 offroading.

The terrain consisted of basic graded dirt all the way to rocky gravelly terrain on switchbacks with large rocks and huge dips and bumps everwhere.

I would have pictures but my camera phone refused to take any good pictures even with headlights shining on objects.

Since the rear of the truck is lifted with blocks there were some points at which it was useful and other points at which it made me **** my pants.

The parts that the lift helped in were any berms basically where I could hit them at a higher speed than a stock lift. It definately added to the fun factor.

The bad parts where when I was going on a steep uphill with loose terrain. The truck with the stock tires (At street PSI mind you) and the lifting blocks just added to the **** your pants factor. I was basically going up the hill at a slight diagonal angle fighting to keep the truck straight with a 4,000 ft. drop just a few feet to my left However, It was still manageable.

There was a point where the open differential also proved to be troublesome while traversing over some large rocks that were in our path. The front tires made it over fine, and if I didn't have the lift at that point my gas tank or frame could have SMASHED onto the rock that i went over. The rear tire refused to go over the rock though. I ended up basically just spinning my rear right tire until i was sliding a bit too close to the cliff for comfort so i backed up and tried another angle.

The CST shocks are SMOOTH. I absolutely love those things. The way they respond to sudden drops and jumps is amazing for some entry level shocks. They just feel solid and have the perfect amount of give and seem to spring back into shape VERY quickly and STAY there.

The turning radius on the ram was pretty damn good on the switchbacks.

Descending the beast was also a pleasant yet teaching experience.

Dropped it into 2nd and 1st gear the entire way down. I could feel the anti-lock kicking in at certain points which was pretty scary but probably saved my ***.

The turning radius helped a lot and the lift made going down the dips and berms very easy and pleasent. (But not too easy to where you don't even feel the terrain.)

Lessons I learned out of this was basically that i need some new tires and to get at the bare minimum a limited slip differential.

Also, with the lifting blocks, stock PSI and leaf springs combined you feel EVERYTHING. I'll also lower my psi a bit next time I go up that mountain.

 

need pics of this so called rig of yours??

 

Shocks




Truck

 

nice truck you sure it has a 7 inch lift looks more like the 4 inch spindle lift?

 

I almost shat meself reading about the cliff.

 

not bad, that lift is really only designed for 35in tires. You definatly look like you need some new treads so I'd go with 35s. With the larger tires, I'd suggest you get the 4.88s when you swap to the limited slip.

 

Thank you, I was told it was a 7" lift with the 7" kit.

However, You guys, and a friend or two told me that I probably have 7" in the front with like a 4" in the back? SOmething about it not being a "True" 7" lift.

I'll take a picture with a tape measurer in a minute here.

 

Thank you. That's probably my next move. Do you think those would be ok on the stock wheels? Or should i go all the way and get some 15's

 

if your talking about 15 inch rims they wont fit on a 3rd gen ram smallest you can go is 17's

 

Haha yeah it was pretty scary. My friend warned me about that trail too.

Btw, thanks for your claybarring video. I'm probably going to do that to my truck pretty soon.