For those of you who are interested, I have about 50 - 60 photos hosted here documenting the build up.
http://www.citlink.net/~boehm/Dodge/

 

Jebus! That is an amazing rig. I think you just about built my dream toy. Congrats on the work and if you want to stiffen the truck without gutting you may want to look at an exo-cage tied into the body and frame. Just a thought.

 

The Line-X price shifted a lot. Originally when they quoted the job to me it was only 1500 dollars. Then they bumped it up to 1800 and I worked in some additional things to be coated for the rise. Then they bumped it up again to 2400 which really pissed me off. They wanted to go to 3000 dollars for the job but we got up to walk out and go elsewhere.
Even at 2400 I think it was too much. The amount of prep work required is very low really. There is some taping, but it is nothing like taping for a professional paint job.

I did consider a partial exo-cage actually. I need to get a SCORES book to do more research on the fundementals of cage construction.I was considering a bed cover, the jack rabbit thing. However, with the body flexing as much as it does, I'm worried that I'll either turn it into a kite, or it will stress the fiberglass and crack it. So I'm doing more research for that. Plus, I run into complications doing cage runners with a bed cover. Plus I want to have my bed still usable for camping equipment and such. I haul some hay also in the bed.

I'm not much into bling or cosmetics. It just so happened that this line-x job ended up looking outstanding to me. I don't expect everyone to love it. Since it is the opposite of what most attempt to gain. I do have a plan to black out the lights for cosmetic reasons though. I'm still picking headlights and tail lights.

-Steve

 

You might like the LED taillights like I have. They are almost blacked out but remain DOT legal. Are you entering SCORE events with it?

 

I'm not that good of a driver yet to enter a SCORES event. Nor do I have the money to beat my daily driver like that.
However, I am considering Chase type duties down at Baja. However, there is nothing specific yet.

I have looked at those lights you have. I actually like the way they look. Have you had any problems with LED's burning out? I've heard of other people having that type of problem with them. Especially on my truck which I beat like a drum.

 

sweet truck, the colors and everything are just right! i bet that might start a new line-x vehicle coloring option with people sick of the same ol same ol!

 

It should be cheaper then the crappy paint Dodge gives out. Much less prep work. They basically take a grinder with some rough sand paper and rough up the body. Then spray it on. When you look down the sides of the truck, you can't see any uneven build-up in spots like I originally feared would happen.










My filthy wheels. This is about 80 miles of high speed offroad. After I took this, I wanted to see how hard the finish was to maintain. So I went to the car wash and sprayed the whole truck down with the pressure washer. Then I sprayed it with the spot free rinse. The truck looked almost as good as when I picked it up. Now, I imagine if you do some mudding, and you get a color like white, or red, you'd have a hell of a time scrubbing the dirt out of the texture. But I could be wrong.


I also have this short video. I wasn't trying to do a jump, I was simply going to romp it over this hill. I hit it at about 30mph and threw the front up about 3 feet and the *** followed over about a foot up. Hitting a curb was worse then the impact. I think this is going to be a golf course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt7IG2-NRW4&NR=1

The following day I took a co-worker to the same place and hit it at about 35 - 40mph. He wasn't expecting us to get airborne. We hit pretty hard since the front slammed down when the rear left the ground. It was enough to knock his gun out of his holster, however it was a crappy Springfield Armory holster that they give away with the XD. He doesn't want to go jumping with me anymore though... *****!
It is a strange feeling, and concept to be jumping a 4 ton truck.

The jumping is ok, but I mainly got the Unlimited Suspension kit to allow for high speed action in the desert over some of the worst terrain in the world (The Mojave Desert.) The recent upgrades to the Unlimited system have been nice. The Race Anti-sway bar which is actually a Torsion bar is very effective. My upgrade to the 3.0 shocks have helped a lot to deal with the abuse. I'm overly impressed with the quality of the KORE components. To handle one of the billet control arms is a thing of beauty. You hold it side by side with the stock arms, and you can't believe the difference in craftsmanship and strength. The full Deaver leaf springs in the rear are very plush and quiet. They are much softer than stock, but reduce your load capacity. They allow for the shocks to do more of the work.

 

10 thumbs up!!! ... She's a beauty!! and the right colour too!!!

 

the line x///holy **** i never thought anyone else would do this, haha i wanted to do this so badly to my truck, 2002 ram 2500 cummins. how much was it man ? i think its the best looking truck i have ever seen, we have the same taste!!

 

I love this shot of that torsion bar and axle truss. Or as it as known as, "The coon catcher." The Fox Racing steering stabilizer is a 2.0" body, so compare that to the torsion bar.


Like these 3.0" shocks? They take up almost the entire inner coil. It took a lot of cutting to get them into the shock buckets. Reinforcing rings were welded onto the top of the shock tower.


2.5" shocks mounted in the rear. Stainless steel brake lines that are long enough to now deal with the massive amount of travel the system allows. 20" in the front, 28" in the rear. This is out of the book, I have yet to measure it myself.


That's one hell of a pillow block.


Billet clamp for the Race steering stabilizer. All these stock bars are being replaced in a week or two to hunt down my steering issues.


This is often called the beehive. The variable rate coils are great. You know those little round markers in the street on the yellow line, or right before a stoplight to get your attention? With these coils, I can almost not feel them at all. In my '06 Mustang GT, I brace for impact when I go over those at 60mph because it rattles your fillings out. When my truck was stock, it was the same way. These coils are like 3 coils in one. About half the stiffness of the stock coils at the bottom, then stiff to handle big hits, then it has an emergency super stiff set that helps reduce bottoming out which I've tried several times now. :P


More of that torsion bar setup.


The Race Anti-sway bar has new beefier links.

I'm glad people like the color scheme. I was biting my nails for over a month worried about how it would look. Now, it looks like a military assault vehicle. The only thing missing is the 50 caliber Browning mounted to a headache rack. That's on order. :P