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Did dodge put on oem or factory fender flares on 2nd gen rams?

I have a recently bought, 1999 dodge ram 2500 4x4 V10 (pic attached) that has after market wheels with 285/75/16, and fender flares. The flares look like they could be OEM, but I don't remember any of these trucks having them in the late 90s. I'm thinking of painting the truck (the pic doesn't show it but there's about 2000 spots of touchup, ...someone took the time to make sure touch up when on every deep scratch, which is great...but they put a lot of scratches in it.) If I paint it I can't figure out if I want to pull them off, leave them off...pull them off put them back on. Either way they are coming off. At some point in the truck's life it had paint on the drivers side. They didn't remove the flare and the 'gap' between the flare and body is 'sealed' with thick bead of paint. The other 3 have a 'gap' which is not painted 'shut'. I can even gently pull on the 'lip' of the flare about a pinky width and see whats going on in there (don't see rust, see what looks like very old adhesive breaking down and oxidizing). I'm not sure if they will survive being taken off anyway, if they don't and I want to put them back on I'm just curious if these look like they were dodge/mopar made or just aftermarkets...they certainly have a nice level of detail for after market parts.

Pics are from the dealership in florida before I drove it the 1300 miles home (10.5 - 11.5 MPG in case you were wondering)...

I'm inclined to believe
1) it's aftermarket
2) it won't survive removal and instillation. Particularly the one that is painted to the body.


It is worth mentioning I won't be painting it myself, it'll come down to primer, and get the same color (PRC/Pearl Metallic red)

At some point I'm going to be putting smaller wheels on it, that are more narrow and not as tall...265 or maybe even original 245....These wheels look great but I don't like how it makes low end torque feel, and I do tow a 5000lbs boat. In general big wheels look nice, but they feel like they affect the 'giddy up' in the 0-30mph range empty...I imagine that's going to be 0-45mph range when pulling. I know other people tow bigger with even bigger heavier wheels. So the utility of the flare is kind of null when you put a more narrow smaller wheel back on there.

 

I don't think dodge ever did factory flares. When the trucks were still in production, there were a fair few companies that made them though..... Might be able to get them to break loose from the body with a razor blade......

 

Man, that thing is gorgeous! Still the best looking truck on the road!

Those are aftermarket paint-matched so the PO spent some dough on it. Too bad you're removing them and the wheel/tires. Looks amazing.

 

Thanks - I kind of figured these had to be aftermarket.

I'm quite conflicted about the wheels...they look amazing (the tire size, the rims themselves are not my thing, I much prefer stock steel/chrome)...but I'm really surprised how hard I have to stomp on it to make it accelerate quickly even when it's empty. I don't feel like I have any real power in it until I hit about 3000 RPM, and feel like the big diameter contributes to it. I run 3.55 ratio.

Curious what that will be like when I put the boat behind it.

Plus I like stock stuff. I actually have a set of the stock steel/chrome rims and caps. I read a lot of folks put 285's on them. However I'm not sure how many of those folks tow with them. Having a tire failure when towing a trailer really sucks.

 

My 01 V10 2500 had 3.55's and 285's on it when I bought it. It also had the dealer installed 'death flash'.(check your radiator support for a decal that says 'software update') The truck was a slug. No power and left me wondering if I wasted my money. I did a little research and found the V10 responds very well to the SCT tuner and better gearing. I went with 4.10's and an SCT with V10 tunes from Hemifever. Even with 35 inch tires, it was a whole new truck. Responsive and a great tow vehicle. I towed a 3000lb Airstream trailer from PA to Mass for a relative. Towed like it wasn't even back there.

These are great trucks, but sometimes people option them out without realizing how badly it will impact drive-ability.

 

The wheels and tires look pretty good on there though...... For about the same cost... (and maybe less....) you could re-gear instead.

My truck has 33's (285's) and 4.56 gears..... Which is too deep. 4.10s would be perfect. I may go to 35" tires, just so I can tow at highway speeds, without having the engine screaming at 2800 RPM...... (and that's at 60mph......)

 

And then there's me with my little 318 and 285s and 3.55 gears and deathflash
Talk about a slug!

 

I had those same flares on my last truck, body color and all. I had to re-tape them and what did I find, mopar part numbers on the inside. Then I looked at the window sticker and it had some appearance package. I don't know if the flares were part of it but mopar did make flares. I want to say they were on there from new just by how bad the paint was baked on them.

 

SCT and gears: That is interesting. Did you do both the tuner and gears at the same time, or did you do them in stages, if so - which first? What i'm getting at is what was the difference with just one vs both efforts? I did rough math and I'm thinking 3.55 gears become something like 3.20 gears with the 285s compared to the factory 245s...4.10 gears would correct for that, and I'm guessing put me in the RPM powerband at lower speeds. *fair warning I'm not a mechanic but I can do arithmetic so I have no idea what I'm talking about* right now it feels like I start the truck in 2nd gear as far as sluggish take offs. If I'm going 35 or higher and stomp on it up over 3000 RPM I feel it move. That sounds like a gearing issue, but I'm curious what this death flash business did...I have 25 min till I have to start working, headed out to go look for a label.

Death flash: ok...just a tiny bit of googling and I'm looking for a label on my PCM? or on radiator support? And this made the vehicle sluggish? Out of curiosity, what was the condition that it 'fixed'?

-Ray

 

regear cheaper than tires? or even same cost?

I thought parts and labor regearing would run ~2K. I can do tires for about half (I already have wheels). Am I off on the cost of regearing?

Ray