What did you do to your Ram today???

[Jupiter58]

How much money does one need to go camping anymore? If it makes you happy why should I care...
Depending on where you live you could build a garage for that kind of money.
I get it. I'm just old and crappy man I guess. I sure want to see it though.

Some great discussion on this topic and probably should be its own thread!

Very sorry to hear about your life events and as we often hear everyone looks through the lens that life hands them. I wish many happy and healthy years for you!

A little background:

Been hiking, camping, backpacking my whole life still have way too much of that gear left. Did a bit of motorcycle on road camping then went to off road dual sports at about 55. Loved my dirt bikes. Did the TAt end to end completely once have done 3/4 of it on dual sports plus some east coast trips.
As I passed 60, sleeping in a tent with no vehicle in predator country (4 and 2 legged out west) I did the tat again plus many off shoots in my jkur. Great set up for solo and doing challenging trails! Had enough water, food and electric to be off grid for 4 or 5 days or more. Great upgrade for comfort and security sleeping in the jeep.
Met my now wife about 10 years ago and she observed my trips. Now she wants to see the country. She is English and still resides there mostly as both of us still work. She has just seen the south east of the US from the keys to the outerbanks and the smokies.
She wants to see the west. She is 60 and I am 67. Another year and a bit and we can take the time to see all of the lower 48, maybe Canada and Alaska also.
I thought my paid off f150 eb would be the last truck I owned but unsolvable electric issues brought me to this 22 rebel.
I had been looking at caps and RTTs mounted on a bed rack and I could tell she was iffy about those.
Next I looked at the go fast stuff, great quality and reputation and she was more interested.
Then I heard about hardsided ones and I think she has finally bought in, especially the hiatus.
So we are looking at some extended trips, 30-60 days maybe longer with her and the 12 pound dog. Try to see most of everything the west has to offer. And it sets us up nicely for comfortable east coast trips.
Right now I am trying to to get everything redone and renewed in our house in SFL and hers in south England so we can pull the plug on working forever.
Fortunately I am in a position where I can work a little longer and afford a hiatus.
Considered a sprinter van but that does not take me the places I want to go, but still an option.
Of course health and life events could change that in a minute but I am working towards our preferred plan.

 

[Dogpatch]

You guys don’t know how to camp!
If my wife got to pick…..

 

[RAM REAPER MAN]

Some great discussion on this topic and probably should be its own thread!

Very sorry to hear about your life events and as we often hear everyone looks through the lens that life hands them. I wish many happy and healthy years for you!

A little background:

Been hiking, camping, backpacking my whole life still have way too much of that gear left. Did a bit of motorcycle on road camping then went to off road dual sports at about 55. Loved my dirt bikes. Did the TAt end to end completely once have done 3/4 of it on dual sports plus some east coast trips.
As I passed 60, sleeping in a tent with no vehicle in predator country (4 and 2 legged out west) I did the tat again plus many off shoots in my jkur. Great set up for solo and doing challenging trails! Had enough water, food and electric to be off grid for 4 or 5 days or more. Great upgrade for comfort and security sleeping in the jeep.
Met my now wife about 10 years ago and she observed my trips. Now she wants to see the country. She is English and still resides there mostly as both of us still work. She has just seen the south east of the US from the keys to the outerbanks and the smokies.
She wants to see the west. She is 60 and I am 67. Another year and a bit and we can take the time to see all of the lower 48, maybe Canada and Alaska also.
I thought my paid off f150 eb would be the last truck I owned but unsolvable electric issues brought me to this 22 rebel.
I had been looking at caps and RTTs mounted on a bed rack and I could tell she was iffy about those.
Next I looked at the go fast stuff, great quality and reputation and she was more interested.
Then I heard about hardsided ones and I think she has finally bought in, especially the hiatus.
So we are looking at some extended trips, 30-60 days maybe longer with her and the 12 pound dog. Try to see most of everything the west has to offer. And it sets us up nicely for comfortable east coast trips.
Right now I am trying to to get everything redone and renewed in our house in SFL and hers in south England so we can pull the plug on working forever.
Fortunately I am in a position where I can work a little longer and afford a hiatus.
Considered a sprinter van but that does not take me the places I want to go, but still an option.
Of course health and life events could change that in a minute but I am working towards our preferred plan.

I get it and the older I get I understand it even more. Living in East Tennessee and a boy scout I'm very familiar with camping. If I were still doing it I'd have to have one.
If my life didn't take a crazy turn half way through I might even have one and if I didn't I'd want one. I'm not dead yet so its always so who knows. My crazy life might just put me in one.

 

[RAM REAPER MAN]

You guys don’t know how to camp!
If my wife got to pick…..

View attachment 206827

Is that a real thing? If it is $3M its probably a good deal considering some other options in their line.

 

[Ready Go]

Is that a real thing? If it is $3M its probably a good deal considering some other options in their line.

I'm kinda partial to this Lamborghini...

 

[Grimlakin]

I'm kinda partial to this Lamborghini...

View attachment 206832

So not this thing?

 

[Scram1500]

This is the one

 

[StuartV]

I added a radar detector.

Valentine 1 Gen 2 with a Gen5DIY wiring harness to run it using power from the mirror.

19-25 Ram Radar Detector Harness

This harness is for installing your radar detector into your 2019-2025 Ram. This harness saves you from splicing and/or entering pins into your trucks wiring harness. This plug and play harness connects inline at the rear view mirror and allows you to connect your radar detector to either your...

www.gen5diy.com

I tried it first down at the bottom of the windshield, taking power from the 12V outlet on top of the Uconnect. That made it a stretch to reach it if I wanted to hit the Mute button.

Up high, it should get better reception and I can hit Mute without leaning forward at all.

And I don't like having cords running across my dashboard.

And MAYBE it will be a little less noticeable to people casually inspecting my truck from the outside.

The sun visor flips down and only touches it if I flip it all the way forward. In the attached pic, the visor is not hitting the RD, and I can still see the arrows that light up on the RD to tell me which direction it is when it detects a radar signal.

I may still get a $10 bracket off eBay that will semi-permanently (3M double-sided tape) stick to the windshield, so I never have to worry about suction cups coming loose and the RD falling down.

 

[Ready Go]

So not this thing?

View attachment 206833

I'm a simple guy with simple (old school) tastes!

 

[Dogpatch]

I added a radar detector.

Valentine 1 Gen 2 with a Gen5DIY wiring harness to run it using power from the mirror.

19-25 Ram Radar Detector Harness

This harness is for installing your radar detector into your 2019-2025 Ram. This harness saves you from splicing and/or entering pins into your trucks wiring harness. This plug and play harness connects inline at the rear view mirror and allows you to connect your radar detector to either your...

www.gen5diy.com

I tried it first down at the bottom of the windshield, taking power from the 12V outlet on top of the Uconnect. That made it a stretch to reach it if I wanted to hit the Mute button.

Up high, it should get better reception and I can hit Mute without leaning forward at all.

And I don't like having cords running across my dashboard.

And MAYBE it will be a little less noticeable to people casually inspecting my truck from the outside.

The sun visor flips down and only touches it if I flip it all the way forward. In the attached pic, the visor is not hitting the RD, and I can still see the arrows that light up on the RD to tell me which direction it is when it detects a radar signal.

I may still get a $10 bracket off eBay that will semi-permanently (3M double-sided tape) stick to the windshield, so I never have to worry about suction cups coming loose and the RD falling down.

View attachment 206835

I had my electronics guy install a hardwire kit that had the inline mute button. As you can see, the detector is down low just above the windshield wiper line. The back of the detector sits on the dash so reduces the weight hanging off the suction cup. The power wire drops down to the fuse panel under the dash. I have the inline mute button come out just below the dash and is within reach.
You should see if Valentine has the larger single suction mount. They are better at carrying the weight.
I would have had my radar detector up high but elected to put my dashcam up there behind the mirror and hardwired it to the mirror power.

 

[reapur]

I added a radar detector.

Valentine 1 Gen 2 with a Gen5DIY wiring harness to run it using power from the mirror.

19-25 Ram Radar Detector Harness

This harness is for installing your radar detector into your 2019-2025 Ram. This harness saves you from splicing and/or entering pins into your trucks wiring harness. This plug and play harness connects inline at the rear view mirror and allows you to connect your radar detector to either your...

www.gen5diy.com

I tried it first down at the bottom of the windshield, taking power from the 12V outlet on top of the Uconnect. That made it a stretch to reach it if I wanted to hit the Mute button.

Up high, it should get better reception and I can hit Mute without leaning forward at all.

And I don't like having cords running across my dashboard.

And MAYBE it will be a little less noticeable to people casually inspecting my truck from the outside.

The sun visor flips down and only touches it if I flip it all the way forward. In the attached pic, the visor is not hitting the RD, and I can still see the arrows that light up on the RD to tell me which direction it is when it detects a radar signal.

I may still get a $10 bracket off eBay that will semi-permanently (3M double-sided tape) stick to the windshield, so I never have to worry about suction cups coming loose and the RD falling down.

View attachment 206835

View attachment 206836

View attachment 206837

Have you looked at Blendmount? BlendMount Radar Detector Mounts Custom Aluminum Mounts
I use the mirror mount and the mirror tap for power, pretty easy install.

 

[StuartV]

I had my electronics guy install a hardwire kit that had the inline mute button. As you can see, it is down low above the windshield wipers. The back of the detector sits on the dash so reduces the weight hanging off the suction cups. The power wire drops down to the fuse panel under the dash. I have the inline mute button come out just below the dash and is within reach.
You should see if Valentine has the larger single suction mount. They are better at carrying the weight.
I would have had my radar detector up high but elected to put my dashcam up there behind the mirror and hardwired it to the mirror power.

I ordered this $10 bracket off eBay. Stick with 3M tape to the glass. Even better than a suction cup. And only $10.

Pardon Our Interruption...

Where it is now, I can easily reach the RD itself to hit the Mute button. And - THEORETICALLY - I will get better radar reception with it up high than down low.

The wiring harness for power literally took me 5 minutes to install and I can take it out and leave no trace in another 5 minutes.

If I decide to add a dashcam, I will put it on the right side of the DASM.

Have you looked at Blendmount?

Yes, I did look at that.

I didn't want something hanging under my RVM and blocking even more of my view in that direction.

If you look at the one point-of-view pic I posted, you can see some bushes and a tree at about 2:00 from my truck. Hanging my RD there would block even more of my view of that. That would not be the end of the world. But, having the RD up high gives me (theoretically) better reception and does not have that downside of blocking my view of any part of the road.

And, a $10 bracket off eBay vs $120 Blend mount...

The wiring harness from Gen5DIY was not cheap. But, I like it as a much "cleaner" solution than sticking pins into existing wiring connector holes. The DIY cable will never accidentally pull/shake/vibrate loose, under any circumstances.

If I DID decide to spend the big bucks on a mount, I think I would get a Stealth Mount and put it up high on the windshield in the same spot I have the RD now.

Being able to remove and replace the RD in a second, with no plugging or unplugging of a power cable would be pretty ideal.

$40 more than a Blend mount, but if I was spending $120, I think I'd go ahead and ante up for $160. That said, I will most likely just stick with $10....

Stealth Mount – Stealth Mount – Quick Detach Powered Radar Detector Mount

stealth-mount.com

 

[rotwiler]

Pardon Our Interruption...

Installed those! Took a month to arrive in the US from China

Are those the ones that snap on grill, no screws/bolts needed? I bought a set of snap in ones, still haven't installed, have the blacked out light up hemi 5.7 hood side vent thing ones too.

 

[rotwiler]

Today installed Amp, subwoofers etc. Have a 21 quad cab i bought back in around March, installed a kicker key 200.4 auto dsp amp, jbl 3 way 6x9's rear, kenwood component 6x9 woofers from doors, sky high car audio 3.5 carbon fiber neodyme in dash. Today, installed Fox box dual 10 ported, 2 audiocontrol spike series 10s, a Down4sound JP13 mono amp(around 1,350 rms at 2ohm. I couldn't go 1 ohm without electrical upgrades, would be 2300 watts and less efficient. Will test for a bit and decide if I need to go big 3 or alternator. I should be good, truck has the 220a alternator. I drove around after installing, think gain may be too low. Sounds super clean, bass is great, sound is sound quality over sp, the audiocontrol subs are dual dampening sound quality subs, 500rms to 750rms safe zone. But amp can put out at 2ohms 1350rms +, my voltage stays 14.0-14.1 almost all the time which is great, but it should drop more if getting full power. I have zero electrical upgrades. Does sound fantastic, happy I went with this setup. I am 59, so into sound quality more than spl, but still like bass.

 

[boogielander]

I get why one would get one. I think its probably worth it if money isn't an issue and you use it.
Id say in colder climates it's not really even a option than to do it. I spent about 30 minutes on the website checking all the units and it impressive.
This is more about where my brain is. When a cancer doc tells you 1 to 2 years left and go through a divorce your brain freezes. I walked away with my dog and my truck.
Money and possessions seem pointless at that moment. I guess my point is EVERYTHING seems more expensive to me and its probably a mental disorder of sorts, Starting life at 55 at zero and 1/4 the person I was is a bit difficult but I'm grateful, very grateful.

oh yeah nothing beats being alive!
going out is all about the experience, the point is getting out to experience different things. all the other things are just "if i can make my time better and i can afford it (or borrow money on other people's dime - aka, 0% interest) then why not"
i always tell people (people i met outside/ my customers/ etc) it's okay if you can't afford these things. You don't need these things I have to do the things I do. The point is DO THINGS, not BUY things. I buy these things to test them out and improve my experience, but that is mostly because I spoiled myself. But then if you want to buy things to improve your experience, save up and buy quality things so it's a buy once and not worry about it for years deal. And by that logic, DOING THINGS and SAVING UP are not mutually exclusive things.

i'll encourage you with my favorite phrase "f*ck it, we'll figure it out when we get there"

 

[boogielander]

Some great discussion on this topic and probably should be its own thread!

Very sorry to hear about your life events and as we often hear everyone looks through the lens that life hands them. I wish many happy and healthy years for you!

A little background:

Been hiking, camping, backpacking my whole life still have way too much of that gear left. Did a bit of motorcycle on road camping then went to off road dual sports at about 55. Loved my dirt bikes. Did the TAt end to end completely once have done 3/4 of it on dual sports plus some east coast trips.
As I passed 60, sleeping in a tent with no vehicle in predator country (4 and 2 legged out west) I did the tat again plus many off shoots in my jkur. Great set up for solo and doing challenging trails! Had enough water, food and electric to be off grid for 4 or 5 days or more. Great upgrade for comfort and security sleeping in the jeep.
Met my now wife about 10 years ago and she observed my trips. Now she wants to see the country. She is English and still resides there mostly as both of us still work. She has just seen the south east of the US from the keys to the outerbanks and the smokies.
She wants to see the west. She is 60 and I am 67. Another year and a bit and we can take the time to see all of the lower 48, maybe Canada and Alaska also.
I thought my paid off f150 eb would be the last truck I owned but unsolvable electric issues brought me to this 22 rebel.
I had been looking at caps and RTTs mounted on a bed rack and I could tell she was iffy about those.
Next I looked at the go fast stuff, great quality and reputation and she was more interested.
Then I heard about hardsided ones and I think she has finally bought in, especially the hiatus.
So we are looking at some extended trips, 30-60 days maybe longer with her and the 12 pound dog. Try to see most of everything the west has to offer. And it sets us up nicely for comfortable east coast trips.
Right now I am trying to to get everything redone and renewed in our house in SFL and hers in south England so we can pull the plug on working forever.
Fortunately I am in a position where I can work a little longer and afford a hiatus.
Considered a sprinter van but that does not take me the places I want to go, but still an option.
Of course health and life events could change that in a minute but I am working towards our preferred plan.

oh since you mentioned 30-60 day or longer trips, another thing to consider is the ability to stealth camp.
that is when sprinter comes very handy. During my Alaska and Canada trip, I realized a low-vis vehicle like a sprinter can be real beneficial to extended trips because they allow for stealth camping. You can just park it in a regular parking spot, close the blinds, put a partition or something between the driver seats and the "living quarter", put a high-vis vest and hard hat on the dash, and you can camp anywhere. That option is out of question with pop-ups (Hiatus, GFC, etc). When I was up north I had to secure campsites because it was still in season and campsites are high demand, so I had to modify my routes and miss quite a few things I want to see just so I can get a spot.

I got a friend who bought a Storyteller van. That thing went to most places that I took my truck to, the only places that it didn't go were the more bumpy or tighter trail (aka, places I wouldn't take my truck to anyways lol)
another friend got a OBS F-250 with a 4WC slide in, and he's planning to use that to stealth camp when he goes to Mammoth to snowboard this season. I'll see how that goes and report back to give you some more ideas.


now this is what i REALLY want lol checks all the boxes.
offroad? yes (just no tight trails)
extended trips? yes
wet bath? yes (iirc it also has a washing machine)
insulated box? yes
cab to habitat pass through? yes, iirc
storage? yes
HVAC? yes
internet? yes
full kitchen with fridge and freezer? yes

only thing is no more high speed runs and it'd cost me $450k lol

 

[gskowronek]

and probably 5mpg

 

[toadsch]

Lasfit bulbs went in today. Left some skin in the engine bay doing those front turns. Need to get some one with tiny hands.

 

[Sp33d Nut]

Made a platform to level out the rear floor for our Doodle.

 

[flying53brian]

Added lightbar, Baja Designs lp4's, and finally installed the sPOD BantamX, had the darn thing for 1.5 years and finally decided I was not going to pay someone else $800 to run minimal amount of wiring when I did a better job than most of them! Oh, had some help from my Shiba! Thanks Yoshi