Desert Dawg Ram Rebel Build

[Desert Dawg]

Took the Ram (and the wife…lol) to Pagosa Springs for the weekend. Typically, we would go up to Ouray/Telluride to check out the Aspens during this time of year but we were just there a few weeks ago so decided on Pagosa where we usually rent a small cabin situated right along the San Juan River where we can also do some catch and release trout fishing. Sorry for the low quality shots as I forgot my camera (again) and had to use my old cell phone.

Quick road shot in northern NM (looking past the bugs on the windshield…lol):



Few shots around the cabin (unfortunately, no mountain shots as the haze was intense due to the fires in Colorado and California):



Saw lots of geese and deer, and even heard a bear prowling around the cabin one night (found some bear paw prints on the front porch but no shots of the bear):



Unfortunately, the river was very low this Fall so that was disappointing (and you know how bad my fly fishing skills are when I can't catch any in a low flow river...lol):



Dusk shot from cabin:



Due to COVID, we really didn’t run into too many folks considering this is usually a hot spot for Fall visitors. We did manage to find a couple of outdoor places to enjoy some local brews and good food but mostly just spent the time driving around and relaxing at the cabin.



Also disappointing is we did not fit in any off-road adventures this time but have to admit it was great just chilling out.



Again, the Ram did great as a road-trip vehicle with plenty of power for passing slower vehicles on the uphill runs. This time, I averaged 16 mpg by end of the trip which I thought was pretty decent given the amount of mountain driving there and back with speeds ranging between 65-80 mph. Had I been able to trail some, I am sure the mileage would have been lower. The big Yokohama Geolander G003 MTs were very quiet and the B2 Fab exhaust had absolutely no drone to it; overall, a very quiet and comfortable ride.


Edit: had a couple of questions regarding the last photo as it looks like I had a serious problem with the rear wheel. Nothing wrong but the rear of the truck is sitting on sloped section that is not evident in the photo so giving the illusion that my rear axle/wheel assembly is all screwed up...lol.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Rio Puerco Desert Run #1

So my brother and I decided on an impromptu romp out in the Rio Puerco west of town; me in the Ram Rebel with my kid and he in his nicely spec'd out FJ Cruise. I was hoping to have another friend join us in his brand new Rebel too but the timing was bad so ended up just being our two vehicles. The Rio Puerco is a favorite spot as it is relatively close to home and has a wide range of trail options (you can literally spend all day and not come close to hitting them all). There are tons of very long and high hill runs with deep sand, hard packed whoop-de-loops for the aeronauts, and various sand dunes you can race up.

I was very interested to see how the Rebel performed on faster desert runs than the slower mountain trails I took it on a few months ago. The Rebel did great as the Fabtech Dirt Logic coil-overs soaked up the washboard dirt roads and small ruts without any drama; at up to 60 mph, the truck remained smooth and very stable without any sideway motion (certainly felt very capable if I wanted to go faster). And once we got to the dunes, the Ram had lots of power to plow through while the new Geolanders did a fantastic job keeping the rig on top of the soft, loose sand.

It was a picture perfect day and the only real issue was that there were too many people out and about with motorcycles and ATVs running amok so had to be really on alert as there are tons of curves and hills to traverse. But everyone seemed attentive and all had a safe fun time.

Getting through the first leg:

​

More to come...

 

[Desert Dawg]

After romping over the whoop-de -loos (of which can cause some serious air if not careful), we headed for the dunes:

​

​

I did manage to drop my front end pretty hard going over a hard rock shelf I didn't see in time. Luckily, I had just enough clearance with the 3-inch lift and taller tires to avoid any damage on the left side (so the AMP power steps still good).

​

 

[Desert Dawg]

Anyway, we continued up to the dunes where we spent some time goofing around.

​

 

[Desert Dawg]

​

 

[2019REBEL]

Dirt bike guys are thinking how you squeezed that through there.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Dirt bike guys are thinking how you squeezed that through there.

Yeah, a few times we caused them to turn heads as they went by us...lol. But they were good in getting around us when needed.

 

[Jeansebplante]

Sweet ride man!

I’m confused though: how can you net +/- 3 inches lift from your stock Rebel height? Wouldn’t that make it 4 inches over a non Rebel?

Do you know if the coils are ajustable in height?

 

[Desert Dawg]

Sweet ride man!

I’m confused though: how can you net +/- 3 inches lift from your stock Rebel height? Wouldn’t that make it 4 inches over a non Rebel?

Do you know if the coils are ajustable in height?

Thanks for the compliment!

Yeah, I explained this previously as it is somewhat confusing. Check out my Post #272 Fabtech lift results as I think it might clear some things up. The only thing I would add is I could not actually fine tune the lift side to side (in order to make the passenger side completely level with the driver side) since the Ram geometry causes both sides to raise up when trying to only adjust one side.

But Fabtech, like most manufacturers, take a bit of liberty in their advertising too (like tire manufacturers advertising tire sizes); I believe the normal "preferred" settings are at or just over 2-inches of lift for a Rebel. If you max out the coil-overs, you are at or just over 2.5-inches so rounding up is "3 inches of lift" and/or accounting for larger tire sizes will net the full 3-inches of lift over a factory Rebel.

 

[Jeansebplante]

Thanks again, it makes sense.

Would I be able to set the suspension to a certain desired height ? I am hesitating between the Fabtech or a milder lift (i.e.: kings or Falcons) and would like to net a lift of +/- 2 inches from stock Rebel height.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Thanks again, it makes sense.

Would I be able to set the suspension to a certain desired height ? I am hesitating between the Fabtech or a milder lift (i.e.: kings or Falcons) and would like to net a lift of +/- 2 inches from stock Rebel height.

You can keep the Fabtech Dirt Logic coil-overs as is for the 2-inches of lift (over factory Rebel). I ran the Falcon system and only netted just over an inch of actual front lift which caused me to change out to the Dirt Logic setup, but the Falcons were the best riding setup on the street (almost as good as the factory but the Falcons were definitely better off-road than the factory Bilstein setup). My previous Kings were adjustable at over 2-inches (I believe I also got 2.5 inches out of them) and they were fine riding too on the street but not quite as good as the Falcons. But once off-road, the Falcons, while very good, are not in the same league as the Kings, Dirt Logics, etc.

Edit: Spelling correction​

 

[mk2019ORP]

You can keep the Fabtech Dirt Logic coil-overs as is for the 2-inches of lift (over factory Rebel). I ran the Falcon system and only netted just over an inch of actual front lift whuch caused me to change out to the Dirt Logic setup, but the Falcons were the best riding setup on the street (almost as good as the factory but the Falcons were definitely better off-road than the factory Bilstein setup). My previous Kings were adjustable at over 2-inches (I believe I also got 2.5 inches out of them) and they were fine riding too on the street but not quite as good as the Falcons. But once off-road, the Falcons, while very good, are not in the same league as the Kings, Dirt Logics, etc..

Desert Dawg, just curious as to your overall assessment of the Falcon system compared to the factory suspension for on road ride quality. I had been looking at this system when it was first released, but steered away after seeing some negative reviews on ride quality. I thought you had originally said you had buyers remorse. I’m currently have the ORP on my Laramie and am really only looking for another inch or so to clear 285’s. Thanks in advance.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Desert Dawg, just curious as to your overall assessment of the Falcon system compared to the factory suspension for on road ride quality. I had been looking at this system when it was first released, but steered away after seeing some negative reviews on ride quality. I thought you had originally said you had buyers remorse. I’m currently have the ORP on my Laramie and am really only looking for another inch or so to clear 285’s. Thanks in advance.

You are correct!

Initially, I was very disappointed on two fronts; first, I initially felt the ride was too stiff and secondly I was highly disappointed that the Rebel did not get 2-inches of front lift as advertised. After talking with Falcon, they conceded that their website was kind of confusing about what the system would provide in actual lift between a normal Ram and the Rebel, so they agreed to reimburse me for the system if I decided to change out (which of course I did with the Fabtech Dirt Logic system). But on the former issue regarding the ride quality, I was definitely premature in my compliant as the system eventually settled in and both the on-road and dirt road ride quality was excellent (with caveat that I had not taken the system on any real off-roading adventures to really test it). Overall, the Falcon system is not quite as cushy as the factory setup but I did notice improvement in control and rebound performance. So since then, I have been highly recommending the Falcon system to anyone who has the expectation of minor lift (2-inches of front lift for normal Rams, +1-inches of front lift for Rebels) with slightly better front wheel articulation and more control/better turn-in feel with almost as good as factory ride quality! I think the Falcon system would be an excellent match with 285s.

 

[Steelwheelz]

Recent shots with everything done (to date):

Yo DD, I have the same truck in Red and was Wondering how those CV's look with the Dirt Logic Kit? Is it stretched to the max for height? Thanks!

 

[Desert Dawg]

Yo DD, I have the same truck in Red and was Wondering how those CV's look with the Dirt Logic Kit? Is it stretched to the max for height? Thanks!

I posted some pics previously in the build thread but probably hard to find so will repost here. Overall, I think the CVs are looking okay. I was more concerned about the stabilizer bar linkage (since the boot looked like it was slipping) but I had Desert Rat Off-road Centers take a look and they confirmed that there were no concerns.

​

 

[Swicago]

sweet truck. Don't linex the skid plate. linex will peel the second you hit a rock. just paint it. I have an 07 FJC called Booger, that has the body linex'd. all parts that can hit rocks ( bumpers, skids, sliders) are just black. I personally knew many in the FJ community that sprayed linex on rock sliders, only for it to peel right off on the first rock they hit.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Thank you! And thanks for the feedback...first real world response I received in terms of off-road durability. Due to the survey trending towards changing out the skid plate color, I was toying with the idea of maybe color-matching (similar dark grey) with a vinyl wrap before committing to any Linex/paint work. I had done that previously with my built 4Runner where I covered the silver skid plate with a matte black wrap that lasted for quite some time (eventually had a couple of minor tears that were repairable but hardly even noticeable afterwards). That way I can determine if I really like the final look.

 

[Swicago]

Thank you! And thanks for the feedback...first real world response I received in terms of off-road durability. Due to the survey trending towards changing out the skid plate color, I was toying with the idea of maybe color-matching (similar dark grey) with a vinyl wrap before committing to any Linex/paint work. I had done that previously with my built 4Runner where I covered the silver skid plate with a matte black wrap that lasted for quite some time (eventually had a couple of minor tears that were repairable but hardly even noticeable afterwards). That way I can determine if I really like the final look.

Nice 4runner..here is Booger, coming down the rock garden on the kokobelli trail... Let me know if you prefer I not share this pic on your buildpage and I will delete it. Just wanted to share why you don't linex stuff that will come in possible contact with rocks.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Nice 4runner..here is Booger, coming down the rock garden on the kokobelli trail... Let me know if you prefer I not share this pic on your buildpage and I will delete it. Just wanted to share why you don't linex stuff that will come in possible contact with rocks.

Nope, don't mind at all especially when sharing some off-road adventures! Is that section of the Kokopelli Trail in Colorado or down at Moab? I would have to change out a few things on the Rebel (like a better suspension...lol) before I would tackle anything near that level but looks like the Booger was pretty well outfitted. Nice shot!

​

 

[Swicago]

Nope, don't mind at all especially when sharing some off-road adventures! Is that section of the Kokopelli Trail in Colorado or down at Moab? I would have to change out a few things on the Rebel (like a better suspension...lol) before I would tackle anything near that level but looks like the Booger was pretty well outfitted. Nice shot!

​

This rock garden is I think on the second half of the kokopelli trail from CO to UT. This section is know as the Rose Garden Hill, which if I am not mistaken, is in Moab,UT. It was one of my favorite trips.