Desert Dawg Ram Rebel Build

[Desert Dawg]

Recent shots with everything done (to date):

 

[judsonlimited]

Dammit man this truck is beautiful

 

[Leif_Ram2019]

Longtime listener, first time caller. Sweet truck! I have a couple questions about your Fabtech lift.

1) are the front spring replaced? Or does it use your factory springs?
2) how thick are the spacers in rear?


Thanks!
Leif


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Go4DGold]

Really inspirational truck build! Desert Dawg if not too much trouble, can you provide measurement of the opening of your garage from floor to garage door opening? I am interested in the Fabtech 3 inch lift kit but I struggle to understand if my 2019 rebel would fit inside my garage once the lift is installed. Thx

 

[Desert Dawg]

Dammit man this truck is beautiful

Thanks Judson for the compliment!

 

[Desert Dawg]

Longtime listener, first time caller. Sweet truck! I have a couple questions about your Fabtech lift.

1) are the front spring replaced? Or does it use your factory springs?
2) how thick are the spacers in rear?


Thanks!
Leif


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Leif, thanks for following the build.

Yes, the Fabtech system uses Dirt Logic coil-overs for the front so replaces the factory setup. The coil spring spacer in the rear is fitted with a 2.5-inch spacer. As setup, I still have about 1/2-inch of rake even with the topper weight on the truck.

Edit: Corrected rear spacer size​

 

[Desert Dawg]

Really inspirational truck build! Desert Dawg if not too much trouble, can you provide measurement of the opening of your garage from floor to garage door opening? I am interested in the Fabtech 3 inch lift kit but I struggle to understand if my 2019 rebel would fit inside my garage once the lift is installed. Thx

Thanks! My garage door is right at 83-inches high; I believe I measured the top of the truck (top of the shark fin antenna) right at 80-inches in height before installing the Yakima roof rack so had no issue with clearance after the 3-inch lift and 34.4 inch tall tires. With the Yakima roof racks installed, I now brush the rubber weatherseal on the top of the door so maybe have another 1/8-inch before hitting the door header.

 

[Pandyman]

I was wondering if you could give a review so far on your experience with the Yokohama Geolandar. Like it’s on road and off road performance, noise, and are you happy with the size and any clearance issues. I am looking for a tire of the same size and are curious about these.

 

[Leif_Ram2019]

Hi Leif, thanks for following the build.

Yes, the Fabtech system uses Dirt Logic coil-overs for the front so replaces the factory setup. The coil spring spacer in the rear is fitted with a 2-inch spacer. As setup, I still have about 1/2-inch of rake even with the topper weight on the truck.

Thanks for the reply! A couple follow-up questions.

1) I'm a little surprised this lift gets you a true 3" of lift. I was under the impression the Rebel and ORP trucks got their factory extra inch of height from a 1" longer spring. Did you, or the shop, do much adjustment with the coilover? It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like there is a large threaded adjustment section. Was the shop aiming to get you a certain height, or just to make you level?


2) I'm curious why you chose the lift with the 2.5 Coilovers vs. the ones with the remote reservoir. Sure, the latter is more expensive. But not much more expensive considering the overall cost of these bad boys.
3) I saw a disclaimer associated with this lift that said, 'can not use OEM wheel and tire'. Do you know why that is?


Thanks in advance!
Leif

 

[Desert Dawg]

@Desert Dawg can you post pictures of you cv axle angle?

Sorry for the dirty shot but been raining everyday. The angles are not too bad considering the lift:

​

 

[Savage_Doc]

Awesome truck! Following this thread.

 

[Desert Dawg]

I was wondering if you could give a review so far on your experience with the Yokohama Geolandar. Like it’s on road and off road performance, noise, and are you happy with the size and any clearance issues. I am looking for a tire of the same size and are curious about these.

I made some comments in my recent road trip review to Colorado [Ophir Pass], but in short the Yokohama Geolanders were great! Hardly any road noise at speed (+70 mph) with confident on-road grip in both dry and wet (during mountain showers) conditions. I was surprised that the tire temperatures never increased passed their normal settings even after long high speed sections so that added to the confidence as well. Off-road, the tires were excellent over the loose, rough cut granite rocks with no noticeable tread damage. I didn't take the truck on any high speed off-road runs so will have to report on that later when I get a desert run in, but I don't anticipate any issues there either although I am really anxious to see how they do in the sand dunes.

I purposely wanted an under 35-inch tall tire to ensure clearance as well as retain good driveability; going with a 34.4-inch tall tire and limiting the tire width to no more than 12-inches definitely helped achieve those goals so happy to report no issues there. You do compromise some on higher speed curves and slower speed turn-in feel due to the inherent increase in tire size and mass of the Geolanders over the smaller Duratracs, but nothing that detracts from the comfort or stability of the vehicle. Overall, the Geolanders are a superior tire choice for my mix of road/off-road use.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Thanks for the reply! A couple follow-up questions....
Thanks in advance!
Leif

@Leif_Ram2019;

1) I'm a little surprised this lift gets you a true 3" of lift. I was under the impression the Rebel and ORP trucks got their factory extra inch of height from a 1" longer spring. Did you, or the shop, do much adjustment with the coilover? It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like there is a large threaded adjustment section. Was the shop aiming to get you a certain height, or just to make you level?

I netted right around 2.5-inches of lift over the factory Rebel ride height so if you round up, you have a 3-inch lift (marketing magic). The increase in tire size brought the truck up to a full +3-inches over a factory Rebel setup.

There is some thread remaining for additional tweaking of the ride height. I asked my shop to try and retain about 1/2-inch rake with the topper installed to help compensate for any additional loads in the bed. I am confident I could dial in another 1/4"-1/2" of lift increase but that would make the truck almost exactly level and maybe cause slight degradation of ride quality (I feel I am already at the cusp of having decent ride quality vs. being noticeably stiff). However, after settling some, I noticed that my passenger side is tad lower than the driver side, so I will probably use some of the remaining thread to make the side to side adjustment.

2) I'm curious why you chose the lift with the 2.5 Coilovers vs. the ones with the remote reservoir. Sure, the latter is more expensive. But not much more expensive considering the overall cost of these bad boys.

Good question; I went back and forth on this actually as I have opted for the remote reservoir (Fox/King) systems in the past. While I am sure that I probably off-road more than most Rebel owners, the fact is I rarely abuse my rigs on sustained higher speed desert runs (maybe short runs) and/or extreme rock crawling that would throttle the shocks a lot. In those cases, I would really benefit having the remote reservoirs. So this time, I decided that the better value would be having a higher quality base system and not pay for the entire show. I might regret that decision later if I find myself really wanting to do something more technical or at higher-speeds, but with my decision to go more of the slower speed "Overland" style build (i.e., bed topper), I think this setup should be fine (subject to change later...lol).

3) I saw a disclaimer associated with this lift that said, 'can not use OEM wheel and tire'. Do you know why that is?

Lift manufacturers always want to make sure that any installed wheels won't rub or bind with their installed products. The base Fabtech UCAs are not adjustable and increase the caster, so to ensure clearance within the wheel well, and assuming you want a 35-inch tall tire (with corresponding tire widths up to 13-inches) the wheels cannot exceed a backspacing greater than 5-inches of back spacing. My wheels have 4.75-inches of BS so they fit within that spec.

edits: grammatical correction​

 

[Desert Dawg]

Awesome truck! Following this thread.

Thanks Doc...glad to have you along!

 

[Desert Dawg]

​

I was at Desert Rat the other day to get everything checked out after putting some miles on the truck with the new suspension system (everything checked out just fine). While I was waiting, they mentioned that they had another customer recently come into the shop talking about a light setup he wanted on his Rebel and proceeded to try and explain the truck he saw driving around town. The guys at Desert Rat immediately knew that he was referencing my own Rebel (since they have worked on it and knew that I had installed the lights myself) so they asked if I could explain how I set everything up. After giving them the details, they said "great" and proceeded to tell me that their customer also asked about all of the other build details on my truck as he plans to emulate what he saw including the suspension, wheels, and topper. Since I had Desert Rat complete the suspension install, they were intimately familiar with everything I did on the truck.

As everyone knows, I like sharing my ideas and experiences with my builds as folks will typically take aspects of what they like and/or works best for them but also add other ideas or components that makes their vehicle builds their own. But as I thought about it, I realized it also sort of bothered me that I will soon be seeing another Rebel driving around town looking exactly like mine in short order and all this guy had to do was ask Desert Rat to duplicate everything. Then I felt like a hypocrite for thinking that as I post my build details on very public forums; I just hope it's not Granite Crystal Metallic!

If the trucks are the same color, I just need to complete another modification so the two trucks are not exactly alike; maybe I can add a sticker...lol.

 

[Benca101]

Lol. Well, ultimately take it as a compliment. I had a custom ordered C7, and it looked awesome. Months later, I see , MY SAME CAR, in a nearby neighborhood. I was so relieved to see he had chrome wheels. It ruined his entire car making my car look all the better. Whew. But I was flattered and really really annoyed. Also, he had no taste but replicated my custom build!?

Anyway.. I’m totally going to copy your wheel set up. Seriously. That’s my confession. But I’m leaning to an open bed with a half rack for a roof top tent. And mine is silver. And I live in the people’s republic of California so we should be a ok..

 

[RockYacht2020]

Copying everything. I'm even considering changing my forum username to Dessert Dawg. Same truck but better brownies.

 

[Desert Dawg]

Lol. Well, ultimately take it as a compliment. I had a custom ordered C7, and it looked awesome. Months later, I see , MY SAME CAR, in a nearby neighborhood. I was so relieved to see he had chrome wheels. It ruined his entire my car making mine look all the better. Whew. But I was flattered and really really annoyed. Also, he had no taste but replicated my custom build!?

Anyway.. I’m totally going to copy your wheel set up. Seriously. That’s my confession. But I’m leaning to an open bed with a half rack for a roof top tent. And mine is silver. And I live in the people’s republic of California so we should be a ok..

I actually do take it as a compliment but wanted to complain anyway...lol.

I toyed with a similar idea on the open bed/half rack for roof top tent as well. Good thing you're in a different country too...or wait, maybe I am the one living in another country (enough said about that...lol).

Copying everything. I'm even considering changing my forum username to Dessert Dawg. Same truck but better brownies.

haha...love it!

Yeah, I deserved that which why I called myself a "maroon" (couldn't say "moron" back in the day). But still...lol.

 

[4XPEDITION]

I've been on that road in Colorado... just outside of Durango. Love that road.

 

[4XPEDITION]

@Desert Dawg your truck turned out great!