socalnonsage
Member
Spent this weekend in my garage upgrading my Olive Green 2020 Ram BigHorn 4x4 with 5.7L eTorque
Saturday -I installed a 3.5" Rough Country kit (upper control arms/N3 Lifted Struts and rear spring spacers/shocks). The install was fairly straightforward with one exception; during the install of the upper control arms, I attempted to use the stock control arm spindle nuts instead of the new nuts from the kit. The instructions that RC provides were fairly ambiguous and in many places indicated to use existing/takeoff hardware but didn't with these spindle nuts and to add to that the new spindle nuts were not on the new control arms/ in the sam box (but in a seperate parts box in a bag). On one arm, I managed to strip about an 1/8" of the spindle threads trying to install the old nut but I stopped when i started to realize there was a problem. I was able to repair the threads with a tap/die set. No integrity lost because the damage was just at the beginning 1/8" of the threads, not where the final placement in where the nut is torqued. FYI, the stock spindle nuts were M14 at 1.5 and the new spindle nuts are M14 at 2.0. All in all, it took about 4 hours with some basic hand tools and some heavy-duty jack/stands (including the repair).
Sunday - Wheels/Tires upgraded to Ram TRX 18" takeoffs with 325x 65/18 Goodyear Wrangler Territory ATs. These wheels/tires required a 1.5" wheel spacer to keep the tire from touching the upper control arm (about .5" clearance on full travel). TPMS sensors moved from stockers to the new wheels, then balanced and mounted and then finally front alignment correction.
On the way to work this morning, I quickly realized I need to adjust my headlights so they're not pointed into the rearview mirror or cars ahead.
Next weekend - AMP Research power steps (plug and play).... Stay tuned!
Saturday -I installed a 3.5" Rough Country kit (upper control arms/N3 Lifted Struts and rear spring spacers/shocks). The install was fairly straightforward with one exception; during the install of the upper control arms, I attempted to use the stock control arm spindle nuts instead of the new nuts from the kit. The instructions that RC provides were fairly ambiguous and in many places indicated to use existing/takeoff hardware but didn't with these spindle nuts and to add to that the new spindle nuts were not on the new control arms/ in the sam box (but in a seperate parts box in a bag). On one arm, I managed to strip about an 1/8" of the spindle threads trying to install the old nut but I stopped when i started to realize there was a problem. I was able to repair the threads with a tap/die set. No integrity lost because the damage was just at the beginning 1/8" of the threads, not where the final placement in where the nut is torqued. FYI, the stock spindle nuts were M14 at 1.5 and the new spindle nuts are M14 at 2.0. All in all, it took about 4 hours with some basic hand tools and some heavy-duty jack/stands (including the repair).
Sunday - Wheels/Tires upgraded to Ram TRX 18" takeoffs with 325x 65/18 Goodyear Wrangler Territory ATs. These wheels/tires required a 1.5" wheel spacer to keep the tire from touching the upper control arm (about .5" clearance on full travel). TPMS sensors moved from stockers to the new wheels, then balanced and mounted and then finally front alignment correction.
On the way to work this morning, I quickly realized I need to adjust my headlights so they're not pointed into the rearview mirror or cars ahead.
Next weekend - AMP Research power steps (plug and play).... Stay tuned!
