Removing AGS and Active Air Dam

[MurdaRam]

Anyone that removed the entire AGS system and zip tied the motor did a CEL eventually come on? Thanks!

 

[User_3336]

Anyone that removed the entire AGS system and zip tied the motor did a CEL eventually come on? Thanks!

4th gen or 5th gen?

 

[MurdaRam]

4th gen or 5th gen?

For the 5th gens. I read of few threads of people doing it but they went MIA and never answered any questions if they ever got a CEL after just zip tying the motor..

 

[Joshmadrone]

I have a 2019 RAM 1500 DT Big Horn and have NOT experienced any issues with CEL light after removing the Active Air Dam while installing a new front bumper. To keep warranty, I had dealer do the leveling kit, tires, and fender flares, and even purchased my front bumper from the dealer, but I installed bumper on my own with a friend. The Active Air Dam had to be removed while removing the stock front bumper. I zip tied the other end of the electrical harness up to keep out of the way.

https://imgur.com/I8oTVVE

If anyone is wondering, the front bumper is a Fab Fours Matrix with a WARN ZEON 12 Winch and 4" RIGID Industries LED cubes (wired into OEM Fog Light switch). The leveling kit and bumper allowed for 34" tires (Toyo Open Country Mud Terrain).

My only real wish is that I had accounted for the weight of the future camper shell, which has since been installed. The shell is an RSI SmartCap EVOc, which is stainless steel, modular design, shipped to my door. I think it weighs about 250 lbs. (similar to bumper and winch combo). I also recently added the Westin side steps, which my wife had been patiently waiting for, which caused the loss of a little bit of clearance. The truck rides great! I mean really great. There is a DECKED drawer system in the bed for all my tools, and we can sleep on the platform.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions for suspension/lift upgrades I'm all ears. My goal is UTILITY (i.e., not into body lifts, don't want it to become top heavy... just carry a lot of weight and would like to regain the clearance lost by the side step rails and extra weight of shell + decked system).

 

[MurdaRam]

I have a 2019 RAM 1500 DT Big Horn and have NOT experienced any issues with CEL light after removing the Active Air Dam while installing a new front bumper. To keep warranty, I had dealer do the leveling kit, tires, and fender flares, and even purchased my front bumper from the dealer, but I installed bumper on my own with a friend. The Active Air Dam had to be removed while removing the stock front bumper. I zip tied the other end of the electrical harness up to keep out of the way.

https://imgur.com/I8oTVVE

If anyone is wondering, the front bumper is a Fab Fours Matrix with a WARN ZEON 12 Winch and 4" RIGID Industries LED cubes (wired into OEM Fog Light switch). The leveling kit and bumper allowed for 34" tires (Toyo Open Country Mud Terrain).

My only real wish is that I had accounted for the weight of the future camper shell, which has since been installed. The shell is an RSI SmartCap EVOc, which is stainless steel, modular design, shipped to my door. I think it weighs about 250 lbs. (similar to bumper and winch combo). I also recently added the Westin side steps, which my wife had been patiently waiting for, which caused the loss of a little bit of clearance. The truck rides great! I mean really great. There is a DECKED drawer system in the bed for all my tools, and we can sleep on the platform.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions for suspension/lift upgrades I'm all ears. My goal is UTILITY (i.e., not into body lifts, don't want it to become top heavy... just carry a lot of weight and would like to regain the clearance lost by the side step rails and extra weight of shell + decked system).

There’s no issue in removing the active air dam under the front bumper it’s the active grill shutters I was talking about. Thanks.

 

[Joshmadrone]

There’s no issue in removing the active air dam under the front bumper it’s the active grill shutters I was talking about. Thanks.

Ah that makes sense. Now I know why I did get a CEL when i temporarily ran #00AWG cables to an Anderson plug (SB175), that were routed through my grill. The dealer said those were the reason for the CEL (maybe prevented the shutters from working, which I didn't even know existed). Anyhow, now the Anderson plug - for easy jumper cable hookup - is attached to my custom front bumper. Thanks for the lesson.

 

[Hani9091]

Hello all! Just wanted to give my experience with the new 1500 AGS and active air dam system.

As some of you already know, the 4th gen 1500's also have AGS. If you want to delete the AGS and don't want to have a CEL staring you in the face, you need to have a delete kit. Well, if you own a 5th gen 1500, I'm happy to report that you do NOT need a delete kit. I removed mine and instantly noticed that the motor controlling the shutters is very much different. Not only does it look different, it operates differently. Just simply pull out the motor and zip tie it to the frame... boom. Done. No CEL.

Additionally, I removed my lower bumper molding and active air dam system (not just the dam, but the whole entire system). Doing so will NOT cause a CEL to show up on the dash. I've been running my truck like this for 1k miles, no issues.

Unfortunately, I didn't take pics of these mods, but I would be more than happy to walk anyone through the process.

Do you have a video or directions on how to do this?

 

[mike_ct]

I can confirm, if you remove the lower active air damn, no CEL, but you will have 2-codes if you scan.
AlfaOBD has an options to disable the Active Air Dam - and those codes won't come up.
However, the AlfaOBD option for Active Grill does not seem to affect the AGS codes from displaying.
For now, if you remove the grill shutters, zip-tie the motor is the only way to go.
Option B is to remove the SES for the AGS codes in the PCM using HPtuners

 

[Oldphart]

I'm not exactly sure how these shutters work, or what their purpose is (probably EPA related) but my truck makes a metallic rattling sound from the front once I exceed 60 mph. It's almost like the tolerances where the shutters mount are too loose.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[Idahoktm]

Do you have a video or directions on how to do this?

He hasn't been on this forum since November 2019.

 

[ekaz]

Where is the AGS motor located? I'm not pulling the bumper to remove the whole thing, but want to disable it.

 

[Mopar_maxi]

Anyone that removed the entire AGS system and zip tied the motor did a CEL eventually come on? Thanks!

I removed my active grill shutters when I first bought my 5th gen. I simply removed everything and zip tied the motor out of the way and left it plugged in. No issues 2 years later.

 

[schmidja]

I removed my active grill shutters when I first bought my 5th gen. I simply removed everything and zip tied the motor out of the way and left it plugged in. No issues 2 years later.

Hi. What's all necessary to remove in order to get to the AGS on a 2020 Ram 1500 DT (non-classic)? Thanks.

 

[Darksteel165]

I can confirm, if you remove the lower active air damn, no CEL, but you will have 2-codes if you scan.
AlfaOBD has an options to disable the Active Air Dam - and those codes won't come up.
However, the AlfaOBD option for Active Grill does not seem to affect the AGS codes from displaying.
For now, if you remove the grill shutters, zip-tie the motor is the only way to go.
Option B is to remove the SES for the AGS codes in the PCM using HPtuners

So can you actually disable the Active Air Dam with the AlfaODB so it doesn't engage?

Hi. What's all necessary to remove in order to get to the AGS on a 2020 Ram 1500 DT (non-classic)? Thanks.

I would like to know also. I have a 2022 1500 DT and I can't find any solid methods for the gen 5.

 

[Mopar_maxi]

Hi. What's all necessary to remove in order to get to the AGS on a 2020 Ram 1500 DT (non-classic)? Thanks.

Remove the entire shutter assembly. Remove the shutter motor from the assembly. Plug the motor back in and zip tie it out of the way. Done deal.

 

[Darksteel165]

Remove the entire shutter assembly. Remove the shutter motor from the assembly. Plug the motor back in and zip tie it out of the way. Done deal.

And how would one do that?

 

[User_3336]

Remove the entire shutter assembly. Remove the shutter motor from the assembly. Plug the motor back in and zip tie it out of the way. Done deal.

That's assuming you already have the grille removed. A LOT more detailed than that. Removing the grille is much more difficult that 4th gen. Care to be more detailed?

 

[Mopar_maxi]

That's assuming you already have the grille removed. A LOT more detailed than that. Removing the grille is much more difficult that 4th gen. Care to be more detailed?

There’s quite a few videos on YouTube that go into detail on how to remove the grill. It’s really not bad once you figure out where all the bolts are.

 

[mike_ct]

I have not been able to disable active air dam in bcm with alfaobd. you can disable it, but you still get the codes..only way to get rid of codes that was successful for me was deleted them with hp tuners from the pcm.

 

[Darksteel165]

I have not been able to disable active air dam in bcm with alfaobd. you can disable it, but you still get the codes..only way to get rid of codes that was successful for me was deleted them with hp tuners from the pcm.

But it does actually in fact disable it?
So I could do drives with and without it turning on without taking my truck apart to see if it's worth it for me?