What did you do to your Ram today???

[boogielander]

Merry Christmas and hope everyone got what they wanted for presents!
Was supposed to post yesterday but got busy. As previously mentioned I went and ran half of the Mojave 125 route on Saturday.



GFC turned into a food truck.

Trail was way smoother than expected but because of 4 days of rain before there were puddles in various parts of the trail (that I couldn't escape). Not only that, but sections of the trail were slushy slick. There was a steep hill that requires 4Lo (about over 25 degree incline), and was slick half way up and became mildly off camber right before the crest. That by itself was okay, but when you had to do it on tires covered in mud... not so much. I felt the truck sliding off to the side was I approach the top, and that gave me PTSD.

Also I realized even at maxed out high speed and low speed compression, my driver side front was touching the bump stop quite hard when going through some bigger ruts. I think I either need to upgrade my bumpstops, recharge the nitrogen in the shock, or loose some weight as the sole occupant. I'll hook it up to the gauge and see how out of spec the nitrogen pressure is after a year of usage.

We also didn't finish the route... we were 90% done when one member of the convoy broke his lower arm. Luckily he could limp out so we found the nearest exit route, limped out, and cut the day short.





Truck remains like this till after new year. This weekend I have a 2 nighter planned so no point cleaning up only to get it dirty again a week later lol

 

[Willwork4truck]

Now theres a guy who did “truck stuff”!
Me, Uhh, I might get on some grass if I dont back straight onto the driveway…

 

[Belvedere]

I made my first recovery with this truck. Sister in law sunk her van to the frame in someone's yard after it rained all day. It was quick and easy. Truck never broke a sweat.

 

[Willwork4truck]

What kind of tow strap did you use? Ive watched a bunch of Matts Recovery videos and seen several different tow strap videos on YT. Project Farm has a good one.

 

[SShadow1974]

Any chance you have a link for that bedside rack system?

 

[Belvedere]

What kind of tow strap did you use? Ive watched a bunch of Matts Recovery videos and seen several different tow strap videos on YT. Project Farm has a good one.

Couldn't tell you now. Had it for a long time. Probably time to replace. I like to keep one with hooks and one without, but the soft D rings are probably a better option.

I only use the hook one for actually towing, and if I don't have a draw bar in the receiver I have a shackle in there.

 

[boogielander]

Any chance you have a link for that bedside rack system?

who are you referring to lolll

 

[OCD Solutions]

I gave the air ride another fault code today. Perhaps my sketchiest load yet but I was too committed to back down once I had it half loaded.

Took it easy coming home and it all worked out. Truck handled it just fine but I had to be over the max payload on this one by at least 10%.

 

[boogielander]

What kind of tow strap did you use? Ive watched a bunch of Matts Recovery videos and seen several different tow strap videos on YT. Project Farm has a good one.

Yankum, ARB, Factor 55, Agency 6 and Bubba make good products.
I do recommend having both Kinetic rope and tow strap, as kinetic rope will allow you to build some momentum to "yank" a stuck vehicle while tow strap has little to no "give" so that makes "yanking" not possible and dangerous.

I also recommend soft shackles. They are lighter and they won't be that big of a flying mass if it fails. In most recovery situations that we found ourselves in, a soft shackle and a kinetic rope do the jobs and we did not break out the winch once. Even that time when I was stuck on the dune off-camber we got me unstuck using 1 kinetic rope, 1 tow strap, and 2 soft shackles: kinetic rope to the front bumper to help build momentum and the tow strap to my slider to prevent any more downward sliding when in action.

When picking straps/ ropes, pay special attention to the tow rating numbers, break strength, and working load limit.

see the complete list of things here: Tow Straps Vs Recovery Straps: Is There a Difference?

 

[RAM Patriot]

I gave the air ride another fault code today. Perhaps my sketchiest load yet but I was too committed to back down once I had it half loaded.

Took it easy coming home and it all worked out. Truck handled it just fine but I had to be over the max payload on this one by at least 10%.

If you have to do more loads like that wit that 5.7 foot bed, you might want to think about a utility trailer.

 

[TSL]

Trail was way smoother than expected but because of 4 days of rain before there were puddles in various parts of the trail (that I couldn't escape). Not only that, but sections of the trail were slushy slick. There was a steep hill that requires 4Lo (about over 25 degree incline), and was slick half way up and became mildly off camber right before the crest. That by itself was okay, but when you had to do it on tires covered in mud... not so much. I felt the truck sliding off to the side was I approach the top, and that gave me PTSD.

Truck remains like this till after new year. This weekend I have a 2 nighter planned so no point cleaning up only to get it dirty again a week later lol

Mud on the truck is the sign of a good trip out !
My sphincter is clenching just sitting here reading about sliding sideways in mud on an incline The only thing you didn't add is whether there was a drop-off on the edge of the road, to add to the drama !

 

[OCD Solutions]

If you have to do more loads like that wit that 5.7 foot bed, you might want to think about a utility trailer.

That was a thought but it was a one time deal so a $3000 solution to an $80 problem ain’t in the cards.

The time to have bought a trailer was a year ago when we started on this property. Had my eye on a few on Marketplace but the prices are stupid these days and I can't make up my mind on how big I want. I've regretted buying almost every one of the several I have had over the years so until I have a definitive use, (like bringing home a Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo RR), I'm holding out. Been looking at 2500's with 8ft beds as well but like the trailer, I need one so seldom, it doesn't make sense to buy one.

FYI, did the math and that load came out to 1729 lbs so yeah, just slightly over the payload limit of 1400lbs.

 

[RumRam]

Any chance you have a link for that bedside rack system?

BuiltRight industries is where I purchased mine. I have the accessory side rails on so install it as easy.

 

[boogielander]

Mud on the truck is the sign of a good trip out !
My sphincter is clenching just sitting here reading about sliding sideways in mud on an incline The only thing you didn't add is whether there was a drop-off on the edge of the road, to add to the drama !

no drop off at that spot. there were a few spots that had drop offs but thank God they weren't slick lol

 

[boogielander]

That was a thought but it was a one time deal so a $3000 solution to an $80 problem ain’t in the cards.

The time to have bought a trailer was a year ago when we started on this property. Had my eye on a few on Marketplace but the prices are stupid these and I can't make up my mind on how big I want. I've regretted buying almost every one of the several I have over the years so until I have a definitive use, (like bringing home a Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo RR), I'm holding out.

FYI, did the math and that load came out to 1729 lbs so yeah, just slightly over the payload limit of 1400lbs.

not bad. 300-ish lb over. that's like having 1 and 1/4 of me in there LOL

 

[BowDown]

Gave it a post Christmas wash and emptied the catch can Installed in February @ about 54k miles (68k now).
Was about 1/3 full or about 2oz

 

[HSKR R/T]

Gave it a post Christmas wash and emptied the catch can Installed in February of last year @ about 54k miles (68k now).
Was about 1/3 full or about 2oz

View attachment 173314

Damn, I get about 2oz every 2000 miles on mine

 

[W Six]

Dropped at the dealership again to check the Auto Stop/Start system again......

 

[JamRam]

Dropped at the dealership again to check the Auto Stop/Start system again......

On boxing day?

 

[SShadow1974]

who are you referring to lolll

RumRam