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The Journey of JHemi1...slowly but surely...

42K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  Astartes 
#1 ·
#3 · (Edited)
time to lift that front end up

Hellbent Steel
kit used:

2008-2012 2.5" Dodge Ram 1500 Leveling Lift Kit
Part Number: 125-250-001
2.5" Dodge Ram 1500 Leveling Kit for independent suspension 4X4 models
(2008-2012 Non-Mega Cab models)




before
the leveling kit:


after putting a 2.5" HBS leveling kit on the front.



Pic doesn't really do it justice. On a flat parking lot, the truck went from hot rod rake to almost perfectly level. Night and day difference. No noticeable effect on ride quality.
 
#4 ·
Magnaflow time. Man, what a decision this was. I think that I watched 1000 videos 1000 times each. 14" 18" 22" 24" Which one which one which one.

Threads and vids that finally set me on the 24":
http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?p=748540#post748540
http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?p=449150#post449150

Thank you brad12kx, JHamilton and LT suss for your posts and info, I couldn't be happier. Meaty deep tone from the outside when idling and accelerating; yet not loud or cackly. You can hear it inside at highway speed, but not an annoying drone at all. About 10k miles on it, and it has gotten a hair louder, but still extremely happy. Perfect for a DD. I've had several people tell me that it sounds great.

K&N drop in went in at the same time as the muffler. I went with the Mufflex kit (from them direct to avoid imitations) over getting the Magnaflow and piecing it together. Fits perfectly and you can do it yourself in under an hour. Spray the old bolts and hanger rods in advance to help yourself out. Mine slid right out.

Do yourself a favor though: pick up a couple of $5 3" U-clamps before you do it. I read that the Mufflex clamps left a lot to be desired, and yes, they were subpar and did not seal for poop.

For reference:






Slide the back hanger onto the Magna, snug it down, and use one of the 3" clamps at the actual joint.


Some vids. Quality is "meh" but hey, I tried lol

OEM startup
http://youtu.be/Zx_sunkJEnY

OEM acceleration
http://youtu.be/WCOOU3sXrD8

Mufflex startup
http://youtu.be/0kKlTDBjrjs

Mufflex acceleration the day after I put it on, loose clamps and all.
http://youtu.be/i0WNHIZHuFU

I need to do another vid now that it's not leaking anymore and the muffler has burned itself in and gotten a little louder :smiley_thumbs_up:
 
#5 ·
Better breathing on a budget. With the K&N drop in installed, might as well give it 3x as much air for $20.

Idea/tips came from this thread, big props to jmr: http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?p=329067#post329067

Parts courtesy of Lowes:




I Dremel'd the mesh out of the pvc. Not the smoothest job, but it works.





Box as it sits




Take it out, find your spot in the corner, mark it





Since my Dremel skills were el suck, I went with the 3" hole saw. Went through the box like butter.





Shove the pvc piece into the hole, clamp the duct to it (it will be a bastard to get on and get tight enough), reinstall the box, and run your duct wherever you want.



 
#16 ·
Truck looks good so far man! Definitely looking forward to seeing the wheels and tires on soon :smileup: you got any other plans in the near future??
 
#17 ·
Nothing big after the tires for a while. Trim the back seat hook to make it folding, debadge, maybe some LEDs inside, etc. If I can find a good deal, I'd like to get some lights in the grill.

Who knows though. The more time I spend on this site, the more the wheels in my head get turning lol
 
#18 · (Edited)
Way out of sequence, should be post #2 since they were installed before the leveling kit, but I forgot to include the pics of the Lund bars (hell, forgot that I even had pics lol)

Big thanks to Clark@AutoAnything for hooking me up with a deal.

http://www.autoanything.com/nerf-bars/60A5943A0A0.aspx

Installation was fairly simple once you get the hang of the "bolt threader". A tip though: On the middle passenger side bracket, I had to put bolt #2 in first, there wasn't enough room to turn it if you did #1 first. You'll know what I mean if you run into the same situation. Do not lose any of the pieces, they don't provide extras! lol









Overall, I love the bars. I was worried that 5" would look monstrous, but they compliment very well. If you look at them in the wrong light/angle, they look a little "thin" from a distance. This is due to the fact that the bottom half is actually coated black. I saw a few people complain about it in reviews, but it looks good to me and the coating may help with rock dings, so win-win I guess.
 
#19 ·
yea. thats the good and the bad part of this site. before i got on here i was planning on only tinting the windows and leveling. now there are so many things to do.
 
#21 ·
yea... lol now i just need the spring to get here so i can have some more spending money :)
 
#23 ·
haha na. i make more money when the weather is nice so now is kind of my trucks hibernation time unless i get busy randomly. i am getting a LED tailgate bar in a few weeks as well as my windows tinted and just installed my superchips and will be installing my leveling kit soon so some things are getting done :)
 
#25 · (Edited)
Finally upgraded the factory 17" Wrangler turds with some 285/65/20 BFGoodrich AT KO wrapped chrome clads.

Going from 17" to WHICH 20" was a toss up. I wanted the width to barely stick out, so I went back and forth between 285 and 305 until I saw that the 305s are almost 1-1/2" shorter than the 285s. I decided to forgo that extra 3/4" of width for the height.



So glad I did. Love the way it looks. Perfect for a non-lifted truck (level kit only). The tread of the tire seems flush with the body, maybe a smidge wider, and the sidewall sticks out just a bit beyond that.












Only rub I seem to have is at full turn. I'll try to get pics of that next weekend.

Definitely needs a trip to the dealer though for a brainflash. I know the speed is off and the MPG hasn't gone above 9-11mpg since I put them on lol
 
#28 ·
Finally upgraded the factory 17" Wrangler turds with some 285/65/20 BFGoodrich AT KO wrapped chrome clads.

Going from 17" to WHICH 20" was a toss up. I wanted the width to barely stick out, so I went back and forth between 285 and 305 until I saw that the 305s are almost 1-1/2" shorter than the 285s. I decided to forgo that extra 3/4" of width for the height.
You can always put 1/4" spacers. That will help you get them out a tad :smileup:
1/4" spacers are $30, in case you are wondering and many people/members run them
 
#32 ·
Thanks! Oddly enough, I didn't take one from straight on front or back. I'll get a couple of pics up either tomorrow or Saturday. Still need to get a pic of the rub at full turn too, thanks for refreshing my memory!
 
#33 ·
Sorry, I only had one chance in daylight to get them this weekend. Grab your sunglasses, the snow reflected sun + my phone = nuclear fallout.










The 1.3" difference from a 285 to a 12.5" tire is quite a bit. I had 12.50s and a lift on my old chevy, so yeah, this is quite different.

I was tempted to go with a 305 on this one, but after seeing another one locally, I picked height over width. The 305 looked really short in the fenderwells.
 
#39 ·
Finally got around to a pic of the tire rub. On level ground, full turn, the tire barely rubs the nub on the fenderwell liner (the wet gravel smudge). It rubs a little more depending on angle, etc., but even then it's still only at full turn.



 
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