project cheapRAM- the beater tow rig gets a makeover | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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project cheapRAM- the beater tow rig gets a makeover

Truck is a 2004 ram 2500 4x4, hemi auto and 4:10 gears with a bajillion miles on it. Mechanically its in like new condition. Physically its beat to hell... there isnt a single inch on it that isnt dented or scratched. It was an old farmer's truck and he ran over every thing he owned with it. :p:

Back in Feb. i had an incident were i exited the shoulder of I-30 asleep with the cruise set on 75mph. In the rain. Ran through a fence, took out the front bumper- grill- hood and wrapped about a mile of hog wire underneath all 4 corners. I had a spare to my trailer laying in the bed and it jumped up through the back glass and came in the cab with me. The fence wire cut every brake line on the truck.

I got a new $50 ebay grill, and found a junkyard hood (with hail damage) and front bumper for $250. I repaired and painted the hood and front fenders with duplicolor Paintshop paint shot out of a standard HVLP gun. Eventually im going to do the bodywork on the truck and paint the whole thing so it will match.
 



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This truck is not only a tow rig, but also a hunting/camping/fishing woods type vehicle... so i decided to make it a bit more usable along with making it look better. Along with the paint, i decided to Herculiner the rockers and do some fake fender flares. Most of the bad dents were along the rockers so the Herc will hide most of this.

Pic one is the taping of the "flares", pic two is the homemade tool i used to mark them off with-
 

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I would like to add- go to a paint supply house and get good automotive masking tape if you're going to do this. Use the blue 3M crap on non-important areas. Good auto grade tape will make a much sharper line.

Next, we cut the extra tape off. I free-handed it with a razor blade.
 

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Oh glorious ride quality. Ive been running the worn out $15 autozone specials for way too long...
 

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I needed new tires, and figured id grab some rims while i was at it. To save money i looked for some stock 35" H2 tires... of course you can find them anywere until you actually want some.

Wheels are 17x9 Helo HE791's. Tires are 35x12.50x17 Cooper Discoverer ST's. The ST's are the perfect compromise between an AT and a MT. Super quiet, but work alot better offroad than an AT. Very little power loss stepping up from a 265/75 to a 35". On the bathroom scale the stock steel wheels and 265's were 85lbs... the new **** is 90lbs. So, step up in size but no added unsprung weight.
 

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It's finished and im worn out. I block sanded this friggin hood 9 times. Along with all the other work. Im going to sleep for a couple of days.

Before and after-
 

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Almost forgot- new headlights. The stockers were so scratched they wouldnt polish out. Clear corners with black background. $60 ebay specials
 

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Wow that made a helluva difference there

Nice work.
 






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That looks like a new truck!! Great work, dood!
 






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