7. A front driveshaft spacer...
7. A front driveshaft spacer is used to lengthen the 'shaft to compensate for the increased distance between the front differential and the transfer case.
8. New sway-bar frame mounts...
8. New sway-bar frame mounts lower the entire bar. New sway-bar brackets are also included with the kit, and they attach to the frame using the factory hardware. The sway-bar ends mount to the new brackets using Fabtech-supplied hardware.
9. A pair of impact strut...
9. A pair of impact strut tubes help to strengthen the new front bracketry. These tubes attach to the new rear crossmember and the factory transmission crossmember.
10. This is the torsion-bar...
10. This is the torsion-bar crossmember after installing the torsion-bar drop brackets.
11. The rear-suspension modifications...
11. The rear-suspension modifications are quite simple and include installing a pair of new shocks and a pair of lift blocks. These blocks are positioned between the axletube and the spring. New U-bolts, nuts, and washers are included with the kit.
After completing the mods to the Ram, we 'wheeled it around Badlands Off Road Park in Attica, Indiana. The overall ride was expectedly stiffer than stock, but still much more comfortable than the ride generated by our Ram 2500 long-term vehicle. That's one of the nice things about IFS. Handling remained excellent, and there was no aggravating bumpsteer or other weird steering behavior. The shocks did a great job of reining in the big 35-inch Toyo mud-terrain tires whether we were traversing sand moguls or rocky quarry bottom.
Before we installed the kit, the stock Ram climbed 60 inches up a 20-degree RTI ramp (right), earning a score of 882. After the install, the Ram crawled 65 inches up the ramp, which improved its score to 956 (below, right). Up front, ground clearance improved dramatically. Before the lift, there was 14.25 inches between the bottom of the valance (the lowest point at the front of the vehicle) and the ground. After, that distance increased to 21.5 inches. The rear also improved, netting an increase of 2.25 inches over stock. Naturally, these numbers significantly improved the Ram's off-highway capability.
We're big fans of Toyo's Open Country Mud-Terrain tires, and the 35x12.50R20 tires we installed didn't disappoint. As usual, they were amazingly quiet for a mud-terrain tire on-road, and on the trail they provided an impressive bite, no matter what the surface. They seemed to be ideally suited to our IFS application. The Pro Comp Xtreme 6079 20x9 alloy wheels look great, especially with the optional rugged-looking black Pro Comp Xtreme bead-lock rings.