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iRIDElows 2012 Ram 2500 megacab build

48K views 203 replies 38 participants last post by  iRIDElow 
#1 ·
Hey guys,
Its been a long time since I was active on this site. I finally hopped back in a ram and wanted to start a thread with the on going process of my truck.

A little over a month ago I purchased a 2012 Ram 2500 Laramie Megacab w/ 12k miles. I had been looking for a loaded all white megacab for some time and I was just about to give up. I looked all over Houston to try and find the truck I wanted. Right when I was about to give up and buy an F250 pulling out of my neighborhood about to hit the freeway a white dodge truck caught my eye in a mini cooper/BMW dealer. That truck ended up being everything I was looking for (minus the ranch hand bumper on the front). I ended up trading my lifted new body style Yukon in for it and couldnt be more happy.

Here is the truck the day I bought it


The plan for this truck right away was to install a large lift, wide wheels, large tires, stereo, paint/graphics, Interior, and some motor work.

The first day I had the truck I ended up ordering the H&S Egr/ Egr cooler Delete (which was a nightmare wouldnt recommend this kit to my worst enemy), 5" aluminized flo-pro exhaust, and the Race me programmer. after getting all that installed I went from averaging 11.5 MPG to 15.8 MPG so I was pretty happy with that.




During the process of getting the motor mods taken care of I had located a set of paintable front/rear bumpers (grille/mirrors were already color matched). So I had a good friend of mine body work/prep and paint my front and rear bumpers, and installed those on the truck.




Once I was finished with the front and rear bumper I got a wild hair to color match my headlight housings. I removed the headlights, baked them, peeled them apart, prepped and painted the housing, and reassembled and installed them. I decided to leave the amber reflector out which I didnt care for.


Now that I got the truck semi looking how I wanted it, It was time to start the fun part...the suspension. The initial plan was to go really big with this truck but after checking prices on kits and how crazy the prices got for anything larger than an 8" kit I decided that I would take and 8" kit and make it larger. I chose the Mcgaughy's 8" long arm kit, with a 3" front spacer, and that kit has a 6" block in the rear so I purchased the Thuren lift shackle for the back to give it that extra bit of lift. The goal was to run a 40" tall tire. I had heard of a small group of people that accomplished this but couldnt find much information on what they did. So after doing as much research as I could I felt pretty confident in the route I wanted to take while also knowing that I may run into issues and when I got there I would figure it out. so everyone keep in mind there will be kinks that need worked and this will be trial and error for others down the road. Along with the macgaughys 8" kit, 3" front spacer, and thuren lift shackle, I ordered the BDS dual front shock mount, BDS Rear dual shock mount, BDS front dual 9500 steering stabilizer, BDS front adjustable trac bar, BDS rear ladder bars (traction bars), Fox 2.0 shocks all the way around (10 shocks total), and the BDS carrier bearing drop that the mcgaughys kit did not include. I am still debating on ordering the BDS leaf springs but with this entire process being a trial and error I figured I would make that decision after and if I am not pleased with the ride quality/ towing capability I can change them after the fact. I ordered my Mcgaughy's kit Raw (no powder coat) since I am a very detailed kind of person and I want everything to match my truck. The additional parts from BDS came coated so I didnt have a choice. I wanted everything on the truck to either be white or chrome, but I am not a fan of chrome since it tends to bubble, flake, and rust after a short period of time in my experience. So with that beign said I found a powder coater that had a good reputation and he offered a chrome'ish looking powdercoat. Once I received the lift, and the additional parts they were seperated by what I wanted white, and what I wanted chrome. The picture with the link bars, springs, etc that have the blue band around them will be coated white. The other picture that is mostly different brackets, and small objects will be coated in the chrome looking powder coat.



I dropped all of those parts off yesterday to my powder coater and due to the size and amount of parts/ my pickyness on quality he asked me to give him a week for the turn around. In the mean time I will start tearing the truck apart to remove the leaf springs, and front sway bar so I can drop those off and have them coated as well.

As far as my wheel choice I went with a set of 22x12 American force Shift SS8, and I have a set of Nitto Mud grapplers (40X15.5x22) on order which should be in this weekend or early next week. (since these pictures, the ranch hand bumper was removed for the facorty color matched bumpers)






I also installed a set of Amp research powersteps but I forgot to snap a picture. so Ill get one here shortly and post it up. I forgot to point out that in the parts currently at the powder coater im having the stock Tow hooks getting powder coated, along with the 50" LED light bar roof brackets and a set of CJC offroad brackets for a 30" light bar in the bumper between the tow hooks.

This thread will continuously get updated as I make some progress. Please comment and let me know what you think, I hope everyone likes the direction the truck is going and if you do not...oh well hahaha
 
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#2 ·
Well my tires finally came in.

Nitto Mud Grapplers


 
#3 ·
as of yesterday morning I dropped off my leaf springs, front sway bar, and some odd and end parts to finish off everything the poweder coater is waiting on. come wednesday everything should be rolling in and the fun should begin.
 
#4 ·
Tonight im picking up all 10 of the fox shocks that will be needed for the project, and all of the powder coating should be done tomorrow afternoon so this weekend we can tear into the truck pretty heavy
 
#5 ·
I'm only a tad jealous haha. Sub'd to this build thread.
 
#6 ·
haha ya i was a few days behind in creating this thread on the forum so i just dumped a couple of days up to this point.

Thanks fire_hero
 
#7 ·
I wanna see where this leads so I'm subscribing.
 
#8 ·
this is gonna be one badass rig! how do I subscribe to this? im not familiar with this forum
 
#9 ·
Thanks guys I'm hoping to have some pretty awesome picture tomorrow
 
#10 ·
Here all 10 of the shocks that will be needed
 
#11 ·
So youre powdercoating everything chrome? I cant wait to see what it looks like finished up!
 
#12 ·
No, if you look back up there are 2 pictures of all the suspension parts laid out. the picture with the springs, link bars, traction bars, adj trac bar, etc all that will be coated white. all the knick knack brackets, and stuff will get powder coated chrome.
 
#14 ·
Nice. put up some pictures once you get the parts rolling back in. My builds that ive done like this i never drove them they sit in my garage. This truck id have to show off!
 
#15 ·
ya the plan for this truck is to drive and show. My other project is a frame off truck and I hate that its not practical to drive
 
#16 ·
Looks like an s-10 laying rocker in the garage.
 
#18 ·
Looks like it will be to late in the day to pick up all my powder coated parts but I should have them all tomorrow for sure. Ill leave you guys with a teaser. Sorry for the bad cell phone pictures but that is all I got. better pics to come tomorrow.


 
#20 ·
Looks good!
 
#21 ·
again Ill be picking everything up today but for now I have a few crappy cell phone pictures from the coater.

Heres some of the white


 
#22 ·
Got everything back from the powder coater yesterday. I started semi late and things started off being stubborn. This morning we should make some real progress. The leaf springs did not end up getting powder coated because the factory ones have a band on end end that my coater didn't want to forcefully remove. Which was ok since i was up in the air on going with aftermarket leafs later on.

 
#23 ·
I am excited to see the latest progress!
 
#24 · (Edited)
Well this truck was a PITA. Every single issue that could have gone wrong went wrong, took longer than it should have, etc. The lift it self is very basic just problem after problem.....BUT the lift is on and I wanted to post just a few pictures. Today once I get home I will be finishing up a bunch of loose ends, and going over everything again. The only thing left to install is the front dual shock mounts in the wheel wells, and the rear ladder bars. I wanted to wait until it was 100% until I post the final pictures.


 
#25 ·
man this place is dead
 
#26 ·
That's cause we're waiting to see the final product.
 
#27 ·
X2. I was waiting for the complete pics!
 
#28 ·
I say leave it like Pic 2 and 3!
 
#29 ·
haha we thought about taking it for a spin lol
 
#30 ·
This forum isnt as active as it once was.
 
#31 ·
Thats a shame
 
#32 ·
i notice here in texas, people like to have their trucks completely whited out.

Like western hauler trucks are whited out completely, air dam, mirrors, everything. I notice your is pretty whited out too.

I just want to know why people prefer that. I notice its mostly ranchers too.
 
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