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Dodge Ram Recon

A Mobile Base Camp for Today's Outdoorsman

Exterior Equipment
As good as the Ram is straight off the showroom floor, it needed some special equipment to handle the duties we ask of it. So we chose a group of accessories that would improve its four-wheeling prowess and ability to move gear into the backcountry.

Up front is a massive winch bumper and a grilleguard from Reunel Truck Accessories to protect the Ram from off-road hazards and to mount a Warn M15000 winch and a Hi-Lift jack. A second Reunel bumper and a second Warn winch are mounted at the rear. Both Reunel products are home to PIAA auxiliary lights--a pair of foglamps built into the front bumper, a pair of driving lights mounted to the grilleguard, and a pair of flood/backup lights inset in the back bumper. When it's time to hook up a trailer, the Ram's rear receiver channel gets a Self-Coupling Trailer Hitch from Fulkrum.

  • Realtree camo seat covers from Marathon contrast with the high-tech gadgetry inside the Recon. Visible here is the Lowrance GPS screen that's mounted to the instrument panel and a laptop computer in the center console. The laptop runs topographical map software from National Geographic. You can also spot the camo door trim treatment from Immersion Graphics.
    Realtree camo seat covers from Marathon contrast with the high-tech gadgetry inside the Re
  • Not every piece of gear on the Recon is work-oriented. We installed a DVD player and a flip-down monitor from Icon-TV.
    Not every piece of gear on the Recon is work-oriented. We installed a DVD player and a fli

The Ram, even in stock form, has a fairly tall step-in height, so we added side steps. We chose a pair of Go Rhino! Sumatra 6000 Series steps because of their wheel-to-wheel design, which allows us to use the steps not only to climb into the cab but also to reach into the truck bed. On the roof of the Ram is a Con-Ferr rack, a heavy-duty cargo platform made from tube steel. More PIAA lights are mounted to the front and rear of the rack to make sure anyone using Project Recon can cut through the night's gloom.

Given the kind of special gear the Recon would be carrying--everything from long arms and ammo to electronics--we realized that the Ram's bed would require some upgrades. So after protecting the bed walls and floor with a Line-X spray-on bedliner, we mounted a lockable, aluminum storage box from Highway Products in the bed. Then we covered the strongbox with a Pace-Edwards retractable tonneau cover and ToolTop cross-bed toolbox. As a final touch, we dressed up the Recon's sheetmetal with some Realtree Hardwoods HD camouflage graphics on the hood, grille, roof, rocker panels, and rear fenders. The Reunel bumpers and grilleguard also got the Hardwoods HD camo graphics treatment, as did the truck's hubcaps.

Outfitting the Interior
Comfort and convenience with a high-tech twist were key to the Recon's interior modifications. Assuming that the Recon would live up to its name and travel through uncharted territory, we equipped the truck with a Lowrance GPS system that would work in tandem with a laptop computer loaded with map software from National Geographic.

On the truck's floorboard beneath the Lowrance screen is a charging station for the ultrabright SureFire rechargeable flashlight. (SureFire personal lights are aboard too.) For spotting game, we outfitted the Recon with Nikon binoculars and spotting scopes, plus a laser rangefinder that's dressed, like the truck, in Realtree Hardwoods HD camo. We carried the Realtree theme inside the truck with Marathon camo seat covers. Immersion Graphics also finished pieces of the Ram's interior trim in the Hardwoods HD pattern. Auto Custom Carpets stitched the Recon's logo onto some custom floormats that are almost too nice to get dirty. But we will.

Finally, since all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, we installed an Icon-TV DVD player beneath the driver seat and a flip-down monitor on the ceiling. This roundup just begins to list all the modifications made to our Project Recon, most of which were performed by Central 4 Wheel Drive in Sacramento, California.

SOURCES
AIRAID
Scottsdale
AZ
800-498-6951
www.airaid.com
Marathon Seat Covers
520 W. Griffin Dr.
Bozeman
MT  59715
800-735-2769
www.marathonseatcovers.com
Auto Custom Carpets
PO Box 1350
Anniston
AL  36202
800-633-2358
www.accmats.com
Mopar Accessories
8-00/-846-6727
www.mopar.com
Auto Ventshade Company
8-00/-241-7219
www.autoventshade.com
National Geographic Maps
8-00/-962-1643
www.nationalgeographic.org/maps
Central 4 Wheel Drive
9-16/-481-7842
www.central4wd.com
Nikon
6-31/-547-4200
www.nikonusa.com
Con-Ferr Products
8-18/-848-6993
www.con-ferr.com
Pace-Edwards
8-00/-388-3697
www.pace-edwards.com
Dee Zee Inc.
8-00/-779-2102
www.deezee.com
PIAA Lights
5-03/-643-7422
www.piaa.com
Flowmaster
8-00/-544-4761
www.flowmastermufflers.com
Quik Step Ladder
4-03/-358-5777
www.foldableladder.com
Fulkrum
8-66/-385-5786
www.fulkrumhitch.com
Realtree Camouflage
8-00/-992-9968
www.realtree.com
Go Rhino!
7-14/-279-8300
www.gorhino.com
Reunel Truck Accessories
8-00/-338-2077
www.reunel.com
Highway Products
8-00/-866-5269
www.800toolbox.com
Safari Safe Co.
8-05/-498-4110
www.canonsafe.com
Icon-TV
8-77/-426-6888
www.icon-tv.org
Superchips Inc.
134 B Baywood Ave.
Longwood
FL  32750
407-260-0838
407-260-9106
www.superchips.com
Immersion Graphics
7-06/-568-4424
www.immersiongraphics.com
SureFire
8-00/-828-8809
www.surefire.com
Line-X
2525 S. Birch, #A
Santa Ana
CA  92707
8-00/-831-3232
linexcorp.com
Truck Shields
8-00/-553-1098
www.truckshields.com
Lowrance Electronics
8-00/-324-1356
www.lowrance.com
Warn Industries
1200 SE Capps Rd.
Clackamas
OR  97015
8-00/-910-1122
www.warn.com
Lund International
8-00/-328-5863
www.lundinternational.com
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