Independent front suspension haters across the country breathed a collective sigh of relief when the '03 four-wheel-drive 2500 and 3500 Dodge Ram trucks made their debut on solid axles. We know many of you went out and ponied up the new-truck cash to score an all-new Hemi- or Cummins-powered Ram. And now that you have a few thousand miles under its tires, you're ready to start improving on what is arguably one of the best off-road platforms ever offered in a pickup truck. But all the built trucks you see are always Fords or GMs, and you're having a hard time finding anything for your new toy. We know because we have visions of building a new Ram into an off-road machine and the stuff is just not out there yet.
That was until we checked out Tuff Country's Web site and saw they were working on a new lift for the '03 Rams. We had a Hemi-powered 2500 coming into town from the East Coast for a few days of testing and we wanted to know if Tuff Country had a kit available yet. Within a few weeks the first production kit was on its way to Off Road Unlimited, where we scheduled a full-day install to see what it takes to elevate a new Ram. While not a hard-core long-travel suspension system by any means, the Tuff Country kit is a great place to start for the guy who still has quite a few payments to make, and enough sense to stay away from the cutting torch until he owns more of the truck than the bank does.