Our 2010 Ram 3500 has earned its stripes in the past year and a half by dragging trailers of projects, bed loads of parts, and cab loads of stinky magazine guys. It has been across America multiple times, tested various tires, and explored backroads in search of relaxation and a place to sleep in the wild. As such, we’ve grown to appreciate its dirt-simple reliability and made some changes over time that make it better. We’ve also realized certain parts are not our favorite. The truck has changed from a yearlong test vehicle to a permanent part of the 4WOR family, and as such, upgrades may be moving on from bolt-on bonanza to a cut here, a hole drilled there, no-turning-back upgrades. For this installment we beefed up the underneath and gave the truck a better ride and more support for heavy loads. Early on we raised the White Truck with a Mopar leveling kit comprised of a steel spacer atop the front coils. It allowed clearance of 35-inch tires without rubbing (on stock wheels), but the ride quality on the road wasn’t impressive. The truck wasn’t bad, but we felt some higher pay-grade shocks would make a difference.Early on we raised the White Truck with a Mopar leveling kit comprised of a steel spacer a In our discussions with Icon Vehicle Dynamics about better shocks we were slightly coerced into the company’s 21⁄2-inch suspension kit. We were interested in keeping the truck low for towing and hauling, but the addition of a progressive rate coil and much better shocks hooked us like catfish to corn.In our discussions with Icon Vehicle Dynamics about better shocks we were slightly coerced The progressive rate coils (left) are great because they raise the truck but keep a smooth ride a few inches from ride height, and then get stiffer as they go to full compression. This means light road or trail deformities are silky and big hits are controlled rather than bottoming out.The progressive rate coils (left) are great because they raise the truck but keep a smooth By raising the truck more than an inch, the track bar pushes the front axle toward the driver side. The Icon adjustable track bar brings it back inline while using a special progressive bushing that allows slight movement, but then firms up for perfect lateral control. Icon also offers adjustable link arms and longer sway bar links that can help fine-tune steering caster through the greater range of travel the suspension allows.By raising the truck more than an inch, the track bar pushes the front axle toward the dri The rear spring pack was augmented with an Icon mini expansion pack. This removed some of the leaf springs and replaced them with softer rate leaves. This simultaneously raised the rear of the truck and softened the ride.The rear spring pack was augmented with an Icon mini expansion pack. This removed some of The 2 1⁄2-inch Icon VS shocks are what made a huge difference in the ride quality of the white truck. These rebuildable nitrogen-charged, remote-reservoir shocks are made in America and have added heat dissipation and valving to allow smooth on-road use while quickly increasing control and stability when pushed to full compression.The 2 1⁄2-inch Icon VS shocks are what made a huge difference in the ride quality of the w One downfall we encountered with the plush Icon suspension was our heavy Caravan Camper we constantly have on the back. It, mixed with a trailer and the soft leaf springs, had the truck constantly nose high, tail low. A future winch bumper will likely level out this issue, but we opted for a set of Firestone Ride-Rite air helper springs first.One downfall we encountered with the plush Icon suspension was our heavy Caravan Camper we The air springs (airbags) bolt in and replace the factory rear bump (jounce) stops. The kit installs in an hour or two with basic handtools without even removing the tires.The air springs (airbags) bolt in and replace the factory rear bump (jounce) stops. The ki Once installed the air springs are plumbed to Schrader valves which we hid above the rear bumper in preexisting body holes. Simply adding air pressure helped level the truck, and more was added to support a heavy trailer.Once installed the air springs are plumbed to Schrader valves which we hid above the rear Tired New Truck We’ve run multiple tires on the Ram, starting with BFGoodrich KM2 Mud-Terrains then BFG All-Terrains and some Cooper Discoverer A/T3s. The Mud-Terrains were by far our favorite, though probably not the best for daily driving and towing where the Coopers or All-Terrains shine. We recently mounted the muddies on some used forged Power Wagon wheels we had powdercoated black. This gave the truck a nice light wheel with an aggressive tire combo, perfect for four-wheeling. SOURCES Cooper Tire 701 Lima Avenue Findlay OH 45840 419-423-1321 www.coopertire.com Icon Vehicle Dynamics 1580 Commerce Street Corona CA 92880 951-272-4266 IconVehicleDynamics.com BFGoodrich Tires P.O. Box 19001 Greenville SC 29602 877-788-8899 www.bfgoodrichtires.com Mopar P.O. Box 21-8004 Auburn Hills MI 48321 800-992-1997 www.mopar.com Caravan Campers 775-323-0270 www.caravancamper.com Firestone Ride-Rite www.fsip.com/riderite By Fred Williams Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
