Blackened Build

[UglyViking]

Figured I'd start a build page for what will likely be the longest and most expensive build I've ever done. This truck is my daily driver so it will be used for commuting to work, weekend trips to home depot, hunting rig, and a handful of times a year as a tow rig for longer distance glamping with a travel trailer. I've wanted a diesel forever and with the trips my wife and I plan to take with a TT it finally made sense to buy one. With that, and the fact that when well cared for these diesel trucks can last "forever" I'm not sparing any expense when it comes to the truck. I don't plan to buy top of the line for everything "just because" but especially when it comes to engine components, suspension, etc. I'm doing exactly what I want. With that said, here is my current planning and some items I'm thinking about. Below is the current truck build from the factory.



2019 2500 Laramie 4x4 6.7 Cummins
Anti-spin rear axle with 3.73s
Level 2 package
Towing tech package
Sport appearance

The primary goals I have for the truck are to be a fun daily driver, rip and have fun with it every once in a while, usable towing rig for my needs, and retain a fair amount of reliability. In the end I'd love to have 800+ HP on this thing while also daily driving it, and from what I've read it seems doable with the time and money. 1,000 HP would be great if I could keep it streetable, mainly just to say I could.

Current Mods:

• None

Upcoming Mods:

• Paint correction & Ceramic coating
• Night edition parts swap
• 37s most likely Falken Wildpeak AT3W
• AMP Research powered steps
• Mopar Tailgate step

Mods I need to decide between options on:

• Carli or Thuren level OR AEV 3" suspension lift (still haven't decided, leaning level)
• 17" wheels (no clue what yet)
• Tonneau cover or cap (been looking at ARE and RSI
• Maybe a decked if I go cap

Future Mods: (here is where I'm still very uncertain of what options I'll want/need to get to my goals, much research needs to be done)

• Tune (once I'm comfortable the Engine isn't going to grenade)
• Edge CST3 monitor
• Change gear ratio to match "permanent" tire size
• Possibly AEV high mark flares with 41s
• 68RFE valve body upgrade
• 2nd gen manifold swap
• % over stock injectors
• probably a compound turbo setup in the fullness of time
• fuel pump
• etc.

 

[UglyViking]

Ironed out the details on the lift. Just ordered a Thuren lift with 2.75" front 1" rear coils and King 3.0 front(valved 3) 2.5 rears (valved 2). I spoke with Chris Willett who was great to deal with all my stupid questions and uncertainty. Are the 3.0 and 2.5 overkill? Probably, but I didn't want to have regret like I did with previous kits. I thought about doing a cheaper set of shocks and upgrading later but I figured I'd spend the little up front rather than spending twice. Excited to see how this handles on and off road. Chris also threw in a set of Overland shocks while the kings are being built. That means I can install and use the kit for now until the Kings come in, and also have a backup pair for when I rebuild the Kings in the future.

For anyone interested in why I chose Thuren over Carli or AEV I've got some details below.

Thoughts on AEV kit
Long and short of it the AEV kit seemed like the kit I was going to go with originally, but I didn't because it didn't enhance the ride at all, and from the photos I've seen it's off road performance seemed very lacking. Additionally, I didn't really like how many components the AEV kit added to correct geometry. Perhaps this is necessary but I felt like it was just moving around stock components and not actually beefing anything up. If the goal is larger tires alone and you want to keep 100% of your payload/towing this kit will probably be a good setup if your off roading is rather minimal in flex. Seems like a good overland kit even if you're not getting much more comfort. I'll still probably look into the AEV bumper in the future if necessary and def the fender flares if I decide to move beyond 37s but it's seeming less and less likely.

Thoughts on Carli
I've got nothing bad to say about them at all. To be frank, I think the Carli website is much better and has much more information available without contacting them. Their lift was about 0.5" taller up front, which I didn't want and they had less options for configuring the shocks, it was more of a "this is what Carli recommends" setup. I also liked the fact that the Thuren kit had longer track bars and required less overall parts than the Carli kit and when you compare apples to apples it seemed like the Carli kit was a bit more expensive. Again, nothing bad to say about them at all, I'm sure their kits are amazing but I sort of flipped a coin at the end.

I need to order wheels and tires now. I'm 90% sure on going with the Falken AT3W in 37s. For wheels I'm leaning toward the CJC exclusive Method wheels for the better offset. Need to finalize my decision here though.

 

[tienckb]

Following your build.

Taking notes from you in preparation for my lift . I am also looking at Carli but will do some homework with the Thuren and see which would suit me best.

I agree with your AEV analysis. I don’t mind giving up a bit of payload capacity for a smoother ride and suspension flex enhancement.

Mine is a 3500 and smoothing this thing out is my first order of priority.

Tim


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UglyViking]

Let me know what you end up with. Would be cool to compare notes on install and such if we end up with different kits.

I think the main difference between the two is that Thuren stays under that magic 3" number and thus doesn't need the drop brackets that the Carli kit needs. Their kit utilizes Radius arm drops, bump stop drops, and a rear track bar drop. If you compare suspension travel of the Carli and Thuren kits it looks to be almost the same, Thuren prob has Carli by a hair in the front and maybe a little less in the rear. Carli doesn't state how large their bump stops are in the front, just that it's for a 3" system. I think for my needs that's beyond splitting hairs. I really just liked the fact that Thuren's kit didn't need the extra drops. Replace the springs, shocks and track bar and you're set.

I did like the AEV kit for the fact you maintain payload. I think if this truck wasn't my daily driver, and I used it strictly for fun weekend trips, offroad, hunting, even some towing, I'd prob have gone AEV. Since I'm empty like 80% of the time it just didn't make sense. Would have saved me a boat load of money though.

 

[.genomer]

Let me know what you end up with. Would be cool to compare notes on install and such if we end up with different kits.

I think the main difference between the two is that Thuren stays under that magic 3" number and thus doesn't need the drop brackets that the Carli kit needs. Their kit utilizes Radius arm drops, bump stop drops, and a rear track bar drop. If you compare suspension travel of the Carli and Thuren kits it looks to be almost the same, Thuren prob has Carli by a hair in the front and maybe a little less in the rear. Carli doesn't state how large their bump stops are in the front, just that it's for a 3" system. I think for my needs that's beyond splitting hairs. I really just liked the fact that Thuren's kit didn't need the extra drops. Replace the springs, shocks and track bar and you're set.

I did like the AEV kit for the fact you maintain payload. I think if this truck wasn't my daily driver, and I used it strictly for fun weekend trips, offroad, hunting, even some towing, I'd prob have gone AEV. Since I'm empty like 80% of the time it just didn't make sense. Would have saved me a boat load of money though.

The Carli drops are 1-1.5" and utilize your current rubber bumps. Unless you jump the truck, they shouldn't ever hit. I couldn't find anything on the rear coils but from what others have said, the weighted sag is less under load. Thuren is great and I think you'll make a great choice in which ever direction you lean.

The Wildpeaks are amazingly quiet and feel a world-a-difference over stock. You'll be happy to have them under ya.

From a wheel standpoint, I'm running what your looking into. You can find my build on the Member buildout page for comparison. I'm running a level so 35's might not be up your alley. With that being said though, there was no trimming involved and the wheels fit like a glove to align with the fenders. Ideal stick out. With 37's, minimal trimming is advertised however that regear you talked about (and calibration) is recommended. If you're happy with the look of 35's, this route may save you some money in the long run. Good luck dude!

 

[UglyViking]

The Carli drops are 1-1.5" and utilize your current rubber bumps. Unless you jump the truck, they shouldn't ever hit. I couldn't find anything on the rear coils but from what others have said, the weighted sag is less under load. Thuren is great and I think you'll make a great choice in which ever direction you lean.

The Wildpeaks are amazingly quiet and feel a world-a-difference over stock. You'll be happy to have them under ya.

From a wheel standpoint, I'm running what your looking into. You can find my build on the Member buildout page for comparison. I'm running a level so 35's might not be up your alley. With that being said though, there was no trimming involved and the wheels fit like a glove to align with the fenders. Ideal stick out. With 37's, minimal trimming is advertised however that regear you talked about (and calibration) is recommended. If you're happy with the look of 35's, this route may save you some money in the long run. Good luck dude!

I am following your build for sure, really dig the look. It's interesting that Carli includes bump drops while Thuren doesn't since the kit is only 0.5" different, so you'd think that it would be at most 0.5" up front for like to like. Either way, not that big a deal as I'm not going to be using it that hard all the time.

I am really shooting for 37s (or larger in the future maybe ) so I'm happy to pay to play with a regear. Eventually I'm going to be doing a transmission build so I'm gonna run the 37s for a bit and see how it feels, then I'll decide if I'm gonna stick with 37s longer term or cut up the truck a bit more to fit 40s. It's nuts to me how big these trucks are. They look so large that 37s don't even look big to me, they look normal.

 

[.genomer]

I am following your build for sure, really dig the look. It's interesting that Carli includes bump drops while Thuren doesn't since the kit is only 0.5" different, so you'd think that it would be at most 0.5" up front for like to like. Either way, not that big a deal as I'm not going to be using it that hard all the time.

I am really shooting for 37s (or larger in the future maybe ) so I'm happy to pay to play with a regear. Eventually I'm going to be doing a transmission build so I'm gonna run the 37s for a bit and see how it feels, then I'll decide if I'm gonna stick with 37s longer term or cut up the truck a bit more to fit 40s. It's nuts to me how big these trucks are. They look so large that 37s don't even look big to me, they look normal.

You're a bigger man than me on that, good for you taking on such a dedicated route! I'd say 0.5" is a close enough number for the bump Stops. I think both kits offer about 8" more of wheel travel. The only difference between both kits, that I've seen, involves Carli's push of suspension geometry and custom tuned Fox shocks. If you go Overland or King, on Thuren though, that doesn't matter. Cant wait to see the kit when you get it tho. Not many full blown Thuren kits get photo facetime!

 

[Distillusion]

Not many full blown Thuren kits get photo facetime!

Noticed that, too. I think the guys running Thurens kits are out having more fun than we are!

 

[Squatch]

Everyone stop having fun, it’s time to take a picture

 

[UglyViking]

I'm unfamiliar with the term photo facetime. Is that to mean that guys running Thuren kits just aren't taking as many photos of their rigs?

 

[.genomer]

I'm unfamiliar with the term photo facetime. Is that to mean that guys running Thuren kits just aren't taking as many photos of their rigs?

I just can't recall a photo of a complete kit. Obviously they aren't unicorns lol, but between HDRam and a couple facebook groups I don't know if I've seen much outside of stock photos. Thuren definitely doesn't get as much advertisement as Carli, so maybe that's why.

You get your wheels ordered yet? The Covid wait time is dreaded! Tires always from Discountedwheelwarehouse.

 

[UglyViking]

I just can't recall a photo of a complete kit. Obviously they aren't unicorns lol, but between HDRam and a couple facebook groups I don't know if I've seen much outside of stock photos. Thuren definitely doesn't get as much advertisement as Carli, so maybe that's why.

You get your wheels ordered yet? The Covid wait time is dreaded! Tires always from Discountedwheelwarehouse.

That was actually one of the reasons that I was initially learning towards Carli. In the end I just liked how Thuren achieved the results better. Discountedwheel didn't have the falkens I wanted but I was able to get a great deal from a local shop.

Wheels have not yet been ordered. I'm trying to nail down exactly what I want to do. Looking at the method 315, 305 NV (and NV HD), AEV Katla, and Black Rhino Armory. I am having a hard time figuring out which direction to go. Need to just pull the trigger on one and see how I like it.

 

[dmk9]

Did you ever end up doing anything with the truck?

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Following.
I blacked out my truck and did night edition swap on all the necessary parts. Can’t wait to see progress.

 

[UglyViking]

Yeah, I've just not updated this in quite some time.

List of mods I've currently done:

• Full Thuren build - 2.75" front, 1" rear springs, Active sway bar, Front and rear track bars, King steering damper, King 3.0 front and 2.5 rear
• 17x8.5 AEV Katla wheel
• 37" Falken ATW3
• Amp research steps (the extreme or whatever)
• Edge CST3 monitor
• Ham radio setup
• Crossbox toolbox

I previously bought and installed a LEER cap with rhino rack and rtt from a buddy off expedition portal. I couldn't get over the look of the cap, although if I'm honest I do miss the functionality, not so much that I plan on doing a cap, but you never know.

I just received blacked out LED headlights, so I'm going to be swapping those over possibly tomorrow. I do plan to also attempt a tradesman grille (I think they are by far the best looking) and gonna see if I can get a 3D printed front camera mount.






Also waiting on FCA to announce some CP4 recall before I do any tune or anything else. I'm very ready to have a bit more pep to her.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

gosh dang that’s a good looking truck.

Headlight swap is fun.
do the grille at the same time since it has to be removed.

 

[UglyViking]

I think I'm holding off on the grille for a minute or two. I wanted to do it quick but didn't realize how expensive grilles are. I just bought my dream car (to go along with the dream truck) so my time and money is currently focused on getting that road worthy.

 

[whitexc]

More about this dream car....

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[gimmie11s]

Damn truck is sexy as hell.

 

[UglyViking]

More about this dream car....

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

She's a 1966 Lincoln Continental sedan. She's in pretty rough shape right now but she runs and drives and I'm slowly working on getting her back to her former glory.