My 2024 Dually build thread

[Flyin6]

I have been building and modifying my 24' 3500 dual-wheel truck since purchasing it. I want to say it went about a week before things started to change, and there is a good reason for the haste, at least there was back then.
I was happily motoring around in my 2002, 3500 single-wheel Cummins truck when I ran into a problem. I was getting ready to purchase a slide-in truck camper and was struggling with the 6.5' bed, but when I ran the cargo numbers, I was way on the wrong side of the equation.
I never really paid much attention to the truck's load-carrying capacity because I would usually tow things, sometimes heavy ones (like farm equipment). I was shocked to discover how limited the cargo weight was, and it was clear that it would not fit into the upcoming trip across the US I was getting ready to launch on.
I must have been living right, because I had purchased my '22 Laramie for a song, as it had been sitting on the lot for nearly six months. I paid $72K for it back then, then paid it off quickly. Realizing I would have to scrap either the trip, the camper, or the truck, I opted to let the 22 go and find a dually instead. I went to my local dealer who had a new 24 HO truck sitting there, and I really loved my 22 Laramie. The 22 was lifted with a Carly suspension, 37" tires, wheels, an Expedition one bumper, and a winch, along with other goodies. A guy who worked at the dealership offered me $ 73,000 for the truck, which I accepted. Meanwhile, the dealership discounted the $ 93,000 stickered dually to the same price, $ 73,000. It was a wash, with me only losing the money I spent on mods for the 22, and I left the dealership owing nothing on my brand new Dually.
That all seemed almost magical, and just like that, I had a new, unproven Cummins HO truck that needed some adjustments to make it behave well with a 4,000+ pound camper.
I will detail all the changes made to the truck in the upcoming posts, and there is a lot to discuss.
2024 Ram 3500 Dually
Big Horn
Cummins HO/AISIN
4.10 ratio, 12" rear axle
50 gal fuel tank
Alpine with the big display
Midnight edition with Alchoa wheels

 

[Flyin6]

So far I have:
Modified the rear springs
Added a Carli suspension
Hellwig sway bar
7500 Airbags
Banks rear diff cover
Expedition one front bumper with grill guard (for mule deer)
Ox 13,500 winch w/synthetic rope
Adjustable electric air spring pump
Amp Research steps

Sitting in boxes in the garage:
Banks power ram
Banks hot and cold side intercooler pipes
Banks 5" exhaust
Banks Ram air
Expedition one rear bumper

 

[Flyin6]

OK, let me start catching up here. I purchased the truck in late March 2024.

The first thing I did was stiffen the rear spring pack with increased height bump pads to engage both the main helper spring and the additional spring pack.
If you are familiar with the effectiveness of torque-lift products, this is a simpler and more cost-effective method to achieve essentially the same result.

I tapped Energy Suspension for the thicker bump pads and the spacers for the secondary spring engagement pad. Usually, the truck has to settle a couple of inches before it can use all of the spring pack. With this setup, the total spring pack(s) are engaged almost immediately.

What does this do? You can carry the same weight without as much squat, and with all those strings engaged, the ride with a top-heavy camper is much better

 

[Flyin6]

And that by itself accounted for some lift.

At this point, I am carrying the weight of the truck on both (4) spring packs, which stiffened up the ride some, but this was only the first step in the process.

 

[Flyin6]

Next, I installed a set of 7,500-lb air bags and a Helwig rear anti-sway bar.

After adding just a little air, the body raised off the upper spring pack and still gave me a stiff but stable ride without a load. At this point, I have not placed the camper into the bed yet; that will be coming right up the following month.

 

[Flyin6]

Next, I pulled off those Nexen tires, which are known to grenade for no particular reason. Having experience crashing cars, trucks, Jeeps, and things that fly, I'm no longer interested in any unplanned high adventure.

Stock size is a 235/80R-17

I opted for the Toyo Open Country RT in size 255/80R-17

Why an RT? As an avid Jeep enthusiast, I prefer aggressive tires. I also use the truck on my "Gentleman's farm," which features a variety of terrain, including dry mud, wet mud, sticky mud, slippery mud, and rocky mud. I figured the RT's would keep me from having to get the tractor to pull me out of a hole somewhere ;-)

 

[gimmie11s]

NIce truck!

 

[Flyin6]

Next up, and within a week, was the Carli suspension. In the past, I have opted for the entire setup for many thousands of wasted dollars. Not wasted in the sense that Carli is not great stuff, but wasted in the sense that, for what I do, and in a dually, most of the stock stuff is fine

 

[Flyin6]

I did find, however, that the supplied U-bolts were not as long as I prefer. I had a new set bent up at the local HD truck shop.

 

[Flyin6]

The difference in height before and after suspension. I do not need the truck sitting on a 6" lift, but for my liking, the thing sat too low, and I was concerned about catching a "wait-a-minute" stump on the farm.

From when I had originally installed the airbags, those cheapo supplied fittings were leaking. I replaced them while things were disassembled with much better brass fittings.

 

[Flyin6]

The truck may have acquired a noticeable "nose low" attitude, but I can adjust that with air bag pressure, and of course, with that camper sitting in there with 120 psi pressure, it all looks quite comfortable. My ride is firm, but that's what I like in an HD truck. If I want a nice ride, I'll hop into the wife's Caddy.

 

[Flyin6]

Next up, a new Carli steering stabilizer got installed. Carli upgrades the axle mount for the gas-charged unit.

 

[Flyin6]

With all that done, I moved on to the task which I DO NOT LIKE...The front suspension.

Teardown was first. Working around all that heavy stuff: The wheels, jacks, springs, and dogs, I pulled the springs.

 

[Flyin6]

Taping in the upper rubber isolator made for a slightly easier install

 

[Flyin6]

Before and after measurements:

 

[Flyin6]

I may not have mentioned it, but I did install the Carli radius arm after torquing the bushing/nut to something like a million ft/lbs!

The alignment came in at factory specs, although I was at the limit of the cam bolts. To go higher will involve lowering the radius arms with more Carli stuff.

 

[Flyin6]

Talk about ugly, but very functional, I had installed a bumper for a trip out to Wyoming/Montana, where the year before I had almost run over two really big and dumb mule deer. Had I not seen them, I would have very likely totaled my Jeep. As a precaution, I purchased the pictured bumper to provide some protection.
About as soon as I tightened the last bolt, I started to dislike that ugly thing, so it was just a matter of time before I replaced it.
This is the start of that replacement. While the bumper was off there was a perfect opportunity to install the LED Morimoto headlights

 

[Flyin6]

The Morimoto units were not blazingly bright, which I hate because of what it does to other drivers. I have to deal with that enough myself; therefore, I won't add to the problem.
The Morimotos have projector lamps that cut off the light scatter to prevent blinding, yet still do a decent job of illuminating the road ahead.
If you've never taken the grill off one of these trucks, you'll be surprised, as I was, by all the fasteners Mopar uses to hold it in there.

 

[Flyin6]

The install was straightforward with everything out of the way.
Having driven with these headlights now, for a year plus, I am wanting a bit more illumination. IMHO, the factory LED headlights in my 22 Laramie were both brighter and better. But, hey, these are thousands less than a conversion to factory LEDs

 

[Flyin6]

The new bumper from Expedition One arrived bare metal.

I cleaned it with solvent, then sprayed two coats of wet self-etching primer. After drying for a day, I scuffed it and top-coated it with the Bed coating material from Harbor Freight. Yeah, I know, cheap Chinaman junk, you say? My experience is quite the opposite. I have used this stuff on bumpers for many years with great results. I have used many other types, including mixing the two-part Urethanes. This inexpensive HF stuff works just as well and is easily repaired when I use the truck to push over a tree or move a Prius out of the way ;-)