A friend of mine is looking at a 2008 dodge mega cab, he's wondering about a cheap good suspension option...Any ideas on this?

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
Oh, is there a kit to mount a winch like the power wagon has? just the fairlead sticking out? everything else behind the bumper? He's looking at using the N fab pre runner front and rear bumper guards to mount some aux. lighting on!

No PW-style winch kit that I am aware of. You could get PW parts from the dealer but they are gawdawful expensive, the cast iron cradle is scarce, and the Warn winch is a Dodge OEM part that is probably not available from Warn, runs in reverse. You may be able to adapt a standard Warn 12000 or 15000, but not sure. Forget about the N-Fab bumper guards and light bars, because the current N-Fab stuff is crap. Avoid BFGs like the plague on that truck if it's a 2500 or 3500. Dodge issued a TSB on BFGs for death wobble on their solid axle 3G HD trucks. Best tires for that truck are Toyos, in MT, AT, or RT, 35" on stock suspension and 37s with a small lift. Make sure that whatever tires go on that truck are Load Range E. The Thuren kits are very good and a pretty good value, Don's white shocks are thought to be better than Bilstein 5100 or 7100. I went with Thuren's custom tuned Fox 2.0 remotes for my '05 PW and I am happy. Re the lift, remember that when Dodge engineers designed the PW, the factory lift is only 2" on one end and 1.8" on the other, so you don't need to get carried away. Look around and you may find some PW suspension parts from a PW that has been upgraded. Check the PW Forum classifieds. When your buddy orders the Thuren kit, probably a good idea to get Boogie Bumps for the front. Skip the mall crawler wheels and find a set of used PW wheels or Hummer H2 wheels. The H2 wheels have to be bored out to fit the big Dodge hubs, but it's not expensive if you find a guy with a wheel lathe. Tell your buddy to start reading the PW Forum and learn from the best, lots of good info there for 2500s.
 

autism family travels

Active member
He's going to be ordering the thuren full kit next week. We need light mounting as we have LOTS of large animals in the night. the N-fab is a good alternative to a full bumper which he does not want to get into. I know the coatings on them are crap, I am a powder coater so I can refurb it for him at that time. We don't have a good Toyo dealer here on the island, thats why I asked about the ST MAXX. I know that the truck is a 3/4 ton'ish rig so he would need E rated tires for sure. Where we live on an island there are no used parts flying around like in the states, It will be cheaper in the long run to buy a full thuren kit with their Overland shocks than to buy a bunch of stock PW parts. I dont think race lines he was looking at were mall crawler wheels. Not like he wanted to put cockstars on it or something like that.
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
Don't know what island you are on, but H2 wheels can be had for $200-$300/set of four, plus maybe $80/set for machining the hubs. Racelines will cost what, $2K? Something to think about.
 

autism family travels

Active member
Race lines are 175 for a 17" new. There are no power wagon. Or hummer wheels for sale on the island. Newfoundland Canada. I get free shipping on those wheels too.
 

autism family travels

Active member
I work in the small engine market and have contacts in the wheel industry. I get awesome deals on that stuff. Usually better than used stock wheels. My buddy can take advantage of that too.
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
The race lines we are looking at.

That wheel is cast, not forged. Mall crawler. I would not run that wheel on a heavy truck off road.
 

autism family travels

Active member
99.99999 percent of wheels on trucks today are cast, and work just fine off road. NOT mall Crawler. If there were stock aluminum wheels on the truck they would be cast.
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
If there were stock aluminum wheels on the truck they would be cast.

PW and H2 wheels are forged, and for a reason. Your call, but you did ask for advice.
 

Buliwyf

Viking with a Hammer
The race lines we are looking at.

That wheel is cast, not forged. Mall crawler. I would not run that wheel on a heavy truck off road.

The Method NV HD's are pretty nice and rated 4500# a piece IIRC. You pay a bit more for those. Pressure cast and extruded wheels aren't the crap they used to be.

I'm OK with the 3600# Method NV's. As long as I have a 5th wheel for a full sized spare, not just my OEM steel spare. No way I'm getting 2 flats in one trip.

Innov8's are forged if you're going to be prerunning or something. Very expensive though.
 
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TommyG

Adventurer
Toyos, and ST Maxx seem to be fine on these trucks. There are guys running both that are happy with them. As mentioned before, BFG is pretty much a no go. Not a bad tire but they induce death wobble on these trucks for some reason.
 

Buliwyf

Viking with a Hammer
Because the HD Dodges and SD Fords are right on the exact border of death wobble. If you have too much pocket change, or drive under a solar flare, death wobble.

Properly setup, I could grind half the lugs on a bfg all kinds of weird with no issues at all. Even sadder is how many pro techs struggle to fix death wobble. Although I suppose that's because no one wants to pay for it, half the time.
 

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