Another 2020 Ram 5500 Flatbed Camper Build

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Firestone makes identical bags that are exactly 2” taller that bolt right In.

But yeah, no chance in hell you can use those tires without moving the axle forward an inch at least and 2” lift

 

[DirtWhiskey]

Cool project subbed. I buy and sell some big rigs. In the big tire dept I've had great luck with Purcell Tire in SLC. Those guys handle all of the Kennecott mine truck tires and such.

 

[Brad_UT]

Cool project subbed. I buy and sell some big rigs. In the big tire dept I've had great luck with Purcell Tire in SLC. Those guys handle all of the Kennecott mine truck tires and such.

Thanks for the tip about Purcell. Always good to know who the local pros are.

 

[Brad_UT]

While I'm waiting for the new front control arms to be built, I put on some temporary rear fenders. Fenders are made by Fleet Engineers. Buyers Products makes similar too. 1" black pipe cross bars and pipe beam clamps attach it to the truck. These will stay on until I can get an aluminum flatbed.

 

[Brad_UT]

Rear bumper approval drawings. This thing is going to look **************!

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Rear bumper approval drawings. This thing is going to look **************!

View attachment 615870View attachment 615871

Hell yeah

 

[ripper1600]

Awesome build so far. Look forward to your next progress post.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brad_UT]

Thanks ripper! I'm still waiting on the front lower control arms and rear bumper to be done so I've moved on to ripping apart the cab now. Running wiring, mounting stuff and getting the console modified to accept the CB and 2 meter Ham radios. I've been using my new Swag Offroad press brake kit with a cheapie 20 ton Harbor Freight press to build brackets. Can't believe I struggled for so many years clamping stuff in a vise and pounding on it with a hammer. Super easy to build really trick looking parts now. The radio panel still allows the sliding drink holder thing in the console to slide all the way forward. Absolutely no loss of functionality. I'm super happy with the way it turned out.

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Thanks ripper! I'm still waiting on the front lower control arms and rear bumper to be done so I've moved on to ripping apart the cab now. Running wiring, mounting stuff and getting the console modified to accept the CB and 2 meter Ham radios. I've been using my new Swag Offroad press brake kit with a cheapie 20 ton Harbor Freight press to build brackets. Can't believe I struggled for so many years clamping stuff in a vise and pounding on it with a hammer. Super easy to build really trick looking parts now. The radio panel still allows the sliding drink holder thing in the console to slide all the way forward. Absolutely no loss of functionality. I'm super happy with the way it turned out.
View attachment 616765View attachment 616766View attachment 616767View attachment 616779View attachment 616771View attachment 616770

dang man, that’s freaking slick

 

[frodotbaggins88]

Wow man, that accessory panel you made is looking clean. I use that identical HF 20 ton press with a Swag off-road finger brake, works like a charm.

Do you ever come down to the St. George area? I live in St. George and I'm building an almost identical rig to yours. 2021 Ram 5500 Crew Cab 84". I'm working on some custom parts to straighten out the Kelderman setup up front and get the shock length correct with 3" of lift. Would be really cool to check out your truck in person if you're ever down this way.

 

[Brad_UT]

Do you ever come down to the St. George area?

Hell, in the past two months mine has barely left the garage! I want to take it out so bad it's killing me. Once the flatbed gets on though I'll be driving it all over Southern Utah for sure. I'd love to see your build so I'll be sure to give you a heads up. I'm super interested in the custom parts you speak of. I had envisioned welding a 1/2 plate to the bottom air bag mount and cutting it so it hangs over about an inch further to the rear. That should make the bags more plumb and compensate for the axle being moved forward and inch. Ram5500CamperThing might be interested in this solution too, so keep us posted on what you come up with.

 

[frodotbaggins88]

Hell, in the past two months mine has barely left the garage! I want to take it out so bad it's killing me. Once the flatbed gets on though I'll be driving it all over Southern Utah for sure. I'd love to see your build so I'll be sure to give you a heads up. I'm super interested in the custom parts you speak of. I had envisioned welding a 1/2 plate to the bottom air bag mount and cutting it so it hangs over about an inch further to the rear. That should make the bags more plumb and compensate for the axle being moved forward and inch. Ram5500CamperThing might be interested in this solution too, so keep us posted on what you come up with.

Will do man. My truck is not here yet so I am just working off of CAD drawings and going back and forth to the dealer to measure on one of their trucks on the lot. Once my truck gets here it's the first thing on the agenda so I expect to have something put together for it pretty quickly. The Kelderman setup on all four corners with auto-leveling is an absolute must for my build so I'll be getting it figured out. Are you doing all your own fab work?

Also, where do you plan on getting 1" longer control arms? I haven't been able to source any, nor an adjustable track bar.

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Will do man. My truck is not here yet so I am just working off of CAD drawings and going back and forth to the dealer to measure on one of their trucks on the lot. Once my truck gets here it's the first thing on the agenda so I expect to have something put together for it pretty quickly. The Kelderman setup on all four corners with auto-leveling is an absolute must for my build so I'll be getting it figured out. Are you doing all your own fab work?

Also, where do you plan on getting 1" longer control arms? I haven't been able to source any, nor an adjustable track bar.

I can chime in with some of this...

DO NOT build anything crucial off of the CAD drawings off of the body builders guide on the ram site!!! At least not until you can verify them with the truck in person.

We found at least a half dozen errors on their drawings compared to the holes actually on my frame, and learned the hard/expensive way. They are NOT accurate and vary a bit up to almost 1/2"!!!

Control Arms...

Ahhhhh... the headache... I originally went with the suspension maxx setup because i was their test dummy. They fit great, but within a month, and less than 1000 miles, the heims are already rusted to the point of almost seized. Garbage.

I ordered a set from Dodge Off-Road almost 2 months ago, built to my specs (+1"), and they still arent here yet. I keep getting the run around everytime i reach out. May have to end up going local custom.

As for the track bar... Regardless what DodgeOffroad tells you, their Adjustable track bar will NOT fit the 2019+ 4500/5500, not even close. The 2019+ have a new front axle, and it hits the top of the diff, a lot! I detail all the issues with this on my build thread.

I was able to obtain the Buckstop relocation bracket (which isnt usually available unless you buy their whole kit), and it relocates the stock bar perfectly and re-centers the axle with 3" of lift. Its hell for stout too! I prefer using the stock one with the OEM bushings vs heims anyway

As of a month ago, there was still no adjustable 2019+ adjustable track bar for the 4500/5500 and the ones from previous gens wont fit, regardless what they are saying, I learned this the hard way throwing out $350

 

[frodotbaggins88]

I can chime in with some of this...

DO NOT build anything crucial off of the CAD drawings off of the body builders guide on the ram site!!! At least not until you can verify them with the truck in person.

We found at least a half dozen errors on their drawings compared to the holes actually on my frame, and learned the hard/expensive way. They are NOT accurate and vary a bit up to almost 1/2"!!!

Control Arms...

Ahhhhh... the headache... I originally went with the suspension maxx setup because i was their test dummy. They fit great, but within a month, and less than 1000 miles, the heims are already rusted to the point of almost seized. Garbage.

I ordered a set from Dodge Off-Road almost 2 months ago, built to my specs (+1"), and they still arent here yet. I keep getting the run around everytime i reach out. May have to end up going local custom.

As for the track bar... Regardless what DodgeOffroad tells you, their Adjustable track bar will NOT fit the 2019+ 4500/5500, not even close. The 2019+ have a new front axle, and it hits the top of the diff, a lot! I detail all the issues with this on my build thread.

I was able to obtain the Buckstop relocation bracket (which isnt usually available unless you buy their whole kit), and it relocates the stock bar perfectly and re-centers the axle with 3" of lift. Its hell for stout too! I prefer using the stock one with the OEM bushings vs heims anyway

As of a month ago, there was still no adjustable 2019+ adjustable track bar for the 4500/5500 and the ones from previous gens wont fit, regardless what they are saying, I learned this the hard way throwing out $350

Thanks for even more great info dude. The Buckstop relocation bracket looks like the ticket and thankfully from your pics it does not look difficult to clone that. I have a CNC plasma table and a full fabrication setup. I can probably get pretty close just from going off of the photos.

As for the control arms, I may just fab those up as well. Would prefer to buy them from an established shop but a simple boxed arm isn't too tough. I'll probably just cut the bushings and bungs off the stock arms and weld them back onto some longer arms.

I'm just using the CAD drawings to rough out the shape of my box mostly, nothing critical, no mounting points. Luckily the dealer here has a couple of 5500 4x4 Chassis Cabs on the lot and they are cool with me poking around them with tape measure/calipers until my truck arrives.

Edit to add: took another look at the arms, they're literally just straight tube arms, I can easily make these in any length. When my truck gets here I will make a build thread, doing suspension first thing.

 

[Brad_UT]

Excellent comments above! I am working with a place in Orem, UT called Core4X4 for the control arms. That's their speciality. I took them the stock arms and asked them to build a set 1" longer. I got a call a week later saying they've been working with Currie to build some customized Johnny joints that don't require spacers on each side of the spherical ball, and that have holes in the ball that match the factory metric bolt diameters. He said if I wanted this new design it would take a bit longer. Me being the perfectionist, I said that'll be fine. They do build track bars too, but nothing for the 5500. They were quite interested in building the control arms as a new product, so I think they'd be open to it if there's demand.

Why Buckstop won't sell that damn track bar drop bracket by itself is beyond me. Frodot - if you can copy it, I'll buy one.