MikeHenderson
Member
I think we can all agree that the Ram Power Wagon is the best looking production 4x4 truck on the market today.
No?
Ok, well then. Can we at least all agree that with a factory lift, front and rear lockers, disconnecting sway bars and burly skid plates and guards and a 12,000 pound Warn winch that it’s the most capable production 4x4 ¾ ton truck on the market today?
Well, probably not. I get it. You’re a Ford/Chevy/Toyota/Nisan guy. Never mind. It was worth a try.
Anyway, my friend Shawn was convinced enough that the above listed hyperbole was true that he tracked down this 2012 Power Wagon in Utah and went out and picked it up.
“it's our weekend adventure, play, tow the trailer go to remote places vehicle,” He says. “I'm lucky that I have a work truck that I drive every day.” This was an important factor for Shawn coming off a Ford F-150 ecoboost that got terrific mileage most of the time. “So I basically get to just leave this home all week in the driveway.”
While I may have implied above that this was a stock power wagon it clearly isn’t, so we’ll go through all the changes Shawn has made in the year and a half he’s had it.
Kinzer Off-Road Bumper
Power wagons come from the factory with a 12,000 pound winch in the big chrome front bumper. Not that there’s anything wrong with chrome, but that bumper had to go. When it wedged and got him stuck in a mud hole trying to get onto the Bronco Canyon trail, it’s days were clearly numbered.
He chose a Kinzer Off-Roadsteel front bumper that allowed for keeping the winch in the factory location and drastically improved the clearance and approach angle.
Despite the fact that the bumper didn’t include any instructions (like he would have read them anyway) he says the installation was pretty straightforward.
“But it only took us a couple hours with Mike's help and another friend we were able to wiggle it on everything lined up really really good.”
If you’ve ever put aftermarket bumpers on it can be a pain to get things to line up, but with the Kinzer, we just held it up and Shawn slipped the bolts in and cranked them down.
“This whole piece here is half inch thick steel that passes through,” Shawn says pointing to two slabs of metal with shackles hanging off. “And then the bumper itself is welded to that.”
If you’ve seen the Snake Lake videoyou know where the dent and scrape came from.
“You know it's a heavy-duty bumper. And Mike said stop and I said go. And I slid it against the rock. It did put a dent in it.” The bumper is rattle-caned now, but he plans to take it off, pound out the dent and get it powder coated in the future.
Tires and Wheels
Shawn has the Power Wagon sitting on 35 inch Toyo Open Country All Terrains mounted on stock Ram Steel Wheels he got from Craigslist and powder-coated black. They took a few hits on the way to Snake Lake, but don’t show any damage, so I think that is a good choice.
His main concerns with tire size was gearing and after running these all summer and towing his camp trailer, he’s convinced that he can go to 37s. “At least for summer time I'm going to go with 37’s on the aluminum Power Wagon Wheels but I'll keep these Thirty-Fives and steelies for wintertime and long trips.
Suspension: Thuren Components
Shawn likes the Thuren Componentsproducts from a shop based on Bend Oregon. He’s using their Power Wagon coils up front and Oveland Shocks all around. He’s running Thuren control arms which are offset and have a bend to clear 37s. AThuren track bar keeps the whole setup from flopping around. He also replaced a bunch of tie rods and ball joints and what-not with stock parts.
Rock Sliders: Randy Ellis Design
“So the sliders are a serious point of contention in all the blogs and Facebook pages. There's another brand of slider that a lot of people used that attaches to the frame: these actually attached to the body. These are Randy Ellis design slidersand what gets everybody's hairs up and what people don't understand is how they can be attached to the body and still be strong.”
So, these sliders are really cool. And, they really work. Basically it’s a long steel rectangular tube as long as the whole cab of the truck. That tube is then riveted to the body just below the door seal and then bolted along the bottom near the pinch weld. This spreads the load when you get hung up across the whole length of the body, and since it’s such a long truck, it gets hung up often.
He has the optional tube add-ons that stand off a few more inches to keep the body farther away from damage. We squeezed that thing between two boulders on the Snake Lake Trail and they worked perfectly.
“But if you've seen the videos I literally pinch this thing between two Volkswagen sized boulders and drug it through with a winch,” Shawn boasts. “So they proved to be more than durable. They are a rock slider despite what some people who have never seen them or never installed them like to say.”
“But the Randy Ellis design I believe in it. I think it's great it's brilliant the way it just hugs the body it gives me a lot more clearance than a frame mounted slider which you can imagine would actually be sitting down here.”
That it allows for 4 to 5 more inches of clearance over a design that ties into the frame was a major selling point for Shawn. That said, it’s a pretty big commitment to drill a hundred holes in a perfectly good truck body to install a slider that may also introduce the potential for rust. “It already had a dent in it,” says Shawn. “These things cover that Dent and then protect it from future damage. But he couldn’t say he’d do the same with a brand new truck. He calked the seam to prevent water damage, but this is a mostly dry and rust free environment we live in here in Reno so it shouldn’t be a huge issue.
“As far as durability goes I don't care what anybody says, they've proven themselves.” Shawn says. “There are some people who swear by the frame mounted sliders, and I'm sure they're great products, but what I can vouch for and what Mike can for anybody that's been out banging on rocks is: durability is not an issue.”
Rear Suspension
Shawn has installed Thuren adjustable shackles to hold up the stock leaf springs. The truck rides really well and has great flex with this setup. “Now that I added an inch to the front I'm going to move it up to an inch and three quarters of lift so that I maintain a little rake.”
Bed Rack and Storage
“Our other hobby besides camping and exploring is Mountain biking.”
To facilitate this activity Shawn is using the same Yakima Bed Rock setupthat we use on our Ford. This allows him to mount bikes with standard Yakima bike racks. This is a good setup for mounting the bikes and still be able to use the bed for holding gear.
At the front of the bed he’s got a Husky tool box with a high lift jack bolted to the outside. Inside he stores all his tools, recovery gear, tire chains, compressor, etc.
Engine: Stock
Shawn believes in keeping the engine mostly stock, although he did add some high energy Sultans of Sparkcoils that produce 40,000 volts over the stock 20,000 volt coils. “And I actually did notice a big difference with new champion plugs at 45000 gap with these,” Shawn says. “I picked up two miles per gallon. So that's something I've done in the engine. I'm not into doing the exhaust. I like nice quiet trucks and trucks that are smooth.”
Cockpit Mods
The only obvious mod in the cab, other than the crumb and dog hair repository in the back seat that is a true staple of all family overlanding rigs, is the Cobra CB radio. But it you look closer you’ll notice some rocker switches that aren’t stock. Shawn got frustrated with the controls and hoops you have to jump through to lock the differentials and disconnect the sway bar.
“It's a pain in the butt and it’s a bunch of Nanny stuff to keep people from you know using lockers when they shouldn't be or disconnecting the sway bar when it shouldn't be.”
So he bypassed the Ram Smart Bar all together and wired in a rocker switch that he hid behind the CB that sends power to two other switches on the dash that actually activate the lockers.
So now when he goes off road, he turns on the locker switches and then has instant activation of the lockers whenever he wants them regardless of what gear or mode the transfer case is in.
“Itworks so much better than the factory setup.” Shawn insists. “And when you're going up steep and rocky trails generally you're locking and unlocking the front locker a lot.”
“You need it right away and this system just is completely useless and it starts to malfunction where they just they just don't want to lock anymore. The other thing that I did is I completely disconnected the Smart Bar set up and I put a manual sway bar disconnect on it.”
While having the locker and swaybar disconnect from the factory is great, making a couple simple mods to those systems makes them a lot more useable.
“So now I have manual switches for the lockers and I have a manual switch for the sway bar and I'm totally happy with that.”
And that’s it. What seems like a fairly minimally modified Power Wagon is actually a really thoughtfully altered, and surprisingly capable family off road rig. Just check out the videos on our YouTuble channelfor examples of Shawn’s Power Wagonin acton!
Happy Trails,
-Mike
No?
Ok, well then. Can we at least all agree that with a factory lift, front and rear lockers, disconnecting sway bars and burly skid plates and guards and a 12,000 pound Warn winch that it’s the most capable production 4x4 ¾ ton truck on the market today?
Well, probably not. I get it. You’re a Ford/Chevy/Toyota/Nisan guy. Never mind. It was worth a try.
Anyway, my friend Shawn was convinced enough that the above listed hyperbole was true that he tracked down this 2012 Power Wagon in Utah and went out and picked it up.
“it's our weekend adventure, play, tow the trailer go to remote places vehicle,” He says. “I'm lucky that I have a work truck that I drive every day.” This was an important factor for Shawn coming off a Ford F-150 ecoboost that got terrific mileage most of the time. “So I basically get to just leave this home all week in the driveway.”
While I may have implied above that this was a stock power wagon it clearly isn’t, so we’ll go through all the changes Shawn has made in the year and a half he’s had it.
Kinzer Off-Road Bumper
Power wagons come from the factory with a 12,000 pound winch in the big chrome front bumper. Not that there’s anything wrong with chrome, but that bumper had to go. When it wedged and got him stuck in a mud hole trying to get onto the Bronco Canyon trail, it’s days were clearly numbered.
He chose a Kinzer Off-Roadsteel front bumper that allowed for keeping the winch in the factory location and drastically improved the clearance and approach angle.
Despite the fact that the bumper didn’t include any instructions (like he would have read them anyway) he says the installation was pretty straightforward.
“But it only took us a couple hours with Mike's help and another friend we were able to wiggle it on everything lined up really really good.”
If you’ve ever put aftermarket bumpers on it can be a pain to get things to line up, but with the Kinzer, we just held it up and Shawn slipped the bolts in and cranked them down.
“This whole piece here is half inch thick steel that passes through,” Shawn says pointing to two slabs of metal with shackles hanging off. “And then the bumper itself is welded to that.”
If you’ve seen the Snake Lake videoyou know where the dent and scrape came from.
“You know it's a heavy-duty bumper. And Mike said stop and I said go. And I slid it against the rock. It did put a dent in it.” The bumper is rattle-caned now, but he plans to take it off, pound out the dent and get it powder coated in the future.
Tires and Wheels
Shawn has the Power Wagon sitting on 35 inch Toyo Open Country All Terrains mounted on stock Ram Steel Wheels he got from Craigslist and powder-coated black. They took a few hits on the way to Snake Lake, but don’t show any damage, so I think that is a good choice.
His main concerns with tire size was gearing and after running these all summer and towing his camp trailer, he’s convinced that he can go to 37s. “At least for summer time I'm going to go with 37’s on the aluminum Power Wagon Wheels but I'll keep these Thirty-Fives and steelies for wintertime and long trips.
Suspension: Thuren Components
Shawn likes the Thuren Componentsproducts from a shop based on Bend Oregon. He’s using their Power Wagon coils up front and Oveland Shocks all around. He’s running Thuren control arms which are offset and have a bend to clear 37s. AThuren track bar keeps the whole setup from flopping around. He also replaced a bunch of tie rods and ball joints and what-not with stock parts.
Rock Sliders: Randy Ellis Design
“So the sliders are a serious point of contention in all the blogs and Facebook pages. There's another brand of slider that a lot of people used that attaches to the frame: these actually attached to the body. These are Randy Ellis design slidersand what gets everybody's hairs up and what people don't understand is how they can be attached to the body and still be strong.”
So, these sliders are really cool. And, they really work. Basically it’s a long steel rectangular tube as long as the whole cab of the truck. That tube is then riveted to the body just below the door seal and then bolted along the bottom near the pinch weld. This spreads the load when you get hung up across the whole length of the body, and since it’s such a long truck, it gets hung up often.
He has the optional tube add-ons that stand off a few more inches to keep the body farther away from damage. We squeezed that thing between two boulders on the Snake Lake Trail and they worked perfectly.
“But if you've seen the videos I literally pinch this thing between two Volkswagen sized boulders and drug it through with a winch,” Shawn boasts. “So they proved to be more than durable. They are a rock slider despite what some people who have never seen them or never installed them like to say.”
“But the Randy Ellis design I believe in it. I think it's great it's brilliant the way it just hugs the body it gives me a lot more clearance than a frame mounted slider which you can imagine would actually be sitting down here.”
That it allows for 4 to 5 more inches of clearance over a design that ties into the frame was a major selling point for Shawn. That said, it’s a pretty big commitment to drill a hundred holes in a perfectly good truck body to install a slider that may also introduce the potential for rust. “It already had a dent in it,” says Shawn. “These things cover that Dent and then protect it from future damage. But he couldn’t say he’d do the same with a brand new truck. He calked the seam to prevent water damage, but this is a mostly dry and rust free environment we live in here in Reno so it shouldn’t be a huge issue.
“As far as durability goes I don't care what anybody says, they've proven themselves.” Shawn says. “There are some people who swear by the frame mounted sliders, and I'm sure they're great products, but what I can vouch for and what Mike can for anybody that's been out banging on rocks is: durability is not an issue.”
Rear Suspension
Shawn has installed Thuren adjustable shackles to hold up the stock leaf springs. The truck rides really well and has great flex with this setup. “Now that I added an inch to the front I'm going to move it up to an inch and three quarters of lift so that I maintain a little rake.”
Bed Rack and Storage
“Our other hobby besides camping and exploring is Mountain biking.”
To facilitate this activity Shawn is using the same Yakima Bed Rock setupthat we use on our Ford. This allows him to mount bikes with standard Yakima bike racks. This is a good setup for mounting the bikes and still be able to use the bed for holding gear.
At the front of the bed he’s got a Husky tool box with a high lift jack bolted to the outside. Inside he stores all his tools, recovery gear, tire chains, compressor, etc.
Engine: Stock
Shawn believes in keeping the engine mostly stock, although he did add some high energy Sultans of Sparkcoils that produce 40,000 volts over the stock 20,000 volt coils. “And I actually did notice a big difference with new champion plugs at 45000 gap with these,” Shawn says. “I picked up two miles per gallon. So that's something I've done in the engine. I'm not into doing the exhaust. I like nice quiet trucks and trucks that are smooth.”
Cockpit Mods
The only obvious mod in the cab, other than the crumb and dog hair repository in the back seat that is a true staple of all family overlanding rigs, is the Cobra CB radio. But it you look closer you’ll notice some rocker switches that aren’t stock. Shawn got frustrated with the controls and hoops you have to jump through to lock the differentials and disconnect the sway bar.
“It's a pain in the butt and it’s a bunch of Nanny stuff to keep people from you know using lockers when they shouldn't be or disconnecting the sway bar when it shouldn't be.”
So he bypassed the Ram Smart Bar all together and wired in a rocker switch that he hid behind the CB that sends power to two other switches on the dash that actually activate the lockers.
So now when he goes off road, he turns on the locker switches and then has instant activation of the lockers whenever he wants them regardless of what gear or mode the transfer case is in.
“Itworks so much better than the factory setup.” Shawn insists. “And when you're going up steep and rocky trails generally you're locking and unlocking the front locker a lot.”
“You need it right away and this system just is completely useless and it starts to malfunction where they just they just don't want to lock anymore. The other thing that I did is I completely disconnected the Smart Bar set up and I put a manual sway bar disconnect on it.”
While having the locker and swaybar disconnect from the factory is great, making a couple simple mods to those systems makes them a lot more useable.
“So now I have manual switches for the lockers and I have a manual switch for the sway bar and I'm totally happy with that.”
And that’s it. What seems like a fairly minimally modified Power Wagon is actually a really thoughtfully altered, and surprisingly capable family off road rig. Just check out the videos on our YouTuble channelfor examples of Shawn’s Power Wagonin acton!
Happy Trails,
-Mike
Does not look like that new Chevy truck will threaten Ram in the looks department. 
