RAM 3500 MegaCab Cummins/Aisin AEV XL on 40"s with iKAMPER RTT

CTDJeeperman

Active member
how do you like the ikamper? does it have good build quality?

I’ve been really happy with the iKamper so far, the only real improvement it needs is a better mattress, we’re going to install a few different toppers or whole new mattress, there is some room for a thicker mattress but I’m not sure how much thicker. There is tons of room however for pillows and bedding on the far side of the fold out (driver side in my configuration). The build quality on these seem pretty top notch for a RTT. They are pricey though and tough to see in person due to small dealer network. I bought mine from Lee at Altitude Industries outside of Denver. He was great to deal with and I highly recommend him if you are interested. He had plenty of iKampers in stock. I walked in with no appointment and bought one on the spot because I was so impressed with the ease of use and build quality. It’s nice to have the benefits of a hard case with a bed as big as a king. That’s what sold me on the design layout. I designed my rack with extra slide out supports for the fold out section of the floor because I don’t like trusting all that weight to the ladder (this is common to all fold out RTTs). I also didn’t trust the factory iKamper mounts (which I’m sure are fine) so I went a little overkill. I didn’t want to be going fast on the highway in a windstorm or wheeling the truck heavy and have to worry about my tent.
 
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CTDJeeperman

Active member
Nice truck! If your running the stock gears you definitely need a set, I got the nitro 4:30 gears and in my opinion with 37’s my truck, also with the aisin trans feels like it did when it was bone stock. With 40’s I would run 4:56 gears. I know AEV runs 4:30 on the xl package, but after putting 40,000 miles on my set up, I would go deeper if I ran larger tires.

I do need to regear. I originally thought about 4.88s then 4.56s and had quite the ordeal getting confirmation from guys at Nitro, Just Differentials, CJC Offroad (really anybody) on what would guaranteed work with my truck since it’s a SRW Aisin. Just to be clear all of those guys were amazingly helpful, just working with a weird configuration with my possible locker choices and the Aisin SRW. Long story short I think the 4.88s are not available and the 4.56 were supposed to be really noisy. (Or vice versa). Everyone steered me towards 4.30s. It’s a bigger 11.8” gear and according to the guys who designed it much higher quality (lower heat/better wear) and much quieter. With 900+ ft lb I don’t think it really matters much anyway.
 

CTDJeeperman

Active member
We had to adjust our Christmas plans a bit and ended up spending Christmas staying at the Zion Lodge at Zion National Park in UT. It was too cold to camp with a 2 year old. It snowed while we had Christmas dinner in the lodge so that made for a sweet Christmas and some awesome pictures the next day. Unfortunately a lot of trails and some roads were closed. I highly recommend Zion NP if you haven't been. It's one of the best, try to avoid the normal summer rush period; winter was great.

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Explorerinil

Observer
I do need to regear. I originally thought about 4.88s then 4.56s and had quite the ordeal getting confirmation from guys at Nitro, Just Differentials, CJC Offroad (really anybody) on what would guaranteed work with my truck since it’s a SRW Aisin. Just to be clear all of those guys were amazingly helpful, just working with a weird configuration with my possible locker choices and the Aisin SRW. Long story short I think the 4.88s are not available and the 4.56 were supposed to be really noisy. (Or vice versa). Everyone steered me towards 4.30s. It’s a bigger 11.8” gear and according to the guys who designed it much higher quality (lower heat/better wear) and much quieter. With 900+ ft lb I don’t think it really matters much anyway.
Yeah people are confused, nitro will say all aisin equipped trucks have an 11.8 rear axle and will sell you the 11.8 install kit, others will say srw trucks have a 11.5. When my truck was apart we measured the axles, they were not the 300 mm 11.8 shafts, so I had to rush order a 11.5 install kit. Nitro swears up and down all aisin equipped trucks run th 11.8... mine at least doesn’t. Being aisin equipped doesn’t really effect much other than you have a true medium duty trans with a super low 1st gear and basically no aftermarket support. Gear noise is really about set up, some will say deaper gear sets are louder, some will say Yukon is louder than nitro or vise versa... I really don’t know I have ran them both and was impressed. My nitro 4:30 gears go my truck back into its power band and shifts like stock, it also tows awesome. If I were running 40’s I would have a set of nitro 4:56 gears, no question.
 

wfv56

Active member
I'm running 4.10 installed by AEV in Detroit. Dead quite and RPM at 70 is the same as stock. I'm on 37 inch tires.
 

CTDJeeperman

Active member
why not run 4.44's from AAM?

I’ve thought about it. First I really need to choose lockers. There can be a slight variance in the kit I need vs availability based off the lockers I choose.

Does anyone have good experiences with something other than ARB? I’m looking at a Detroit Truetrac rear and PW style elocker front. Any pros/cons experiences with those in a late model ram?

Thanks
 

CTDJeeperman

Active member
Yeah people are confused, nitro will say all aisin equipped trucks have an 11.8 rear axle and will sell you the 11.8 install kit, others will say srw trucks have a 11.5. When my truck was apart we measured the axles, they were not the 300 mm 11.8 shafts, so I had to rush order a 11.5 install kit. Nitro swears up and down all aisin equipped trucks run th 11.8... mine at least doesn’t. Being aisin equipped doesn’t really effect much other than you have a true medium duty trans with a super low 1st gear and basically no aftermarket support. Gear noise is really about set up, some will say deaper gear sets are louder, some will say Yukon is louder than nitro or vise versa... I really don’t know I have ran them both and was impressed. My nitro 4:30 gears go my truck back into its power band and shifts like stock, it also tows awesome. If I were running 40’s I would have a set of nitro 4:56 gears, no question.

My truck is just like yours, SRW Aisin with the 11.5. What year is yours?
 

EMS WJ 2000

Observer
There is the Grizzly locker for our AAM 11.5 rear axles. I have been going back and forth on going to 40s on my 2006 and I am having the gear dilemma as well. I have the 48RE which is a 4 speed and I am running 37s on 4.10s and have plenty of power, when I run 2000 rpms I am doing 80mph. The 4.30s and 4.44s are really hard to find, the only place I can find the 4.30s for front and back axles is Nitro gears.
 

str8t six

Member
I had a detroit locker on my 2001 f150 and it worked excellent. complete lockup when i needed it. the only bad thing was that it was a bit clunky when shifting from D to R. The racheting motion of the locker just had more "slack" when parking or changing directions. When turning from a stop on pavement and accelerating more than normal, the inside tire would rotate a little, give a little "bark" and the axle would lock up and give me traction.

Yukon also has the grizzley locker for the 11.5" aam. its $900 on amazon right now.
 

ttengineer

Adventurer
Does anyone know how many amps the Yukon Grizzly Locker needs to actuate?

Also does it need constant current to stay locked, I would assume no but I’d rather be sure.

I can’t seem to find either on their site.

It would be nice to have e-lockers over an air locker for ease of use with the factory aux switches. Plus I’d rather have to repair a copper wire than repair an air line in the field if anything went wrong.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

EMS WJ 2000

Observer
The Yukon Grizzly locker is a mechanical locker. This is from Yukon's website.

"The Yukon Grizzly Locker is the ultimate in mechanical locking differentials for street, off-road, and drag racing. Grizzly Lockers provide 100% power to both tires, while still allowing for disengagement while negotiating turns."

Chrysler 11.5", 2010 & down https://www.yukongear.com/productdetails.aspx?ProdID=7789
CHRYSLER 11.5", 2011 & UP W/ LEAF SPRING, 12 BOLT R/G https://www.yukongear.com/productdetails.aspx?ProdID=7789
CHRYSLER 11.8" / 300MM, 2013.5 W/ 6.7L & AISIN A/T, 12 BOLT R/G https://www.yukongear.com/productdetails.aspx?ProdID=7789

Those are the only ones that Yukon shows that the Grizzly locker is available for.
 

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