Ram 5500 Dakar Support Truck For Sale

MotoBenny

Member
Hi everyone,

I've raced 5 Dakar Rallies (finishing 2 of them - it's as tough as they say!), 3 Silk Way Rallies (finishing 2) and a bunch of other races but it's time to hang up my racing boots! As I came to this epiphany I of course was in the midst of building a brand new support truck. The truck is located near Montreal Quebec and can be shipped anywhere in the world. My goal is simply to recover my costs. The truck was ordered before the Covid craziness changed prices so I think this could be a great value for someone looking for a specialist vehicle like this. I will share all my true costs (rounded to the nearest hundred) in USD using a 75 cent exchange rate from Canadian $. I have all the invoices to share one on one.

Here's the overview:

TRUCK
  • 2022 Ram 5500 4x4 Tradesman edition ($64,300 USD)
    • Crew Cab
    • vinyl seats and floors
    • dual fuel tanks
    • 6 seat belts
    • manual 4WD shift
    • Original Cab to Axle length of 84"
    • Frame was lengthened by a specialist truck shop to add 28" so C.A is now 112". Frame Extension cost $5,200 USD
  • Truck is mounted on Super Singles made by DBL. These are 20 x 10 inch wheels with 335/80R20 Continental tires. The truck will come with 2 spares, so 6 of these wheels in total ($8500 invoice)
  • Truck only has 338 km on it - it spent all winter in my shop being worked on and hasn't done anything other than some test drives. I also spent 6 month waiting for a bloody ProCal from AEV so I could reprogram the truck to recognize the bigger wheels and didn't want to drive it until then.
  • Rhino Rack heavy duty roof rack ($1500 invoice)
  • AEV front bumper, Warn 16,500 lb winch, LED bar ($5300)
  • N-Fab side steps ($1,200)
  • Total = $86,000. Note that this doesn't include any of my time or my mechanic's time to install everything (the front fenders alone were a major job to fit those 41"!) That's a killer price for anyone who wants to build a super single rig as the work on the truck is all done.

Dakar Support Cargo Box

This box was previously on a Fuso chassis. We loved the Fuso for its size but it just didn't have the payload or the HP to handle the full load and to be able to travel at a good enough speed. As we moved the box to the Ram we made a lot of improvements based on our learnings from the previous races. It's an AWESOME cargo box - really well thought out. Here are the uses I see for this box:
  • Long Rallies (eg Dakar, Silk Way)
    • 1 race car (2WD or 4WD)
    • 2 UTVs
    • 3 motorcycles - pro or semi-pro level
    • 4 motorcycles - semi-pro or privateer level
  • Short rallies (i.e. MDC, Sonora, Mexican 1000):
    • 2 race cars (of same type)
    • 3 UTVs (of same type)
    • 4 motorcycles - pro or semi-pro
    • 6 motorcycles - amateur or privateer
  • Dirt Bike Support Truck - this would be an amazing machine to support off-road tours for 8-10 riders in places like the US SW or Baja
  • Stage Rally support Truck
Box Build - dimensions

The cargo box is made of Aluminum and was built to survive rough roads in South America and central Asia. It was built to fit inside a shipping container so it's just a bit smaller than the door opening of a 45' High Cube (note that the Ram truck is 2 inches too wide to fit in a container but could fit if it had "travel wheels" (narrower). I didn't bother with this because Ro-Ro ships are so much cheaper than container ships now.) The dimensions of the box are:
  • Length 4.4m on the frame = 14.4'
  • Length 5.3M total = 17.4'
  • Width 2.2m = 7.2'
  • Height above the frame rail 1.85m (shower extends below frame rail) = 6.1'
It's rock solid and was overbuilt by a master aluminum welder from Slovakia... It includes:

Box Features
  • Full LED lighting inside and out
  • 2 Spare Wheel/Tire racks for the truck tires - on rear
  • 4 max track boards on a quick access rack on rear
  • 300L water tank
  • full size (and I mean 3XL) shower stall with hot and cold water which doubles as the storage box for the large EZ UP tent and work tables
  • E-Tracks galore - the roof has 5 rows of e-track to be able to secure spare tires, body panels, etc.
  • 18 cubby shelves which fit 60L waterproof HD storage bins - the bins will come with the Box.
  • 6 cubby shelves which fit the classic 120L Dakar "Malle Moto" boxes
  • Compressor lines with one spool on service side and air jack points throughout.
  • 110V plugs throughout (hooked up to generator)
  • large open area on passenger side which can handle 3-4 dirt bikes, 1-2 ADV bikes, or a lot of car racing parts... This area has wire mesh grills throughout to be able to zip tie parts onto the grill for fast access.
  • This box cost at least $70,000 to build but I know it's a specialized thing. I hope someone new can support their dreams with it.
  • Price: $35,000.
Box Accessories

Here's a list of accessories within the box which I can leave or remove.
  • ARB Zero 100L fridge/freezer on a slide-out. $2,000
  • Honda 6500 Generator (about 8 years old - runs perfectly) $3500
  • Yeti 3000 power pack - brand new - this now powers the fridge, the LED lights and all the battery pack chargers for tools $4,000. The Yeti is charged up by the Ram's alternator when the truck runs and lasts more than 24 hrs when fully loaded with fridge, lights, battery chargers running. If the truck won't be running the Yeti can be charged by 110V.
  • Compressor $1,000
  • 13 x 26' Impact Canopy HD tent $3,000
  • Off-road floor Jack (large wheels) $500
  • Total price for Accessories: $14,000
Total Price for Truck+Box+all Accessories is $135,000. Scenarios:

A. If someone buys everything I'll go for $125,000 but shipping is at the cost of the buyer.
B. If they just want the truck my price is firm at $86,000 - the value is excellent, it's brand new, and I'll have the hassle of removing the box.

Thanks
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RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
Absolutely smoking deal and someone will be very lucky!

Kudos to you for Dakar finishing sir! Bravo!

Curious, i see no mentions of suspension upgrades. Any suspension upgrades to this?
 

MotoBenny

Member
Hi Swamp Thing...

Thanks for your reply! I'm pretty sure I watched your videos on youtube as I was researching my own build. For the front end, it's the stock suspension - Dan from DBL explained that if we cut the fenders properly (2.5" more than the normal cut template provided by AEV with their high mark fenders) we'd have clearance. He was right. I used a forklift to test articulation and it all works well. I love the payload of this truck so didn't want to modify anything that would reduce it or get me in trouble with our local gov't (we have annual inspections for heavy trucks). As for the rear, we measured the stock articulation before putting on the cargo box and then made sure the box was mounted in a way that wouldn't interfere.

I know Adventure Trucks love the new liquid springs system. If I end up keeping this rig to convert it to a camper I'll probably go in that direction.
 

Rovertrader

Supporting Sponsor
Impressive rig on all fronts, well done!! Any chance of a few interior pics of box and from the rear opened? Maybe an interior cab shot?
Appreciate it- thinking combo support/camper rig...
 

MotoBenny

Member
Thanks Rovertrader. The cab was filled with my driver's gear and I was too lazy to remove it but I will do so! It's the standard Ram interior with zero mods. It has the mid-sized info-tainment screen with bluetooth, grey vinyl seats (really comfy and really easy to clean but I mostly got them so that our sweaty dirty and loveable mechanics wouldn't wreck a cloth interior! The beauty of vinyl is that it ALWAYS smells great!), black rubber floors. As for the rear cargo area, the back doesn't open so what you see in that rear shot is what it is. There is a last compartment which we use to store all our camping gear (3 Oz-Tent RV-5s, camping chairs, sleeping bags, mattresses, etc.) so I could take a few pics of that section. I also realized I forgot to list the Beta Tools tool box, which is integrated into the set up and slides out at the right height. I also need to add a photo of the ARB Zero 100L fridge slide-out - that one took a bit of work and is really slick. I'll get you more shots this weekend when I'm back with the truck. I'd be happy to do a facetime or whatsapp video call to do a video walk-around. Thanks!
 

MotoBenny

Member
As promised, here's a few more photos of the interior and of the camping gear storage at the rear of the cargo box. The photo of the storage zone shows 3 very large RV-5 Oz-Tents and some camping chairs and other gear. You can also see the compressor hose reel.

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Rovertrader

Supporting Sponsor
Thanks for posting pics!! Was hoping a conversion to minimalist camper with interior motorcycle storage would be doable. Anything is possible obviously, and still ‘drawing options’.
Great rig for sure- well done! Thanks- I never did Dakar but was asked to drive support rig on couple occasions. Sadly the mind was willing, but the body was already shot!!
 

MotoBenny

Member
Hi everyone - I'm about to list the truck on other sites and will reduce the price to $119,000 for everything. Let me know before the "outside world" has access tomorrow! Thanks
 

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