The V8 Bike Bus
Discussion
It was then pressed into service to see just how well it was going to work for hauling bikes. The answer was, great! The extra size over the Hilux is really useful. The Hilux bed was pretty much full with bikes on the tailgate pad, with the Ram, the 6' 4" bed isn't even 2/3rds full so there's still plenty of space for kit against the bulkhead. Inside the cab is much more roomy too and the 6th seat is also really welcome.
Carrying on with the tidying, I wanted to remove the aftermarket tint from the back screen. I don't know the full story here but the factory build sheet shows that the truck was built with tinted glass. The rear window is a genuine OEM Chrysler branded one, but the glass is clear with a nasty JDM style dark purple tint. This is as common as wind-deflectors on Japanese imports for some reason. Anyway, I meticulously removed and cleaned off the purple film.
I then tasked Road Radio with matching the factory tint on the rest of the truck's windows and I was pleased that they did a great job.
Carrying on with the tidying, I wanted to remove the aftermarket tint from the back screen. I don't know the full story here but the factory build sheet shows that the truck was built with tinted glass. The rear window is a genuine OEM Chrysler branded one, but the glass is clear with a nasty JDM style dark purple tint. This is as common as wind-deflectors on Japanese imports for some reason. Anyway, I meticulously removed and cleaned off the purple film.
I then tasked Road Radio with matching the factory tint on the rest of the truck's windows and I was pleased that they did a great job.
Whilst at Road Radio I realised I could get the mess in the centre of the dashboard sorted out. In yet again, typical Japanese import scenario, the car had been fitted with lots of aerials, and a TV tuner and lots of aftermarket electronics and stereo parts. The previous owner had removed some of this, but left lots of unneeded wiring and modules and boxes plugged in. He had also broken the dash panel when removing the headunit.
I'd already researched and imported a Metra double-DIN replacement panel from Germany....
.....so I handed that over to Road Radio for them to fit a wireless Carplay system, but more importantly chase all of the additional aftermarket wiring from Japan out of the car and remove it all. Once they were underway I was glad I hadn't elected to take it on myself.
With it all finished, the interior feels much more modern and together. I now have a reverse cam too which is handy as if I rely on my mirror alone, I can look in it, and if anything smaller than a Range Rover is behind me I can't see it!
I'd already researched and imported a Metra double-DIN replacement panel from Germany....
.....so I handed that over to Road Radio for them to fit a wireless Carplay system, but more importantly chase all of the additional aftermarket wiring from Japan out of the car and remove it all. Once they were underway I was glad I hadn't elected to take it on myself.
With it all finished, the interior feels much more modern and together. I now have a reverse cam too which is handy as if I rely on my mirror alone, I can look in it, and if anything smaller than a Range Rover is behind me I can't see it!
The truck had a tidy plastic bed-liner in it when I bought it, but I added this to the for-sale list and someone local to me came and collected it. I didn't like how it blocked off access to the lashing points and it also wouldn't work with the type of bed cover that I had planned. I dropped the truck at Illusions Custom in Sussex and they sprayed in a Upol Raptor liner instead which I've used before and has proved to be incredibly hard-wearing and easy to keep clean and tidy.
You can see the rear window is clear there so I must have some of this out of sequence...
When I'd removed the wind-deflectors fom around the windows it had left some marks in the lacquer in places. I also wanted to remove all of the shiny chrome badges from around the truck and thought this may leave marks and residue too and would expose paint that had been exposed to less UV, so I also asked Illusions to remove all of the badges and do a full paint correction wherever it was required.
I thought all of this various faux-chrome lettering and emblems were a bit naff.
With them removed and the paint correction completed the truck has a much cleaner and less fussy look.
And the usual shot in the common location as my wallet assumes the position...
You can see the rear window is clear there so I must have some of this out of sequence...
When I'd removed the wind-deflectors fom around the windows it had left some marks in the lacquer in places. I also wanted to remove all of the shiny chrome badges from around the truck and thought this may leave marks and residue too and would expose paint that had been exposed to less UV, so I also asked Illusions to remove all of the badges and do a full paint correction wherever it was required.
I thought all of this various faux-chrome lettering and emblems were a bit naff.
With them removed and the paint correction completed the truck has a much cleaner and less fussy look.
And the usual shot in the common location as my wallet assumes the position...
I have to ask, what's it like living with the Ram? I would love to own one, especially for MTB trips to trail centres, but I can't help but think living with an LHD truck would be annoying.
Currently, I load up my VW T5 camper with bikes, but every time I see a bunch of lads rock up in their pickup filled with bikes, it does make me somewhat envious.
Currently, I load up my VW T5 camper with bikes, but every time I see a bunch of lads rock up in their pickup filled with bikes, it does make me somewhat envious.
The plan had been to add back some more subtle badging, and i essentially stole the look of the newer generation Rams, with a more-subtle Hemi badge at the back of the front wing, a black 4x4 badge on the boot and some matt-black stickers for the rear of the bed sides.
I liked how the stickers on the bed were practically invisible at most angles and only show up if they catch the light.
All done I think it's still subtle and clean-looking.
I liked how the stickers on the bed were practically invisible at most angles and only show up if they catch the light.
All done I think it's still subtle and clean-looking.
Edited by 573 on Wednesday 7th February 13:31
Networkgeek said:
I have to ask, what's it like living with the Ram? I would love to own one, especially for MTB trips to trail centres, but I can't help but think living with an LHD truck would be annoying.
Currently, I load up my VW T5 camper with bikes, but every time I see a bunch of lads rock up in their pickup filled with bikes, it does make me somewhat envious.
I had a T5 between the Hilux and this. I bought a LWB Kombi 4-Motion with locking diffs. The plan was to make a lifted overlander kind of thing with bikeracks in the back. I used it about 3 times near home and then for one trip away to Bikepark Wales and then got rid of it. The amount of faff getting the bikes in and out drove me mad. I spoke to loads of people who run T5 / T6 and they all started admitting that they have to take the wheels off the bikes and mess about strapping them in or attching them to fork mounts. For me, the whole point of having a dedicated bike truck is that you don't have to do that messing about. I could run a hatchback car if I wanted to go back to messing about removing wheels.Currently, I load up my VW T5 camper with bikes, but every time I see a bunch of lads rock up in their pickup filled with bikes, it does make me somewhat envious.
LHD is fine. A period of time initially to get used to positioning it as obviously it's quite a wide vehicle and fills most of the lane, so care is needed on smaller country roads. It's no real hardship though and is worth it in my opinion to have the extra space over a European / Jap pickup and also to get a nice V8.
ChocolateFrog said:
Looks so much better with the improvements.
I'm surprised the side steps made so much difference. Does it not mean that people stand on the door jam to get in though? That would bug me.
Not that I've noticed, you can step straight up into the cab floor. I'm surprised the side steps made so much difference. Does it not mean that people stand on the door jam to get in though? That would bug me.
Edited by 573 on Wednesday 7th February 13:16
I'd had a plan in my head about how I could make this longer truck-bed really work well with the bikes. The next step towards achieving the goal was a bed cover. The truck had a full-length, single-piece cover when I bought it but that wouldn't work for my usecase. So after some research I asked Luna Customs, a Ram dealer in Alderley Edge to import me a BakFlip Tri-fold cover from the US (at $painful cost..).
It was really well made and easy to fit. It's double-skinned aluminium with a honeycomb core between. It locks into position to provide an element of security if you have things in the back. With it in that position it also makes a measurable difference to MPG at motorway speed.
It's quite versatile and can fold into a one-third cover and lock in place there too.
And with a quick pull on the latch opens up fully so you can access that final third of load bed.
The important part was that with the cover folded back into the one-third position, the bikes still fit easily.
This leaves a whole third of the bed to fit a large, secure, weather-proof lock-box for helmets, spares etc.
It was really well made and easy to fit. It's double-skinned aluminium with a honeycomb core between. It locks into position to provide an element of security if you have things in the back. With it in that position it also makes a measurable difference to MPG at motorway speed.
It's quite versatile and can fold into a one-third cover and lock in place there too.
And with a quick pull on the latch opens up fully so you can access that final third of load bed.
The important part was that with the cover folded back into the one-third position, the bikes still fit easily.
This leaves a whole third of the bed to fit a large, secure, weather-proof lock-box for helmets, spares etc.
Edited by 573 on Wednesday 7th February 13:58
Things like the new infotainment I'd fitted make the truck feel newer and more pleasant to use. One 'feature' made it feel very old and was pretty annoying: it didn't have a remote key and I had to lock / unlock with a key in the drivers' door. This didn't control the central locking either so I then had to manually lock / unlock the other doors with the unlock button on the drivers' door card. After some research I found hope with a Dorman OBD programmer. Even better, this seemed to be the OE supplier of the Dodge / Chrysler fobs. Again, I had to import from the USA, although I've generally found this often better than dealing with UK sellers as the customer service is great and they generally ship very quickly.
This thing turned up...
...with this...
...which believe it or not is the same as the OEM fob.
Within a few minutes I'd programmed the fob to the truck and then because I now had a working fob could use that to set preferences for some additional features like follow-me-home headlights, cargo light delay etc.
Within days I was taking the remote locking for granted, but it's small things like this, when you get a 'new' old car that it's worth spending the time fixing as it makes using them much more enjoyable.
I've now bought a 4th gen flip-key and a future project is to get this cut for the truck and to integrate the 3rd gen remote electronics in it to bump the convenience factor up again and have a single key and remote in one unit.
This thing turned up...
...with this...
...which believe it or not is the same as the OEM fob.
Within a few minutes I'd programmed the fob to the truck and then because I now had a working fob could use that to set preferences for some additional features like follow-me-home headlights, cargo light delay etc.
Within days I was taking the remote locking for granted, but it's small things like this, when you get a 'new' old car that it's worth spending the time fixing as it makes using them much more enjoyable.
I've now bought a 4th gen flip-key and a future project is to get this cut for the truck and to integrate the 3rd gen remote electronics in it to bump the convenience factor up again and have a single key and remote in one unit.
Edited by 573 on Thursday 8th February 16:21
Nice progress! Liking where this one is going too.. Bit fan of US trucks.
Networkgeek said:
I have to ask, what's it like living with the Ram? I would love to own one, especially for MTB trips to trail centres, but I can't help but think living with an LHD truck would be annoying.
Thinking about it is more annoying than the reality of LHD.. It's a non issue imo.I'd continued to drive the truck, only using it in 2wd. I was convinced I couldn't put it into 4wd as the rear replacement axle had the wrong ratio in it. I'd replaced the broken shaft between the front diff and the transfer case and my hope was that if I changed the rear axle ratio to the correct one, the 4wd may work and hopefully, nothing else had broken.
I stripped the trucks original axle to investigate that.
It was immediately obvious that the spider gears had stripped. There was a lot of swarf and broken teeth in the casing too. After quite a lot of phoning around and it looking like I could be facing a big bill, I came up with a plan. First off, I located an original equipment, Trac-Lok plate LSD from the US. This was a brand new part, still in a Chrysler box.
I then found a gent who was happy to build this into my original axle. I settled on Paul at Southern Axles as I liked how he talked through the work and even more so, liked the price he was quoting which was a fraction of the companies that had quoted me in my local area. The only minor issue was that it turned out he'd moved his operation, and 'Southern Axles' was now based in King's Lynn. No biggy, I loaded a van up and drove the parts and axle up to him.
On investigation, Paul quickly noticed that my crownwheel and pinion couldn't be reused as they'd picked up debris and marked up.
So I decided to replace those and every bearing and seal in the axle and do the job properly...
A few weeks later with it all rebuilt and filled up with the correct synthetic oil for the LSD I made another trip up to King's Lynn to collect.
I can't recommend Paul enough. The job was great, comms were great and the price was great.
With that done, and me back in Sussex I asked Cribb Speed Shop if we could use their ramp and swap the axles over. Whilst the axle was going on we also replaced the rear brakes and handbrake shoes and mechanism.
Whilst on the ramp I also replaced the transfer box sensor as I'd noticed there was no dash indicator working to show how the transfer box was shifted. With all that done, we did some testing with all 4 wheels off the ground. We had the dash indicator working and even better, now had working 4wd in both high and low ratios. Huge relief.
Even better, heading home in 2wd, the truck now hooks up with the LSD and will slide the back around at will, making it an absolute hooligan. All very pleasing,
I stripped the trucks original axle to investigate that.
It was immediately obvious that the spider gears had stripped. There was a lot of swarf and broken teeth in the casing too. After quite a lot of phoning around and it looking like I could be facing a big bill, I came up with a plan. First off, I located an original equipment, Trac-Lok plate LSD from the US. This was a brand new part, still in a Chrysler box.
I then found a gent who was happy to build this into my original axle. I settled on Paul at Southern Axles as I liked how he talked through the work and even more so, liked the price he was quoting which was a fraction of the companies that had quoted me in my local area. The only minor issue was that it turned out he'd moved his operation, and 'Southern Axles' was now based in King's Lynn. No biggy, I loaded a van up and drove the parts and axle up to him.
On investigation, Paul quickly noticed that my crownwheel and pinion couldn't be reused as they'd picked up debris and marked up.
So I decided to replace those and every bearing and seal in the axle and do the job properly...
A few weeks later with it all rebuilt and filled up with the correct synthetic oil for the LSD I made another trip up to King's Lynn to collect.
I can't recommend Paul enough. The job was great, comms were great and the price was great.
With that done, and me back in Sussex I asked Cribb Speed Shop if we could use their ramp and swap the axles over. Whilst the axle was going on we also replaced the rear brakes and handbrake shoes and mechanism.
Whilst on the ramp I also replaced the transfer box sensor as I'd noticed there was no dash indicator working to show how the transfer box was shifted. With all that done, we did some testing with all 4 wheels off the ground. We had the dash indicator working and even better, now had working 4wd in both high and low ratios. Huge relief.
Even better, heading home in 2wd, the truck now hooks up with the LSD and will slide the back around at will, making it an absolute hooligan. All very pleasing,
Edited by 573 on Friday 9th February 14:28
One of the things I'd wanted to do most since getting the truck was to get rid of the wheels it was on. Most people in the UK fit 20" + wheels to these and I think generally they look absolutely crap. I wanted a much more purposeful tyre with lots of sidewall and wanted to retain a 17" wheel. I knew I wanted to up the tyre size too, ideally to at least a 35" tyre and I knew I wanted an MT, partly for the look but also because I'd had them on the Hilux and they were brilliant when the conditions got wet and muddy but actually, didn't have the awful on-road manners you may assume they'd have.
I knew exactly what I wanted to fit but getting hold of some in the UK was a whole different challenge. After being messed around by the UK distributor I started conversations with Method Wheels directly in California. They were much more helpful. Eventually I imported them from CJC-Offroad and the whole thing was painless other than the part where I paid for them.
They're Method Racing 701s, which are a lightweight heat-treated alu wheel with 'Beadgrip' technology, which enables you to lower the pressures for offroading without the tyre bead popping off, almost a half-way house to a full bead-lock.
I had the wheels sat in the garage for ages but could not find a set of tyres anywhere at all. I'd bought a set from Demon Tweeks as surprisingly they were reasonably priced and showing stock. Month after month went by with them updating me on yet another delay. Eventualy they told me they had 3 in stock that they could ship but that the manufacturer couldn''t even provide a production date for when they'd make any more.
I cancelled the order and as luck would have it, found a Marketplace listing for a set of Landrover wheels that had been test-fitted and then not used, with a new set of the Toyo Open Country MT tyres in the 35X12.5/17 size that I wanted. I went and collected the wheels and tyres from Kent.
...loaded the wheels up too...
...and headed over to Cribbs Speed Shop again as James had just treated himself to a new tyre machine. He took the tyres off the Landrover wheels and fitted them to the Methods.
I couldn't have been happier with how it sat with them on. Just the right amount of lift and finally starting to have that Baja type look.
There's no rubbing from the larger tyres either, even with some articulation and steering lock on.
And the truck still just squeezes under 2.1M barriers, so can get into some carparks.
I had a rumble and vibration from the front recently so fitted some SKF 'heavy-duty' front wheel bearings but other than that it's just been admirably doing the job it was bought for, carrying the bikes about.
I knew exactly what I wanted to fit but getting hold of some in the UK was a whole different challenge. After being messed around by the UK distributor I started conversations with Method Wheels directly in California. They were much more helpful. Eventually I imported them from CJC-Offroad and the whole thing was painless other than the part where I paid for them.
They're Method Racing 701s, which are a lightweight heat-treated alu wheel with 'Beadgrip' technology, which enables you to lower the pressures for offroading without the tyre bead popping off, almost a half-way house to a full bead-lock.
I had the wheels sat in the garage for ages but could not find a set of tyres anywhere at all. I'd bought a set from Demon Tweeks as surprisingly they were reasonably priced and showing stock. Month after month went by with them updating me on yet another delay. Eventualy they told me they had 3 in stock that they could ship but that the manufacturer couldn''t even provide a production date for when they'd make any more.
I cancelled the order and as luck would have it, found a Marketplace listing for a set of Landrover wheels that had been test-fitted and then not used, with a new set of the Toyo Open Country MT tyres in the 35X12.5/17 size that I wanted. I went and collected the wheels and tyres from Kent.
...loaded the wheels up too...
...and headed over to Cribbs Speed Shop again as James had just treated himself to a new tyre machine. He took the tyres off the Landrover wheels and fitted them to the Methods.
I couldn't have been happier with how it sat with them on. Just the right amount of lift and finally starting to have that Baja type look.
There's no rubbing from the larger tyres either, even with some articulation and steering lock on.
And the truck still just squeezes under 2.1M barriers, so can get into some carparks.
I had a rumble and vibration from the front recently so fitted some SKF 'heavy-duty' front wheel bearings but other than that it's just been admirably doing the job it was bought for, carrying the bikes about.
Edited by 573 on Friday 9th February 15:45
I love having a truck for lugging the bikes around too - especially this time of year when everything is caked in mud. I used to have the same model Ram and the 13mpg average didn’t seem to bad when petrol was £1/L 
Still fancy another and always keep a search running on Autotrader. Yours looks great with the MTs - like you I’m not a fan of the big shiny rims that most have.
My Ram was full of chrome tat…
Still fancy another and always keep a search running on Autotrader. Yours looks great with the MTs - like you I’m not a fan of the big shiny rims that most have. My Ram was full of chrome tat…
Edited by benny.c on Friday 9th February 20:27
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