Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Off road mods advice.

Looking to make my truck a bit more suited for getting through some tough spots in the bush. I have enherited my dad’s 2019 1500 Ram Bighorn 4X4 with the 5.7. I’m looking to make it better suited for hunting but not going full retard off road. I’m looking at lifting it another two inches, better rims, tires,suspension tweaks maybe a limited slip unit and maybe a chip. Currently I have put heavier springs in it and a leveling kit so it sits a bit higher than stock. Also went with a little bigger than stock tire, 285’s and 10 ply E rated. What I’m looking to achieve is a little taller than what it is but not so high my wife needs a step ladder to get in it and I’m not riding in the tree branches. I’m going to be using it for hunting to chase bear hounds and getting into some back country for deer hunting. Not mud bogging or anything crazy. Think creeping not full throttle. I want a good quality 2” lift kit recommendation that’s a no BS complete kit. Any recommendations on replacing or adding to the front or rear suspension parts. Figure at minimum getting new and better ball joints. Who makes quality rims. Thinking Toyo tires. Limited slip differentials. Do I need them? Any suggestions on computer stuff. I’m not going to be doing the work. I haven’t worked on anything since my 1985 Chevy Silverado hot rod. Big difference between a carbureted 383 stroker small block and this stuff. So, I don’t know if these new trucks with all the traction control stuff have limited slip differentials or what and I have no clue what is going on under the hood anymore. Just looking to make my truck better suited for hunting and getting back into the woods without going full mud bogger. Thanks.

You could buy a decent ATV for all that money and it would get you further.

I could but I can’t fit dog boxes in the back of an ATV.

A skinny more aggressive tire that will fit at stock height will probably do 90 percent of what you’re going to get out of all the stuff in your list without having to monkey with all the sensors and stuff.

If that won’t do it I’d spend the money on a Nissan, Toyota, or Ranger that’s 15-20 years old and put some knobby tires and a winch on it. No worries about scratching it all up or kissing a tree you slide into or tearing something up when you’re extracting it from a stuck hole.

A 2019 is still worth a pretty good pile of money, I wouldn’t make it into a backcountry bomber that’s going to be scratched to hell and have the interior ruined in short order with mud all over.

Look at Rough Country they are putting out a quality product that is not too harsh in the wallet.

Lockers are a great help compared to open diff.

Get a tire that can handle airing down when necessary. Mud and sand often benefit from lower pressure/wider footprint. Sometimes you NEED full power. The creep along idea can get you REALLY stuck. Ground clearance is more important than 'lift'. Lockers front and back are worth the money. Often, recovery gear is just as important as go power.

You'd be better off researching on a Dodge Ram forum for offroad lifts. Lots of really good brands out there. I like Eibach and Icon, but lots of others like Fox, Bilstein, etc. Kings if you are looking to burn money. Radflo are great but they are a smaller custom company and I don't know if they make stuff for the Ram. You want complete coilovers and not spacer lifts. You don't need external reservoirs or selectable dampening. Just a decent coilover with 2.5-3 inch shocks. Don't wast money on 2.0 anything for something as heavy as your truck.

If it has an open diff now, then adding a good limited slip or selectable locker in the rear will go a long way to getting in and out of medium level offroading. For limited slip I prefer a Torsen or Detroit Trutrac as they have great on road behavior but provide a lot of traction off road. You can go the selectable e-locker or air locker route for a true locker, but they are more expensive and have more moving parts to break. If it's not a serious off road vehicle, don't worry about locking the front.

Stick to 2 inch lifts unless you want to replace UCAs.

Wheels just need to be round and hold air. Is there an issue with your current wheels? NO low profile tires. You want sidewall for offroad because you should be aired down. Unless your tire size starts with a 4, don't use bigger than 18 inch wheels. Unless you are buying wheels to get better backspacing or size, they are one of the worst cost to benefit purchases on a vehicle.

I prefer a skinny tire to a wide tire for general all purpose use. My next set on the Bronco will be 37X11.50. I use 255s on my Tacoma. I wouldn't go wider than a 35X12.50 on your truck.

I've been pushing my Icons pretty hard for a couple of years and am pleased with performance and customer service. I like that they are height adjustable on the vehicle so you can dial in each corner to sit exactly as you want to. Something like this is probably where I would start if I had your vehicle: Icon stage 2

Lift for clearance, best tires for terrain , gearing and locker

On a budget: slight lift and better tires

Another vote for tires that are narrow over wider tires in most situations. You can still get a 33-34" tire and keep it around 10" wide. I don't like the 12" wide tires. IMO they create more problems.

I saw a video a while back where they were measuring how much of the tread was in contact with the ground comparing wide tires to skinny tires of the same height at various PSI. The wider tires had more surface in contact with the ground side to side, but the skinny tires had more overall contact with the ground with more of it in length front to back.

I don't know what's out there for Rams , as I'm a Toyota man. I've had good luck with Rough Country products, good quality for the $. I put a full 3 " kit on my 05 4Runner, front struts and rear springs. It is the best riding and handling modified 4X4 I've ever owned.
If you only go up an inch or two in tire diameter you shouldn't need lower gearing . A locker in the rear will really help . I've always liked narrow tires with deep tread for my use and a winch is the great equalizer .

The single most important off road modification that will get you out of the most tight spots will be lockers. Even on an otherwise stock truck going from one or two wheels spinning to all four makes it a true off road machine. My thinking was go up to max tire size that fits with the lift I wanted, change the gear ratio to keep the engine happy, lock up all four, add all the goodies like a winch and lighting, and rock on.

Around here, where there are no rocks and not even much in the way of steep hills, a guy mainly needs some sort of a mud tire and a winch for a truck to be a decent off-road machine. Extra ground clearance is a plus. This time of year, the ground can be so soft that you don't want to take a truck too many places, just because of the rutting. Lots of hunting clubs and big recreational properties have cut-off dates for truck use vs. ATV/UTV only, just due to road/trail damage and the likelihood of burying up a truck.

This.

And I'd go ARB - just because having onboard air (to run the lockers and adjust tire pressure) is handier than a pocket on a shirt.

I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree the single best mod is lockers. A winch is the great equalizer and $ well spent . You may have to get out , wade mud and pull cable but you can go. Having a winch is great if you travel alone often , without another vehicle along to pull you out.

I'd also probably rank very aggressive tires above just a locker alone .

This is very regionally dependent. Lots of places exist where a front mounted winch won’t have anything to attach to, and sometimes a Pull-Pal or burying a spare tire doesn’t work all that well either.

A winch would be low on my list of mods for a mostly highway, occasional off road vehicle, which it seems is what the OP is doing. A good locker or LSD in the rear, good tires, and good sense go a long way.

Another area I'd improve before adding a winch is articulation. Factory 4WDs are made for high speed highway driving and have poor articulation. 4 tires in contact with the ground is always better than three, regardless of how good the lifted tire pics make your Instagram feed. First thing I do is replace trailing arms and track bars with ones having uniballs, johnny joints, etc. instead of the hard rubber joints from the factory. A good lift should give better articulation. Cheap ones don't.

Some do sway bar disconnects, but I prefer a tuned suspension that allows me to discard the swaybar all together. I realize that's probably not a good option for some, but the disconnects will help a lot off road.

True enough , not everywhere has a nice sturdy Oak to hook the cable to.

I actually took the OP to be "building" a hunting / woods truck and not a grocery getter. If he's in the woods , with no other vehicles along , a winch can save a long walk out to get help.

I agree about the sway bar disconnect on an independent front end, it's a game changer . The one off my 4 Runner , hunting machine, is hanging in the barn. The Runner get's more off road miles than on road.

Lockers and the tires that are on it will get you further than a lift with fancy tires and rims. Some kinda winch set up. Lots of ways to do that. Whatever works for you, I like which mounted on a plate and slide into the 2 inch receiver when needed, front receiver also. Mount an air tank somewhere.