I Bought a Truck
Well, I finally gave in. I bought a truck. Not just any truck, it's the truck to end all trucks. It's a truck so big that Chicago banned it.(1) Regardless, it's a truck that solves a lot of problems for me. It is on this rock that I will build my church.
- Yes really. Chicago outlawed C-plated trucks from parking on any residential street, including both paid and permitted parking. I ask myself every day why I still live in Chicago, but life is weird like that sometimes.
Why did I decide I'm going to be a truck guy now? Well if you have read my blog at all, you know that I love to camp in the Rocky Mountains with my travel trailer. I used to tow it with my Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk (with a 5.7L Hemi mind you). It looked like this:
The Trailhawk is an incredibly capable vehicle and has served me well over the last few years, but it has 4 main problems:
- It has airbags on the suspension. The airbags are great for off roading, but they will fail at some point, and when they fail, it's probably going to be in an extremely inconvenient location thousands of miles away from home.
- While it has the raw power to tow my trailer up and down mountain passes, it's not exactly a stable platform. You can feel the vehicle sway against the weight of the trailer.
- It has a very low payload capacity: roughly 1000 lbs. The fact that the trailer itself contributes 600 lbs to the Trailhawk, that leaves 400 lbs for me, my gear, and any passengers. It's not a lot, and I'm ashamed to say that the Jeep is almost always slightly overloaded by one or two hundred pounds.
- While it's a TRAIL Hawk, it's really only moderately good at off roading. At full airbag inflation, it only gives you about 11 inches of clearance. Not bad, but if I'm to do some of the more gnarly trails, it's not enough.
Really the major problem with this platform was the low payload capacity and unstable riding characteristics when fully loaded. So... I bought a truck. A BIG truck. I bought a mutha fukin 2024 Ram 2500 Power Wagon baby.
At the time I decided to pull the trigger on a truck, I was in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. My finances hit a major milestone and it felt like the right time, an appropriate time, to indulge in one. I found the exact model, color, and options I was looking for on autotrader.com, but unfortunately the only place that had what I was looking for was in eastern Kanses. I was 14 hours away from the dealership which is in fact a long time, but like all of my road trips, I just make an adventure of the drive itself.
This thing is a beast. It's got both front and rear full locking differentials, a full time locking transfer case, a front disconnecting sway bar, lifted suspension, and tons of technology. Oh and of course a 6.4L Hemi. The other major detail I was looking for was a truck that came with a SmartCap bed cover. Those by themselves cost $5000 and dealerships usually don't consider the cost of add-ons when setting an asking price, so I essentially got it for free.
With factory stock components, the truck has 14 inches of clearance, an approach angle of 34 degrees, a breakover angle of 23.2 degrees, and a departure angle of 24 degrees. I intend to install an aftermarket Carli Pintop suspension system and larger 35 inch tires which will give me an additional 2 inches of lift and additional 600lbs of payload (to bring it to 2000lbs) if options with the beefier R2 high capacity rear coils. The SmartCap bed cover also has mounting rails on the top which will allow me to add kayak mounts or even a roof top tent for overlanding.
The possibilities are enormous and I'm super stoked to see where this will take me. And if you're wondering about the Trailhawk, don't worry. I still have her. It's getting shipped back to Chicago and will remain as my city vehicle that I can actually fit in my garage. When I'm not camping, the Green Machine will have to stay with the trailer at the storage facility I keep it at.