This truck was outfitted with Carli's Advanced Dominator 3.0 Suspension System, sporting 3" King Off Road Shocks on all 4 corners, amongst some prototype goodies. This rig is showcasing some of the latest componentry Sage is working on. Glass Works fenders, Walker Evans bead-lock wheels powder coated black, rolling 37" Toyo MT's - this truck is leading the consumer market in badass.
We couldn't believe what we did to this truck. After watching the video footage, there was nothing left. Sage Carli just dealt the industry a Royal Flush in hardcore.
Before Carli Suspension, you had two choices... massive off-road gains, or a comfortable street drive. Would you want to commute to work on the 91 freeway in a stock full race truck? F*CK NO!.. On the other hand, would you ever take a stock Dodge Ram and hit up a desert race course?.. So what does that leave us with? 90% of the time driving the truck, it rides comfortably and quiet... or 10% of the time it takes big bumps in stride... but somewhere in this equation is a huge sacrifice... NOT ANYMORE!
2007 Dodge 2500 HD Megacab that drives from Corona to Downtown Los Angeles every day... but can you mob it? You tell me...
Once in a while we head out to the dirt and just have to play... today was one of those days. Taking an opportunity to make a positive community impact, we brought a member of the Big Brothers of America and a special little boy got to experience an exhilerating ride in a Dodge Ram, built by Carli Suspension, Inc. Maintaining family values while testing our latest shock tuning was a perfect excuse to spend the day with friends, family and (of course) a video camera... watch 100 mph runs across the southern california desert in a Dominator 3.0 equipped Dodge Ram.
After various shock tuning sessions, we get the trucks into the dirt and test it on the bumps at high speed. Here we are testing a long wheel base, Dodge Ram Megacab in Glamis. Holding 80+ mph over decent size whoops, the truck rides level and soaks up everything we go over. Tuning the King Race Shocks is a constant work cycle at Carli Suspension, Inc and the more we learn, the faster our trucks get in the dirt and smoother they get on the freeway drive home... the best of both worlds.
Carli Suspension tests locally, such as this afternoon in the sand, and all the way to the rigors of Baja... short clips like this allow us to view the attitude of the truck at high speeds.
Shown here is the first day of high-speed dirt testing of the Bilstein 2.65 system on a Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab Cummins Turbo Diesel. The suspension system handled this whoop section surprisingly well for a first valve profile test. The truck never got out of shape and recovered immediately from overdriving the travel.
When the truck enters the deepest section, you can see a plum of black smoke as the CTD delivered power while the rig drove through the whoops and stayed on top. The vehicle never rolled into and out of the terrain, with positive throttle and a well balanced system, the ride was remarkably controlled.
This is the deepest section of whoops, ranging between over 2 or 3 feet in height/depth. Clearly more than the wheel travel of the truck. Anytime you are driving through terrain deeper than your wheel travel, you have two options, go slow and drive in and out of them... or get up to speed and drive on top of the whoops.
Knowing the truck and its capabilities is critical in a situation like this and aiming for the biggest whoops at freeway speeds is a careful procedure. The first time I saw the truck come through the deep whoops, just flat out haulin ass... I knew that I had to get that on video.
Here is one of the runs in slow motion and you can observe how much activity the suspension is subject to traveling over that size terrain at speeds that could get you in trouble with the cops on the highway. Watch the truck fly over the top of the whoops and the suspension cycles at an incredible rate and renders a controlled ride.
We sent this clip back to Bilstein and their first statement was "We can't believe our eyes..." after sending four 2.65's to the shop and weeks later a shim kit... and the first day testing went like this.
That is an incredibly balanced system for being driven over terrain deeper than the travel of the truck's axles.
