AEV Ram!

[Juday]

I was excited to see what they'd come up with because they're VERY WELL respected in the Jeep crowd. Their products are usually top notch in quality and performance. Not to mention, they develop products for the "expedition" style crowd, whereas I feel that Carli/Thuren appeal more to the "go fast/desert racer" type of crowd. Seeing as how I don't take my truck off road at 80 mph, I don't feel I have any need for the top of the line (and VERY EXPENSIVE) type of suspension system.

I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore though.......................................back to the drawing board.

Quite the contrary,

Although Carli got it's start in the go fast desert world their main focus for the last 3 years or so have been on daily driver/weekend warrior/camping/etc. crowd. Hence the development of systems like the "Commuter" and "Backcountry" systems. Granted those 2 kits are only for the Diesel crowd as it makes up 90% of their sales. Over the last 5 years I have only sold a few systems to guys that actually jump their rigs or take them off road at high speeds. A majority of them are just looking for an improved ride on the road, better performance off road, and a little extra clearance. A lot of these guys use their trucks everyday in extreme environments for things like surveying and oil field exploration. So what we might call off-roading they call their daily job. Even though many think of kits like the Dominator 3.0 when they think about Carli a majority of the systems sold are the Pintop 2.5.

Living in one of the "salt belt" states (which I know you're familiar with since you're just North of me), I tend to steer away from the "rebuildable" type shocks. The last set I had on my old truck CONSTANTLY needed rebuilding because the seals just wouldn't last in the frigid temps and salt covered roads. I couldn't even squeeze a year out of them before the would leak nitrogen/oil. Until a company gives me a 100% money back guarantee their shocks will not leak, I think my days with the expensive rebuildable shocks are over.

I, too, use my truck off the road daily. Working in earthwork/site development, utilities and road construction, I needed a truck with a suspension that could hold up. Ultimately, that's why I chose the Power Wagon (which has been GREAT so far!)

Unfortunately, I don't have a need/want to spend $4,000+ on a complete suspension system. Like 04Ram2500Hemi, I just want a tad more height (leveling the front end) and clearance for 35" tires with quality components. What company will I choose to do this for me? I still don't know, but that's what research is for.....

[myoung84]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I'm very happy with the suspension on my Power Wagon. The ride quality is worlds ahead of what my 2004 HD Hemi with the Kore Recon Suspension was. My only gripe is the Power Wagon doesn't come with 35" tires. Now that we know AEV is out of the picture for folks like me I've settled on the Thuren Control Arms. I don't need or want to spend the money on a top of the line Carli System when all I really want is a pinch more ground clearance.

Put on an awesome Carli suspension package and then go back to stock. Your opinion will change quickly. I promise.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

[Skyd Ram]

I was excited to see what they'd come up with because they're VERY WELL respected in the Jeep crowd. Their products are usually top notch in quality and performance. Not to mention, they develop products for the "expedition" style crowd, whereas I feel that Carli/Thuren appeal more to the "go fast/desert racer" type of crowd. Seeing as how I don't take my truck off road at 80 mph, I don't feel I have any need for the top of the line (and VERY EXPENSIVE) type of suspension system.

I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore though.......................................back to the drawing board.

Quite the contrary,

Although Carli got it's start in the go fast desert world their main focus for the last 3 years or so have been on daily driver/weekend warrior/camping/etc. crowd. Hence the development of systems like the "Commuter" and "Backcountry" systems. Granted those 2 kits are only for the Diesel crowd as it makes up 90% of their sales. Over the last 5 years I have only sold a few systems to guys that actually jump their rigs or take them off road at high speeds. A majority of them are just looking for an improved ride on the road, better performance off road, and a little extra clearance. A lot of these guys use their trucks everyday in extreme environments for things like surveying and oil field exploration. So what we might call off-roading they call their daily job. Even though many think of kits like the Dominator 3.0 when they think about Carli a majority of the systems sold are the Pintop 2.5.

Living in one of the "salt belt" states (which I know you're familiar with since you're just North of me), I tend to steer away from the "rebuildable" type shocks. The last set I had on my old truck CONSTANTLY needed rebuilding because the seals just wouldn't last in the frigid temps and salt covered roads. I couldn't even squeeze a year out of them before the would leak nitrogen/oil. Until a company gives me a 100% money back guarantee their shocks will not leak, I think my days with the expensive rebuildable shocks are over.

I, too, use my truck off the road daily. Working in earthwork/site development, utilities and road construction, I needed a truck with a suspension that could hold up. Ultimately, that's why I chose the Power Wagon (which has been GREAT so far!)

Unfortunately, I don't have a need/want to spend $4,000+ on a complete suspension system. Like 04Ram2500Hemi, I just want a tad more height (leveling the front end) and clearance for 35" tires with quality components. What company will I choose to do this for me? I still don't know, but that's what research is for.....

What shocks have you used in the past and where exactly are you located?

I just finished my 3rd or 4th winter on a set of Carli 2.65's and it spends most of it's time outside and we use a ton of road salt and other corrosive ice melters here in MI. Here in Northern MI I couldn't count the amount of days that were below -10F and my shocks are still doing great. Sure they have a little corrosion on them but it's only cosmetic. The Carli Kings on my 08 Ford held up great as did the Pure Prodigy shocks that I ran on it. The Carli Fox's that I have on my current Ford are great as well although I haven't had them on there very long. The main issue that can cause seal issues is also always nicks or corrosion on the shock shafts. These gouges end up tearing up the seals causing the leafs. Bilstein uses the hardest chrome plated shaft in the industry so whether it's a basic 5100 or top of the line 9100's like on my truck, the seal issue is almost non-existent. Kings standard shafts a kind of soft and they are fine for the guys who doesn't spend a lot of time on gravel and/or in a salty environment. Carli offers a Stainless Steel shaft option that uses polished 17/4 stainless which is just about bomb-proof. I have guys that put 100K a year on their trucks in the oil patches with the stainless shafts and they have help up awesome.

As far as spending $4K+ on a Carli System you can do a very nice setup for the PW for under $3k shipped that works great on the Power Wagons. Not only does it give you a little more clearance, it always improves on most of the suspension downfalls of the PW. The setup that is the most popular for most guys is the following:

$440 Carli Hemi Coils
$1040 Carli (Deaver) Full Leafs
$345 Carli Chromoly adjustable track bar
$700 Carli control arms
$320 Bilstein 5100's

The above setup will articulate as good as factory if not better while giving you some more bottom out control when you get out on rough roads.
Most trucks will see about 1-1.5" of lift in the front and about .75-1" of lift in the rear
The full leafs will increase the hauling/towing ability a bit over the PW leafs while providing some lift and helping to control wheel hop on soft surfaces.
The track bar will tighten up the steering a bit while offering easy to replace bushings and heim joint as they wear
The control arms re-position the axle forward for more tire to fender clearance and they are offset a bit to offer more clearance between larger tires and the control arm at full steering lock.
The control arms also use serviceable spherical joints (Johnny Joints) for better articulation/less binding and as well as tighter control of the axle especially during braking.
The 5100's are the proper length to still allow full droop of the suspension with the sway bar disconnected yet offer more control on road.

The above setup would run $2845 shipped and replaces just about every factory suspension component on the truck. It is pretty much all the hard parts needed for when a customer decides to upgrade to higher end shocks like the Performance 2.0s (Custom Carli valved 7100's that have a clear powder coat over the nickel finish) or the Pintop 2.5's (Custom valved King 2.5's).

[04Ram2500Hemi]

I think the biggest bummer with AEV ignoring us pre 2014 guys for me is these guys live in my town, run the same roads I do and then some. They know how to build something to last during winter conditions and the salty roads. I was just looking forward to supporting a local guy.

[RAM4ROKS]

I have a full Carli setup,
2.5 performance so: lift coils, Mig/mild control arms, fabbed towers, trackbar, rear Deaver leaves, 2.5" body remote reservoir Kings with stainless shafts, I also added Thruen's shackles out back. This setup netted me about 2" of lift front and rear. (initially, I have yet to measure to see if it settled at all but, I doubt it has, it still looks about the same) I used Thuren's shackles on the middle hole (adds a little extra lift) so I could retain the factory forward rake since airbags are not in my budget and I want the truck to sit level when loaded up. I did have one installation issue: I had to "customize" my airbox a bit to clear the fabbed towers. I run 37" MTRKs on my stock wheels. I LOVE the stance of my truck setup like this, looks 100% better than stock! The added ground clearance has made a HUGE difference in my truck's capability on the trail too!!! The only issues I have are:
Since the rear shocks mount reservoir down, I ripped one of (almost ripped the other off at the same time) whilst taking the "wrong" line rockcrawling
Although the suspension absorbs big hits better than stock, small stuff is transmitted more, you feel every little bump in the road.
I could be mistaken but, I think I have actually lost some articulation (seems like it's more likely to lift a wheel now) but, I have yet to put the truck on an RTI ramp again.(did before mods) I think the added ground clearance form the lift and the 37s makes the truck Lightyears more capable offroad even if there is a little bit of flex lost, I can drive easily on trails now that were impossible stock.

Still flexes well though:
My buddy three wheeling it:
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
Stuffs the 37s:
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
Not full stuff but gives an idea:
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]

Here's on the RTI ramp stock (sorry for the dark pics):
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]
[url=http://s253.photobucket.com/user/b ... .jpg[/img][/URL]

[RAM4ROKS]

Oh, and back to the topic of AEV: I am more and more wanting a set of those fender flares!!!! I am leaning more and more toward going with 40s for my next set of tires and I reckon I can run these flares (they look soooooo freakin awesome!!!) and just take them off when I know I going to really tight trails. (ones where my bedside can attest my truck doesn't fit, LOL!) I want those wheels too! (I really want Hutchinsons but, don't have the $$$ so, either these AEV or some Method double standards will be my wheels of choice when it's time for 40s, and I am leaning toward these AEVs since the wheels and they flares seems to work so well together and sure do look sharp!!!)

[Juday]

What shocks have you used in the past and where exactly are you located?

I just finished my 3rd or 4th winter on a set of Carli 2.65's and it spends most of it's time outside and we use a ton of road salt and other corrosive ice melters here in MI. Here in Northern MI I couldn't count the amount of days that were below -10F and my shocks are still doing great. Sure they have a little corrosion on them but it's only cosmetic. The Carli Kings on my 08 Ford held up great as did the Pure Prodigy shocks that I ran on it. The Carli Fox's that I have on my current Ford are great as well although I haven't had them on there very long. The main issue that can cause seal issues is also always nicks or corrosion on the shock shafts. These gouges end up tearing up the seals causing the leafs. Bilstein uses the hardest chrome plated shaft in the industry so whether it's a basic 5100 or top of the line 9100's like on my truck, the seal issue is almost non-existent. Kings standard shafts a kind of soft and they are fine for the guys who doesn't spend a lot of time on gravel and/or in a salty environment. Carli offers a Stainless Steel shaft option that uses polished 17/4 stainless which is just about bomb-proof. I have guys that put 100K a year on their trucks in the oil patches with the stainless shafts and they have help up awesome.

As far as spending $4K+ on a Carli System you can do a very nice setup for the PW for under $3k shipped that works great on the Power Wagons. Not only does it give you a little more clearance, it always improves on most of the suspension downfalls of the PW. The setup that is the most popular for most guys is the following:

$440 Carli Hemi Coils
$1040 Carli (Deaver) Full Leafs
$345 Carli Chromoly adjustable track bar
$700 Carli control arms
$320 Bilstein 5100's

The above setup will articulate as good as factory if not better while giving you some more bottom out control when you get out on rough roads.
Most trucks will see about 1-1.5" of lift in the front and about .75-1" of lift in the rear
The full leafs will increase the hauling/towing ability a bit over the PW leafs while providing some lift and helping to control wheel hop on soft surfaces.
The track bar will tighten up the steering a bit while offering easy to replace bushings and heim joint as they wear
The control arms re-position the axle forward for more tire to fender clearance and they are offset a bit to offer more clearance between larger tires and the control arm at full steering lock.
The control arms also use serviceable spherical joints (Johnny Joints) for better articulation/less binding and as well as tighter control of the axle especially during braking.
The 5100's are the proper length to still allow full droop of the suspension with the sway bar disconnected yet offer more control on road.

The above setup would run $2845 shipped and replaces just about every factory suspension component on the truck. It is pretty much all the hard parts needed for when a customer decides to upgrade to higher end shocks like the Performance 2.0s (Custom Carli valved 7100's that have a clear powder coat over the nickel finish) or the Pintop 2.5's (Custom valved King 2.5's).

I've run Sway-A-Ways (aka Rust-A-Ways), Radflo Suspenion Technology and Donahoe Racing (aka ICON). Out of all of those, the Donahoe shocks seemed to be the better choice. As to my location, I'm around the Indianapolis area.

The list you have there will probably be very similar to the route I end up taking, with the exception of the full leafs. I'm not too crazy about Carli's progressive coils, either. I might go the Thuren Fabrication route with control arms, soft ride coils and a simple (yet better) shock of some sort. I'm still a few months out on my decision, so I'm in no rush to buy right now.

[bstefanic]

I'll throw my 2 cents in on this just on the things that has confused me about my limited interaction with AEV products, I bought a 2.5" AEV lift with Bilstein 5100's for the wife's Rubicon. Absolute quality products on what we received, zero complaints there. How they went about things just raised my eye brow on a few things, for example instead of just longer sway bar links, it came with extended sway bar brackets which I found to be of little use with the crappy stock sway bar links and ditched everything for aftermarket sway bar links. The other thing that kind of surprised me was at the very end of the install instructions was a direction to just zip tie the front brake lines to the shocks. Literally once a week a buddy is asking, "what the hell is going on here?" Because shocker zip ties don't work to well on slick tube surfaces. So it seems like a lot of their products are top notch but they kind of blow off the less cool things like how to route brake lines.

[04Ram2500Hemi]

So bringing an old thread back to life, I saw the 37" tire kit in person the other day and wow, it's about a perfect stance. I didn't get to take any pictures, but it sure gave me some bad intentions even if I can't go the AEV route with my truck suspension wise. Why can't I just convince myself that my truck is fine the way it is?

[jeep_boy02]

Lol... I know right.

[Takingatrip1]

I'd like an engine / Trans skid. Hope they bring one to market with the rest of this stuff

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Looks like AEV might have a few goodies for us soon. I'll be curious to see what they offer at SEMA.

[2011TXPowerWagon]

37's with little lift looks awesome, PW shoulda came with them factory

[Timgco]

not my pics, but found these on line today.

[Stickman]

DAMN that bumper is seeeeexxxxyy. Think I'll be putting that on my soon to get wish list. Also is that their own grille? The way the emblem is embossed into it looks different, but in the cool way, also like the mesh insert.

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Some good pic's off the AEV Forum: http://forum.aev-conversions.com/showth ... 941&page=6

[jeep_boy02]

I don't like how far that switch panel sticks up.

[04Ram2500Hemi]

I don't like how far that switch panel sticks up.

I agree. They should have used the accessory switch panel that Ram has for the trucks.

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Dave with AEV is hinting at 2010-2013.5 suspension systems over on the AEV forum. This just got a little more interesting.

[Dark84]

Dave with aev posted some prices over on the aev forum site.

Sent from my mind to yours.

[Dark84]

More from Dave:
Bumper has now passed all FEA and testing and will work with most popular winches. All tooling is complete and production parts have been ordered. Bumper will be available to order at SEMA for our dealers. Diesel 1 ton and 3/4 ton to start, gas shortly after.



Wheels are done and all J2530 Testing is done and will be available for order at SEMA



Suspensions - 1, 3/4 gas and diesel are all complete with shock tuning complete and ESP testing and compliance wrapping up now. 1 ton diesel will be available to order at SEMA, 3/4 ton gas and deisel to follow shortly as we receive the custom shocks from Bilstien.



Other products available at SEMA too, keep your eyes out! Lots of new stuff that will be available to order at SEMA.


Sent from my mind to yours.

[Juday]

The fact that they're considering doing the 10-13.5 suspensions now makes me happy.

[TwinStick]

The fact that there is nothing for the 3rd Gen makes me sad.

[adeluca73]

More from Dave:
Bumper has now passed all FEA and testing and will work with most popular winches. All tooling is complete and production parts have been ordered. Bumper will be available to order at SEMA for our dealers. Diesel 1 ton and 3/4 ton to start, gas shortly after.



Wheels are done and all J2530 Testing is done and will be available for order at SEMA



Suspensions - 1, 3/4 gas and diesel are all complete with shock tuning complete and ESP testing and compliance wrapping up now. 1 ton diesel will be available to order at SEMA, 3/4 ton gas and deisel to follow shortly as we receive the custom shocks from Bilstien.

Other products available at SEMA too, keep your eyes out! Lots of new stuff that will be available to order at SEMA.


Sent from my mind to yours.

Dumb question, do you actually have to go to the SEMA show to order the AEV stuff, or do they have a store front you can visit?

[04Ram2500Hemi]

More from Dave:
Bumper has now passed all FEA and testing and will work with most popular winches. All tooling is complete and production parts have been ordered. Bumper will be available to order at SEMA for our dealers. Diesel 1 ton and 3/4 ton to start, gas shortly after.



Wheels are done and all J2530 Testing is done and will be available for order at SEMA



Suspensions - 1, 3/4 gas and diesel are all complete with shock tuning complete and ESP testing and compliance wrapping up now. 1 ton diesel will be available to order at SEMA, 3/4 ton gas and deisel to follow shortly as we receive the custom shocks from Bilstien.

Other products available at SEMA too, keep your eyes out! Lots of new stuff that will be available to order at SEMA.


Sent from my mind to yours.

Dumb question, do you actually have to go to the SEMA show to order the AEV stuff, or do they have a store front you can visit?

You'll be able to order off the AEV website or call them on the phone once SEMA is over. I'm super pumped that AEV has a shop 10 minutes from where I work. I'll be able to see all the new products in person next week.