2024 Ram 1500 Tradesman on 2040-cars

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Chrysler called out over lackluster Ram Runner by racer who helped develop it

Fans of off-roading and desert blasting might recall that Chrysler offers an aftermarket conversion that can turn a Ram 1500 into a road-legal desert racer, called the Ram Runner. The kit, sold through Mopar, includes some significant suspension upgrades, body tweaks and a brawnier cat-back exhaust for the truck's 5.7-liter V8.
Considering all of this, comparisons with the almighty Ford F-150 SVT Raptor are common. Among the off-road community, that makes these two a sort of Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang for people that prefer driving on dirt. In the Race-Dezert forum, the discussion as to which truck was better was proceeding as normal - Ram fans said their piece and Ford fans said theirs. Then, a man named Kent Kroeker offered up his two cents.
See, Kroeker is a Baja racer, and the man that helped develop the Ram Runner. Despite his association with the truck, though, he had some less than kind words for Chrysler and the Ram Runner.

AEV Ram Prospector First Drive

Honestly, the trails that rise above Southern California's Rowher Flats aren't much of a challenge. You can still get yourself hurt if you do something stupid, but the trails are mostly hard-packed dirt with some rocks strewn about. No boulder crawling or river forging here. It's a place that's almost beneath the mighty abilities of the AEV Prospector Ram trucks I'm here to drive. American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) has long been in the business of building seriously capable Jeep Wranglers. Wranglers built for crossing Australia or crawling across the Moab. Wranglers converted into pickups and Wranglers done up in fancy Filson duds. They all have the kind of rugged good looks that project positive sunshine competence vibes about the people who drive one. That's no matter how big a dork the doofus behind the wheel actually is. And now AEV has moved on to modifying and producing parts and complete packages for Ram pickups. Because, why not? Actually AEV has been twisting on Rams since at least 2013 when it produced a Ram concept truck for that year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas. And what happened in Vegas hasn't stayed in Vegas. Sitting on the dust at one of the Rowher Flats assembly areas, AEV's two 2015 Ram "Prospectors" look as if they're making the horizon itself cower. It's not like we're going to be scuba diving today, but the snorkels that snake up each truck's right A-pillar are enough to make even the most jaded off-roader slobber in naked desire. These things don't just look great, they look epic – if Homer were around he'd put aside his Iliad to write up this drive. Reaching back into Dodge truck history – when Dodge trucks were Dodges – AEV has adopted the Prospector name for its modified Rams. Back in the late 1970s and through the 1980s Prospector had been used on various Dodge trim and equipment packages fitted to pickups, vans, and the Ramcharger large SUV. Yes, there were even Prospector packages for the Mitsubishi-made D50 small pickup and the Rampage pickup based on the front-drive Omni. The shovel and pick Prospector logo on the AEV vehicles comes straight from those old Dodges. The gray Ram 2500 crew cab is riding on 37-inch tall BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/As surrounding AEV's 17-inch Salta HD wheels and is powered by Ram's latest 6.4-liter Hemi V8. Rated at 410-horsepower by the factory, the gasoline-burning 6.4 Hemi is almost a throwback to the days before every three-quarter-ton and one-ton pickup owner became obsessed with turbodiesels.

2014 Ram ProMaster configurator reporting for heavy duty

Ram has brought the configurator online for all sizes of its new ProMaster van, known to the rest of the world as the Fiat Ducato. Destined to take on the new Ford Transit and Nissan NV, the ProMaster is available in three sizes - 1500, 2500, and 3500.
Once a size has been chosen, the world is your oyster. We could (probably) spend the rest of our day with this configurator and not repeat a build once. Each truck can be had in different styles ranging from windowed van to cargo hauler to cutaway truck, while buyers can also choose from a number of wheelbases and roof heights.
Add to that an options sheet that's almost Porsche-like in length, and you get a van that can be completely customized to the needs of your business. Check out all three configurators at the following links: 1500, 2500 and 3500.