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33about to hit 200,000 miles on the pickup,
and it’s pulled a trailer 95 percent of its life.”
THE TRUCK SELECTION
Right from the beginning, Lee’s sole
priority for his work truck was reliability,
and when he went into the market to
buy, he did his research to find a truck
he could count on. Eventually, he settled
on the 2007 Dodge Ram because of the
reputation for reliability of the 5.9 liter and
the 48RE transmission. “I knew they were
having some issues with the 6.7s,” Lee says,
“and that’s why I stuck with the 5.9.”
TRICKING IT OUT
Lee was living in Washington when
he purchased the truck, and knowing
that he was going to be moving back to
installed the kit and has worked closely
with Lee through the whole process of
giving this project a form of immortality.
The first taste of improved performance
came when the first chip went on it. The
gains in power impressed Lee tremendously,
though they also made him wonder about
power in the long term. With longevity and
durability as the guiding light, Lee and Cam
set out to make this truck an undying beast.
They put traction bars on it, followed
by Mag-Hytec differential covers, and
then Cam built a transmission for it with a
Mag-Hytec deep dish transmission pan and
all OP shafts. “They said it would handle
2,000 horsepower and unlimited torque.”
Lee says. “Have I ever dreamed of that
number? No. But it was all about making it
to endure what I do with it on a daily basis.Idaho, he decided early on to upgrade the
wheels, tires, and bumper to match the
rugged landscape and prepare for the risk
of hitting big game animals. From there,
the improvements designed to make the
truck more robust kept coming until they
reached the very heart of the machine.
The first major undertaking was
improving the truck’s ride with a 6-inch
soft ride BDS lift kit that Lee chose for the
full leaf springs in the back and the long
travel front end. Lee says, “Since I use this
truck for everything, whether it’s hunting,
fishing, working, whatever it is, this truck is
there. I wanted it to function and ride nice.
Honestly, it rides better than any factory
2007 Dodge Ram I’ve ever been in, and
that’s really where it began.” Cam Hulse of
Adrenaline Performance in Shelley, Idaho,