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Safari Dodge Ram Suspension Works and Races- 4-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine

Kevin McNulty Former Editor, Mud Life

The Dodge 1500 truck has been a staple machine of four-wheelers since the early ’90s, and it continues to meet demands of off-road enthusiasts and hardcore racers even with independent front suspension. The truck is a good platform for trail rigs and desert prerunners. We had the opportunity to bolt a high-end Safari suspension kit onto a ’10 base-model Ram. The suspension turned the mild-mannered, Hemi-powered, base-priced truck into a tough and dependable prerunner race rig.

131 1106 Dodge Ram Performance Off Road Race Suspension front Shot Hill Climb Photo 30757007

The Safari suspension system from RamSpeedUSA is a buildable kit for the 12-ton IFS pickup, and it is available in four stages and with a number of shock options. We hung out at T&J Performance Center in Orange, California, one day while the suspension was installed on the truck. The guys at T&J are heavily into off-road racing, so their technicians are highly skilled at building and repairing race vehicles.

131 1106 Dodge Ram Performance Off Road Race Suspension factory Upper Control Arm Photo 32250361 The factory upper A-arm is only made of stamped, pressed, and rolled steel. We are not sure how much abuse the OEM part would take off-road, but it doesn’t look like much.

Once the kit was installed we hit the highway and trails for testing. After a day of blasting through dirt trails, wheeling over rocky washes, and putting a number of highway miles under the truck, we found ourselves impressed with the well-engineered suspension. RamSpeedUSA didn’t cut any corners in the design, the building, and the grade of material used in the suspension, which was evident in its on- and off-road drivability. The suspension is well mannered on the highway and greatly improved the truck’s off-road performance.

131 1106 Dodge Ram Performance Off Road Race Suspension safari Control Arms Compared To Stock Photo 30757013 The new A-arms and knuckles are highly engineered and made from 316- and 18-inch 4130 chromoly steel. PhotosView Slideshow Stage 1 of the system includes chromoly upper A-arms with uniballs that fit the alloy factory knuckle, and a competition inboard CV kit. Stage 2 includes heavy-duty lower A-arms. Stage 3 (shown) includes heavy-duty knuckles. Stage 4 includes heavy-duty steering, and sway bar components. All the systems include all necessary installation hardware. Nearly all of the suspension is completely bolt-on; only two small mounting tabs for the front shock reservoir need to be welded on the top part of the framerail forward of the IFS. Once the factory A-arms are removed, the Safari components bolt right in place. The factory strut is great for daily drivers and mild trail running, but that’s about it as far as performance levels go. Since no major cutting, grinding, or welding are required to install the suspension, the factory components can bolt back in place if the truck is later sold or a lease is ended. It’s a good idea to mark the cam alignment before disassembling the lower A-arms. Doing this will help get it close to where it needs to be, but a proper alignment should be completed after the suspension is installed. With the lower A-arm bolted on, the 212-inch Radflo coilover bolts in place. The new coilover is a direct bolt-in OEM replacement and allows 11 inches of travel with the new A-arms and superior durability performance over the factory strut. New heavy-duty rack-and-pinion steering arms with Heims are included in the kit. The Safari arms are massive in comparison to the factory arms and will definitely handle more off-road punishment. The factory wheel hub bolts perfectly to the Safari knuckle, allowing the competition CV shafts to slip right in place. The new knuckle also allows the ABS lines to be safely routed to the hubs so they won’t be pinched or torn when the suspension articulates. In addition to the Radflo coilover, the suspension setup for this truck was fitted with Radflo 2-inch remote reservoir shocks. The shocks bolt directly to the lower A-arm and are mounted to the upper factory strut bucket via a bolt-on shock mount. We were impressed with how easily the Safari suspension installed on the Ram truck. The system also includes front sway bar mount spacers and high-quality extended links that are specifically engineered for this application. In the rear, the Safari suspension uses Currie’s Antirock sway bar system. The setup removes the low-hanging factory sway bar from the bottom of the axle, giving the truck more ground clearance. The fully adjustable Antirock sway bar bolts to the bottom of the framerails, out of harm’s way. Radflo triple-bypass shocks replaced the factory dampers and exceeded their capabilities with superior off-road performance. Our high-speed testing on the trail revealed that the suspension gave the truck a very comfortable ride. We felt more control of the truck while cornering in loose dirt and gravel because the suspension and high-end shocks kept the tires in contact with the ground and it didn’t seem to wander like we have found with lesser-quality suspensions. We beat up the Safari suspension testing it for durability and performance in harsh conditions. We hit a number of bumps, rocks, pot holes, and water crossings without being thrown against the roof of the cab. The more we abused the suspension, the better it seemed to perform. We have tested a number of suspensions that worked great off-road but offered a horrible on-highway ride with too much body roll, wandering steering, and clunky Heim joints.

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