James

I’ve been waiting for some of the new bumper replacements to hit the market for the 2019s, and now there are a couple good options.

Option one is the Ranch Hand Sport, which is more or less the same bumper I had on my old truck, but with the addition of the winch mount. While I don’t currently have any plans to use this truck in any situations that might warrant a winch, I always regretted not spending the extra $200 or so to not limit myself with the old truck, and don’t want to have regrets with this one.

The second option is built by Buckstop Bumpers. It is significantly more expensive but looks more refined, and comes in multiple color options. Below is a picture of their Outback series, which is the one I like the best. It has a hidden winch mount inside the bumper, and all the features of the Ranch Hand. Everything is optional on it as they’re custom made – you can choose from round or square fog lights, for example, both which have to be aftermarket because the factory ones won’t work, whether or not to have the hidden winch, the receiver, the design of the bars, and the finish. Lots of options. The picture below is the Outback, with 6″ and 4″ fog lights, a hidden winch, a flush mount 2″ receiver, and black hammertone finish on a 2019 DRW.

Here is a photo of the Outback for the 2013-2018 trucks, in silver, with the rectangular fog light option:

And another one of a 2013-2018 DRW, with two tone finish, 4″ and 6″ fog lights, and a winch installed. I was considering a black base with silver uprights:

I really like the dark base/ chrome contrast on this Ford version. I reached out to them about it and they don’t offer chrome, but unpolished stainless steel, for an extensive up-charge I’m not willing to pay for and then you can get it polished locally. While I like it, I don’t believe I like it enough to pay an $850 premium, plus polishing. It also has the single 6″ fog light, instead of adding the 4″ aux light.

With all the options here – should I save the money and go for the Ranch Hand, or spend the extra for a truly custom, more refined option with custom features from Buckstop? What options do you think I should go with – please let me know directly, or leave comments.

After several weeks of waiting, and very poor communication from the manufacturer, I finally received this cover. The cover was on back order but nobody informed me – I had to call and ask them for a status update after a few days of waiting. Then, they kept telling me “2-3” weeks even as, two, and then three weeks passed. It finally shipped at around three weeks, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of communication in my book. I would have canceled the order had it not been the only cover on the market that checks off all my requirements.

I wanted a cover that provides easy toolbox access, does not restrict the toolbox lid, is secure (a hard cover) so it can be used as additional storage, stores small enough not to obstruct a fifth wheel, and doesn’t take up a large portion of the bed or the back window when stored.

It took a couple hours to install – much longer than anticipated. It isn’t difficult, just tedious, and working in the hot sun slowed me down a bit.

The cover sits over the rails and is divided into four, roughly 2ft, sections. The front and rear sections can be opened independently, and the center sections can be opened along with the rear and stacked on top of the front to free up 6′ of bed space. Since the front section can be opened without having to touch the rear or the center, it means that I have incredibly easy toolbox, aux-tank, and OBA access when needed.

It stacks neatly and securely behind the cab, and takes up ever-so-slightly more room than the toolbox. It provides plenty of clearance for the fifth wheel, which I have sitting about 7.5″ above the bed rails, and it doesn’t even cross this section except in tight backing.

Overall, I recommend this cover on its own merits but found the ordering process and communication from the manufacturer, and seemingly sole-source vendor, lackluster. Fortunately, I probably won’t have to deal with them again now that it has been received and installed, and that won’t be an issue.

We picked up the trailer today and drove around a bit with the suspension on the truck configured as it comes from the factory. The trailer rode well on flat, smooth surfaces but would pulse violently on expansion joints or other sudden bumps. Once we got it home, I started trying to diagnose the issue and found an obvious culprit.

The lower overload was barely making contact, and would be momentarily engaged when when hitting a bump but otherwise not utilized. A conventional lower overload configuration consists of a thick, flat spring called an overload leaf, and a spring pack above it that will only make contact with the overload leaf when there is sufficient weight on it to flatten it out. It looks like this, minus the silver aftermarket components that are attached to the overload leaf.

There is a company called TorkLift, who makes a product called StableLoad, to take up the slack between the spring pack and the lower overload. More on that later.

For some reason, Ram uses a non-conventional design for the lower overload on my truck. TorkLift, and other vendors who provide similar items, do not have products out for it yet. A universal StableLoad won’t fit the profile or meaningfully fill the gap between the springs, so that is out. I called them and it doesn’t even sound like they’ve looked at one of these trucks yet.

One thing about filling the gap is that if you fill it to the point where the lower overload is engaged when the truck is empty, it will make for an extremely uncomfortable or possibly even dangerous ride; this would basically be the same as having no suspension on the rear of the truck at all.

After mulling over it a bit, I ran to the local auto parts store trying to find some larger bump stops to replace the small rubber ones from the factory. I found some that I thought would work, but they were not tall enough at a little over 2″, and I don’t believe they were strong enough to hold up over time. I went back and picked up an inexpensive 2″ receiver and started cutting into it.

I ended up cutting out two 2x2x2″ brackets, and using them as spacers between the lower overload and the bump stop.

This results in enough space between the lower overload for it not to be engaged during empty riding – and quite a bit of testing confirms this – and full engagement with the weight of the fifth wheel on the truck.

With the lower overload fully engaged, the ride is substantially improved over the previous configuration. Being that the brackets are made from a receiver tube and secured with 304 stainless hardware, they should last a long time even under a lot of weight and abuse.

The truck has a 100lb toolbox and 60 gallons (over 400lbs) of fuel in it, and the trailer has a pin weight of at least 3000lbs (likely well over that). The fact that the lower overload on this truck is not fully engaged with over 3600lbs in the bed is a bit strange – if this isn’t a manufacturing flaw then it is a design flaw, at least with the target market for these trucks.