Buying a Dodge
Ram Lift Kit
 Many
off-roaders are keeping their Dodge Ram trucks high and dry
with a Dodge Ram lift kit. The best kind of Dodge
Ram lift kit on the market will give you additional
ground clearance as well as fender clearance for installing
large wheels and tires, but a traditional Dodge Ram lift
kit has many limitations.
While a Dodge
Ram lift kit might seem like the right thing to do for
installing larger tires, Dodge Ram lift kits are
definitely not the best suspension solution if you're
looking for great driving performance, both on and off the
road.
There are
several factors involved in selecting any kind of suspension
system for your truck, but most of the factors that the
companies selling a Dodge Ram lift kit will bring to
your attention are almost inconsequential.
The preeminent
question that those selling a Dodge Ram lift kit will
ask is how high you want to raise your truck. Almost any
Dodge Ram lift kit will provide around six inches of
additional clearance. But here is where you have to step
back and think about the real function of a Dodge Ram
lift kit. Look at any Baja race vehicle. Do they sit as
high off the ground as you see with a traditional Dodge
Ram lift kit? No, they don’t. And that’s for a reason.
Dodge Ram
Lift Kit - Not About Performance
KORE doesn't
believe in the philosophy behind Dodge Ram lift kit
style suspension. Almost any Dodge Lift kit is
cosmetic - an inexpensive way by which people enhance the
looks of their vehicles. KORE Dodge Ram suspension is
performance. Instead of many inches of lift as with a
traditional Dodge Ram lift kit, KORE prefers to think
in terms of inches of total articulation – how far the axles
are allowed to move up and down while managing the terrain.
And this is not just a question of terminology; it's a
question of function.
Dodge Ram Lift
Kit - A Violation of Engineering Design
Almost any
Dodge Ram lift kit on the market will violate certain
design parameters engineered into the Dodge Ram by teams of
men and women with PhD’s in physics and mechanical
engineering. The people at the vehicle's manufacturer
generally know what they’re doing and they don't put lift
kits on a stock truck. A universal joint can only move
within a very specific range before it binds or wears
prematurely. Wheel caster and camber are preset at the
factory to give the vehicle good handling characteristics.
For the most part, a cosmetic Dodge Ram lift kit does
not increase wheel travel – and sometimes it can even reduce
it. A cosmetic Dodge Ram lift kit raises the
vehicle’s center of gravity which adversely affects handling
– especially at the high speeds that KORE Dodge Ram
suspension permits.
KORE Dodge Ram
Suspension - Superior to Any Dodge Ram Lift Kit
 KORE
Dodge Ram suspension systems offer an experience far
superior to any traditional Dodge Ram lift kit.
KORE Dodge Ram suspension systems generally raise
the truck 2.0 – 3.5 inches in the front – and about an inch
or two the rear. The KORE Dodge Ram suspension
system removes spring sag, providing the suspension more
available up travel with which to absorb initial impacts.
You will notice
that on your stock truck, the space between the axle and the
bump stop is only a couple of inches. The springs included
with KORE Dodge Ram suspension systems roughly double
that space, thereby doubling your available up travel.
Your truck will
also lose that “stink bug” look and have an aggressive,
level stance. In the rear, KORE's optional mini-paks replace
your overload leaf(s) providing a progressive, controlled
spring rate that the factory Dodge Ram suspension
can't provide. KORE mini-paks provide up to 50% more
effective wheel travel and, depending on the configuration,
do not significantly change the vehicle height or GVWR.
You might ask
that if the engineers at big manufacturers are so smart, why
didn’t they design their trucks with KORE Dodge
Ram suspension?
 The
answer to this question is that the average consumer doesn’t
even know that suspension like this exists, so why would he
or she want to own it? That's why companies that might be
pitching a Dodge Ram lift kit for your truck can
convince unwary customers to buy them. The average consumer
is satisfied with 1970’s suspension technology -- which a
Dodge Ram lift kit only serves to perpetuate -- so
that’s how the big manufacturers equip their trucks from the
factory. Their market research has shown that people will
buy their product anyway – so that’s how they sell it.
KORE is offering
something of the highest quality that the factory won’t
offer because people don’t know just how well their trucks
can perform with it installed. It’s the same reason that
people continue to buy aftermarket “twin-tube” and
“gas-charged” shocks from the companies selling Dodge Ram
lift kits.
The shocks that
come with almost any Dodge Ram lift kit are hardly
better than the OE shocks – and in some cases they are much
worse. The OE shock is at least designed specifically for
the intended vehicle. Many aftermarket Dodge Ram lift kit
companies expect one compression/rebound formula to perform
when installed on hundreds of different vehicles that each
have different weights, spring rates, shock mounting angles
and driving requirements. Most people just don’t know what
good suspension is, so they’re satisfied with the
performance that is offered with a cosmetic Dodge Ram
lift kit.
You might ask
whether a racing shock absorber just make your suspension
stiffer. The answer is no. And this is the a very important
question because it is a common misconception that in order
to absorb big bumps, you must have stiff springs and lots of
compression dampening. If we were making the suspension
stiffer, then every little bump would be transmitted into
the chassis.
The key is that
racing suspension -- unlike almost any Dodge Ram lift kit
-- is progressive. It’s very soft and supple over small
bumps. It allows the axles to move quickly and react to the
little imperfections on the highway and off-road. The first
time KORE customers drive their KORE trucks down a washboard
dirt road, they can’t believe how smooth, quiet and plush
the ride is. When a larger bump is encountered, especially
something with a square edge, the suspension just tightens
up – as if it knows ahead of time what to do. It’s really
amazing the first time you experience a KORE Dodge Ram
suspension system.
KORE
Dodge Ram suspension is engineered to allow the truck to
consistently and reliably attain unbelievable speeds over
some of the roughest terrain on earth - way beyond where a
conventional Dodge Ram lift kit can go. KORE does
most of its testing and R and D on the Baja Peninsula in
Mexico where there are few laws and even fewer ways to be
extracted if you break.
KORE takes
performance to an unimagined realm – all while maintaining
OE reliability. No suspension companies have ever done that
before - and certainly not with a standard Dodge Ram lift
kit. That’s what KORE is proud of. Although KORE Dodge Ram suspension systems give an aggressive,
modern look to your truck, KORE is not really selling
aesthetics like with a traditional Dodge Ram lift kit.
KORE is selling performance. Period. KORE is not interested
in anything else. And neither are the clients who purchase
KORE suspension.
To see KORE's
full line of Dodge Ram Suspension systems, please
click the following links. You won't find any Dodge Ram
lift kit here!
If you
have any questions about the benefits of KORE Dodge Ram
suspension over a traditional
Dodge Ram lift kit,
please drop us a note. We'll be happy to help you say
goodbye to the earth-bound world of your everyday Dodge
Ram lift kit... |
