Dodge Rams have not been known to make cool customs, but ever since the big-rig style body change in 1994, the Mopar truck has been showing some signs of life. Of course, the body update in 2002 set the stage for a few Dodges to step into the limelight. The coup de grace of the series is the SRT-10 Ram with its stunning V-10 power and Hurst equipped six-speed manual transmission. The aftermarket suspension manufacturers have not really jumped onto the Dodge's potential, and that's where One Off Design comes into play. Situating itself in Santa Clara, California, One Off Design builds some incredible hot rods and found a customer with serious desires to put an SRT-10 deep into the weeds. By purists standards, it was a crazy undertaking.
Getting a Dodge to lay flat out was no easy task. These trucks are designed for decent ground clearance when loaded to the gills with whatever the owner sees fit. One Off began its journey by completely disassembling the SRT-10. The entire front clip, engine, transmission, bed, doors, front and rear suspension, and interior were scattered onto the shop's floor. The first goal was to get the truck to sit down over 26-inch wheels and tires, so the crew wasted no time beginning the frame fabrication. The front frame rails were stepped up five inches and fully box plated. Factory upper control arms were smoothed, polished, and remounted into their perches after they were relocated 1-1/2 inches farther north. Air Ride Technologies lower control arms were painted Viper GTS Blue and mounted to the frame with Slam Specialties' RE7 'bags before being plumbed with 1/2-inch copper hardline through Blitzluft valves. To complete the front modifications required relocating the steering rack, adding a Borgeson shaft and joints to connect it together, and slipping the O.E. sway bar back in, relocated of course. Placing the V-10 back in position necessitated raising the motor and transmission mounts four inches, which in turn required slicing a hole 12 inches wide from the cab firewall to the rear wall. One Off Design bent a fresh trans tunnel from steel and sealed it in. More frame slicing and dicing out back secured the room necessary to tuck 26s. A KP Components cantilever kit was modified to mount inside the frame and a modified, polished TP Engineering Watts-link holds the six-inch narrowed and Viper Blue-painted rear axle in center position. Slam Specialties, Blitzluft, and copper hardline air up the rearend just like the front. Upon reassembly, the stock Brembo calipers received the blue treatment and the 26-inch E-Forged wheels with Pirelli tires were near home. After additional notching of the firewall, the truck was finally laying on the ground. A 20-gallon fuel tank, two Optima batteries, and an Oasis XD2000 air compressor reside under the new rear chassis. An exhaust was necessary to make the truck run again, and the stock intake was simply modified with a K&N filter to function as needed. For the exhaust, Gibson headers feed into a MagnaFlow muffler and out through dual 2-1/2-inch pipes.
Some of the other guys readied themselves for the body to be painted, but first the smoothing had to be handled and certain parts of the SRT-10's body kit needed modification to fit the new stance. The front bumper was sectioned 1-1/2 inches and the rear bed corners were tweaked so that a One Off Design custom roll pan could be put in place of the rear bumper. Door handles and tailgate handles got the axe, stake bed pockets were sealed off, antenna, gas door, and badges were wiped clean, as well. A Gaylord's tonneau cover had the stock SRT-10 bed wing melded to it and the entire inside of the bed was smoothed with sheetmetal and wheeltubs to hide the massive wheels. With the body ready, a healthy coating of PPG Viper Blue was laid down with PPG Viper White and pearl stripes ran tip to tail. Also, the valve covers and brake booster were painted blue before final assembly. Under the tonneau, Santa Clara Line-X covered the confines of the bed with its proprietary coating. Paint-matched billet grilles and Street Scene Equipment mirrors finished the exterior with Auto-Loc door poppers, which allow entry into the rig. For a cherry on the cake, the One Off team painted and striped the factory equipped subwoofer grille in the cab.