2022 Tradesman Cummins mini build

[Finn5033]

Hello all. This isn’t anything crazy but I myself like looking at what other people do to their trucks so I thought I would share the changes I will be making to mine. It’s a brand new leftover 2022 Cummins Tradesman I found and bought last week. I already added airlift 5000 air bags, some cheap temporary step bars, and a cheap temporary roll up tonneau cover. I can share the specifics on this if anybody wants to know. Here is the list of other things I plan to do

Gear off-road Raid wheels 18x9 +18 offset with 285/70/18 Nitto Exo Grapplers. Reason for the odd size is I’ve had 295/70/18 and I didn’t like them, too much rubber and surprisingly that extra width seemed to add a lot of extra road noise. I do a lot of ice fishing so the 3 peak rated tire is important to me

I plan to do some chrome deleting. I ordered extra bumper covers that are primed and ready to paint but I may try plasti-dipping the chrome ones first saw some pictures of that and I actually didn’t mind how it looked. After I do the bumpers I’m going to see how the chrome badges look. I may or may not plastidip them too

Already have alpharex Luxx series led headlights to install along with the Baja designs led fog light kit. All ordered from cjc off-road.

I want to raise the front of the truck. I’m considering the bilstein b8 2” level with 5112 shocks. I want to have some rake and that would leave me about 3/4”.

Everything I’ve already bought and done I got from seeing what others have done on this site. That’s why I want to share as well.

Here is a picture of the truck when I got it, and one of it now. And one of what the wheels I’m getting look like. I may pick the wheels and tires up tonight. I’ll share pictures as I go.

 

[elephantrider]

the bilstein 2.3" kit is awesome.

 

[Finn5033]

the bilstein 2.3" kit is awesome.

The one I’m looking at is a 2” kit. I don’t really want to soften the ride at all and from what I read this kit should do what I want and simply raise the front a couple inches and keep some rake without going the spacer route

Bilstein RAM 2500 2-Inch B8 5112 Front Suspension Leveling Kit 46-302137 (19-23 4WD 6.7L RAM 2500) - Free Shipping

FREE SHIPPING! Up the Audacity. If your RAM 2500’s factory rake is not working out for you, you may need this Bilstein 2-Inch B8 5112 Front Suspension Leveling

www.americantrucks.com

 

[Finn5033]

Got the wheels and tires on. Absolutely love how it looks but unfortunately as soon as I hit the highway I know there is no way I’m keeping the tires. Wow are these exo grapplers loud! High pitch loud humming that there is no way I can live with. There are not a lot of options in the 285/70/18 but I have to try something else.

Couple pics. Just got home and truck is filthy.

update, after some research I’m going back to the stock size 275/70/18 and getting Cooper AT3 XLT’s. There is just not enough options in the 285/70/18 sizes.

 

[elephantrider]

the 2.3 kit never felt soft to me, but most all their kit is solid.

I'm trying out the milestar patagonia x/t 285/75, from a 37x12.5, and it's a super quiet tire so far. may give them a go of you end up switching.

 

[Finn5033]

I finally got around to opening the extra bumper covers I bought. It said they were primed and ready to paint but the boxes actually say that they are powder coated. It looks to me like they are the same as the standard tradesman bumpers. I don’t know why I was expecting to get like a grey primered set of bumpers so I’m pretty happy.

So now I am looking for some advice. I’m thinking I could have them 3m wrapped before I put them them on. Or I was wondering if I could spray them with 2k clear first and maybe they would match the truck pretty close? Any other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Finn5033]

Ok since nobody chimed in with any other ideas I think I’m going to try spraying these bumpers with plasti-dip glossifier and see how it looks. I’ll report back. I figure if it doesn’t look good I can just peel it off.

 

[Finn5033]

Big weekend on the mini build. Decided to install the black bumpers, and plasti dip the grille appliqué pieces. I decided to try putting plasti dip glossifier on just to see how it looked. So on the bumpers I had to spray on some clear plasti dip first because the glossifier says it can only be used on plasti dipped surfaces.

I will never use the glossifier again. It is extremely fragile and already peeling in some spots on the bumpers just from handling them. I think what I will do when it gets bad is plasti dip my chrome bumpers, peel the black ones back to original and sell them.

First is pictures of the black bumpers as they came.

 

[Finn5033]

So as I said, I needed to spray some plasti dip on the bumpers first to use the glossifier. So in between coats I disassembled the front of the truck. And since I was doing that I planned to install my Alpharexx Luxx headlights and Baja designs fog light kit. Started by taking grille appliqué pieces off

 

[Finn5033]

So in between coats I continued disassembling. Had everything off the front of the truck and this is where I ended my Saturday. Had everything ready for reassembly on Sunday

 

[Finn5033]

I did really good job of taking pictures of the disassembly, but didn’t take any as I was putting it back together. But here are the before pictures. Sorry the truck is dirty

 

[Finn5033]

And here are the after pictures. In conclusion I am very happy with the look. I just recommend not using the plasti dip glossifier. If I go the route of wanting the glossy look again I’ll just use some true 1k or 2k clear.

I put the Alpharexx headlights and Baja fogs to the test first thing this morning. Was dark and raining on the way to work. Huge improvement over the stock halogens and no fogs.

Still undecided on blacking out the chrome emblems

 

[Finn5033]

I have some Raptor 5” OEM style black running boards on the way to put on next. The cheap Amazon ones aren’t cutting it functionally for the Wife and dog. I need some mud guards and I can’t decide what I want there. Really struggling with that decision.

Also have truck bed lights to install. I’ll try to keep this thread updated as I go.

 

[flan]

Lots of work, but the end result looks great! I’d def black out those badges (and tailpipe), just my opinion.

 

[Finn5033]

Did a reverse level on the truck with 1.75” drop coil springs from coil spring specialists. Did exactly what I was hoping it would do. Also installed the raptor step bars. They are really nice and exactly the look I was hoping for. I begrudgingly ended up installing Weathertech molded mud guards. They were on sale for a great deal during Amazons fall prime days. I don’t really like them. They’ll do the job until I find something I like better.

Still have the bed lights to install. I’m also not really liking my wheels. I’d like to go up to a 20” bronze wheel. Thinking about going with a 275/65/20 tire. Will probably stick with the Cooper at3 xlt as I’ve been very happy with them so far. I attached a pic of the wheels I’m thinking about getting and some pics of the truck after lowering the rear

 

[Finn5033]

Got big changes coming to the truck. I will be adding, heated seats, heated steering wheel, and auto climate control to my truck. I found front and rear seats from a wrecked 2022 big horn I will be installing. Sourced a heated steering wheel, correct center stack that has the heated wheel and seats buttons, and the auto climate knobs. Ordered the sensors I need for auto climate, the bypass cable, and mx+ obd2 link so I can use alpha obd to turn the options on.

This is a big undertaking for me, using the alpha obd is something I’ve not done before and it makes me nervous but I’m looking forward to learning. I’ll update this thread as I go.

I should add, the ability to do all of this came from scattered threads in this forum. Hopefully I can consolidate it a little to make the information easier to find

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

I finally got around to opening the extra bumper covers I bought. It said they were primed and ready to paint but the boxes actually say that they are powder coated. It looks to me like they are the same as the standard tradesman bumpers. I don’t know why I was expecting to get like a grey primered set of bumpers so I’m pretty happy.

So now I am looking for some advice. I’m thinking I could have them 3m wrapped before I put them them on. Or I was wondering if I could spray them with 2k clear first and maybe they would match the truck pretty close? Any other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

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Ok since nobody chimed in with any other ideas I think I’m going to try spraying these bumpers with plasti-dip glossifier and see how it looks. I’ll report back. I figure if it doesn’t look good I can just peel it off.

Truck looks great. Nice job with the transformation.

I’m late to the party and I see you’ve tackled it already .. but I’ve had good luck with plastidip and hyper dip on the chrome bits on my truck. I did a night edition conversion by dipping the chrome plastics and replacing the lights

In my opinion Hyper dip looks better because it is a very nice satin black but the Plasti dip holds up better/ is tougher although it’s a flat black finish. I get about 18 months - 2 years out of the dip job (done it twice) I was quoted (pre covid) over $2k to paint the plastics and didn’t get a quote for wrapping (although I tried it myself and failed)

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

And here are the after pictures. In conclusion I am very happy with the look. I just recommend not using the plasti dip glossifier. If I go the route of wanting the glossy look again I’ll just use some true 1k or 2k clear.

I put the Alpharexx headlights and Baja fogs to the test first thing this morning. Was dark and raining on the way to work. Huge improvement over the stock halogens and no fogs.

Still undecided on blacking out the chrome emblems





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FYI If you decide to black out the “ram” on the grille you cannot remove the ram and the U pieces with the grille on the truck. You will break all the tabs. So be prepared to do a lot of taping or remove the grille entirely to get the letters off.

 

[Finn5033]

Truck looks great. Nice job with the transformation.

I’m late to the party and I see you’ve tackled it already .. but I’ve had good luck with plastidip and hyper dip on the chrome bits on my truck. I did a night edition conversion by dipping the chrome plastics and replacing the lights

In my opinion Hyper dip looks better because it is a very nice satin black but the Plasti dip holds up better/ is tougher although it’s a flat black finish. I get about 18 months - 2 years out of the dip job (done it twice) I was quoted (pre covid) over $2k to paint the plastics and didn’t get a quote for wrapping (although I tried it myself and failed)

Thanks, actually your truck was one of the ones I saw that made me feel good about how the flat black bumpers would look on a black truck. I have my chrome bumpers still and may eventually have them paint matched but I have a connection through work to help with the cost. I am impressed with the toughness of the plasti-dip so far

 

[Finn5033]

FYI If you decide to black out the “ram” on the grille you cannot remove the ram and the U pieces with the grille on the truck. You will break all the tabs. So be prepared to do a lot of taping or remove the grille entirely to get the letters off.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I had actually decided to do this so I will just remove the entire grille again.