2017+ Power Wagon - Thoughts and Opinions?

It's the roughest riding non-commercial vehicle I've driven, next to my cousin's old F350 with 8" lift springs. I agree with everything else you said. Cool truck tho, for sure.

 

Ok

 

I don't have a PW, But I do have a 17 3500 CTD. I was tempted to buy a PW but ultimately it came down to I can add lockers and a winch, not a diesel plus how many trucks on 37s can get 20+ mpg

That being said I absolutely love the platform, Wish I would have bought one sooner. If the PW ticks all the boxes you should buy one and never look back.

I am really hoping for a black friday sale for a AEV front bumper, and a thuren 2.5 king suspension kit.

 

Update 2.5 years later...

I ended up placing an order for a 2020 Power Wagon around Valentine’s Day. I’ll be waiting on the truck through mid April more than likely. 2018/19 turned out to be a bad time to make that sort of purchase considering numerous life changes (took a new job and moved across country, sold the old house and bought new). Now that I’m back in a place of financial stability, it seemed a better time to pull the trigger. I’m glad I waited considering 2019+ got a transmission upgrade. I was really hoping they’d move the new style cabs into the 2500/3500s but that seems to be a few years out still. The Taco will be sold/traded-in as part of this process.

Pics upon delivery! But I ordered:

• 2020 PW in hydro blue pearl
• Level 2 equipment group (leather and ventilated/heated seats among other things)
• Dual alternators
• Sun Roof
• Block heater
• Towing utility group (360 cameras, and cross traffic radar)
• Bed utility group (liner and bed lights)
• Unconnect 12” (giant infotainment screen)

If anyone’s looking at Rams in the PNW let me know as I contacted a ton of dealers and kept my research.

OA

 

Cool trucks, glad Mopar revived the marque. I had a '76 reg cab, fleet side, short bed. 318 with a granny gear 4spd. I could put that truck in 4lo and granny, walk away and wait on it to catch up to me. Thing was a tank & then some. My sons (now adults) are still pissed at me for letting it go...

 

2 1/2 years later and you provide us with an update that you finally bought a PW... respect man

 

I know it’s wrong and my wife is gonna hate it but I’m clicking this link.

Are there any ram forums that don’t suck?

OA

 

There are a few '19 PW build threads on expedition portal (domestics). HDrams has been useful.

As someone who drives new F250 for work I don't agree with it being rough riding. If you ignore the door jam tire pressures the truck can feel really compliant. Know it was an old comment, but since we have some PW leaning taco owners it's worth addressing.

The OEM Duratracs are prone to punctures. I've already had two flats from gravel roads that I plugged. Ended up studding them for the season and depending how the AT3Ws work out I may hesitantly use them again. I've got 35s on mine with some weight in the back and no complaints with tires or suspension which is nice from a wallet perspective. You can do 37s but 34.8" aired down is the limit in the stock spare location. It's a beast of a truck. You'll enjoy it.

Not sure where in OR you are, but Thuren is in Bend.

 

I'm on Expo and HDRams at this point as well. I just lurk for the time being. Solid info on the tires too; do your 35" AT3Ws cycle fully without rubbing? I've read pretty mixed experiences for folks on 35s but they're typically on aftermarket wheels. I plan on running the Duratracs till they fail on me and the Falkens would likely be next in line.

I'm in Bend. It'll be nice to have Thuren local, but I'll be dipping into the domestic truck world very slowly. I won't be giving FCA a reason to deny warranty early on haha. I also picked the PW over the rest so I wouldn't be tempted to mod at all. As far as my needs are concerned, it comes equipped from the factory as I would want it.

OA

 

Similar thought process led me to the PW. Lock to lock maneuvering and front left fairly stuffed hasn't resulted in any signs of rubbing. My understanding is stock wheels are good with most 35s and 37s will rub on sway bar and maybe radius arms.

 

@JCOOR

 

Dump those duratracs on Craigslist and get 35s. No rubbing and you can still fit a spare underneath. They are incredible trucks and I absolutely love mine

 

Ordered Valentine's Day and hit the dealer a week ago. Drove to Eugene to pick it up today! Sorry for the shit pictures but it was a long day and raining for much of it. Will post more when it's sunny again. I noted the equipment packages on an earlier post.

Very happy with it on the 2.5 hour drive back home.

OA

 

No build intended but at this point, I figure I might as well document.

Negotiation/Ordering Process:
Before this truck, I "ordered" my previous Tacoma and my wife's Subaru so it was interesting to compare the process. The dealers' sales departments couldn't have been more different (in Ram's favor) but everything I read about service seems like it's going to be equally bad or worse. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it (300 miles so far so it'll be awhile) but I digress...

Prior to actually placing an order I shopped this vehicle the same way I shopped my last 3. I visited a local dealer to understand what exactly I could/couldn't order (assuming what I wanted wasn't sitting on a lot somewhere), then I e-mailed every dealer that seemed to move any reasonable volume in my state and every bordering state that I would actually be willing to drive/fly to and asked for quotes. Fortunately with FCA dealers, there are a few in Idaho known for their fly and buy pricing (they move so much volume it's pretty untouchable for any other dealers to offer against). I used their quotes as a baseline moving forward (at the time for ordered PWs, this was approximately a 13% discount off of MSRP with some caveats). If anyone happens to be shopping - Dennis Dillon near Boise has by far, the lowest prices currently. I was able to get a local-ish dealer within $1500 of Dennis Dillon's pricing and favorable terms on my trade in - now we had a path forward!

I placed an order for the Power Wagon I wanted on 2/12/20. This differed in a many aspects from Toyota in that there isn't a need to hope/wait for allocation and pretty much anything within reason can be on the table. Power Wagons are a different breed with more restriction due to the special equipment, but I was cross shopping a Ram Rebel (EcoDiesel) where Ram pretty much lets you pick and choose any options with no regard for bundling. Even the packages listed on their build and price site can, for the most part, be added component by component through the dealer's system on certain models. The dealer sent over the Order sheet to confirm and FCA accepted it 2 days later.

From this point on, every step of the order can be tracked in detail via Ram's customer care service or your dealer (when I ordered my Tacoma, this wasn't on the table). The build queued into the assembly line within a few weeks and and actually got built about a month later. From there it goes into various QC/QA (I know, I know, FCA QC is probably laughable at best) before waiting for shipment. Ram builds their HDs in Mexico. My truck was shipped on 3/24/20, a day or so before the plant was shut down due to Covid19. It spent the next 3 weeks in shipment (delayed in various rail yards again due to Covid, but I was in no rush) before finally reaching my dealer in Oregon.

The actual sale was super easy and I spent no more than an hour at the dealer. I confirmed that the truck on their lot was the truck I ordered. I took it for a short test drive while they confirmed my Taco was indeed what I described to them via email and phone discussions. Back at the finance office, we signed a handful of papers, handed over a check from my credit union and we were on our way! Tied for the easiest vehicle purchase I've had with the Subaru.

FCA adds a nice little touch to the Monroney for ordered vehicles (top right of the page):


OA

 

First Thoughts/Initial Impressions:

After spending about 300 miles with the truck, including a 2.5 hour drive home through heavy rain and a mountain pass as well as some time around town at home, I can honestly say I love pretty much everything about it with the exception of the sheer size (this was a known quantity, but I'm slowly getting used to it).


It's got great road manners for a solid axle truck and the rear coils really soak up bumps and washboards better than the under sprung leafs on my stock taco. I haven't done any real off-roading with it yet but I did cover 30 miles of BLM/national forest road with it just to test out some of the factory features. The reason for buying this truck was to never feel like I needed to mod (we'll see how long that lasts) or expand again. I think I'm pretty set from that regard. It's more than anything I'll need and it's all factory. I can't wait to get it out in more remote locations moving forward. The 6.4L Hemi has gobs of power and torque when you need it (410hp/429tq). The 30 gallon tank is definitely small but a function of the frame; I'm averaging 13 city and 16 highway right now. I had a soft topper on the Taco and loved it, but decided to go a different route this time. I installed a Retrax ProXR on day 2 and it seems like the right choice. I intend on spending way too much on Yakima's HD bed rack in the future to give me something to mount my kayaks to.


I've loved the interior amenities and it's really cemented my decision. I cross shopped Tundra, Ford (150s and 250s) and stepped in a GMC Sierra for about 2 min before I knew that was the wrong choice for me. Ram is by and large ahead of the pack in pretty much every way as far as interior features and "quality" go. The 12" uConnect screen is awesome. I can have apple play on 1 half of the screen and my forward facing camera on the other (sorry for the piss poor pic here). The EVIC (screen between the gauges) is also a great feature to have as it's very customizable; I have it set to focus on fuel efficiency just to hurt myself:



The dial shifter has taken some getting used to. Something about turning a knob just isn't as intuitive as one would hope. My Taco was a 6MT so moving to an auto full time as been a transition in and of it self. That said the transition from reverse to drive (which admittedly I do a lot when I miss the parking spot...) can be tough to get right. It also, absolutely needs steps, that have since been ordered, but not yet delivered. I considered sliders but no one is making any that are truly compatible with 2019+ models so I'll be waiting till the kinks get worked out on those. I wish Ram offered power running boards on the PW but they don't and I don't want to install AMPs myself as they need to be plugged into the OBD constantly. Ram does offer ugly nerf bars (imo) for like $450, no thanks.

The dog has been learning to climb in (I lift him out as I don't want his joints getting any worse) and really loves the higher seating position and giant windows (taken while driving but waiting at a cross walk; driver side mirror):


My one gripe so far is the passenger side view mirror is magnified and holy shit has that been obnoxious to get used to. I find myself using the convex mirror on the passenger side just to avoid the dimensional fuckery going on in the main mirror. Hopefully I can get used to that soon, but it isn't like I'm putting in a ton of seat time working from home these days.

OA

 

GoRhino

$40 RB-20 , 3.5" Replaceable Blade Folding Hunting Knife, Non-Slip Rubberized TPR Handle, Mossy Oak Nylon Sheath (Blaze Orange)

RB-20 running boards installed today. For less than $300 shipped, I'm happy with them. They're essentially 2nd gen raptor knock offs but it's a good look and minimal branding. Galvanized steel + textured powder coat.

OA