2006 Dodge Ram 3500

We have shown you plenty of purpose-built trucks on the pages of Diesel Power. Work trucks, dedicated sled pullers, race-only drag trucks, you name it. Tracy Jordan is a little different though, with his purpose-built '06 Dodge Ram 3500. As a professional rockcrawler and racer, Tracy has been behind the wheel of plenty of purpose-built vehicles, from his Spidertrax Rock Bug to the BFGoodrich-sponsored Wide Open Baja Challenge buggy that he piloted in last year's Baja 1000. Tracy's Dodge is a different kind of purpose-built vehicle though. He built it specifically to travel as quickly as possible from his home in Wittmann, Arizona, through desert washes and arroyos, to his parents' nearby home. Sure, he could have built a truck for the asphalt, but Tracy Jordan knows the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and sometimes that line isn't paved.

No Turning Back
Tracy started with an '06 Dodge Quad Cab shortbed from Dave Smith Dodge in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He then took the truck directly to the late Greg Boardman at Desert Racing Concepts to work his magic. Glassworks Unlimited fiberglass front fenders bolted in place rather easily, but the bedsides required more...commitment. "It was a bit unnerving cutting the sides off of the bed with only 800 miles on the truck, but once I rode in Greg's truck I knew it was the right thing to do," Tracy reflected. Boardman had the fenders, bedsides, and SRT-10 hood painted to match the factory black before bolting them in place. The bulged fenders add tire clearance and made room for 37-inch BFGoodrich Baja T/As without limiting compression travel.

The suspension travel comes from a KORE Technical Series suspension that transforms the 7,000-pound diesel truck into a desert-devouring machine. The suspension uses KORE progressive-rate springs in the front and Deaver leaf packs in the rear in conjunction with Fox Racing 2.5-inch remote reservoir shocks valved to KORE's exacting specifications. The front shocks sit on raised billet aluminum towers, which allow the fitment of a longer shock and increase wheel travel to an impressive 11 inches. Additional considerations such as the Fox Racing steering damper, billet 7075 aluminum control arms fitted with Evo joints, and upgraded track bar, complement the springs and shocks to provide an excellent ride and increased durability.

Second Thoughts
While Tracy's truck soaked up desert terrain with ease, the Baja T/A tires rode rough on the street and the Deaver springs compressed to the bumpstops when Tracy hooked his trailer up to the back of his Dodge. After a significant cash outlay, Tracy began to wonder if he had made the wrong decisions with his truck. To make matters worse, Tracy added larger injectors and his exhaust gas temperatures (EGTs) were soaring to unsafe levels even when the truck wasn't burdened with a trailer. At one point he seriously considered cutting his losses and selling the Ram.