John Landis from Greenville, Ohio, tells us he built this ’94 Dodge Ram just for the challenge. So John’s first challenge was to give the stock 5.9L a little more poop in the shoot. He installed a K&N cold-air intake and Mopar Performance headers, cam, and dress-up accessories. To make sure the transmission could hold the new power, a B&M shift kit was installed. To keep tabs on everything, a white-face gauge cluster was put into place.
To bring the truck out of the clouds, John started in the front by stepping up the ball joints and cutting the stock coils. In the rear John flipped the rear end, added a 2-inch block, and C-notched the frame. Once the truck was in the weeds, John noticed the Dodge had a very wide track, which would not allow him to run the deep rim look he wanted. So he broke out the welder and narrowed the front control arms by 2 inches and had the rearend narrowed 8 inches to provide enough room for the backspacing he wanted. The rolling stock for this beauty was Budnik’s Magnum 17x7 with 3-inch backspacing in front and 17x9 with 5½-inch backspacing out back. For the skins John chose Pirelli’s Scorpion 255/60R-17 for the front 285/60R-17 for the rear.
When it came time for the exterior, John figured the truck needed some custom touches so he broke out the welder one more time and proceeded to shave the tailgate handle, third brake light, stake pockets, and antenna. John felt the stock bumpers needed tweaking so with a lot of welding and smoothing he got them the way he wanted. The hood needed some attitude so John contacted Terry De Long from Pro Glass in Dayton for one of his awesome cowl hoods. John also fabricated his own grille so the truck would have a nice smile.
With all the metal work completed, John took the truck to Pro Finish in Dayton, and left it in the capable hands of Scott Sullivan. Scott smoothed it all out and laid down House of Kolor Sunset Pearl and Viper Silver two-tones and the Purple copper and silver graphics. With lots of planning and hard work, John has met the challenge and created a truck that anyone would be proud to have in the garage.
Owner John Landis Greenville, OH.
Vehicle ’94 Dodge Ram.
Engine 5.9L V-8.
Suspension In the front, John stepped the ball joints, cut the coils, and narrowed the control arms 2 inches. For the rear, he flipped the rearend, added a 2-inch block, C-notched the framerail, and narrowed the rearend 8 inches.
Wheels Budnik Magnum 17x7 with 3-inch backspacing in front and Budnik Magnum 17x9 with 5½-inch backspacing.
Tires Pirelli Scorpion 255/60R-17 in front and 285/60R-17 in the rear.