Erik Harbour has at least two things that would make any truck builder envious. One is this badass '02 Dodge Ram, and the other is the reason the truck is in its present condition: good friends.
You might remember this truck from '07 SEMA Show coverage, laying body and looking like a million bucks, which is an awesome thing, but it's not all fame and glory like some would have you believe. In fact, it goes something like this: Most SEMA builds consist of a two- to three-month tornado prior to the show in which you can almost count the hours of total sleep on one hand. Since time is of the essence, there's no way to go step by step and ensure that all is done exactly the way you want it-there are always unforeseen problems and delays. If it wasn't for Erik's friends stopping by to lend a hand, the truck on these pages might never have been. They showed up, most of the time with twelve-pack in hand, ready to spend hours wrenching.
The first stop on the customizing tour was 714 Motorsports, where Todd Faulkner pulled out all the stops to lay the truck out hard over a set of 24-inch rims and rubber. He first ordered the adjustable suspension components needed to hammer the contemporary Mopar to the ground: four Slam airbags, two reserve air tanks, 1/2-inch air line, two Viair 280C compressors, and the four-link, step notch, and all the brackets from Devious Customs. Todd began cutting, notching, and relocating, and ended up ditching the stock front A-arms for a set from DJM. He bridge-notched the rear framerails and installed a rear four-link to complete the suspension structure. The Slam 'bags were mounted forward and aft and plumbed with 1/2-inch line, 1/2-inch electric valves, and Todd's little joke of air restrictors, so it goes down as fast as paddle valves fed with 1/8-inch airline so Erik can't harm the truck. For reserve air, the truck uses two 5-gallon reserve tanks and two compressors replenish the air supply.
Since the truck was destined to wear an extra-large set of rims and rubber, Todd flared the rear fenders about 6 inches before welding a set of wheeltubs from Grant Fabrication in the bed. To gain more room under the truck, the original gas tank was ditched in favor of a 20-gallon fuel cell from Devious. Erik and Todd performed the necessary modifications to install the fuel cell and make it functional with a custom filler neck in the bed. After a whole lot of notching, cutting, relocating, and fabricating, Erik was finally able to mount the 24x9 Lexani chrome wheels encased in Toyo rubber and lay the truck out. All the work became worth it the moment the fenderwells swallowed up the massive 24s and the rails successfully hit the tarmac.
After Todd finished dialing in the suspension, a few tricks were performed on the Dodge's skin. Todd busted out his welder and shaved everything-there wasn't a body panel left untouched.
Once Todd was satisfied with the smoothness of the metal, the truck was immediately taped off so Todd could lay down the Kinetik Blue basecoat. But that turned out to be a lot of blue, and Erik and Todd both agreed it needed something more. Going on little sleep, Erik and Todd were running out of ideas and called upon Jeff Mersey of Merzees Paint & Body. Jeff helped by putting tape to body panels with a few different designs before a theme was decided upon. Once the design had been laid out on both sides of the truck, it was time to put the real deal into motion. Jeff started by laying down the Orion Silver that creates the beltline around the entire truck. Then, he pulled a few tricks and put down his secret wispy graphics on the lower half of the truck.