Mopar Reveals Details, Pricing for Ram 1500-Based Ram Runner

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BigJ

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"Mopar has dished more dirt on its Ram Runner, an add-on package from Chrysler’s parts division that allows any 2009 to 2011 Ram 1500 truck to be transformed into the Ram Runner that bowed at this year’s Detroit auto show.
Like the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, the Mopar truck is designed for tough, high-performance blasts over deserts and other terrain inhospitable to regular vehicles. Each of the below components can be purchased separately, but they’re all necessary to create the ultimate Ram Runner.

Ford’s off-roader was clearly an important benchmark for the Mopar team. The company confidently notes that the $13,270 Pre-Runner Stage II Lift Kit provides 14 inches of suspension travel, compared to the 11.2 inches front and 12.1 inches rear travel available on the SVT Raptor. The suspension kit comprises thicker tie rods, tougher ball joints, control arms that are three inches longer than stock, Fox internal-bypass shock absorbers, and a revised multilink rear suspension layout. Ground clearance with the kit is 13 inches.

Other key parts of the Ram Runner accessory list include new fiberglass fenders ($1020 front, $1020 rear), which offer more room for suspension articulation plus a wider stance to accommodate the truck’s stretched track. A special steel front bumper ($1250), with integrated skid plate, offers improved ground clearance and helps permit a 41-degree approach angle. A special $1010 tire carrier allows large off-road wheels to be hauled in the Ram Runner’s bed, an aluminum sport hood ($978) with scoops provides performance-themed looks, and an $1135 exhaust system allows more noise to escape the 5.7-liter V-8 engine.

Adding all the component prices together, assembling a Ram Runner will set you back $19,683, and that’s without factoring in the purchase price of the donor truck and any installation charges. That puts the Ram Runner’s price tag somewhere around $40,000, right in line with the SVT Raptor. It ain’t cheap, but it sure looks like a great way to traverse unpaved terrain.

Source: Mopar"
(bolded emphasis added by me)

Mopar Reveals Details, Pricing for Ram 1500-Based Ram Runner - Rumor Central

Seriously?? $40k? Is that using new math or something? $20k for the kit, so they must be figuring $20k for a Ram 1500 Hemi? And labor for install is free I take it? Paint and prep for the new body parts is included? New 35" off road tires? How's about a new computer flash/tune to handle all the traction control issues? Any mention of a rear locker not limited by any speed? Unless I'm missing something that's some seriously horrible journalism; my numbers say $75k and you'll end up with a maybe-more capable Ram than the Raptor (travel yes, but tuning/traction control disables??), but otherwise similarly equipped trucks.

And of course then there's the kicker... one is under a fully factory warranty and the other not so much. Think Dodge is gonna bumper to bumper cover a Ram Runner?

Agree? Disagree?
 

ruffstuff

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What about warranty? The Raptor is assembled by Ford and comes with a factory warranty. Is the Ram Runner the same? If not and I bought a Ram 1500 Hemi to have the pre-runner package installed by a Dodge dealership, would the warranty be voided? What if installed by other than the factory?
 

SuperRaptor

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This looks to be a pretty cool off-road kit. But you could build your own out of probably even better parts for cheaper. The not being assembled at the factory is a huge negative for me.
 

chartguy

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A total package

One of the biggest benefits of the Raptor is the fact that SVT engineered all the parts to work very well together. Everything from the more radical cam in the Boss 6.2 to the transmission programming and the diffs have been designed and tested as a total package.

The Ram-Runner is a bunch of parts that lets Dodge/Chrysler claim a bit more suspension travel. Computer makers do that all the time. One company makes a great leap forward. A competitor will take something that does not work as well, and tweak it like crazy to get one specification a bit better than the "great leap forward". The competitor's tweaked part does not do anything, except that one spec, any better, and typically it sacrifices a lot of other benefits to get that spec.

How much testing do you think Chrysler did on those parts? Was it 10% of the testing time that SVT did on the Raptor?

The Raptor is the "great leap forward". The Ram-Runner is the engineers way of letting the marketing guys brag about a spec (suspension travel). The Raptor is engineered as a "total package", not a bunch of add-on parts.
 

NoCaDiver

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I'm with J on this one. Pricing is not going to be 40K.

Matter of fact, I agree with all of you. And if I remember from the other articles it will void the warranty even if it is installed by the dealer.
 

Highroller

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I went to the Ram web site and built a base ST model, by the time you match the base Raptor options your at 35k and still no Ram Runner package. I would guess that with the package, dealer install, and paint work, you would be in the 65 to 70k range, and have a new truck with no warranty. Dodge just paid back the Gov in full and now they're already acting stupid.. With marketing stratagy like this they will be hitting up Uncle Sam again in the near future.
 
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