Dodge Backcountry 2.0 System, Diesel, 2003-2009

Description

The Backcountry 2.0 system is designed for people seeking the best ride on and off-road on a budget; basically, the commuter for those that want to have a little dirt-road fun in their 8,500lb truck without losing the on-road ride quality or usability for which the truck was designed. You’re no longer limited to the highway and gravel roads become uninteresting as you can drive them at speed with one hand on the wheel. Utilizing Fox 2.0” Remote Reservoir Shocks, we’ve developed a shock tune that delivers all around comfort and ride quality designed for on-road, in town, highway, towing/hauling as well as slow to mid speed off road use. The Fox 2.0s boast extruded aluminum construction with a hard anodizing for corrosion resistance, are fully rebuildable and are built with hour-glass bushings in the rod-ends. This system was tuned and rides best with the Full Progressive Leaf Springs.

The Details: Your truck will sit 2.5”-3” higher in the front (year/cab configuration dependent) with 50% more suspension travel than the factory platform thanks to the taller, lighter rate coil springs. The rear is lifted 1”-2” via the customer’s choice of a Progressive Add-A-Pack or Full Progressive Leaf Pack. The Progressive Add-A-Pack replaces the factory overload with a 5-Leaf, progressive pack that changes the final rate of the spring pack keeping the rear planted while increasing traction and predictability. The optional Full Progressive Leaf Pack replaces the entire factory leaf spring assembly increasing travel and drastically increasing comfort throughout the entire usable travel stroke at the cost of a 15% payload reduction from a standard 2500. This payload reduction can be supplemented back to factory 3500 SRW capacity with the addition of the Long Travel Airbags for the best of both worlds; ride quality and payload capacity/load control.

When pairing added down-travel with the taller ride height, the position of the factory, front sway bar will need to be altered as well. For this, we offer two options (unless 1994-2002, then there’s only one); extended, Sway Bar End Links or the replacement Torsion Sway Bar. The End links are equipped with ½” FK Rod-Ends and in-house machined 17-4 stainless bodies that are extended over stock to reset the sway bar engagement points. Factory pillow-bushings are re-used to assemble the sway bar to the lengthened link. Carli’s optional Torsion sway bar removes the entire factory sway bar assembly replacing it with a torsion bar supported by fabricated drop brackets and delrin bushings. Fabricated sway bar arms and dual 5/8” FK heim end links round off the package. This is the single best bang for the buck, ride-quality upgrade offered by Carli Suspension (in close competition with the full progressive leaf spring upgrade).

When lifting the front end of a straight axle truck, the front axle is pulled off-center unless the proper linkages are addressed. Three inches of front lift equates to an axle shifted toward the driver’s side ¾” and back toward the cab ½”. This system includes an Adjustable Track Bar to push the axle back toward the passenger side and provide a stronger link with less deflection for the lifted application. We also recommend the purchase of a set of extended control arms to shift the axle forward to its new center of travel.

Wheel and Tire: This system will fit up to a 37” tire with our High Clearance Control Arms and Full Progressive Leaf Springs on wheels no more than 9” wide with 5.75” of backspacing. If running factory control arms or wheels; we recommend an All Terrain 35” tire. The more rubber, the better the small bump compliance will be at proper inflation pressures. The ride will firm up as you go larger in wheel diameter. For more details, see our article on wheel and tire selection and tire pressures: