![]() The concept was powered by an 8.0 liter V10 engine that also shared some of its family heritage with the Dodge Viper, but here in the Ram, it was designed for work, and as a result, it lacked some of the more performance focused upgrades seen in the two door sports car. Dodge engineers used a stock Ram 3500 one ton model for the conversion, but things go in some very wild directions once you look past the core DNA. In an age where the 6×6 craze was a mere figment of the imagination, the T-Rex might have seemed like quite the shock to showgoers when it thundered into that year’s SEMA event. The T-Rex made its debut at the 1997 SEMA show in Las Vegas, and in a way, it was already ahead of its time due to its layout. The RAM 1500 TRX is a classic embodiment of American excess, but for pure rambunctious fun and barroom bragging rights, it dwarfs the opposition.In this installment, we peel back the layers, and take a look at what happened to the Dodge T-Rex concept, which offered buyers in the 1990s a glimpse at what an all out off-road offering of the period could look like. ![]() All it took was a little bit of digging, engaging the rear axle lock, and then doing some vigorous steering-wheel wriggling while applying judicious doses of throttle. The TRX was, however, able to drive out under its own steam. Our progress came to a grinding halt when the vehicle beached itself at the front and rear in a narrow V-shaped valley, with the left-rear wheel dangling about a foot off the deck. However, the TRX’s approach and departure angles (30.4 degrees and 25.0 degrees respectively) are nothing to write home about, and the vehicle’s sheer size counts against it in some situations. The knobby Goodyear tyres (325/65R18) also play their part here, clawing into the sand with tenacity, while the Bilstein Black Hawk dampers serve up excellent ride quality. The massive grunt of the V8 means you can effortlessly charge up dunes. Get it out in the dunes, though, and the torque-laden RAM makes easy work of getting over and across whatever stands in its path. What’s more, the bonnet slopes downwards towards the front, so from the driver’s seat you can’t see where the nose ends. A large glasshouse makes for good visibility in traffic, but you’re perched so high that you often can’t see even the roof of a car that’s driving alongside. Needless to say, the RAM 1500s hulking dimensions earn you plenty of road respect, but its XXL scale counts against it when you need to park the thing in a shopping mall car park or even parallel to the kerb in many instances. There are various drive mode settings you can choose from once you get off the beaten track, and these include Sport, Snow, Custom, Mud/Sand, Baja and Rock, with each of these tailoring the four-wheel-drive system, throttle response, transmission, suspension and steering optimally for the terrain. The TRX isn’t just a hooligan’s delight there’s utility on offer, too – the big truck has a towing capacity of 3,674kg and a maximum payload of 594kg. RAM’s boffins also comprehensively re-engineered and strengthened the chassis to cope with the TRX’s extreme performance potential. Peer under those arches and you’ll see the TRX features a bespoke suspension set-up with class-exclusive Bilstein Black Hawk adaptive dampers. The wheel arches are filled by 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tyres, wrapped around gloss-black 18-inch cast aluminium wheels. The wheel arches are filled by 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tyres, wrapped around gloss-black 18-inch cast aluminium wheels.Īpart from that thumping supercharged V8, the TRX stands clearly apart from other RAM 1500 models via pumped fenders that are flared by 203mm to accommodate its wider track.
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