ORANGE CRUSH
Up front they designed the chassis to work with a Strange Engineering spindle and coilover strut with custom lower control arms and a Stiletto steering rack to minimize weight and allow adjustability where it was needed. Braking up front is handled by a set of Strange 11-inch slotted rotors and 4-piston Strange calipers. The chassis also supports the factory steel fenders, a sport model bumper and the factory aluminum hood.
A fully adjustable four-link setup was implemented in the rear of the chassis to allow for maximum chassis tuning ability. A pair of QA-1 doubleadjustable coilover shocks is used to tame the rear axle as the Ram launches off the line and travels down the track. Borrowing from their off-road roots, Dalton and the WOD team opted to go with a Spidertrax Pro Series fabricated axle housing with 4-inch axle tubes and Strange spindles, 11inch slotted rotors and dual 4-piston brake calipers. The Spidertrax housing is stuffed with a Strange Engineering 9.5-inch Pro Lightweight spool and 9.5-inch Pro Gear ring and pinion set and 40-spline gun-drilled axle shafts to get the power to the massive Mickey Thompson slicks. The rear of the chassis also integrates the mounts for the factory steel sheet metal as well as the custom aluminum tonneau cover the WOD team fabricated. Moving into the cab, the build team integrated seat mounts for Kirkey aluminum racing seats on both sides in case Dalton ever wants to take along a passenger. They also fabricated a new firewall and transmission tunnel to accommodate the set-back Cummins engine and Dodge 48RE transmission. To allow the cab to drop down onto the fabricated chassis and roll cage they removed the floor, rear window, and back wall of the cab. Then replaced the window with tinted Lexan and fabricated a bolt in rear firewall to keep the truck safe and legal. They also fabricated aluminum floor panels to combat any urge Dalton might have to imitate Fred Flintstone mode.
The crew at Wide Open also integrated many sets of tabs to mount weights throughout the chassis to adjust for track conditions and or to adjust the truck’s overall weight to fit within a specific race class. After the chassis was completed they had it powdercoated in silver to contrast well against the bright orange paint Dalton planned for the body. Unweighted, the completed truck crosses the scales at around 4,000 pounds. It will be set up to race at 4,500 pounds for Pro Street events or they can drop weight below 4,400 pounds to run the truck in the Pro Mod class if they desire. And with all the steel body panels and