A Cummins-Powered Ram Prerunner with Attitude

A Ram Prerunner With Style And Function

Juan Jose Perez (Jose to his friends) was in the market for a truck, but what he was looking for couldn’t just be picked up at the local dealer’s lot. You see, Jose lives in Jalisco, Mexico. There aren’t a lot of custom HD trucks in town, but Jose wanted a truck that would be able to WORK as a truck in his construction company, but still look badass to drive on a Sunday cruise.

A custom 10-inch lift fabbed by ATF Motorsports in Chula Vista, California, features long-travel control arms and King Off-Road Racing coilover shocks supplied by Down South Motorsports in San Diego.

Jose didn’t have a lot of options locally so he turned to the Internet, scouring websites, checking out the galleries of shops, taking notes about cool trucks he found online; the badder, the better. Soon a list started forming: big lift, aftermarket bumper, cool wheels, aggressive tires, LED light bars and more. During the search one shop kept grabbing his attention. ATF Motorsports in Chula Vista, California, wasn’t too far over the border and the trucks that were coming out of Sergio Jimenez’s shop were making it into the SEMA show and onto custom truck magazine covers. A visit to the 2,500-square-foot facility sealed the deal. Jose and Sergio hit it off and the build plan was completed in no time at all. A 2010 Ram was bought in the U.S. and the build was on its way.

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“Jose didn’t have a lot of options locally so he turned to the Internet, scouring websites, checking out the galleries of shops, taking notes about cool trucks he found online; the badder, the better.”

Up front is an American Built Truck Equipment bumper fitted with a NFab LED light bar.

Pocket flares from Bushwacker keep the tires under cover.

Fuel’s 38-inch M/T tires are mounted on Incubus Alloys 20-inch wheels.

Everything hinged on the custom 10-inch lift kit that ATF built in-house. The brackets and traction bars were handmade by Sergio and then sent out for powder coating. After the lift was perfected, a set of King remote-reservoir coilover shocks, which was sponsored via Down South Motorsports, was bolted in place up front with a second set of remote-reservoir units going on the back.

With all that room available in the wheel wells after the lift, Jose ﬁlled them with 20-inch Incubus Alloys wheels wrapped with 38-inch Fuel Mud Gripper M/T tires. A set of match-painted Bushwacker fender ﬂares helps keep the rolling stock covered. The ﬁnishing touch on the outside of truck was a roof- mounted LED light bar that complements the American Built Truck Equipment bumper ﬁtted with another NFab LED light bar.

Out back is a set of King remote-reservoir off-road shocks that work with the factory leaf springs.

The truck also sports dual King shocks and steering stabilizers.

Additional NFab LED lighting is roof mounted on the truck.

Since more power is a must when adding larger-than-stock tires, the 6.7L Cummins was treated to a breathing treat- ment via an aFe intake working in conjunc- tion with an Edge CTS touchscreen programmer. The exhaust remains stock to keep the truck legal in California. On the inside, the truck remains relatively stock since it’s both a work and play machine.

In the end, Jose got exactly what he wanted to handle the off-road rigors south of the border. Besides using the truck for work, Jose also tows his Class 6 race truck and his desert toys any- where he wants in style and comfort, knowing that the truck has the toughness to get there and back without any issues. DW

“ Since more power is a must when adding larger-than-stock tires, the 6.7L Cummins was treated to a breathing treatment via an aFe intake working in conjunction with an Edge CTS touchscreen programmer.”