One of the coolest trucks we have come across in years is the 2011 Dodge Mega Cab long bed dually owned by Blaine Hawkins. Hawkins has been building custom trucks for more than 15 years and is a club member of Severed Ties. If you aren’t familiar with Severed Ties, don’t worry, they aren’t focused on diesel trucks. Their focus is on hardcore custom vehicles, usually mini trucks and half ton trucks.

For Hawkins, wanted to make a statement and he definitely achieved that goal. “You can tow with a bagged truck and here is how!” Well, it is extremely common to see Hawkins running all over the southern part of the United States hauling a 50 foot wedge gooseneck with a few other club members vehicles tied down. So, there is no denying that towing is part of this Ram’s duties!

Hawkins started with a 2011 Ram 2500 Mega Cab short bed truck. He then secured a long bed frame and bed. With parts in hand, he took them to his good friend Jake McKiddie, owner of Phat Phabrikationz in Oklahoma City. Once there, the 2500’s frame was cut under the cab and the long bed’s frame was grafted in. Then it was a simple matter of extending the driveshaft and adding the wiring to get everything to work.

Once the frame was solid and the bed aligned, McKiddie went to work on the suspension. The rear frame was C-notched to make room for the axle when the frame is sitting on the ground. He then fabricated a triangulated four-link with a Watts link to keep the axle centered. Custom air bag mounts and gooseneck hitch were also fabricated in the rear. There was still a small issue when the truck was sitting on the ground. The tires were hitting the fenders. So, the axle was narrowed 7-inches and a set of custom Moser Engineering axles were installed.

The custom Watts link is used to keep the axle centered during the full range of suspension movement (located by the differential cover).

“We found out why there are only a handful of bagged Dodge diesels,” said Hawkins. The front suspension turned into a nightmare and everything had to be one off, custom built. After cutting the front A-arms at the bushings, they fabricated new A-arms to narrow the track width 2-1/2 inches. This gave them the clearance needed so the tires could fit inside the fenders when the truck was down.

This Mega Cab Ram uses Air Lift 2600 Dominators all the way around! To supply the air, dual Viair 480 compressors were installed along with a single five gallon air tank. Controlling the ride height of the truck is an AVS controller.

The headlights look amazing. You would never know these are factory headlights that have been modified by the Retro Shop.

One of the reasons this Mega Cab looks so amazing and many people have torn feelings about it, is because of all the little custom details that you don’t realize. A little done here and there, really adds up to quite a bit. JoEds Customs in Mustang, Oklahoma, took care of the exterior. Starting in the front, the bumper was cleaned up and the tabs removed to give it a sleeker appearance. A T-REX billet grille was installed and the headlights were customized by Retro Shop and painted to match the truck. The windshield washer fluid squirters were shaved, as was the antenna. All badging has been removed from the truck and the fuel door filled in on the bed.

All of the access holes on the top of the bedrail were filled in and smoothed. The rear taillights were replaced with Recon lights and the tailgate was shaved. You probably haven’t noticed yet, but there is no tailgate handle anymore. To open the tailgate, an Allen key is used from the inside.

Once all of the Mega Cab body modifications were done, it was time to lay down some color. They mixed up a bright silver metallic (the truck was originally silver). But they didn’t stop there. They spent the next week color sanding the truck and buffing it to a mirror finish.

The casual onlooker, will probably never realized all of that work was done to achieve the color. But that is what it takes to create a show vehicle. Of course, the icing on the cake is the 24-inch American Force Octane wheels, wrapped in 285/40R24 Toyo Proxes ST II tires.

Under the hood, Hawkins kept it simple. Since the truck features a six-speed manual behind the Cummins, he upgraded the clutch to a Valair dual disk, added an H&S Performance Mini Maxx programmer and runs a full 4-inch turbo-back exhaust. With the factory fuel tank no longer being used, a custom 53 gallon fuel cell was mounted in the bed and the fuel is fed to the engine via an AirDog pump.

Inside the truck, Hawkins focused on creature comforts. Everything was pulled out and Silent Coat sound insulation was installed. “The truck is so quiet driving down the street, it is unbelievable,” mentioned Hawkins. Next, Curtis Enoch (a good friend of Hawkins) installed black carpet and reupholstered all of the seats with Katzkin leathers. To keep an eye on things, an Air Zenith A-pillar gauge pod was installed with their air pressure gauge. The H&S Mini Maxx was mounted above the rear view mirror.

All said and done, this is one of the cleanest and well done show vehicles we have seen in a long time. It is almost sad how many people hate it because of what it is. Odds are, most haters are probably torn about this Mega Cab. It is hard to look at this truck and not see the beauty, but how can you like something you are against?