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Texas to Alaska in my ’17 Mojave Sand Rebel and here are some observations.
Got very lucky with the early April weather as we had clear roads and sunshine the entire trip with high temperatures from 45 to 65 degrees. Those nice mounted and balanced Norwegian Studded Snow Tires never came out of the pickup bed, but heh, I’ll take the sunshine any day.
Overall the truck did great. This is my first Dodge truck and I like it EXCEPT for the air ride suspension which sucks.
It allows the truck to “move around” on its chassis at highway speeds which is unsettling until you get used to it. It improved a bit after I changed to Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac 315/70R17 tires, but it wasn’t eliminated.
AERO mode is terrible as it lessens the suspension travel. I suspect Dodge included it to placate the Eco Nazis at the EPA. Once I reached the Yukon the Alaska Highway has areas with road buckles where the permafrost has melted and especially in AERO mode the suspension bottoms out. I did finally figure out how to disable AERO which eliminated 80% of the bottoming - but still - a lightly loaded 4x4 truck bottoming the suspension in dips, get with it Dodge.
The moving around on the chassis and suspension bottoming is annoying enough that I will deal with it when the ’18 models come out either by buying a TRX (are you listening Dodge) or going back to a Raptor (are you listening Dodge), I’d prefer the TRX (are you listening Dodge).
The only other issue I have, and its a minor one so far, is the truck doesn’t like the cold. The first morning that I woke to 25 degrees had the truck displaying an error message for the air suspension, the traction control, and the trailer brakes. The messages go away on their own after the truck has reached normal operating temperature. But clearly the truck was never tested in cold environments.
Other then the terrible air suspension I really like the truck, and with the Fuels and bigger tires its getting similar looks and comments my Raptors got. In fact the local Dodge dealership up here in Alaska wants to buy it from me when I’m ready to sell it. So far it’s the only Mojave Sand Rebel I’ve seen up here.
Please Dodge build the TRX, or offer a Rebel with a real suspension system appropriate for a 4x4 truck.
This photo is of the the Texas to Alaska trip. Pleased with the gas mileage for sure. Surprised at the average speed since I didn’t bust the speed limit (okay a couple of time in Canada maybe where the limits were ridiculously low).
![Speedometer Vehicle Car Gauge Auto part]()
Got very lucky with the early April weather as we had clear roads and sunshine the entire trip with high temperatures from 45 to 65 degrees. Those nice mounted and balanced Norwegian Studded Snow Tires never came out of the pickup bed, but heh, I’ll take the sunshine any day.
Overall the truck did great. This is my first Dodge truck and I like it EXCEPT for the air ride suspension which sucks.
It allows the truck to “move around” on its chassis at highway speeds which is unsettling until you get used to it. It improved a bit after I changed to Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac 315/70R17 tires, but it wasn’t eliminated.
AERO mode is terrible as it lessens the suspension travel. I suspect Dodge included it to placate the Eco Nazis at the EPA. Once I reached the Yukon the Alaska Highway has areas with road buckles where the permafrost has melted and especially in AERO mode the suspension bottoms out. I did finally figure out how to disable AERO which eliminated 80% of the bottoming - but still - a lightly loaded 4x4 truck bottoming the suspension in dips, get with it Dodge.
The moving around on the chassis and suspension bottoming is annoying enough that I will deal with it when the ’18 models come out either by buying a TRX (are you listening Dodge) or going back to a Raptor (are you listening Dodge), I’d prefer the TRX (are you listening Dodge).
The only other issue I have, and its a minor one so far, is the truck doesn’t like the cold. The first morning that I woke to 25 degrees had the truck displaying an error message for the air suspension, the traction control, and the trailer brakes. The messages go away on their own after the truck has reached normal operating temperature. But clearly the truck was never tested in cold environments.
Other then the terrible air suspension I really like the truck, and with the Fuels and bigger tires its getting similar looks and comments my Raptors got. In fact the local Dodge dealership up here in Alaska wants to buy it from me when I’m ready to sell it. So far it’s the only Mojave Sand Rebel I’ve seen up here.
Please Dodge build the TRX, or offer a Rebel with a real suspension system appropriate for a 4x4 truck.
This photo is of the the Texas to Alaska trip. Pleased with the gas mileage for sure. Surprised at the average speed since I didn’t bust the speed limit (okay a couple of time in Canada maybe where the limits were ridiculously low).
