If you have ever been to New York City, you would know there is not much room on the streets for anything besides rusted-out economy-size cars, taxi cabs, and bike messengers. Vince Carrabba ventures through NYC in his highly modified '98 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 - a city traffic stomper. Vince finds that driving his 4x4 helps him cope with the chaotic traffic on the New York City streets.
Vince Carrabba, a security company owner, purchased his '98 Dodge 2500 because he needed a towing vehicle for his other show trucks. Vince lives in Staten Island, New York, and is an avid off-road truck show enthusiast. Over the past seven years, he has owned several show cars and trucks including a '93 Ford Bronco, a '97 Ford F-150, and an '89 Mustang drag car. Vince, overwhelmed by his passion for modifying vehicles, decided to turn his tow vehicle into a Mopar monster. It's funny how plans get out of control when it comes to building 4x4s.
As a member of the Grizzly Four-Wheel Drive Club, Vince called on his fellow club member David Venti from Madison, New Jersey, to build the chassis of his soon-to-be-large Dodge. Since Vince had a set of 39.5x18 TSL Boggers to be installed, there was a need for some serious fender clearance. To do this, the Grizzly fabricators designed a custom four-link front suspension system. In the rear, they fabricated custom traction bars. Valley springs were mounted on each corner and were complemented with a set of nitrogen-charged Skyjacker shocks. Once the fabrication was done, Vince had the body removed from the chassis and the chassis painted with a coat of Black DuPont paint. All of this allows the 39.5-inch tires to fit under the fenders like a new pair of shoes.
The Dodge, now with a modified suspension in place, needed some help from under the hood to push the new, oversized tires. To start with, Vince installed a Dana 60 rearend with a limited-slip differential and 5.80 gears. Now the truck could easily pull the new tires. However, Vince was in a search of even more power and decided to go straight to the lungs of the engine. The '98 Mopar V-8 was in store for some serious headwork. The iron heads received a porting followed up by a three-angle valve job and a well-deserved port polishing. To enhance the new headwork, a bumpstick from Competition Cams was installed into the powerful equation. A set of custom headers and a Flowmaster exhaust were bolted on, and Vince was satisfied with the newfound power. Now he was ready to focus his energy on other aspects of the truck.