702HP Hellcat Hemi V8 TRX – Home to more than 10,000 wind-blown acres of white quartz moondust sand forming into magnificent dunes rising to 400-ft. tall, This Old Truck highlights one of overlanding’s hidden gems, the St. Anthony Sand Dunes. For this special drive, Legacy Classic Trucks Founder Winslow Bent takes viewers through the St. Anthony dunes in a 702-hp Hellcat-powered RAM 1500 TRX. With fine sand terrain prone to overheating and bogging down heavy rigs, This Old Truck puts the 6,000 lbs. TRX to the test.
Located in Idaho near the Snake River Plain, St. Anthony features an ever-shifting landscape of steep, other worldly dunes courtesy of wind carrying riverbank sediment from the nearby Teton and Snake rivers. Once home to lava-spewing volcanic vents, the ancient hillsides have become a mecca in the Western U.S. for dirt biking, as well as ATV and UTV enthusiasts.
“Driving in sand like this is a completely different sort of off-roading experience. Honestly, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect,” comments Legacy Classic Trucks Founder Winslow Bent. “I’ve taken some of our resto-modded Power Wagons out to the Dunes, so I had to see how the Hellcat V8 would do out here. Fine sand is fickle. I’ve had trucks choke in fifteen minutes out here. We were really impressed with how the TRX took on everything that we threw at it with zero issues. The TRX is a great pick for overlanders that play in this sort of sandbox.”
Bent’s new RAM is outfitted with a supercharged 6.2L HEMI V8 engine that accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in a brisk 4.5 seconds. TRX engine output is similarly impressive with 702 horsepower operating alongside a powerful 650 lb.-ft. of torque. At 80 inches wide, the truck design also incorporates air intakes that line the entire front bumper. Crawling the dunes, This Old Truck found these front intakes were crucial in preventing overheating with the sandy conditions.
702HP Hellcat Hemi V8 TRX
Bent’s TRX also features a special set of Goodyear custom-made tires specifically for this rig. The tires are slightly more aggressive than all-terrains but fall just short of mud tires. Experiencing the TRX in the sand also showcases how important beadlock wheels are for off-roading at higher speeds without worrying about tires slipping off the wheel at any given time. With the TRX also encountering steep and rounded, always shifty sand banks, soft suspension is vital. Bent’s TRX includes adaptive Bilstein Black Hawk e2 shocks that performed excellently. To see how the $90,000 Hellcat V8-powered 1500 TRX performed at St. Anthony in Idaho, hit the play button on the articles featured photo above…
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