RealRides Volume 18: Blake Howard

Most retailers and magazines run a reader’s rides section. At RealTruck, we flipped the script. RealRides puts our own employees’ builds at the forefront, because the people designing and selling these parts are the same people out wrenching and wheeling on the weekend.​

This month we’re at home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with R&D Engineer Blake Howard—a through-and-through enthusiast who grew up in a rock crawling shop, now builds products for a living, and currently has a tube-chassis Jeep® in pieces in his garage and a Cummins tow rig in the driveway. 

Before we hand things over to Blake, a quick word on where RealRides came from.​

The format borrows from the reader’s rides segments in the magazines a lot of us grew up with, where ordinary enthusiasts got their builds put in print for everyone to see. Those pages were often the best part of the issue.​

RealRides flips that script. Instead of featuring customer vehicles, we showcase our own team’s personal rigs—the builds they’re actually spending their weekends and paychecks on. It’s proof that we don’t just sell the parts, we live the lifestyle. ​

Each month we sit down with a team member, go through their build, and run the full parts list. After all, we aren’t just RealTruck people. We’re Real Truck people. 

Blake Howard is a mechanical engineer on RealTruck’s R&D team, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was hired straight out of college and has been with the company just over two years. ​

His off-road background started well before that, and it started at home.​

“Growing up, my dad designed, built, and competed in competitive rock crawling all across the country. Those experiences of being in the shop with him on late nights and then taking the rigs out on the weekends molded me at a younger age into an addiction to anything off-road. Riding in the back seat of his 1964 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 made me want to build my own rig to enjoy with my wife Madison and son Rhett.”​

That’s the throughline for everything below. Blake’s builds are family rigs that can handle serious terrain, and both of his current projects reflect that.

“RealTruck has been my first job out of college. I am a mechanical engineer working on the R&D team. RealTruck drew me in not only as a leader in the aftermarket space for the number of products, but for quality products.”​

That quality angle matters more when you’re the one building the thing. Blake spends his weekends fabricating parts from scratch, which is a fast education in what separates a good component from one that fails on the trail.

“In my role, I love coming up with new ideas and running them through to the point of a physical concept. Bringing my ideas and the team’s to life.”​

Ask him for a favorite project, and he doesn’t hesitate: the removable canister program for Retrax®. For an engineer two years into his career, having a hand in a production retractable cover program is a solid line on the résumé.​

Outside the office, the answer gets simpler.​

“Outside of work, I live and breathe off-road. No matter what season in Michigan, my wife, son, and I are tearing it up. I have my tube chassis Jeep TJ for more hardcore rock crawling, but also snowmobiles and quads for cruising with the family in northern Michigan.”

The Ram is the daily reality of Blake’s hobby. It tows the Jeep, hauls materials, and carries the whole family and the dog on trips up north.​

Choosing a fourth-gen Cummins wasn’t a close call.​

“My family has always been Ram owners, and ever since I was a kid, my dad built drag racing diesels. I wanted a 4th-gen Cummins because it checked all the boxes for me and could handle every aspect of my lifestyle. It tows really well but is also quick on the street.”​

The 6.7-liter Cummins has been worked over with a range of performance modifications, putting output well above the factory 370 hp and 800 lb-ft. Even with those power figures, the truck isn’t much of a fuel-guzzler. He sees 24 mpg cruising on the highway, a number most half-tons can’t touch—one of the many benefits of a diesel.​

A Suncoast Stage 2 built transmission and a single-piece aluminum driveshaft hold that power. Cooling got serious attention too, with an upgraded Mishimoto radiator, a transmission cooler, and coolant bypass kits for both the engine and transmission. A drilled-and-slotted big brake kit handles stopping a loaded truck.​

The exterior shows Blake’s engineering instincts. The truck is color-matched top to bottom, and he fabricated a custom RealTruck® PowerStep™ conversion for the fifth-gen body style—mounted so the steps disappear entirely when retracted. As he puts it, they completely “hide away so you can’t tell it has steps.”​

Here’s the full rundown:​

• Engine: 6.7L Cummins with assorted performance modifications

• Transmission: Suncoast Stage 2

• Driveshaft: Single-piece aluminum

• Cooling: Mishimoto radiator, transmission cooler, engine and transmission coolant bypass kits

• Brakes: Drilled and slotted big brake kit

• Steps: Custom RealTruck Amp PowerStep® conversion, hidden mount

• Bed Cover: RealTruck BAKFlip® MX4

• Bed Protection: BedTred® Impact Mat

• Interior: Husky Liners® floor liners

• Wheels: 22-in. TIS

• Tires: 35-in. Nitto Terra Grappler

• Paint: Full color match, top to bottom

Not every memory with it has been good.​

“The time that stands out to me most would be putting two transmissions in it within a span of 300 miles. Not my favorite time, but more memorable.”

The Ram tows. This is what it tows.​

Blake has spent the last four years building a 1998 Jeep TJ that, by his own admission, has drifted some distance from the definition of a Jeep.​

“Fully custom front to rear. I stretched the tub to the length of a Jeep LJ. Has the shell of a Jeep but nothing underneath is OEM.”​

Underneath sits a 5.3-liter LS, one-ton axles front and rear, and 16-in.-travel coilovers. Blake built the chassis, suspension, roll cage, fenders, bumpers, and rock sliders himself. He’s targeting completion this winter.​

The goal is a specific balance.​

“For me, I am currently building what I see as the ultimate rock crawler but balanced with a family rig.”​

It follows a 2005 Jeep LJ he bought bone stock in high school and built mildly—daily driver during the week, wheeler on weekends. That one’s since been sold to fund what replaced it.​

Where’s it all heading? Blake knows exactly.​

“If I could choose one vehicle, it would be an Ultra4 car to race King of the Hammers. An Ultra4 car is the Formula 1 car of off-road. My goal is to one day race competitively.”

“Outside of work, I am always building new projects to take them on the next hardest obstacles off-road.”​

Big thanks to Blake for walking us through the Ram, the Jeep, and what’s next. We’ll check back in once the TJ is finished—and if he makes it to Johnson Valley, we want pictures.​

Stay tuned for next month’s feature as we showcase another employee’s one-of-a-kind build. In the meantime, check out our additional RealRides features, including mechanic Matt Markoff’s F-150, VP or Operations Jason Hutchens’ fleet of OBS Fords, and Jeff Adkinson’s radical Jeep CJ wheeler.