The Town Drunk (1997 Ram)

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IrocRam

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Location
Phoenix, Az
Ram Year
1997
Engine
5.2
I refer to my new truck as the town drunk because it won't be winning any races and drink a lot along the way, but somehow it eventually makes it's way.

This is my third 2nd gen ram. This is my favorite body style without a doubt. Ever since watching Walker Texas Ranger as a kid, I was hooked on this style. I had my first when in high school when I was 17. It was also a 1997 half ton shortbed 4x4 with the 5.9 V8. Lifted about 3". I beat the **** out of it and had it for almost 2 years. Fast forward years (at some point I owned a 99 4x4 5.2 5 speed lifted Dakota also) to the end of my first deployment. I found a 2001 2500 4x4 3" lift with the Cummins in it. Best truck I have ever owned hands down. The guy agreed to take the truck off the market and hold it for me until I got back from deployment, roughly 3 weeks. When I got back, I paid him and took it home. Had that truck for 4 glorious years. I decided to sell it to fund my 88 Camaro build and buy a cheap computer car. The last year I have been without a truck and I have been needing to scratch that itch. Gas mileage isn't a huge factor because I have vehicles coming out my you know what that I can daily drive, so this will be used for stuff like hauling engines and equipment, weekend getaways and whatever else I can get into. After a few weeks I finally got another 2nd gen.
1997 1500 5.2 V8 auto 4x4 5.5" Fabtech long arm suspension lift with bfg mud terrains. I imagine I will eventually swap out to all terrains for a better ride. It's missing the front bumper because previous owner high centered it on a boulder. No other damage except to bumper and they just decided to remove it. The steering is f@#$@! I had to have it turned almost 90° to keep it straight. The front struts are worn I believe. Power window on the passenger side is weak and power door locks don't work but I can hear the actuators humming. Previous claims engine, transmission, ans transfer case were all rebuilt around 30k miles ago. Engine was definitely pulled as it was painted. There is barely any leaks so it does seem that stuff was at least removed. No paperwork to prove so I don't assume anything. Battery leaked acid when it came undone from the tray, so there's corrosion on most of the pulleys so the belt squeaks pretty good and there's some corrosion down the drive side but not super terrible. Dash is cracked on passenger side (what a surprise). That's it for downsides. Interior is pretty damn clean which is surprising. The steering is the biggest and most important issue. I should be ble to take care of that soon after this semester is over. Paid $2800 for it which for what trucks are going for here in Phoenix, I got lucky. This is the nicest one I looked at anywhere from $2000 to $5000 range. Will need to pass emissions next month but hopefully it will the way it is now. We don't have inspections in this state.
I'm sure there will be much to come as I replace stuff and upgrade. I have never been a fan of white vehicles, but this is the first time I have liked it. And it's almost completely intact. Clear is only starting to fail on the top of the bed which is surprising for this era. I do plan on repainting it eventually though. My favorite color on this era is without a doubt that red color. The color red either on the sport models or the red from that one from the movie twister. I painted the 88 Camaro I have and painted the engine bay of the iroc camaro i have so it's not something I'm nervous about. Most people probably why away. I'm not going to do a show quality paint that is worth $10,000 but it will be nice. Anyways, looking forward to many discussions and future help, as well as helping where I can.

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nclark112

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Location
Jacksonville, NC
Ram Year
2013
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Nice! Ive always loved 2nd gens, probably cause my dads been driving the same one since I was a kid. I was in 3rd grade when he bought it and he promised when I turned 16 it'd be mine. That obviously didn't happen! haha He's still driving it. I went with the 4th gen cause of how much I drive. Stationed in NC and but I like to take trips back home to OK when I can!

Welcome to the forum!
 

derekp

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Buda, Tx
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2007
Engine
1990 5.9 Cummins
My first truck was a second gen 2wd with a v6 and I still miss it every day. Good find.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Location
Phoenix, Az
Ram Year
1997
Engine
5.2
Nice! Ive always loved 2nd gens, probably cause my dads been driving the same one since I was a kid. I was in 3rd grade when he bought it and he promised when I turned 16 it'd be mine. That obviously didn't happen! haha He's still driving it. I went with the 4th gen cause of how much I drive. Stationed in NC and but I like to take trips back home to OK when I can!

Welcome to the forum!

What base are you stationed at? And thank you for your service. I'm glad I got out a few years ago. Things were getting crazy.
 

nclark112

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Location
Jacksonville, NC
Ram Year
2013
Engine
Hemi 5.7
You too man. I'm on MCAS New River. It's just off Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville. Currently with a wing unit not doing **** [emoji23]


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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Phoenix, Az
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1997
Engine
5.2
You too man. I'm on MCAS New River. It's just off Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville. Currently with a wing unit not doing **** [emoji23]


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It was very rare I got an opportunity like that I guess you could say. I pretty much always worked 12 hour days on the beach and when deployed, I worked anywhere from 14 hours-around the clock. When I got force relocated to Norfolk my last year in, the squadron I got orders to was gearing up for a deployment. It ended up getting pushed back and they did some workups. One was to the Bahamas. I was lucky enough to get out on it. My boss felt bad for me because I had a history of getting shafted. I had quals at previous command, more sea time than 80% of the entire command when I checked in, and was screwed over so many times on paperwork I was a poster child for guinea pigs. It was probably the highlight of my 4 years in. We were doing training ops with the EOD crew doing boat drops. I was a maintainer so I just stood around and did a tiny bit of maintenance, and then hung out on the beach the rest of the time.
 

nclark112

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Location
Jacksonville, NC
Ram Year
2013
Engine
Hemi 5.7
It was very rare I got an opportunity like that I guess you could say. I pretty much always worked 12 hour days on the beach and when deployed, I worked anywhere from 14 hours-around the clock. When I got force relocated to Norfolk my last year in, the squadron I got orders to was gearing up for a deployment. It ended up getting pushed back and they did some workups. One was to the Bahamas. I was lucky enough to get out on it. My boss felt bad for me because I had a history of getting shafted. I had quals at previous command, more sea time than 80% of the entire command when I checked in, and was screwed over so many times on paperwork I was a poster child for guinea pigs. It was probably the highlight of my 4 years in. We were doing training ops with the EOD crew doing boat drops. I was a maintainer so I just stood around and did a tiny bit of maintenance, and then hung out on the beach the rest of the time.



Yeah I hear ya for sure, only places any of these squadrons are currently going is Spain and then to WTI and to El Centro. Not much happening in the world.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Phoenix, Az
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1997
Engine
5.2
Yeah I hear ya for sure, only places any of these squadrons are currently going is Spain and then to WTI and to El Centro. Not much happening in the world.

I was very fortunate when I was with the squadron I was in when in San Diego to dodge the el Centro dets. That's probably almost as bad as some places in the middle east.
 

nclark112

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Hemi 5.7
El Centros not fun. Wouldn't say it's as bad as Afgan. There's an in n out near el Centro haha


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IrocRam

IrocRam

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5.2
El Centros not fun. Wouldn't say it's as bad as Afgan. There's an in n out near el Centro haha


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Haha I've never been to Afghanistan but el Centro is pretty terrible. They have gotten a lot better now that they built that huge shopping center right off the I-8.
 

nclark112

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I'll actually be going to Yuma, AZ in a week which I'm pretty sure is an hour from El Centro I have mixed emotions, luckily it'll be short.


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IrocRam

IrocRam

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1997
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5.2
I'll actually be going to Yuma, AZ in a week which I'm pretty sure is an hour from El Centro I have mixed emotions, luckily it'll be short.


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Yuma sucks but it's better because it's within Arizona borders.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Well I drove it to work yesterday, about 25 miles one way. It has a pretty good coolant leak. It's dripping off the harmonic balancer.I couldn't actually find a specific spot above on the water pump but I'm assuming that's what it is from. The hose is dry where it connects to the water pump. So it looks like a new water pump and gaskets is in the works, along with the entire steering system basically. So I will add that to the list to do when I finish school next weekend. Also, the temp gauge doesn't seem to want to go very high. It moves, but only went halfway between 130-200 on the gauge. I have a temp gun I can shoot the t stat housing with I just haven't done it yet. Not sure yet if the truck has an issue preventing it from heating up (like a super low t stat was put in) or if the gauge is off or it doesn't work or if the sensor is bad. Haven't looked into it yet but just another discovery. I will need all new pulleys and the harmonic balancer is badly corroded from battery acid so I'm going to be replacing the pulleys and harmonic balancer. If I can afford to swap to an electric fan while I'm already tearing into the accessories, I'm going to do that. My buddy has that flex ready or whatever brand it's called on his bronco he's not using now that he swapped a diesel into it, so I might try to buy that off him. He said it's universal but the mounts will need to be fabricated which isn't too bad. I'm not a fan of dealing with mechanical fans and I like how easy it is to access all the accessories when there isn't a huge fan blocking it.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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1997
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So this is what it looked like when I took the water pump off. I probably should have flushed everything really well before I tore into this. Oh well. I cleaned the surface off in preparation for the new water pump. I think the leak may have been coming from the thermostat housing and the water pump. Either way I'm replacing everything so it should be good to go now.

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Yes I'm one of those people that likes to paint things. I'm eventually going to be repainting the truck red so I figured I'd start color coordinating now. I will probably eventually tear the motor out too but that's probably a year out. If I remember to take pictures when I get done I will post them. I'm going to paint my fan too even though I'm planning on swapping to an e fan in the next few months. I don't like having that bulky shroud in there.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Phoenix, Az
Ram Year
1997
Engine
5.2
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Finished everything up today. Took these before I put the new idler pulley on, and the fan shroud and radiator since most of this will never be seen until I get an electric fan installed. This was quite ridiculous but it wasn't that bad. Typical ordeal where I need to go to the parts store 500 times. Only problem is the heater inlet tube started leaking when I was filling the radiator. I knew I'd have problems with it because all it came with was an o ring and it doesn't say to use rtv. So I pulled it out, put a new o ring on it, somthered it with high heat red rtv, and then pushed it back in. Then I put some more rtv around it just in case. So now I'm just waiting for it to dry so I can test it. What a stupid design. To have that much pressure not being block by use of hose and clamps like other vehicles is beyond me.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Phoenix, Az
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1997
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5.2
Well, the track bar I have I found out utilizes the stock mounts its just an adjustable track bar. I was not able to find bushings that worked for it so I went to a fabrication shop that can make bushings and the guy I talked to there said it probably utilized a factory bushing. I went and got the factory bushing and it's too big but because of the way the end of the track bar is built it definitely uses a stock like metal/rubber bushing, it's just been swapped with another factory one. Rather than try and figure out which one myself, they are just going to cut the end off and weld a new end on that fits the stock bushing. Still has a significant amount of steering slop though so I'm going to be replacing the steering system now. I also have a check engine light on how, code P0441 and I noticed my ac vents turn off under acceleration. I also have to pass emissions this month. So it's beginning to look like a busy month for me.
 
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IrocRam

IrocRam

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Location
Phoenix, Az
Ram Year
1997
Engine
5.2
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Also I figured I show another shot of my truck with my camaro in front. Eventually the truck will live behind the gate most of the time, but I have been driving it after replacing stuff testing things out.
 
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