Need help getting my husband's truck running!

This is a long story but I would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions.

So let me preface this by explaining our situation . . .

I am the only one working right now, my husband left the US Navy in 2010 after 12 years of service and 4 deployments to Iraq. We only have one vehicle (his truck)and he is going to school to get his CDL so he can go OTR just to support his family. We don't have a lot of money so we need to figure out what is wrong with his truck and get it running again.

We have a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi. The truck was running fine and back in May I used it to pick up our son at school and run to the store. When leaving the store, the truck just died in the parking lot after running fine. When we restarted it, there was a horrible clacking sound from the engine and it was showing a check engine light (flashing, not solid). We thought we could get it home (only 5 miles) by taking it easy and going slow. After the first 1/2 mile we realized that we may be doing more damage and got it towed to the house.

After talking to friends (mechanics in the Marine Corps) we were told that there was probably something catastrophically wrong with the engine. We talked to our finance company and they were trying to help us get it fixed. One of our friends asked why we didn't try at least a tune up first and that's when we figured out what was wrong. One of the plugs in the number 7 cylinder had exploded and melted the plug wire in the process. Just as we were getting ready to fix it, the finance company repoed the truck.

My father in law loaned us the $1000 we needed to get it back and we paid the finance company. Now we had to figure out how to get it home from their lot 60 miles away. After some friends helped us out, we got it home on the Friday evening before my husband had to start his new class. He worked on it over the weekend, cleaned out the cylinder (he has an endoscope camera) retapped the threads for the plug that blew out, used a Heli Coil insert and put in all new plugs and replaced the melted plug wire.

So, since the truck had been sitting for over a month, when we tried to start it, the battery was dead. We tried to jump start it (with 2 different vehicles) but had no luck. We got our hands on a charger and got it started after a quick charge and the 80 amp starting option on the charger. Hubby drove it around the neighborhood for 15 minutes or so (it ran fine, no odd noises, no check engine lights) then parked it. He had his first day of class the next morning and had to be up early. We left the battery on the 2 amp trickle charge over night to make sure the battery was fully charged and went to bed.

The next morning he went out and started it with no problem, went inside to get dressed and when he tried to restart it, nothing happened. Used the 80 amp starting option and got it running and he was on his way. It's 60 miles to where he goes to school and he was 1/2 way there and the truck stopped running right in the middle of traffic.

Some kind soul gave him a ride to school and the truck was towed by a local body shop to their lot. We thought maybe there was a problem with the battery connection/ground because the connection to the negative battery post was loose. Bought a new connector and replaced it, no dice.

Pulled the battery, alternator and starter (which smelled fried) and brought them to O'Reilly's and had them tested. Alternator - Pass, Battery - Pass, Starter - Fried. Bought a new reman starter, replaced the good alternator, new starter and good battery - no start. Thought we still might have a bad battery because it wouldn't keep a charge. Bought a new battery, made sure it was charged - no start and the negative battery terminal smoked when we tried to start it.

The lights come on, radio works but when we try to start it, we get one click and then nothing.

We are stuck, we can't figure out what is wrong, we have very limited funds and we have been begging, borrowing and stealing rides for him to school for the past 2 weeks. We really need some help getting this running again.

Sorry this was so long but I wanted to make sure I told the whole story in case someone sees something that we are missing. Any help or suggestions would be very appreciated!

Thank you all in advance for your help!

It's possible your remanufactured starter went bad. It is also possible the engine seized up, but if you can turn the engine over with a breaker bar.
Check any/all of the grounds from the engine to the battery and everywhere in between.
There is something wrong with that smoking ground terminal.

First thing I thought you had done was drop a valve.

But if you got it running again and everything was fine....

I would look with the endoscope camera in that cylinder again and make sure it's good.

Also, as stated before.. make sure you can crank the engine over my hand. Breaker bar or something on the bottom pulley and see if the engine will turn.

The 1 click and nothing usually means the battery doesn't have enough amps to star the truck. The computer will stop the process, but it will make 1 loud click and stop..

The negative side smoking might be the starter drawing too much on a seized engine??

Should there have been a warning of some kind of the engine seized? The truck was running and then everything shut off, no stuttering, no noise. The dash was lit up but the fan quit, power steering, etc. Once it stopped,it wouldn't shift to park and then once he got it into park it wouldn't shift into neutral. He removed the key and then after replacing the key was able to shift it again.

You may want to look at the TIPM. Basically the fuse box. They go bad and it starts having all sorts of troubles. Google Dodge Ram TIPM issues and see if that's it. Hope this helps.

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