Essential upgrades

Picking up a 99 ram sport 5.2, 165k. What do I need to fix to keep the truck running strong and shifting strong. Don't have a ton of money to play with because I bought new fenders for the truck already, any little things I should get done?

First thing above all else, check the transmission fluid. If its brown but still has a bit of red, you should be ok to do a filter and fluid change. Some guys recommend shift kits, i'm not sure on that one, but Dapepper will be. Just be sure to do a fluid and filter change, it would also be a good idea to put a tranny cooler on it.

Second, Plenum, check the stickied thread at the top of the engine section. Basically its the bottom pan of the intake, stock its known to go bad every single time. Hughes makes a repair kit that comes with everything you need, new bolts, gaskets, etc. The other bit is the aluminium pan that Hughes provides with the kit. Its about $150 though. However, if you're really hurting, you should be just fine getting a proper Fel-pro plenum and intake gasket set. Then you'll want to at least get new intake mounting bolts as you're likely to snap at least one on the front (that seems to be the common place). If you want you can get new plenum pan bolts too, but the thicker gasket should be all thats needed. You should be able to fix the plenum with as little as $30.

The only other major things to note, is the steering, if it feels loose, then it probably it, its a common problem termed the death wobble, it isnt a super hard fix, just search the term and you should find some brackets that shore it up, or you can make your own.

Aside from that, everything else is just a maintenance deal. Except headlights, you're fine replacing them with standard HIDs (halogen high beam) but dual Hi-Lo HIDs and LEDs will need a load resistor for the high beams in order to not cause issues.

Also, while i'm thinking of it, the headlight switch is known to go bad, 90% of the time if your lights are acting strange, its that switch.

It might seem like a lot, but its really not, for most of these once you fix it, its fixed for good. They are great trucks, better than any Chevy i've owned, and my Ford loving buddy is always secretly jealous. I've put more than 3 times my trucks worth into it now, just because I love it so much.

I have a felpro gasket for the intake, last dodge needed it but I never did it. I know so remove the check valve but not sure how to do it unless the aftermarket trans cooler eliminated that. Found this one, has good reviews https://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-405-Ultra-Cool-Transmission/dp/B000C3F3HK

Also, I didn't understand what you said about steering. Could you clear that up for me?

JMikk said:

I have a felpro gasket for the intake, last dodge needed it but I never did it. I know so remove the check valve but not sure how to do it unless the aftermarket trans cooler eliminated that. Found this one, has good reviews https://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-405-Ultra-Cool-Transmission/dp/B000C3F3HK

Also, I didn't understand what you said about steering. Could you clear that up for me?

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There are three ways to deal with the check valve. First is to leave it be, which is fine so long as it isn't gummed up or stuck closed. It does do something, which is prevent oil drain back over a reasonable resting period, usually 12-24 hours. Because our transmissions don't pump oil in park, all that time you take after starting it up and what not isn't circulating oil through the torque converter and other passages. When you do go to put it in first or reverse, it might take up to 8 seconds to fully fill the open spaces. There isn't any harm in removing the check valve, just understand that you may experience some side effects. Option 2 is to drill it out, you will have to unscrew the check valve anyway, so while its off, you can drill it out. Just be sure to wash some regular oil through the tube before re-installing it. Option 3 is to get an adapter kit that replaces that section of tube or cut it out and use barb connectors to install the tranny cooler. Any of the 3 is fine.

As for the steering, when you are stopped with the engine off, turn the wheel side to side. The amount of free play sometimes up to an 1/8th turn either direction is what i'm talking about. Some call it sloppy steering, loose steering, etc. But we usually call it the death wobble. If its really bad, you'd know, but if its liveable, don't worry. Mine has about a 5in range of 'loosenes' but its still perfectly drivable and safe to me. Its really a case by case basis, what I find acceptable someone else would call horrible. If you aren't having trouble controlling the vehicle, its probably fine.

+1 to just about everything Dudeman said.

Only caveats i have would be:
1. If you really want to take care of the trans, pick up a Transgo JR shift kit and let a trans shop install. More costly but more worth it if you want it reliable for several reasons
a. Lots of little pieces and check valves that need to be in the correct places. Unless you know what you're doing and can afford to take your time, let a pro do it (i suggest talking to a shop before buying one as some shops don't like to install customer supplied parts)
b. MUCH firmer shifts, better flow, less restriction that causes sticking
c. Upgraded manual valve that allows fluid pumping in park. This is ESPECIALLY handy with the cooler check valve delete as you won't experience those side effects mentioned earlier
2. For the check valve delete, I'd use a hammer and punch to do it instead of drilling. Granted, i drilled mice and that makes me a hypocrite....but it's messy and risky that way. Punch is much safer though a vise is pretty much necessary. If you decide to simply cut and splice new hydraulic line in, double clamp each end, they eventually leak if you don't.
3. Headlights- LED are **** plain and simple in nearly any setup you can do in these trucks. Highly advanced LED projectors are the only quality way to do LED and a proper HID projector makes em look like a *****. Also, HIDs without a projector is bad as well. HIDs can't be focused by a standard reflector bucket and will glare and scatter blinding traffic and wasting light. LED have the same effect with the added disadvantage of having a reach disadvantage comparable to a midget boxing MikeTyson. Either restore factory lenses, buy new oem headlights or upgrade to sport quad lights and run Philips X-Treme Vision bulbs or retrofit a bi-xenon projector like myself and a few others around here. Most cost effective would be wet sand and restore factory lights and buy those $32 bulbs off amazon while best possible performance would be the retrofit

****, missed the fact that you have a sport. In that case, restore lenses out buy new sport headlights. Same bulbs. Either would be awesome output. Retrofit will run quite a bit more