Just bought 1998 RAM

Well, I just bought my first truck and I decided to go with a 1998 Ram 2500 4x4. It has the 5.9L Magnum engine, which at 50K miles was replaced because the piston rotated sideways and cracked the block. It is at 180,*** right now. The transmission is a Jasper and was replaced not too long ago and is still under warranty. I believe the paintjob is Maaco because of how the clear coat is flaking off so easily. The rear bumper is missing, the tailgate is hard to open and has rust holes on the top. The steering wheel sits about 5 degrees counterclockwise of where it should be at center, and when the steering wheel is turned i feel and hear it grind a little, im guessing it is the intermediate shaft. The side view mirrors are cracked, the tail light lenses are cracked, one headlight is oxidized heavily. The dash is cracked in two spots, the shifter handle plastic is cracked and will slide off if pulled. The passenger side window will not move if using the driver side controls. The driver side door lock won't move with the electric door locks. There are a few small dents on the body and a baseball size dent in the rounded part of the body next to the bottom of the tailgate and its rusting through. These are the issues I am aware of.

I took a look at some parts and whatnot how to make this truck perform and look great. I found a parts truck and got a bumper, tail light covers, and a tailgate with much less damage. I plan on repairing the dents with filler, taking off the clear-coat that's peeling, sanding the edges of the clear-coat to smooth it, and then plasti-dipping the truck. I have 3 gallons of black, 2 gallons of orange, and two gallons of glossifier. It will be black with two orange stripes. For the steering I am going to try the pre-load adjustment, if that doesn't help, then I will do the center alignment. If that still doesn't work I guess I will buy the Borgeson intermediate shaft. I can trace the electrical parts and figure out whats wrong fairly easily.

I never did body work or steering work so any and all suggestions are what I'm looking for. Thanks.

Welcome to ramforum and congratulations on your Ram! There are lots of knowledgeable people on these forums that can assist you with information about repairing these trucks.
The only fixes I have personally done that relates to your truck are the door locks and headlights. My locks only worked intermittently. I replaced both power lock actuators with cheapo universal lock actuators from ebay (I believe 12-14$ for the pair). The install was very straight forward and works like new. My headlights are just about yellow and I could not afford to buy lenses so I bought some $30 driving lights from local auto parts store and wired them into the headlight circuit, road clarity solved.
The dash cracking is super common in dodge trucks, and a royal pain to change out, cap it or carpet it in my opinion. As far as the rest of the cracked stuff (mirrors, lenses, shifter, etc.), I think the best bet is to scavenge junk yards and/or craigslist for replacements.
Oh yeah steering! The bearing (or most likely in your case lack thereof) in the steering column is most likely the reason for your crunchy steering wheel. Check out 'Rock Solid' Ram Truck Steering ! . Forgot that I had to do this fix as well, works nicely.
As far as body work I am afraid I would do more harm than good if I gave you any advice, lol. Good luck.

for the rust holes what you can do (if you can mig weld or know someone who can) is use a grinder to cut a square area out of where the holes are, make a sheetmetal patch of the same size (use cut out for a stencil) and spot weld it in (to hold it), then fill the rest of the edge with weld, carefully grind it flat, and after a little body filler its ready for primer and paint

Wow, good thing the engine and trans. are good because you've got your work cut out for you else where. Truck is gonna nickel and dime ya. Welcome to RF!

For your steering I'd start with getting it completely properly aligned first so that way you can eliminate any possible binding. For your steering shaft, if you can grab it and it moves, it needs to have the bearing replaced. lol



As for body, we'll obviously wanna see what you've got when you get it done.

Bro I think we have the same truck.


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Ill post pictures soon. The rust spot that needs replacing unfortunately is the rounded corner, so I guess I need to find a junked truck and cut it out, or buy the patch for $90 i found online. And I'll take a look at the steering and see if there's any movement. Hopefully there's a warm day coming, too cold right now. Virginia weather. One day it was 70, next its 20 and snowing. Not even joking.

Oh yeah and forgot one more thing, the heat is stuck in defrost so I'll assume it's the vacuum line. Where is the vacuum line located? Can someone post maybe a picture?


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