Fix'n it up

[crazykid1994]

Some of you may remember I have a 97 ram 1500 (girlfriends truck) as well as my 17 ram 1500. So we were trying to sell the old truck but I may try to fix it up. It's got a little frame rot. No cats. And body rust. I may have found a 98 with no body rust and supposedly good frame. Does anyone know if I can swap the 97 dash into the 98? The dash in the 98 is crapped and I'd like to keep my instrument cluster for mileage and such. Plus I don't have a white cluster so I'd rather not that as well. Have not picked up the 98 yet. Gotta swing by and look at it. Hopefully good news as that means I can convince the girlfriend to keep the truck and pick up the new one and do a fix. The new one has a 5.9 with a blown trans so I'll be swapping the 5.2 and trans from our truck over along with the pc. And a few small upgrades along the way.


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[dudeman2009]

Since you are planning on pulling the engine and trans from both trucks, why not just pull the 5.9, fix it up real nice while its easy and out of the truck, and when you're ready, pull the trans out of the 97 and stick it on the 5.9 and have yourself a nice 5.9.

That way, you can buy the 98, fix it up however you want, mod it up and you still have the 97 thats driveable for your girlfriend until you're ready to do the swap. Hell, if you don't mind having a frame and body sitting around for awhile you could rebuild the 5.9, get the heads cleaned up or replaced, get a new intake, get the block cleaned and machined, new piston rings, decent headers and stick it back in. Then get a tune and have that baby last longer than the truck you put it in.

If you live near Michigan, i'd buy that bad trans off you.

 

[crazykid1994]

Well we planned on keeping the 318 because that's hers. I was possibly looking at while I had the trans and 360 out at doing a patc kit on it and putting it behind the 318 and camming it with shorty headers and exhaust. Possibly using the 360 to build a buggy down the road or selling it to make some of the money back. She has a car so I'm not to worried about keeping it running. I may get my frame repaired after I find out how bad the rot really is if it's worth fixing and then drop the 360 on it and throw a 4 speed behind it possibly or another patc kit.


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[crazykid1994]

Can someone help guide me in the right direction. I remember a while back reading about some steering upgrade kit for the 2nd gen 1500s that turn the inverted y steering into an inverted t steering to eliminate bump steer. Can't seem to find anything right now
Edit: found it 98-99 hd steering

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[crazykid1994]

Ok. So hopefully someone here can help. I'm going to look at the truck tomorrow. Guy said it'll go in reverse no problems and if you put it in drive it'll try and roll a little. Any ideas? I know it's possible he burnt out the clutch packs. Obviously the servo is still good. I'm going to check for low trans fluid when I get there and smell if it's burnt


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[crazykid1994]

Anyone running this kit?
http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/li...4wd/1500-ram/1994-01/d301ks-sk.html?c=326&i=0


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[crazykid1994]

So looked at the truck. It's frame is in perfect condition. Cab has some floor pan rust. My floor pan is good so might pick up the truck and see if I can get my buddy to do some welding for me. Lmc sells floor pans as well. Truck rolls forward but when you give it gas it gives up. Fluid is good. I'm guessing burnt clutch packs. He's got 35s on it. Said previous owner ran the truck with a quart low on the trans and it was slipping and stuttering while shifting when he bought it. I'm not afraid to do a rebuild. Motor runs good but I'm not worried about that either. Both windshield and rear window are broken but I can transfer mine over. What should I offer the guy? He wants 1200 for it. 180,000 no rebuilds. No ac. Tires are bald.


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[crazykid1994]

Well I think this buy is falling through. I did however look on coparts website and they have a nice one that had a rear fender bender no major damage. Has anyone here dealt with copart auctions? I don't know the first thing about auctions or online auctions


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[crazykid1994]

Well that buy fell through. I have however started some demo on the old truck

beds off. Bumper. Hitch. Sprayed all the bolts for the bed. Snapped 1 and another looks stretched. Hoping to just replace the whole bed anyways. Still need a donor truck. Junkyard next week. They got a few new trucks in so I'm going to look


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[dudeman2009]

Make your own bed if you don't mind the expense and want something to both stiffen the frame and hold up to just about anything.

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[crazykid1994]

Make your own bed if you don't mind the expense and want something to both stiffen the frame and hold up to just about anything.

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I would if I was going to use it as a beater. I'm trying to halfway do a restoration on it though. I'm going to attempt the rear shackle flip as well while I'm in the process.


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