The War Wagon
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2015
- Posts
- 1,617
- Reaction score
- 1,076
- Location
- da' 'BURGH
- Ram Year
- 1992
- Engine
- 318 Magnum
Gotta get MORE Gen.1's on here! TO that end...
This belonged to my secretary's late husband back in the day, God rest his soul. It was his daily driver from 1997, when he bought it used from the Dodge dealer down in Mt. Oliver (Pittsburgh suburb), until he passed away in May of 2005. They were at Home Depot in West Mifflin, buying some gardening supplies & such that spring Saturday morning. They were loading bags of mulch, when she decided to go back and get a hanging plant she liked. She came back to the truck, and he was lying dead next to it, from a massive heart attack... at age 54.
I arrived here in August of '06. The truck had pretty much been sitting at their house untouched for 15 mos. Their sons didn't want it - she didn't want - she was about to have Rusty Hook tow it away for $200, when she asked me one day on a lark, whether I'd like a free truck! "Welllllllllll..." I said (in classic whipped husband fashion), "Lemmee check with my wife FIRST!" To which she thought a FREE (operative word...) was a GREAT idea. So I FINALLY got a Ramcharger!
For reference, I'm SO old, I actually TEST DROVE a NEW '87 RC back in January of '87. I ended up getting a '79 Bronco instead, but Ramchargers have CONTINUED to flirt with me through the years. My best friend in hi skrool went nuclear Navy after graduation - he took his re-up bonus in '89, and ordered a BRAND NEW '90 RC, with rollbar, 5-speed, and 360 - black, with the tan cloth interior (he owned a '79 Dodge Lil' Red Express while we were in school!). Wotta GREAT new truck smell THAT was - when it had less than1 0 miles on it!
My kid brother owned one while he was in the service, stationed in Pensacola. I was down there for a college debate tournament in '90 - I think his was an 85 - white/blue/white, with blue vinyl interior. It was pretty cool cruising Pensacola that night in it. And when I finished college in '93 (Yes... I was on the brother Blutarski 8-year plan...
... I'd actually dropped out and worked for a few years), I strongly considered getting a red/white/red '93 model at the local Dodge dealership near my University... but went for a new '93 Mustang GT instead... bow-chicka-bow-bow.
Sooooo... flash-forward 13 years, a marriage, and 4 kids later, and I figured I was waaaaaaay beyond ever owning a Ramcharger - especially since the last one in the states was built in '93 (they built 'em through '96 in Mexico!)... but all of a sudden, this '92 fell into my lap! So here's what it looked like when I inherited it in late '06 (pictures ca. January, '07).
Well... every project's gotta start SOMEWHERE, right?
So it's a tired, but pretty solid (for Pittsburgh!) '92 Ramcharger LE150. 318 Magnum, 3.55 gears, A518 auto, Dana 44/Chrysler 9 1/4 axles, & rusty rear lower quarters and drivers side floorboard. You CAN'T fight Pittsburgh rust, but Dino was meticulous with service and care, so the interior was in GREAT shape, and the mechanicals were all solid.
As I ain't exactly made of money, the truck would end up just sitting a while longer. My current profession is NOT car related, and allows for precious little time to work on them. Having grown up a gearhead just north of the Charlotte Motor Speedway (we were ALL gearheads back then!) I know HOW they work, and what's needed to improve them, but I lack the skillsets these days to make it happen. What little skills I've retained are only slightly more rusty than the truck I inherited. I'm getting a little better, but I'd hafta improve a LOT, to rise to the level of, "SUCK."
That said, my trusted mechanic at the time, offered to help me with a buildup, since he knew my four children are Autistic, and this would be a fun project to get them into the outdoors with. I was going to buy the parts, and he was going to work on it gratis, in his spare time, at his house. This worked out well... for a while... until he got a BETTER job, in the Marcellus Shale Drilling industry... out of state. So it ended up sitting a while longer in his shed (out of the elements, but NOT fixing itself!)... until August of 2012!
Here's #1 son sitting on it at his house in Carrick, in the summer of '07
BOTH of them short a 'grill' at this point...
A friend of mine at church with a professional shop (specializing in big rigs!) wanted to help me out, so he did a TREMENDOUS amount of paint & body work to it for me, and completed the lift, albeit, not EXACTLY to spec (Exhibit A - NOT shimming the rear axle!). Some of THAT process, looked like this!
I'd purchased the tires, wheels, & multicarrier (Kennesaw Mountain Products - now Tactical Armor Group; ordered this BEFORE I knew about their crappy QC/service. I got EXTREMELY lucky, apparently!!!) back in '07... but they'd sat UNTIL this point, when Jimmy started getting it all assembled.
This belonged to my secretary's late husband back in the day, God rest his soul. It was his daily driver from 1997, when he bought it used from the Dodge dealer down in Mt. Oliver (Pittsburgh suburb), until he passed away in May of 2005. They were at Home Depot in West Mifflin, buying some gardening supplies & such that spring Saturday morning. They were loading bags of mulch, when she decided to go back and get a hanging plant she liked. She came back to the truck, and he was lying dead next to it, from a massive heart attack... at age 54.
I arrived here in August of '06. The truck had pretty much been sitting at their house untouched for 15 mos. Their sons didn't want it - she didn't want - she was about to have Rusty Hook tow it away for $200, when she asked me one day on a lark, whether I'd like a free truck! "Welllllllllll..." I said (in classic whipped husband fashion), "Lemmee check with my wife FIRST!" To which she thought a FREE (operative word...) was a GREAT idea. So I FINALLY got a Ramcharger!
For reference, I'm SO old, I actually TEST DROVE a NEW '87 RC back in January of '87. I ended up getting a '79 Bronco instead, but Ramchargers have CONTINUED to flirt with me through the years. My best friend in hi skrool went nuclear Navy after graduation - he took his re-up bonus in '89, and ordered a BRAND NEW '90 RC, with rollbar, 5-speed, and 360 - black, with the tan cloth interior (he owned a '79 Dodge Lil' Red Express while we were in school!). Wotta GREAT new truck smell THAT was - when it had less than1 0 miles on it!
My kid brother owned one while he was in the service, stationed in Pensacola. I was down there for a college debate tournament in '90 - I think his was an 85 - white/blue/white, with blue vinyl interior. It was pretty cool cruising Pensacola that night in it. And when I finished college in '93 (Yes... I was on the brother Blutarski 8-year plan...
Sooooo... flash-forward 13 years, a marriage, and 4 kids later, and I figured I was waaaaaaay beyond ever owning a Ramcharger - especially since the last one in the states was built in '93 (they built 'em through '96 in Mexico!)... but all of a sudden, this '92 fell into my lap! So here's what it looked like when I inherited it in late '06 (pictures ca. January, '07).
Well... every project's gotta start SOMEWHERE, right?
So it's a tired, but pretty solid (for Pittsburgh!) '92 Ramcharger LE150. 318 Magnum, 3.55 gears, A518 auto, Dana 44/Chrysler 9 1/4 axles, & rusty rear lower quarters and drivers side floorboard. You CAN'T fight Pittsburgh rust, but Dino was meticulous with service and care, so the interior was in GREAT shape, and the mechanicals were all solid.
As I ain't exactly made of money, the truck would end up just sitting a while longer. My current profession is NOT car related, and allows for precious little time to work on them. Having grown up a gearhead just north of the Charlotte Motor Speedway (we were ALL gearheads back then!) I know HOW they work, and what's needed to improve them, but I lack the skillsets these days to make it happen. What little skills I've retained are only slightly more rusty than the truck I inherited. I'm getting a little better, but I'd hafta improve a LOT, to rise to the level of, "SUCK."
That said, my trusted mechanic at the time, offered to help me with a buildup, since he knew my four children are Autistic, and this would be a fun project to get them into the outdoors with. I was going to buy the parts, and he was going to work on it gratis, in his spare time, at his house. This worked out well... for a while... until he got a BETTER job, in the Marcellus Shale Drilling industry... out of state. So it ended up sitting a while longer in his shed (out of the elements, but NOT fixing itself!)... until August of 2012!
Here's #1 son sitting on it at his house in Carrick, in the summer of '07
BOTH of them short a 'grill' at this point...
A friend of mine at church with a professional shop (specializing in big rigs!) wanted to help me out, so he did a TREMENDOUS amount of paint & body work to it for me, and completed the lift, albeit, not EXACTLY to spec (Exhibit A - NOT shimming the rear axle!). Some of THAT process, looked like this!
I'd purchased the tires, wheels, & multicarrier (Kennesaw Mountain Products - now Tactical Armor Group; ordered this BEFORE I knew about their crappy QC/service. I got EXTREMELY lucky, apparently!!!) back in '07... but they'd sat UNTIL this point, when Jimmy started getting it all assembled.