I picked up a 1995 RAM 1500 for my brother late last week.
V8, Auto trans, ~161k miles. The hood wouldn't open and the owner took $350 for it so I figured I would take a gamble.
I snapped the grill off and unbolted the latch to find that the cable had snapped and the latch mechanism was also rusted and seized.
I ordered up a new cable and lower latching mechanism that should be here before the week is out. Other than a weak, older battery, it starts and drives fairly well.
It has a bit of front end looseness.. Some of which is likely attributed to age of rubber bushings.. but also there is a fair amount of rust around the swaybar mounting points up front. My plan is to cut some sheet metal and box that in to reinforce it, but if there exists a precut kit for such a task I would certainly consider buying that as I usually find molten metal on the tops of my shoes when I'm cutting something in a hurry on the plasma cutter. I also have to weld some sheet metal over some holes in the bed as there are spots over the rear wheel well that have rusted through. I'd consider buying a new bed but this truck isn't for me and I doubt I'll be seeing much of my money back, much less repayment for labor time.. It's just basically a large favor I'm doing him to get this resembling roadworthy.
Aside from those is there a link to a sticky of common things to check for when buying these used? Common leaks, sensors which fail that I should just get done before he drives it into the ground prematurely, etc.. I wish it was OBD2 so I could just hook my scanner in and check functionality of all sensors..
V8, Auto trans, ~161k miles. The hood wouldn't open and the owner took $350 for it so I figured I would take a gamble.
I snapped the grill off and unbolted the latch to find that the cable had snapped and the latch mechanism was also rusted and seized.
I ordered up a new cable and lower latching mechanism that should be here before the week is out. Other than a weak, older battery, it starts and drives fairly well.
It has a bit of front end looseness.. Some of which is likely attributed to age of rubber bushings.. but also there is a fair amount of rust around the swaybar mounting points up front. My plan is to cut some sheet metal and box that in to reinforce it, but if there exists a precut kit for such a task I would certainly consider buying that as I usually find molten metal on the tops of my shoes when I'm cutting something in a hurry on the plasma cutter. I also have to weld some sheet metal over some holes in the bed as there are spots over the rear wheel well that have rusted through. I'd consider buying a new bed but this truck isn't for me and I doubt I'll be seeing much of my money back, much less repayment for labor time.. It's just basically a large favor I'm doing him to get this resembling roadworthy.
Aside from those is there a link to a sticky of common things to check for when buying these used? Common leaks, sensors which fail that I should just get done before he drives it into the ground prematurely, etc.. I wish it was OBD2 so I could just hook my scanner in and check functionality of all sensors..
