Questions about doing a facelift on my 05.

[Drunken Hamster]

I've read that the 06+ stuff is pretty much a direct bolt on for 02-05 trucks, and ever since I've seen TheRaiderJay06's ram, I've wanted to do mine up to look kinda like that.

Only problem is that I'm poor, and LQK rarely has 06+ 1500's.

So my question is, do the 2500 and 3500 06+ body panels, lights, etc bolt onto the 1500 just the same as the 1500 06+ ones would?

Oh, and could I fit in 08 tails to my 05, or did they change the shape in that area of the bed?

Overall build I'm looking at is an entire 06+ front with a laramie bumper, SRT or Venom hood {{I'll have to buy new as there's no hope of finding one at LKQ}} with 08 tails. EDIT:: OH, and towing mirrors. Forgot to ask if they offered towing mirrors on the 1500's, or if I should look for 2500's and 3500's for those.

From there I'll do the whole de-chroming the insides of the lights{I HATE chrome with a passion}, projector-halo-LED retrofits, bottom and side reflector conversion/shave, and then the top eyelid thing. And put a light bar in the laramie bumper slot. Looking for a mean street performance truck look.

 

[chrisp2493]

Yes you can get tow mirrors for the 1500, either buy ones at a scrap yard off a 2500, or just buy them online. I bought mine off eBay, power, heated, flip up, and haven't had any problems.
I'm also doing an 06+ front end swap. I found a guy parting out a truck on Facebook market place. Paid $120 for the front fender, grill and bumper cover. Those and the headlights are about all you need I believe. If you don't want to buy full price, just scour Craigslist, Facebook or a junkyard to find someone parting a truck out

 

[Drunken Hamster]

But would 2500/3500 body panels fit on my 1500? It's hard finding intact 06+ 1500's at LKQ yards. And I haven't looked for the HD trucks because I didn't/don't know whether or not they'll fit.

Any issues wiring up the mirrors when swapping them? Also, how do I remove/install them? Unbolt from inside? Does the trim piece remove?

 

[chrisp2493]

But would 2500/3500 body panels fit on my 1500? It's hard finding intact 06+ 1500's at LKQ yards. And I haven't looked for the HD trucks because I didn't/don't know whether or not they'll fit.



Any issues wiring up the mirrors when swapping them? Also, how do I remove/install them? Unbolt from inside? Does the trim piece remove?

I personally haven't taken it all apart yet to do the swap, I just have the parts in my basement waiting for time to do it. But I'm pretty sure I pulled them off a 2500. I think they are all the same.
My truck already had the heated mirror and power adjustments. So the new mirrors just plug right into the existing mirror harness.
To remove the mirrors, pull off the entire door panel. There will be a small electrical plug to unclip to the mirrors, then 3 10mm nuts to remove. The mirror will then pull off the truck and you just put the new one right back in. Some people have problems with the last bolt going in far enough. Just start tightening the 2 you can get to draw in the third one to get the nut on to.

 

[Drunken Hamster]

Hm, okay. WAIT, I HAVE TO TAKE THE WHOLE DOOR OFF???

Or do you just mean the door card??

 

[chrisp2493]

Hm, okay. WAIT, I HAVE TO TAKE THE WHOLE DOOR OFF???



Or do you just mean the door card??

Haha no mot the door, just the panel. What I mean by "entire door panel" was you have to remove the whole panel to access the bolts, you can't just take off the little triangle piece at the top of the panel.

 

[Drunken Hamster]

OHHH, okay. Well, in that case, I'll add the 06-08 2500 and 3500 to my alert list for LKQ yards. Might be able to find/get stuff in the coming weeks, then.

 

[chrisp2493]

You can buy mirrors for about $140 on eBay. That's what I did, no issues

 

[Drunken Hamster]

Just snagged some headlights and a grill from LQK today. Luck ass find, IMO. They just got the truck in two days ago and I was praying that the vultures couldn't descend that fast.

Mom says I should snag the fenders too and have them painted rather than waiting for a patriot blue one to show up somewhere, or getting new ones and having to paint those. Problem is, the LKQ truck is that bright ugly red, and mine is, as I alluded, patriot blue.

The right fender also has a small ding in it. In your opinion, what's the best route? Wait for a PB one? Snag the reds and have them repainted to match my truck? Or get brand new ones {god willing, they fit} that are unpainted, and have THOSE painted to match?

 

[chrisp2493]

Depending how bad the ding is, I would just do some simple prep work and some bondo to fix it. Then repaint the fenders to match. You would have to get extremely lucky to find the fenders you want if the same color. If you bought new ones you would probably have to repaint them anyways. The fenders I got were from a white truck, mines black. If you can find a spray shop I wouldn’t imagine they would charge too much to spray 2 fender pieces

 

[Drunken Hamster]

Mom recommended Macco. I've since researched the cost to paint vehicles and heard horrible things about Macco.

The ding is horizontal, about 3/4 the length of a thumb, and about 3/16" to 1/4" deep.

I hate the idea of bondo. I'm trying to have this truck be as mint as I can. Like a restomod to a classic car. A full on show and go perfectionists dream. If you can't already tell

I kinda want the whole thing done up in the 4th gens' "Blue Streak" color. Door jambs, and all visible areas included. Not the whole thing or interior or anything, but anything that would be plainly visible upon normal usage or inspection without tearing it apart.

Either that, or deep cherry red/dominco red from the 4th gens. Or the 4th gen Bright White if I can counter it with black and dark copper/bronze accents. Or a nice looking silver or some kind of gray that isn't pukey and doesn't look like mortar or whatever...