Should I build it?

[thebest1997]

I bought a 1997 Dodge Ram 4x4. 5.9 360 and looks to have a mild 2-3” lift. I picked it up for $500 and another $100 on some bigger tires. I pulled the heads off and they are cracked (surprise surprise). It has 160,*** miles on it. Should I put the money into it and do heads and gaskets-front to rear. Lift it a little more and do some 15x12.5 wheels and mud tires on it? I live in Alaska and it could be a fun little truck. But is it worth the money?

 

[dapepper9]

These trucks will never be worth it of you're looking at it from a monetary stand point. They're old, well used and worn in, and not worth jack. They can be badass and tons of fun but is the time and labor and money you'll put into it worth the reward of a toy you'll get? Well that's something we can't really tell you

 

[EvilSpirit]

I bought a 1997 Dodge Ram 4x4. 5.9 360 and looks to have a mild 2-3” lift. I picked it up for $500 and another $100 on some bigger tires. I pulled the heads off and they are cracked (surprise surprise). It has 160,*** miles on it. Should I put the money into it and do heads and gaskets-front to rear. Lift it a little more and do some 15x12.5 wheels and mud tires on it? I live in Alaska and it could be a fun little truck. But is it worth the money?

Pretty hard to find seasoned Mag heads that aren't cracked. After working on quite a few Mag engines that ran fine before and constantly finding cracked heads, we realized that the cracks don't seem to affect much. Never seem to leak coolant or affect performance. Took a while to get behind doing valve jobs on cracked heads, but we did it for years without issues. My advise - seal it up and have fun with it.

 

[DodgeDude99]

Not sure if they still make them, but RHS made a pretty kick ass magnum replacement head.

 

[dapepper9]

Yeah they're still available. EQs are about equal to em but cheaper