What did you do to your Gen3 today?

I have been putting off fixing a bunch of little issues in the HVAC and front end for about a year now. The AC compressor clutch gave up, so I took the opportunity to fix it all.

Removed and rebuilt the HVAC “box” under the dash, replaced all the doors (5 were broken) with aluminum doors. (an adventure all on its own) The AC condenser, Heater core, Blower Motor and Resistor and all the door actuators.

I attempted to “flush” the condenser and the lines and found the silver unicorn sparkles. The orifice tube was plugged. The compressor had failed internally causing the resulting clutch failure. The rest of the AC system was replaced, hoses, tubes, accumulator and condenser and compressor.

Manufactured a metal PCM wire harness hanger for the broken plastic one. (that’s on the accumulator)

Purged the cooling system with 6 gallons of distilled water then assembled the cooling system.

Replaced the upper control arms, lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends, torsion bar links and bushings.

Got an alignment and 4 new tires. (Shocks are 6 months new)

Serviced the differential

The morning after the alignment (Sunday the 10th) drove it to Florida from Virginia and back. Yeah baby!!!

Damn, you did that all in a day?

Flushed out an re-filed the coolant, replaced the block to heater core lines, thermostat and t-stat housing. Ol girl is running...."a needle width" cooler than I've ever seen on her. This pic is after an hour on I-75 South.

It took 3 days, but I changed the oil and fuel filter (that only took an hour) and then detailed the engine compartment. That's a whole heck of a lot of work for almost no return on investment. I worked 12 hours solid yesterday and about 3 today, got about an hour left, but it's raining. Found rotten brake lines going from the master cylinder to the ABS unit. That will be fun.

Oliver Closehauf said:

It took 3 days, but I changed the oil and fuel filter (that only took an hour) and then detailed the engine compartment. That's a whole heck of a lot of work for almost no return on investment. I worked 12 hours solid yesterday and about 3 today, got about an hour left, but it's raining. Found rotten brake lines going from the master cylinder to the ABS unit. That will be fun.

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yeah, but your truck appreciates it.

Smokeybear01 said:

yeah, but your truck appreciates it.

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Yeah... I appreciate it too. I found the shock perches (the parts that attach to the frame) drains blocked by about 5 inches of dirt and debris on both sides. Cleaned all of that "concrete" out and treated for rust and then painted. Surprisingly good shape still. I treat this thing like a driveway queen but it has had an active life, pre me.

Roll on bed liner and upgraded the grille this past weekend

We did the Rustoleum over a year ago and I am really impressed with the toughness of it. Looks Good! I like your grill.

Put 2 new interstate batteries in and made these battery boxes/facias.

Replaced my blown OEM door speakers with Kicker ES693 6x9s. Cost was $79.84 plus tax at Walmart. They sound much better than then the original speakers, which only lasted me 19 years and 11 months. I wonder if the Kickers will last that long?

I went ahead and ordered some CSC65 6.5" speakers for the rear doors. That will give me up to 300 watts per channel all around if I decide to add an amp later. I'm pretty well married to the 2003 OEM head unit because it has an OEM SiriusXM receiver with a lifetime subscription.

PS: Where's the best place to hide an amp other than below the backseat?

Electric lock stuck on the tailgate, and with the hard cover it was fun getting the bedliner and access plate off. Minor adjustment needed, but since its apart Im going to put a new backup camera in. Old one on the plate is all washed out looking.

Came damn close to pulling passenger side head.

Phillyrube said:

Electric lock stuck on the tailgate, and with the hard cover it was fun getting the bedliner and access plate off. Minor adjustment needed, but since its apart Im going to put a new backup camera in. Old one on the plate is all washed out looking.

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Get one that is embeded in the tailgate handle. Looks better. I just put one on 2 weeks ago and looks like factory.
I got this one, made an offer of $47, he came back with $50 and i bought it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203607536892

Rayzaa said:

Get one that is embeded in the tailgate handle. Looks better. I just put one on 2 weeks ago and looks like factory.
I got this one, made an offer of $47, he came back with $50 and i bought it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203607536892

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I like that. I wonder if they make one that includes a key lock?

HandyCruiser said:

I like that. I wonder if they make one that includes a key lock?

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IDK, I never searched for one.

I've got a locking tail gate handle with the lock in the middle of the handle, it works, but it's kind of a pain to use since it's right in the way of the grip.

I've been wanting to go with an electric lock, and your story made me think you could probably rig up a safety release like they have in trunks. Run it through the hole in the bottom of the tail gate in under the bed behind the bumper. Only you would know it was there.

What I used on mine: https://tailgatecamera.com/collections/2002-2008-dodge-ram
in conjunction with: https://www.americantrucks.com/pace-edwards-powergate-tailgate-lock-0208-ram-1500-ram.html

Used it to tow my boat back to the ramp after changing the water pump in the lower unit.

Today, I installed new rear door speakers in my 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 that I bought new in November 2002. The rear door speakers are 6.5 inch Kicker CSC65". Along with the new Kicker ESC693 6x9 inches speakers I recently put in the front doors, these give me up to 300 peak watts and 100 watts RMS per channel all around if I decide to add an amp later. Cost for these rear door speakers were $76.96 plus tax on Amazon.



As a rule, I try not to cut the wires in my truck, no matter the job. So I used Metra 72-6514 speaker harness adapters.

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To mount this 6.5 inch speakers in place of the 5.25 inch OEM speakers, the only modification was to increase the size of one of the offset holes provided for 3-screw mounting like the OEM speakers. These holes don't line up perfectly with the OEM speaker holes on the door. But by increasing the size of this one hole, everything lines up well enough.



I needed to use the screws that came with the speaker for this three-hole mounting. The heads on the OEM screws would have gotten over on the edge of the speaker cone. The provided screws work perfectly and everything fits tight and flush, just as it should. The new speaker is close the door lock pull rod. But it clears and the rod does not hit it.



I'm very happy with my four new Kicker speakers. They sound nice with my OEM head unit, which I will be keeping since it drives a lifetime SiriusXM subscription on the factory satellite receiver. I thought I might need to add an amp. But I believe all this system now needs to sound great is a subwoofer. In the meantime, I've got some very good sound while getting groceries.

And some good looking taillights.