99 Ram Fixer up Project

[Moparornocar]

Here is my 99 shortbed shortcab Ram. Picked it up on the cheap. I'm just fixing a few things and giving her a panel by panel repaint, fixing the power doors that the PO cut all the wires on and in time replacing the busted to crap dash and a few other little things. Final goal is a stock brand new looking truck with a 2" front leveling kit and a good set of A/T tires. Maybe a small stereo and tinted windows. Enough of me jabberin, on to the pics. This is the first 2 days progress.







Dents from the hood flying up fixed



Hood all sanded and ready for paint.




First coat of black.







For those interested. Paint is Rustoleum Industrial enamel applied with a foam roller. I do know body work and paint, but ive done 2 other vehicles this way and it works great if done properly and is a great cheap alternative to maaco or rattle cans.

 

[WhiteExpress]

Looks like a fun project truck!
I'd love to get myself one similar!

 

[Moparornocar]

Thanks! Im having fun with it.

 

[Moparornocar]

Got the 20's on her.

 

[Moparornocar]

A quick question. Has anybody experienced a death wobble on a 2wd truck? Hit a bump on 3 separate occasions today, and it felt like a wheel was gonna fall off. slowed down below 30 and it stopped. Got worse once i loaded about 800lb of gravel in the back. Is this a thing on these trucks? Also, i replaced the VSS and the speedo and odometer still dont work. Am i looking at a guage cluster?

 

[dodge dude94]

DW is pretty much only found on 4x4s, but I guess you could have it on a 2WD truck. I saw your post on the FB group today. lol Go through and check all your suspension and steering components and check the hubs and ball joints with a pry bar.





Also, got any pictures of that hood in daylight? That looks REALLY nice.

 

[Statcher1]

Looks good so far man. And yeah post up some pics of the hood in daylight.


Sent from the Rocket in my Pocket

 

[Moparornocar]

I will, as soon as i fix it. I screwed up and didnt change rollers between coats and using an oil based paint like rustoleum, the roller disintegrates in about an hour. So when i did the second coat it left chunks of foam all in it and was really runny. I can clean it up and post a pic though. Ive painted 3 vehicles with a roller and one was a black S10 that won a few cruise ins and shows. Its all in the prep work. Still waiting to get my compressor fixed to D/A the hood all back down and re-do it.

 

[Moparornocar]

Ive read up on the 2wd death wobble and it is fairly common, and appears to be pitman arm and idler arm issues. Rock Auto has Moog parts cheapy cheap. Just ordered both manual window regulators and new crank arms for 90 shipped. Great prices.

 

[WhiteExpress]

A quick question. Has anybody experienced a death wobble on a 2wd truck? Hit a bump on 3 separate occasions today, and it felt like a wheel was gonna fall off. slowed down below 30 and it stopped. Got worse once i loaded about 800lb of gravel in the back. Is this a thing on these trucks? Also, i replaced the VSS and the speedo and odometer still dont work. Am i looking at a guage cluster?

Certainly! 2WD Rams of this era have the same old fashion steering as 4x4s.

The idler and pitman arms love to wear out. Chances are, you just need to replace them both.

If you have the coin, replace Idler, Pitman and all the tie rod ends.
Yea, it's a good amount of $, but then you only need 1 alignment and your truck will be steering nice for years to come.

 

[Moparornocar]

Replaced the pitman arm today. It got better but still not perfect. Heading out to get tie rods tomorrow since they were pretty loose. May as well do the idler arm too. Then i can schedule it for an alignment and balance the wheels while they are at it.