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[DamnRam1500]

Hey everyone. Old member here. I used to have a 2016 Ram 1500 QC Express with a 4” AEV lift and 35s. I sold that truck in May of 2021 for various reasons and bought a ‘21 Silverado Trail Boss. I’m still driving the TB and love it but my 15yr old son was gifted his Grandfathers 2010 Ram 1500 ST 4.7L. He’s had it since new and did as little as possible to maintain it. The New Hampshire weather has had its way with it. The truck needs everything but it’s free. My and and I are already pretty deep in to fixing it up but we have a long way to go. By my math, after all the mechanical repairs and rust repairs are done we will be about $6k in to it. That’s pretty good in my opinion.

Currently I’m rebuilding the entire front end suspension. We’re doing a 2” leveling kit, front and rear brakes, shocks and a radiator. Then front fenders and repaint the front bumper to color match it. Next will be sandblasting and painting the rear section of the frame and putting a good used bed on it from a truck upfitters shop. I have a friend helping us weld in new rocker panels and cab corners. We’re sanding and panting each area we’re working on as we go. He’s already bought a refurbished set of oem five spoke steel 17” wheels painted black.

 

[KurtJ]

Wow, so your son is doing the labor next to you so he understands all about his truck?

 

[Jeepwalker]

Great job. The truck is white, like a million other Rams. Therefore I would find a guy selling rust-free (southern) parts in your areas (check on Marketplace) ...and just replace the box and front fenders with a rust-free [white] ones. You would be far ahead than trying to fix the rust you see, and rust you don't see. And repairing wheel lip openings never works for long. Patch panels rust from the backside forward. Best to get a clean one and protect it with oil or rust-proofing.

Easy to remove a box. Loosen the box bolts, remove the rear tires and 4 strong guys can walk it off the truck. That would be a great time to deal with the frame and any other rust you want to deal with ...with the box off.

Before you put the new box on, tip it upright and work the rocks and sand out of the top of the rear wheel wells (I bet there are a couple handfulls there to hold moisture). And any other debris. Then hose that wheel-well area out well (through the taillight area), let dry a couple days, and apply some oil over the wheel wells. And here's the important part: Once you put the box back on the truck, park the tk at an angle (pass side lower) and apply some oil on the pass SEAM between the two pieces of metal (inner & outer sheet metal) over the wheel well so oil can run slightly downhill and "Suck-up" ...get drawn up into the wheel lip. Apply a couple times over a weekend.

The reason? Chrysler applied a sealer to the sheet metal above the wheel arch so any oil you put over the wheel well won't get down to the wheel LIP. Therefore apply some oil on the wheel lip and let it draw up by capillary action. Also apply oil to the lower front and rear bumper area. I say oil b/c you want it to soak into the crevices. IDT fluid film will do as good of a job soaking in over the wheel wells and wheel lip (based on my tests), and it's goo-ey and may hold whatever sand and rocks bounce up that way. I got a couple handfulls of rocks and sand out of each wheel well of my truck ...and it's just a pavement princess. But everyone's going to tell you to use FF ....so use whatever you want. The idea with the oil is you can still hose the wheel wells out well ever few yrs and re-squirt some new oil up there ...whereas FF and similar lanolin products make a waxy goo-ey mess. It probably doesn't matter in the end, but DO the oil trick on the wheel lip. Might be easier to take your truck in for rustproofing by a pro shop. the main thing is to do 'something' and it will look nice for a long time (once you replace the crappy rusted metal with rust-free stuff).

Don't forget the inside of the tailgate, door bottoms, rockers and cabcorners and lower front fenders. Also the front corners of the hood. Touch-up any rock chips. If you buy a new fender from a higher trim pickup, scrape off the sound deadening on the back of the HEMI badge and spray some FF there... that area tends to rot a hole in the middle of the front fender!!!

Also, look on Marketplace for some nice Ram aluminum wheels. The painted ones tend to last longer than the chrome ones. But either will definitely dress the truck up nicer.

You're doing great work. Your son will have a nice truck which will be good for many NE winters!! Oh ...and re-apply whatever oil/rustproofing you use ..every few yrs.

Outline of inner panel where rocks get trapped ...and tool I made to dislodge. The tip of the tool is about where the sealant was applied between the inner (green tape) and outer box side. Therefore you need to apply oil to the lip to be sucked "up" to that point:

 

[Dean2]

Welcome back.

 

[Jeepwalker]

These zoom spout oilers HERE you can get at any HVAC store for $5-6 a bottle. Or online. They make for a quick and convenient way to get oil into crevices doors, etc. I only show the picture above to show the spout pulls way out. Again, if ya live in the salty N...something is better than nothing.

 

[DamnRam1500]

Thanks for the replies and tips everyone. Here is an update. The front suspension is back together. New axle seals, upper and lower control arms, cv axles, hub/bearings, sway bar end links, both outer tie rod ends and one inner and Rancho 2” quick lift struts, new hardware and everything has been cleaned free of rust, treated with rust stopping paint and top coated gloss black. Everything was re assembled with anti seize. Just waiting for the power stop pads and rotors and new seat bar bushings to show up this week and we can put the wheels and tires back on it.

 

[Wild one]

Thanks for the replies and tips everyone. Here is an update. The front suspension is back together. New axle seals, upper and lower control arms, cv axles, hub/bearings, sway bar end links, both outer tie rod ends and one inner and Rancho 2” quick lift struts, new hardware and everything has been cleaned free of rust, treated with rust stopping paint and top coated gloss black. Everything was re assembled with anti seize. Just waiting for the power stop pads and rotors and new seat bar bushings to show up this week and we can put the wheels and tires back on it.

If you follow JeepWalkers advice about the oil,if you mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with Acetone,it'll wick into crevices even better

 

[DamnRam1500]

Thanks for all the great advice. We are patching the driver side bed side for this season with a well arch panel and riveting it on until my son can afford to buy a nice used bed from a local truck upfitter shop. They sell for about $1500-1800 around here and like you mentioned, they are usually white. We will treat the difficult to reach areas of that bed before we mount it up.

I have a local friend who is going to sandblast the frame for us once we take the bed off. Then we will paint it with POR15 and a top coat. Followed by undercoating as mentioned by Jeep Walker.

I will do the same when I finish repairing the rocker panels and cab corners. I’m also going to prep and paint the back side of the new front fenders before the body shop paints them. I cannot understand why they don’t properly paint the back side from the factory, at least at the bottom where all the leaves collect and rust out.

My son bought a set of refurbished factory 17” steel 5 spoke wheels from eBay for now. He eventually plans to buy a set of the 20x9” polished factory Sport wheels that my 2016 had and use them for summer only.

Can anyone recommend the proper spark plugs for the 4.7L? There are so many types but I know some Chrysler engines are particular to copper or iridium or others and I can’t remember what type and brand are best. Champion? NGK? Etc.

 

[Jeepwalker]

IDK on the spark plugs, but WOW! You guys are doing a great job! Looks great! Lot of work, but much cheaper than a new truck. Should drive great after this. Your truck has the hydraulic steering on a pre-2013. That's a $2,000 bill your son won't have. It was a good idea to remove the fenders ...for ease of working on it. Nice idea there. I like your plan to replace the entire box. That's a great time to inspect/re-do the rear suspension when it's off. Once you get the box off, everything is right there in the open ...makes hard work (under the truck) ...easy.

I'm curious if you bought a steering and suspension kit? Or pieced it together?

Don't forget to apply some oil ...or use whatever you're going to use ...inside the tailgate. I had to remove the seam sealer and blast the inside seam on my tk's tailgate, repaint ...and then I treated it. So far so good. No rust has reappeared.

Keep the pics coming!

 

[DamnRam1500]

I bought everything from RockAuto.com I choose the brands I wanted and pieces everything together. The Power Stop pads and rotors as well as sway bar bushings will be here Friday. We sanded and repainted the entire front sway bar. It wouldn’t even move in the old rubber bushings.

I had to remove the fenders any way because we are replacing them with new ones. The old ones rotted out at the bottom where the leaves and gunk settles. I will paint the back side of the fenders before the body shop paints the outside.

I will definitely be spraying fluid film or similar oil mixtures inside the tailgate and doors. They are all in great condition and I want them to stay that way.

Thanks again!!

 

[Jeepwalker]

Good to hear on the suspension parts. I just bought all new stuff from R/A too... (quality parts I wanted).

Not sure what you have out there, but a lot of the 'Rust-Free' parts guys around here also sell front fenders...OEM southern take-off's. If you found a pr, you wouldn't have to paint them (presumably). Er, maybe that's your plan anyway.

Fun seeing you guys fix the ole Ram up. BTW, I have a 4.7 HO in a Grand Cherokee that has north of 250k miles on it, still going strong. Just oil and filters ...and starter/alternator. Although you hear a few nay-sayers ...it's been a great engine for us.

 

[DamnRam1500]

That’s great mileage! I had a 2005 GC 4.7L Limited. I traded it in 2015 with 135k on it. I miss that jeep but the transmission was over heating, the AC didn’t work and no one wanted to work on it.

 

[El_Dude]

Wuddup. White Rams in the house. Also, Rock Auto is awesome. rock bottom prices. Hard to beat em

 

[04fxdwgi]

Wuddup. White Rams in the house. Also, Rock Auto is awesome. rock bottom prices. Hard to beat em

Rock bottom prices, but the shipping cost is crazy high...

 

[DamnRam1500]

I’ve actually only had high shipping costs on the really large or heavy items. The front fenders would not be reasonable to ship through them but everything else isn’t too bad. We just got pads and rotors, cheaper than local stores even after $20 for shipping. The box was quite big and obviously heavy. Even the heavy and large lower control arms and struts were not that expensive to ship as like i said with the brakes, still cheaper than buying local.

 

[El_Dude]

In my own experience, shipping is not too bad. I haven’t had to order anything too heavy that I can remember. Sensors, smaller parts usually. Not sure where they ship out from

 

[DamnRam1500]

They ship from various USA based warehouses. That’s why sometimes on a bulk order parts will ship separately.

We were supposed to get the front rotors and pads installed today but the calipers on both sides are seized up. Unfortunately it will be a few weeks before we get new calipers while my son saves up for them.

 

[DamnRam1500]

We couldn’t wait so we put the rotors on with out the calipers and tossed the wheels and tires in it. It’s not going any where anyways. It’s already looking like it’s got a good stance with the Rancho Quick Lift 2” leveling struts and KSP upper control arms. Definitely needs an alignment though.

 

[El_Dude]

Lookin good