Hey, all. I'm new to the world of first gen dodges. I have a 98 4wd, 360 that I purchased new, have hung around a bit in 2nd gen forum. Anyway, I work at a scrap yard, and guess what came in this week? A 1983 ram, 318, 727 auto tranny. Guy said it ran, but he lost the key, it runs hot, it needs tires, and he's moving out of state and needs cash. I couldn't bear to crush it, sooo, I set it aside. Well, today I put an old battery on it, put jb weld on the mandatory for scrap hole in the gas tank, poured in gas, hotwired it, put on one tire, jumped it off, and did gnarly donuts in the scrap yard. It appears the t stat is stuck, is pushing antifreeze out around housing and at upper rad hose. I'll remove t stat and make a gasket and see what happens next week. Also, valve covers must be leaking bad. Not sure, got a lot of smoke from around that area. Can I possibly just silicone those babies on as a temporary fix/test? Old smog pump is on, but hoses, etc are laying everywhere unattached. Probly an exhaust leak there, I'm guessing. Is the tranny a 3 spd, I'm guessing (727)? Do these trannies hold up well? It has like 2.97 gears (read it under hood), so I suppose overdrive would be unnecessary. Any advice on common issues with this truck would be great. Oh yeah, it shows 92k on odometer, do these just flip, or is that mileage probably right? Sorry to ramble. Kinda stoked. Its lwb, 2wd, grayish blue and rust, a few dents, funky hubcaps, and basically just ugly enough to be endearing. I can get it for a little over 300 dollars (scrap price), so why the hell not, right? Hey, I just thought about it, I can get the whole truck cheaper than I can buy new tires for it. Wow

 

Buy it! As for the mileage, yes they do roll over. So it is very possible that it has 192k miles. Can you get the title? I know vehicles in PA can't be scrapped without a title, to prevent theft, but I'm not familiar with the laws in Mississippi.

 

Title not required here. Some folks bring them with a title anyway, but I don't know about this one. Will have to check. Might be able to apply for a lost or salvage title if nothing else. Have been too busy to do anything with it. Its low of pretty much all fluids, so I need to remove the stuck thermostat, top everything off, and drive it a bit. I don't even want to bring it home if anything major shows to be wrong with it mechanically. The small amount I drove it (5 mins), everything was fine. No nocking, no water in oil. I'll let you know what I find out next week. May try to post a pic if anyone's interested in seeing the old jyd. (Junk yawd dawg)