Pickin up my 85 "Prospector" today. Was wondering what years and models that parts are interchangeable with. It runs great but know I am gonna be playin with it! This is my first older Dodge pickup, had a 2005 that i got rid of a few years ago but em excited to be back in a dodge pickup! Any advise on these older ones would be awesome

1985 Prospector
318 motor
transmission - unsure
lowered right now but thats getting fixed.

 

First thing to do and an Important one i would suggest is as soon as you can power wash the inside of the fenders under the hood, underneath the pickup, and take off the rear tail lots and power wash inside there, a lot of times mud will creep up in these areas and rust from the inside out after awhile of being there for awhile, power wash these area every once in a while and it'll keep rust from developing.
my brothers pickup is an 85 and its got what dodge called the "black box", basically just an early style of a computer to control the engine. It's inside the drivers front fender, one time the alternator was junk and caused to pickup to run poorly, just like a newer pickup, a lot of people don't realize 85 dodges had it because it was the only year for it, and in 86 they went back to the wiring style they had in 81-84, that box helps my brothers 85 to get the great mileage it gets, start easy, etc,
If you have an auto, Never run the transmission low on fluid, The torque flite 727 has a ball bearing inside the tail housing of the trans and if you run it low on fluid it will starve that bearing, before anything else,the oil level could be on the add line for example and would already be not letting the bearing get all of its fluid, i recently had to out this bearing in on my 79, and it aint too fun, keep er in the ok and it'll run good.
There's a lot of parts that will interchange from pickups made from 81-93.

 

Honestly, I do not think this truck has ever seen mud. The guy who owned it before me was a rat rod guy. and lowered it and kept it on the street.
As for the box in the driver side front fender, ill have to check that out.
As of right now the tranny is good on fluid but its gonna be gettin changed soon because i believe its the gasket that is leaking. That and the oil cooler line is leaking so thatll be replaced to. But its all cheap and easy to do so not buggy.
Thank you for all the info! It is definitelly much appreciated!
The wife didnt want me to get the truck anyways so whatever i can tell her to make her think i know more about it than i do the better! haha