Hi!
New to the board but not to Dodge (I have a 2003 Hemi Quad Cab). I am looking a 1985 Ram with a slant 6 and an automatic. It has 74K miles. I am looking for a second truck and was wondering how reliable the slant 6 is? Does it have enough power to pull a 4000 lb boat/trailer? Are there any issues for a 1985 I should look for?

Thanks!

 

The /6 is a good motor, lots of low-down torque so it'll pull just about anything, just don't expect it to do so quickly. 4000 lbs shouldn't be much of a problem at all. Basically it's a 20 year old truck, so stuff is going to either fail soon or it has already been replaced. Check for steering slop, Make sure the tranny shifts smoothly and doesn't slip, and make sure there's gear oil in the differential before you drive it home.

 

Thank you for the reply.

The steering does seem a little sloppy but not too bad. Is this common? If so, what is the fix?

Thanks!

 

Sloppy steering is caused by a couple of things usually. The easiest fix is the adjustment nut on the top of the steering gear. There's a nut you loosen, then the allen stud it's on you tighten down a little bit. What happens is the gears wear away with time and that allen stud will push them back together. Too tight and it'll be hard to steer, too loose and the gears won't mesh and it's sloppy. You can do a search for the proper way to adjust it - search 'saginaw steering slop' and you should find answers.
The second most common area for slop is in the coupler on the shaft from the steering gear going up to the steering wheel. It's a couple inches long, round on two sides and square on two iirc, and the shaft from the steering wheel has some pieces floating in grease that slide back and forth inside that coupler to allow the difference in angles. The grease dries out and then the small pieces wear out. There's a rebuild kit to repair it, or you can get a Borgeson steering shaft (what I did), or you can weld a small U joint coupler in place and make your own Borgeson style shaft. I think Flaming River has a shaft now too.
The last area to check is the tie rod, ball joints, and drag link. The joints get old and wear out on those parts causing slop. Only thing you can do is replace the tie rod ends, drag link, or ball joints.

 

Well, I bought the truck today! I'm pretty pleased with it. It's a D100 with the slant 6, automatic, PS and PB...that's it. I bought it from the original owner. No rust, interior like new, and a good aluminum camper shell. I paid $1900...maybe a little high but for an all original truck that has been garaged most of its life it seemd fair.

The one concern that I have is that it seems to idle a little low and seems a little rough to me. I admit that I am not familiar with how a 6 cylinder should idle. How smooth should the 6 idle at a stop light with the transmission in drive?

 

When you first get the truck, i would check the oil pump, that is really the only thing that can go bad in that engine that would ever make it stop running. I had a 78 with a slant six and it ran great till the oil pump gave out and i rounded a lobe in the cam. That truck have over 340000 miles on it though, and everything was origional. Other that that i would maybe get new gaskets for everything, like an engine rebuild kit from PAW catalogue, and better exhaust to give your self a little more horse power and torque. There isn't a whole lot that you can do to improve on that motor. It will run for a long time.

 

A bone stock motor should idle fairly smoothmaybe a slight lope but it shouldn't shake the whole truck.