My father in law has an early to mid 80s dodge, 2 wheel drive, manual 2 door 6 cylinder ram, the issue were having is that his heat SUCKS it takes that thing almost an hour to heat up. Iv changed the water pump, thermostat, fresh coolent and I'm ordering a new radiator for it this weekend but what else can I look at? How hard are the heater cores to change out on these? He doesn't have ac or actual dash vents

 

Heater core may be plugged. If you are not having engine overheating issues, it's not the radiator. Save your money. Feel the hoses going to the heater core with the heat on and the engine at operating temp. Both hoses should be hot.

 

the radiator split on him Tuesday while it was idling at a restaurant this week, so it needs a new one. I'll have to check the hoses. How hard are the cores to change on these?

 

Oh, sorry I did not get that from your original post. I would assume the heater core is behind the instrument panel, so the entire instrument panel has to come out. Technically not hard, just time consuming. Drain the coolant, drop the steering column, remove the instrument panel.

 

try flushing water thru the heater core hoses before you replace the radiator. Do not use too much water pressure. Also if you have some lime descaler let the heater core soak in that first.

 

Does it still have a water cut off ( sorry forget the technical name) that lets hot water into the core when you turn the heat on. those valves go bad. also could be the vacuum not opening that valve correctly. look under the dash and check the plug that all the lines go to. they rot . also you need a 195 degree t-stat or it will run cold.