Hello everyone, I picked up a rough 1998 Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 with the 5.9 gas engine last month and I've spent the last few weeks getting her polished up. She's not pretty, but I just need her to haul stuff for my projects and whatever misc. house stuff I need to get. I've always had a soft spot for the second gen Ram, three of my best friends had them and when I saw this one I couldn't pass it up! Here is how she looked when I found her at the dealer:



















As you can see, she was ROUGH! It had been in a few fender benders, the front bumper was fubar, the grill was plasti-dipped poorly, and the rear bumper was bent downwards. It only had three matching wheels, all of which had extremely poor tires (made in 2005) that were throwing rubber in chunks. The fourth wheel had a good tire, but it was a little bit old as well (2008). It looks like it was a spare at one point. The power locks wouldn't work, the passenger side power window wouldn't work, the overhead console wouldn't work, the dash is pretty much missing, the driver side rear door wouldn't open, there was no radio, the tailgate would barely open and I had to trick it into staying closed, the radiator leaked, the belt squealed LOUDLY and had some pulley noise, the steering had a ton of play in it, the passenger door pin was shot and the door wouldn't shut without slamming it, the driver side door refused to close all the way and was always stuck half way open, the PRNDL indicator did not work, the door panels were spray painted (poorly) black, and the cloth on the door panels / dash / and headliner were all done in a hideous camo pattern. So yea…. I had my work cut out for me!

I got everything repaired, but it was a crazy ride along the way! I had to redo some grounds and that got the passenger side power window working again as well as the power locks. Well, at least the power locks would lock, but the driver side switch wouldn’t unlock. I spent some time checking out wiring diagrams and wound up having to run a fresh power wire for the power door luck unlock switch from the driver side to the passenger side switch. I ran it through the doors and under the dash, making sure to zip tie it securely. THAT was an adventure, haha! I did the Rock Solid Ram Truck bushing upgrade and I'm putting the steering box brace on tomorrow afternoon. I even scored some original key fobs for the keyless entry. My local dealer was able to program them to my truck and even had some original keys that they cut for me. Here are some misc. pics of the fixes:

My driver side door:




Fixing the headlights:




The new key sets:


After a LOT of evenings / weekends and plenty of trips to the salvage yard, I present you with my finished product:









I put some fresh “Dodge” and “4x4” decals on the tailgate:








I reworked the interior by getting rid of all the camo:


I refinished the headliner:


I put a fresh dash cover in to replace the ugly camo one:


Door panels from a 2001 1500:


I fixed the driver side rear door! It opens every time now:


New steering wheel and wheel cover:


See? New wheel! Not just a cover, haha!


Driver side door panel from a 2001 1500:


I got some new tires and a replacement wheel that matches the other three:




I didn’t take any before pictures of the engine bay, but it had a horrible cold air kit and no weatherstripping. It’s much better now, take my word for it.



I got the truck for $2,000, so roughly $2,200 after TT&L. After new tires and materials, I’m about $3,400 in to this truck total (including the purchase price). I couldn’t be any more happy with the results!

 

Well it sure looks a hell of a lot better than when you started.

Have you checked the plenum? (see sticky at top of tech forum.)

You did a nice job there.

Welcome to DF!

 

Nothing against you at all but I like how white hides dents/blemishes. Good on you being in Texas and getting rid of the camo I think that stuff makes things tacky..once again all personal opinions. Another plus no signs of rust (speed holes) lol

 

2nd gens are a labor of love.. my all time favorite body style


good luck with it

 

It didn't look all that rough to start with. Nothing some bolt ins wouldn't fix for the most part. You have a rust free body so that alone is worth it.

 

You definitely get PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD!

Fantastic job and welcome! Thank you for restoring another 2nd gen!

I can't figure out why it has 2000-01 body panels? The 1998 door ding moldings should extend to the bed wheel well and it should have wheel well inserts. Odd. Everything else shows 98 though.

 

Thanks! I have seen the sticky about the plenum, but I haven't checked it just yet. I'll probably do that when I do a tune up this spring! Thanks again!

No offense taken! I agree on the white, it's one of the things on the plus side of the column, haha! And yes, the camo had to go. I can't stand it.

Thanks! It's by far my favorite Dodge truck style as well!

Yea, I could have started with much worse. This one was on the fence when I picked it up. It could have gone either way with the next owner. I decided to bring her back from the brink!

Thanks! The reason the bed moldings aren't there is probably because it's not the original bed. It had a pretty good smack on the driver side rear at one time that pushed the original bed into the cab right behind the driver side rear door. I believe the previous owner went out and found a used bed that was the same color and put it on, hence the missing parts that the 98 bed would have originally had.

 

$2k seemed a stretch for how poor shape it was but definite kudos to you for breathing life back into it. Relatively speaking it looks fantastic, and as a dude who does the junkyard thing I can totally appreciate all the late nights and time invested. Keep hacking away at it, a little done every day makes a sweet ride in time. Not sure if it's in your agenda but if you scored a pair of passenger side doors and a tailgate, straightened out the driver's bottom bed, the truck would look near mint. Nice work!

 

Down here in Texas people think that trucks are made of gold and price them as such, haha! The engine, trans, and transfer case are all in good working order so I figured that alone was worth the price. Pretty much all of the other issues were fairly cosmetic and just required some patience and scrounging at the yards, so I couldn't complain too much. I'll probably just leave the body panels as they are for now, there are a couple more projects I'm working on for some of my other vehicles. Eventually I'll probably straighten everything out myself and paint it and go through the interior and freshen up the plastics. Until then, I'm just thrilled to have a truck again, haha! Trying to haul stuff around in my Jetta is no fun and pretty much impossible in my Trans Ams. Thanks for the compliments!

 

Yeah, The firebirds and their various iterations were not exactly know for their cargo capacity. (more like: Lack thereof.....) What's sad is, at one point in time, I could move all of my worldly belongings in my Trans Am......