Long story short my dad finally decided from the truck he purchased new back in late 1999 for a 2009 Ram 2500. Having always loved his truck instead of letting him trade it in, i bought it from him. So i now have a 2000 Ram 1500 Sport Quad Cab, 4x4, 5.9. 135k miles. Also nice having a one owner truck that i know everything about its history.
Truck is in very good shape over all. Few questions. First off, the evaporator went bad a few years ago, my dad never wanted to hassle with replacing it, but i'd prefer to get the air working again. My understanding is this is quite a PITA and obviously requires tearing into the dash. Didn't see anything in the FAQ although it seems rather common, so any write ups or tips when going about changing this?
Second is the trans. Right now its good, but my dad towed often, and very heavy loads several times too. Plan to do the trans fluid/filter, and also look into the check valve. Is it worth going with a bigger pan? Would just like to get what life i can out of it knowing its a weak point.
Any other things i should be prepared to deal with at this mileage? Timing chain was done with the water pump, several wheel bearings. Plenum has never been messed with, i will check, but around what mileage do those usually go?

Enough rambling. Definitely a lot of good info on this forum, hope to continue learning about truck. Now for a pic, truck is basically stock. Has 2" leveling kit, 285/75/16 BFG A/T's.

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-gen-rams.html click me then click again

 

Plenum is just kinda hit and miss, some sooner than later. The trans pan is a good idea along with a transgo or sonnax kit. There's actually a couple write ups on removing the dash. Congrats on a great looking truck and welcome to DF.

 

Congrats! Nice looking truck.

 

Replace the heater core when you do the evaporator. Most of the write ups are for the heater core..... same basic procedure though.

 

Well i will probably do the plenum regardless of if it is bad just to be on the safe side since it is bound to fail eventually. Will definitely do the deeper pan, as for the sonnax kit, that looks like a good idea too. Must have missed the write ups on doing the dash, will have to do some more searching. Definitely planned to do the heater core with the evaporator.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Hopefully not a sign of things to come, but had my first real issue with the truck the other day. Driving home from work my brakes started acting up. The pedal seemed to be losing pressure, and eventually got to the point where the pedal was going to the floor, abs and brake light came on, and my brakes were hardly working. Got out checked the fluid and it was full. I was trying to just limp it home, but coupled with the brakes, the steering started jerking to the right and feeling really unstable, so i pulled over to see wtf was going on. Well, my passenger side front wheel was leaning and looked like it was about to fall off. Called my dad and he came up with a car trailer and got to break in that new 2500 by towing me home. After jacking it up, it felt like i could literally just pull the tire off. Wheel bearing went, which was weird as every other time i've had a wheel bearing fail it was quite noticeable by the sound when it was going out. This one seemed to just break all at once. In the process of the wheel wobbling around it trashed the rotor and thus my brake problems. Ended up doing the wheel bearing on the other side while it was jacked up as i could tell it was going too. Also did the upper ball joints since i knew that was something not too far down the road too. So a few hundred dollars later, and the truck is back on the road but definitely not a repair i wanted to deal with just yet knowing a trans rebuild, evap/heater core,and new gearing (though that one can wait but 3.55's on 285/75/16 with 2" leveling kit means towing is harder than it needs to be), and somewhere down the line the plenum are in my future.

 

Just be very careful when removing the dash in your truck, as the dash's in these trucks are extremely brittle. The slightest twist or jerk can crack it. Most Dodge dealers (around here anyways) make their customers with these 99-02 Rams sign a waiver stating that the dealer is not responsible for damage to the dash, when they request heater core or evaporator replacement. Just my .02

 

Thanks for the heads up, that's what i keep hearing. Actually, i know several people with 2nd gen rams and mine is the only one i know of that the dash isn't cracked, and another cracked his doing the evaporator.