Hello everyone. First post. Been doing alot of reading on your forum, especially the "Read this first" and stickies and such. Have to say this forum is a great wealth of knowledge.

I sold my DeLorean as i'm tired of it and bought a 2001 White Dodge Ram 4x4 with just over 77,000 on the odometer (verified with carfax) for $6400.00 off of craigslist. On the drive home, blew the pump housing seal and puked all my tranny fluid. Sent truck to my friend's mechanic. The good news: The truck is all original. The bad news: The truck is all original.

As a precaution, I had him go through the tranny since it was out of the truck, and I want to be sure I didnt have any more gremlins left over from the previous owner. The truck was a tow vehicle, so I figured since I got the truck so cheap, might as well do a rebuild to be on the safe side. All fluids are getting replaced as well, as i dont know what the P.O. did.



Not a fan of the rims, but will probably just spray them gunmetal and call it a day. Dash was cracked to hell, so bought a dash mat to cover that for now, but other than a bit of surface rust underneath, it's a nice truck.

Took an entire weekend to clean up the interior. Truck was used as a work truck. The downfall was someone installed some kind of light bar on the roof and left two holes that I found when I was washing the truck for the first time. I will have to sand that down and repair that shortly.



Found the thread about the plenum, so I will be checking that with a magnet and ordering the kit if necessary. I had a major mouse nest in the passenger fender, but other than the nasty smell of removing it, and some mouse turds in my engine bay, I didnt see any damage from it yet.

Anyway, just wanted to say great forum. I've learn alot from your FAQ's and saved articles. I appreciate all you've collected and bookmarked. I'll be putting the truck on the road in the next 2 weeks to NC, as im moving to Huntersville on June 27th. Knock on wood there are no more issues.


Mike C.

 

welcome to DF. congrats on a great truck. the 2500 has Dana 60 axles which gives you lots of selectable locker and posi options. also plenty of muscle for hauling or plowing. check your rear end gear for the desirable 3.90 or 4.10 vs the not so nice 3.55. the 01 has the better dual piston caliper/brakes. the 01-1/2 has rear disc, but most people don't have that, which is too bad.

 

Looks like a very nice truck! Sounds like you good deal too! I would find someone who wanted to trade me some black 16's or 17's with good tires on them for your dubs if I was you

 

Fix the truck up right the first time an you'll pretty much be set for 200,000 miles!!!

At 77,000 the engine Is just getting warmed up!!

Welcome to DF

 

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I fall into the category of those that do not have the rear disc, unfortunately. I was kinda shocked they were drums. I'm definitely keeping it for the long haul, as it was a great buy so far. Im looking for a reference as to tell which rear gear set I have, so when I find it i'll let ya know.

One thing was the prev owner put on some spray on bedliner, which wasn't applied properly and is starting to peel up. Judging by the condition of the bed under it, they did no prep work, so it is just peeling up as a whole.

My bed cover is scheduled to be here tomorrow evening when I pick the truck back up from the mechanic, so that will be a nice edition. Wednesday it's off to get my 305/50/20 tires mounted on the current rims.

I really have limited knowledge of buying rims for off road tires, and saw a couple of threads about them, so I may check those out for recreational use. Part of my downfall from running a more aggressive tire is i'm also a full time radiology student and my clinical site is over an hour away each way. Seeing the stance of my truck has some decent clearance and you suggest some 16 or 17 inch rims, any suggestion on a decent tire size? I'd appreciate it!

Oddly enough, I found a set of 16" 8 bolt rims on craigslist with some wearing down super swampers on them for 400 bucks. I do want to have a little fun with this No point of 4x4 if I never use it

 

Should be a plate with your gear ratio on the rear axle. Probably take some cleaner and scrubbing to get it to be legible.

After you find out your ratio you probably will want to at least consider re gearing to your new tire size of need be.

 

^^ Yea don't be like me... I just bought 35's (out of necessity, I was trying to re-gear first, but money didn't allow, and my tires were BAD) and with 3.55's in the axles it is a dog. 4.88's are in my future...

 

There should also be a sticker inside the glove box with gear ratio, if it hasn't been worn off. And of course, the build sheet

 

The glove box RPO sticker is absolutely un-readable unfortunately. The truck looked like someone left the doors open during a dust storm, and I was lucky enough to get to vacuum out mouse crap from the glove box.

Thanks for the advice on where to see the ratio plate on the axle. I'll be sure to take a look for it.

Believe me, the rims on the truck are no where near what i'd put on a truck. Hopefully an afternoon of prep work and some gunmetal paint will go a long way of 'de-blinging' them. That and the half *** painted rotted out front brush guard are my only two issues.

 

I kinda like those wheels, but I got 5 lug and you have 8....