UPDATE! First thank you for all your help. OK. So, I threw him $5400 and a payment plan. lol. He did it and I paid it off already. A little history on the beast. He purchased it used from a dealership in Feb. 2004 with 67K mi. In April 2007 the transmission was rebuilt by Dodge at 70K mi. It only got driven once a month and towed his boat to go fishing. He kept the truck in his barn.

I got it from him 2/2/2013 with 92,314 mi. I had a mechanic check it and all was good.
He has all paperwork with it too. So, here is what he has done to it before I got it.

Tranny rebuild
Water pump replaced 7 months ago with timing chain.
Belts replaced 1 year ago.
New tires 6K mi. 285/75/r16 Wild Country MTX Mud tires. (I am trying to figure out how to get these things sold and original sizes put on.)
Tool box installed in bed.

I just had all the fluids replaced, complete tune-up, Spectre CAI, cat removed and new muffler.

This Friday, the plenum gets replaced with a Huges Kit and hoses replaced.

 

Where you at? If you aren't too far away, I would be interested in those tires.

 

If heater core sprouts a leak from being clogged up, then you'll be smelling antifreeze bad in the cab. Sounds like a very good deal. And the transmissions seem to depend which day of the week on assembly line. I totally abused my 99 and it lasted to 170,000, got 50,000 on rebuild and am nice to it now.

 

Thanks Read Ram. I hope I get that much out of it. I also forgot to mention. The heat core has been bypassed as well. He did that sometime ago.

 

I live in Orlando, FL. I would totally sell these to you.

 

What upgrades do you suggest when I do the major repairs?

 

I am in michigan, I think shipping on the tires would be prohibitively expensive...... if ya like, check into it, and PM me a price, including shipping, to 49235.

For the engine, biggest thing is make sure everything works the way it is supposed to. Doing some improvements during a rebuild, like better cam, rockers, and such, give a bit more power, and with roller rockers, increase longevity of valvetrain parts. (less friction means less strain, and wear) Using GOOD quality parts is the best plan.

For the trans, address it's weak points. torque converter being right up there on the list..... on page six of MonteCs transmission corner thread, (faq/diy section) there is a list of parts for a trans rebuild for a member that regularly towed a 7K pound trailer. Go by that list, and your trans will last a LONG time. Adding an external filter, and additional cooler sure wouldn't hurt either.

 

Just back flush the heater core. My truck had zero heat before I back flushed it and now she gives out great heat. I live in Canada and it works well enough.

Here is what I did to back flush my heater core.

1) Dissconect the heater core hoses from the engine block
2) Use compressed air to back flush the coolent out of the core
3) Pour water into the core and back flush it several times
4) Put some kind of cleaner in the core (I used CLR)
5) Let the cleaner sit for an hour
6) Back flush the cleaner out
7) Pour water in and back flush the core another several times
8) Connect the heater core hoses to the engine bock.
9) Re fill and burp the cooling syestem
10) Feel that wonderfull heat

 

I really dont even want to mess with it personally. Just another thing to repair later. I dont need the heat anyway.