I was discussing with a friend today the possibilities of putting a turbo on my 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport. I have a free turbo that needs bearings and flanges that came off a 4430 John Deere. We stole the turbo off a tractor we junked and used it instead. The 4430 has a 404 diesel, so the turbo is plenty big. As far as routing oil lines and returns would be easy IF its possible. I can get boost hose, etc. and do my own exhaust work. That being said, Id basically be doing this as a project to get some more power and just to sound cool.
However, how much has to be modified to even make these engines turbo compatible due to the increased pressures? Ive heard new heads and a few other things. I do like tinkering though, so I thought itd be a cool project if it don't cost me much. I don't wanna invest in new heads right now. Got steps, cold air intake, HID head and fog lights, taillights, paint job, exhaust system redo (guy before me sucked at it I guess, looks awful), fender flares, 18inch rims, and another 2 inches on my lift to have 35s. Lot of money, but itll be spread out over time. Got cows to buy as well and college is this fall -_-...might put a stop to my joy. Thats roughly 4500$ worth of stuff I "want to do." Really should invest in a diesel fore' to long if I get many cattle. I can still dream though lol.

Update: Just found this link to a guy who turboed a ram 1500. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...rbo-build.html Kinda what I would like to do because it reduces clutter in the engine bay. Besides that, itll be easy to pipe into. However, i still would run into lube issues. I also don't know much about waste gates and psi changers. I wouldn't want to much boost.

 

You gonna have to get custom tuning to run that turbo. If I was you keep the ram the way it is and put the money toward a diesel truck purchase that has the power range you are looking for.