Working on my 2nd Gen. Suggestions appreciated
 

so ive been working on my current rig ive had almost a year now. the previous owner wasnt too good with the upkeep but i got a good deal on her. Im just curious if they're are any common issues i should address. Its a 1997 ram 1500 5.9 4x4 with 162k on her. At the moment she's been drinking oil and coolant so i went ahead and ordered the hughes plenum fix, so thats on the table at the moment. The following things have been repaired in the last year.

-new fuel pump
-new distributor cap, rotors, and cables.
-new tranny with 20k on it
-new starter
-borla headers to catback magnaflow exaust
-performance magnaflow cat
-spectre cold air intake
-new battery and cables
-new downstream o2 sensor

other then that just cosmetic fixes and upgrades lights etc

ive got the plenum fix and a new upstream o2 going in this week. other then she runs ok, but should be better after the plenum repair. any suggestions would be great.

Moving to the correct section. Welcome to DF.

Do timing chain and gears (double roller) while you are doing the plenum. (and water pump too if it's older)

Couple other things to consider:
Tuner. Get one from Hemifever.
Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio roller rockers. (good for about 10 hp/tq.)

The tuner will REALLY wake up the motor, with all the complimentary mods you have.

Any front suspension issues? I also got my truck form a great price, but had to spend quite a bit of time and money to get it back in shape. I found that the entire front suspension needed rebuilding, which included the wheel bearings, U-joints behind the front wheels, shocks, upper+lower ball joints, track bar (upgraded to a Solid Steel adjustable unit with 3rd gen bracket), steering damper, tie rod ends, steering gearbox and drag link. This cured my death wobble that I experienced between 55 - 70 MPH.

Your truck was like mine when I got it, brakes, shocks, steering, all worn out.
I`m almost done having everything replaced. I`m waiting on my taxes so I can have the ball joints, hubs, and steering gear box replaced, and probably a couple of u-joints.

Yes, I went through the entire brake system, too. Replaced all of the steel brake lines, as the long rear line that passed beside the fuel tank is famous for rupturing. Also replaced the rear wheel hub seals, as they were allowing gear oil to leak onto my drum brakes. Replaced the inner seal in the front axle near the CAD, as it was leaking gear oil, too.

ya im redoing all the suspension underneath and lift in the coming days. i dont want work on that til the motor is where i want it. Far as the plenum goes its going in monday, and ill work on getting a water pump. do you have a link to that tuner you suggested?

correct but is their a specific model i should get, i dont wanna waste my time buying the incorrect one.

This one. Unless you plan on doing weird things to the motor. (cam, heads, intake, etc.) Even if you decide to do that later, you can upgrade to custom tunes for like 100 bucks. (and he just emails you the tunes.)

Works as a code reader too.