Looking at a 2000 ram 2500 regular cab. Its a 360 gas engine auto trans truck, regular cab.. has high miles about 180k.

What should I look out for? This is rust belt, and its showing some rust on the body. Are there frame failures going on from rust? If so, what areas on the frame do I need to pay more attention to?

How about the axles, anything I need to check on? Leaking fluid I'll catch.

Transmission... any driving tests that would bear out any problems?

Anything special to the 2nd gens that I need to keep on the lookout for?

Thanks!

 

Read the plenum sticky. Search around some.

 

first off if you can take off the air filter and look down the throttle body with a light and look for copious amounts of oil, if so then the plenum gasket is done and thatll have to repaired right off the bat. also give the ball joints and u joints and front end parts a run through and look for damage. Check for abnormal tire wear which is usually a good sign of sht house ball joints. these trucks didnt have the best front ends off the lot. At 180k, the tranny on that truck will probably be just about dead if its stock unless they took care of it which most people didnt and paid well for it. I honestly wouldnt touch it unless its cheap as hell or has a rebuilt tranny. As far as the rust goes, id be mostly worried about excessive rust on the axles or even inside the cab under the carpet as well as the frame of course. i'd use your best judgement and posting some photos will help me and the rest of us give you a better idea.

 

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll have a look at the plenum threads. I thought I saw the heads could be an issue, seller says one head was replaced a few years ago.

I had asked about the trans, seller says it was rebuilt by the previous owner (fleet owned). I was aware that the 2nd gen transmissions had some issues. Other than driving it and looking at the fluid, any tell tale signs about this particular trans that its on its way to needing rebuilt? I've seen $1500 average on a rebuild, rather not do that.

Its pretty affordable. Body rust isn't too scary for me, I have a mig and some sheet metal experience. One rocker looks bad. Fenders are cheap and easily swapped. Seller says doors aren't rotted. Bed sides look solid enough. Tailgates are cheap.

Truck won't see daily usage, its weekend warrior usage, drag the 7500lb trailer, and a 40 mile round trip winter commute when the roads are bad enough to warrant 4x4. I want about 3 years out of this thing... probably 6k miles max per year.

I think I can make this work if I don't have major events, like engine/trans/axles or a frame issues.

 

So this truck is 4X4? Well i have 96 2500 4X4 and can give you info on what i have replaced. All ball joints, drag link, Right side tie rod end, wheel ujoints, fuel pump, water pump (at least three times), Heater core and fixed the rear brake line that burst when i went to stop. Oh and the plenum fix. The rear barke line (between the frame and gas tank) rusts out and will burst when it get to thin. I would look close a the front end, Most likely you will need to replace something there. Also keep in mind that you are not suppoed to use the overdrive when towing. I have seen plenty of others do this and fry the tranz. I would add a trans cooler if you get it if it doesn't already have one. The frames start to rust under the steering gear(on both sides) there is a indent in the frame that catches water. Hope this helps.

 

Yes its 4x4. got a chance to look at it and drive it yesterday. The steering wanders alot, I went under and grabbed the ties and could move them around - so they need replaced. I can't imagine the ball joints are any better. I've never done a front end like this one, so I looked it up. Seems like I'll want to go after the u joints while I'm at it. I imagine I would be in for...not fun times... trying to separate the hub on this monster. The rotors are eaten up by rust, so I'd rebuild the brakes while in there.

I'm wondering about the steering gear, there was so much back and forth - I'm thinking its worn out or needs adjusted badly.

Also there is a scraping noise in the column, something is rubbing in there. Any clues to that one?

I drove a v10 right after (2wd). Wow big difference in performance! The 360 was lumbering, the v10 ran really strong. I have to get some seat time in another 360 3/4 ton to see if this engine is down on power or not.

ABS light is on, as well as brake, and he says his reader said its a speed sensor. I glanced at the abs unit near the firewall, looked like it was rear only abs to me. Is there a tone ring on the rear ring gear? I imagine one wheel up front has the other sensor.

This 360 truck is very affordable, but I'm trying to make sure that my parts list and time doesn't get crazy large. Sometimes its just better to spend more $ initially, I've made that mistake once before... so I'm treading carefully.

 

Steering boxes are notorious for wearing, sometimes, you can simply adjust it, and get rid of most of it.

Scraping noise: Coming from inside the truck, or outside?

The V-10 is a MUCH more powerful motor than the 360. Not nearly as much aftermarket support though... so, keep that in mind. If the 360 has a lot of miles on it, it will lose power. Blown plenum, and worn timing chain/gears contribute dramatically to that.

If you only have rear ABS, there is only the sensor on the rear diff. No sensors on front wheels. (there is a speed sensor on the trans though, but, that is used for determining shift points.....) Does the speedo work the way it should?

There are upgrades you can do to the truck to improve the steering from the stock system, there are also improvements you can do to the 360 engine, to bump performance some. You can only get so much without pulling the motor though.

 

Scraping noise from inside the cab. Its in the column. Didn't know if this was common or not.

Replacement steering gear is like $300+ Worst case is I replace it I guess...

I'm not sure on the speedo, I was paying more attention to the steering. I completely forgot to take my code reader. I'll get the guy to tell me the codes that came up on his.

Anymore, seems like a basic strong short blocked topped off with modern well flowing heads makes a huge difference. Are there affordable heads and intakes that allow the use of the stock TBI ? I'd have to keep all the emissions stuff, I'm in an area that inspects for that.

I've been reading that many poeple say the cylinder bores don't really wear on the 360s. What is possible using aftermarket heads/intake/camshaft but still be OBD computer/emissions compliant? They basically do a visual inspection looking for the air pump and read off the OBD codes. I have to stay compliant, else I can't drive it.

 

The scraping is probably nothing to drastic then. Just a couple plastic pieces rubbing together..... Finding them will be the fun part.

Don't bother with the parts store steering boxes. A good percentage of the time, the 'new' one you install, turns out worse than the one you are replacing. Go with the Borgeson, or Red Head steering box. Also, if you have to replace tie rod ends, and other such link, consider doing the crossover steering conversion. Far superior to the Y-config that is stock.

Cylinders may not wear overmuch, but, I would still run a compression test (or, better yet, leakdown) on the engine before sinking a bunch of money into the top end. The rings still wear.....

Odessa/Clearwater cylinder heads are good quality, and MUCH less expensive than everyone else. You can get a pair of brand new (better than) stock heads for around 600, you can get a pair of big valve heads for around a thousand. Hughes Air-Gap, and Mopar M1 intake manifolds I do believe have CARB E.O. numbers, so, can be installed in place of the stock manifold. (and flow MUCH better) Cams get tricky. You can only go so far before custom tuning is required, but, Hemifever tunes, or Flyin' Ryan tunes are much better than stock in any event, and custom tuning is only a bit more on top of that. So you can go pretty much as wild as you want, so long as you can still make it pass a sniffer test. (if you have one of those...)

96 and newer V-8's don't have EGR, and only the "heavy duty" engines have an air pump. Not sure on the V-10's...... Only real emissions equipment you need to concern yourself with is the cat, (and their are highflow direct replacements available.) and the vapor recovery system. (which is good to keep in working order in any event.) You can do long-tubes, and cats as well. (which is actually a better idea for a truck....) Pacesetter is about the only company that still makes long tubes for the Ram's though. Unless you want to spend nearly a grand on a set of headers......

Other options would be stroking the motor..... and bumping displacement up some. (up to 426 cubes, if you want to spend the money.....) But, those builds are not cheap....

Another consideration is the trans. The 46RE found behind the V-8s doesn't have the best reputation. So, if you build a motor to put out some good power, better figure on rebuilding the trans to be able to deal with it as well.

 

Thanks, plenty of info to chase down.

I stumbled into this site:
www.RockSolidRamTruckSteering.com
I'm wondering if the noise I hear in the column is caused by a worn out intermediate shaft support bushing.