So this thread is going to be on me restoring my 2001 Didn' Ram 2500 Cummins. Short story behind this truck. I bought the truck for $400 in really nice shall shape. Only rust on it was the bed. I bought a new bed for $200 at the local you pull it yard, the bed was from WV and is rust free but has a few dings here and there. Now the truck when I bought it came with no axles the factory 24V manual in the bed and had a 12V auto swapped in, also had a 96 cab. Now both lift pumps were supposedly bad on the engines. So me not liking diesel (partly because only one gas station has it in my town and it's $5.25 a gallon) I swapped in a 360 auto but am building a 1200HP Hemi to put into it. Also since I had no axles I could only find 1500 axles to put underneath it. This thread is about me making it like new again with the factory axles and tranny (I have the factory NV4500 but not swapping it behind the 360 just yet) and this thread will grow slowly as I get the time to work on it. (Right now working on a car for my pap a 56 Dodge Custom Royal police car with push button automatic and a Hemi) You guys already seen my engine painting thread and I would never these two together but I can't (admins?). I'm talking about me doing a 100% restoraRest on this truck. Striping it down to bare frame, painting everything and so on. The pictures below are how I got it and how it sits right now. On top of that I just gave the rear suspension a paint job and started to paint the frame (just to test it some paint) and ran out of paint halfway through. Do if you are interested stay tuned as you are about to enter the twilight zone (HeyYou did you get the reference? ). As it sits now: 4th Gen tow mirrors that have the puddle light and turn signal (both functional) and the turn signal i always wired in to be park lights to, throttle body sister, plenum fix with a 1/4 aluminum plate I cut myself, all Royal Purple fluids, front crank pulley seal replaced, 35in Toyo Mud Terrian on 17in Polished wheels, and 3in leveling kit (got from rock auto for $40). Soon to come: 2500 axles under it with 4.88 gears, 40in Toyo Mud Terrian (with just a leveling kit), Altas transfer case with 8.56 low reduction, 4 link front and rear that will give me right about 20in suspension flex front and 18in in the rear with front coilovers (all made and done by me), maybe an exoskeleton, off road Bumpers (probably Move Bumpers), and two warn 16,500lbs winches installed in the front and rear

 

Now so the work on this truck is going to be done by me. Now this paint job is mediocre at best there was little prep work and I was just testing out paint. Now here is is primed (the second pic is what I used we use this at work for the military vehicles)

 

Here is the axle/frame with paint




Finally clear (only the control arm bracket got clear) again this paint job was not prepped it was just too try paint. The final paint job with be smooth

 

Now if you know me I'm in love with Plum Crazy Purple. So I used the Duplicolor Purple MetalCast Paint here (suppose to make it look like purple chrome) if you look you will see the original color of the truck was green/white and the PO paint the vents green and the screws (will be changed)

 

Need to do the switch plates in purple too. Complete the look.

 

I plan to once I get my 01 cab! this old girl never left me sitting, so I think she is worth the Restoration

 

Got some newer style 2500 badges and some ram 1500 badges off a 2016 ram. Got them mounted what do you think? Also I didn't have the 2016 ram 1500 babe but thought about putting Ram on each side of the hood and used the 2500 Ram just to see where it's like. I like it what do you guys think? Also I got a chunk of the ticket missing in the same exact spot on each side from getting high centered off road. So I put on some Rostoleum stop rust primer (the orange)(even did the front seat bolts because the one on the driver's side just spun so I have to each under the cab now because I put a nut on the regular bolt I used and didn't want the other ones ridirus away) plus they Zinc primer.

 

I was actually considering de-badging mine..... I like that clean look. Too each their own though. The real test is, do YOU like it. If you do, then it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Its YOUR truck.

 

See it was debadged and I disliked it. But I liked debadged look better then the creepy factory badges on the 2nd gens. I don't like the ram on the hood because it's on the door I would like to find a 360 badge to put there. I have a Hemi one for when I swap in the Hemi. The only option I found are those cheap looking letters and numbers they Advance Auto sell

 

I don't think dodge ever did the "360" or "5.9L" badges on anything..... but then, I don't look real closely at such things either.

What about painting it on?