Bought well maintained 200k mile 2001 ram 1500 4x4 5.9 gas truck. What are some worthy upgrades that aren’t a waste of money on this truck. I was thinking 2 inch leveling kit, new wheels (265 75r16), aftermarket backup camera, and tightening up front end steering with either steering box refurbish or sway bar. Any ideas. I will not tow anything with this and don’t wanna lift it for bigger tires.

 

I think 265's were a stock option on the 4x4's.... Do you plan to haul anything in the bed? If so, I would leave the front end where it is. There should already be a front sway bar.

Inspect the front end, and ALL of the steering, from the wheel, out to the tires. See where your slop is coming from, and address it. Something else to keep in mind, the 'replacement' steering boxes you get from your local parts store, really aren't the best, and may even be in worse condition than what is currently on the truck...

 

I agree -- if you're satisfied with the steering, don't try to fix what ain't broke. If it's already quite sloppy, then you don't have much to lose.

Run through everything on the HVAC, the blend doors like to fail.

I'd personally find a way to add recovery points up front and I like the t-case saver for the NP231. Eliminate the check valve for the 46re.

 

I will not be hauling anything other than yard waste and garage sale finds a couple of times a year. It has a spray on bed liner.

 

I've replaced or rebuilt most of my front end and still have a bit of slop. I'm waiting for warmer weather, and getting two other projects out of the way, then will replace my ball joints. About the only thing left on the front end anyway. On your truck, if you can ask the previous owner about the timing chain, I would. Otherwise I'd check it for slop. A sloppy timing chain will use extra fuel and the 5.9 isn't that thrifty to begin with.

Now, unfortunately, I don't remember the brand, the the previous owner of my '96 put a custom exhaust on it. I think it's a Flowmaster system. I do remember he said it was 44's. It sounds gooooood! Alas, because of the design, the spare now is in the bed as they block the under bed tire storage. I got some all-thread rod and a spare tire hold down for a 1967-84 Chevy car and have it mounted in the bed on one of the holes from a tools box. It makes cargo loading much easier with the tire out of the way.

 

I stayed with a 3" single exhaust pipe system to save room for being able to continue to store my spare tire under the truck. The spare tire is 33" tall, so I have to deflate it to get it to fit in between the frame rails. I carry a small air compressor/pump in the truck to inflate the spare in the event of a flat tire. As for the exhaust system, I run shorty JBA coated headers and I'm using the following muffler and converter: Dynomax UltraFlo Welded Muffler - 17233 (3" inlet and outlet) and Magnaflow Converter - 99047HM (dual 2" inlets, 3" outlet, front O2 sensor port). This system works well. The muffler flows well and the sound is pretty quiet until the motor revs to about 2500 rpm and above.

 

Ask away:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ring-saga.html

 

I had a flownaster in my 2000 durango years ago and loved it. Nothing too crazy, just low end growl. My spare linkage underneath is broken, had to carry spare in bed. I fear I have the dreaded plenum Gasket failure. I h
hear a whistle coming from engine. I might start with pvc valve first to see if it gets better. I have mechanic friend who owes me a full Saturday tearing it down. I might as well put a few things on since I’m tearing it down, maybe water pump, belt, trans cooler, bigger throttle body, etc?

 

The spare tire mechanisms are pretty easy to swap out and are readily available. That would get your spare back under the bed to save space for other things being hauled in the truck bed.

I recently installed a modified throttle body. It definitely helped to improve the truck's throttle response.

I found that re-gearing the front and rear axles to 4.10 gearing (from 3.55) helped the truck's performance, especially after installing taller 33" tires.