New to this forum but not entirely new to the world of Mopar! I’m crazy about the early Chrysler 300s. All the way from 55-71. I also love early style Lowriders (‘70s mild kustom) as well as Lead Sleds. I have a 1968 Chrysler 300 with a 440/727 combo. Working on resurrecting it back from the dead as it sat for 40 years before I got it.

That car was what brought me into the world of Mopar. I was always surrounded by Chevy/ GM cars and my previous 2 daily drivers were both Single Cab Silverados. I had an ‘06 Cateye and a ‘16 LT. Both were awesome trucks. The ‘16 was awesome, but the payments sucked and I’m just trying to focus on saving up for my wife and I.

Found a CLEAN 2001 Ram 1500 regular cab short bed Laramie SLT at a great price. Had to have it, and now I’m the lucky owner. 127,000 miles, but she seems to have been babied her whole life. 5.9 Magnum sounds absolutely beastly. Cosmetically it’s pretty straight. I’m not a big fan of the mods done by the previous owner. I’ve got my own vision I’d like to stick to.

I drove it 3 hours home with no issues. I did notice however that the truck seems to struggle at highway speeds, especially uphill climbs. Not even steep ones. It seems like i need to really floor it for the OD to kick in and even then, I’ve gotta keep my foot down for it to want to stay. I’m guessing this could be as simple as a TV cable adjustment? Also, I’m experiencing this odd “shushing” noise from inside the cab. I don’t know how else to explain it. Take a listen here:
https://youtu.be/ZcYXPIOQlBM?feature=shared

Other than that, I’d say it rides pretty good. I don’t know much of the service history on it. I plan to do a full tuneup very soon and have the transmission serviced too. Perhaps a band adjustment is in order and could help with my Highway driving. I’ve wondered if the pressure sensor and overdrive solenoid would need replacing. Surely can’t hurt to replace if the pan is already off? Might be thinking too into it. I just know of the problems these trucks are prone to and want to avoid them if I can by keeping up on regular maintenance !







Here’s the vision I have for the truck someday



of course, still keep the stock silver color! But the stance is awesome, as well as the mild custom touches. These are sharp from the factory and don’t need much to look amazing imo.

 

Nice truck! The slushing noise may be the caused by the A/C drain being clogged and residual water below the evaporator. Take a piece of plastic weedeater line, get under the passenger side of the truck and run the weedeater line into the plastic tube under the truck to unblock the tube, so that the water from the A/C will drain out.

The other thought may be that the cooling system might not be full, as they are famous for air pockets..

For the other items, a good tune-up (cap, rotor, spark plugs, spark plug wires, O2 sensors and cleaning up the throttle body) and TV cable adjustment should improve things.

 

I agree with AtomicDog regarding air pockets in coolant. I had same issue,...gurgling sounds...which got louder as time passed. In my case the heater core was just beginning to fail, eventually spewing coolant inside the cab. I was lucky, it all happened as I was replacing the hideous imploded dashboard, so access to heater core was not an issue. Your Ram looks beautiful very nice, clean truck. Enjoy your new Ram.

 

Thanks both for the suggestions! I’ll see about snaking that drain line to make sure it isn’t clogged. Also too, I guess I can best describe the sound I’m hearing as a ventilator / breathing sound rather than gurgling water. Kinda like Darth Vader breathing if I’m being entirely honest lol. I’ve read on other vehicles that this could be a sign of a failing expansion valve, though I know on our cars the Orifice Tube / Valve are a combination. Although my climate control works perfectly now I just hope to fix it before something bad happens.

 

If it isn't broke, don't fix it. Otherwise, as Red Greene says, "It it's not broke, you're not tryin'". Seriously, I didn't hear any problems. I did hear some road and wind noise, but that's normal. I'll admit though, I'm deaf as a post. One thing you need to invest in is a dash cover. Your dash top is pristine. The sun eats these up. I put a plastic cover on my '96 and had to use screws as there wasn't enough of the original cover to glue to. Cloth covers protect it from the sun and add a touch of luxury.

What engine do you have? V-6, 5.2 or 5.9. My '96 with the 5.9 has no shortage of power but I just did a major tune up. With the low miles, it's possible you have some internal rust on the exhaust system. This would hold back the power. A vacuum gauge will tell you how the engine is working and breathing.

I'm not a fan of lowering trucks. I think yours looks just fine as it is. However, my trucks work. If I'm not hauling stuff, I'm dragging logs on my tree farm.