It is a horrid affliction and that statement rings true if you let a rig sit its horrid for it and man I would drive that black truck gingerly but the pride and joy coming from driving it ohhhhhhh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

If you like just looking at them, I believe Andrew / Pulltilbroke has a great photobucket album of 1st Gen only photos.

 

Good to know

 

Not so Jacked up at all, actually... as you and I have a lot more in common than you actually know.




I bought it new, and still drive it daily.

 

Yours is certainly much nicer than mine. My 88 is showing alot of bed rust and I hit a deer with it about 8 or 9 years ago. I bought mine 17 years ago with 101K miles on it, now has 397K miles. I have the 22RE, I see yours is the V6, but both will run forever. Here's the way I see the Dodge's, Cummins builds a 6-800,000 mile motor, Dodge put it in a 100,000 mile truck. No, I can't tow 16,000 lbs with the Toyota, but for light duty and everyday driving, nothing comes close to their reliability...I mean nothing! That's why I'm back to driving mine everyday. Here's another funny, odd fact. I sold the 92 because it was so unreliable, probably will sell the 93 at some point, but that Toyota... ain't goin' nowhere, ever.
Bill

 

Bill,

Thanks. Truck has been good to me, although the motor went, and it cost me $7k to fix it..... runs like new.... well, because it is new except for the crank.


With regards to your masterpiece in your garage.....

WIth all due respect to you, in saying.....


You remind me of a guy I know who has the most smoking hot 10++++ girlfriend on the planet. Any man, old, young or blind and who isn't gay, who meets this woman is instantly infatuated with her appearance and incredible personality. She's the sweetest, kindest, and sexiest woman that I've ever met, and yet he doesn't really want to be with , or do anything with her. It's just that every other man is WANTING to do, be and spend eternity with a woman that looks, runs and purrs as good as she does... and he's oblivious to what he's got....

So. Don't be like my buddy....... Ride that honey, MR. Ride on !

 

Great advice! Everyone regrets selling their 1st gen.

I'm back to driving my ultra reliable 1995 Grand Cherokee while I fix 5th gear and the electrical issue. We have three Grand Cherokee's because they can take a beating up here in the mountains and not get rusty. The Toyota's up here rust out long before the engine quits.

 

Hey T, I had a buddy on the job who used to say, (and I had to clean it up a tad) "show me a man with a beautiful woman and I'll show you a man that is tired of (being with her)" Use your imagination. My ex was gorgeous and rotten to the core, so I always kind of agreed with him. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. The truck is much better than the trophy wife...Mark

 

well bought my truck last jan, second owner and had 141,000 on it, now it was 165000 on it, all i have done since i owned it was heater core, tie rod ends, KDP and did the front main with it, change the fuelfilter. and reliable yes. 25 miles to the gallon highway (doing 65-70) it may have a lil oil seapage from somewhere around either the front timing over to block, or oil pan but my oil level never drops. its very annoying yes. but if its not leaving puddles or not draing oil, im trying not to be concerned about it, its a diesel its gonna seep

 

Your tiny little list is nothing, Bill.

Here is a list of items fixed/replaced in the 1992 in the past couple of years:

Cummins "RamBrake" Exhaust Brake and 3.5" exhaust installed

New crate NV4500 4x4 Transmission replaced Getrag 5 speed (Advanced adapters kit / bell housing used)

New Sachs 13" clutch

New Flywheel (Bored to accept Ball bearing input shaft bearing as upgrade to problematic bronze plain bushing)

New Engine Rear Main seal

New Transmission Mounts

New np205 transfer case rear output seal.

Axles re geared from 4:10 to 3.54 (professionally performed by Sac R&P service. inner seals replaced and the rest checked for serviceability)

6 Matching new tires

New Front Brake Pads & Rotors Turned

New Front Wheel Bearings and races (TIMKIN)

New heavy duty DOM front Tie Rod and ends. (Replaced to improve steering)

New reverse rotation Steering Box with New Drag Link.

New King Pin bushings

New Custom 2 piece 4" Drive Line with new 1410 U joints.

New Heater Core (needs A/C recharged because of this)

New Fan Clutch

New NOS Mopar Fan

New Belt Tensioner

New Serpentine belt

Valves Adjusted

New Valve cover seals

New Air Cleaner

New Fuel Filter

New headlight switch and pig tail.

New H1C 60MM cold side turbo housing and Wheel

New Upgraded "Low pressure" Piston style lift pump kit. (replaces problematic diaphragm style lift pump)

New Radiator Service by Sac Radiator

New Radiator Hoses top/bottom.

New Battery

New Isspro 3" Pyrometer

New Isspro Boost Gauge

New Front Windshield

New PDR 190 injectors.

Truck has factory 6" lift block and overloads in rear with New 5/8" ubolts.

Custom Overhead Shelf with CB radio.

New Headliner.

And after all that it still looks like a piece of junk!

Keep in mind that this is my 4th 1st Gen Truck. I did almost as much or more on my 1989 D250. Quite a lot on my 1993 W250 (55K miles burgandy you saw on ebay) and I built the 1972 Crew cab cummins from the ground up/frame off with 4 different donor trucks.

After all that work I have amassed the tools and know how needed to pretty much run these trucks through the ringer from the ground up without much hassle.

 

YOU WIN!!!
If I still had my nightmare POS, I'd go out and give it a big 'ol kiss.
Bill

 

The 1st gen are as reliable as anything as long as you keep up with things, like any vehicle.
I bought my '91 in '91. The only thing that ever broke was the A/C, which also fried the serpentine belt when it seized. Replaced them in '95.
I had to rebuild the rear axle and transmission but that had more to do with pulling a 45' triple axle trailer around the US for several years than anything else.
I finally felt guilty enough to start putting some money into the old girl and treated her to a complete new front end- kingpins, wheel bearings, spindle bearings, u-joints, brake calipers, TRE & crossover steering. A 4" lift kit, SS brake lines & 35" tires / wheels for Christmas. Lockers front & rear & new driveshafts will come in February. New fenders and shiny new paint in July.
Wouldn't trade my 1st gen for anything, not even my 2nd gen.

 

I think Dodge did it right back in the 90s. Try to work on the new diesels.. impossible to get into anything. The GM's you have to remove the entire cab to actually service that motor.

If I need to do things to my Dodge I can remove the wheel wells and panels and the motor is right there. New trucks are tac welded panels and that is just that. They don't make trucks like they use too. The 4bt/6bt is still a mechanical master piece, 20+ mpg on the highway and I feel confident I could survive a Zombie outbreak in that and not have to worry about a timing belt with plastic gears. Look at the new cummins engine, great engine don't get me wrong but it's built around an environmentalist. 10-11mpg highway and all electrical sensors. What if you smash (brush guard) a zombie and his tooth breaks off and splices the wire. The motor shuts down because of an emission issue.

There is so many sensors that tell the engine how to run and how to behave now that it's chaos. Still to this day I get laughed at for driving a brick but working on new trucks day in I will drive my brick because I am part of the few owners out there that has something no one else has.

 

Kids are snatching these trucks up left and right and bombing them for fun. 1st gens are the cheapest gateway diesel. When the kid has the $$ (or credit) they will go out and get a newer diesel in a heartbeat. Meanwhile they just kick the can down the road and the next poor person gets to deal with an abused truck. I am disgusted by the amount of bombed and ragged out 1st gen trucks out on the market right now.

One thing I can say for sure though is that 2nd gens are now finally starting to get the attention from the HS crowd.

I saw a CL ad the other day that said something to the effect of "help a girl out: I want a 94+ cummins truck for 6-7K etc to drive to high school with" Surprises me that these hard working vehicles are simply just toys to kids in HS that want a first car to look "cool" driving to school in.

 

I got about 10k in the motor alone in the last year, which includes all the work done by me, so no shop rates to inflate the price... But when everything is new ya can't complain about reliability

Only thing a shop has done is decking, honing and hot tanking the block, and hot tanking, decking, and cutting my valves in my head. Those aren't things I have the means to do myself.

I've put about 13k miles on the truck so the ford part of it hasn't seen a lot of attention. A few things need to be addressed though. It needs a new steering box and pitman arm, rear limited slip needs attention, 4wd circuit needs attention (4lo still doesnt work, i haven't been able to figure this one out yet...)

I've done the brakes (pads/rotors), a front wheel bearing (expensive! it's a complete unit for these trucks) both u-joints in the rear axle. changed the diff fluid and did the pinion seal. bought a set of rims to put my other set of tires on as a ripped a hole in my BFG MTs and haven't bought a new one yet.