Today I was dismantling my 92 Dodge donor truck and noticed the rad support was not in first class condition. Since the crew cab project body is 99% rust free I figured I would check all the usual internet aftermarket body suppliers to see if I could find a replacement. It seems that the aftermarket run of the Dodge parts is drying up. Browns, Rock Auto that supplies Sherman, and Mill Supply no longer list any radiator supports for 81-93 gas or diesel.

The unusual thing about my rad support is where it developed rust. Normally the area below the battery is the rust out area but mine has lost part of the triple laminated area below the center of the radiator. The designed factory flaw was to have a hole in the top layer that was not sealed to the second layer in an area that has a tendency to accumulate a small amount of water even though there is a drain hole.

What REALLY erks me is if this was an 82 Chevy I could buy an aftermarket replacement rad support for $163.

So now I'm going to have to do a repair by cutting off the top layer and replacing it. I hate doing rust repair.

So the bottom line is that if you have a good one you better clean it up the next time you have your radiator out. They aren't making these anymore.

 

What years/engines were identical to the Cummins ones? If any.

 

yea 73-87 chevy parts grow on trees because those trucks really took off. aftermarket is so strong for them. my dad got out of 73-87 chevy trucks to get into 1st gen dodges but its so weird because nothing is available

 

Did you try LMC Truck Parts? They have a lot of hard to find Ford stuff, maybe they have a stash of Dodge parts too.

 

LMC only has parts for those rounded Dodge trucks. No one has told them Dodge made diesel pickups before 94.

 

I think the problem is/was there were only two aftermarket sources for body panels. Unfortunately the sales of these parts did not meet similar expectations of what was sold for Chevrolet and Ford trucks. Production being based on demand through sales therefore ceases to exist. The other factor is that most of the Dodge gassers in my part of the world are generally owned by the lower income folks. When they need a door or fender they go to an autowrecker and buy a ratty mismatched body part and toss it on so it can pass state inspection.

Chrysler still lists a gasser version with a list price in the $900 range, nothing for the Diesel. From memory the aftermarket version was around $180. Quite a difference in price.

Car-part.com has some listed but only two or three are listed as diesel versions. Then it's sort of a crap shoot as what you will end up with. It could end up being worse than what I already have.

 

For $900 you could pay a professional metalworker to make a better-than-new one from scratch. I can't believe they can get away with prices like that.

 

Hmmm.... Yeah PM Me Trevor. Are you talking about the Core support? OR the crossmember?

I found a 1992 Dodge Ram Charger in the junk yard last week. I cut the frame completely off fwd of the firewall so I can have the engine and fwd crossmember... The rad support was there as well...

 

I got a hard to find one out in the garage..91 Non i/c

Got a few I/C rad supports up in the attic, they're not going anywhere though because I'm gonna see if i can get more parts than "tdimark"