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1st Gen. Ram - All TopicsDiscussion for all Dodge Rams prior to 1994. This includes engine, drivetrain and non-drivetrain discussions. Anything prior to 1994 should go in here.
I have driven it on one rainy day so far here in Texas and it acted 100% normal.
I do not have any technical answers to that question though, it handles great overall.
Jim,
I will be checking that headlight adjuster modification out as I agree it is all to easy to bust up the OEM 30 year old adjusters.
Yes, the originals break easily as I discovered the hard way as brittle as they had become. But the new replacements (42188) broke upon installation! The design overall is horrible.
Finally replaced my faulty oil pressure sender with a genuine cummins part. I also replaced the connector because the tab was long broken off and after multiple cleanings $18 was money well spent. Nice to have a steady reading on my dash again.
I ordered a full set of ProComp ES3000 shocks from 4 Wheel Parts back in December. I got the rears within a couple of days but apparently the fronts were on backorder at the time but no ETA was given. I was holding off install of the rears because I wanted to install all of the shocks at once. I finally called a few weeks ago to get an update and was told Jan. 21st was the ETA. Still no shipping notice as of last week so I called again. ETA was pushed to near the end of February. So I installed the rears on Thursday. Only a few miles on them so far but I think I can feel a much less harsh of a ride compared to the Bilstein's I had previous. I'd like to get a new set of spring packs from Atlas Springs which should make another improvement over this original factory set. Without an auxiliary overload pack, the rear squats quite a bit with about a 3400lbs payload.
Replaced all the rubber brake cable with braided stainless. The RWAL system is now permanently deleted along with about 3ft of hardline that zig zags back there between the valve and the axle drop line.
Replaced the calipers too. There were bits of rubber hose in 1 of the banjo bolts.
The driver's caliper looked a bit blown out:
Nice! Braided is the way to go. Where'd you get yours?
Such a big difference in my pedal. I had them custom made locally. I just looked up the specs on rockauto and drew pictures. Ran $160 in socal and had them ready in 15min. Mesa hose in costa mesa. I added a couple inches to the axle drop lines to account for the 2" lift from my deavers.
"I had them custom made locally", nice to have that option!
Is deavers a spring or what? Maybe I missed that thread.
Never mind, I just did a quick search (imagine that concept) and saw where you installed them last summer, how you liking them so far?
It is nice to have that option, but any hydraulic hose shop should be able. Yeah, the springs are working out really well. No complaints yet and I've had them offroad quite a bit during quail season out here.
Gotta get my head gasket sorted out next, then either nv4500 or rebuilt 518 time, gotta give the heap some high dollar love after 400k on the clock.
I just finished resealing the injection pump, cleaning and repacking the front wheel bearings and installing two new calipers and hoses. I also added a 3200rpm governor spring while I had the pump off. Boy does it sound strange revving up past the old 2800 limit.
Jimbo, did you have to cut anything to install that? IIRC in the pics of the deck it looked like you would not have to .. thanks
No cutting needed with the way I installed it. I used the brackets for the screen that came with it, cut them short and mounted them to the bottom of the "shelf / step" above the radio. In my opinion, the angle is just right for me. I've yet to see it during the daytime to look for any amount of glare on the screen, if any at all. The plan was to make keyhole slots in their faces in order to make the screen removable so as not to capture the attention of criminal opportunists. There just wasn't quite enough material on them to be able to do so. In the meantime, I have it permanently attached with screws but I plan to make brackets out of aluminum angle so that I can follow through with my plan to make it removable. I modified the mounting / trim ring for the RGB cable to stick through. When the screen is removed, I'm able to push the cable back, leaving just the connector sticking out.
I'd like to come up with a way to either paint the chassis and DIN sleeve or cover it with a small sheet of something black so that it looks more complete. The brackets will certainly become more attractive and be painted also. I still have other connections to make at the rear such as AV cable extensions for rear view / back-up and front view (maybe) cameras and other inputs/outputs. I'll take a few more detailed pictures when that happens. I'm trying to find an ideal location for a back-up camera. Somewhere in the back looking aft, right??
During some early research about fooling the video-in-motion interlock, I stumbled upon and bought a "micro bypass" pigtail which tricks the unit into thinking the parking brake is set. Not as if I plan to watch videos or do any browsing at all while in motion but it will be nice to be able to access some features while at a stop light without having to set the brake. There are specific pigtails for the various units but this one is specified for a variety of Pioneer units including all of the NEX series. Simple to wire into the radio's harness; green ties to the green "parking brake" wire, black to ground and blue to the blue/white remote control (amp trigger) wire. Done and works as promised! For now, all is working as expected. It has Spotify, Pandora, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, HD radio, is Sirius XM-ready and it controls my very old iPod Classic without a hiccup. A drastic improvement from the single DIN that I had for many years, to the 6.8" screen of the new unit! I'm diggin' it!
That looks great Jim. Please provide as many pics as you can. I would love to put one of those in my truck but it will have to wait until we complete the move to Okiehoma. We're in a trailer park and only repairs I can do will be emergency stuff like a new alternator for the wife's Equinox.
Not much on Ol' Patches, but moved Sno-ball into the shop for some work....Changed the oil, and have been trying to trace a power drain, figured out it is in the exterior light circuit with the headlight switch off, but I removed or unplugged every light in the system and I still have a huge power draw, all sockets and connections look good, even unplugged all the wiring from the original plow controls on the driver side of the dash. Checked all the grounds I could find...not sure if there are any wiring to body grounds in the back section of a Ramcharger, never had a RC apart.