Hey all, been a bit subdued for a while. I'm getting older and just don't wrench like I used to. Anyway, the guards at work don't get paid squat. The engine in one of their personal vehicles started making an engine noise. The salvage yard offered them $250 for it. I told him if they didn't offer at least $500, I'd buy it and see what I can do with it. I now have an extra truck that I need like a hole in the head.

Anyway, I now have a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 with the 4.7 V-8. The guy would change the oil every 5000 miles and put gas in it but otherwise didn't do anything to it. It has plenty of oil but no oil pressure and the lifters were rattling like a brass band when I started it. I'm not impressed with the 4.7 as I'm seeing designed features like the oil pump, that look like something from a 60's AMC. I plan to drop the oil pan and see if the pan is sludged up blocking the oil pickup. I might be able to salvage the engine, but I'm not holding my breath.

What engines can I swap in, in place of a 4.7? I'm finding used ones almost as expensive as rebuilt ones. At 132K the truck is worth another engine as it doesn't have much rust. Can a 5.9 bolt up to the transmission? What will I need to swap to put a 5.9 or even a Hemi in it? Manifolds? Computer? I still have all my equipment and tools, I just don't use them much anymore.

 

I doubt a 5.9 will bolt to a half ton version trans...If your not lookin for headaches, I'd replace it with the same thing and make a few bucks.

 

The 4.7 motors have a rep. for being junk.

To do the 5.9 Cummins swap right, you would need to change the Transmission, rear end and driveshaft at least and in reality beef up the front end to 3/4 ton stuff for the 1200# motor.
Then depending on how you want the dash to work/look, wiring, computer, gauge clusters, ETC...

It might be best to sell the good sheetmetal, as at $500 invested you could get that for the clean metal pretty easy

 

I got the engine back together today. It was sludged BAD. I've seen worse, but not many. I spent a week with the pan dropped cleaning and checking. Someone has been in there previously as the oil pan bolts are supposed to be torqued in inch pounds. I had to use a cheater pipe to break some loose. Anyway, reassembled it, filled it with STP 5W-30 High mileage oil, prefilled the oil filter, cranked it over and crossed my fingers. Oil pressure went right to where it belongs and the engine quieted down. Topped the cooling system off and took it on a short test drive.

It needs tires and shocks and I suspect the u-joints made need replacing in the driveshaft. The radio likes to blink at me for a while before it decides I'm worthy of music so I'll slap a cheap radio in there as I'm half deaf and I need something to break the drone going down the road. I think I got lucky with this one.

 

If he changed oil every 5000 miles, he was putting drain oil in it. Yuck, what a mess. I haven't seen an engine like that since sometime in the early 70's.

 

I found an oil change sticker on the windshield that said the next service was due at 128,000 miles. The truck has 132,000 miles. So it looks like 9,000 or 10,000 miles on it and the coolant was low from a leaky radiator. I think I got to this truck just in time to save it from the bone yard. It's turning out to be a decent truck but needs a LOT of maintenance. It will need shocks, u-joints, tires and a steering rack in the near future.