Its time for a new-to-me truck

[cptbarkey]

I've been on the hunt for a replacement truck. I am near ready for bigger projects that require more towing capability. My Silverado will be sold to a family friend later this year. I won a 2003 Ram 3500 6 speed 4x4 manual at auction. She is entirely clapped out inside and somewhat outside. AC? Heat? What AC controls? Those are now options as there is a gaping hole where one once was. Stereo works with a USB port. The driver seat was gross, so I sat on a beach towel. The fender and hood do not match the rest of the body, and the tailgate which does not open is red. Its patriotic. The carfax showed no wrecks, so those white parts happened for whatever reason my imagination will think up. The odometer works, but carfax kindly outlined that its not original. I need to do some math but its probably in the 350k+ odo range. The truck fired right up in the auction lot and the engine sounds wonderful with I believe little to no blow by.

A friend escorted me with a boatload of recovery tools, of which only 1.5 gallons of water was needed to top off the radiator. Why 1.5 gallons? I think the water pump is weeping as it was flickering lightly off the belt at idle. Anyway, the front end is a little floaty, when turning the wheel right it takes too much or not enough vague effort that doesn't track well, but turning left is fine. My friend escorted me 60 miles back home. It was mostly uneventful. 3 miles out I was having a little bit of fun rolling coal, and the drive belt let go. I muscled it to the front of my house with no power brakes, no power steering, no alternator charging, and no water pump turning. It didnt overheat best I can tell. Here it sits in my front yard, ready for a full assessment.

Sigh.

 

[Zee09]

I hope you checked it for recalls ...

 

[JohnnyG]

I LOVE carfax.

 

[AZjeff]

I LOVE carfax.

It tells you some things but not everything.

OP you're a braver man than I.

 

[cptbarkey]

It tells you some things but not everything.

OP you're a braver man than I.

Thank you, brave is kind. My friend who escorted me is also my good luck charm and thanks to his divine presence today things worked out ok. After taking a rest and looking things over, the belt slipped off because the water pump pulley shifts around. Next weekend it will get tackled.

 

[RhondaHonda]

What did that set you back? This makes me think of some old threads detailing @GON’s purchases.

Were you able to inspect before the auction?

 

[02SE]

Thank you, brave is kind. My friend who escorted me is also my good luck charm and thanks to his divine presence today things worked out ok. After taking a rest and looking things over, the belt slipped off because the water pump pulley shifts around. Next weekend it will get tackled.

The good news is that it's probably one of the easiest water pumps to replace.

 

[fantastic]

It's a piece of art. I've Been here before but w/only a 225k mile Ford. Gives you something to work on & use in the meantime. Let us know how it goes in this thread if you can.

 

[CarbonToast]

That's a cool project and will be a nice rig

 

[cptbarkey]

What did that set you back? This makes me think of some old threads detailing @GON’s purchases.

Were you able to inspect before the auction?

I am too shy to say, but comps on fb marketplace I paid a little too much but not enough where my stomach turned. The auction house is a family run business and are good folks, I've bought/sold from them for awhile now and will give more business. Diesel truck prices of this era (no emissions) are sky high insane, I looked hard for a 7.3 powerstroke but too many long distance risks or fb marketplace people interactions I didnt want to take. I did inspect the truck a month ago in person, took many photos but never started it or test drove.

 

[97prizm]

I've been on the hunt for a replacement truck. I am near ready for bigger projects that require more towing capability. My Silverado will be sold to a family friend later this year. I won a 2003 Ram 3500 6 speed 4x4 manual at auction. She is entirely clapped out inside and somewhat outside. AC? Heat? What AC controls? Those are now options as there is a gaping hole where one once was. Stereo works with a USB port. The driver seat was gross, so I sat on a beach towel. The fender and hood do not match the rest of the body, and the tailgate which does not open is red. Its patriotic. The carfax showed no wrecks, so those white parts happened for whatever reason my imagination will think up. The odometer works, but carfax kindly outlined that its not original. I need to do some math but its probably in the 350k+ odo range. The truck fired right up in the auction lot and the engine sounds wonderful with I believe little to no blow by.

A friend escorted me with a boatload of recovery tools, of which only 1.5 gallons of water was needed to top off the radiator. Why 1.5 gallons? I think the water pump is weeping as it was flickering lightly off the belt at idle. Anyway, the front end is a little floaty, when turning the wheel right it takes too much or not enough vague effort that doesn't track well, but turning left is fine. My friend escorted me 60 miles back home. It was mostly uneventful. 3 miles out I was having a little bit of fun rolling coal, and the drive belt let go. I muscled it to the front of my house with no power brakes, no power steering, no alternator charging, and no water pump turning. It didnt overheat best I can tell. Here it sits in my front yard, ready for a full assessment.

Sigh.

View attachment 219918

Are you planning on a full tear down? Those with the 6 speed manual I presume are sweet.

 

[cptbarkey]

Are you planning on a full tear down? Those with the 6 speed manual I presume are sweet.

No nothing like that. Getting it home today was a milestone in itself and many concerns are gone when it comes to the engine or transmission. I think this truck was more or less neglected in the last 7~ years maintenance wise.

My plan is to make it reliable without spending stupid money or modifications. 1) Get the belt system refreshed 2) all fluids dumped/filled 3) Steering and/or front end suspension issues fixed 4) gauges to monitor everything 5) junkyard interior swap, maybe find matching color fenders/hood 6) maybe convert the bed to a flatbed. I'm not interested in tuning, it got this far on its own and no plans to mess with that. There is no doubt a laundry list of unknowns.

Finally a goose-neck deck-over trailer, 12k winch, that does not require me to get a CDL. I want to tow safer. All of these things might take 12-24 months balancing work and family.

 

[hemioiler]

I envy you guys in the sounthern states and your rust free trucks. That era of dodge up here in canada would be completely rotten through by now leaving a perfectly strong running cummins sitting on the ground between 4 bits of rubber.

 

[cptbarkey]

This water pump has lived a hard life. The internal bearing failed, bent, the fin hit the block and ripped off. I was able to recover the fin chunk which is sitting on top of the housing). I cant tell what brand it is but will spray things off later.

The coolant itself looked OK, still green with only a mild cloud of brown. I've seen much worse. I will pour it back in and do a block test for exhaust gasses just to be certain nothing is wrong. I have Rotella ELC on order for new fluid.

The air filter was not very effective because it was missing a bit of the outer rubber seal. I'll just say it was as useful as a rock catcher K&N and move on. A new Purolator is on order.

The front suspension is a basket case of neglect, including a driver side axle seal leak. I am not bothering with any of that until I can get it running again.

The Wix filter looks like a post-video shoot of a certain genre.

The front AC condenser isnt really a condenser anymore, and only providing a shield to more important bits. It looks suspiciously like a child pressed onto it a few times. I believe I did the same in my childhood a few times.

 

[fantastic]

Starting the assessment & diving in to see what's lurking in this beast. That oil filter is about as huge as the 7.3L. I'd imagine you will get to changing the Thermostat while you're at it. That A/C condenser is toast. What can happen too is one goes to the car wash & then blasts the coils with the wand sprayer consequently bending them. I've bought one of those plastic fork kits that you can use to straighten them back out for now if you don't plan on changing it yet. Keep at it!

 

[cptbarkey]

Went ahead and drained the oil to see if there was any evidence of water mixing and pulled the filter. Exactly 12 quarts came out. The old oil looked fine and was happy to see a full 12 quarts drained, nothings less or nothing more. Will C&P the Wix filter later.

I want it to have its best chance in life, in went sacrificial 12 quarts of Rotella T4 15W40, and a Donaldson DBL7349.

Here is what I gleaned from the carfax for odometer mileage.
321680 8/27/2012
116857 1/23/2018
134695 9/16/2021
153401 5/1/2024 <-- auction listing
153459 5/20/2024 <-- in my front curb

For simplicity I'm just going to say it has 153459 miles on my tracker. I could try to buffer mileage in that 5 and a half year black hole gap, but the gap had consistent state inspections, so whoever that owner was at least diligent with keeping it on the road.

Now for a few more horror show pictures:

Somewhere there is a steering gear under that layer of crud. My wallet keeps getting lighter.

While I was down there I also noticed the transfer case to front axle shaft was deleted. Ok, a few less things to worry about until I feel like assessing the entire 4x4 system.

That is my cat Brisket, he is dumb as rocks but a sweetheart.

 

[Brons2]

I envy you, taking on a project like this would have me sleeping in the garage. The wife would not stand for it.

 

[cptbarkey]

Crankcase vent unit leaking like a sieve. New unit and small hose is on order. Previous owner(s) cobbled things. Sigh. 7 cans of brake cleaner took care of most of the mess.

New valve cover gasket on order as well, just waiting for it to come in. Cleaning things up.

Still waiting on parts, so filled a 30 gallon trash can of trash. Started vacuuming half of the truck and then the neighbor stopped by and we chatted until dark. Will do the other half tomorrow. This carpet might be salvageable after a pressure wash and repaint with spray paint. Did the same thing on a previous truck project and it worked extremely well.

 

[cptbarkey]

Discovered one of the ex owners was a fill in the blank trope: A High school kid who left a letter from his school with many weeks of unexcused absences. I hope he still tried afterwards. In his honor, I did what he didn't do, a cheap valve cover spray job.

 

[Exhaustgases]

For a few hundred it was an okay deal.