$400 worth of 1995 Dodge Ram 1500

Welp, guess I need to learn how to engineer a gantry.

Also the seats weren't bolted down and what was left of the dashboard sort of fell off after I looked at it hard.

EDIT: after some googling, I think we could make this work with a bit of creative rigging on the engine hoist. This cab /probably/ doesn't weigh much more than a 440/727, and nobody died when we lifted that.

The 5(!?) layers of floor coverings are out, and the rust is actually not as bad as I expected, and instead of viewing this as being terrible at pre-purchase inspections, I'm going to view this as an opportunity to try sheet metal work on a vehicle that nobody is going to miss if I screw it up. I'll get pictures after I charge my phone.

EDIT:

Upon closer inspection, I think it's exactly as bad as I thought it was. There's a rubber coating of some sort glued to the metal that I think is still hiding the worst of it.

Started taking the front of the truck apart to get the V6 out. When I pulled the radiator hoses, some nasty smelling rusty water poured out, and then I pulled the trans cooler lines, nothing came out. I feel like neither is a good sign.

If the V6 is dead it's not a HUGE deal is it? It just means you're not getting money back from it.
As for the rust repair, if it were me, I'd take this as a sign that you need to do a body drop. No use putting metal back in the same place.

I had just talked myself out of the body drop, and I really wasn't that worried about the v6. I was hoping the reuse the trans at least for a little while though.

EDIT: We were thinking about doing a cab swap, but I might actually just shift focus back to fixing my red truck for a bit, then once that one is reliable again, I'll go ahead and go crazy on this one.

One broken truck at a time is good form.

Yeah if I was smart I wouldn't have bought this one but at the time it looked like I could put together quick and have a cheaper to run beater while I put the red one together how I wanted. As soon as I saw it knew that wasn't happening, but I had just driven 4 hours and figured it would still be a good cheap project,so I bought it anyway.

So it's been decided that the donor truck is somehow still too nice to cut up. So I'm considering plan...G, probably G.

Oooooh, YES!

Vette Kart.... er, I mean Ram Kart

Thinking about going and taking the cab/bed off so I can see how short the chassis can be if not limited by wheel openings.

Do it!!!!!!!!!

Chadeux wrote: So it's been decided that the donor truck is somehow still too nice to cut up. So I'm considering plan...G, probably G.

this seems like the only reasonable solution

I thought about this more while at work, I think the best way to do it would be to leave the cab floor and firewall. Just so I then don't have to come up with a new place to mount the brake master cylinder and steering column too.

Chadeux wrote: I thought about this more while at work, I think the best way to do it would be to leave the cab floor and firewall. Just so I then don't have to come up with a new place to mount the brake master cylinder and steering column too.

thats what I would do, it also retains seat mounts, pedals, gauges, and the dash if you want to retain it. I have similar plans for a crown vic and decides keeping the firewall/floor (atleast the front half of the floor) would not be as pretty, but save a lot of headaches.

Most of the dash is gone already, but the dash support bar thing is also the upper steering column mount, it probably stays.

So does anyone want the worst possible start for a Challenge truck? Otherwise I'm going to try to pull the tool boxes and wheels off of this thing and haul it to the scrap yard soon.