To start forgive me if this is in the wrong place. Hello to all and a happy new year I've been busy with work to the point this has gotten pushed off for months now and its finally time to make a move. So What I have is a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 quad short bed I've been driving this as my DD and I'm ready to fix the body or buy a newer truck. Reasons for replacement the current Ram has no usable sheet metal minus some in the cab I live in Wisconsin so clean used parts are hard to come by and to go out west and buy them would be nearly 5000 for parts and shipping then they still need to be installed and most shops wouldn't do a full body swap due to the V.I.N tag, I know of the ways around this . To repair the truck were talking 8000 that's with a few extras new seat covers and some bumper an suspension upgrades, my limit was 10,000 and with a little over 300,000 on the clock and a auto shes only worth 11,000 on a good day. My other option is a 2001-2005 newer Dodge Ram 2500 or 3500 manual 4X4 but all of these clean trucks around here are 3000-7000 over book what should I do? Just a piece of what I've been looking at http://www.prestigeauto.com/ViewAll.htm the 01,02,03 and 06 were a couple ones I could find in the area with clean body's now the 06 is the only one with a manual. Thanks for the help and have a great new year.

Just my 2 cents.. I was in your boat 3 years ago, I went to a guy locally that goes to NC and buys up southern boxes, doors, fenders etc and brings them back to Canada to resell. We talked and I said to him for the money i'm dumping into mine, it's still not worth much more then what I put in it when i'm done. Now, I realize this guy is selling when I say this, but he said to me in his opinion if I plan on keeping mine for a while fix what I have because from what he is seeing, the 98-02 model years are some of the better. He has sold many Cummins engines for the 03-06 model years, and he claims he thinks the body panels dont seem to be as good. My biggest thing was I didn't want to get into the engine issue, I even have a buddy with an 04 and one with an 04.5, the 04 had an engine replacement, the 04.5 had injector issues. Yes, I know there's issues with all, but this is some of what I based my decision on when deciding to fix mine up or not. Although it would be nice to have to something newer

I have an 00 gen 2 and an 05 gen 3 and while I don't have any specs to verify this, I think the panels on my 05 are a bit thinner than the ones on my 00.I swear I can bump the 05 door panel with my body to close it and if I am not careful I can dent the panel.Same trick on the 00 and no bad results.I had an old 85 Ford F-250 that had even heavier steel in the sheetmetal.I think when you live in an area where the roads are heavily salted in the winter that you not only eat up your sheetmetal but you also badly eat up everything that is metal (frame, ball joints steering etc., etc.).I don't think just replacing the sheetmetal will be the end of the expense. You can dump $8-10k in it and still have to replace all the other things down the road.Maybe a viable option would be to shop for a truck that comes from some non salt using area and then you would something of more value in the end.Don't know the specifics of what you would like to have (crew cab, 4x4, SB or LB, dually or ??) but I have seen some pretty fairly priced trucks in Florida and Texas. I am sure if you did some serious searching (and didn't mind traveling to pick something up) then you would find something better than what you can get up there in Wisconsin.

Thanks for the opinions after shopping around if I buy newer it will not be from Wisconsin though I have seen a few people that are driving southern trucks up here then selling them for an arm and a leg Ill have to keep the options open right now. But to help the decision along it will be going to a shop to have the compression tested and the injectors pop tested. If I fix it up this was the plan and the truck that I would turn this one into is the ideal truck I'm looking for Which I don't think exists . First off I would like it to be a stick shift I work in construction and pull some heavy trailers even 20k lb off road fork lifts usually not far though less than ten miles I'm thinking of being creative and going with a 3rd gen 6spd opinions? Its purely out of being unique and I thought that was one of the toughest well between that and the nv4500 I don't know thats a whole other can of worms I know I have gone through three automatics in 300,000 miles and the 3rd one which is still in there is starting to get a little weird. Second was I plan to buy a whole donor truck preferably a manual in a color of my liking I don't want to paint it if I don't have but no matter what happens part of it will be re covered thats to make the swap easier. When the body is off the whole chassis will be coated with the best thing for the job... undecided yet thinking linex, por15 or powdercoat this I would really need thoughts on when the panels are off the whole uderside inside and 12-16 inches of the lower outside will be covered for protection I will have to be careful not to use something that will make the truck not go back together right last but not least due to the fact that I spend 800 dollars a year in tires I'm going with a friend that can source 37inch millitary radials for 100-125 so thus meaning my tuck will be lifted to clear 37s Im thinking Thuren 3inch up front with carli +2" control arms and a whole pile of other stuff up there from track bar to steering stabilizer and sway bar end links then carli out back. Long story short my 1999 would be off the road for 6 months to a year and I'd probably end up with 15k in it before it was over because I still need a bigger winch but I think it would be worth it

As of right now the truck will be getting repaired a guy up here brought back some parts from Texas for someone else and the fell through so I got the chance to make an offer in short I will be looking at it today and if all goes well I'll have a cab fenders and doors all rust free from Texas I he wanted 2k for everything minus bed including the 5.9 v8 and chassis I offered him 1500 and he said that would be good is this a good deal? I will post pics after I get back. The only problem now is I need to find a bed and then it will all have to go and get some fresh paint.