MoparFreak1988

Ordered monstaliner for the undercoating Friday I have taken pictures but I am having problems being this is my new camera and software how to upload them that's problem one . Problem two is I have a buddy selling 3rd gen wheels with 315/70/17 tires on them will they fit he's in Illinois. Hence why we haven't just tried putting them on. his truck was stock to the best of our knowledge and he bought it as such. Then is 400 a good deal the wheels and tires being the tires are only about 30 to 40 percent. Lastly I'm stuck between three colors and would like to know what your opinions are. First off depending on the undercoating it may or may not have black rockers and lower body protection. Onions in regard to that are appreciated. Then assuming it has black rockers what would go best with that a graphite silver, patriot blue variation or a forest green variation.

I am waiting on a I ordered yesterday its called monsterliner, a good friend turned me on to this product he has a 1985 jeep wrangler completely covered with this product and I have personally seen this product get drug over rocks that line-x wouldn't survive, I say this because I have damaged my line-x that is in my bed now with a shovel oops. http://www.monstaliner.com/monstaliner_why_choose.htm. I am doing the whole underside of my truck with it. Depending on looks the rockers as well the company that makes the product has been around for almost a hundred years now so I'd say they have stood the test of time. I ordered the two gallon black kit yesterday and plan to apply next weekend and I will document the whole process and take plenty of pictures.

You don't have any aftermarket remote starters or remote entry on there do you? we had two cars neither of which were diesels that would die over time if they weren't run. we found there was a drain from the remote starter system about .2-.4 over 1 week on both cars. both cars had the same viper system installed by a technician viper claims they weren't installed correctly so I pulled both systems and now no problem... On the maintainer side we (me and my father) make a 30 watt solar charger kit. You can make this yourself in about a hour for 45 dollars plus a solar panel (about 130 total- ours go for 160). They use a deltran battery tender controller and can put out up to 2.5 amps most often right around 2 amps in the sun and is always at least 13.4 volts even in shade (assuming you use a 30 watt panel) it works just like the original trender and will not damage you battery's. The controller (http://batterytender.com/products/solar/battery-tender-solar-controller.html) it will handle a watt range of 5-45. As far as the panel amazon has a good 30 watt panel for about 80 and a connection kit for another 16. We made it cause out here in the lake country area there was a need for a reliable powerful tender not needing an outlet for the battery operated boat lifts like mine and extension cords and large bodies of water don't mix. hope that helps you out a bit - - - Updated - - - You don't have any aftermarket remote starters or remote entry on there do you? we had two cars neither of which were diesels that would die over time if they weren't run. we found there was a drain from the remote starter system about .2-.4 over 1 week on both cars. both cars had the same viper system installed by a technician viper claims they weren't installed correctly so I pulled both systems and now no problem... On the maintainer side we (me and my father) make a 30 watt solar charger kit. You can make this yourself in about a hour for 45 dollars plus a solar panel (about 130 total- ours go for 160). They use a deltran battery tender controller and can put out up to 2.5 amps most often right around 2 amps in the sun and is always at least 13.4 volts even in shade (assuming you use a 30 watt panel) it works just like the original trender and will not damage you battery's. The controller (http://batterytender.com/products/solar/battery-tender-solar-controller.html) it will handle a watt range of 5-45. As far as the panel amazon has a good 30 watt panel for about 80 and a connection kit for another 16. We made it cause out here in the lake country area there was a need for a reliable powerful tender not needing an outlet for the battery operated boat lifts like mine and extension cords and large bodies of water don't mix. hope that helps you out a bit

Thank you fr the tips I have a few ideas for the inside of the doors but nothing certain yet and I was looking at zero rust or using the same 2k that will be used on the body in the doors. The chassis is getting a Eastwood ceramic 2k finish that I have seen used before and with the right prep you can hit it with a pick ax and not mark it up. The undercarriage of the cab will either be a DIY bedliner or the protex chip guard 2k undercoat kit. What are your thoughts on that and then this he wants 450 for the bumper and 800 for the bed with no tailgate or lights I thought 450 for the bumper was a good deal but the bed had been cut for stacks and were included in the 800 dollar asking price. I hate stacks btw so except for resale and more repair work they mean nothing to me. My thought was is there any money trying to re sell those things? like at least enough to buy a can of paint sorry if the picture don't come out right. The stacks have a 45 degree bend at the top if that helps. as far as the project itself, I need to find the cord to my camera so I can upload the rest of the pictures and then you guys can see the progress. Unfortunately it isn't much as of late since mother nature has our company a whole month behind and I'm even working Saturdays so no fun for me right now. Thank you all for your thoughts. Ben - - - Updated - - -

That was a quad cab right? Btw I will be undercoating my cab and was wondering on how you guys feel about DIY bed liners like upol raptor or sems rockit or duplicolors product they would coat the entire undercarriage, but Im worried about it chipping away over time from rocks and salt...

I know I have a thread related to this and cant find it I have pictures of the rust free Texas quad cab that I will be posting when I find the cord for my camera. I got the cab with fenders detached all doors and glass for 1200 I need some help in an estimate on the weight of the cab with doors. I have two trailers I can use to pick it up I'd like to use the small one that way I can push it around but I'm limited to 1500 pounds capacity do you guys think with all doors glass and most of the interior it will weigh under 1500? I wouldn't think so but I haven't even had a door off yet so I'm guessing at best but being there is no b pillar I would anticipate a higher weight

I just put two new ones in my 99 because mine went dead and froze I got mine from Napa. Just a FYI they are a group 27 series batteries and mine after cores was 90 a piece 18 month free replacement 75 month prorate. Furthering the statement on buying a brand if your battery is USA made and its a re-branded battery examples Napa, Dualast etc it will be made by either East pen, Exide, or Johnson controls they are the only 3 that manufacture "re-branded" batteries here stateside. Delphi got out of the auto battery business years ago (2007 maybe) they sold a plant an some other stuff to Johnson controls. Optimas are there own beast, and are now made in Mexico... Delphi got out years ago 2007 maybe and sold a plant an some other stuff to Johnson controlsRe-branding information was provided by a automation/electrical engineer whose company designed the operating systems for over 90 percent of these company's. I recommend you buy cheap and get a good warranty then your good no matter what

If you see salt up there (dumb question) I'd bet bushings are your problem. I put a new set of leaf springs in last year cause one broke. I found all the bushings were bad (like bolts seized to bushings bad) one side took a gas torch and 6 hours to do. If you have a press, can source the bushings and are a little crazy you can replace the bushings without putting in a new spring pack. idk for shure the shackles are available from a dealer for 50 dollars a piece or thuren fab sells a pair for 270 but they only fit 3 inch springs and you get 3 heigth options one being stock. If its bushings you should hear something clunking back there. Also the drivers side forward spring eye bolt cant be removed without dropping the fuel tank.

If you don,t mind me asking what where your reasons for wanting disks in back other than they are easier to repair and do an axle swap if anything because if you break down in bum f Egypt you will want the local parts store to carry whatever part you break not saying these kits use unavailable parts I just dont know what I do know is my buddy wanted to do disk out back and we found the axle swap was the cheapest and easiest way to go if it helps we did the research and got all that we needed (axle new ubolts didnt need them after all and new brake lines just cause) from the local salvage yard/parts store started at ten Saturday morning we were driving round town by 4 the same day line your ducks up and its easy meaning you must get a 3500 DRW or SRW axle depending on what you have and it must be the same ratio check your u bolt length due to the various amount of different blocks these tucks came with check your line connections and your good to go it really is just unbolt and bolt back in he did his for less than 500 because he resold the old axle and rebuilt the brakes and lines oh almost forgot check on ABS I don't remember if 2002 was the year 4 wheel became standard I may be wrong I'm betting your only RWAL either way compatibility shouldn't be an issue his was a 1996 and we used a late 2001 axle hope this helps

I had no heat and fogging/icing last year so I thought heater core, it was bad but didn't fix the problem fully. When I did the core I found my carpet floor mats were ice cubes, so I dried them out and put them back in. I work outside all day so my problems here in Wisconsin with moisture tend to be worse than some others. Long story short the icing fogging returned even though my mats were dry and the heater core wasn't leaking. What I found was the the mats don't keep moisture out of the carpet below and the carpet doesn't keep it out of the padding, so I dried it all out. Then I went out and put a set of cheap rubber floor mats on both sides. I also replaced my door pins which were causing a minor air and moisture leak. Now I don't have any icing/fogging issues unless I don't clean the mats off on a regular basis. My brothers dodge intrepid did the same thing until he put rubber floor mats in there. IMHO a 30 dollar set of mats is better than paying to heat the trucks interior. I added some periods for you guys and yesterday it was 8 degrees out with a 72% humidity and no icing

Hello guys and gals this thread is going to be a write up/ information seeking. To ge you all up to speed my truck got hit pretty hard last year on the drivers side. For those who replied in the other thread I thank you for making my decision to repair the truck easier. Long story short my Ram will be getting a 1500 doner trucks body put on it the body came out of texas weather and time have not permitted me to post the before pictures of my sad lo truck and her new doner but they are coming... So that being said I would like to now turn our attention to the point of the thread. For what we use are trucks for the suspension perform ime parts waranty buts OK but I am not happy with it. First off wander while pulling a trailer, those stuborn sway bar end links (mine are moog and have lifetime warrantys the shop Big Bear Tire has been great about fixing what broke) but just so you know I stopped counting after I broke 6 this year alone and this bucking in the rear end? I dont think the buccking is normal and I'm wondering if you guys have problems empty or loaded on loose gravel on a steep hill it seems worse loaded Now after talking to Thuren and Carli their kits are purely to expensive. I decided to piece together my own system that will soften up the front end as well as change to double heim endlinks while still being able to clear 37 military hummer tires for 4200 or less. At this point the wheels and tires are still in fabrication TRAILWORTHYFAB.com right now all I have is the rear shackles, the drop pitman arm, the track bar, the shocks and the end links the control arms and springs are on back-order. Keeping cost down the rear springs are retained and the shackles are changed instead now I found no branded lift shackles for a 2nd gen truck. After measuring and looking around 3rd gen shackles will fit on some 2nd gen trucks you must check first which width springs you have now since all of you are CTD owners I can almost guarantee that you have 3 inch springs in the back some had 2.5 and the shackles then wouldn't work the shackles were thuren fab ones that are for 03-07 trucks. I am using Thuren Fab two inch lift coil springs Im just raising the truck 2.5 inches up front and moving the axle forward one inch, the rear shackles have multiple lift options. Just some information I found once your lifted you will need to push the axle forward as it is no longer centered in the wheel wells now yes I can trim the fenders for cheap and make it work but you will still have a poor ride this is becuase the truck once lifted changes the geometry of the suspension. Think about physics and geometry if you remember geometry (a squared plus b squared equals c squared) well we just added legnth to the spring (which are the b squared part of the equation) now the frame we'll call (a squared) cant be changed unless you move the mounts on the frame, if the control arms (c squared) are not changed you force the axle to move thus changing the angle of the arms and basically shortening the effective lenth of the control arm. Now the physics side if you try to bend or move something using short lever arm (axle) at a steep angle it will be harder than one that is longer with a shallower angle. So now thinking about that whenever you hit a bump with a short arm its a jarring hit that will leave you and your suspension components in sorry shape. This will cause premature failure and the truck will be hard to align now that its not in O.E.M specs that came straight from our tire shop hear in town. That's why in my opinion the coil spacers to lift your truck are a poor idea, unless you plan to do more to the suspension. I plan to have this build fully photographed and writeups to follow I have been saving for two years now, and over this next year will be the transformation of a good truck into a better than new truck IMHO. I hope you all can gain something from this as most of the information and ideas have come from you guys.

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.

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

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.

I agree with the need for them to be in your line of site but with me being mostly blind in my left eye it just didnt seem right and I decided that I can see my radio just fine at a glance so if I either removed the cup holders and put them there in that pocket or if I could make the holder stationary and put them right above the holder I dont know there sitting in a mount on the floor under the cup holders at this point and its not causing much problem except that I forget that I have them hiding down there I will admit look down there to long and you'll prolly be in the ditch

There in and usable but not in their final place I lost some of my sight line with the a pillar setup Iwas making and I didnt care for that so Im back to the drawing board and for those with automatics you may like it or not but you cant do this with a truck with a manual transmission to my knowledge. You remove your cup holders and put those as well as some storage on the transmission tunnel then in there place I intended on filling that in with a piece of aluminum but that all depends if I can find a way to make it relativly simple. who knows they may just stay on the tunnel in a perminent mount but you cant see them very well.

Thanks much guys that really helps and I have a plan Im sorry I just saw no way of making that cover look good so I decided to cut it apart buy a old pillar from the scrapyard and mold the pieces together with fiberglass I did it once before in a race car and the texture didnt look right so against the other one but I think I can match the two sides together and make it look right I'll keep you up to date with pics and such

Ok I feel like an idiot I have almost every gauge known to man in my truck but I wanted to put some on the a pillar so I thought just go buy and a pillar pod right. I did and it was suposed to be cut to fit and basicly glued to the old one I sent it back thinking I could find a better mount with no avail does any one know of a pod that just replaces the stock one and clips in where the stock one did is this possible or am I asking to much

I kinda thought I didnt need to do anything except some simple tests and I supose the less you play with the less that can go wrong and at this point all I need is a turbo mine overheated turbine is blueing and has a tiny crack only visible with a magnifying glass noticed when cleaning the outerwear and had the filter off it was a funny color so I cleaned it up with a scotch brite bad to find this white line and upon closer inspection only the part closest to the shaft is cracked maybee 2mm long im assuming the rest is a sign of stress so now what do you guys sugest I run My list is what I want/kinda need due to the trailers I pull but it's basically 275 injectors or something to that aspect an airdog and drawstraw torn between a smarty or an edge comp box and I really dont know what I need turbo wise I thinking since its bad I might as well get one that optimizes future upgrades if you know what I mean I kinda like this one due to the 12cm housing but I'm not sure http://www.thoroughbreddiesel.com/industrial-injection/phat-shaft.htm#62 I dont know abot any of HTT turbos they all appear a little big for what I need but stock may just be best I dont know. sorry again if this is in the wrong place

Dodge says the first major overhaul is at 300,000 miles 350,000 for the newer commmon rails what does this mean I dont know of anyone on this site that has done this do you even need to do anything I plan to adjusting the valves, replace the oil and waterpump's and pulling the head to inspect for damage/wear what are your guys opinions? sorry if this is in the wrong place I didnt know where to go with it.

If you have a week off and your ambitious its easy for shure if your using a pre 1994 chevy and a 12 valve. Mine was done and street legal in a weekend but that was working nonstop and a bit of prep before that is perfectly streetable its just the engine is to far forward for its own good(racing) so im redesigning that aspect as for the trany couldnt tell you... Im looking for either a built 47 re or something lighter yet stronger than what i've got in my (d.d.) hopefully and those trannys are to heavy for there own good in our trucks imho.

So mine gets plugged in when the outside temp is fifteen or less anything warmer than that it will fire on the first try everytime its got 280k on it and I noticed for the first time that when it doesnt have its two stroke oil added to the fuel it will smoke for 3 to five minutes in a blue smokey haze and it'll make anyones eyes tear up if you walk through it thus making me think I have excessive fueling... I am worried that a fuel system component may not be functioning properly because the two stroke oil appears to be covering up a problem or am i just being paranoid on a side note this summer it had excessive black smoke issue which was cured with a new ecm are these at all related and this truck starts better than any other truck I have had no joke it barely sounds like it even turns over before it fires even at twenty with no plug in and after sitting overnight.

Fixed her right up and I got what I was after heat lol now comes the fun part of figuring out where the system is mucked up because Im gonna guess the compressor itself is good maybee a bad controler with the belt off the clutch seemed alright but im not so much an a/c guy at all

Thanks much I'll give her a go and see what I get

I guess I have confirmed that the ac conpressor is causing the problem only because I borrowed my buddys temp gun and the two heater hoses were around 180 each then inside my air comes out at like 95 degrees I thought it was my core but so I flushed it and no change not to mention the hoses being within ten degrees of eachother is a good sign I guess I just now have to figure out whats up with the ac compressor cheap fix someone recomended was buy a new belt for your truck without ac and just eliminate it for the winter my thought was is that going to harm anything such as defrost and such and can I just do that or is there something else involved? thanks much for the help in both threads isx