Coolant leak and lots of "newb" questions

[diesel4life]

03 And up model years call for G05 coolant. This is not Dexcool, it is factory fill for all Chrysler vehicles and is a superior coolant to the standard ethylene glycol. If your truck calls for G05 you should use G05, that is what your cooling system was designed for.

[copperdodge]

Today, got ready to replace water pump & moved the truck up onto ramps in the driveway (2wd is too low to get a 5-gal bucket under the radiator to drain it).  Just while moving the truck up onto the ramps, coolant was FLOWING out of that idler pulley mount.  Based on all my research it has to be one of the 2 freeze plugs behind the fan pulley or the upper idler pulley.  I dont' consider that a driveway repair that can be done in a day, and this is my DD.  I took it to the diesel repair shop south of town where all the semi's get serviced.  They're going to call me when they have an estimate ready.

 

I hate when I break my DD. 

[MnTom]

Freeze plugs are pretty easy to replace if you can get to it. You just pry the old one out, clean things up a bit, and tap a new one in with a hammer.