New old truck

[wmonroe]

Picked up a new to me old truck, 1993 Dodge Ram 250. It's a basic model but has a cummins, auto tranny and working ac. So far I've put about 200 miles on it just tooling around and I'm rather impressed with how it drives. Not sure what the future plans for it will be but if nothing else I'll tinker with it for a while. This is the only picture I have so far.

 

[deerseeker001]

looks good enjoy

 

[terryknight]

awesome. enjoy it. i used to have one. miss it.

 

[dodge man]

Very nice and very simple to work on. You should also get pretty good fuel mileage with it.

 

[dragoneggs]

Nice picture with the trees turning and a truck out where it belongs! Enjoy! I always wanted a diesel truck for some reason but I guess I do okay with my Triton 5/4L V8 in my F-150.

 

[tcreeley]

Looks really nice!

 

[Soundguy]

i'd love to try me a late 90's or early 2000's ram 3500 one day...

congrats on the truck. i had a ram 1500 98 and loved it. just wasn't hd enough to do what i needed eventually and I was abusing it..

 

[s219]

Amazing how it looks nearly identical to the '79 my dad owned, except for the grill.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Nice find. It would make a great Snow Plow truck.

Chris

 

[wmonroe]

Thanks everyone. It has a lot of small things that I'm going to work on to make it a little nicer, the cap is coming off (going to sell it cheap), and adjust the fueling a little bit. It has some rust issues that aren't a big deal now but if I want to make it really nice will need some work. Before I do any rust/restoration work I need to decide exactly what I want to do with it. The engine runs great and the transmission shifts very well so it will be a tinker project for the time being.

 

[2458n]

The nice part about your combination is all the engine hop up parts have been proven for some time. Enjoy the parts have to be available for that body style, so rust repair should be doable.Where did you find it?

 

[TomSeller]

I always liked that style of Dodge, particularly in 4x4. Cummins makes it that much better. Very nice.

 

[firemanmike69]

Nice looking truck. If you start to bump up fueling keep and eye on the transmission, they were marginal at stock power levels

 

[Wolfy]

I know a tradesman with a couple trucks of that vintage. He loves his, reliable and great mileage with the old Cummins. He did say though, body parts were not widely available and can be a search to find.

 

[wmonroe]

The nice part about your combination is all the engine hop up parts have been proven for some time. Enjoy the parts have to be available for that body style, so rust repair should be doable.Where did you find it?

My wife is a finance manager at a Chrysler dealership and someone traded it in a new diesel 1500. I was out of town working and she called me and en sent me some pictures. I had my dad look it over and then my wife bought it and brought it home. So technically it is her truck I guess since it's in her name. Lol.

I always liked that style of Dodge, particularly in 4x4. Cummins makes it that much better. Very nice.

Thanks. I too have always like the old "square" style. Of course I also like each of the different generations.

 

[wmonroe]

Nice looking truck. If you start to bump up fueling keep and eye on the transmission, they were marginal at stock power levels

I expect to need to rebuild the tranny at some point once I add fuel. Although it feels pretty good right now, I'm not sure if it has been beefed up at all but there are larger than stock cooling lines and it shifts MUCH firmer than stock.....but I still know my driving style and with more fuel it will be hurting.

I know a tradesman with a couple trucks of that vintage. He loves his, reliable and great mileage with the old Cummins. He did say though, body parts were not widely available and can be a search to find.

I haven't started looking yet but I'm guessing I'm going to have to get parts from the south as southwestern pa road salt does not lend itself to having lots a good useable 21 year old parts.

 

[Wolfy]

One thing I really like about the internet, is you can find almost anything if you look long enough.

 

[Nightforce]

Nice looking rig, the best of luck with it! :thumbsup:

 

[dodge man]

What transmission? Was it still a 727 in that year? If it is, easy to work on and can be made pretty stout since they are often used in race cars. I personally think the front end of your year truck is kind of ugly to be honest but for some reason I love it at the same time. 70 Cornets and Superbees had a ugly front end but its the same way, I love it at the same time.

 

[s219]

I personally think the front end of your year truck is kind of ugly to be honest but for some reason I love it at the same time.

Does anyone know the intro date of that basic Dodge truck body style that they used for ~ 20 years? I know it was at least 1976, since my Dad had one, and then he got a 79. I think they switched to square headlights around 1980, and then it was just variations on the grille and trim until the new "big grill / big fender" models came out in the mid 90s and boosted sales. The sheet metal carried through all that time unchanged. That is one heck of a run -- nowadays trucks are getting all new sheet metal every 4-6 years.

EDIT: looks like they did have a light refresh around 1981 to the outer sheet metal and interior, but the roof/gutters/etc seems the same.

PickupTruck.Com - History - Segment Eleven: 1981 to 1988 Lifestyle Pickups Part 2