The rusty ram

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dartfreak75

Restore it, Dont part it!
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I started working on the rusty ram yesterday, put in alot of work today. Two summers ago I bought a another ram for parts so im pulling it apart and putting them on the rusty one. I got the 2 fenders and the hood switched over even got the passenger side painted. There is a little rust in the "new" fenders but its fixable im gonna patch them. They are alot better than the ones that was on it. Im making a video I will probably post it tomorrow night. Its gonna be a long one lol so far I have an hour and a half of video to edit. Next is the doors and bed. Im just gonna cut the rusty portion of the rockers off and call it good I ain't about to replace those. For the doors im just cut out the rust and patch the holes with whatever I can find, road signs, license plates, scrap sheet metal etc. I may try cut the bottom of the white doors off and salvage what I can they are pretty rusty too so im not sure. Here is where I am at tonight tho.

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Yeah, it's rusty. You go boy!
 
I rebuilt the front end last year i figured if I can get the rust to stop I can get a few more years out of it. Lol it's got 261k on it now it still has good oil pressure no major leaks doesn't use much oil. Id love to see it make it to 300k
 
It amazes me that the automaker’s have figured out how to make car bodies that don’t rust, but pick ups rust as much today as they did in the 70’s, maybe more.
 
Every time I'm under my 98 Dodge I think about your truck and how rusty it is...
I have yet to even see surface light rust under my truck let alone any rust...
 
I rebuilt the front end last year i figured if I can get the rust to stop I can get a few more years out of it. Lol it's got 261k on it now it still has good oil pressure no major leaks doesn't use much oil. Id love to see it make it to 300k
I'd drive it till it fell apart.
 
Make SURE you inspect the frame very closely. Everywhere. They are notorious for rusting.
 
My wifes 2014 Caravan was a Hawaii National rental and the bottom is orange with surface rust(?), I mean everywhere unless its some sort of undercoating.....muffler and all! Road salt in Virginia? Those rockers are wasted!
 
Make SURE you inspect the frame very closely. Everywhere. They are notorious for rusting.
Its rusting too. It's I wire wheeled the worst of it and rustoleumed it too. It's mostly surface rust I haven't found any rot yet
 
Every time I'm under my 98 Dodge I think about your truck and how rusty it is...
I have yet to even see surface light rust under my truck let alone any rust...
I would love to find a nice clean 2nd gen and buy it. Every single one out here is rusting away.i have never seen a 2nd gen dodge that isn't rusted around here. Most are like mine or worse
 
It amazes me that the automaker’s have figured out how to make car bodies that don’t rust, but pick ups rust as much today as they did in the 70’s, maybe more.
I saw a Ford the other day probably a 2012 or 2013 that looks like mine it was eat up bad. Seems like they could do something different to make them last longer for sure
 
My wifes 2014 Caravan was a Hawaii National rental and the bottom is orange with surface rust(?), I mean everywhere unless its some sort of undercoating.....muffler and all! Road salt in Virginia? Those rockers are wasted!
The driver's side rocker isn't as bad as the passenger its pretty much gone the cab corners are starting to bubble too.
 
I started working on the rusty ram yesterday, put in alot of work today. Two summers ago I bought a another ram for parts so im pulling it apart and putting them on the rusty one. I got the 2 fenders and the hood switched over even got the passenger side painted. There is a little rust in the "new" fenders but its fixable im gonna patch them. They are alot better than the ones that was on it. Im making a video I will probably post it tomorrow night. Its gonna be a long one lol so far I have an hour and a half of video to edit. Next is the doors and bed. Im just gonna cut the rusty portion of the rockers off and call it good I ain't about to replace those. For the doors im just cut out the rust and patch the holes with whatever I can find, road signs, license plates, scrap sheet metal etc. I may try cut the bottom of the white doors off and salvage what I can they are pretty rusty too so im not sure. Here is where I am at tonight tho.

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I bought a 2000 rusty ram today. It is a 1500 4x4 auto with the 5.9 extended cab.
It had not been started in a year. Stuck a battery charger on it an 30 minutes later it was running. Tomorrow I'll get the tires aired up and drive it up to my barn. About a 1/2 mile from where I bought it.
I haven't decided whether to strip it or to replace the doors and fenders with some other doors and fenders that I have and then paint it.
 
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I bought a 2000 rusty ram today. It is a 1500 4x4 auto with the 5.9 extended cab.
It had not been started in a year. Stuck a battery charger on it an 30 minutes later it was running. Tomorrow I'll get the tires aired up and drive it up to my barn. About a 1/2 mile from where I bought it.
I haven't decided whether to strip it or to replace the doors and fenders with some other doors and fenders that I have and then paint it.
The white one im parting out for this one is a 5.9 im gonna pull the engine and keep it for later. You should fix it and drive it. They are great trucks. Let me know if you need any parts im gonna strip this white one down as far as I can and save as much as possible

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The doors on those models rusted quick from day one. Have a buddy that owns a body shop that replaced many doors on trucks when they were just a few years old. I had a 1999 and it quickly turned to rust in a couple of years. My 2007 Ram is following suit quickly, especially the box!
 
the bodies and frames are engineered to disappear after 10 years ... around here anyways .
 
I turned my '01 2500 2WD to 295,000 on Friday. My frame is still black and very clean, however, because I drive it every winter, there is rust on the fenders, doors and a little on the rockers. I can use it as a truck without worries :)
 
They sure do rust! My 04 has so much rust I thinks it's 500 pounds lighter.
I thought it would get better fuel millage weighing less but it doesn't.
 
When I bought this truck in 2011 it was perfect other than the dent on the passenger side corner of the bed right under the bumper, its hard th see so I didn't mind. I noticed a bumble in the door around 2015 by 2018 the doors and fenders where gone. The rockers just started recently (showing) and you can see how fast they went. I think its a mixture of bad design, cheap metal, and not coating the insides of the panels. I was looking in between the fenders and it looks like bare metal to me. Sprayed it full of rustoleum where I could reach my arm into. The last picture is 2014 look how solid it was then

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