98 Ram SS/T Redo/Restore

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Congrats,Corey.Eight months of buying goodies to install,have fun!.
 
dusted72 said:
Ok guys a long awaited progress report. I get up early with my new English Bulldog pup so I am up around 4 to 5 hours before my daughter gets up and this allows me to get some stuff done to the truck so I don't waste time I could spend with her. For starters today I got up around 6:30 a.m. and moved the truck around front from the backyard and got it parked in the driveway on the concrete. First things first new oil and filter. It only had about 600 miles on it but it had been sitting since September so I figured what's it gonna hurt. Up next was a few small things that wouldn't take too long. I replaced the broken off tilt lever with one of my Ebay scores. Up next was the tailgate straps, one was broken the other very close. Also a big improvement is the new tires I had mounted and balanced on my refinished SS/T wheels. It has been raining all afternoon so I will get them put on tomorrow. They look great and I will show you tomorrow what they are replacing, completely bald front tires and tires that are too tall in the rear. Made it fun to drive today with 10 inches of standing water in the road.
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Corey it sure is to good to see you home and back working on your truck again.
 
Very cool. I have a friend, who if I can't convince him to buy a Demon is going to buy a mid 90s ram like yours. I'll show him this, I think he'll like it.
 
Well guys I am gonna start with a parts update first. I was in the backyard jumping on the trampoline with my daughter when the Big Brown toy truck showed up. My Belltech drop coils for the front showed up. I order their Pro coils so I have the option of 2 or 3 inches depending if I decide use the spacers included.
 

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Ok now for the update on parts installed. So I got up early today not by choice and went outside and started putting the new wheels and tires on. Here are a few pics of the old verses new tires and a shot of before and after the swap. You can see new front and old front then new rear and old rear then all old together. The old rears were 32 inches tall and the correct new rears are 30 inches.
 

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Ok we will start off with a few new parts. On Tuesday my Belltech drop coil springs came in and on Friday the rear hangers showed up. Will install them when the front suspension gets rebuilt in a few weeks. Also decided it was time to get the rear end out of the air a bit so I put on my rear shackles, boy was that a pain inthe arse. Had to remove the hitch to get the lower bolts out. After the install I only got about an inch and a half or so drop but it seems it is still settling a bit and hopefully it will drop the extra 1/2 inch. But then again if I had the hitch back on it might help, but this truck isn't for hauling unless hauling a$$ counts.
 

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It looks like it is sitting just about right now. I bet it changes the handling for the better too. Happy Father's Day Corey.
 
Got rollpan installed this morning. It fits pretty good still needs some final fit and finish work but that will come when I do the body work and get the whole truck repainted. You can see the rust in the bumper. If I poke at it with a screw driver I can more then likely make the hole go all the way through.
 

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You should notch the bottom of the roll pan in between the license plate and the side. Install dual exhaust and use E Body stainless tips. with the notch big enough for 1/2 or 3/4 of the tips in the rool pan.
Just an idea. The truck is lookin really good
 
I'm probably going to run duals with turn downs behind the rollpan so that they aren't really noticeable. Not trying to draw to much attention away from the truck itself. Plus I am doing everything new school so I think E-body tips would be out of place on the direction I am going with the truck.
 
Looking good Corey. I drove a black 2000 regular cab ram exactly like that for years. Great truck.
 
I bet you can almost braid them skanky lookin monkey toes.
 
Well I spent little time on the truck yesterday. Not getting in a big hurry and I am still getting caught up with the family. Truck has left the driveway once since Thursday and that was last night for a test drive to see if my check engine light was gonna come back on, it did. I have an idle issue that I need to correct as it starts to dump fuel in it at idle and makes it run like shat, almost like it has a really big cam. But I know it is the IAC valve I tried to clean it but that didn't help so now I am looking for a new Mopar or Delphi replacement. But on to what I did yesterday. Nothing big but it helped me satisfy my urge to wrench. I replaced my idler pulley and serp belt with a brand new Mopar pulley and Goodyear Gatorback belt. Removed the tensioner pulley from the tensioner as well and cleaned and painted the pulley bolts as well as cleaned the tensioner pulley really good. It had a tick when running and it turned out to be exactly what I thought it was, the belt was old and the rubber was really hard so it had a ticking tapping sound when running. I also took the new Moog tie rod ends and sleeves out of the boxes and assembled them on the bench.
 

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Good morning Corey :cheers: I see you are not wasting any time there sir :happy1:
The new wheels and tires looks perfect :happy2:
And the roll pan sure made it look like suppose to, A SS/T sports truck :cheers:
So happy to see you home enjoying your freedom :happy2:
 
Went today and picked up my Craigslist score. I bought a Century fiberglass bed cover over in Rock Hill SC for $140, from what I can find the cheapest Century cover is over a grand new so I think for the price I can afford to get it painted to match.
 

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Have you looked for rear wheel well covers? I bought some for my 03 Ram and it cleaned it up a good bit.
 
Are those the plastic liners for the rear? I have never thought of those but I wil definitely look for them now. Good idea. Found out earlier that I get to drive it all the way to western KY 650 miles one way on Sunday.
 
dusted72 said:
Are those the plastic liners for the rear? I have never thought of those but I wil definitely look for them now. Good idea. Found out earlier that I get to drive it all the way to western KY 650 miles one way on Sunday.
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That sounds like a nice trip
 
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