Ramcharger question

[Daves69]

Nice 77, looks like old Jackman 10" white spokes.
My current 78 PU has factory Jackman 8" "road wheel option when new"

I traded that '77 when I got out of plowing for that '89. Somewhere around 146K. Had a lot of fun with it.
It was a 360 4 speed with 3.55 gears. I'm thinking the wheels were Superiors(??) 15 X 10 that I bought at TPS in Aurora and the tires in that picture were Sears Roadhandlers with the aggressive tread. The lift was 2-1/2".
Ha, kind of hard but did you notice the Cheby mirror in that picture? The stockers were a little too small.

Here's one right after the lift with the wheels and Pro Trac 31 X 10.50's.............

 

[memike]

Nothing at all crappy about these Ramchager's never had a problem with lock outs not working.
The best waight transfering truck on the road . I get about 14 mpg with my 360 727 two wheel drive

 

[dozer556]

What are these locking hubs y'all are talking about?

If the OP is looking at an '85, the truck will have a CAD front axle - Central Axle Disconnect. It was used on 4WD Ramchargers from '85-'93 and Dodge 1/2T 4WD pickups from '85-'01.

The long side axle shaft is actually two shafts, an inner and outer (or intermediate). These shafts are locked together with a sliding shift collar for 4wd operation, and unlocked for 2WD. A stock CAD axle doesn't have locking hubs, as it relies on this collar and split shaft arrangement for switching in/out of 2WD/4WD.

The most common mod to these axles is a swap to a cable-operated engagement setup to eliminate the problematic vacuum system. Others folks will go further, replace the split shaft with a one-piece axle and then install locking hubs on both axles to allow 2WD/4WD operation.

So it's totally possible that a modified RC of this vintage will have locking hubs, but no CAD front axle came from the factory with locking hubs of any kind.

 

[sireland67]

I traded that '77 when I got out of plowing for that '89. Somewhere around 146K. Had a lot of fun with it.
It was a 360 4 speed with 3.55 gears. I'm thinking the wheels were Superiors(??) 15 X 10 that I bought at TPS in Aurora and the tires in that picture were Sears Roadhandlers with the aggressive tread. The lift was 2-1/2".
Ha, kind of hard but did you notice the Cheby mirror in that picture? The stockers were a little too small.

Here's one right after the lift with the wheels and Pro Trac 31 X 10.50's.............

That is odd your factory mirrors were too small, mine were the same as full sized trucks.
Got rid of mine at about 250K the frame around the steering box was cracked in about 10 places, it was not safe to drive anymore.
8" lift, 3" body lift and 44" tires are hard on steering parts, but never broke a rear end or drive shaft.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yall have been lucky. The servos tore up. The vacuum lines got ripped off, and parts are not easy to find. I have worked on a lot of them. I much prefer the standard manual type locking hubs. Either ON or OFF. There is no in between having to worry about whether antiquated vacuum assist is working right or not. I worked in a local 4x4 shop for about 5 years. We converted every single one that came in the shop, because they always gave trouble. This was back when these things were close to NEW.

 

[RustyRatRod]

What are these locking hubs y'all are talking about?

If the OP is looking at an '85, the truck will have a CAD front axle - Central Axle Disconnect. It was used on 4WD Ramchargers from '85-'93 and Dodge 1/2T 4WD pickups from '85-'01.

The long side axle shaft is actually two shafts, an inner and outer (or intermediate). These shafts are locked together with a sliding shift collar for 4wd operation, and unlocked for 2WD. A stock CAD axle doesn't have locking hubs, as it relies on this collar and split shaft arrangement for switching in/out of 2WD/4WD.

The most common mod to these axles is a swap to a cable-operated engagement setup to eliminate the problematic vacuum system. Others folks will go further, replace the split shaft with a one-piece axle and then install locking hubs on both axles to allow 2WD/4WD operation.

So it's totally possible that a modified RC of this vintage will have locking hubs, but no CAD front axle came from the factory with locking hubs of any kind.

Exactly. That's the hermorphadite. Those things sucked. I don't give a damn what people say. If you think that was a good design, you ain;t worked on enough of them.

 

[dozer556]

Exactly. That's the hermorphadite. Those things sucked. I don't give a damn what people say. If you think that was a good design, you ain;t worked on enough of them.

No comment on the design, good or bad - merely pointing out that there are no locking hubs on that system, contrary to what was being posted.

The CAD axle certainly has its weak points, but IMHO that is no reason to pass on a Ramcharger made during those years.

 

[Daves69]

My old Ramcharger got awesome gas mileage...........LOL

LOL, Yours wore a hell of a lot more earth than mine too!