Could you please push the Dodge in the garage....people might think it's mine!

I just bought a Dodge….I never thought I’d say that. 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad-Cab Laramie SLT. Hunter green over grey lower body. Under 100K miles, 5.9 360 with towing package, Texas pickup since new, no rust, not dented, chrome wheels, big old thing.

It belongs to a co-worker. It started leaking coolant over a year ago and he parked it rather than fixing it. Turns out it has a bad freeze plug. He’s not mechanical….and with high gas prices he just let it sit and got a little car. Well he left it in front of his house, and the police tagged it to have it towed. He was about to give it to Goodwill and then thought of me. Ha!

Do I need it?? Hell no! But he nearly gave it to me and I could not pass it up. I was able to jump it off, and with 17-month-old gas in it, it started right up. No noises, but only let it run a sec, the water pours out of it! It’s being towed to my house today…I can’t wait to see Misty’s face.

Other than the freeze plug, the dashboard is cracked in three places, as all Dodge’s of that generation seem to be, and the paint is faded on the tops of the hood, fenders, and roof….typical Dodge paint in the Texas sun. Also the tires are dry rotted but have air in them….tons of tread too….too bad they’re so old. Other than that, it’s a totally loaded truck.

His father bought it new, special ordered when he worked at IBM. He planned to buy a 5th wheel to pull behind it buty never did. Truck was $46,000 when new! Holy Cow! A/C works, CD and cassette, power everything, overhead console, bedliner, remote start and alarm. Clean grey leather interior, wood dash trim, nerf bars below the doors.

The amazing thing is he’s never towed anything with it. Does not even have a hitch on it!

I’m either going to get it road-worthy and cleaned up and sell it, or give it to my Dad to replace the ‘97 S-10, which at 160K is getting a little worn…but Dad may not stoop to drive a Dodge.

Anyway, you never know what will fall in your lap. Pics later.

Let the Dodge jokes begin!! :banghead3:

-Mike

 

holy cow - $46,000 in 1998 was a whole lot of change. Looking forward to photos.

 

To me, $46K TODAY is still a lot of change! Ha!

Pics later today.

-Mike

 

..."I can’t wait to see Misty’s face."

I can't wait to see your face after Misty sees the Dodge.

Sounds like a GREAT score, Mike. How come I never get scores like that?

 

Yeah I've always felt the same way about Dodge.

As long as you can sell it for more than you got it for then you've done well.

I still remember this video of a Dodge Ram vs a Ford F150 at the proving grounds. Even with half the test miles of the Ford, the Dodge was literally falling apart, it'd go over bumps and the turn signals would pop out and be hanging by the wires, and it would keep popping out of gear, and developed broken welds everywhere. On top of that, it ran out of gas 150 miles before the Ford. My friend has worked at several different dealerships and when he worked for the Ford dealer they got this video in. It wasn't too long when he said Dodge threatened to sue if they didn't quit showing the video. He also said because Dodge transmissions went bad so often, they always had to keep them on the shelf when he worked for the Dodge/GM dealer. Didn't have to do that for the GM transmissions at the same dealer.

 

Wow! You guys really hate Dodges! I used to hate Fords and GMs like that too. Now I only hate VW's due to personal experience. My daily driver is a 96 Dodge Ram truck I bought new. Its now got something like 160,000 miles on it, and its been very reliable over the years. Another four years and it will be an antique. You are correct about the gas mileage. The 360 V-8 in the full size 4x4 truck is very thirsty.

I haven't seen the video of the Ford and Dodge that you speak of but I have seen an old video by Chevrolet comparing their trucks to Fords, and its the Fords that fall apart. Then theres the video by Chrysler comparing Chrysler cars to GM cars, and its the GM cars that fall apart.

 

Then there's the video of the Yugo comparing Yugos to Legos and the Yugos keep falling apart.

Good score on the Dodge!

 

It's the Yugo that gets blown over the 3 ft railing of the Mackinac bridge (about an hour north of me). This happened in 1989. Can't imagine the poor gal's thoughts as she and the Yugo took the 150 ft dive to the water.

One of my friends who is very religous but hates Dodges says "Putting a Jesus sticker on a Dodge... that's like using the Lord's name in vain!"

Never seen any of these other videos or even knew they existed. Sorta like Chrylsler being the pot calling the kettle black. Would like to see them sometime, even the GM one despite me being a total GM guy.

 

We bought a 2004 Dodge quadcab at the end of 04. Replaced the tires once, one battery, and wiper blades a few times. An ocean tanker full of cheap gas, some oil and filters. Only have 60,000 on it but never a minutes trouble. Except the fuel pump circuit breaker in my driveway. Just put the mirror heater breaker in place and even the mirror heater still works. Can't really remember needing the mirror heater yet!

Bought new 1977 Ford 460. Two complete engines before 10,000 miles. Mostly drive Chevys but everything has good and bad.
I'd imagine those videos may have been created with defects for affects. But would anyone really do that to make their competition look bad?

You must live right Mike, as we know. Good deal.:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Never used for towing, eh? Looks like you may get fifty more miles before the tranny blows, instead of it blowing a week after it was new lol I kid, I kid. It sounds like a nice find. Congrats!

 

Well....at least it's not a Chevy......

... You would need a wreaker, not a push!...I know this for a fact, I just sent my 94 Chev cargo van to the crusher, to become several GM China cars



Whooo, late edit..... all BS aside, happy and congrats on the new ride

 

Nice find there Mike...I bet the Mrs was impressed!

 

Had the Ram towed to my house Friday afternoon and it was in the driveway when I got home from work.

Spent a bunch of time this weekend cleaning it up. It's actually in really nice shape. Only dent is in the rear bumper, and clear coat on the roof and hood is sunburned, but other than that it's straight. Was sold new in Bastrop, so has been in the Austin area since new, no rust ever.
Underside is clean and solid. Has a good hitch under the rear and a spray-in bedliner too. Nice options.

Inside is also nice. Need to shampoo the carpet and treat the leather, but nothing is torn and the only wear is on the lower driver's seat cushion. The dash is cracked, and the gauge bezel is taped on. Will have to order caps for those.

The battery was totally shot, but amazingly had 3-year free replacement at Wal-Mart, and I traded it for a brand new battery. With the new battery and a hose running into the radiator, the 360 fired right up. No weird sounds and no smoke, but the gas is 17-months old and the water leaks out the rotten freeze-plug fast. The plug is on the passenger side, just above the motor mount. I did move the truck around the driveway and the brakes and transmission work. All good.

All the lights work, the a/c blows cold, wipers, windows, locks, keyless entry and all still function. Cargo light is nice to have, as is the sliding window. It really is loaded out. Has more miles than I thought, 109K, but still, that's not bad for a 1998 vehicle.

It has the top-line Infinity stereo, and the CD, tape, and AM all work, and sound good, but FM does not work...? Weird. Acts like the antenna is not hooked up. Will have to look at that. Dodges.....

So anyway, that's the latest. The tires are dry-rotted, and after I get the freeze-plug done, will have to do those, as well as change every fluid in it, and then if it runs and drives well will look into getting the upper green paint re-done. The grey and lower green still shine.

My Dad does want the truck, so this will be a father-son project. He still loves the little S-10 but the idea of a big V8, auto trans, and all the leather and power toys sold him, even though he's not a Dodge person, it's a step-up in comfort and toys from the S-10, and the truck is clean.
So we'll see. The S-10 may come home to me once the Dodge is done. For now, there is another project in the driveway.

Here's the pics. Not too bad...and a steal for what I paid for it.







Burned clearcoat



Interior








Not too bad.

Oh and off topic but I ran by Pick-N-Pull Saturday for some trim parts and stuff, and this was sitting in the For Sale area. 65 Impala 2-door hardtop with original 283 and solid body. Good start for someone!



-Mike

 

WOW....that truck is loaded...leather & the whole 9 yards! What a steal!

 

Well that looks sweet!




Considering what your working with...