The overland beater: Dodge 1500

[kraven]

I totally will take pics. Last year it was kind of rained out, but hopefully this year it will be better.
They have a Land Rover driving experience on the estate, as well as some really good food and drink places. It's going to be a good time.

I forgot to order the stupid throttle cable for the truck, since the old one is frayed. Finally got that coming via eBay, a genuine mopar part.
Got the battery hold down fixed.
Put the plug wire looms on, to keep the wires from cross firing, which is a big problem, apparently. Just need to get one more plug wire for #8, since that one is about 3 inches too short and sits pretty tightly on the valve cover ( and could ground or arc easily).
Need to get the t-case squared away and leak free, fitted with the t-case saver, etc.
Going to have to do the heater core here pretty soon. Dreading that. Gyah. The whole dash has to be loosened and slid back.

 

[kraven]

Welp, got my tix for the expo. Looks like I won't be glamping. I have some folks who want to camp in my yard, rather than pay the Biltmore camping fees. So, I have to play host. Oh, well.

I drove the beater around some today, since Trump was in town and I thought I might need to extricate myself from the morass of tomfoolery from both supporters and detractors.
It's pretty well sorted. I'm waiting on my injector retainers to come in at Autozone so I can slide them on, and I gotta procure a new radiator cap.

Anyway, my parts should be here soon and I should have the accelerator cable replaced asap. I'll take pics of the old frayed one. It's pretty nuts.

I still need to change the front diff oil too. So, my list o to-do's is still there. Just have to hack away at it between motorcycle jobs. See you'uns's at the Expo.

 

[kraven]

As you can see, the throttle cable had seen better days. Overdue for a change. The new one obviously works great and takes one worry out of the equation.

Looking forward to this week hanging out with some overlanders. I'm sure you'll see a flurry of activity on the truck again after this coming weekend, once I get a good dose of the "wanna" and "gonna" flu from the rally.

Been spending a lot of time on motorcycles, so I've been pretty distracted. But now that it's getting cold I need to at least do the heater core. Finally.

 

[justcuz]

Enjoy yourself and be sure to take some pictures. Be careful of the slippery slope of want to have, need to have stuff, it can drain your wallet quickly and leave you wondering what this is all about. Stay true to your beater theme!

 

[kraven]

That's good advice, Justcuz. I'll keep my head on straight.

 

[kraven]

Boy, getting a weekend pass to the expo was a waste of 100 bucks for my family. Not doing that again. Now that the expo is here, people are getting in for 10 bucks with a biltmore pass. So, I wasted 80 bucks getting a weekend pass that doesn't even let me get into seminars and winching instruction and stuff like that.

Anyway, lets not dwell on negativity. I'm going back to the Expo today to walk around and look at all the people who slept in the muddy field after the hurricane rain turned it into soup. Gonna see who is hardy and who bugged out.

Booking a recovery/winch seminar at Uwharrie next month before I buy a winch for the beater, since I've blocked off some days to do the TAT in it. November is good camping weather.
Got new shocks for the beater so it'll at least ride better on the road and do a lot better off road. Got some Ranchos and KYB (service replacement) for the rear. Hopefully it will stay planted now and not be so janky over bumps.

The beater is running pretty well and only needs me to get the rack and rooftop setup done, maybe along with a protector girdle for the front axle.
Service issues I still need to address:

1. Changing the rear diff lube again. I had a lot of material floating in the axle after the clutch pack sploded and the clutches deteriorated for years. Running the fresh lube for a bit was the idea. Need to get it changed and check up on the gear lash in that weird Dana/Chrysler 9.25 axle setup it has.
2. Front diff: still need to change that gear oil and check the lash, and maybe install new seals. It leaks a little from the driver's side. I'd lik to keep it as waterproof as possible. If diff lube is coming out, then water can get in. And I have a lot of water crossings I'll be doing this fall as deer season and camping weather hits the southland.
3. Oil pan cleanout and oil screen swap: That should be pretty easy. The oil pressure is really consistent, so there's not much garbage making its way to the screen or causing issues. Still want to clean the pan and make sure. I have the gaskets sitting around. Just need to do it.
4. Seat repair- The seat has that rubbed spot on the driver's side where the little squirt who owned it slid in and out, eking away at the foam and upholstery. I need to unbolt that section and take it to an upholstery shop or just do it myself if there's a super long wait. It causes an uneven pelvic tilt and can augment back fatigue, so it's not a silly aesthetic thing. Just needs to be done for comfort.
5. Heater core- Gotta get that done. Still dreading it. I'd do it this weekend, but I need some recharge time at the Biltmore.

Overall, I'm really starting to like this truck. I'm enjoying driving it. It's pretty robust for what I do with it. And it's going to make a great camper/overlander for me, I think. Just have to kind of stay on target with the upgrades and maintenance so it's ready to rock and roll next month when I tackle the TAT. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried for a while that I'd pissed away a lot of time on a piece of crap. But I feel like the 2nd gen ram is a fair choice and really not bad at all once you un-cheap some of the choices Dodge made when they built it.

 

[kraven]

Got the front Ranchos on this morning before I went back to the Expo. The Ranchos are the 50 dollar ones, not the swankier 100+ dollar ones. So, they work ok. The truck had been getting jostled and losing track during bumps. The Ranchos seem to have fixed that. Gonna get the KYB's on the back soon.

I got a bunch of cool pics at the expo of stuff I want to incorporate in the beater's next phase of work. Stuff like bumpers and a bumper rack. I also got a lot of good ideas of things that are pretty extraneous. So, I saw a lot of stuff I just don't need that I thought maybe I did.
Grand total for the beater right now is $3476.55, and the budget limit was 5000, so I have 1500 left to spend on this project to stay on goal.
Now that I'm driving it around a lot for motorcycle stuff ( I restore bikes as a side biz), I'm just rolling maintenance into regular vehicle costs and not adding it into the beater fixup spreadsheet. So, there won't be any accounting for brake calipers and stuff like that. Just in case you were wondering.

I visited the local Rover resto shop this morning as I was road testing the Ranchos. They have a lot of cool junk sitting around, if you like British stuff. I drive a Dodge, so I was obviously slumming it. :ylsmoke:

 

[kraven]

The Ranchos are turning out to be a pretty fair shock, definitely taking a lot of harshness out of the ride on the road and making it more manageable off-road. But it's hard to say if they're good shocks or the old Gabriels were just shot to the point they were doing nothing.
Either way, it's driving and riding better now.

So, my initial report on the Ranchos is they are the world's okayest offroad shocks.

 

[35xj]

I have a rear bumper and swing out tire carrier I built for my 05 before I put a flat bed on it. Can be yours for cheap if interested

 

[snare]

I clicked on this because you were working on a beater, and then saw you are also in Asheville. I taught at the Expo. I ride what most would call a beater bike, an 05 400 EXC.

Thanks for sharing your project.

 

[35xj]

Snare, I may have met you at expo. I typically work for the Land Rover travel team, but I was doing a lot of the winching and recovery classes for expo this year.let me know if you wanna ride, I have a super enduro and a 350 Husaberg

 

[justcuz]

Good to hear about the truck, I thought your budget was 4 grand? Expo itis making you fudge?
If you restore really old bikes you probably know of my ex brother in law Steve Huntzinger. That is his livelihood.
He did the Indian for the Bert Monroe movie and has restored many other old bikes.
I was married to his wife's sister years ago, he and I have remained friendly over the years.
Can't wait for pictures and I can't believe the Expo East has been hit with rain 3 years in a row!

 

[kraven]

I have a rear bumper and swing out tire carrier I built for my 05 before I put a flat bed on it. Can be yours for cheap if interested

Totally interested. I was going to build a swing out and a bumper from scratch.

 

[kraven]

Good to hear about the truck, I thought your budget was 4 grand? Expo itis making you fudge?
If you restore really old bikes you probably know of my ex brother in law Steve Huntzinger. That is his livelihood.
He did the Indian for the Bert Monroe movie and has restored many other old bikes.
I was married to his wife's sister years ago, he and I have remained friendly over the years.
Can't wait for pictures and I can't believe the Expo East has been hit with rain 3 years in a row!

Yeah, dude. It is 4k. Haha. I mentally fudged, but I'm back on track now.
I've not met Steve, but know the name. It's a small small world. Just like any other specialty, I guess.

 

[kraven]

This Aussie guy with a rhd rig had one of the most incredibly well organized and detail oriented rigs I saw. I was really interested in talking to him, but the poor guy got mobbed at the wedge by people who would all have done it differently and better.
Super nice people, though. I spoke with him shortly on Sunday. I'm not a big talker. I think he was pretty happy about that.

His tailgate swingout tire/cook station rack really intrigued me. It was well done and finished, but very good use of space. Or I thought it was. I'd like to replicate something like that.
He gave me a lot of good ideas for how to build a travel setup in terms of logistics.

This guy was pretty great. The rig was enormous, but he also had a Yamaha TW200 on the back. Super nice guy. Well, everyone I met at the expo was really nice. I'll just say that.

I really like these. This one was no exception.

Cummins had a great booth with lots of turbo upgrades and stuff. This Jeep had their 2.8 swap, which is really a nice powerplant. At least by the numbers. They were really good at talking about the details of a swap for this mill- what trans will fit, mounts, electrical, fuel volume and pressure, etc.