Hey every one I am still around but spending some time out of the states right now. Long story short I left my truck with some one while I was deployed and suffered a few set backs.

First off I received word that something was burning on the truck from the guy who wasn't even supposed to be driving it. I told him not to drive it any more and he agreed. A week latter he let one of his friends drive it and blew the rear end apparently.

I had to pay for a tow truck and have a friend get the truck from this jack wagon and he lost my key to the doors. On top of that the battery which was brand new is apparently dead (probably swapped out).

The truck is a 97 reg cab 4x4 with some body rust. Its a 4.2 5 speed with 3.55 gears. I really don't know if its worth saving at this point. The tires are good and it seemed to run pretty well with the exception of a intake manifold leak which I was going to address when I got back to the states. I really wanted a little winter truck to keep the dodge out of the salt but I don't want to drop $1000 in repairs on a truck that I paid $800 for.

 

Wow 70 views and no posts.

My three options that I see are like this

Option one scrap it and take the extra money to buy another beater (would like a F150 almost just like it reg cab, 5 speed, 4x4, V8 wound not be bad)

Option two scrap it and use the money to upgrade to 315/70/17 duratracs and underline the crap out of the dodge to protect it from salt (it has never seen it)

Option three is the repair it. However repair it would need the following.
Replacing the rear end with hopefully a LSD $200-$500
Replacing the intake manifold gaskets $100
Probably rebuilding the Y pipe since the cats are pretty bad (no worry about emissions) $250

Figuring a few weekend to accomplish all this it puts me at $450-$750.

I figured I could get $200 for the good rims and tires and probably $200 more for the camper bed top. Plus what ever I could get for the truck in scrap $350 maybe.

Help point me in the right direction guys. I hate to scrap a truck and then have to track another one down but I keep debating this in my head.

 

hard for others to give advice when they really dont know your situation or what you want in the end. Sounds like the Dodge is a keeper and the FORD is the day to day beater. IF you spend $1000. on the manifold and rear end and a few other problems, you might have a decent beater.. If you sell the tires and rims and scrap the truck you will have $1000. That and the $1000. you were going to spend on the repairs is $2000. Hard to buy a good r eliable truck for $2000. You could just scrap and find another truck for $1500. and be money ahead, but plan on a variety of small problems in the future.. REmember the truck is 15 years old... and you dont say how many miles.

 

Very true. And yes my dodge is my baby lol. Its a texas truck and despite being a 2008 it has never seen snow or salt and I am trying to keep it out of the NY winters as much as possible.

I might have a hook up on a 1989 F150 4.9 with 4 speed. The only thing is its 3.08 gears and open diffs.

To be truthful if I could if I could sell the truck for $1000 and then find a 97-01 base 4x4 with a 5 speed and limited slip I would be happy. I could care less about color, light body damage, or engine choice as both the 4.2 and 4.6 work just fine. Of course if I found a 5.4 with a 5 speed I would be more then happy to take it .

 

 

I contacted a buddy back in the states who works at a ford shop and said he might have a 2001 reg cab 4x4 ranger with the reverse out on the transmission for $800. Its a automatic truck but with the 4.0 in such a small truck I think it would get the job done just fine.

Any one know what's transmission is in the 01?5R55E?

 

could be 4 or 5 speed... look at the code on door frame.