When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hello there ladies and gents, let’s dive into what’ll hopefully be an entertaining rebuild/restoration/repair thread.
A little about me: I am young and I am in fact dumb. After looking around even with the truck prices going through the roof, I decided I wanted an older truck, preferably dodge and preferably a 2nd gen(My dad had a low mile one that he let go years prior so I really wanted one). Anyways, I found one for sale from a friend of a friend and picked it up for way too much but I was too eager. It’s a 2001 Ram 2500 24v CTD Auto with 4wd
At the time I thought it was a decent deal and had minimal issues, mainly cosmetic. Boy was I wrong, she didn’t hold oil at all. I used about 3 qts in 5 days. I immediately knew I needed to fix it so I purchased a new front crank seal and wear sleeve along with some permatex for the timing cover. After 7 long hours in a friends shop it was leaking half of what it normally did. I still wasn’t satisfied and after looking, I noticed the entire driver side of the block was wet. A little further digging revealed my tappet cover gasket was split in multiple places and overall trashed. I spent the 2nd weekend of owning it ripping it apart in order to fix it, keep in mind I am in no way mechanically inclined but I do like to learn so I dived right in.
Excuse the poor photos but you get the point. Everything was somewhat cleaned and completely put back together. I have now ran into my next set of issues, multiple other leaks. Anything from a small drip from the vacuum pump to a severe leak of differential fluid coming from the driver side axle seal. Being that my brakes were trashed anyways I decided to fix the axle seal leak and replace brake shoes and wheel cylinders(sorry for the lack of photos), this is where everything went downhill. Some diff fluid leaked out, not too much but an amount I expected, sadly it was very glittery. There wasn’t a slight shimmer to it, this was just loaded with fine shavings leaving it golden in the oil. Best thing that came to mind was to let it go till she blows. Now I have function back brakes but not very decent front brakes, that I shall tackle tomorrow.
I have ran across a not so fun issue, there’s a vacuum leak somewhere. Heat and ac only come from the defrost vents and floor vents along with the lack of cruise control. I haven’t even bothered to try and use 4wd yet but I know it did work before fixing the tappet cover leak. I more than likely disconnected a line on accident or broke a line. Are there any common spots that they break or are there any good ways of locating leaks?
This past week the lift pump decided to let go on the way home from work, luckily I was about 1 mile give or take from home so I limped it there. It was hovering around 9-10 psi under idle and 9 under a light load. I could’ve gone cheap and gone with a replacement pump or raptor but instead went with a fass 165 titanium series pump along with a fuel pressure tee and a draw straw. I’ll be putting it on this coming up weekend with a buddy and I’ll be sure to do a write up with detailed instructions and pictures on this for others who may be experiencing a hard time or have questions.
Also managed to fix the vacuum leak, 1 line was disconnected and another had a small tear in the 90* rubber connection so I cut that piece off and stuck it on. Cruise, ac, and 4wd now work, thank you for your input
07-25-2021, 10:45 PM
