OT 97 Dodge Ram

I have a 97 Dodge 1/2 ton 4x4. It's a rust bucket, but I only gave $1500 for it 3 years ago. Good tires, starts and drives decent, body has rust along the bottom and the under side is quite rusty. I drove it to work yesterday, and when I came out to go home, the ABS and brake light came on when I started it up. I made it home and got to checking it out, the brake line is rusted thru behind the gas tank. I took it down to my neighbor who works on vehicles part time to see about getting it fixed. He called today and said all the brake lines need replaced. They are so rusty that he can't cut and patch in a new piece, the hoses to the wheels are weathered pretty bad and should be replaced, he said he is afraid to touch the gas line and the u-joints are just about gone on the front axle. I'm trying to decide whether to have him fix it or just sell it as-is and look for something else. It's not my daily driver, I just use it to haul a few things and pull equipment once in a while. I've been driving it this winter since the roads got slick. He described it as a where do you quit fixing problem. Just enough to get by or fix it right. Not sure what to do with it. When do you give up and say enough is enough??? Do you spend the $$ and fix it right or buy someone else's problems. A new one is out of the question, would be looking for something in the $3000 to $4000 range max. Any thoughts?? Chris

I replaced all the metal brake and fuel lines on a '78 for under $100.
I'm not sure what the rubber hoses would cost for that truck, but even
if they were $50 each you're at roughly $300? (plus labor if he does it)
Obviously up to you, when they're that rusty, other things will go wrong.
Ground wires rust off, lighting issues, computer sensor trouble maybe.
For one I only use once in a while, I'd probably replace the lines and run it.
If you sell it, at least warn the buyer.

Hey Chris,
If you sell it as is, what do you expect yo get for it, a thousand or maybe fifteen hundred?
That would leave yo paying another fifteen hundred or more for another truck that you don't kn ow a thing about.
If it runs as good as you say, trans and 4 whl are OK, I'd put that $ into something you know.
My two cents...
Larry NEIL

Chris, fix it right and drive it. if you buy another one for $3-4000.00 it would most likely have rusted brake and fuel lines to. just my 2 cents, chuck

Brake lines are a cheap easy DIY fix, I would throw a couple hundred in parts at it and do the work this weekend. Pretty simple too.

You better check your frame I bet it is getting thin in places also.

You shouldn't be using 4x4 on slick roads anyway. Get rid of it before it kills you.

Not sure where you are located but this truck has very little rust for the year.

The only downside is it has set for 6 years or so and will need a major cleaning (mice)
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WHAT??????

If you can travel faster than 20 mph on a highway, in a truck with 4wd and transfer case you never use 4wd. Especially with positraction axles. You have no skid sensing between the front and rear axles. AWD different story

Gordo for the most part is right. Most people don't know the max safe speed for a 4X4 with it engaged on ice and snow. Guess what. If it's a mechanical drive, none sensing tranfer case it's 35MPH or less. If' it's a sensing traction tranfer case or one with the fluid coupling you can go faster. Most full sized trucks are mechanical drive transfer case units. Ever wonder why you see so many 4X4's in the ditch when it's icey?

Rick

I just went through this with a 2000 Ram 2500 pickup this year. All of them rust out the brake lines. The one behind the gas tank is the first to go. I had to take the gas tank down a bit to get at that one. Was CHEAP to replace. Was about 14 feet long I think. After that I had to replace the short little line in the back above the rear axle. Next to go were the curly lines below the master cylinder. They are all preformed and were TRASHED. They were all available from my Dodge dealer and I bought all of them brand new. It seems like there were four of them. Now I have all new lines and the brakes work great again. The regular lines from auto zone were about $15 bucks and the preformed ones from Dodge ended up about $140 bucks and were worth every penny. It doesn't matter what vehicle you buy, if you live in a climate with salt you will be fixing it and brake lines are notoriously bad on these modern vehicles. I just had to do the exact same replacement from front to back on my 1999 Lincoln Navigator. The ones on that under the master cylinder are like a braided stainless looking line and they were trashed and cost about $75 dollars each! The other lines were just auto zone lines. I also had to replace lines on a 1993 Lincoln Mark this year. Bottom line, if you have a vehicle pushing 10 years old in a salty climate the brake lines are a ticking time bomb liability. You could own the same vehicle in Arizona and never touch a brake line ever. Good luck, its frustrating but any truck you buy will need it so you might as well fix the one you have.

Brake lines aren't that hard to replace, But them there ft. drive axle u-joints are a real pain to replace if the truck has rust, Did one a while ago, Had to heat one calper bolt, heat 3 bolts that held the hub on, heat the nut on the end of the axle, heat the hub to get it all apart, Then cut the old u joint out. Fule line had to be replace from moveing it around to get the brake line replaced, Also check the frame in ft, of the rear axle for rust holes.

I'd call it quits if it was something major like an engine or a tranny if it didn't do what I needed it to do. Differential could also be a deal breaker. Their 9 1/4 light duty rear differentials went out a lot, mainly pinion bearings. If it's 2 wheel ABS we did a lot of rear sensors on them. It's in the rear differential on top. Gerard

If it runs and drives good id fix what you got,never know what you might get next.