1992 Power Ram 50 4x4

[barefootstu]

I bought a sweet little Ram 50 4x4 5sp. 2.4l with 208,000miles on the odo.
It's a cool little truck, I bought it for $650.00 running on three cylinders.
I thought it was a bad head gasket but later found out that the key way slot on the crankshaft gear that runs the timing belt along with the camshaft gear was worn out half an inch wide! The bolt was only finger tight, so, I'm hoping that putting a new one on will work out in the end once I torque it down to proper specs.
Heres some photos:

Check out that key way slot! insane. The keyway was seriously screwed up, but never sheared.

The head right before it went to the machine shop. It was tweaked out .006" so It gotten shaved down.

She's waiting to be fixed up so we can go driving!

Her face is a bit put out at the moment.

Oh yeah... getting right into it.

So, my experience so far has been that these truck have a horrible reputation for being POS junk.
But this trucks body and drivetrain are soild! so I'm hoping it'll turn out to be a runner.
The motor is in really bad shape. The head was warped slightly, and the whole crank gear issue, but other than that it looks solid aswell. The head in the shop getting worked and I've had to track down new valve seals and and new valves and one cylinders valves were fried.
Parts availability is horrible for these motors (2.4l 4 cylinder).
I've found all the parts so far, and am hoping beyond hope that the bottom end of this engine isn't totally shot so I can get some miles out of this beast atleast. I actually bought this as a daily driver since I live in Denver CO and all I have for a vehicle is my dirt bike lol.

Do I have False hopes? Comments? Insights?
Please share.

[TotallyBalistic]

nice find man. just my opinion i think you should rebuild the bottom end of the motor as well. after the headwork and full rebuild you should get plenty of miles out of the truck. glad to see another 4x4 and welcome to the site

[barefootstu]

I was just discussing that with my brother in law who is a mechanic. He said unless I wanted to just get it running to sell it, he would rebuild the bottom end as a fresh top end is to hard on a worn bottom end in the long run.
Is the 2.4 worth rebuilding? autozones website listed the rebuild kit with mains for 325 so I'll have around 800 into it if I do the bottom end too. all in all 1600 should have the truck up and running nicely so I guess thats not bad at all.
What about the manual trannies, do they last past 200,000?
I drove the truck home and the clutch and tranny seemed fine to me, but it was only running on three cylinders...

Where do you guys get parts for these trucks?

I'm kind of discouraged because I've had so much trouble getting parts, everyone I know is telling me to dump the truck and get a toyota, that it'll never be reliable and nickel and dime me to death, that these trucks are junky, etc etc. but if I can have it running and solid again for under 2000.00, then whats wrong with that?
I think they have a bad reputation unfairly, same as the dodge spirit/plymouth acclaim that I had before. People said the same thing, get a corolla or civic etc etc, but that car never failed me, even though I had to put some parts into it I was still under 2000.00 total investment, it ran great and got me through all sorts of weather and abuse and never skipped a beat.

So I guess i'm asking, since you guys own and drives these trucks, do you think it will hold up and is worth putting the money into fully rebuilding the motor?
Also, what should I look for as far as the drive train, EFI system, chassis, suspension, bearings, clutch and cable, tranny, dif etc?

I think the truck looks awesome, and I want to put some nice pipe bumpers and a skid plate on it which would look B.A.!