1983 Ram 50 Royal Diesel 4d55 turbo Restore and upgrade

[phillie]

I'm not new to forums or automobiles but new to the Ram 50/Mighty max. I usually do all work to my vehicles except for alignments or ecm tunes. I'm a Class 8 diesel mechanic by trade and always have worked on cars/trucks for the last 20 years. I know a lot about the newer diesel engines but not a whole lot about the older mechanical diesels. I picked up my truck 1 week ago. It has 41k original miles. I've changed the oil and about to do the tranny and diff fluids. I also plan on doing all the bushings and ball joints in the front end to start. I want to drop the truck a couple inches, new wheels, and change out the bench seat to a couple of recaros I had in my previous CRX. I just received my NRG steering hub so that I can install my quick release with momo wheel. I also have a wood nardi wheel. This is more for security. I can take off the wheel and put a locking top on the hub to make it a little harder to steal. I plan on making this my daily. My other vehicle is a 08 toyota crewmax. You can see pics of my other cars on my ig. dezelmechanic Pics will be up shortly....

[phillie]

Heres the hub. After lots of searching and finding different answers I emailed the manufacturer and went with what they said. Ill install it this weekend and hope it goes together with no problems.

[phillie]

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[phillie]

Hub doesn't fit. The splines are to big. This one is going back and I'm going to try out one for an eclipse.
Today I received my factory service manual. I'll be doing the valve adjustment this weekend.
I haven't changed the fluids out in the trans of diff so I'm hoping I can get that done also.

[Uncle Spence]

Glad to see that you were able to round up a manual for your year. I think it's worth the money to have one on hand.

[phillie]

Glad to see that you were able to round up a manual for your year. I think it's worth the money to have one on hand.

I took your advice and ordered it through the company you sent the link. Having a FSM is invaluable. I already used it today to look up how to adjust my valves. Mike Warme sent me directions last week but I since I had the manual I looked it up.

[phillie]

Today I got to changing the Tranny and differential fluids. Drove around and got the everything up to temp. Then drained and filled. I also got my NRG aftermarket steering wheel hub paired with a Momo steering wheel installed. I used a steering wheel hub for the eclipse. The reason for the detachable steering wheel is for theft prevention. These older vehicles are easy to steal so i want to make it as hard as i can for would be thieves. Big shout out to NRG for working with me and letting me test fit the hub first before purchasing. 18954 18955 18956 18957

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[geezer101]

Looks good phillie. I see you still have the old standby of the wheel lock/polo mallet combo. Little trick I learned with steering wheel locks - when you fit them, have the lock mechanism facing towards the instrument panel. It will take a lot longer to forcibly remove the lock. If they're determined it won't stop them but the chances of getting busted increases enough for them to think twice. You need a kill switch and if you ever fit an electric fuel pump, have another switch to disable it. Even if they get it started they won't get far.

[Uncle Spence]

I'll be honest... Most of my trucks life, since I've owned it, has been spent with the doors unlocked.

[geezer101]

I'll be honest... Most of my trucks life, since I've owned it, has been spent with the doors unlocked.

It saves you from them breaking glass or a door lock to get into it. I leave my wagon unlocked all the time - even with the windows down. I did have my work bag stolen from it but the contents were useless to whoever took it (it did screw me however - lost all my client contacts and 2 years worth of invoices ...) When my truck hits the road it'll be a different story.

[phillie]

Looks good phillie. I see you still have the old standby of the wheel lock/polo mallet combo. Little trick I learned with steering wheel locks - when you fit them, have the lock mechanism facing towards the instrument panel. It will take a lot longer to forcibly remove the lock. If they're determined it won't stop them but the chances of getting busted increases enough for them to think twice. You need a kill switch and if you ever fit an electric fuel pump, have another switch to disable it. Even if they get it started they won't get far.

Thank you. I will do that. Its true, if they want it they'll figure a way to get it. I do need to fit a kill switch but if the buggers don't know about this truck they'll have a hard time starting it anyways. My glow plugs are connected to a momentary switch. If they don't warm up the glow plugs it won't start. So I kinda have a kill switch.


I'll be honest... Most of my trucks life, since I've owned it, has been spent with the doors unlocked.

I don't dare take that chance. People will rummage through the truck if the doors are unlocked. You must live in quiet area.


Reason why I haven't been active is because I've been contemplating on selling the truck. I don't have the time I use to be doing a lot of work to it. Right now the main things bothering me is the suspension and seat. I'm sure if I do the suspension how I want to do it I'll be at least $1k into it. Id want to replace all the bad ball joints, bushings and worn parts. I want to lower the truck and gain some better handling so I'm sure quality lowering components aren't cheap. As for seats I have to figure out seat mounts. Not to many people make seat mounts for our trucks OR get the bench reupholstered to being very supporting which I've never seen before because we all know bench seats are errr bench seats.

I'll make a thread for advice for suspension.

[phillie]

Not to much new stuff going on. Since the suspension is bouncy and I'm not ready to do a full suspension upgrade I got new shocks all the way around.
The rear are Gabriel Hijacker air shocks and the front are KYB gas a just, KG5433. The fronts don't fit and they are specific to the truck. The top and bottom are eyelets when the bottom should be a tab. I sent KYB an email to see why the mix up.
So far the rear air shocks work great. I hauled a refrigerator and the ride was smooth. With the old shocks the rear would've been bottoming out all the time. Although they still rebound they're no good.

[phillie]

Installed new front shocks and huge difference to the junk old ones in there. Just need to start replacing worn suspension components.



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[Chyrio]

Gonna have to keep this bookmarked. On my truck I think I'm gonna do a double kill switch and a detachable wheel like that for those "special" neighborhoods ha ha. Gotta find a way to secure the sound system though. most of it will be hidden but I was thinking about wiring a alarm somehow to each speaker and mounting the controller externally. What thief is gonna think to look in the chassis rail (just a thought) for the alarm controller right?

[geezer101]

Not a bad idea. It will need to be in a completely sealed and weatherproof housing so it doesn't ambush you and malfunction in the rain.

[phillie]

Gonna have to keep this bookmarked. On my truck I think I'm gonna do a double kill switch and a detachable wheel like that for those "special" neighborhoods ha ha. Gotta find a way to secure the sound system though. most of it will be hidden but I was thinking about wiring a alarm somehow to each speaker and mounting the controller externally. What thief is gonna think to look in the chassis rail (just a thought) for the alarm controller right?

Yea I'm a little paranoid when leaving my truck out. I've got the detachable wheel and the autolock. If someone wants it bad enough they'll tow it but I don't think someone will want it that bad. Its more of an easy steal if someone wanted a fast lift.


Not a bad idea. It will need to be in a completely sealed and weatherproof housing so it doesn't ambush you and malfunction in the rain.

The brain in the chasiss is a great idea. Needs to be sealed like geezer said so it won't short out with water intrusion.