Info on 1994 Dodge Ram 2500 4X2: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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May 9, 2010 5:31 p.m. dean1484 Dork

The good:

I have an opportunity to get one for free.

It is a standard cab with a long bed. It has just about every option you could get as well as the heavy duty hauling and towing package on top of the 2500 series suspension..

It has a 360 gas motor

It is an old truck that I would just use to make runs to home depot hall stuff and tow things locally.

The body and the bed are basically rust free. I know the complete history of the truck since new. (it has been worked but not abused and it has always been maintained) It now is about 200K on it

The bad: It has 200K on it

It has no oil pressure at idle off idle and the oil pressure comes up to normal. There are no abnormal engine noises.

There is a rumor that the senders go bad on these. Anyone know about this? If it really is loosing pressure I can only assume that it is the mains are just warn out.

Can the mains be changed with the motor in the truck?

How hard is it to just change the motor on these?

How hard is it to rebuild a 360?

Other things it needs are minor.

A power steering hose

A rear bumper (the one on it is rusted and getting used is impossible so I will just fabricate one from either a 6x6 or some scrap steel (I have a welder)

So what is the word on these things? Just go get a 440 and make ti fit? Go find a turbo diesel and make it fit? Fix the 360? get another 360? Get scrap value for it? Trad it in?

I use to tow with this truck years ago. It was one of the best towing trucks I have used. It was very stable and had more than enough power. In fact the torque of that 360 was just incredible. There was not stopping it. So I hate to just let it die with out at least exploring the options of saving it.

So anyone have any info on these trucks? I know ford and Chevy mechanical but I have never messed with repairing one of these.
May 9, 2010 6:22 p.m. ignorant SuperDork

dean1484 wrote:

I have an opportunity to get one for free.

you had me at free.

How much is a junkyard motor with a warranty?
May 9, 2010 6:48 p.m. Streetwiseguy Reader

The oil sender is the last thing to get oil on the old Dodge small blocks. Drain the oil, change the filter, then listen for non-standard thumping noises from the bottom end before the oil pressure hits.

Just in case you didn't know, thump= bad.
May 9, 2010 7:45 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

360s are pretty tough, but the heads are prone to cracking. I bought a fairly low-mileage (55,000 miles) 1998 that came from a Jeep Grand Cherokee for $500. Had to replace the heads since magnafluxing showed them to be full of cracks ($100 shipped off a dodge forum). Those engines also tend to ping since the intake manifold is aluminum, its belly pan is steel and they inevitably leak. You can get one-piece intakes, or aftermarket aluminum belly pan replacements. Dodge trucks are notorious for bad ball joints - and the dealerships will gouge you to replace the whole assembly with the same crappy OEM parts... better to get it over with and just put in moogs. The only other thing that ever went wrong with my truck is the governor pressure solenoid on the tranny, apparently that's fairly common in the 46RE auto (same for dakota and Ram).
May 9, 2010 8:58 p.m. cwh SuperDork

I would listen very closely to what Leslie says.
May 9, 2010 9:28 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

Oh, gee thanks for the endorsement (blush) but I'm no expert, just had this particular D in my life for 11 years.
May 9, 2010 10:07 p.m. neon4891 SuperDork

I'm not sure if a 440 would fit, as that is when they went over to the V-10 as the big gas engine.

Free is free
May 9, 2010 10:50 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

Sure you can. There's one Ram in my town that I know of, and an older style Dak too both with 440s. Then again, I know of at least one Dak that had the Viper engine swap, pics were all over the internet a while ago.
May 9, 2010 10:53 p.m. grimmelshanks Reader

diesel! big big power+ big big black clouds = cool
May 9, 2010 10:57 p.m. neon4891 SuperDork

Lesley wrote:

Sure you can. There's one Ram in my town that I know of, and an older style Dak too both with 440s. Then again, I know of at least one Dak that had the Viper engine swap, pics were all over the internet a while ago.

Hmm, when I was 14 or so, I had sick thoughts about dropping a 528 Hemi into a second gen Dak, getting a 'Cuda styled grill and calling it the Barrakota...
May 9, 2010 11:18 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

That would be extremely cool. I used to belong to a Dakota Club that would get together for Moparfest etc. There was one guy whose truck had an AAR paint scheme, he called it Dakuda.

Those diesel Rams are bloody fast when they're chipped. Last time I took my truck to the track, I lined up against this honkin' lifted Ram with big stacks. I took off like a shot, leaving him behind, only to hear this bloody whistling freight train go by... almost blew me off the track. Thing was about 800 hp, just a monster.
May 10, 2010 12:06 p.m. Vigo Reader

mm, when I was 14 or so, I had sick thoughts about dropping a 528 Hemi into a second gen Dak, getting a 'Cuda styled grill and calling it the Barrakota...

There have been a few 528 hemi 3rd gens in the magazines about 10 years ago.
May 10, 2010 3:01 p.m. Rob_Mopar Reader

Dean,

The 360 Magnum is a good motor and not hard to rebuild at all. Lesley hit all the main points. For a 2500 4x4 I wouldn't use the Mopar Performance M1 single piece intake. I have one of these on my 318 '96 Dak. That truck is a stick so the loss of low end torque wasn't as bad, but I could feel the difference over the beer barrel intake. On the plus side, it does pull much further through the RPM range now.

For something being used as a tow rig/general truck duty I'd go for the aluminum plate valley pan. They are available from a couple sources or you can make one using the plenum gasket as a template.

In the last year a couple new options popped up for the Maggie motors. Indy/RHS teamed up for replacement iron heads that have more meat in the crack prone area between the valves. They flow better too.

Previously the only bolt on fuel injection manifolds for the Maggie motors were the Mopar Performance ones or modify one of the carb manifolds. Hughes Engines worked with Edelbrock to make a variation of the Ed Magnum RPM Air Gap intake for them. It's only available from Hughes but it's sold as a kit as a direct bolt on. I know they revised the fuel injector angle from the stock beer barrel setup. The runners/plenum/valley are all the Edelbrock RPM design. I've been considering going this route for my '96 sometime down the road. Maybe when I get around to building up a 360 for it.

There are a few cam choices for it. The best of the stock Magnum cams would be the Dakota R/T cam. Otherwise there are a few aftermarket grinds that will work with the stock computer. I don't know what options are currently available for OBDI trucks.

If you want more torque, you can always go with a stroker kit. 4" stroke cranks are out there both cast and forged. Go .030" over with the bore and that crank and you have a 408 Magnum. The simplest and easiest way to go would to have it balanced for stock 360 magnum weight so the stock damper & torque converter will work.

-Rob
May 10, 2010 3:49 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

Hey Rob, did you look into getting a turtle for your M1? There are guys on the RT forums that make them.
May 10, 2010 8:38 p.m. Rob_Mopar Reader

Lesley wrote:

Hey Rob, did you look into getting a turtle for your M1? There are guys on the RT forums that make them.

No, not yet. I thought they were only doing that with the 4bbl style manifolds. Mine's the 2bbl version.

I put that intake on years ago. Not long after they first came out. After the second valley pan gasket blew I decided that was enough. That's back when the truck was still a daily driver. Now that it's moved into the toy collection I might do things a little differently.

-Rob