LERN ME: 1981-1993 Dodge Truck Edition

Lately, I've been growing tired of my 1997 Dodge Dakota. It owes me nothing; I bought it on its way to the junkyard, and after putting some work into it, it's had a 6 year stay of execution. But lately, it's always needing something and it's starting to get rusty. I'm thinking this is my final year with it before I send it on it's merry way. 

But what is going to replace it? I spoke with SWMBO, and she informed me that she likes older trucks. She would be open to us getting something cool and older, and if it has A/C (which the Dakota doesn't), that would be a huge bonus and a selling point. 

Looking at GM trucks made my head spin. I love them, but 1973-87 "box" trucks are absurdly priced right now. Fords... well, I have some experience with them, as my dad had 80's and 90's F150's growing up. And working on my dad's old 1992 F150 4x4 still keeps me up at night. 

That leaves Dodge. 

When I was a kid, I had a "cool uncle" that always drove Dodges. He had a number of W150's, Power Wagons, and even a Royal SE Ramcharger 4x4. All of them were awesome. A friend of mine also has a 440-swapped 1972 D100 that absolutely rules, and a 1980's version of that with a hopped-up 318 or 360 would be more than enough for me. And somehow, I'm noticing that the "square body" Dodge trucks sell for a fraction of the price of what the GM and Ford counterparts do, especially the 1981-1993 ones. I'm thinking that I'm going to try and penny pinch a bit this year and save up enough to somehow get my hands on a Southern, rust-free example of a Dodge D100/D150 or W150 that I can keep forever. I'd consider a W250 or a Power Wagon if the price is right. Cummins trucks are priced stupidly because Diesel Bros. 

What should I be looking for? So far, here's what I know:

-I love the way they look. 

See what I mean?

-They switched to EFI on the V8's somewhere around 1988

-For some reason, the roof likes to rust at the front above the windshield

-Ones with the Slant Six are glacially slow, unkillable, and somehow cool, and I sorta want to turbo one

-Logistics of plucking one from where things do not get rusty may require help

Oh, and if anyone has one of these kicking around their yard that they are looking to offload for cheap, let me know. 

My friend had a Slant 6 Dodge 150 4x4 with 36” Super Swampers.

Glacially slow is right!

Loved that truck though!

Funny, my dad owned a 81 and 93.  Can't really help you though.  I almost bought a 1984 W150 4x4 last year.  I love the looks and have many childhood memories of these truck.  I use to play with that ram hood ornament.

The Cummins engine is probably the only thing that saved dodge trucks. At one point in the mid to late 80s Chrysler was thinking of scraping their whole truck line. The Cummins engine is what actually brought sales back for dodge trucks.

The body style of those is one of my favorites of the older trucks

Those RAM hood ornaments are absurdly valuable. The basic design goes back to '71 or something like that, and it shows. This era of Dodge doesn't have the greatest electrics (K-cars were contemporaries). Rear suspension is a little labor intensive to lower (assuming you are into all that). Basically, it is way easier to make a nice driving, hot rodded Chevy, but what's the fun in that?

All that said, I own a '93 Cummins Crap-Rod, and love it. Everywhere it goes, I receive compliments, and lots of attention. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

The 360 Magnum engines in the last years, 91-93 (?) were some of the best flowing factory heads.

72-93 is essentially the same truck with minor facelifts.  EFI (TBI similar what the 2.2/2.5 had) started in 88, magnum engines were available for 92-93 (MPFI).  The TBI 5.2/5.9 had the "best" LA factory head castings.  A short bed 92/93 would probably be the one to look for.

Aren't all older pick ups getting to be a little more expensive now? Even Dodges.

There was a guy that had a step side one, lowered with a set of slot mags and a really beefy sounding idle that used to run around back when I lived in Knoxville. That truck had a serious presence. I fully support this idea.

92-93 with the Magnum engines have vastly better performance than the older ones. Other than that i like all of them about equally well. Late 70s is my personal favorite in terms of styling. 

Random anecdote: I remember a long time ago my friend had a 79 that stripped some teeth off the crank window regulator. He welded a bit of metal onto it and i filed it into teeth with a triangular file. Seems crazy now. 

I had an 2wd 89 longbed with a TBI 318.  It was a solid reliable truck.  The early OD transmissions were weak and as a result it had a factory tow rating of something like 3500 pounds.   The wiring harness was getting brittle so associated electrical ghosts were starting to show up.

Another disclaimer: this will be more of a weekend driver for Home Depot/dump runs than a tow pig. My preference is a 2wd short bed with a V8, but a clean one with the Leaning Tower of Power would be cool too. I would avoid the 3.9L V6 installed in the later ones; my Dakota has one of the "good" versions of that engine, and it is gutless and crude. Also, I have not-so-fond memories of my dad's old 1987 Dakota's V6 eating oil pumps, and I'd rather not live those memories again. Also, I LOVE the 70's trucks, but those go for a premium over the later ones. 

As mentioned both v6's and v8's got a good factory power bump I believe starting in '92 marketed as Magnum. 

There was a guy locally that had a beat up '93 d150 for sale with the 5.2 aka 318 and manual trans. He had a vid link to his sale ad of him running through the gears. It looked quite fun for an old beat up looking truck. It sold quick before I could go look at it. 

I just did a quick cl search around me to see what they are going for. Doesn't seem to be much less than the GM trucks of the era. Still plenty expensive unless you get down to the clapped out worn out examples.

I've had two. A 92 and a 93. 

Here in Texas, we don't have rust. At all. So I can't speak about that.

The firewalls on them cracked along the sides which causes squeaks and wet floorboards. It was enough of an issue that Dodge sold kits with patches that you riveted over the cracks.

Again, here in Texas where they don't rust away, I can't remember the last time I saw one that wasn't a Cummins being held together with duct tape. They just didn't sell many of them in the first place and if it isn't a Cummins truck it's not worth trying to keep alive. Parts availability is basically zero here. Mine had cracked (phenolic) door latches and I looked for a couple of years to find replacements. Any time I found one in a junkyard, they were cracked too. Dodge doesn't sell parts for their older trucks very long, so you're basically helpless. My underhood wiring harness was falling apart like they all did. Windows wouldn't roll up and down without problems (no regulators to be found at any price). Wiring behind the dash was hard, brittle and offered me plenty of opportunity to keep my troubleshooting skills sharp.

That said, there is a reason the GM and Ford trucks are more expensive. They're worth it, and more common, so parts aren't really an issue. Every junkyard has rows of them to pick over. 

I'm not a Dodge hater in general, but the early trucks weren't fun for me. 

I would avoid the 3.9L V6 installed in the later ones; my Dakota has one of the "good" versions of that engine, and it is gutless and crude.

The early Magnum motors all seem to run much better than the newer ones. I have the 3.9 in my B250 van and it's shockingly decent. It's not too slow on acceleration and it will push this heavy brick to over 100mph. My dad used to have a 96 3.9/auto ext cab 2wd dakota. That thing felt like a 16 second truck (not slow for the day at all) and it went 115+! lol.

I've actually seen quite a few VERY nice late 80s dodge trucks here in South Texas CLs, but they are usually 4-8k when they're VERY nice. I've seen decent looking ones as low as $1200. 

Vigo said: "I have the 3.9 in my B250 van and it's shockingly decent."

Thank you. I literally laughed out loud.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Lean Burn electronics yet - with an ignition control unit mounted on the air cleaner and miles of vacuum lines, they can be a bit problematic. Of course, I'm not sure what the odds are a truck from that era will still have the Lean Burn by the time you get one.

On Georgia CL right now:

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/d/1989-dodge-200-pick-up/6496373769.html

https://macon.craigslist.org/cto/d/1980-dodge-ram-150-custom/6500367776.html

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/d/1987-dodge-150-short-bed/6487209014.html

Thank you. I literally laughed out loud.

It's hard to explain any other way. Noone expects it to be fast, but probably 95% of people here would guess that it's much slower than it actually is.