1989 RamCharger

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So, it's still leaking ATF. Or leaking ATF again, because it has more to leak.

That "leak stop" didn't actually work, instead I was just running it dry.



Last night on my way somewhere, after forgetting my cell phone at home, the truck hesitated a bit. I was just thinking "I wonder what happens to a 727 trans when it doesn't have enough fluid to actuate the hydraulic arms." Then it shifted hard. I wondered "Hrm, that might be what it does." and then not even 20 seconds later, it bogged out. Like, when an EFI car's battery drains down while you're driving it... Pedal to the floor and it made some noise, but no power.

I realized that it was the trans after I couldn't shift it into anything but D and N.

Got it started again, and pulled it up out of the blind right-hand sweeper onto the left side of the road.

I filled it up with 3qt of fluid, and everything worked again. And it started leaking again. Now I know how low it'll go. Hopefully nothing is damaged too badly. :p
 
Also: Got new door seals. Installed them. Now the hinges are so worn that the doors won't close with the new undamaged seals.

I'm going to be ripping the trans out tomorrow morning to replace the front seal and pump bushing. Good times.
 
GRSCRXSi and I just pulled the trans. After about 6 hours of work it was out.

Tomorrow I pull the seal, pump, and bushing, and replace with new.

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No, we're doing it at a shop.

Eventually I plan on getting a lift in my new house, but that'll be a couple years.
 
Autozone tried to screw me, by giving me a wheel bearing seal, so we took an hour to go get that exchanged... Jerks.


The truck is all back together. All fluids are in. All bolts are in (except for the center differential brush guard) that need to be in.

Right now it has an 8ft piece of flex-tube from the exit of the y-pipe, dumping right onto the pavement. It's not that loud, but it sounds like ass. It's much easier flowing, and I can actually feel it when I hit the gas. I'm going to have to put a muffler on it, because the high-tones of a V8 with straight pipes don't make me dance like some. It sounds like equal length pipes on a drag car, but much quieter, lol.


The transmission fluid filter was in bad shape... I don't know if it's ever been changed.
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New one in, and we're good to go.


NO MORE ATF LEAK! :laugh::lol::thumbup:


Now I get to fix the oil leak.
 
Yeah man, it's actually a real vehicle now.

Now the parking brake, door hinges, oil leak (probably just an un-tightened oil filter) and fix the coolant drip. The weeping coolant is not really significant.


I'm really hurting today. That was a lot of manual labor, shoving things, lifting things, and having things fall on me -- way more than I've become accustomed to, lol.
 
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I'm considering painting the roof white once I get everything sanded down and primed. Objections?
 
white is good... will keep it a little cooler inside. i'm really surprised you havent gutted and cleaned that beast yet.
 
No need to clean the interior. It's a truck, lol.

There's more of a need for some sidesteps so my wife can get in more easily, and to fix the door hinge pins so she can close the door from the inside, lol.
 
those are obviously important. it drives me nuts to see dirty interiors. i make kristen clean hers. my buddy jarrod with his beater S10 has grease on the seats along with all sorts of tools and trash. i don't dare ever get in :/
 
you fix the 4WD linkage yet?
that we forgot to reconnect lol.
Yeah, I fixed it. 4wd still works.
Last night I moved the shift linkage, but I moved it the wrong way, so it's worse than it was before, lol. It might be a two-person job.

The oil leak is actually from the transmission to engine struts... Apparently the holes in the engine block go into an oil channel? All of those bolts covered with oil when we removed them looks like the holes are oozing oil. I'm baffled. I'll put some RTV/hondabond on them and re-torque and hope for the best.

I'm considering getting some used 3.55 or 3.73 gears to toss in. The 3.21 gears really make this thing feel slower than it is. That'll be in the far-term future though.

I replaced the battery terminals that looked like a christmas tree, and I have some battery clamp j-hooks somewhere to clamp the battery down, instead of the previous owner's bunji cord. The amateur radio has some 10ga wire running to it, terminating at anderson power pole connectors so I can easily disconnect and/or expand stuff.

The wiring isn't as bad as I thought. It just needs to have a couple pieces re-run (mostly the high-current runs), a couple grounds added, connectors terminated with proper ring-terminals, and some fuses added to the things that are completely unfused.

The interior is actually in GREAT shape under the floor mats, so there's hope I can clean 'em and get it looking nice. I was surprised to find clean carpet under the mats in the back.

The back seats have broken arm-rests... It looks like they're just worn out from getting beat up. Should be easy to weld back together.

I got some of the roof rust removed, but that's gonna be a bear to get done without scaffolding, lol.

Cleaning the windshield involves climbing up onto the hood of the car, and actually walking across the cowl to reach everything. Putting rain-x on made a HUGE difference, but it's still scratched as hell. I remember reading something about buffing a windshield with a cutting compound to get the scratches and swirls out. Anyone ever used one of those windshield polishing kits?
 
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