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1993 Ramcharger

alsant

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Location
Prescott Valley AZ
Well it’s not a B-Body but I’m hoping someone can chime in on what to look for on these Rigs. It got a 5.9 and is a 4x4. It’s lived in Arizona it’s whole life and looks it to. E0706FB8-6AFF-4469-A9C5-B7D8ACD028DF.png
 
Check frame and lower panels! My daughter has an 87 and loves it! She wouldn’t part with that thing…

She’s replaced all the lower quarters.. those were great places for mud! Steering boxes and typical drive gear. She’s replaced a lot of that too!

If it’s been in Az it’s whole life, good chance it hasn’t seen the mud Maine vehicles have lol! Just mechanical stuff

Good luck. Looks nice in the 1 pic!
 
I have a 93 Dodge W250 that have owned since '95. It's been a really good, tough truck. Worst trouble I had was when it was running rough, and trying to work through the OBD1 system codes. Finally got it figured out that EVERYTHING from the ecm controls went through the coolant temperature sensor. And the first replacement CT sensor I had installed from Advance Auto was defective. Ended up replacing a bunch more sensor related crap until I got it straightened out with a replacement for the darn replacement! Also, at 120K miles, had to replace the electric fuel pump. It seems that the 5.9 in 93 uses a unique pump that is different from the 5.2 trucks and most other model years. The 93 trucks with 5.9 engines require a much higher pressure than the others. (Apparently the "magnum" engine was new that year?) Anyway, the parts catalogs didn't even list that pump. I finally got the right one after contacting Delphi and talking to one of their engineers.
 
First place to rust is floors, front, towards the front of the door. Drip rails were poor design, plug up, water comes into the cabin from the front doors and sits on top of the floor under the carpets.
Next place would be rockers, but I doubt you will see that in Arizona.
Also the rear quarter, if you want to call it that. Right behind the door, but in front of the rear wheel, right at the bottom. Rear wheel slings water etc. towards the front and it gets in there and there is no where for it to drain. Rusts from inside out, make sure someone didn't bondo over the area to hide bubbles or pinholes.

SUPER hard to find patch panels specific to these trucks, easy to find stuff common with the pick ups. Floors are easy to find. Patch panel for that area in front of rear wheel not so much.
93 is last year, only year with 360 Magnum. Sheet metal for 91-93 was a major downgrade from 87-90, but from AZ it shouldn't matter that much. Wiring quality sucks too. See if the gauges all work etc.

if you want to collect it, this one will be somewhat special as production numbers are low for 93. Most people picture the late 80's models though when it comes to nostalgia. For this body style, "Canyon" versions got body matched grill, otherwise it should be chrome.

If you are going to drive it, you can upgrade the radio speakers to 6x9 pretty easy, they bolt into the doors with minor trimming of the metal and into the rear seat area with some trimming there too. You will want a low power sub of some type to get the MASSIVE volume of air inside to move if you want a modern sound.
The plastic dash panels are made of explodium at this point. You will have to move like a brain surgeon to work on anything in that area. Don't be surprised if there is a crack or two in any of the plastic trim anywhere inside. You can use various things to weld it back together, no one makes replacements for Ramcharger that I know of.
Make sure the rear roof vent has a non-broken latch. NEVER OPEN IT. That is a can of worms you do not want any part of. Nobody makes anything for them, even a seal.
All of these look good in old school turbine style rims, Dodge even offered them factory a few years. 31.5x10.5x15 looks good on factory suspension with factory rims. No loss in giddyup to speak of with 3.55 gears in my experience. Yes you can surprise a few people with a 360 Ramcharger.
Don't lift it. I mean it's your truck but it ruins them and they look weird.
If you want to install 90's looking chrome nerf bar side steps, you will need to find universal fit type. This is because the parking brake is in the way for everything, you will have to heavily modify or remove it. Otherwise you are stuck with rocker mount or none.

I am not sure if it is the same with the Magnum powered trucks, but LA powered the efi is a simple TBI but the ENTIRE brain of everything in the truck that gets some type of electrical power is ONE GIANT ECU BOARD. Including the voltage regulator. A one wire alternator will bypass this but you get a check engine light.

Source: I own and daily(summer) a 1990 I went through a couple years ago. I live in WI. I had more bodywork things to do then you will. I get comments weekly. Everyone that owned a Bronco, Blazer, or one of these for the 20 years they made them recognizes them, knows how damn fun they are, and wants one. But you can't find them, or can't afford them. This isn't like working over a 69 or 70 B body that you can basically build a car from aftermarket stuff. You will need to find used or be inventive, or do some serious internet search-fu. LMC truck has stuff common with the pickups and a few bits for ramcharger. So if this one is in prime shape it is worth a premium just in saved hours of scrambling for parts.
 
My '01 Ram 2500 QCLB was an AZ truck.

I got (no ****) about ten POUNDS of sand, out of the frame rails.

Park on a hill. Stick a garden hose in a hole in the frame on the uphill end, turn it on...and wait till it runs clear. You'll be amazed. I've had this truck for 11 years or so now; doing seals on my vacuum pump a couple weeks ago, there was STILL piles of sand on top of the frame underhood!

A trick I learned years ago to keep the rear wheel arches from rusting out - I remove my taillights 2x a year (spring, after road-salt season) and fall (before salt season). Hose off the tops of the fenders inside the quarters, to keep debris from sitting there, holding moisture, and starting rust.

Make sure the drains in the bottom of the doors are clear. Ditto the drains in the quarters, and when your doors are open make sure there's no debris/leaves caught up in the bottom of the fenders.

5.9 Magnum is a good motor. Oil pressure, no noises...rock it out. Very upgradeable too, cams, heads, intakes...all depends what you want to do with it.

Nice looking rig!
 
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