That's not an oil leak, that's a rust prevention system.

The first thing to do is a Borgeson steering shaft upgrade. Then new kingpins and new tie Rod joints. Next up is the steering box mounting plate. It likes to crack and cause slop. If everything works you can get an identical turning circle to the left and right! A lot of lifted Rams put on a crossover steering conversion. Steering and Dodge have a unique and strained relationship. It often leads to a fight that causes death rattle.

You are a great mechanic. I have seen you fixing and resolving mechanical issues where someone else has failed. And still, you are humble enough to ask for help. That by itself shows professionalism because as good as we are, we still have lots more to learn. You are a gentleman and a scholar.

If nobody has ever told you, denatured alcohol will dissolve Permatex 2. It cleans your fingers and tools nearly instantly. And removes it from whatever surface it was used on. (I was in my 40's when I found this out. Has made the last 25 years easier.)

Now that's a Dodge

"Drives like a lumber wagon, it's all over the road, door seals leak...Yep, pretty much tip top." Lol. That's signature Wes right there!

No matter what, that old bearing packer is the coolest tool you have!

Ain't no oil under it, ain't no oil in it! That's a beautiful truck!

Nice to see you get to work on something that wasn't rusted out!! Thanks for posting!!

Sure must be nice to work on a vintage truck without it crumbling apart as you try to repair it 😅👍

Seriously, Wess, you've done a great job with this channel and I look forward to each and every episode. Thanks, bud.

"now no one can complain" Who are you kidding, this is the internet.

Comment #2. In regarding the 94+ Dodge Ram. 1. Replace the steering shaft with a Borgenson unit. 2. Replace the power steering gearbox with a 1998 GM/Chevy 3500 one-ton Saginaw. 3. Install a steering shaft brace. Mounts on frame and mounts with a bering to steering gearbox shaft. 4. Install Left and right front leveling doughnuts. 5. Install Speedway Engineering sway bar kit. Uses a torsion bar and actual links for the stabilizer bar. 6. Install optional Bilstein shocks. Replace any worn steering components. Problems solved.

The best thing I did was add the pillow block bearing support, and then do the "rock solid ram" delrin steering shaft bushing in the column. The steering linkage fix can be done on that truck but you have to cut new tapered seats for that early generation of 2nd gen. 2010 steering linkage of a 2500 will be what you need to order. But those 3 things will make it as good as it will ever get. Note on the delrin bushing, it is affected by temperature, so make sure there is clearance in the warm shop, cold will make tight spots since the shaft is not round stock but rolled tube.

Pretty hard to get rotors turned anymore, nice to see.

Earl Scheib painted that hood in 1996 after a hailstorm damaged it. All in all it held up pretty good.

A trick I used on a crankshaft pulley recently, to hold it while breaking loose and later torquing it. I took an old accessory belt, wrapped it around the crankshaft pulley such that it was pinching itself. Then looped it up and around the most-stout nearby idler or accessory, and clamped it around that with vise grips. Basically a static, improvised strap wrench. Worked a treat and I will probably do that from now on

Dude I love to see rotors turned, like the old days. You did a great job on your brake lathe.

I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. If you've got negative opinions about Wes"s work you're clueless. As far as I'm concerned he's an ultra professional mechanic with lots of knowledge about the various vehicles he works on. Plus he doesn't rely on the old 1 click of the wrist stupidity that way to often causes serious damages on pretty much everything mechanical. As a Veteran Coast Guard Aviation Machinist Mate I have absolutely no doubt that if he had chosen to enter the Aircraft mechanic profession he'd have been a top notch one Aviation companies would have been trying to scalp hire him. One thing awesome about being a Aircraft mechanic for an airline is free air travel for you and your immediate family.

Seeing that old style truck brought back some good memories. Got my drivers license back in 1994. Learned to drive on that style truck. 1989 dodge similar color. 318 gasser. It was grandpas work truck. That thing had around 400k hard construction miles on it when it was retired. It wasn’t a perfect truck , leaks and rattles. Always got us to and from the job site . Hauled everything we needed .

I wish my 2006 looked like this. I’m constantly fighting the rust… frame, body rot, you name it, it’s got it. Props to you for being able to do it!

Do you ever just go running around the corn field at night, pretending like you're in a horror movie?

Biggest improvement I had on a 01 dodge 2500 was to drop the tire pressures to something reasonable. The truck wandered all over the road at 60 psi but dropped to 30-35 all around and it drove way better. Pressure up when towing of course. That was on general grapplers, I believe they were load range E tires calling for 80 psi. Driving like that empty was nearly impossible.

Wes, you are an amazing man! No wonder a lot of the big KZfaqrs refer to you with reverence.

What an awesome old Dodge Truck. I had a red version of that truck back in the late 90’s. It was not very quiet in the cab, but would pull whatever you wanted. They were impressive for 1992. Thanks for the Videos, Wes. Always a treat.

Friday night, pizza and Watch Wes. Let's get this weekend started! Regards from Luxembourg 🇱🇺

I thought Wes was saying "Killer Dolphin" until I finally saw the dowel pin 🙂

I use to work on our 1999 250 Cummins turbo diesel trucks. We rebuild the front end on one at about 200,000 miles and we still had slop. I tightened up the steering gearbox per load about 1/8 to 1/4 turn to get about 5-8mm of play in the steering wheel from the center point then set the locknut. and it took care of our 10 trucks, but that was after every front-end part was checked to be within specs. If it was too touchy I loosened it to about the same play 5-8 mm. Good luck Wes. :)

Yes!! Missed you last week!

I hope enough people in your area watch you to spread the word how you work for them. Some of the things you do to prevent future problems that most don't do saves them many problems in the future. You are truly one of the good guys. Not many left.

I dream of old iron like this someday; but up here in Canada even seeing one rotted into the ground is a treat. 4x4 with the cummins? Nah the body's all turned to dust in work life and the power/drivetrains were salvaged. This thing's a unicorn being ridden by a golden goose up here. xD Only ones left were hiding away like this one.

The best fix is to install a 94 Ford truck in its place.it’ll work.great show Wes. Thanks.

Heh - you should've seen the auto-locking hubs on the old IH Scouts. They weren't really locking hubs, they were roller-bearing sprag clutches, for light duty, emergency 4wd but nobody ever bothered to manually lock the hubs, so those clutches would get the balls beat off them. When you pulled'em off, a dozen worn out rollers and busted springs would just fall all over the floor.

My backyard hillbilly method to hold a smooth crank pully is to use an old timing or other flat belt (even v belts work) wrap it around the pulley then reflect it back over something round like a screw driver handle , socket ratchet handle...basically anything within reach lol. Then anchor the other end either with a ratchet strap or even a pry bar. Once you get it tensioned up it will hold the world without marring anything up. Basically it's just a make shift strap wrench but works well. Seems like you always run into this after the car is up on jack stands and there's no way to keep the motor from turning. Always a pain!

Dang, you weren't kidding! That's probably the only dodge I'd drive. She's purdy!

Just love the comments from a man that's been there..."if there's a worse brake design I HAVEN'T SEEN IT".

Always loved the simplicity of manual locking hubs.

Steering box stabilizer kit. I put it on all of mine. It replaces the pitman arm nut with a shaft and the brace holds a bearing on the shaft. Also triple check the track bar.

Just a loyal 12 valve Cummins

3 seconds in, the like button was already smashed 👍🏻

One of the best things to do with the brakes is to replace the wheel cylinders on the rears with larger ones. The stock ones I think are 1" bores, and you can go up to either 1 1/8" or 1 3/16". It really improves the rear brake performance.

Well, finally the white stripe! Pure creativity and skillful hands!

Those old things will run forever.

Accomplishment = A vital part of feeling good about yourself, your abilities and being proud of what you do. It’s the essence of why we do things and what we gain from our hard work.

Wow at how clean the undercarriage is That is impressive for a 31 year old rig from Illinois @Watch Wes Work

Track bar where it ties into the frame will get wallowed out there, due to the gear box flexing the frame horn that holds it. They sell a new addional crossmember that ties both frame horns together allowing for proper support of the gear box.. It has an extention that goes through a block bearing mounted on the crossmember that extends down to allow for proper alignment of pitman arm that pivots every time you turn the steering wheel, and supports the lateral load of the suspension. The track bar mount on the frame itself gets chewed up for the excessive movement of the gear box and has to be cut off and a new higher grade steel mounting plate welded on, are at least added to the original plate to repair the damaged hole The other end of track bar that attaches to the passenger hub assembly typically is also worn out by the same thing. New steering gear box New addional crossmember added Replacement of track bar Addional repair of mounting plate of track bar at frame driver's side. And typically tie rods, if it doesn't have the stabilizers dampers for the steering It's usually a good idea to install the set with two stabilizers even if it has just a single one mounted, and especially if none at all in place. Also found that while shocks appears to be good its mainly just the springs doing majority of the work, and a good set of bilstines helps greatly control the death wobbles along with the above mentioned items. I've rebuilt 97, and 95 one a 2500 the other 1500 both 4x4's. But they share the same parts as well as the f'ed up design all the way up to 3500's. Not really all that expensive to buy, but fairly labor intensive, except for the benefit of actually being able to drive it like a normal vehicle instead of you constantly chasing the direction the truck is going, are then sudden attack of severe case of death wobble its not really that much labor considering the benefits and longevity of the truck was doubled are even tripled it's normal life span.

THAT SOUNDS MORE LIKE MY ELBOW AND SHOULDER CLICKING THAN THE TORQUE WRENCH. Time to go buy the lottery ticket, the drum coming off that good. I am happy to see you cutting rotors, most people say they are too inexpensive to turn just replace.

They changed the steering for the 98.5-2002 HD (2500 over 8800lbs and 3500) different geometry much heavier parts. My 99 2500 4x4 cummins has nice tight steering, my buddy's 96 3500 4x4 cummins was all over the road until we changed his steering to the 99 HD stuff, his is great now. Just a suggestion from an old retired Army mechanic.

Basic solid front axle stuff to make it tight. A big thing no one probably does but people who Jeep/offroad do is a steering box brace, in my Jeep there was a night/day difference when I braced the steering box, took a lot of the slop away. Still A LOT of slop, but theres only so much you can do with SFA

Come on Wes, don’t you have seal drivers?! I remember doing this for ever, then I’m like why the hell don’t I just get seal driver kit. Edit.. we’ll there you go! Haha

I have a 1993 D250 in absolute prestine condition in Massachusetts - love the cummins

"The bigger the glob, the better the job". That's what she said.

Always get a good laugh at your videos Wes you have the patience of a saint mate cracking job you done on the truck it’s in good condition for it’s age brilliant content as usual take care to you and the family and max all the best from here in Scotland 👍👌🔧🔧🔧😉

To mostly cure death wobble and shit front end on 2nd gen 3/4 and up trucks, upgrade your sway bar to a third gen. Also look into the power steering stiffener bracket, those two things alone will change the whole driveablitly of those 2nd gen, oh and one last thing, as others suggested, upgrade to the borgeson steering shaft. That was one of the 1st things I did on my 97 ram 2500. That was a huge improvement alone

Kuddos to you ... your previous "professional Life" shines thru ... NOBODY else would have checked (properly") the end play ... tip of the hat Cowboy !!!

Badass truck love these first gens nothing better

Me and my dad bought a 1990 Dodge D350 5.9 Cummins 5 spd and a 1993 Dodge W350 5.9 Cummins auto for the farm. Replaces a lot of ''Dodge stuff'' over the years but they're both still used daily. That there is truly a unicorn though, ours are beat up, scuffed up, and got some rust even though they've been POR-15 treated since new. Thanks for this awesome video Wes! Love the nostalgia!

Good to see you

I absolutely love the snarky sarcasm about the "yer doin' it wrong" comments. "That way no one can complain" had my laughing out loud. Thank you Wes.

I love those old dodges, my grandpa had a 93 that he bought new. I miss that old truck for sure

Thanks for the video Wes great job on the old truck. Take care of yourself and family ❤️❤️👍

Wes, thanks for a great video on the old Dodge diesel pickup! The two tone paint on the upper and lower of the truck was a very rare option chosen, just a couple of percent made. I can remember seeing that same color option on a new truck in Wisconsin back then on vacation, beautiful!

I remember being at the dealership when I was 12. They had a brand new shiny black, curvy, dodge dakota that I convinced my dad to buy. Parked next to it was one of these and I remember thinking how old and outdated it looked. Now I look at it and think what a beautiful collector.

im not a dodge person but i had a truck lust like this and i have to admit i loved it

2 unicorns in the shop.

What a car .... love it 👌👍.

From one Wes to another thanks as always for the great content. The sunset drive really took me back. Miss those IL sunsets. Cheers

What a sweet old rig 👌

👍👌👏 2) Pretty nice looking pickup truck. I absolutely loved to see the restored brake disk and drum grinding device in action again. Although it was only for a short time. Best regards luck and health to all of you (including Max of course).

As for the second gen, check the frame where the steering box is mounted. It tends to flex and can crack. There are lots of braces out there to stabilize it. It's also very common to put steering stabilizers on this model, though that might correct a symptom, but not the core issue. Otherwise it's just replacing worn suspension parts. You're right, though... Dodge means death wobble.

Awesome job Wes!

As always - you make it look easy. That's what the best do!

Nice work Wes. I have the same Alemite bearing packer, although it doesn't get used nearly as much these days as it did a couple decades ago. I'm glad you see you double check the end play with a dial indicator vs. merely backing off the nut which is what I see most people do. I have a client that has an old 1997 Dodge W-250 that is also in pretty nice shape for its age but it has nearly 200k miles. Mike

We were kind of worried about you Wes. We haven't heard from you in a while.

Rides like a lumber wagon, door seals leak, and still the best diesel pickup on the road

i just love the paintwork and pattern on these older trucks. two and three tone with nice striping and accents. just gorgeous. would look good ont he 5th gens as well

For the 97, If the steering slop is in the box try a red head steering box. Those original boxes are know to wear out. Also the make a steering gear stabilizer kit that braces everything.

Great video on that old beast. Dodge had a period of time there in the late 80s and early to mid 90s where they couldn't design a front end to last. The only advice I can give is be ready to change out most of the frontend components. Tie rod ends, ball joints all of it. And don't forget to check the steering gearbox and its mounting. Stay safe my friend.

Thanks Wes-That was great.

I love those 89-93 dodges with the cummins. I've got two, grew up with one my dad has had forever.

That truck's so clean I hope you dusted off your overalls before starting to work on it.

That truck deserves to have a pair of driving boots. What a sweet friggin truck.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Wes. Your videos have given me a ton of joy and happiness this past year and I wish you and yours the same.

Now THAT is a Dodge pickup! I have always loved this generation of Dodge Ram, especially with a Cummins!

If you have to pull the rear shafts again, the two nut and tab washer spindle nut system on the front axle will also work on the rear. Much better system than the single nyloc nut and wedge keeper. Great video, always entertaining!

Dam she be selling for $40,000 up in canada right now lol 😆 😂 😅

Nice old truck. Great condition. Thanks for sharing.

I had that same truck! Takes me back.

Beautiful first gen. I had a 1991 that was from Wyoming and was rust free. Thanks for the video 😊

Heard about some kind of steeringbox-stabilisation kit some years ago. I think the material flexes, so you need to stabilize it with some bracket

I enjoyed watching the pile of fasteners continue to expand across the radiator support apron during the disassembly montage.

Already a foot of Snow in Denver. Thank goodness my truck fits in the garage. So no melted snow to lay in. 😎🎅🏻💪

very nice truck. it just needs a couple of bright headlights to go through the dark. man that was scary.😜

You said according to Dodge, about 5% of these will have the dowel pin failure. Does age have anything to do with chance of failure? Just thinking that since it made it this long, what are the chances it fails? That being said, the condition of this truck certainly warrants the fix. Nice work dude. Oh by the way, always enjoy the Max cameo.

Great job with the Dodge pick up You have patience of an angel when it comes to working on vehicles

Beautiful truck

The 95's front end can be upgraded in many ways. The best places to start are putting a 4th gen steering box in and switching to a 4th gen style linkage setup. Also switching to a 3rd gen panhard bar normally tightens things up a ton. There is a ton of other parts that improve it further Carli/emf ball joints, a good set of Theuren/Carli control arms, Borgson steering shaft etc. But id start with a 4th gen steering box and linkage setup alongside a panhard bar.

I think it has a recirculating ball steering box. On top of the box is a allen fastener with a lock nut holding it's position. Loosen the nut and tighten the allen head fastener to remove slack from the mechanism. Retighten the lock nut. Do not over tighten, there still should be slight back and forth clearance when moving the steering shaft, as this might cause binding when steering. 🙂

that dowel pin retainer invention is brilliant

Love the old style Dodges.