Ok - you might ak me "didn't you know about this stuff before?" and I will answer "yeah - I
just wasn't thinking about it heh."
The turning point was when I was trying to clean off some flaky rust on one of the control arm
brackets, and knocked a steel punch right through the bracket leaving a nice hole. Thats when
I realized that shes too far gone.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41019456@N02/
The decay is bad enough that I do not feel safe driving it now. I'm going to have to stop and
totally reevaluate my options. The frame has already been repaired once since I bought it. I
don't have confidence in frame welding. Especially since its so rusty. Thats what happens
when a truck spends its first 12 years of life plowing snow on salty rods of Connecticut. (or
any where else in the rust belt)
I might take this opportunity to look into a solid front axle swap, but a replacement frame is
a must no matter what happens. I've already checked with Chrysler and they don't have any more
replacement service frames laying around in a warehouse some place. So that leaves finding a
solid frame in a junk yard somewhere (hard to find) or having a replacement frame made from
scratch. If the last option is what I end up going with, a solid axle is what will happen.
Until then, I have a good running paperweight in my garage.
I'm going to see if I can get the Ram ready for the BBQ now. Should be rather easy, assuming
the transmission doesn't need to be changed.
.... damn.... *sighs*
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Man is the only kind of varmint [who] sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it" -John Steinbeck -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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