11th Dec 2008, 19:42

I'm sorry to hear you lost your Ramcharger to the rust, I am restoring a '78 RC, since I am fortunate enough to have a Dad who is very mechanical inclined and capable of doing bodywork (There is a massive hole in the floor!) and paint, I will go to great lengths to rust proof my truck since Canada likes its salt too.

Thank you for the highly detailed information, I will rebuild my carb as its choke has to be worked by hand and is generally making the truck hard to start and run poorly. But if it needs rebuilding again, I'll go get an Edelbrock 4 barrel. :)

Well done ensuring that your Ramcharger lasted so long, you made the right choice keeping it going for so long. :)

4th Jan 2009, 23:00

I have a 85 Dodge Ramcharger. What a fun truck and all the girls love it.

I got the truck with about 114,00 miles on it about nine years ago. I put a 2.5 inch lift on it, with 33s. I then put 4-11 gears in it; blew out the speedometer. I'm sure I've put on well over another 150K miles.

I put in a 4 barrel Carter carb. The block is a 318, so I also added same 360 heads on the top end around 135K miles.

After tooting around the Wild West of the USA, the tranny lost third gear going over the Rockies. Drove it home 300 miles in second at 55 miles an hour. It sat in Colorado for a couple of months. I took it up North West. I blew the motor going into Billings Montana. It sat for 6 months in storage. I pulled it to Cle Elm WA. There was so much snow it caved the roof in 4 inches and the hood as well.

In 08 I rebuilt the motor, fixed the roof and got a new hood. I am doing a full restore on this truck in 09. I have fixed every thing on this truck and feel it's part of me now... All total I could have bought a new farm instead. Hey it's all good, it's a SUV with CHROME. ha, ha... Well see you on the trails and road.

18th Jan 2009, 18:49

My 1985 R.C. is a R.S.E. PIONEER. Whatever all that means. I longed for this truck in 2 wheel drive forever, don't need 4x4... the 318 is trans shifts like a shift kit in it. I do long for overdrive, maybe. It was a mess electrically when I got it. Garage crossed all the wires up!. When fixed I also replaced the regulator; perfect since. Needs lots of TLC. yet..

19th Jun 2009, 13:55

I traded my 1991 Dodge full size pickup for a 1988 Ramcharger (sits five instead of three). I had to replace the motor with a 1971 318. It runs great except the backfire through the carb. I'm not sure what the problem is. It is a Holley 2 bbl. 2280 I think, it was off the original motor. I'm trying some stuff to it now. My top speed is about 45 mph, but I still can pull a house around, no power issue. The 4 wheel drive don't work, so I'm running 31 inch rubber in front and 33 inch in rear. I'll fix the 4 wheel drive someday (maybe).

Justin

8th Jul 2009, 12:05

Hi, I just bought a Dodge ram charger 1988. And I'm new in all this. The power steering lines are dropping the oil. How can I change the lines?

Thanks.

11th Jul 2009, 15:34

Changing power steering lines is the easiest thing. There is a low-pressure and high-pressure line, two separate hoses.

The low-pressure line is just a piece of hose that you can pull off at either end, as it's just held on by a metal clip. You only need a pair of pliers to open/expand the clip, and then can pull off the hose. Installation is the reverse order.

The high-pressure hose has metal fittings that actually screw into the power steering pump on one end, and the steering box on the other end. You only need a crescent wrench or the right size open end box wrench to loosen the fittings. Be careful installing the new one, especially on the steering gear side, so that you don't cross-thread the fitting. Each hose will probably run only $15 at a parts store.

24th Jul 2009, 08:04

I never owned a Dodge truck, nor done much of my own work. I just bought a 1992 Ramcharger. I drove it home. It was only used during the hunting season for the most part for the last few years, maybe a little more, but not much more than that. It drove good on the way home with no problems.

A few days ago it was raining, so I went to try the 4x4 on the wet grass uphill in my yard. It works fine. I may have accidentally had my foot on the brake and gas at the same time momentarily, but only for a second or 2. When I parked it after a few trips around my yard, I noticed transmission fluid pouring off of the front of the transmission. Yesterday was nice out, so I had a look to see if I could tell where it is leaking, and although I can't say for sure where, the outside of the casing is wet, and the hose looks wet, but it is very hard to see the hose. Is there any other explanation than the hose? Is it hard to change the hose? Can I make a hose?

8th Aug 2009, 18:20

There may be a couple of sources for leaks.

First of all, are you sure it is transmission fluid, rather than engine oil? There is a front seal on the transmission that can leak, although a "bad" leak is considered something on the order of 1 dime-sized drop per second, for instance. I don't know that a leaking seal would "pour" fluid. There is a metal line with a fitting that screws into the casing. It's a cooling line that goes up to the base of the radiator (which has a small transmission cooler in the bottom). That fitting could be loose, or the metal line could be cracked. Still, it would have to be pretty loose to be "pouring out" on the ground.

Also check and make sure that the bolts for the transmission pan are tight. Don't over tighten them, but the torque is something like 100 inch pounds or 20 foot pounds. If you don't have a Hayne's Manual to check, just tighten them as best you can by holding your hand right over the socket and turn as tight as you can with your wrist, without using the leverage of the socket handle.

Again, check the engine oil level and the transmission fluid level to make sure what is really leaking. Now besides that, check the fluid in the transfer case, because it is bolted in between the engine and transmission, so that is another source of something that could be leaking, and the transfer case also has automatic transmission fluid in it, which could make you think the transmission is leaking.