1999 Dodge 2500 CTD Build AKA Priscilla

gsanders

Observer
Hi all:

Congrats on the truck pick. All of the major problems have been addressed by others (lift pump, shocks) but I thought I might way in on the steering. I have a 2001 Dodge Ram CTD that I purchased about 16 months ago and I have been doing similar upgrades. No build thread yet but there will be soon. For the shocks, I would second Bilsteins. I plan on the 5100s or 5160s. Depending on your budget, I don't think you can go wrong with the 5100s. I had Rancho RS shocks on another truck and they were not that great.

Also, on the FASS lift pump is there a way to adjust your pump rate? I own an Air Dog Raptor, and with that lift pump you can adjust the flow rate to set it for a 16-17 psi pressure at idle (essentially increasing or decreasing the flow rate to increase or decrease the pressure). I am assuming you can do something similar for the FASS? If so, adjusting it to the recommended setting may help with your pressure readings at open throttle.

For tires, the truck came with 285/75 r16 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs and I didn't like them. They wore very quickly with hot highway driving and the wider tires didn't help at all with the steering. I just switched to 255/85 r16 Cooper Discoverer STs and I am very happy. Lighter, narrower, good road manners but they have lots of traction. We just received 20" of snow over 2 days here in central Oregon and I was able to drive all over my unplowed neighborhood in 4L with no problems and I also had them out for about 90 miles of driving on packed snow and ice and they were great. I have heard good things for durability. My only worry is they might be a bit soft with a camper. For your application, I think they would be fantastic. I was also able to find four of them for $880 mounted and balanced. I have had BFG A/Ts on other trucks and I was very happy. I probably would have put them on this truck as well but they don't make them in a 255/85 r16.

For steering, I believe the best option for your 1999 is an upgrade to the 1998-1999 HD Steering Kit. It is an OEM part from Dodge that was an upgraded beefier design. It should be a bolt on swap and relatively inexpensive. I believe it was offered as part of the snowplow package. If not, I think you can also upgrade to the 4th gen steering with some minor modifications. Here is a link to a discussion of it on the Cummins Forum: http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/98-5-02-non-powertrain/372455-09-10-steering-best-322-ever-spent.html. Also, if you haven't read Cummins Forum yet that is a great resource. Other steering improvements are a steering brace, which I believe you mentioned from Dodge Off Road (DOR), possibly a new steering box from Redhead or from Dodge Off Road (although that would probably be my last fix), and the Rock Solid Ram steering bushing upgrade: http://www.rocksolidramtrucksteering.com/. I have been researching these issues for the past month and that is my plan of attack (although I have a 2001 versus your 1999).

Lastly, if you are looking for a shell or canopy I have one for sale in the classifieds on ExPo. I just pulled it off of my truck as I am upgrading to a pop up camper. Here is a link to my Craigslist ad: http://bend.craigslist.org/pts/4301224180.html. I live up in Oregon but I need to come down to California at some point this spring and I could possibly bring it with me. Or I could meet you halfway. You will probably find something that will work for you pretty quickly in the Bay Area, but if you want one that has already been cleaned up, improved, and modified for camping let me know. I had a sleeping deck in the back of my truck and it was comfortable for my wife and I and two dogs.
 
Last edited:

mib1392

Observer
I had a couple air bubbles in the line to my gauge that was giving me false low readings.

Thanks, this is actually very possible. I have the screw-on adapter for the oil filter, and I didn't evacuate the air or prime anything. The first time I used this thing (on the old lift pump), quite some Diesel ran out after dismounting. I reasoned there is some sort of self-priming. This time, though, the Diesel filter was still empty when I put the gauge in, so it may be that a lot of air was captured in the hose. Maybe I'll retry in the next couple of days. But, I now know that I have 15psi idleing, and having a heavy foot isn't good for us anyway. Plus the (*knockonwood*) FASS reliability.
But your numbers give me a good impression that I might also have an air bubble problem. 235HP and FASS 70 is pretty much half your setup throughout. Thanks!


Also, on the FASS lift pump is there a way to adjust your pump rate?

I have the FASS DRP, I don't think it's adjustable. Next thing for this issue is a permanent gauge installation (@all: where do I put the hose through the firewall - and is this how the front wall between engine and dash is called in English? Any pictures/threads, anybody?). For now, I guess the current setup is fine. If the pressure proves to be way low with a truck camper, I'll put in a bigger one. But, I don't need speed. I had 70hp for a 6500pounds-syncro and drove him through Europe, Morocco and to India for years!



For tires, the truck came with 285/75 r16 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs and I didn't like them. They wore very quickly with hot highway driving and the wider tires didn't help at all with the steering. I just switched to 255/85 r16 Cooper Discoverer STs and I am very happy. Lighter, narrower, good road manners but they have lots of traction.
Thanks for the tip. I'll keep on looking to figure out what I want. Cooper Discoverers have a big fan group among syncro drivers.


For steering, I believe the best option for your 1999 is an upgrade to the 1998-1999 HD Steering Kit. It is an OEM part from Dodge that was an upgraded beefier design. It should be a bolt on swap and relatively inexpensive. I believe it was offered as part of the snowplow package. If not, I think you can also upgrade to the 4th gen steering with some minor modifications. Here is a link to a discussion of it on the Cummins Forum: http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/98-5-02-non-powertrain/372455-09-10-steering-best-322-ever-spent.html. Also, if you haven't read Cummins Forum yet that is a great resource. Other steering improvements are a steering brace, which I believe you mentioned from Dodge Off Road (DOR), possibly a new steering box from Redhead or from Dodge Off Road (although that would probably be my last fix), and the Rock Solid Ram steering bushing upgrade: http://www.rocksolidramtrucksteering.com/. I have been researching these issues for the past month and that is my plan of attack (although I have a 2001 versus your 1999).

Thanks for the links. I wasn't aware of the bushing by Rock Solid. I'll check that issue tomorrow, that would be a first start.
I read quite some pages on cumminsforum, if I got it right, only HD would be bolt-on for me, 4th gen would mean some modifications.


Lastly, if you are looking for a shell or canopy I have one for sale in the classifieds on ExPo.

Sent you a PN for that!



Thanks,
Mike
 

driller

old soul wanderer
So, I wanted to get something done this weekend - but after almost 4 weeks of California sunshine, the weather gods wanted to keep me from swinging my wrenches. Around 65° and raining, which didn't happen here for a year, I was told. I spent the Saturday with doing paperwork, but today I wanted to get something done. To be honest, 65° and slight rainshowers are perfect conditions in Germany - I did much of the Volkswagen trip preparation at 40° and pouring rain last May.

So at least I got the lift pump changed, I wanted to be on the safe side for a while, before eventually upgrading when we load more weight. So I built in the FASS DRP, which was not too hard to do. I was a bit disappointed, though, as the pressure still dropped to around 6-7 at full throttle. On the highway with 60mph, it was around 10, idleing was 15. A little bit of improvement, and I hope the FASS fail probability is lower than the stock. I'll keep the stock for emergency exchange.
Weather was rainy, and a lift pump change is quite boring for viewers... so no photos here.

I didn't change the shocks yet. Fox would have been nice, but the budget is still bit too tight for it now - my wife will hopefully soon have a job, and then we can think of bigger upgrades. Until then, the aim is a stock, basic camper with a shell.
Bilsteins are waiting to be built in. Unfortunately, I need to buy every single wrench I need...

We looked around at REI and hardware stores and chose 3.5" inflatable pads as beds and 4 or 5 of 9" really useful boxes for a platform (we bought 2 in clear plastic - they seem quite stable, you can sit on them. I'll order the "strong white" from their homepage nonetheless).

Still looking to get that rack going away - if it's not sold be next weekend, we'll drive it to the scrapyard.

@recabguy: which cubby hole do you mean? The one right to the radio? Do you have a photo of it? Still thinking about my gauge layout. Thanks!

So long,
Mike


I run the same FASS DRP pump and your pressures sound a little low. There is a spring that regulates the pressure, it is located under the mounting plate the mounts to the pump. You can pull the spring and give it a little stretch or call FASS and they will send you a different spring. My truck idles at 19psi and only drops to 12psi at full throttle pulling my 5th wheel. I had the same problem until I changed the spring.
 

mib1392

Observer
Hi guys,
we started a tour on Saturday. I had put the lumber rack on craigslist, and a guy 30 miles away was interested in it. Turned out he also had the right equipment for removing it, so we made the trip to San Leandro. Took about 20minutes, and the rack was finally gone. The 30 miles weren't that much of a problem, because we had found a nice camper on craigslist. Downside: 130 miles away. It looked promising for the price, so we thought it might be worth it. So now we have a Century camper shell :wings: . The colour is not fitting, and the paint is peeling, so we'll soon paint it white (I would have gone for RV roof paint, any objections against that? And, does anybody know where to get spare parts for Century? Namely, side sliding window gaskets, rear locks.).

But, no long talking, here's a first picture:
2014-02-15 17.21.43.jpg

Today I exchanged the front shocks to the Bilstein 4600s. The old ones (Monroe) were torn, especially one was leaking and had no gas compression at all. It made quite a difference. Couldn't mount the rear ones, as I had to grind down the inner cartridge of the lower bushing of the one shock quite much... and the only tool I had was a sandpapering Dremel... after over 1 hour of grinding-trying-grinding-trying etc, it finally fit in.
My Volkswagen has a different system for lower shock bushing, it is self-centering and thus no stress at all. At least for that lower bolt, the rest is more of a pain. Putting the shock in from the engine compartment is easier :)
The new shocks really made a difference, we drove a bit as we moved from one temporary housing to another this evening. I was very happy, though: mountainbikes fit in easily into the shell. No dismounting, just put the bikes in. Veeeeeeery happy I bought a full size truck and cab with elevated roof. We moved, and with the little stuff we had, the truck was not even half full. Can't wait to start building the sleeping platform (which we'll hopefully start tomorrow evening.


So, finally a productive weekend. If all works out, next weekend will be the first night to sleep in it. :drool:


Best,
Mike
 

mib1392

Observer
Another update, this week's evenings have been long.
We got rid of the rack, I also sold the toolbox, we have a shell - ready to go.

We went to Home Depot to get some plywood, we wanted a KISS sleeping platform that shouldn't cost to much. As we may upgrade to a slide-in camper, I didn't want to spend much money on a temporary solution. It took a while until we understood the US hardware store woodcutting policy, but in the end we were more than happy that the saw guys used all the 15/32 scrap plywood that was around - we paid a few dollars for screws, hinges, 2x2"s, and 2x4' plywood that we couldn't get out of the scrap material. But the major part of the construction wood went for free. All in all, our interior sleeping platform cost us about 100$ until now. I had planned to use thicker wood in the beginning, but "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" - I don't know if this is actually also an English saying, but it is a German one!

We also bought a 20V Black and Decker Matrix combo, with a drill, a recip saw and a light (altogether 90$). Turned out to be quite useful tools for our purpose.
For sleeping, we went for Thermarest 3" thick ones as we would not want to save at the wrong spot there. They actually hit the budget almost as much as the shell and the interior...


Enough said, here are some pictures of how we spent most of the evenings: in the dark, cutting, sanding, screwing. The best of all those significant others out there cutting the carpet and testing the sleeping pads.
It was very dark, so most of the photos turned out out of focus or blurred...sorry.

IMG_1202s.jpg
IMG_1198s.jpg
IMG_1209s.jpg
IMG_1211s.jpg
IMG_1214s.jpg

in principle, we built a U-shaped plattform with storage room at the sides (doors open from the top) and big boxes in the front of the bed (the whole cover is detachable. Standard-sized Really-Useful-Boxes fit in there). In the middle, we want to use several crossbars/a slatted frame (to be covered with carpet) to cover the open space (where another 2 boxes sit). The middle space can be used completely open, e.g. to put our mountainbikes in there.
For the rear end, we want to end up using boxes with the same height as the whole platform (still need to be built, mostly a kitchen box). For the time until then, we realized that Corona 12" bottle boxes have the perfect size. What a nice coincidence when you build your truck after a long work day.
At the sides, it turned out that the width is just fine for the 2.5gal water dispensers.

To cover it all, we used cheap Polypropylen carpet from Home Depot and a stapler gun (thanks to our landlord for giving it to us).


It's a pretty preliminary setup right now, but we actually hope to test it on a short camping trip tomorrow. We came to realize that it is already 3.5 months since our big Asia-trip ended. Having slept under solid roofs since then, we are craving for this certain feeling of sleeping in a car again :) Hope to have good pictures to post then. :wings:



So long,
Mike
 
Last edited:

Luckychase5

Adventurer
Another update, this week's evenings have been long.
We got rid of the rack, I also sold the toolbox, we have a shell - ready to go.

We went to Home Depot to get some plywood, we wanted a KISS sleeping platform that shouldn't cost to much. As we may upgrade to a slide-in camper, I didn't want to spend much money on a temporary solution. It took a while until we understood the US hardware store woodcutting policy, but in the end we were more than happy that the saw guys used all the 15/32 scrap plywood that was around - we paid a few dollars for screws, hinges, 2x2"s, and 2x4' plywood that we couldn't get out of the scrap material. But the major part of the construction wood went for free. All in all, our interior sleeping platform cost us about 100$ until now. I had planned to use thicker wood in the beginning, but "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" - I don't know if this is actually also an English saying, but it is a German one!

We also bought a 20V Black and Decker Matrix combo, with a drill, a recip saw and a light (altogether 90$). Turned out to be quite useful tools for our purpose.
For sleeping, we went for Thermarest 3" thick ones as we would not want to save at the wrong spot there. They actually hit the budget almost as much as the shell and the interior...


Enough said, here are some pictures of how we spent most of the evenings: in the dark, cutting, sanding, screwing. The best of all those significant others out there cutting the carpet and testing the sleeping pads.
It was very dark, so most of the photos turned out out of focus or blurred...sorry.

View attachment 212631
View attachment 212628
View attachment 212629
View attachment 212630
View attachment 212627

in principle, we built a U-shaped plattform with storage room at the sides (doors open from the top) and big boxes in the front of the bed (the whole cover is detachable. Standard-sized Really-Useful-Boxes fit in there). In the middle, we want to use several crossbars/a slatted frame (to be covered with carpet) to cover the open space (where another 2 boxes sit). The middle space can be used completely open, e.g. to put our mountainbikes in there.
For the rear end, we want to end up using boxes with the same height as the whole platform (still need to be built, mostly a kitchen box). For the time until then, we realized that Corona 12" bottle boxes have the perfect size. What a nice coincidence when you build your truck after a long work day.
At the sides, it turned out that the width is just fine for the 2.5gal water dispensers.

To cover it all, we used cheap Polypropylen carpet from Home Depot and a stapler gun (thanks to our landlord for giving it to us).


It's a pretty preliminary setup right now, but we actually hope to test it on a short camping trip tomorrow. We came to realize that it is already 3.5 months since our big Asia-trip ended. Having slept under solid roofs since then, we are craving for this certain feeling of sleeping in a car again :) Hope to have good pictures to post then. :wings:



So long,
Mike

Looks great! Can't wait to start mine when my ankle heals, kind of frustrating having $200 in nice wood waiting for me at my friends shop and not being able to use it. Great look though! Going for bed length sliding doors myself but the U-shape style is really cool as well, love the corona box mod as well ;)
 

mib1392

Observer
Quite some weeks passed. Worked starts more and more, plus we moved to our own place 3 weeks ago (AirBnB so far, but now our own (shared) house with garden, driveway etc.) - so less time for preparing trips and also finally going on them. After reading back and forth, I chose 265/75R16 to be the tire size (highway speed was 60-70 at the engine sweet spot, I didn't want to increase that by going to 285, plus I was worried about more steering issues with bigger tires). I bought General Grabber AT2 at tirediscount via ebay - they had a discount offer, so I paid a total of 700$ for 4 tires, including the balancing and mounting done at a local shop.
I also had the rear shocks finally mounted, and we finished our kitchen chuckbox with the propane stove our former neighbor gave us.
The shell we bought was cheap, but the side windows didn't open, and the colour wasn't really fitting to our truck. So I kept on looking on craigslist, having in mind that luckchase/HanSolo got a cheap one too on craigslist. And indeed, a nice one popped up, and coincidence was it was just a few miles from the place we bought our first shell. So, we decided to do another long drive and mount a shell in Sacramento. This time, the windows do open, and it's white. As we were already on the road and had a sleeping setup in the back, we wanted to spend the night in the truck - the Sierra looked nice, but we chose some place further west for the night temperatures. We're not picky, but with only the night to spend out, it wasn't really worth it to freeze. We ended up driving around Lake Berryessa and going to Knoxville recreation area. It was pretty empty, only 2-3 dirtbikers (depends on whether you count the 8-year-old as full), no lunatics shooting around, and hardly any other overnight campers. So, pretty decent for the first night in the truck - although the trip itself was a bit much driving and little activity outside the car. We'll get our mountainbikes by next week, then we're up for more :)
I know, reading is boring, so here some pictures:

IMG_1280s.jpg
On the north shore of Lake Berryessa. The water level seemed reeeeeally low. The new shell fits perfectly to Priscilla.

IMG_1346s.jpg
Off the road in Knowville Recreation Area. The roads were perfect for us in terms of offroad difficulty and technique. We don't want to challenge the old lady too much.

IMG_1320s.jpg
Found a nice spot. The look from the tailgate. :)

IMG_1336s.jpg
And le chef de cuisine getting ready for diner. :chef:

IMG_1334s.jpg
Our setup: the chuckbox has the same height as the sleeping platform, so the inflatable matresses (Thermarest) go on top of it all. We have a styrofoam box with perfect height that I'd like to put into a coolbox. But, styrofoam and rattling roads are a bad combination... I'd love to find a coolbox with 11 inches height.

IMG_1326s.jpg
The happy campers :wings:

IMG_1341s.jpg
We don't need 5 star hotels. Ours has 1000.


IMG_1342s.jpg
and goooood morning. :coffee: I was really surprised that we slept until 10am. The white colour plus the carpet inside really kept a nice climate. The night was a bit chilly, but we were prepared.


All in all, a great first camping trip. And we're quite happy we found nice BLM land before paying 35$ for a campground not half as nice.
Oh, and because this is a Built-thread: I wanted to rebuild the track bar - and found out I already have a Moog with loose joints. I'll likely go to Luke's link exchange Moog bar, plus probably do the 98-99 HD steering swap. The DOR steering brace is ordered. There is some little play in the steering box, let's see how much leak there actually is and if the brace does any good. But I can see a potential swap on the horizon. Maybe redhead..


So long, have a nice start into the week,
Mike
 

O.R.T.

Observer
Welcome to the forum and welcome to owning a Ram. :D

There's quite a few of us who've built up full sizes as well as other makes/models so there's a wealth of local talent you can always rely upon to help out or play "cooler supervisor". If you need anything just pm me, I'm normally really busy w/ work weekdays but always reply ASAP.

Shane @ O.R.T.
 

Luckychase5

Adventurer
Which HD steering setup are you referring to? my steering definitely wanders to the right a bit even after my Moog track bar. Might be looking into what you and other people are doing, excepts for the $500+ 2003-and up swap for the track bar. Hope your truck is doing great!
 

mib1392

Observer
The weekend was nice :) after long waiting, we finally got our mountain bikes (my brother took them on a plane to the east coast and then shipped them by FedEx...German DHL and USPS messed up too much before), so we went off the road on 2 wheels first, to Skeggs Point.
2014-04-05 10.30.36.jpg
2014-04-05 09.52.49.jpg

But then, eventually, I changed the REALLY wornout Moog bar to a Luke-linked bar. I was in the workshop 2 weeks ago (Pit Row DIY, can definitely recommend it!), only to realize I have a Moog, not an OEM bar.
2014-03-20 19.39.40.jpg

With the exchange program, I finally had a chance to get this fix done. As the joints were loosened 2 weeks ago (PITA), I could now do it in the driveway with a few knocks of the "argument enhancer".

trackbar3.jpg


what else... last week, got the fuel pressure gauge installed (Isspro). No pictures here...
@luckychase: I have a 99 truck, so the 03 steering doesn't work for me (tapers too big, I don't want to grind). Once the tie rod ends get wobbly (still ok-ish now), I'll change to the '99 HD setup, which is a T-Style instead of a Y-Style. With 265 tires and no major offroading, this should be fine for me. With your 2001 setup, you can get the 3rd Gen steering, which seems to work (according to cumminsforum) and is bolt-on (and should be almost the same price as a 99HD). Get down under the front end and have someone tilt and rock the steering wheel. You'll see immediately what you will need and what is still fine. For me, it was the trackbar as #1, my major play is in the steering box right now. I hope this is done with the DOR brace, and once the box leaks too much (a little sweating now), a Redhead will come in. If I'm unlucky, the brace alone doesn't fix it, but only a new steering box does. The other stuff is not too bad... or at least not worth the money for us, as we will sell the truck again in 2-3 years (wouldn't want 1500$ tax/year in Germany).
 
Last edited:

mib1392

Observer
It's been quite a while since the last post, mostly because work really started and Priscilla did her job pretty well. There were quite some trips to mountainbiking, some camping trips (Prewitt Ridge, Tahoe, Donner Pass, Big Sur, syncrofest... ), and so far most worked out well. Given camping in the US - at least for us up till now - either means public land or campground, we had tons of space around us, so there was no real need to have a fully organized vanagon - a huge pickup was just fine and we threw all our stuff just in there.

I did some stuff, though:
with the new track bar, steering was way better. But still not what I was used from a well-aligned syncro with a completely refurbished front axle, so highway driving was exhausting for my neck and my back - it's a large truck after all, and the wandering didn't help to relax while driving. When rocking the steering wheel, I could tell that most of the loose play was in the steering box/column itself. But rather than having loose cogs, it was the whole column shifting left and right. So I ordered the DOR steering brace already back in March, reading a lot that it should be better than the braces that tie the rails together. Reviews are pretty good for DOR, but you can find tons of people who wait a lot - also for me, I received the brace 4 months later. So I mounted it, and most of it fit well - except one hole of the sway bar mount, which was drilled about 1mm off. When mounting the brace, I had the impression that a little tension built up on the brace, between the side mounting point and the front mounting points. All not really that much of a problem, but I can't say that I am as convinced as you find many other people to be, e.g. on cumminsforum - maybe I'm used to better manufactured stuff from the vanagon scene in Germany.

Still, highway driving is now waaaaaaay better. In fact, I can drive straight hands free for maybe 10 seconds before wandering off - absolutely impossible without the brace, and on good roads, it's probably even better (plus, the steering wheel is bit decentered since the new trackbar is in). Overall, I can really recommend mouting a brace. DOR? The explanation why a one-rail mount is better than a two-rail mount sounded reasonable to me, I was convinced for that. It's not really that expensive either given the material, welding and powder-coating. 4 month delivery time is beyond discussion, though, especially if it said 6-8 weeks and you don't get a lot of email responses. I hope Danny gets that problem solved soon before his reputation is formed into the wrong direction.
DOR brace.jpg

When passing the central valley in summer, we also realized our AC doesn't work as well as it could. I refilled some R134a (the pressure was just on the low border), but it didn't really help. It turned out the evaporator was pretty clogged with a lot dirt and leaves. I bought a can of Kool-it foam cleaner from Oreilly, took the blower motor off (including the half forest inside) and cleaned the AC core with the foam. It does smell better, and it does cool better. So before refilling (and potentially overfilling) R134a on a lame AC, clean that dusty, moist evaporator!



And then some temporary camping equipment that will probably end up running forever:

the Helio pressure shower for rinsing dishes, faces and dusty bodies - I can really recommend it if you don't have a 12V system for water. Together with the Fold-a-privy, a great camp shower (we saw the tent on the Bodie trip and decided we also want one).

IMG_2414s.jpg

Duschzelt.jpg

I didn't yet want to put a lead battery into the truck, as I'm soon getting a LiFePo BMS for solar panels and will rather use a 10Ah battery in that system. As a temporary solution, I bought some cheapo China LED strips , connectors , extensions and a dimmer. The whole system runs out-of-the-box plug-n-play from my backup battery that I have for my work laptop - which also serves as a charger for our Android devices when camping or biking. No soldering, cutting, anything. The battery has 54Wh, so maybe 3.5-4 Ah on 12V - enough for the light and some phone charges.

IMG_2412s.jpg

IMG_2415s.jpg



and just some random impressions:

IMG_2308s.jpg

IMG_2311s.jpg

IMG_2315s.jpg

IMG_2278s.jpg

IMG_2075s.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,530
Messages
2,875,570
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top