Overbuilt 1998 Ram 2500 12 Valve (Build Progress Thread)

Hoping to somewhat keep track of my build and make a few friends along the way with my truck, figured I'll make a build thread! If I help or inspire someone then its all worth it!

Everything done to my truck is done by me and me only, with assistance from friends and family when needed.
No big money from mom and dad or blank cheques to shops to build it for me

Instagram is @Brawnham, I post regularly on there too

So down to business, my truck is a 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 12 valve 5 speed extended cab long box, black, agate interior with cloth originally. Factory clearance lights too, its a bit of an oddball truck and I haven't seen another like if.
It has 420k kilometers and she's been tossed around like a corner store whor

I'm the 6th or 7th owner, a few owners before me it used to be really nice, then people with no money and kids got ahold of it and its gone downhill from there.

Here's the earliest photo I could find:



Here is when it was its nicest, had a brand new engine at 355k km.



It was all down hill from there

Here it is as I got it.



$6600, and a trove of electrical problems I figured was an alright price to pay given its a hard truck to find (was exactly what I was trying to find, no exceptions)

Had no park lights, alternator wouldn't charge, and the fuel solenoid didnt work.

Some gook got in the engine bay with a pair of snippers and cut the grid heater and solenoid wires, that took a while to figure out.
Then the park lights had a burnt wire in the pullout light switch

Finally, the alternator not charging took me 2 weeks solid to figure out, turns out the engine speed sensor was worn, and that the harmonic balancer was caked in ****/oil so it couldn't get a good reading!

And whole trove of just bad wiring PERIOD!



Next thing on the list was interior. While I was out working I left a milk jug on the back seat... the smell could gag a maggot



The carpet reeked and no amount of black ice scenty trees could mask that stench so I figure after 420k of god knows what kind of people walkin' over it the carpet was due for a wash and paintjob

The back seat was finished, the chunky white "milk" abortion soaked in and there was no saving it... so leather went in! And I cant have the front seat as cloth so I put in heated fronts to match.



Recently I painted the headliner dark grey to tie in with everything and here is the finished product! Much better



After the interior was done the next order of business is the body. I picked up a box, doors, and drivers fender for $400, all 100% free of rust, not a lick even starting! (Damn near impossible in Canada) I put POR-15 on all the seams and heres to hoping they'll last me a long time





After the box and doors were on I had to do the fender, and while I was at that, fix the wiring....



which was one hell of a battle... but all worth it!

So thats enough for now, I've gotten much more done since and I'll cover everything over time, so the next post I'll cover more. This is the truck as it sits now, so you have an idea of whats to come:





Here is the current mod list, some stuff isnt on yet but I have it.

Engine:

Only thing original is the rods
All new cummins hardware and gaskets @355k km
.040 Big Bowl Mahl pistons
New head
Manton Series 5 7/16 Pushrods
Hamilton 110lb beehive springs
Big stick stage 3 cam
ARP 425 Headstuds
All new gaskets
Rebuilt and benched 12mm pump, 215 cam, 180 pistons, the whole shootin match
Full cut delivery valves
AFC spring kit
4k gov spring kit
Killer dowl pin fixed
Steed Speed gated T4 manifold
S363SXE Turbo, 63/68/.91
S478 turbo with race cover and billet wheel, 1.15 exhaust side
DDP Supermental injectors
5" dual exhaust
ARP adjuster nuts and pedestal bolts
FASS fuel pump with big line
Dual fueler lines
Bigger draw straw
Magnetic oil pan plug
Billet valve covers
Billet tappet cover
Home made dual intake horn with dual grid heaters
3rd gen 6.7L starter

Trans:
48RE
Billet input, output, and intermediate
Billet front drum
Clutches, billet combo kit, pretty well the whole catalogue
Suncoast reverse manual valvebody
Suncoast triple disc billet converter
32 Row Thick 6L powerstroke trans cooler (biggest one I can find)
NP271 swapped

Frame and axles:
Ford Dana 60 kingpin, high pinion, 35 spline inners, 4.10 gears, trussed, warn 35 spline hubs and outters
SRT10 Ram 4 piston Brembos and massive 15.4 inch rotors
Thuren sway bar
Parallel 4 link designed by myself, rear will be a 3 link. Both on air bags
2" .250 wall control arms, ballistic fab 2.375 johnny joints
EMF tie rod ends, drag link, and track bar. 7/8 shank, 3/4 bolt.
Borgeson power steering pump
Reman steering box
Dana 80 rear, factory locker tightened up, needs 4.10s swapped in.
Rear sway bar (need a thicker one, suggestions?)
1 piece 5 inch aluminum driveshaft with 1480 U joints
New Proper length front driveshaft, double kardan
Fabricated front cab mounts for control arm clearance
Battery relocation box located on the passenger side rear on the frame

Body:
Flush mount roll pan
The nicest ****in tailgate on the planet (it opens really nice haha!)
Sport grille
Cowl hood
3 inch body lift (in for now, coming out soon, really made working on the truck easy)
LED tail lights
LED cargo light/high-mount brake light
Aftermarket headlights
Partial vinyl wrap (silver)

Interior:
Dual power heated leather seats
Black carpet
Dark grey headliner
EGT gauge
Boost Gauge
Pyro Gauge
Kenwood headunit
Lightning audio front and rear speakers
10" sub
B&M ratchet shifter in the stock center console

Well thats it for now! I'll make another post continuing on the build closer to the end of the day, any questions or comments are appreciated!

Solid first post! Seems like a nice truck.

Can you post a picture of Srt10 calipers and Ford axle?

I have tried to install Srt10 calipers to '00 Dodge Dana60, it will bolt on, but no room for brake disc (hub is too big)

Hell of an introduction! Nice build you have going there. Is there any end goal for the truck, or just to drive it? What's the total suspension lift? Tire size?

Also, Helwig for a sway bar.

Following


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I'm waiting on the rotors to get back, I sent them out to have the center bore milled to 5 inches to match the hub, and I made a ring that bolts to the original 5 bolts and drilled the 8 bolt pattern into it

Kinda hard to explain, heres a pic



One of the holes interferes, but the rest seem alright. If it was 5x4.5 bolt pattern this would be a breeze.
Everything is pretty close for spec to the ford kingpin rotor, so I'll just have to see how everything fits when I get it back.

Red Sleeper said:

Hell of an introduction! Nice build you have going there. Is there any end goal for the truck, or just to drive it? What's the total suspension lift? Tire size?

Also, Helwig for a sway bar.

Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure of the direction I can say I'm going with the truck, I guess the best way to put it is that I'm making something that is fun, pretty well indestructible, and looks good doing it!
I want to drive the doors off it, I plan on hitting every state in the US and getting a license plate from each to commemorate it. Its at 420k km, and I want it to hit 999,999

As it sits the total is 9", after the body lift is out I plan on setting it at the same height, although the 4 wheel semi air bags gives me the adjustablilty to put it anywhere really! Tire size is 38x15.5r20 toyos right now, I dont plan on going bigger as it looks goofy, I find the 38s are a good balance.

I'll take a look at the helwig sways! Thanks!

Following.

All sorts of very interesting things going on with this truck.


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Keep it up, looking good so far

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looks great!

What product did you use to paint the carpet and headliner?

Alright, so continuing on!

After tying together the wiring I slapped on the new fender, it wasn't the nicest one but it did the job



Wasn't entirely happy with it so I grit my teeth and shelled out good money for a really nice set of fenders



Everything was either black or silver, and the 2 tone look really fit the truck, so I vinyl wrapped everything (save the box, need to pull out a few dents)





Well since these new fenders weren't dented to **** like my old ones, my tires began to rub.... and this began the majority of this build



Picked up a pretty *****en lift for a deal, got it powder coated, and pulled the axle because, well, why would I put all this nice stuff in and keep the grimy old axle?



Yanked that old bastard out, started hacking off the coil bucket



I got to the point where I hacked everything off the axle and thought to myself, "why am I putting all this work in if I'm gonna put this garbage axle back in?" .... Bad brain.... bad



So after a few nights of deliberation I decided the axle to have is the ford kingpin dana 60. A 1979 one would've been much better, but this 1986 or so one will do.

I'll stop here for today!

rdix7991 said:

What product did you use to paint the carpet and headliner?

Click to expand...

I used duplicolor vinyl and fabric paint. You honestly cant tell it used to be tan!
My only complaint is its hard to do everything very evenly, if you shine a light on the headliner when you're in the truck sometimes you can see streaks, but i can always re do it.

Brawnham said:

I'm not entirely sure of the direction I can say I'm going with the truck, I guess the best way to put it is that I'm making something that is fun, pretty well indestructible, and looks good doing it!

I want to drive the doors off it, I plan on hitting every state in the US and getting a license plate from each to commemorate it. Its at 420k km, and I want it to hit 999,999



As it sits the total is 9", after the body lift is out I plan on setting it at the same height, although the 4 wheel semi air bags gives me the adjustablilty to put it anywhere really! Tire size is 38x15.5r20 toyos right now, I dont plan on going bigger as it looks goofy, I find the 38s are a good balance.



I'll take a look at the helwig sways! Thanks!

Click to expand...

Very cool. I like the idea of folks building vehicles for no set purpose, just the fact of building one and making it exactly to how you envision.

I think your tire size looks proportional to the amount of lift you have and current gearing. Bigger is not always better, especially for street manners.

Good selection on the axle. High pinion? Do you plan on clocking the differential to help with drive shaft angle? Was that lift on a Dodge previously? Just curious on the spring rates.

Just a suggestion for your cross country treks, auxiliary fuel tank.

Red Sleeper said:

Very cool. I like the idea of folks building vehicles for no set purpose, just the fact of building one and making it exactly to how you envision.

I think your tire size looks proportional to the amount of lift you have and current gearing. Bigger is not always better, especially for street manners.

Good selection on the axle. High pinion? Do you plan on clocking the differential to help with drive shaft angle? Was that lift on a Dodge previously? Just curious on the spring rates.

Just a suggestion for your cross country treks, auxiliary fuel tank.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of going a little lower, just so it'd maybe be a little more street friendly, but this truck has always been big and I fell in love with it that way. Its just mean looking

The axle is a high pinion yup, I've got high steer on it too, all my tie rod end angles and everything should be nice and flat. My driveshaft angle looks good as well, the NP271 is a little longer so that should help it out as well.
Its clocked stock now, I based the location of the truss off the original spring pad location on the diff so everything is where it should be.

Im not too sure if you're supposed to clock the diff upwards and if it helps with driveshaft angle. I know for the rear you want the angle of the diff to match the angle of your driveline, a straight line is not always better.

These trucks have 130L tanks so it should have enough between gas stations, I'll have to see how bad it is on fuel though haha! I was going to put a topper on it when I go down and outfit the inside so that I can sleek in it, I figure a conventional slide in camper would be far too top heavy with the lift.

Alright so continuing on with the next installment



Cleaned up the axle, and spent.... man, probably and entire week designing a truss. It fit on the first try though!



Birthday present to myself came in shortly after, massive forged ballistic johnny joints. 5lbs each! Should last me a while



This wasnt a very nice truck to begin with, its taken a lot to get it as clean as it is today.





It was hard on the wallet, but I'd wanted a steed as long as I have had these trucks, and oh baby, are they sexier in person



After too many hours on the computer, I finally cut the truss out, always pretty cool seeing a physical copy of something that was on the computer minutes ago



So with the way the control arms are mounted outboard of the frame, and the fact that I'd no longer be using the stock control arm mounts, the cab mount had to come off. To gain some up travel, and clean the place up I fabricated a new set of cab mounts.




I'll stop here for today. Just getting good now, everything starts to come together and I fab more and more things up

Great fab work. Can't wait to see the axle done

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Nice work.


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Why you keep body mount extension with new brackets?

I dig it so far! What's the thickness of the plate used to make the truss?? Looks like 3/8". I don't think that'll be strong enough! LOL