RamCharger.net

OK, I confess I haven't done a of of posting here. Quite honestly I don't post much on the internet at all anymore... But I'm hoping I'll get some sympathy by the end of this post. Let me make up for some of that by posting what I've done in the past year:



Pulled out the whole interior and cleaned it. Looked/smelled like new when done.




Got vanity tags and made up a fake license plate frame/front plate.



Had the whole thing "oil-coated" for the winter.

Otherwise the plan was just to enjoy the thing as my stock driver/cruise night vehicle. Which is what I did...





Both my wife and I took quite a liking to this thing. For cheap entertainment we'd park within sight at a restaurant and watch people get out their cell phone cameras. I'm sure it's been posted on car websites and FB quite a few times.

Then tragedy struck...

Hello,

I'm a regular over at Moparts.com, owner of at least 10 cars/trucks and 20-year Chrysler employee from the Detroit area. I've known about the Mexichargers since working out in Phoenix at Chrysler's proving grounds when they were new and I'd see them occasionally running around the area with Mexican plates. Oddly enough, I don't think we ever had one in our test fleet... and we tested all kinds of weird stuff; Chinese Jeeps, Euro everything,  and even tests to simulate the beatings our B-series vans took on Mexican back roads.

Anyways, that time spent at the proving grounds gave me a real love for the Phoenix area (or maybe just a hatred of Michigan winters) so I head out there pretty often. A few weeks ago I started thinking about picking up something rust-free and bringing it back to MI. Usually I go after cheap C-bodies, Cordobas, Imperials, etc. (like this survivor I found in Tucson).



...but this time I started thinking about the 3rd gen Ramchargers. Then I started googling them and found the major thread on this site which really got me interested in finding one. That search didn't last long! Unbelievably an off-hand Craigslist Phoenix search found one that already had a California title. Long story short, I bought it, and thankfully not for the insane asking price!



This truck is pretty beat-up (as they all seem to be) having already been painted once, tinted lights, boomin' system, 26" rims and no screw left unturned (and loose). However, it seemed to run and shift well enough. No way I would have driven this thing cross-country as-is, so I got a shipping quote: $1300.    I figured I'd rather put the money into repairs than shipping, so I left it with an "internet friend" and AZ mopar club guy to make some repairs at his leisure until I return in a few months to drive it back. Most of what I expect it to need is suspension related, and if you see by the vehicles in the background, (which he has rebuilt the suspensions on) he seems to know his way around this generation of truck (another SST out-of-the shot)...



Before I handed it over I had a little de-crap-ifying project in the driveway of the house I rented (wonder what those neighbors thought I was pulling out of the door panels, lol) Here are the pounds of stereo wiring. This thing could have an AM radio and I wouldn't care about upgrades since I mostly listen to talk radio junk in the car.



Also not the lengths the PO went to making the sound system nice and safe:



I like the way he zip-tied a direct feed from the battery to a steel brake line... Exposed terminals and all. At least there was a 150 amp fuse so once fully engulfed in flames it would break the circuit! It's a wonder I don't see more stereo-mobiles burned up on the road.

So anyway, my desire is much like the mega-thread already posted. I thank rjtx667 for experiencing headaches and posting them so I wont have to. That said, I have a few questions:

1) It sounds like the dash harness was plug & play after you fixed a few missed fuse block connections, with the exception of the rear wiper circuit? Is this the takeaway? Sounds like there were probably two wiring harnesses from the factory, base and SLT? Nothing and Everything?

2) Did you ever finish the tilt wheel install? The airbags?