1994 Dodge Ram Van 350

[SirRobyn0]

Well I was just gifted with another vehicle! However this one has been sitting. Let me tell you about it. It was owned by a friend of mine. He bought it used in the late 90's and used it regularly about once a week for a few years, and then tapered off. I have driven this van personally and even took it on a 2,500 mile road trip around 98' or so. I took care of all the maintenance needs for him, and he wanted it kept up well. Then it got parked. He parked it because he didn't really need it anymore but thought he'd use it now and then. Now and then tapered off to never. To the best of my recollection I was the last person to drive it and that would have been around 06 or 07. I know this for sure because I'd driven it to the Goodyear I managed I think I left around 07' or so. So this van has sat inside a pole building garage / barn for 16 - 17 years. It was not prepped for storage in anyway. In 2005 the law was enacted for 10% ethanol to be added to all gasoline sold in the US so it's got a tank full of crap I'm sure.

The van, 5.9 360, 1-ton 4.10 rear end. This has the 46RH that's hydraulically controlled, (for it's time) the heavy duty overdrive Chrysler transmission. It has a large cooler and a temp gauge, he had me replaced the transmission less than 5K before it was parked and it was new Chrysler built transmission with all the factory updates. Front and rear A/C but not really any other options.

I think this van could make a great trailer towing rig for my 18' open trailer and further take the load off my square.

So he's got crap stacked all around it. It's probably going to be a full day of work just to clear a path out and get all his crap off of and around it moved away. That's fine for the price of the vehicle.

Then my plan is to suck all the fuel out of the tank that I can. Put fresh fuel in and flush the lines out. Then install a new fuel filter. I'll pull the plugs, squirt a little oil in each cylinder, turn it over a little bit, reinstall the plugs, a new battery and see if she'll fire. Depending on what the oil looks like I'll either change it before firing it, or warm it up and then dump it.

I don't have any actual pictures of the van, but it's the extended length 15 passenger van. I'll be removing all but the two front seats and one bench seat.

Pics will come this weekend when I get over to his place and start getting into getting it out of there and running.

 

[bucket]

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing this progress!

 

[SirRobyn0]

@bucket I thought you might be into it, since your a van guy even if it's Dodge. I've been a van guy since I was young, but the vans slowly gave out to pickups in my life. So it will be really fun for me to have a van back in my life. I previously owned a 73' Dodge sportsman, and before that a 76' Tradesman. As the farm took off when my last van was done we replaced it with the minivan which my wife still has. But now that I have the 18' trailer, I think the 1 ton Dodge Van with the 360 and 4.10 rear end will handle it better than my 84' C20 305 3.41 does. At the very least it'll be fun for me to drive a full sized van now and then again.

 

[bucket]

@bucket I thought you might be into it, since your a van guy even if it's Dodge. I've been a van guy since I was young, but the vans slowly gave out to pickups in my life. So it will be really fun for me to have a van back in my life. I previously owned a 73' Dodge sportsman, and before that a 76' Tradesman. As the farm took off when my last van was done we replaced it with the minivan which my wife still has. But now that I have the 18' trailer, I think the 1 ton Dodge Van with the 360 and 4.10 rear end will handle it better than my 84' C20 305 3.41 does. At the very least it'll be fun for me to drive a full sized van now and then again.

Yeah, I like those older Dodge vans too, they were pretty darn good. A guy I know had one for a long time, it was a '92 iirc. Long wheelbase panel van. We used to go to the junkyard every weekend with it.

 

[SirRobyn0]

After a conversation with my friend it appears I was the last person to drive the van was me, but it was in 2011. I had forgotten that trip.

I had about a little time after I'd done my farm work, since his place is only about 1/2 a mile away I figured I'd see what I could even though it was dark out and I had to work by flashlight. I got there to find he'd clear is crap from around the sides and front of the van. There are still two mattresses on the roof, and about another vans length worth of junk behind it to get to the door. But I didn't feel like clearing junk out in the dark, so I pulled the spark plugs, squirted a little oil in the cylinders, and installed the new battery. I was going to walk away knowing it has 12 year old gas, but I figured what the heck. Turned the key, click, tried again, click, and again and she starts cranking, with a spit and sputter she fired up! On that old asss gas! Sat there and idled it for few minutes, exhaust smells terrible which is probably combination of the oil and the ancient fuel.

So I should have a couple hours in the morning. Not sure if I can get all his crapp moved in that time, and if not I'll work on it on Sunday as well. But I plan to put my little electric fuel pump to work pumping out the tank while I work on his moving the stuff. New fuel will go in and I'll drive it out the door. If I can't take decent pictures inside his building I'll do it once it's outside. After it's run long enough, maybe 10 minutes to so to be sure fresh fuel is in the lines, I'll put a new fuel filter on it, and probably change it again after a few hundred miles and we'll see how she does! That's the current plan anyway.

 

[Grit dog]

Nice! What a score!
Obvious that karma blesses you in the form of cool or needed vehicles!
Heck yeah, and as you mentioned, that should pull better than your C20. That 5.9 and 4.10s is a notable upgrade in power and gearing.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@Grit dog that's my thinking.
According to enginefacts.com a 1984 Chevrolet 305 LG4, which is the engine in my truck, produced:
Horsepower: 170 @ 4200 rpm
Torque: 250 @ 3200 rpm
It's actually pretty impressive that 170 HP engine coupled to 3.41 gears can haul a 7,000LBS worth of loaded trailer over Manastash ridge, and the other ridges north of Yakima on the 82, even if it is slow in pulling over them. I know you know that route and those ridges I'm talking about.

A 1994 Dodge ram van with the magnum 5.9 (360), produced:
Horsepower: 245 @ 4,000 RPM
Torque: 335 @ 3,250 RPM

So that's 75 more HP and 85 more torque, coupled to a better towing gear ratio ya, it should be a great puller! It will be interesting to see what it does for MPG both empty and loaded. I really don't remember from back when it was on the road.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Ok I've got some crappy photos of the van still in his building. I've cleared a path to the exit door and backed the rear end up to that door and let it run for a while to warm up, and then dumped the oil and installed a new filter. Looks like it leaked a bunch of tranny fluid out of the dipstick tube where it enters the transmission so I'll have to put a new o-ring in there. Once I've done that and can fill the transmission fluid up I'll drive it to my place.

Not really much to see from these yet, but you can tell it's straight, and it is on both sides front and back.

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Interior was / is in good shape but he's got stuff in the van that will need to be cleared out. He's got the two missing seats but IDK they are somewhere in that building with something on it I'm sure. They are mine as well if I can find them, but my plan is to just run the two front seats, and one bench.

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For tires it's got 225/75R16 Cooper Discoverer AST that according to the dot code are 21 years old. They have been inside so I don't see any cracking and they are probably good to run. The only thing I don't like is that they are D rated tires, I would have put E-rated tires on it, but he never did any serious towing with it.

I have a pair of 225/75-16 Goodyear Workhorse studded tires in my barn. I'll mount one on the spare tire wheel and hope to find a second wheel so I can swap studded tires on and off the rear of it easy. Those tires are E-rated.

Hass an aftermarket radio that is inop. So I'll see if I can find one like the one that's in the Jeep, since I really like that unit. Which reminds me I should swap the radio in the Jeep with the one in the truck.

If I don't get it to my place tomorrow I will next week, and more real, good photos will follow.

 

[squaredeal91]

Looks really really good. That dust will clean right off nicely. Good score!

 

[SirRobyn0]

Looks really really good. That dust will clean right off nicely. Good score!

Thanks, I kind of hate showing pictures of her dirty and full of junk, it's actually a really nice van. But at least showing pics like this ya'll can see before and after shots.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Well I didn't make any head way with his stuff today. IF I get lucky I might have a little time this afternoon, but I did do some work to the van.

I drained the fuel tank, by pulling the shrader valve out of the pressure port, attaching a 5/16" fuel line to it and jumping across the relay. The fuel gauge was showing E, I wasn't sure if it really had that little of gas in it or if the sending unit had failed. Well I pumped about 4 gallons out of the tank. This is what the old gas looked like.

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Ya, that's some expired gas for sure. Glad I didn't try to just mix it down with some fresh! So I put 10 gallons in it with a bottle of sea foam. And the fuel gauge came up to just past 1/8 of a tank.

I changed the engine oil, WIX filter of course, and then filled it with 15W40 heavy duty diesel oil. I pretty much run that in all my older vehicles that originally called for 10W30 or 10W40. I know this van had 10W40 run in it, it's entire life, so I'm sure 15W40 will be fine.

I lubed all the zerk fittings. Replaced the O-ring on the trans dipstick tube, and topped off the fluid. Still need to replace the fuel filter.

According to what I see I want to change the cap, rotor and wires (did the plugs when I shot oil in the cylinders) I'd like to drain and fill the cooling system and stick a new thermostat in it. Probably pull the rotors off and grease the wheel bearings for preventive. Probably service the transmission with fresh fluid and filter.

I did dig around inside the van a little bit and found bottles of ATF +3, I won't use that stuff I'll use the ATF+4 that supersedes it, but I haven't seen a bottle of +3 in ages!

According to the sticker under the hood it has a 45 gallon tank, so that's 5 more gallons than the square holds, that will nice when towing the trailer over the pass for grain. My only concern about towing the big trailer with this van, is that the van is longer than the square and I remember that the turning radius isn't great. So it's going to be longer to park and harder to maneuver since I won't be able to cut the wheels ass sharp. I guess that'll just be a trade off.

 

[Grit dog]

And only a half mile up the road you say? Methinks if you cleaned out your packrat buddy’s shop, you may be able to work yourself into a nice home shop space to work on all your vehicles! Sounds like the ole boy just needs to purge 40 years of “I’ll use that sometime….later….maybe…”
Regardless, I bet that thing pulls a trailer pretty well!

 

[bucket]

I think you are going to find that van to be incredibly useful. I'm loving mine and realizing I should have got a big van YEARS ago. Just yesterday I went down to visit @Swims350 and carried a couple squarebody bedsides down there, then came back with a squarebody hood and a Trans Am roof in the back... all with TWO rows of bench seats installed. That long van is quickly becoming one of my favorite vehicles that I own.

 

[SirRobyn0]

And only a half mile up the road you say? Methinks if you cleaned out your packrat buddy’s shop, you may be able to work yourself into a nice home shop space to work on all your vehicles! Sounds like the ole boy just needs to purge 40 years of “I’ll use that sometime….later….maybe…”
Regardless, I bet that thing pulls a trailer pretty well!

I keep saying I'll clear out some of the ccrap in my own pole building barn, so I can have an indoor space to work on my vehicles at, but it never happens, primarily because there's a lot of farm stuff that needs to be in there. In my case at least I can what's in my pole building is equipment and tools that gets used. In his case, yes it's 40 years of "I'll use it later, maybe some day". I'm not disposing of the stuff for him however. That's up to him, and yes he'd let me use the space provided he doesn't ccrap it up again.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I think you are going to find that van to be incredibly useful. I'm loving mine and realizing I should have got a big van YEARS ago. Just yesterday I went down to visit @Swims350 and carried a couple squarebody bedsides down there, then came back with a squarebody hood and a Trans Am roof in the back... all with TWO rows of bench seats installed. That long van is quickly becoming one of my favorite vehicles that I own.

Oh I know it will be. I've had two in the past, I think the last one finished it's service around 99' or so. The first one was a 1977 Dodge Tradesman, a shorty panel van with the 318 that looked like the 70's inside. Honestly it was fun to bomb around in but I wanted something bigger, and then the transmission went out. About the same time I spotted a 1973 Dodge Sportsman, that's the passenger version, it was the extended length, 360. They were both 1/2 B150 vans. The 73' was wasted when I got it. I got it running and reliable, but it had a fair number of dents and a LOT of rot for a Wa, vehicle. It for sure spent a lot of time on the pass or on the beach or in another state. You could see the road thought the floors, so much so I'd put plywood down in places. Eventually the dome wouldn't stay put well because there was nothing left around it on the floor. That's when I gave it up. By then I had a pickup and 5 years later we'd have the minivan, so just never replaced the full sized van. When my friend offered me this thing I knew it was coming home, BC I know once I get the quirks worked out from all the sitting it'll be a good long lasting van I'll hopefully have well into retirement.

I kind of hope that we'll use it for road trips we don't want to take the motorhome on and don't want to have to take a motel each night. There's enough room for me and the wife and dogs to lay down without my wife feeling like she's sleeping with the dogs. I don't mind, but she does lol.