Just saying hi to all. I'll add my long story for those with extra time.
This is my second Ram, a few years back (must have been about 5+) I decided to purchase a slightly
used 2002 Ram 2500 Long Bed Crew (suicide doors) V8 with zero options. When I say slightly, I mean: dash was super cracked, windshield cracked, green hood had faded white, someone must have used the bed for bowling, and occasionally the ball came out and hit the sides, driver seat vinyl was almost gone, headlights were dimmed, was showing small emissions CEL leak a few days after purchase, drivers door that wouldn't fully close, 3 cranks to start, and so many other issues. On the plus side it has only 112k miles for 3800$. Also developed many fun things over the years (AC needed to be recharged yearly to barely work), everytime I fixed the small emissions leak it would pop up somewhere else 6-9 months later, and a few months after fixing the oil leak, coolant started to leak.
I had wanted a truck since I like to work on projects around the house, etc. And my cars were getting pretty beat-up from it (I learned to love hatchback, Acura RSX Type-S and Subaru WRX STI) I've done some crazy things (hauling 1.5k+ lbs. of concrete in the STI for a deck build, with some 10' 6x6's strapped to the bike roof rack (thankfully I lived a mile on back roads). I also have some fond memories of somehow fitting 200' of 4" schedule 40 PVC in a Ford Escort ZX2 for a commercial pool repipe I was doing at the time (guys at the plumbing supply store laughed every time I came in after that.) So 5 years I finally decided to buy one (my wife decided to get her PhD and the school was a long enough drive we decided to get an apartment there.) So I convinced my wife to let me get a truck instead of just renting (we were not able to do an all at once move, and would need multiple rentals). So I decided to purchase this beauty:
I really liked driving it even with how beat up it was, so my STI got "demoted" to a track car (it was about 5 years old at that point with 24k miles) and I basically drove the truck all the time up till end of August 2021. It was a great truck for hauling things and I loved turning heads in the parking lot at work (I'm an engineer at a very large Tech company, think lots of nice new cars or trucks). Plus loved not caring about anything, go ahead and just toss the bricks in the bed.
So end of August this year I decided to go look at a new truck, I was just looking. I got lucky and one of the dealerships in my area had a 2021 2500 Big Horn V8 (Level 1 night edition) crew cab long bed in stock, so took it for a test drive and ended up keeping the keys (after a long morning/afternoon). I still don't understand how you can walk into a dealership for with cash and it still takes most of the day; that was frustrating. I ended up selling the old 2500 for 3500$ that really worked in my favor, much cheaper than the U-Haul rentals
I've been slowly upgrading the truck over the past few weeks, added proximity entry, rain sensitive wipers, led for the interior lighting, tail gate damper, adding remote start (missing the hood latch, but easy to purchase new one and run wire also love I can just solder the buttons on for this without buying new remote) and tailgate release.
Currently working to add Black version of LED tail lights with BSM (really needed on this Truck, it made my old Ram look small and the new mirrors suck or I haven't figured them out yet..) I added the mirror glass and wires for it when adding the new handles, have both tail lights, and Jimmy's harness, but blocked by missing one of the LED jumper wires (ohh and I cannot get the molex part for 25 weeks, even with a crazy minimum). So that is on hold.
Getting some Nerf bars next week, and the bedliner sprayed.
Plan to eventually move to the better headlights from the Laramie, possibly the surround camera (because why not), and some time of bed cover, probably roll up. Maybe I'll finally get the trailer for the STI and hit the race tracks again.
Well that is my story, I did realize I don't have any photos of my new truck, but you know what they look like
Jeff
This is my second Ram, a few years back (must have been about 5+) I decided to purchase a slightly
used 2002 Ram 2500 Long Bed Crew (suicide doors) V8 with zero options. When I say slightly, I mean: dash was super cracked, windshield cracked, green hood had faded white, someone must have used the bed for bowling, and occasionally the ball came out and hit the sides, driver seat vinyl was almost gone, headlights were dimmed, was showing small emissions CEL leak a few days after purchase, drivers door that wouldn't fully close, 3 cranks to start, and so many other issues. On the plus side it has only 112k miles for 3800$. Also developed many fun things over the years (AC needed to be recharged yearly to barely work), everytime I fixed the small emissions leak it would pop up somewhere else 6-9 months later, and a few months after fixing the oil leak, coolant started to leak.I had wanted a truck since I like to work on projects around the house, etc. And my cars were getting pretty beat-up from it (I learned to love hatchback, Acura RSX Type-S and Subaru WRX STI) I've done some crazy things (hauling 1.5k+ lbs. of concrete in the STI for a deck build, with some 10' 6x6's strapped to the bike roof rack (thankfully I lived a mile on back roads). I also have some fond memories of somehow fitting 200' of 4" schedule 40 PVC in a Ford Escort ZX2 for a commercial pool repipe I was doing at the time (guys at the plumbing supply store laughed every time I came in after that.) So 5 years I finally decided to buy one (my wife decided to get her PhD and the school was a long enough drive we decided to get an apartment there.) So I convinced my wife to let me get a truck instead of just renting (we were not able to do an all at once move, and would need multiple rentals). So I decided to purchase this beauty:
I really liked driving it even with how beat up it was, so my STI got "demoted" to a track car (it was about 5 years old at that point with 24k miles) and I basically drove the truck all the time up till end of August 2021. It was a great truck for hauling things and I loved turning heads in the parking lot at work (I'm an engineer at a very large Tech company, think lots of nice new cars or trucks). Plus loved not caring about anything, go ahead and just toss the bricks in the bed.
So end of August this year I decided to go look at a new truck, I was just looking. I got lucky and one of the dealerships in my area had a 2021 2500 Big Horn V8 (Level 1 night edition) crew cab long bed in stock, so took it for a test drive and ended up keeping the keys (after a long morning/afternoon). I still don't understand how you can walk into a dealership for with cash and it still takes most of the day; that was frustrating. I ended up selling the old 2500 for 3500$ that really worked in my favor, much cheaper than the U-Haul rentals
I've been slowly upgrading the truck over the past few weeks, added proximity entry, rain sensitive wipers, led for the interior lighting, tail gate damper, adding remote start (missing the hood latch, but easy to purchase new one and run wire also love I can just solder the buttons on for this without buying new remote) and tailgate release.
Currently working to add Black version of LED tail lights with BSM (really needed on this Truck, it made my old Ram look small and the new mirrors suck or I haven't figured them out yet..) I added the mirror glass and wires for it when adding the new handles, have both tail lights, and Jimmy's harness, but blocked by missing one of the LED jumper wires (ohh and I cannot get the molex part for 25 weeks, even with a crazy minimum). So that is on hold.
Getting some Nerf bars next week, and the bedliner sprayed.
Plan to eventually move to the better headlights from the Laramie, possibly the surround camera (because why not), and some time of bed cover, probably roll up. Maybe I'll finally get the trailer for the STI and hit the race tracks again.
Well that is my story, I did realize I don't have any photos of my new truck, but you know what they look like
Jeff
