1984 Dodge Power Ram 50 4×4 Turbodiesel
This 1984 Dodge Power Ram 50 4×4 5-speed diesel pickup is a major box-checker for me and apparently for a few other people seeing how the bids here on eBay are over $6,000 with three full days left on the auction! It’s located in South Jordan, Utah and it sure looks and sounds like the next buyer could drive it home.
I’m not a big off-road wheel sort of guy, in general, but the seller says that these are the original steel wheels with new tires installed and they look pretty good here. The truck itself is amazing, this has to hit close to $10,000 or maybe more? It has a spray-on bed liner and it also comes with a shell/topper/cap if the buyer wants it. There is also a new windshield. The seller mentions that the original owner is now 84 years old and they recently bought the truck from her.
They talk about the Prospector badges on the rear sides of the box, saying that they’ve been there for so long that they look original but I don’t know if there would have been a Prospector edition of the Dodge Ram 50? The Ram 50 was named the Power Ram 50 in this era when it came with 4WD which was added as an option in 1982. The seller says that there is no rust which are the best words ever invented in the vehicle world.
I have a 1980 Dodge D-50 Sport pickup and this interior is quite an update from my truck’s interior. The dash is nice and the seller says that this one is crack-free, unlike mine. This is a 5-speed truck (mine is, too) which adds to the driving fun, or as fun as an 86-hp turbodiesel pickup can be. My truck has around 100 hp but I’d rather have this 4×4 diesel for the unusual factor – as if a tiny orange pickup isn’t unusual enough without a diesel.
The engine is Mitsubishi’s 4D55, a 2.3L inline-four turbodiesel with 86 hp and 134 lb-ft of torque. It’s a true spoon and fork engine, as in being clean enough to eat off of it. The seller mentions that the AC blows cold and it also has power steering! Fancy. The machine has yet to be invented yet that can measure my desire for this truck, but I’m currently in getting-rid-of-vehicles mode, not adding more. This has to be the nicest one out there and it’ll be interesting, and painful, to see what it sells for.
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Comments
Wow I love this little truck! Nice one, Scotty. Bolt on a basketball sized turbo and go hunting unsuspecting Raptors. Well, maybe not, but it’s sweet just as it sits. Perfect to get some conversations going on that weekly trip to the dump.
Tuned up lots of these over the years. The engine is fairly stout but it seems that there are a lot of complaints about fuel leaking out around the throttle shaft. The shaft is too short and wears the shaft and bushing out. I always bored the top cover out and fit a bushing from a Bosch application. Very few problems after that.
Nice post, Scotty! I want this truck (too)!!!
I happen to know, Scotty has a gas job truck like this, and I’m envious as heck. Great trucks, but the “oil motor” is a deal breaker for me. I spent 40 years around diesel motors, made my living with them, but it was never something I wanted to power my DD with. They are gutless, noisy, a pain in the winter, and fuel today generally costs more than gas, not that it would matter, as these get terrific mileage, one of their only merits. I think they could last longer than a gas job, but due to their gutless nature, people tend to drive them too hard, burning them out. You can get hundreds of thousands of miles on their gas motors, why would you want some smelly, leaking gutless diesel for? It’s no 3406 Cat, that’s for sure.
Because I can take this truck, put a veggie oil system in it, and use the fast food grease from all of those make me grotesquely obese fast food troughs everyone loves to shovel poison into their bodies with. The only bad thing about these engines is the rubber band timing belt that drove the valves. When you have zero clearance at TDC, and that belt snaps – as they often did because people didn’t like to maintain that kind of thing – it’s a catastrophic failure for the engine.
Some people have lucked out pretty well with Bio-fuel but others have had nothing but catastrophe. Carboning up, stuck valves, burned injection nozzle tips, not to mention the damage that can happen to the injection pump. Verify your Cetane rating (55 desired) and you’re on your way.
is this the “Wolfy” that had/has an old Crown bus?
@ Micheal: I owned a Thomas bus back when I lived in TX. I wanted a Crown, but none available at a price point that I could afford then.
Hi Rube. It’s interesting how we’ve been around Diesel engines most of our lives yet never chose to own one. For me it was the bills I saw going over the counter that told me what I did NOT want. However, I still dream of buying a new Duramax, when I have that tremendous windfall…
Now up to $7700. Too rich for me, dang it. Not saying that it’s not worth it, just that I don’t have the cash lying around.
Sweet looking Dodge Power Ram truck. I remember when compact trucks looked like this. They were small, but they weren’t so much so that they weren’t useful. My stepdad had a 1977 Toyota Hilux pickup truck. It had a 20R Toyota engine, and a 5spd manual shifting transmission. While small by today’s standards of utility trucks, there was still plenty of room to work and to drive comfortably. The only uncomfortable things were the seats.
Great little truck in really good shape!! I can’t wait to see what this gem sells for!!!
My mom owned one of these. Her thing was burying anyone who offended her in a cloud of black smoke. She doesn’t take off at the light fast enough for you? No! don’t do it—-honk—-OMG you are getting the full blast of black smoke. LOL