What’s amazing about old trucks is so many of them were purchased to be used as workhorses, not collector’s items. If you were shopping for a Dodge pickup in the early 90s or late 80s and ordered one with the optional Cummins turbodiesel engine, there’s a good chance you intended to haul heavy loads around a farm or construction site. These days, a vintage Dodge truck with the Cummins powerplant is more likely to be held as a collector’s item than as a working truck. The Dodge shown here features a dually axle, big fender flares, and the desirable turbodiesel engine. Find it here on eBay where bidding is over $7,000 with no reserve.
The truck, as you can see, has been used as the manufacturer intended, with plenty of signs of wear and tear. The clear coat has been burned off the paint, likely from years in the California sunshine. The wheels are coated in brake dust. The bed bears the scars of years’ worth of loads being moved in and out. Still, those are all signs of a truck life well-lived. The big wins here are the apparent lack of rust which is a hallmark of a truck that’s lived in the desert or in the higher elevations on the west coast. The seller reports that this Dodge is offered for sale by the original owner.
That alone is a reason to give this Dodge a closer look, and the listing indicates the individual was an older owner. The mileage is reportedly just under 189,000 miles, which is actually pretty reasonable for a truck like this. The drivetrain should easily surpass 200,000 miles with just normal maintenance, and the seller confirms the owner of this Dodge kept up with regular servicing, a detail supported by the paper trail of repair orders. The interior is in very good condition for a truck of this vintage and with those miles, with no tears in the bench seat upholstery, and decent door panels and carpets.
The seller reports that the Dodge is in excellent mechanical condition and that it’s a well-equipped truck. Air conditioning, tilt wheel, power windows, and power door locks round out a feature list that likely made this a pretty pricey truck when new. The question becomes what to do with this truck if you win it. Do you restore it back to new condition, including a fresh paint job? Or do you leave the roughshod appearance in place, continuing to use the Dodge as a workhorse as the original owner intended? The winning bidder will soon get to decide how they’ll use it.
You know( yep, here it comes), it’s tough to think, this was the truck that started the whole RAM dually phenomenon. Initially, a truck like this had but one purpose, to haul something, BIG. It was one step below a semi tractor. Campers, the horsey set, the boss with a construction company, “Hot Shot” freight, all used these. How they morphed into hauling a bag of dog food from Wallyworld, is still a mystery. I think it was GM that started the whole “Diesel Dually” thing,( the pickup with the big butt) but it was Dodge and Cummins that set the standard for today. It’s a darned nice rig.
Actually, the 1-Ton Dually thing came out long before the Ram. I recall International KB-3 pickups with dual wheels. When I was a kid there was a mixture of Binders, Dodges and Fords out west. One local operator had a ’53 Ford Dually that the Dad bought new and his grandchildren now run.
It’s your typical dodge single cab that the owner thin’s is worth retirement fund’s .It’s not it’s worth about 8 k Max it’s a single cab with a 518 trans .Ide leave it just like it is and the Engine along is good for 500 K ,If taken care of the trans can make it to 300 K not a Bad truck Just too small of a Cab.
One to watch if it was a 4×4 bidding would be at $20k+ already with this one if you win the bid drive down and pay for it then trailer your ride back home
Hey nice truck.Looks like it was taken care of.I love these older trucks.Dont make them like they used to.
I’ve always wondered how hard it would be to convert one of these back to a single. Wheel fenders, but rear axles too, or does the outer wheel somehow mate to the inside wheel?
Just change the wheels and possibly the studs.
You would have to change the axle. You have 5/8 studs on a dually not sure why you would want to make it a single wheel truck. As far as front goes just change the hub to single wheel.
Nice truck, back from when pick’em up trucks had a purpose. Looks to be well kept as well. I agree with the comment that if it was 4wd it’d be high teens/and even 20k but this doesn’t really need the front wheels to do anything but steer. Plus it will trailer better and get better mileage too
I had a beautiful two tone Blue metallic and Maroon metallic.
1992. 17-19 mpg pulling my enclosed car trailer all over the country.
Three problems.
When empty, the read axle rode like a Page and Page solid rubber mt big rig.
Second, the auto trans needed a locking converter.
The trans would get hot up grades in hi gear.
Third, the mechanical fuel pump started shooting fuel everywhere at 247,000.
Otherwise mine had these same options.
It had a luxury option package for comfort, but forgot its name.
I did need a bigger fuel tank.
My diesel crewcab has a 100 gallon capacity. Don’t have to get fuel everyday now.
I love the smell of these engines in the morning as they warm up.
I can never figure eBay out. It says “listing ended” which I believe doesn’t necessarily mean Sold. I think they pulled it before they had to sell at too low a number for them, right?
Says sold. Winning bid $8600
Someone probably gave them a call with offer to buy It happens a lot so they pull it off eBay
Better than a new truck with zero miles .
If that sold for 8600 that was a steal
There were and still are a lot of these out west. That exclusive contract with Cummins was a real clincher for Chrysler. I have to admit that it was a good fit as almost everyone who had one was happy with it. Of course there were those who expected jack-rabbit starts with a 36 foot RV attached. That VE injection pump was fairly safe to open up to 180 hp but anything beyond that made the govenor sluggish and pushed the camplate and rollers beyond their limit. We got a lot of them in the shop with nothing but filings inside. But set for 180, they pulled very well…
180 ? Record for a VE PUMP IS 680. IM ROLLING 450 HP WITH no problem. But I also got rid of the 518 and went with a 47rh Trans. Man what a difference it makes having lockup converter.
You won’t get any argument out of me. If you got 450 that’s fine. I AM curious as to how you got it…