I bought my first Cummins in 2012

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I was living in a room attached to a guy's barn while I was on my internship after my sophomore year. I would work on random projects he had after work and help him out (guy had some crazy projects). One day I heard him and his father talking about selling the green truck that was broke in the driveway. Me being a sucker for a good deal I asked him how much he wanted for it. I didn't know my rear-end from a hole in the ground when it came to diesels but when he said $500 I didn't hesitate...she was mine.

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The truck needed some love. The reason they weren't using it anymore was because the passenger side brake rotor had rotted/worn so far that a section of it cracked off, bound against the caliper, and left her sitting immobile in the driveway. And they didn't want to put any work and money into it because they were tired of the 2wd anyway.

Picture of the broken rotor:

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The guy thought I would just pull the Cummins out and scrap the rest of the truck. I have this thing about fixing junk though, if I think I can fix it I will spend countless hours trying to do so.

Overall the truck needed:

- Brake Lines (All of them)
- Front pads, rotors, and calipers
- Radiator
- Lots of love and TLC

Nothing I couldn't handle. So after a few weeks of working on the brakes I had the truck operating and stopping just fine. I couldn't replace the radiator right away but a dose of radiator stop leak at least held the radiator together until I could get the truck home.

Pic of the truck once I get her back home.

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Things to make the truck look better:

- Clean the bags of garbage out of the cab
- Pulled off the bent-up running boards
- Made some custom tail-gate hinges
- Removed the visor off the hood (helps reveal the unique hood ornament)
- Installed an aluminum tool box to hold some goodies

Good Score for 5 bills!

very cool story. glad you're saving the old girl. did it come out of the U.P.?

Thanks fellas! Yea, my buddy was mad because he paid $800 for a ford ranger and I got this gem for $500 . Mine required some elbow grease though.

No, it came from southern L.P. The salt sure has done a number on the truck. I have a good story about that part of the project too.

Awesome score! Keep us posted on the fix-up!

Wish I could find a $500 Cummins truck for swap parts to my $1500 Crew!

That thing is a boat seriously both look like fun projects and good deals!

Those old aluminum running boards just really bring the truck together....I never regret tearing those things off of my truck.

Nice Crew Cab!! Are you planning a Cummins Crew cab build? I think those things are absolutely awesome!

I'm not sure what the plan is for 93. I started driving it back and forth to school (6 hr round trip every week) during my Junior year of college. I was trying to get it road worthy and reliable before the next summer because I knew my next internship was going to be down in Tennessee.

The first thing I knew was going to be a problem was the 4:10 gears. Man would that thing just scream going down the road! And torquey as ever!! So I ended up doing a little research and picking up a 3:54 LS Dana 70 from a 2nd gen 4wd Cummins truck for $200. That was an interesting swap because I hadn't realized the new axle was a total of 5" wider than mine

The only part that's not fun is the rust

The pics don't do it justice cuz it's pretty amazing how much better these trucks look without those running board.

No doubt jbtsurf, there's a night and day difference in the look of the truck once the running boards are removed.