Kenneth Tyll Turned His ’98 Dodge 2500 Into a Capable, Like-New Chase Truck

With hard work and determination, anything is possible; that is exactly what Kenneth Tyll out of Lima, Ohio, set out to prove when he tackled a do-it-yourself project on his ’98 Dodge Ram in his two-car garage. Along with his dog, Diesel, there for moral support, Tyll delved into a year-long project to turn the truck into a built like-new hauling machine capable of chasing his off-road jeep through any terrain, for half the cost of a new truck.

Tyll bought the 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 truck used and had planned simply to repair some of the rust on the doors and fenders with replacements to haul his Jeep Cherokee and work out of when needed. He ended up with rust-free replacement doors, fenders, a cab and a service bed all sitting in his garage. After several parts failures in the rig while towing, he realized there was more than cosmetics wrong with the Ram and decided to go all in.

After digging into the truck, he found his starting point. The frame was in need of serious repair or replacement, so when Tyll found a good deal on a 2001 Ram frame, he snapped it up and sent it straight to his local powdercoater to strip then coat it to prevent any future rust in his local Ohio climate. Now that he’d decided to go all in with the rig, he had some ideas how to make it a functional, hardy, tough machine he could drive daily, haul anything he could hook to it, and even chase his off-roader into the rocky, muddy woods to render support through the trails. To accomplish that, he prepped and painted or powder-coated everything on the chassis and used stainless steel hardware wherever possible.

The rear Dana 80 and front Dana 60 axle assemblies were too large for Tyll’s home media blaster, so he sent them out to be blasted then painted them with POR-15 along with the steering components and rear leaf springs to protect them. The axle assemblies spin 3.55 gears to work well for towing as well as daily driving chores. To go after the ground clearance and stability he needed to tow and trail-ride, Tyll opted for BDS five-inch lift springs and shocks all the way around paired with Dick Cepek Long Arm control arms for further stability. To help with towing, Tyll outfitted Air Lift helper bags in the back and installed a Curt towing hitch for added strength. He also chose to bolster his spindles with Ford knuckles, stub shafts, hubs and lockouts. To get the hefty truck stopping, Ford 13.2-inch rotors and dual piston Ford calipers were installed in the front, and the stock rear drums were augmented with one-ton Chevy wheel cylinders. Going with his rust-free theme, Tyll replaced the brake lines with 304 stainless steel and stainless flex hoses from EGR Performance Brakes. For strong wheels and grippy tires to compliment his chassis upgrades and get him through any terrain presented, 17X9-inch Raceline Hammer wheels and Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ LT315/70R17 tires were chosen. Tyll, in his ongoing search for improvements, later bumped up a couple inches to 37-inch Goodyear tires.

The rust free cab and the rest of the body panels Tyll had acquired were next to be installed in transforming his rusty ’98 Ohio truck into a rust free, like-new, work horse, off-roader. He focused primarily on function over form, so there wasn’t much room for thrills and frills in the exterior. Even the lean and mean Buckstop front bumper with integrated fog lights was equipped with a towing shackle to pull his rig out of a tight spot. But that didn’t mean a custom color couldn’t be added. Tyll went for the simpler, low maintenance, yet good looking, home applicable Plasti-Dip paint system, using their anthracite base with a blue Pearlizer top coat. One of the last things installed on the truck was a Knapheide service bed sprayed to match and lined with a protective coating on the tailgate, inside perimeter and the top of the boxes.

With the undercarriage complete and the body intact, the powertrain was still in need of attention to bring it up to the level of the rest of the truck. Tyll didn’t want to go over the top with engine upgrades, but still wanted to get more power out of his 5.9 liter 12-valve Cummins to make it much easier to tow the Jeep or anything else for that matter. He installed ARP 2000 head studs to keep the pressure inside the cylinders and keep the head firmly clamped down to the Cummins block. Then he upgraded the fuel system with 7X.012 injectors and an AirDog 150 pump/filter system. He also bumped up the timing to 19.5 degrees to get a little more punch out of the motor. To get more air into the engine to support the additional fuel, Tyll went with a compound setup using a Schwitzer S362 turbo over an HT3B turbo to spool well and keep EGTs down while towing. Spent gasses flow through a custom downpipe into the MBRP five-inch stainless steel exhaust system. The NV4500 transmission backs the Cummins through an upgraded South Bend 3250 DD dual-disk clutch and flywheel. To get the power down to the rear axle, a five-inch aluminum drive- shaft from Driveshaft Specialist of Texas was installed.

One of the last things tackled by Tyll in his two-car garage was the inside of his like-new rig. At a glance, the interior looks pretty stock aside from the AutoMeter Z-Series gauges in pods and the Pioneer head unit, but a lot more work went into it than meets the eye. According to Tyll, he may be one of the few—if not the only—gear heads to successfully convert a non-power Dodge truck interior to fully powered windows, mirrors, and locks.

With almost every inch of the ’98 Dodge Ram 2500 repaired, replaced or upgraded, Tyll was able to create a custom truck, built for his needs, that looks and performs just like new, at less than half the cost of an equivalent new truck. The Ram spends some of its life hooked to a trailer, hauling a trail-riding jeep, or some other heavy objects for work and the like, but when it’s not tied down, it roams the woods just like its namesake. With plenty of long hours, perseverance through bumps on the road, and determination to create his perfect rig, Tyll crafted his flawless work horse and off-road champ in his run-of-the-mill, two-car garage, proving his point that anyone can accomplish anything if they put their minds to it. UDBG

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