Hey guys I'm looking at buying this 99' 5 speed cummins with 307,000 miles, ZERO blowby, no rust, insanely clean, 4x4, ext cab, long bed, fresh rebuilt transmission, cold air intake and straight piped is all that has been done to it. It does have the 53 block though, he said it cracked at 60k and the previous owner(2 owner truck) took it to a shop and they welded the crack and put a plate over where the crack was and it hasn't had any problems since. He's askin $8400 with from what he was sayin a very negotiable price. My worry is the 53 block, i mean another 240,000 miles has been put on it since it was cracked and no problems I think it's good what about y'all?

 

If the price is right I would buy it!! Engines are easy to get all the fedex trucks they are auctioning off these days have the 5.9 cummins.
Just make sure if you replace the engine the 1998.5 and 1999 had a crank sensor and the 2000-2002 had no hole in the block for the crank sensor because they went to a cam sensor. do some checking before you buy a replacement engine.
I am going to do some research on what are the differences in the engine wiring harness on the 1998.5 to 2002 dodges.