Hello, my name is Caleb Horton, out of Colorado Springs, co. I bought a 1986 ramcharger single cab short bed 4x4 off a kid in February after my rig truck was stolen and crashed off the mountain side near Norad here in the springs. I've had hell with this truck because the kid I bought it from ignored the truck like it was never gonna die and pawned it off when he figured out it can actually, in fact, die. I've replaced the battery, the starter, rear main seal, pan seal, oil sending unit(upgraded to high output), water pump and seal, belts, alternator, voltage regulator, starter relay, fuel pump, four fuel filters so far, starter itself, air filter(duh), window motor, etc, etc. Well, very recently, it's made a knocking noise and started to lose it's umph going up any steep grades. Now to be fair, after buying this truck with WHO KNOWS how many actual miles on it because it flips to zero after 99,999 but it was kinda tired when I got it, but I put a bobcat 225g in the bed with some tools and jack stands and stuff(I'm a mobile welder) and it seemed to slow down a bit but it's obviously made quite an effect on this tired motor(almost as if I'm towing because I kind of am with all that equipment in the bed. But it started making a ticking noise that I couldn't tell if it was coming from the lifters, rods or oil pan area. It was just a very loud ticking noise that sped up with the rpm cold or warmed up. Actually it was louder warmed up, and the very loudest on a load up a steep grade. It immediately went away after putting the heater and defrost on and regained about 3/4 of power. It's still a small motor and tired so I can get it up to 50mph on a 9% or so grade. But like I said, ticking gone after I put the heater on(it's 44⁰ here so that's how I figured that out). Also, when it was making the ticking noise before I put the heater on, when on a load going uphill it would cut out the same as when I needed to change the fuel filter. Just a sputter and it would stop for a few seconds when I interrupted the sputter by pumping the accelerator a few times. That only happened on a load uphill 🤷🏻‍♂️