Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Ram. Longevity?

I am in need of a new/newer pick-up. My current one is a 2000 GMC 4x4 3/4 ton with the 6.0. The only reason I am looking to get a new one is I need a six seater and this one only holds 5. I am interested in the new Rams, mainly because they have a couple models that will hold 6 without special ordering one and have some capabilities not seen on the GMs that I know of. Mainly the Power Wagon and I believe the Mega Cab.

I have heard good things about new Rams and surprisingly not so good from a few Ram owners. I have yet to personally know one who has kept their Ram/Dodge longer than 5 years although there are older Dodges still on the road. My last pick-up was a 1990 Chevy that I kept for 13 years and now this GMC that I have had for another 13 years.

So, for the Ram/Dodge pick-up owners out there, what has been your experiences with your pick-ups?

I've owned five of them, including my current one, a 2014 2500 Cummins that now has 73k miles on it. Previous one was a 2003, also a 2500 diesel that I sold in early 2014 with 297k miles, and it now has about 350k on it. They have all been pretty good trucks. The only one I didn't particularly care for was my '02 1500, which had the 4.7l V8. No power, and drank fuel like it was free. I did a transmission on the '03 at about 65k miles after doing some tuning mods. Unreasonable to expect a stock transmission to survive twice the torque and almost double the horesepower of stock. No complaints from me.

I've been driving a Ram truck since they became their own brand in 2010. Started out with a 2010 2wd 1500 with the 4.7, then moved to a 2014 4x4 1500 5.9 hemi which consistently got 22-25 mpg on the highway, then moved up to a 2016 4x4 3500 with the cummins. Never had any mechanical issues and the few electrical quirks with the radio were solved under warrantee by the dealer.

Prior to the 2010 lineup, I'd had nothing but problems with dodge trucks and drove other brands.

I have a friend who is a bridge contractor. His 15 has 80k trouble free miles. I liked his so much after a road trip, my 17 has 3500 miles.

I have an '08 2500 with the Cummins. It also has a manual trans which is only available with the Cummins. It turned over 100k this fall.
The clutch went out at about 95k. I've since heard that that's normal for them. I put a heavier duty clutch in that's supposed to last the life of the pickup.
They're famous for the front ends to go bad at 75 to 100k, tie rod ends, damper, and ball joints. My tie rods went at about 95k. A friend with the same pickup needed a damper at about 90k.

Mine is a tad older. I have a 98 that I bought new in 99 as a 98&1/2. So it is pushing 18 years old.About 150K on it.

I have had the brakes done a few times, new tracking bar, valves adjusted, replaced fuel pump with FASS system, and new alternator this year.
Other things like batteries, tires etc. are normal maintenance.

Don't know if newer ones would hold up as well.

No personal experience with them, but a friend here in NM also has an '08 2500 crew cab with Cummins, and likes it very much. He has about 140K miles and recently had an alternator fail, trashing a battery too. I have not heard about any other issues. He is an oil & gas geologist so needs it for very rough off-road work. He thinks it will easily go 300K miles and beyond,

His testimony has sold me on wanting one.

My dad has a 2011 or 2012 (can't remember) Ram 2500hd with the hemi and regular cab. He hates it and complains about ride and build quality. I drove it and didn't like it very much, but the new ones are supposed to be different.

Don't expect a car-like ride from a 2500 or 3500. They're identical except for the springs and the emblem on the door. They're made to carry weight and ride quality is accordingly stiff. When I have 1000lb on my 2500, it smooths out nicely.

That's for sure. My 2500 is hard riding,but my buddies 3500 will make your butt hurt in short order.

Putting a 1500 pound camper on either of them sure helps a lot.

The newer 2500's do ride better. Mines a 2016 and it has coil springs all around. Actually a pretty nice ride especially compared to my work partners 2016 2500 Chev....need a kidney belt when in that truck.

To clarify, he cusses the ride of his Ram after having owned nothing but 3/4 or 1 ton trucks since 1970. He is epecially consumed with buyers remorse about his Ram every time we ride down the dirt road my Chevrolet 2500HD of the same year as his Ram. And yes, he had run down the dirt roads with a truck camper on the bed and said it didn't help much at all. Like I said, I have heard they have made some changes to the newer ones. The hemi does scoot. I hope the new ones are improved over his sample, as I do like the way they look.

I'm getting a few years on me and I certainly notice the bumps more than I used to. According to my butt, a 1/2 ton now rides like yesterday's 3/4.

My 99 has 385K on it & still gets regular use pulling a 14,000 lb gooseneck, but I hear they won't last😜

Yep, another friend has the same year GMC ( same as Chevy)as mine ( 98) and riding down a bumpy road is a joy in that truck . Of course he doesn't even have 40K on it

I bought one of the first in 1988 with the then new Cummins Engine. Went 306,000 miles until I sold it. The only problem happend when I let the battery run dry. Shorted out and the alternator went "full field." That wasn't cheap.... But other then that, it worked as it should. I used it off road in the sand washes and rocks, carried my Lance Camper while towing my Jeep, etc. It still lives. I spot it every once in a while around town.
My current is an '06' with 60,000 miles on it. No problems.
I'm sold on them. E

Thanks for all your commments

I have owned 2 Ram 2500 trucks 4X4.One was a 2004 extended cab with the 5.9 diesel.Drove for 8 years had about 90,000 miles on the OD.Put about $700 in it for repairs.My current Ram is a 2016 2500 crew cab loaded with the 6.4 hemi only 11,000 miles so far been a great truck.I would buy another one.

I had a 2005 2500 with the cummins. Mine had the 4:10's and 4 Spd tranny. Just sold it last fall with 140k on it. Pulled a 5th wheel all over with it.

It lost a water pump at 115k and a door lock actuator at 125k. Sometimes, the intermittent wipers had a mind of their own and would go at random intervals. Those were the only problems I ever had with it.

In fact, I wish I still had it. I replaced it with a 2016 Ram 2500 with the Cummins. Got 10k on the current one with no issues.

Had a 2006 2500 with the Cummins with 150k on it, would still have it if my kid hadn't wrecked it last fall. Mostly a solid truck, water pump went out at 50k, solenoid went out in the auto transmission at 90k and front end needed a rebuild at 100k.

I'll be replacing it with another 2500 ram Cummins.

my current ram is a 1500 2015 4x4, my previous ram was a 2003 2500 CTD 4x4 had almost 200000 miles on it when I sold it with no issues at all, didn't need the heavy duty 3/4 ton so went for a softer riding 1500. expect to drive this for next 10-12 years.

I don't know how the 6.7 Cummins will hold up compared to the 5.9. It came out in late '07 and has all the pollution crap on it.

I have a 2003 3500 SRW 4 door long bed 4x4. I bought it a year old. I have 220,000 miles on the original clutch. You can't beat the 5.9 diesel and six speed combination. I wouldn't trade it for a new one. And definitely not for the payment on a new 50,000 replacement. I fear the day that it dies. But in the 12 glorious years that I have had it, a lot of my buddies have gone through a couple of wives. Our love is strong.

Wish I had the 6 sp in my 98.I had to replace the clutch at 100K, but I was pulling heavy loads

Thanks, guys, for the valuable input.

Yesterday, I put a deposit on a 2016 RAM 2500 "Outdoorsman" Cummins diesel crew cab with 37K miles on it, immaculate and an awfully fair deal at the price. I do like those coil springs on the 2500.

At my age, I figure this truck will last well more than the rest of my life and I believe that it is an excellent choice.

Today I am going downtown in Albuquerque to order a tonneau cover and running bars/steps. It is a bit of a climb to get in. I told Scott, the dealer, that my eight-year old would have trouble and the smart-ass came back with the comment that it looked as though I would be the one having problems!

My local bank branch manager recommended this dealer (she bought 3 cars from them) and I got my splendid GMC Yukon Denali from Scott last year. Unbelievably fair deals.

I had looked at several dealers who all frankly had pretty high prices for RAM diesels. I figure that I would have to buy an older version with no remaining warranties. Finally, since I was downtown already, I dropped in there and told them that I knew they had no short bed 2500 diesels in stock, but to keep me in mind in they came across one. (They just sell used cars, all kinds, and mostly get customers by word of mouth.)

While I told my wife that these guys are not warm and cuddly, they are honest, charge great prices, with no bogus back-end fees, and absolutely go the extra mile to see that customers are satisfied. I told Scott what I was looking for, he got on the computer, instantly found a great 2016 locally on an auction site with all the right features, remaining factory warranty and even better, an Outdoorsman with heavy duty components, he went over to the auction in the AM and got it for a great price. (Quite a story how he did that, which I may tell later. I could never have pulled it off, myself.)

Within 20 hours, he got me exactly what I wanted and way more, at a price that I proposed. Wow. Best dealer I ever saw, aside from my uncle in ND. You folks in NM might keep this in mind.

Dodges are high. I put wheel to wheel nerfs on mine so I'd have something to stand on while looking for stuff in the bed.

I have a 2008 Dodge 2500 6.7 Cummins 4x4 4-door that I pull my 5th wheel camper with. It has 127,000 miles and only had a few issues First; due to smog regs the EGR valve needs to be cleaned about every 65,000 miles or so, not a big deal and easy to do yourself. Second was the steering loosened up after about 100,000 miles, that is your steering wheel will have more play in it. There is a easy fix, about $150 for a brace/bottom bearing. Basically it puts a second bearing on the bottom of the steering box tightening it up and removing the play. I takes about 30 mins to put on.
I plan on keeping my truck until about 180,000 mile and then buying a new one.

That is great to know. I have had the steering problem with some of my Jeeps and never realized that there might be a simple fix.

BTW, the 2500 "Outdoorsman" package includes Bilstein shocks and Scott told me that the package includes an extra strut around the transfer case to limit sway, something I would never have realized was desirable.

It also includes skid plates, A HD tranny oil cooler, trailer brake controller, tow hooks, bigger trailer hitch socket, extra engine cooling fan, fog lights and several other "beef-up" features. I'd think it would be ideal for pulling a fifth wheel camper and a used one like the one I'm getting seemed little more expensive than a base SLT!

Here is a You Tube on that steering box bearing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQHFRaoXEKA

There are different braces you can get for the steering boxes if you look around. That's the only mod I have done to mine really. Seemed to help right away in tightening up the steering.

I went with the Dodge Off-road brace. The other style of braces I wasn't sure if they interfer with my sway bar disconnect.

I've had my '04 2500 Hemi for 9 years and it's been a great truck, but I don't put many miles on it. Other than the usual stuff (tires, shocks, battery, etc.) the only things I've had to replace are Dodge's typically cheap interior items like visors and window switches. Mechanically it's been solid.

It's no secret in the industry that Rams are the least durable. However, the Cummins engine is nice.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/98-5-02-powertrain/377241-1-7-million-miles-counting-00-ctd.html

http://www.cumminsnewsletters.com/td/brennan_magee.html

Yup, no secret at all..........

I thought you would say longevity relates to the size of the deer!

I hate to think about how many lift pumps and injection pumps those two went through.
There are no warts on the Cummins engine other than the stuff dodge screws up.

Yep,I forgot about those. After the 1st set went south,I put on a FASS unit. The 2nd set went under warranty as the FASS unit went TU's. Then that injector pump they put on under warranty was a rebuild and it went TU's at a very inconvenient time.

That was 200 miles from home in a snow storm with a newly bought mule in the trailer in back. The next bad thing was my buddy drove that distance in a 2003 1T Ram diesel to get me, the trailer, and the mule home. Before we got 50 miles,his injectors went south. $1800 for my injector pump,$6K+ for his injectors. We limped home doing 15MPH up the back side of Vail pass and 10MPH up the back side of Loveland pass in 2nd gear and never got over 40MPH the rest of the way home on flat land

The Dodge's most frequent problems are in the front end. Any one who has experienced the"Death Wobble" knows what I mean.

The local diesel repair shop owner was big Ford man. He quit them and has gone to Chevys now.

I had the fass system too. After losing multiple lift and injection pumps under warranty. It certainly helped but it eventually failed and when it did I lost vp-44's.
My truck had the dreaded death wobble too. A kit from solid steel industries that braced up the from end and a special set of alignment specs cured it. And my truck went through from end parts like candy too. Tried Moog replacement parts with little more longwtivity noted.

Well had my first repair on my Hemi Ram PU. 12 model, just 36,000 miles. All of $17 for an idler pulley on the serpentine belt. Was getting noisy, had not failed.

My 2004 has 160,000. Only put a water pump on it