Gen. 2 Dodge Ram 1500s...give me the low down

[Tiffany]

Well the bullet is being bitten...XJ is going bye bye and a 1500 QC will more than likely replace it as my daily driver. My daily commute is about 15 miles round trip, but the need to borrow/rent someones truck nearly every weekend to haul stuff is getting very old so time to get my own. Trying to keep the cost down with the Gen 2 as I don't have a car payment now and don't really want one.

Obviously I will be looking at some higher mile vehicles, but I kind of need to know problem areas to check a bit deeper than my usual look through.

Any help/advice is appreciated.

[Clint]

Well the bullet is being bitten...XJ is going bye bye and a 1500 QC will more than likely replace it as my daily driver. My daily commute is about 15 miles round trip, but the need to borrow/rent someones truck nearly every weekend to haul stuff is getting very old so time to get my own. Trying to keep the cost down with the Gen 2 as I don't have a car payment now and don't really want one.

Obviously I will be looking at some higher mile vehicles, but I kind of need to know problem areas to check a bit deeper than my usual look through.

Any help/advice is appreciated.

Have the tranny checked out.

[jeeplvr79]

Have the tranny checked out.

x2 I had a 98 QC 1/2 ton and right before I gave it back to the ex the tranny was starting to slip...

[Tiffany]

Yeah, I did read about the tranny issues. And the ball joints. So have those in the notes as problem areas.

[Loki]

Check the pinnion seal for leakage. Theres no real difference In MPG between the 318/5.2 and the 360/5.9 so go with 360. Good luck.

[Tiffany]

Cool, MPG will suck no matter what I get so definitely only looking at 5.9s.

[COcummins]

my old 5.2 was a dog, so go with the 5.9/360. i think the bigger motor has a different and possibly stonger auto tranny. i would still vote for trying to find a five speed manual if you can. my half ton was on it's third auto tranny when i parted ways with it. the half tons also seem to eat up front brakes pretty fast but there isn't much you can do about it that i know of other than getting the life time warranty ones from vatozone.

[jredmond]

my gen 2 had both ball joints go out and several solenoids died in the tranny before I dumped it off with 45K. I an glad they were fixed before the warrently was up cause that stuff is expencive. I had a gen 2 reg cab short bed w/ a 360 auto tranny and loved it.

I did drive my buddy's gen 2 and he had a 318 with a manual. This was not any slower then my 360 with an auto. If you find a killer deal on a 318 with a manual I would get it as long as you aren't towing too much. I would stay away from a 318 with an auto cause they are dogs.

[Mack]

Trackbar's wear out on them, and you can/will get deathwobble.

[Leon Phelps]

Intake gaskets

[BIG.XJ.FLAMES]

Not trying to bash the dodge unleaded, but my advice is to stay away from them. My dad had a gen. 2 and had more problems with that thing than I have every heard of in a truck. In the time that he had it he put 140k on the motor. Before it even reached 100k it had to replace all the injectors about 6 times, replaced the transmission, replaced the transfer case twice because the 4wheel drive went to shit, replaced all the ball joints because it was getting this bad vibration at about 65 mph, the truck toasted several batteries and had some wierd electrical problems, the master cylinder also went out.

Just my 2 cents. :cool:

I don't know if he just had the bad apple of the bunch or what but his gen. 2 dodge unleaded isn't the only one that I know has had a lot of these similar problems.

If I were looking at any dodge truck I would make it a cummins.

[Mack]

:shrug:

My '97 had been wrecked, and aside from needing a new driveshaft due to one throwing a weight, it was the most reliable/brainless truck i've ever owned. Just get in, turn the key and drive it. Didn't touch a thing on it until I sold it, and the next owners just threw a clutch in it and it still goes on today.

[Tiffany]

Well so far every single one I have looked at has had an issue that made purchase unfavorable. :(

[longboy]

What was up with the one in Longmont? Just curious really-

[Tiffany]

I have that one and another in FoCo to check out. That one you checked out for me...not the truck so much as the idiot sales chick pissing me off