Hi there,

My name is Nico. I'm from the Netherlands and I'm enjoying this forum since a few weeks ago when I bought a 1984 W350, which I am now preparing for the yearly technical check that is required by the Dutch authorities. The forum has helped me to identify, select and order a steering coupler, and educated me on brake fluid exchange, thanks! This is my first post, thank you for reading it.

I've a question on the brake fluid to use. The Dodge and Haynes manuals prescribe Dot 3, but these may have been written before Dot 4 and 5.1 were available. Conventional wisdom has it that Dot 3 can be replaced by the glycol-based Dot 4 or Dot 5.1 which give better performance (higher temperature range), but I'm not sure they are suited for our trucks.

So would you advise to use Dot 3, 4 or 5.1 in my 1st gen Ram? And what do you use in yours?

Thanks,
Nico

 

I have used DOT3 since the truck was new. It is adequate and cheaper so I see no reason to upgrade and pay more. During the trucks 21 years I have replaced one front caliper that froze up but the rest of the brake hydraulic system is original equipment.