Hi guys I have questions concerning maybe rare Ram. I also have a list of stuff I have done to my truck and am asking ball park value of my 97 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 5 speed manual. I have done a couple things to my truck like I put a 5 inch rough country suspensions lift kit and it's brand new. I have put new heads new head gaskets rebuilt my air intake kit. I have put a new front axle rebuild kit. I have brand new Nitto grapplers 35 inch tires on my stock rims. My exhaust is only catalytic converter and it really sounds good (came like that) It has the 318 magnum. It's has the stupid cracked dash on it, just put a new windshield, The electrical switches windows locks they all work. AC only blows on the top vent and heater core just went out on me. The truck has 162,000 miles on it. All the four-wheel-drive low high works and engages great. Done other stuff but that preventative maintenance. Guys be as savage as you can I am ready to hear good news or bad just break it to me straight. I was thinking about (4500) for the truck let me know fellas

 

Your mods will add some value to the truck, but, likely not as much as you have invested. Go to KBB.Com, or NADA.com, and run their estimators..... (value is also highly dependent on where you are.....) See what they have to say.

Welcome to DF!

 

^^As HeyYou said, valuation is based on location. I would recommend determining the value using NADA versus KBB. A friend of mine, in the car business, said long ago that "KBB is for suckers" and that dealers roll their eyes at anyone who uses KBB. KBB values are inflated.

Other avenues for determining value are to find equivalent vehicles on e-Bay and Autotrader. You may have to look well outside your location to find specimens for comparison. e-Bay has the advantage where you can look through the history of vehicles matching that description to see their final sale price.

 

Sticks were rare, but not as rare as today. Each and every 2nd gen Dodge Ram engine and model (1500, 2500, 3500) in both 2wd and 4wd came standard with a stick. Today, only Ram offers a stick in its lowest powered Cummins. Not Ford. Not GM.

Sorry to say, it's only worth about 3k. And that's coming from the PNW where trucks last forever and everyone has one. If it was Cummins, you'd have a gold mine on your hands.

The heads and other repairs don't add value as they merely correct something that should work already. The lift kit may actually hurt you since not many want that. Besides, did you also do gears? No? Then that lift with 35s will kill power, mileage, and probably the clutch. People won't like that.

And it's a 97 which is a very old interior. Dodge really stepped it up in 98 and refined it in 99. Those older interiors are just, blah.

And you need a heater core ($$$) pull the dash job. Labor alone is several hundred. Then the dash itself is several hundred. How's the steering? How's the brakes? How's the bearings? How's the clutch?

Sorry to say, I've seen some clean and I mean CLEAN trucks out in WA like ours and they maybe got 4k. Some stock 5.9s 1998+ can go higher. Again, if it were Cummins, you could ask 20k. No kidding.

 

the truck market right now is very overpriced. trucks are going for twice what i would consider them worth right now. my brother just sold his beat to death 1999 tacoma for $6k, i wouldn't give him $600 for it. post it for whatever you think it's worth and wait for a chump.

 

Must be more chumps where you live. I couldn't even sell my 96 for 1000 bucks......

 

ratted out beat to death cummins go for 12k all day all other trucks have 200k miles and over $10k 99 and newer, mine would be worth about $6-8k once i get it rolling right again. only thing i've seen for less than $5k are stock 2wd chevys and fords older than 99. or the rare parts truck like mine

an example:
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/...322345895.html

 

20 grand for a 16 year old truck? Seriously????

There isn't anything in that good of shape around here, that is that old. Yes, I live in the rust belt.

 

Yes, anything with the cummins is highhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh dollar.

Check out this place, but sit down first:
http://www.mminvestmentcars.com/custom-03

Yeah, "investment" is what they're doing. Not the buyer. Ripoff city. Oh, you want a common rail? Then 30k easy and doesn't matter how many miles.

 

lol, those guys... reality distortion field to the max... most of their rigs are nice, but i don't get where they think a 20yr old rig is worth $30k and they even tell you it has 379k miles like it's not even a thing. i almost want to go there and find out what their deal is. they're still around which makes me think there's more going on there.

there also VIP motors. the sell all the good diesels mall crawler ready. they used to be next to my work. saw the trucks come in barely running, ding's, dent's, well used... paintless dent guy would show up and get the body good again. then they would detail the snot out of it. then they would get it running good. throw a cool lift and wheel package on it... now it's up for sale $80k