hey yall, im gonna go mon. and look at an extended cab 01 ram 1500. Its an auto,5.2. cloth, thrid door. 98k miles. 2wd. Body is straight and clean no dents no fading. everything looks pretty nice. Is there anything i need to look at in the truck or ask about? i know they have the tranny problems and the dash stuff, but it looks like the dash has been replaced or never been cracked. Any info or help would be kool thanks yall.

 

I can't think of anything besides the norm... the oil has been changed, antifreeze, doors dent easy make sure that the tranny has been taken care of. Theese trucks have there corks, but once you have one it's hard to go to anything elses, I love my 2001s'
Ben

 

You probably should check the intake, http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2000/09-05-00.htm, and even have a compression test done.

 

thats kool i have to check that out on the intake. Im mainly gonna be using it for work and grocery getting type of ride.

 

Just get a feeling for how the motor runs. See if it starts right up. Notice if it idles smoothly. When driving the truck, make sure the truck shifts and downshifts smoothly through all gears. If you experience any kind of odd shifting patterns, I would really be careful. My truck shifted late when I first test drove it, but I was too excited about it that I bought it anyways. 6 months later, the transmission finally fried on me.

Beyond the motor and transmission, open up the hood, look to see how the engine bay looks. Does it look average, or abused with mud caked everywhere. Kneel down and look underneath the truck too, make sure the frame doesn't have any areas where it's rusted through, or beginning to rust. If the owner takes care of this truck, he'll make sure the truck at least LOOKS clean. Big thing is smooth shifting transmission, and a strong ideling motor.

 

kool ya i plan on taking my time with it and looking at it pretty good. Im curious if yall know what kinda MPG the 5.2 in this truck would get. It is a 2wd extended cab, iv looked at reveiws and most that iv seen is for 5.9s and all and thats somewhere around the 13 mpg. Just curious its not a big concern just wondering what to expect.

 

my 1995 5.2 ext cab with 3.92gear gets 15 in town

 

Take a peek at the doors. Mainly under the front doors. There's seems to be a little rust there on these trucks.
Plus the tail gate, open and close it. Make sure the mechanism works.
The truck you described sounds exactly like mine only I have an 8' bed. Good luck...oh how much are they asking?

 

i was figuring 15 city 19 hwy. there asking 4900 blue book is 5200, but it is obo so who knows lol.

 

If there is rust on the bottom of the doors it comes from the inside and needs to fixed soon, as it will just get worse no matter what. If there is none(and has not just been painted over), get one of those old style oil squirt guns, remove the plastic oval covers on the bottom and squirt some oil in there. Not too much as it will be leaking out for days through the drain holes. But even so, well worth it. I use 30wt non detergent. It will leak out regardless, but you will be happy you did it in the long run.