My Dad owns an auto repair and had a 99 Ram 1500 Sport 4x4 with a 5.9 come in for service... The truck has 171k on it. From what he remembers, they already put a trans in the truck. The customer brought it in because it wouldnt shift correctly... It gets stuck in 2nd and 3rd gear i think. To get it to shift into overdrive you have to put it in neutral and then shift it back to drive a few times and it will shift into O/D. Long story short, the customer got sick of fixing the truck so often that he sold it to my dad for 600 bucks. Now the interior is pretty much MINT condition... The bottoms of the doors are rusty along with the corners of the fenders.

Is this truck worth buying for 600 bucks? It needs tires and a battery...
What could the shifting problem be?
And what are things to look out for on a truck with this many miles and powertrain configuration?

Thanks everyone!

Dan

 

Along with the tires and battery, it needs a tranny rebuild,(you might get away with replacing the TC and Gov. pressure sensors) and the plenum gasket is most likely blown. Things to look for include, trac bar, all ujoints, hub bearing assemblies,bj's,tie rods,axle seals,rear end if it has an lsd, steering box, heater and ac cores,cat converter, transfer case, the list goes on. But, for 600 bucks and a Father that owns a repair shop, I say it is worth it. Fixing the doors and fenders are a body shop thing, but not a major deal.

 

I say it is worth it.

 

Run a Carfax on it if you haven't done so already. If it's got a clean history, it might be worth the $600. Just be prepared to spend a lot of late nights working on it.

 

600 might be worth it.

 

hell yeah. any truck that cranks up is worth 1000.

 

i'll ask my dad what he's done to the truck so far... he's maintained it for most of its life. i looked at the axles and the front and rear arent leaking, not even the pinion seals.

it does seem like it needs a trans? he did mention something about the governor or something but i wasn't paying much attention.

the only thing that worries me about the truck is gas mileage... i drive a 98 cherokee right now lifted 2 inches on 31's and i'm getting 11mpg at 157k miles... i think it needs a tune up but i'm not sure yet.

the thing that bothers me though is we already put a trans in this truck from what my dad can remember so i'm not too sure about a truck that's gonna have trans problems.

 

Untill you'll take $500 to get it the hell out of your sight.