Hi everyone. I am looking at what the sell is calling a 2001 Ram 1500 5.9 4x4, but the build date is 2/00, so I am thinking its a 2000. Under the hood there was a sticker talking about how it meets Canadian emissions and it has DRL's, so I am thinking this truck is from Canada. Are there any differences to watch out for regarding this? (BTW the seller wasn't there today, the truck is at the sellers father's house.) The truck has 80k miles and they are asking $6000. There is a bit of rust on the bottom or both front doors, it is an externded cab, SLT Laramie. Does this sound like a good price? The truck is clean inside, a few dents outside, which I can live with, the A/C does not blow cold, I heard the compressors usually go bad on these? Anything else to watch out for?

Everyone keeps telling me about the transmissions on the Dodges, is there a particular year after which they may have worked out the kinks and they became more reliable? Is that something I should be concerned about? Is the a way to see if its having problems?

Any other advice is greatly appreciated. As I said, I am a bit of a novice when it comes to Dodge, I was actually looking at Ford and Chevy, but for the price the Dodge is hard to pass up.

 

I surely hope that $6,000 is in canadian.

Most will tell you that the trannies are bad from 94-2001, but some of the 2002-2004 trucks are getting enough mileage on them to see some issues.
Other things to look for
Plenum gasket
Heads
Bad cat


I am sure that others will chime in here.....

 

What do you think is an appropriate price?

 

5 or 6k isnt bad. I payed 11k for mine 2.5 years ago. The A/C could just need a recharge, and yes the trannies on these rams blow. Mine lasted till about 110k then i got a new one. Mine is basially the same as yours. SLT stated as 2001 but was built in 00.

Rust on bottom of the doors is a normal wear and tear place, just make sure you take care of it. The dents also. The engines in these rams are basically bullet proof. Id say if you have cash to redo the tranny in maybe 20-30k (hell it could last longer..it all depends) go for it. Just make sure you have the funds to do repairs.

 

Why did Laramie seem to apply that $6k was high? Also, what kind of price are we talking about for a tranny rebuild? And aside from that, how much do you think I should have set aside for repairs? Which repairs come to mind around this time for these trucks?

 

Plenum gasket pan from Hughes Engines is like $70 - $80. Everybody has had to replace theirs on here. Look in the throttle body for oil or check for vaccuum loss.

I've heard the heads crack easily, but I thinks it's slightly rare, depending on how hard you run the truck. Dont know how much that runs...

The tranny will most likely need rebuilding somewhere down the line, depending on its condition. I have not yet had to rebuild mine, but your talking a few grand to have it done.

Then you have to include all labor charges, etc.

But once most of that has been fixed, Your truck will be, like the others said, basically bulletproof.

I paid $9000 for mine a year and a half ago, and its 2WD lol. So $6000 doesn'e seem like a bad deal. Could you get pics? And maybe a test drive to give everyone an idea of its performance? (tranny shifting funny, pinging, etc.)

 

another thing that you might wanna look at is the Speedo. ive seen many cars and trucks from canada that read in Kilometers and hour vs MPH which kinda sucks. I know it pisses me off driving in canada and having to look at the smaller numbers on the dash to figure out what speed i am going.

just my .02

 

I wouldn't buy a 1500 again if I had to do it all over. But that is good mileage, and the price isn't bad. I paid $6000 for mine back in 06.

 

I paid 3200 for my 96 with 170k on it about 6 month ago, if that helps at all.

 

Cereal Killer, why would you not buy a 1500 again? What would you get?