The truck is in excellent condition. No rust what so ever. 75000 miles. SLT with cloth seats, asking $7500 but will take $6800. What do you think? I am worried the the 318 will feel underpowered, but the number differences are not huge compared to the 360. I wont be towing much, when I do tow it won't be more than 7000# or so. Should I worry about the smaller V8, or just be glad I found such a clean truck? Anything to look for during the inspection process?

 

Worry about the tranny! go for a much lower price as well. over a yr ago i piad 7k for my 360 1500 reg cab 4x4 sl it had 37k on it. 6800 is to high!

 

$6800 sounds a little high, but not horrible if its exactly what you want.

As far as the engines, take it from someone who has owned a 5.2 and 5.9 2nd gen ram that were both stock....I barley noticed a difference. The 5.9 definetly took the hills a little better, but for normal driving not much noticeable differnce. But if you plan to tow around 7,000lb.'s Id say look for a 5.9 as thats where the difference is mostly noted.

 

Dodge15004x4, why should I worry about the tranny? I know they have some problems down the road, but what should I do besides not buy it? It has 74000 miles, it drove very nice, I figure I can do a tranny fluid and filter change if I get it.

Magnumpwr16, it is everything I want, aside from the larger engine. I would love the 5.9, but finding one in a truck I like is hard. Pulling a trailer wont be a regular event by any means, so as long as the 5.2 CAN do it when needed it should be fine. Do you notice any difference in MPG between the two?

As far as price goes, I always hear about how someone paid less a year ago, but gas was also higher a year ago and people were willing to let their trucks go for much less just to get rid of it. Local dealers are asking for much more on similar trucks. I just dont want to feel like I lost me shirt on the deal. For instance, a dealer is selling an 01 1500 Sort 4x4 with leather and the 5.9 and 103,000 miles for well it was around $8800, but I just checked online again and they raised it to $10,500. And that deffinetly feels way too high to me.

I don't know if worrying about the tranny will do me any good, it drives great now, it will either go out or it won't. I just don't want to buy a dog of a truck with the smaller V8.

 

Seems a bit high, but not hugely overpriced. Truck prices are ticking up over the last couple weeks, friends in the used car biz have mentioned that, and they aren't really sure why it's happening.

 

the retail value on mine is about 8300-what you should expect from a dealer. both v8s get the same mileage. the 5.9 does feel like it has a good deal more power, which is odd since its only rated at 15 more horses than the 5.2.

look at the pcm, if it has a sticker on it that says "authorized software update" on it that is covering another sticker then it has the death flash and it'll really feel weak (the dealer messed up the timing for a quick fix for spark knock). in that case you'll have to get a superchips tuner to cancel out the dealers death flash.

if you get the tuner and it has a plenum leak (common problem) then it'll knock like crazy as soon as you hook up the tuner and you'll need to fix the plenum gasket. you can check for a plenum leak by looking through the throttle body flaps (remove the air box first) and check for oil pooling in the bottom of the intake. if there is oil there then you will need to replace that gasket and you should talk the dealer down for the price to get it fixed, i believe shops charge about 5-700$.

as far as the tranny goes, if its shifting smooth and doesn't have any quirks then great but if anything feels odd about the tranny you ought to talk him down another 2000$ for a tranny rebuild shortly down the road.

 

seems a bit high, the 5.2 is about 30 horses lower than the 5.9 which isnt bad, there some good mods that would help you out, plus the 5.2 i hear is a more realible motor than the 5.9.

if you get it do a tune up and change all fluid to sythetic, make sure the tranny shifts good at WOT, like go threw 1st really slow into 2nd and then slam the pedal , see how it downshifts and see if ok . got any pics

 

check this out i love this site you can change it i dunno if its a single cab or a long bed or what , but a 99 dodge ram with 5.2 single cab is 0-60 7.9 secs you can check out the rest and look up whatever you want http://www.autos.com/autos/truck/ful...ce#Performance and Handling

 

My 5.2 is pretty strong for a smaller V8. Don't underestimate it. Plus mines got 240k on the odometer without a rebuild .

 

Get a huge cooler and another filter. Change the fluid and filter right away when u get it. These trannys just sucks. I'm looking at a rebulid at 50k.