Hey all. I'm seriously considering buying a Ram and I have a couple questions. I recently test drove a '96 2500 with 120k (don't really want to buy one with much more than that) on it and liked it a lot. I've narrowed down the options I want and I would like to get something with a Club Cab and a short bed, either a 1500 or a 2500. I'm new to all things Dodge, I currently drive a '96 Cherokee. My main question is how many miles is a truck like that likely to last me. I've been browsing the forums and one topic I find a lot about is transmission problems. How long is the tranny in these trucks likely to last? Ideally I'm looking at something I could drive for 4-5 years, and I'll probably drive it 15k a year, mostly highway mileage from Arizona to Norcal and back. What things should I expect to replace down the road and what things should I look out for when buying a truck?

Thanks
Ryan

 

My grandpa had a 2500 and the only thing he did to it was change the spark plugs and had 200,000 miles on it. I don't think 2500's are prone to as many tranny problems. In a 1500 I read somehwere the average amount of miles out of a 1500 before the tranny goes is 96,000 miles.

Now I don't know your situation but if your only driving highway maybe you should look into a cheaper more gas efficient car?

Dodges are good trucks when properly maintained and "kept up". You need to do a search on plenum gasket cuz more than likely the one you are looking at will need it.

 

Now I don't know your situation but if your only driving highway maybe you should look into a cheaper more gas efficient car?

I have to agree.That is aLOT of truck.It was built for hauling and towing.

 

Most of the mileage will be highway, but I will be taking it off road frequently as well. The main reason I want a truck is because I race mountain bikes and will be hauling a lot of bikes with me on trips and I want them to be in the bed of the truck where they're safer. I will hopefully be moving to Flagstaff for college and it's a smaller town where I will be getting around mostly on my bike to save gas. It'll get used for almost everything except around town driving. What kind of gas mileage can I expect to get with the 5.9? I'd guess about 11-12 city and 15-17 highway..

 

And yea, I realize that that truck is a bit overkill for what I intend to use it for. I'm not entirely sure I want a 2500 because of the whole overkill thing but I really liked the one I drove.

 

i bought my 95 1500 5.9 4x4 with 186K. had 4.10 gears installed, new beefed up tranny, fuel pump, radiator, and wheel bearings

ive put in a port an polished modded intake with hughes plenum, intake/valve cover gaskets, plugs wires, coil, cap/rotor, shackles, all the suspension, exhaust, ball joints, fluid changes for everything, water pump, fan clutch, thermostat, door/rocker body work (rest of the truck has no rust), wiring problem figured out, starter, belt, and now i need to do the front u-joints.

its at 197K runs perfect, 4x4 works perfect (except for bad ujoint) and she gets 13-14 city, and 17-18 highway(if i set CC to 70)

I love the truck, its my DD, i put about 800 miles on her a week, and gas is really not a big factor. i get about 350 miles per tank doing 20% highway 80% city on a 26 gallon tank.

and i like my 4x4ing, so i do off roading a bit

and i got my truck for only 1800....so deals are out there make sure your not paying to much.

 

i got a 98 ram 1500 5.2 with a 5spd its got 133,xxx miles on it and never had tranny problem and i give this truck he*l i even run trees over not even a dent in the bumpers or anywhere for that matter haha

 

^just you wait....

 

It's really just pot luck on a 15 yo vehicle IMHO.How much did they want for it?

 

They want $6500 for it. KBB for it is $6600. It has a cap already on it so that's a plus. It's in great shape overall too. I don't think I'll end up buying this one, I have a couple other priorities over the truck at the moment but it's basically the one I want to buy.