Hey guys, Im fairly new to dodge scene, and had a few questions before purchasing my 2nd gen ram. i have been looking at the 97-99 rams. i've found a few locally, that seem to fit the bill. I will be mostly using the truck as a daily driver (in the city), with the occasional weekend back country excursion.

first off is there any major problems that I should be looking for?

1998, dodge laramie, 1500, 5.9 mag 360:
ive found one for $8,000 laramie with 160k but looks like its had a ton of work done to it in terms of maintenance. rebuilt tranny at 100k. new cv joints, new rear diff, new cats, new serp.

thanks

 

have them drop the price to about five. then you gotta a deal. any truck, or car for that matter, pre 2000 era, to me, is not worth over five thousand dollars. there are exceptions of course

 

Unless the truck is modded with a bunch of aftermarket parts or lift or stuff like that, I won't pay 8k. I bought my 2001 for 6k. And mine doesn't have a spot of rust, is lifted and it's also a 3/4 ton, which really ups the value. So a 98 1/2 ton should put you around 4-5k in my mind. Always check the KBB value! Also a word of advice, as long as you are going with the 1/2 ton, I would go with a 5.2 V8, unless you need the 5.9 of course. I've owned both the 5.2 and currently the 5.9, and as a daily driver the 5.9 is worse on gas and the 5.2 had alot more kick and was a bit faster. Just something to keep in mind. Always test drive the truck obviously. Make sure the truck shifts correctly. Take it on the highway. If it doesn't shift correctly, you can add 2k to that pricetag. Not worth it. Make sure no fluids are leaking, especially around the transmission. Other problems dodges tend to have are fuel pump problems and plenum (intake gasket) problems. What happens with the fuel pump is that if the fuel level gets too low, the fuel pump overheats and can't pump properly. Typically with a fuel pump problem you need to keep the fuel level over 1/4 tank. Don't let the dealer/seller fool you and tell you it's a gas gauge problem. And a blown intake gasket will cause vacuum leaks, burn oil and burn coolant. Typically this needs to be done for every Magnum engine. It would be nice if it were already done when you bought the truck.

 

from the research i have done these 2nd gen rams need the tranny redone at about 130k just like clockwork, i know mine did, so 100K seems kind of early, i bought my 96 1500 5.9L ram SLT laramie for 6500 with 116k miles, i piad to much for it, because the dealer had been sitting on it for almost 2 years but it was my first truck and i had no patience so i paid the price, all i have had to replace is the tranny, and PS pump, but the more i read around i think i will be doing the plenum repair kit weather i need it or not,

 

my indy was $6000 with 96xxx miles, then i added ground force lowering kit, fake duals, and matching fiberglass cover

 

I just bought a '99 V6 manual 4x2 WS for $1,900, one owner, no rust, no accidents, runs great, drives nicely, everything works, clean history report. The biggest issue is door dings! (Knock on wood.)

I was looking at a number of '96 - 01s 4x4 V8 trucks at right around $5k that all seemed very nice. I wouldn't pay much more than that unless as others have said it has a lot of extras. The ones I looked at for around $3 - 4K were pretty well beat.

Check the price on kbb.com as mentioned by others, but also do a check on AutoCheck or CarFax. If you are looking on eBay, the AutoCheck is free on all listings.

I paid for the one-month-unlimited VINs plan AutoCheck offers since I checked quite a few.