Yup.

Look at it this way; Of the choices you had, the Ram is the easiest an most economical to repair.

If you'd bought a GM with a 5.7, you'd be dealing with intake gaskets, water pump, oil cooler lines, front and rear axle seal leaks, steering parts, fuel pumps and a list of other expensive items. Heater cores leak on GM's as well. And the 4L60's fail just as frequently as a 45/46RE, and just as spendy.

If you'd bought an F-150, you'd have a major PITA tune-up, they tend to blow spark plugs out of the holes, head gaskets leak, exhaust studs break, sway bar links break, ball joints dry up, rear axle seals puke, 4R100's also fail. And Fords are not immune to heater core leakage; just much harder to replace.

If you'd bought a Tundra, you'd be doing pretty good in the engine, transmission and suspension department for not needing much repair, though the 4.7's are turds. However, the starters fail somewhat frequently, are very expensive, and live under the intake manifold. And you have a timing belt to deal with, that is a pretty decent job with expensive parts. Axle seals do leak, too, and with Toyota's, you end up with lots of electrical issues. I've chased many failures with the push-button 4WD on Tundra and Sequoia, and it's not cheap to fix.

So, in Summary, while it can be frustrating at times, remember that the Ram's have no more failures than any other, are easier to work on, and have a lower parts cost.

P.S.-I've seen a lot more 5.7 Vortec and 4.6/5.4L triton engine failures than Magnums. In fact, the only magnum I've ever recommended was still running, just had overheated so bad from being driven 9 miles on the interstate with a seized water pump that the rings lost tension and it had very low compression with misfires resulting.

 

i agree...i rarely hear of a magnum motor blowing, but Vortec, and ford engines, well they blow way more.

 

I've been expecting things to happen. I have gotten 130k out of it and haven't had to do much more than routine maintenance.

It's been a fantastic truck and like others have said I really like the 2nd gen trucks. For what I paid for it used six years ago I can't complain and I can spend a fair amount on repairs especially doing work on my own and still come out great looking at the checkbook.