Hey, I am new to the dodge world, just sold my chevy and im looking for a 99-01 1500 or 99-02 2500 quad cab short box automatic 4x4.

Any pros and cons to these trucks. anything to avoid anything to look for? How are the 1500's compared to the 2500's?

How about lifting these trucks.... how do they handle, hows the install of the lift. I am looking forward to the front coil suspension but its all new to me lol.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanx

Adam

 

You picked a good site, there is plenty of info on here.

I can't speak for the 4x4 crowd. But my 98 SS/T handles really well for a truck.

The 2500 and 3500 trucks have beefer suspension and axles compared to the 1500 (correct if wrong)
And there are plenty of suspension kits for these trucks. And over all are easy to mod.

One thing to look into doing if you get a 5.2/5.9 is do a plenum mod. There are plenty of threads on here about it.

 

Welcome to the site!

I love my truck to pieces, they are super easy to work on, because they aren't full of all the electronic garbage of the new ones, I don't know how much lifting you are looking at doing, but my leveling kit was easy to put on.
They are solid as s*^&, not much is going to stop one of these.
Were you looking into a diesel or gas?
In terms of cons, the plenum thing like BADSS mentioned,some tranny issues and also some vacuum 4x4 problems seem to be the most common in terms of problems.
Ride is pretty stiff, but you're buying a truck for a reason, not a caddy, the same thing applies to gas mileage. They aren't Prius', nor can they be made them.
But overall, you couldn't have picked a better truck to research, or a better place to do your researching and question-asking. These guys are all the greatest, and someone on here will be able to answer any question you ever have.

 

Thanx guys.

wyoming: im thinkin gas, probably the 5.9L. As for lift no more then 5 or 6" with 35's but to keep the wife happy probably 3'' with 33's lol. What is the plenum mod???? Ive heard a simple B&M torque converter solves the tranny issues, any confermation on this? and with the 4x4 vaccume problems, is that in the auto locking hubs?? Thanx p.s. im diggin the towing mirrors, after market or stock option??

Adam

 

haha to be honest, I'm not the person to ask on this but I'll do my best.
With the lift, 2 or 3 inches can be done pretty easily, when you get above 3", you get into the new control arms, pitman arm and stuff that will be more expensive. (If this is wrong someone correct me)
The 5.9 liter is super solid, wonderful motor. The plenum mod is fixing the leaking plenum gasket in the intake. I haven't done it yet, but I know that everyone should do it, do a search for plenum and you'll have tons of hits that will explain it. And with the 4x4, yes it's all because it doesn't have hubs, just a different setup that sometimes has some problems.

For the towing mirrors, they were offered as a stock option on a few trucks (rare), but I got mine aftermarket (not OEM, but so far have functioned just fine, for about a fourth of the price.) discountautomirrors.com is where I got them.

 

Hey, I would check the bottom lip of all the doors for rust and test the front track bar see if there is any play in that. Also check the latches of the rear doors.