Hey fellas, I still new to the forum and have begun to start fixing all the problems that the dodge trucks seem to have .. I know other trucks have problems to but come on guys,, Can you say money pit ??

I have have many a pick ups in my life ,. drove several gmc and chevy to almost 300,000 miles before selling ,, they were still fine trucks..
So maybe walker ranger got me to thinkin Dodge ,, and I liked the body style..
So in 05 I bought this 01 Dodge 4x4 quad cab .. with less than 50k on it. LOVE MY TRUCK << since every one I talked to said Dodge are great AND that they fixed that trans problem in 97.. OK.
then at 70,000 trans rebuild..1,795.00
The warranty I bought also 1795.00 the company had gone bankrupt..

needs a heater core,.
Needs a/c evap core.
Intake manifold gasket kit from hughes.
has the demon wandering vent problem.
A/c no longer works.
time chain cover was leaking . that was pretty spensive.
had to put in a water pump . an a starter.. (reg maint) and radiator.
front axle seals and bearings once.. and its ready again.

here it now has 114k on it,, and trans dont act right again.I hate to even take it to the shop.

Would have it have been that hard for dodge to make a truck thats mechanic's were as good as its looks>?

Probly just me.. but I never had so many HIGH $$$$ issues out of a truck before .. this things a money pit ! I keep telling myself FIX IT >> its a good truck.. but is it ?"
Seem like I may just wind up with in 3 years with a junker that needs another trans, and spent out twice what the truck was ever worth.

should I fix all this or go buy a real,,,, /another truck?

maybe my real question is how do you justify all the repairs to an old truck?

 

Any used vehicle is going to require repairs. Granted, the dodges seem to have more than their fair share..... and no, dodge continued with the same **** poor quality parts, that were the causes of the problems, all the way thru the second gen run. The trick is, don't rebuild anything back to 'stock'. Beef it up. Especially the transmission......

 

Ive put about $7K into my truck in the past 21 months....is it worth it? depends on how you look at it....i Do ALL my own repairs, these trucks are VERY easy to work on...

the timing cover gasket that you said was "spensive" cost me 9.99 and about 4 hours of my time....simple...i did the chain at the same time...simple....

Look around on these forums, theres ALOT of Do it yourself with pictures to help guide you through....just do a little research and you can fix any problem by yourself and save tons of money....

Id keep the truck, the only big problem i see that you have is the trans acting up....but that could be because it needs a simple fluid/filter change and the bands adjusted....something you can do in about an hour....

Do some research and try it yourself...these trucks are easy to work on....i did my transfer case in my driveway with no lifts, just 1 jack, and two ratchet straps (and your basical tools) and it took me maybe 4 hours....

 

It depends really. I won't get rid of my truck unless it catches on fire and blows up. It has a lot of sentimental value to me. I'm getting to the point where I need to start fixing things. I plan on buying a new vehicle and putting my truck in the garage and working on it when I can.

 

You need to do some math and determine if fixing this truck or buying a newer truck is cheaper.

I have not had very good luck with these trucks either. The trannies are junk, the rear axle is junk and the overall quality is not very good. I only keep my truck around because it is worthless and a good beater (as long as I don't have to rely on it).

I also have a 1994 full size Chevy blazer in the family with 325K all original with only maintenance items replaced. It towed and hauled for our business from 80k-275k miles so it was not babied one bit either.

 

keep up with regular maintenance and things will last much longer...

I replace diff fluids every 6K (every other oil change)

Tranny/transfer case flushes every 10K

Coolant flushes every 10K


People thik they only need to change their oil...well tranny fluid/differential fluid is like oil, it needs to be changed as well....neglagence is the #1 cause of things going bad...

 

+1

Most people don't take care of there vehicles. You would be amazed at how many people don't check fluids when they need to. I know people that check there fluids 1 every 3 months and 1 that does it every 6 months.