Hey guys, I'm a long time lurker and don't post often. I've got a question for those of you with high mileage 2nd gens (so pretty much everybody lol)

I'm moving in nine months from eastern NC back to Oklahoma. 1300 miles and I'm wanting to pull an enclosed trailer with our household goods. I figure on trying to tow at or near the towing capacity of the truck (near 7500 if I remember correctly). 2001 1/2 ton 5.9 4x4 auto trans

Is this a sound idea with this many miles? I've had the truck for four years, I've replaced a lot in that time and it runs great. I've got no signs of failure from the engine and transmission. I don't know for sure if either has ever been rebuilt, the truck had 165,000 on it when I bought it. What do ya'll think?

 

Rent a truck, and car trailer. Put your household goods in the truck, and your ram on the trailer. Will be a couple hundred bucks more in rental fees, but, if the truck breaks down, they simply bring you another one, transfer your goods, and you are down the road. If YOUR truck breaks down, you get to scare up the money for the repair bill.

 

I wouldn't.

 

Don't?! But I really really wanna!

That's definitely the safe bet HeyYou but I don't get to keep the trailer on the other end.

What would go wrong? If I put that much weight behind her will the transmission start spitting snap rings?

 

207,000 miles, anything could go wrong.

 

Trans is what I would be most concerned about.... If that is still the original trans (not rebuilt), putting max load on it, and driving over a thousand miles is just a recipe for disaster. It *might* make it..... but, if it doesn't, you are stuck with a dead truck, a full trailer, and many miles from home. (either one....) You get to pay for the tow, the repairs, and the hotel, for however long it takes to get it fixed. If you are LUCKY, would only be one night in a hotel, but, you would have to be REALLY lucky.....

Rent a U-haul, or some such, and if it blows up, the company pays for the tow, pays for the hotel, (if necessary) and pays for the repairs. You don't have to wait for the truck, they bring you another one. (been there, done that.) And when you get home, you take your truck off the trailer, and everyone is happy. That seems like a MUCH better scenario to me.

 

Not knowing the service history, and how it was used/abused by the PO, it is a real crap shoot with that many miles on it.

If the trans hasn't been rebuilt, it is on borrowed time... if it was done earlier in its life, it could be due again.

If the plenum has been fixed and the engine isn't burning oil, then it should be good... Give it a service before you go.

If you still have the original radiator, that could go at any time... the plastic tanks get brittle with age.

If this truck is a keeper, then spend some $$ and get it in good nick before you leave, or run the risk of doing the repairs on the road (at greater cost) and loose the time in route.

 

Do you haul or work with your truck? If you do on any kind of semi regular basis and it works fine than you would probabbly be alright.

I towed all kinds of things with my original trans all the way up to 220xxx. The engine is not the weak part in the deal. It will be fine.

I then swapped to the manual and would drive to cali with 10k behind me and not sweat a drop.

If its not acting up at all, then there is no reason to suspect it would randomly blow up going down the road. Not much more, if any, than it randomly blowing up going to get a biscuit and some gas tomorrow morning.

I would probably go for it.

Is it the best ideA? Probabbly not compared to a brand new 2500 CTD. The trans are weak. If they overheat They die fast . But they are not as fragile as 100 year old glass Windows.

 

My ram helped me through out my five years in the Marines. Moving from MN to CA to NC with a few times driving back to MN on leave. Also being my daily driver for that time. What killed it was now the ex wife cause she went mudding an tried doing some Oregon trail $ h! T and got stuck in the water she was trying to cross thus killing the transmission water was in everything but anyways ..it had 240 some on the original transmission before that happened and I trusted it.

If you do go with it take it easy thru the mountains get a Trans temp gauge and learn what is normal before you load it up for a move

 

From my experience if your truck has been hauling heavy loads all its life . I would trust it. It's the trucks that rarely haul I would be worried. Its never really been stress tested to the max. We have work trucks that have 200k miles and they've been pulling big trailers for ever. The motor and trans are well adjusted to the high rpm and heavy stress and heat in the power train. More often then not the trucks that break are the ones that rarely ever haul heavy loads. They've never been stress tested heavily. This is just from personal experience. With my job I haul 7500+lb trailer 6 days a week and close to 1500 miles per week. Many things can go wrong if your truck is not prepared for that Much stress. Trans overheat, shatter universals or your rearend, or blow a brake line from heavy braking, and if your not running a heavy ply tire. They will get hot and blow. I personally think with that load your hauling your need 8 or 10 ply tires