LOL! love it!

 

Ask if the plenum gasket was changed! I would assume it was when they changed the timing chain and water pump, but you need to know for sure. I agree with Hometheatreman. I really like my Ram, but parts are really expensive and they have a lot of issues. Just keep putting money aside to deal with the issues. They can all be fixed, and you'll have a nice truck to drive. When were the plugs, cap and rotor changed? If one front hub was changed, the other is going to need replacing also. I liike SKF unit bearings. When you need rear brakes, use wheel cylinders for a 3500. They'll help your brake balance. Good luck with your new truck!

 

death wobble, steering box/column, plenum, heads cracking, notorious trans problems, the front end in general from what I've read, garbage very brittle plastic dashes and underdashes (recently had the entire plastic piece under my steering wheel fall off lol), as well as getting less mpg than the chevy trucks for sure of this era and possibly ford trucks too. I agree with the other two guys, I just drive so little per year a new vehicle isn't worth it. Has the truck held up ok? People said the 5.2's weren't so hot on mpg, I would have been really wary of the more thirsty 360 5.9. Also heard these in salt/ice areas rusted out really easy. Supposedly the hard to reach crank sensor likes to go out in these trucks too....oh yeah and also that weird steering column bushing the rock solid ram fix can fix too.

eh even with all its common problems they've been way better than any other vehicle I've ever owned, that's really saying something lol.

 

My old 96 may be a rust bucket, but, it wasn't until I parked it for a couple months when I got the 98 that it started really having issues. It still ran good, drove decent, and everything worked. It wasn't pretty, but, it was reliable. I like the brakes better than I do those on the 98 too....... much more authoritative.

 

Before I came upon the Dodge Ram forums, I'd have said these pickups are great. I've had ol' blue for 22 years with minimal maintenance n maximal performance for the buck with few if any problems, minus those typical to any pickup. Never liked the brakes till I got ceramic pads n after a visit from mr Hughes ol' Blue purrs like a old cat with 220K+ that's aged well. A posi transplant in the diff made all the difference in less than ideal road/offroad handling conditions. I've learned so much, maybe I got lucky with ol' blue?!? Thnx guys for a treasure trove of info.

 

For what it's worth neither of the two rams I've owned ever left me stranded or failed to start right up even with a bit of miles on them and neglect from previous owners, my current one was only running on 7 cylinders for god only knows how many years due to a totally eroded spark plug that was absolute hell getting out the previous owners put way too much torque on. I've seen just as many if not more GM vehicles with broken engines/trans so I always sorta felt the major trans problems were kinda overblown, I heard on these trans you actually need to do a new filter/band adjustment and new fluid (but never flush these) every 30k miles or so...so many others online said they never did anything at all to their gm or ford trans. Even though it's a gas thirsty vehicle I'm assuming to mostly in-town driving and old sensors and not fully getting warmed up, it still gets me from point A to B reliably at almost 225k miles, and for that, I greatly admire the rams and will always have a fond spot for them in my heart....funny enough, the old junky 4 cylinder nissan car I had prior got maybe 4mpg due to a misfire I could never fix....yikes.

I still see some very high mileage 270-300k+ 2nd gen gas rams for sale online around my area every once in awhile and the people claim they still run and drive ok lol. I once saw a very cheap 98 or 2000 regular cab that only had a blown plenum but I wasn't in a good position to buy it at the time, would have made a great beater vehicle for a somewhat easy fix. A guy I knew delivered pizza's in a 2001 regular cab v8, idk if it was the 5.2 or 5.9, but it had ~170k 1.5years ago and a blown plenum and he didn't think anything of it, it was second nature for him to just every month buy a 5 quart jug of the penzoil platinum oil and fill er up LOL.

I honestly wouldn't mind a good condition extended cab short bed 88-98 5.7v8 chevy truck in black, but around here all these years later they're either sitting in junk yards, junky, or people charge a high dollar for the ones still running decent, I don't really care for how any newer truck or vehicle looks personally, I find the ~99-06 gmc/chevy trucks very ugly for example and fords just meh. If I were to get a newer one it'd probably be a new Ram, but I definitely can't justify 30k+ for a new truck.

I always kinda keep my eye out for a good condition extended cab short bed 2nd gen ram, I'm sure I'll end up nabbing one up eventually, they're always cheaper than the other brands usually too. In my younger years I had a 92 chevy 2500 454 big block extended cab long bed and my god that was hell like a limo trying to park in cramped apt spaces lol.

Coming from literally knowing nothing before having to fix up bad vehicles I can say at least I learned alot in the process too

 

Me myself I had nothing but luck with Rams (I opened truck from the big three). My 06 Ram with the Hemi drive me 59 miles with a rod through the block so I could get back home. All brands have their problems we just know about the Rams because this is a Ram forum. My one second gen I sold had over 1 million miles. They rust sure, but so does any other vehicle made of steel. And if you want gas mileage don't buy any brand truck (new or old) and buy a car or hybrid.

 

for sure, if one was in proper running order like all sensors good and stuff I could even live with the thirsty 5.9, I put about 1500 a year or so like the guy above posted he does on his truck. Small town and work from home so the most use the truck gets is running around to hang at friends' places or to the grocery store. Judging from the much higher mileage ones I see on craigslist I hope mine lives for awhile, 224k doesn't seem like much when you see a bunch still going at 270k+