Hi. I am new to this forum. I have been looking for a good pickup for months and this afternoon it should be the end of my search. It is a RAM 2500 V10 1996.
I dont have time to search and read all the posts because I will check it this afternoon
Some friends tell me "that beast drinks too much, the auto trans has many problems, etc". But it must have good points too. I like the cabin and the way it drives. Any advice as what to carefully check before I buy ? Thank you for your help.

 

welcome to df...

search for posts with the v10 in them and find out what common problems there are and look for them. v8's get 12~16 mpg hiway depending on how the truck is setup, the v10 i'm sure is going to be much less. good luck with your purchase... post any questions you might have on it and i'm sure the v10 motorheads would be happy to chime in...

 

We have a 97 Club Cab Long Box V-10 with auto tranny, (3.73 rearend I think, not for certain) bought it brand new, pushing 150,000 miles now, and it's been worked hard as a farm pickup. Mileage at 75 is around 13 and just runnin around town or whatever will drop it down to around 9 or 10. It has been through 2 trannys so far. Haven't had much for engine problems, just put a new starter on it this summer (hard to find) and a head gasket year ago. All around great pickup, tons of power, I'd just caution ya about the auto tranny, it's weak.

 

Good friend of mine back in high school, his dad had a 2001 or 2000 or something 2500 with the V10. By 85k he had gone thru 3 transmissions, and i think he said it got like 9 mpg or something, but you could maybe squeeze 11 or so out of it. If i was you check to make sure the tranny is in good shape, because the tranny's they put in the V10's i believe were not the heavy duty ones like the cummins ones were/are, they are more like the 5.9L tranny's, but with 8.0 liters bolted onto it. With a few mod's though you could have a hell of a power train setup.....

 

Transmissions all depend no how they've been taken care of.

Also, the transmissions that the V10s use are the EXACT same ones that the CTDs use Given the fact that some years, the V10 made more power than the CTD, it would only make sense

I see between 14-15mpg highway driving sensibly. I don't do a lot of city driving, but it was down around 11-12 when I did.

Problems to look out for are crossed ignition wires (in the loom) and cracked heads. Other than that, the V10 is a fairly solid motor.