I'm thinking about purchasing a '02 Ram V8 w/141K miles for $3300. I've owned my '01 V6 for years now and it's a great truck. My question is , does anybody know of any defects with the
'02 model?

 

Which V8, 5.9 or 4.7?

 

I have an 02 4.7 liter with 157,000 miles. The main concerns for the 4.7 liters is overheating and head gasket failures. The radiators in most trucks of this year are prone to plugging up and causing cooling problems. The 4.7 liters being sensitive to this end up with head problems.
If the truck has factory positive traction rear end, the retainer clips that are used to hold the clutch packs together during installation are known to break off and cause havoc ranging from a mere blood pressure spike when found, to a totally destroyed rear end. You can find out if it has positive traction by looking on the sticker in the glove box, it will say next to "Anti Spin" next to Chrysler Corporate 9". I dont have pos. traction and my sticker doesnt say anything.
Other then these 2 main ones there is a handful of other issues that could be expected with any 10 year old truck, ball joint, tie rod ends, bearings etc etc. Also the dash board is cracking pretty bad in my truck as well. Do a search on here and it will uncover a lot of what to look for a lot better then I can explain it in a long post.

For $3300 though, if the truck is in good condition without a major issue, I would buy it. I have not had to deal with any of the issues I listed above with my truck, though it did have its share of problems like an antifreeze leak that took me 2 years finally get rid of. Now that its gone i sort of miss having to add every 2 weeks lol. If I had to buy my truck all over again though knowing what i know now, I would do it in a heart beat.

 

Yes it's the 4.7L. thanks for all the info