Greetings everyone. If any of you have ever visited the 2nd Gen section, you may have seen me around.

Anyways, to the point... I am possibly in the market for a new truck soon. I am in line for a promotion of sorts at work that comes with a nice little pay bump. Its not finalized yet, so it may not happen, but if it does, I will be looking at a new(er) truck purchase. My current 2001 has been good, but it only has 88,000 miles on the clock, and the transmission is bound to blow up any day now. This winter, if I don't let it warm up very much, it throws a P1740 code. This code technically stands for the O/D solenoid usually, but in the 46RH/RE transmissions, half of the time it is a sign of a tranny on its way out. Rather than throw $1500-$2000 into a $6000-$7000 truck, if the promotion goes through, I am thinking of putting my extra cash into a truck payment, and trading my 2001 in.

I have been looking at the 2006 model years for a couple of reasons. One, I am partial to the amber strips on the headlights of the 2006s. I know a lot of people don't like those, and prefer the clear 2007/2008 style, but I prefer the amber. Two, I like the flat, dual-bulb tail lamps in the 2006 compared to the "bubble" tail lights in the 2007-2008 years. Third, the 2006s were the first year to have MDS (not that I really care about gas mileage... this is a truck, after all).

My question is... is there anything wrong with the 2006 model year, or anything I should watch out for other than the usual? I know the common Dodge things to watch out for, like bad ball joints/u-joints.

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

 

I've had some bad experiences with mine before sadly... Had the power steerin pump blow, the engine belt flew off and the fan shroud came unbolted and fell out onto the road when I was driving... pretty scary. Not to say that anythings wrong with the truck, i'm pretty sure it was a half *** mechanic job. Other than that, the wiring is pretty confusing. I don't know how 2nd gens are but just looking at my popped hood with as little knowledge as I have sometimes gives me a headache.

 

Congrats on the 'almost' raise/promotion.

I've owned an 07 1500 5.7 and currently an 06 3500 CTD.

The 1500 was in the shop repeatedly for MDS drone, before it was recognized as an actual problem by Dodge. It drove me nuts. That however apparently is a thing of the past. Other than that, the only beef I had with it was it never did get descent fuel mileage.. ya, its a truck... but lets get above 14mpg! Towing was even worse, but I'm not sure if that factors into your need or not. The only 'major' issue we had is we blew up the steering system in -42C weather when I turned the wheel 'too fast'. Apparently it's a 'known' weakness they refuse to fix. The problem doesn't exist in their 2/3500's

Handling in winter weather was good, summer, the truck had some serious get-up-and-go... I was very eager however to trade it off for my 06, 1/2 way through the last year of the lease. The MDS just drove me nuts!

I'm an amber strip hater... not for the amber strip, but the lights just don't work as well imho. I've fixed that with 4 driving lights on the front of the truck.. My '07 headlights worked well, and I never had to add aux lighting.

My 1500 was a quad cab.. it worked well, until we had a carseat back there. Its too tight for rearfacing seats... the megacab on the 3500 makes it a perfect family vehicle... it's like a minivan, for non-minivan type people (such as myself).

 

sounds good. Good luck on the promotion. 2006 was my ideal year as well. nothing out of the ordinary as far as I know to watch out for on the 06's other than the usual like you said.

 

If you're talking a half ton (1500) I think the '05s are the best 3rd Gens to have. No MDS crap to have to disable (most report BETTER fuel economy when turning it off with a tuner). Torsion fronts leave more room for wider tires than coil-overs, plus a lot of guys have bad vibration problems with the coil-over (06+) front ends when leveling, although if you don't plan a level/lift then the '06+ stock height doesn't seem to have many problems with vibrations. Torsion fronts can be leveled for free.

No TIPM in the '05s meaning everything electrical runs off of simple fuses and relays instead of computer controlled, so you don't need to pay the dealer to hook up a ScanTool for changes like running fogs with high beams. The '05 is basically identical to the '04s except it has a different PCM which is a lot easier to program, so programmer support (and features) tend to be a lot better.

If I were shopping used, 3rd Gen 1500s, it'd be for a cherry '05 if I could find one...

 

most people hate the MDS. The only way I'll ever get anything past a 2005 is if there is a way to turn off the MDS. (which I think there is). Whatever you do... get a hemi. I went from a v6 dakota (which was decent enough) to a RCSB hemi. It was about like going from a tricycle to a top fuel funny car.

 

On the farm we've got a 95 1500, a 99 2500 (gas), my 06 1500, and my brother has a 01 2500 (cummins). Here's what I dislike about my 06:

1 - The 20's are a love hate kinda thing for me. I think they look very nice on these trucks. The rim size matches the size of the truck I think anyways. But if you drive in any amount of snow it seems, they vibrate HARD. I think its just a large rim thing - my parents journey with 19"s does the same thing.

2 - My tach doesn't work, and I've been seeing more and more other threads about that on other guy's 06's. You need to replace the cluster or the stepper motor to fix.

3 - The tipm kinda bothers me, but I've never had trouble with it. It worked quite well when the previous owner's of mine wiring harness for a cap rubbed through to ground.

4 - You can't go very wide with tires because upper ball joint is very close.

5 - I wish it was solid front axle like your 01, but I should have bought a 2500 if that was a deal breaker for me.

 

Yeah I agree, the IFS is a MAJOR bottle neck if you plan on modding your truck. I had a 1500 2nd Gen myself (SFA) and even though the comparatively weak Dana in the front wasn't anything to write home about, it's infinitely stronger than a CV half shaft.
I wanted a 2500 diesel, but didn't need one. Heaviest thing I pulled when I bought my '04 was a 2600 lb. bass boat and I don't average 8k a year on my truck. NOBODY was taking a dime off sticker on the diesels then and there were NO incentives on 2500 Hemi trucks either. The 1500 had $4500 in rebates, another $1500 in financing incentives PLUS the dealers were dropping close to another $8k off sticker. Kinda made it a no-brainer for me, I mean I could buy a NEW 1500 4x4 QC Hemi Laramie AND a decent late model daily driver for what a 2500 would have cost me.

At the risk of offending a few guys, I really am not a fan of the '06+ 1500s. Not only the MDS thing, but I've helped quite a few guys out in lifting/leveling them and I can't stand the lack of room the coils leave for tires, you've got to use spacers and/or just the right offset wheel to get even a marginally wide tire on there and I am just no fan of wheel spacers. They also make the CV slightly thinner (for clearance) on the coil-over trucks making an already weak link even weaker.
Most guys won't have a problem with the CVs, they are pretty stout (as far as CVs go) but those who like to lift and go with bigger tires hate them, they are considerably weakened as their angle is increased...

 

I like the interiors of the 2006+ models. I get what some of you are saying about the 2005s though.

I thought the 2006 and 2007 models basically had the same headlights, minus the amber strip at the bottom? Aren't they interchangeable?

 

I have a 06 4x4 and have had no issues. Mine does not have mds for some reason. I was planning on leveling it and putting bigger tires on(285/70r17) but i may just put on the tires since i am hearing about the troubles leveling it. No issues with my truck.(76000 miles) i would def purchase it again.