Picked up an 03 Ram 1500 - 5.7L Hemi. Had 1 owner, 45,000 miles, runs and drives great! I've heard about issues with trannie and rear diff, but hope to avoid them with good maintenance and responsible driving (If possible)
Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

 

Your transmission, if taken care of, will have no where near the potential problems of the earlier Rams with the older engines.

For future reference:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...s-section.html

 

I've seen few references to tranny problems. The rear diff may or may not have issues if it's LSD. Otherwise, they're fine.

 

Agreed. Rams transmissions of today only suffer from the reputation of the Ram transmissions of 20 years ago. If any positive came from Daimler (Mercedes) ownership, it's the transmissions that were basically designed from scratch. The 45/545rfe are pretty bulletproof.

The axles are pretty solid also, it's the models equipped with LSD that have the issue.

Now I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the weak valve springs that the '03 (and some very early '04) have in them. These should probably be changed out for the newer, stronger 5.7 springs or the even stronger 6.1 springs at some point soon before one snaps on you and FUBARs your engine. Some guys have been lucky and have gone 120,000 miles or more and not had one break, but it's too common of an issue IMO to not take care of at some point...

 

Thank you all for the feedback! I will check on the rear end to see if it has the LSD. As for the weak valve springs, I'll definitely look into that!

 

how do we know if we have an early 04 or not? i have an 04 and knock on wood, everything is running fine, sounds fine.

 

I have a strange feeling that a valve spring won't give an audible warning prior to failure; it probably be a "one-second-it's-fine-and-broken-the-next" scenario...

 

well that kinda sucks haha. thanks for the input broggyr