Hello everyone,
Planning to purchase a truck since I've got the house and doing all remodeling by myself, sick to ask friends to borrow their truck or big van or to rent at Home Depot. Was looking into 1500 RAMs starting from 2000 with a budget under $4k with a HEMI engine and four doors. Obviously, most trucks for sale in my area (Sacramento, CA) have either mileage over 230k, or the price is way over $5k for a mid 90's truck, or they mount the infamous 4.7 that I'm so sick of it on my 2001 Durango- last year swapped the heads and recently it started to burn coolant so have to take it apart again.
Yesterday I found though a 2007 RAM2500 5.7 HEMI 4 doors, leather seats, 160k miles and the price is about $4.5k. Will go check it out this weekend.
Is there anything that I should specifically look for on these trucks? Or is it pretty safe to get a 1500 with mileage between 230-280k? It looks to me a decent deal. Planning to use it mostly in the city, rarely some construction stuff.
Any comments appreciated as I have zero experience with trucks.
Thanks!

 

Its the same engine and trans, so, lower mileage is definitely a plus. Also, if you are going to be towing/hauling on a regular basis, the extra capacity of the 2500 will be your friend.

When I was initially looking for a truck, I too, was looking at 1500's. Of course, that was not to long after 'cash for clunkers', so, finding ANYTHING at all was an ordeal, and when I did find something, it had north of 200K miles on it, and they STILL wanted north of 10K for 'em. Not happenin'. I ended up finding a 2500 that needed some work, so I got it cheap. Then I drove it for seven years.

 

You may not like the ride of the 2500 if it's just a commuter vehicle. If you plan on doing any towing or hauling it'll be worth it as long as it has 4.10 gears. I think they were stupid to put 3.55:1 gears in a 7,000 lb truck with a 5.7. my boss has a 2500 with that setup, and all he does is complain about how much of a dog it is. I keep telling him to go put 4.10s in it. I got a 2500 quad cab, 5.7 4.10 gears with the 5 speed nv4500 trans I get around 13-15 mpg same as my old Dakota with a V6 so all I gained was power, and payload after upgrading. If you keep the tire pressure around 40psi the ride isn't bad at all with the stock 17s. I had 20s on it and I noticed how smoother it rides with the 17s back on. But if your gonna do any towing, or loading the bed increase the tire pressure. Just drop the pressure back down when your done, the truck will remind you if you forget. It gets a little skittish on bumps when empty with rock hard tires. I can't comment on the 1500. Never owned 1 because I highly dislike the ****ty auto transmission any auto transmission. It took me a year to find my 3/4 ton truck with a 5 speed. It's an 05 and just rolled 83,000 miles. Bought it 5 years ago with 46,000 miles for $15,500 after trade in. I haven't heard the "hemi tick" it might be something that has to do with the mds, I'm not sure. I did put magnaflow high flow cats and Y-pipe on, and a diesel 4 inch tailpipe with a 4" thrush rattler muffler. Knock on wood, I haven't found any famous broken exhaust manifold bolts yet. I'm contemplating if I should just go ahead and put shorty headers on before they do break, lol. I haven't had a trouble out of it. Once a year it goes on a 1,200 mile round trip from SC to upstate NY towing 1,500 plus pounds. Averaging 12 mpg. Might be higher if I had the 3.55 ratio, but when it comes to hills and the 4.10s I'm usually in the hammer Lane passing everybody, if anybody is familiar with the hills on 77 and 81 North out of Charlotte. If I can get out and get going I'll hold 80mph the whole way up. But I see allot of 3/4 ton trucks as daily drivers, mine is/was most of the time.

 

I would get the 2500 because it has a straight axle in the front vs and IFS setup on the 1500.