hey guys, i'm currently looking at getting myself a Ram 1500. Right now I'm loking at 2 in my price range. First one is an '04 Quad cab 4X4 with the Hemi, and the seconds an '03 Quad cab 4X4 with the 5.9l and it's a Laramie(sp?) edition. Wondering which would be the better option and also is there any known common problems/defects? Thanks for the help!

 

Where do you live? Have you checked out new trucks? They really want to get rid of the 08's right now where I am. Here, you are stupid to buy a used truck/suv cause you can spend not even 5k more and get a new one. But between the 04 and the 03, that's a hard choice, how many miles do they have?

 

Get the cummins hands down..

EDIT:You're talking about the 5.9 CTD right?

 

the '03 5.9 CTD had two versions. the regular one seen in CA was 235hp. it is not as good as the 305hp version. the automatic for the first six months of the year was weak. they improved it for the '03.5. I had the CA version and it's value was much less than the high performance 305hp.

if it is the high performance 5.9 it would be my choice

 

think he's talking bout the 5.9 gasser. compared to the hemi, that motor is garbage, for power and fuel efficiency. I wouldn't even consider the 59 if its the gas motor.

known problems: if it has a limited slip the diff will grenade on you, there is a tiny chance the dash might cave in, you might have gotten one of the trucks with bad paint (though if it doens't already look bad it will prolly be okay), ...

i bought an 04 quad 4x4 slt in february, love it

 

Yea, he's prolly talking the 5.9 Magnum, a venerable old engine, but it's late 1960's design is tired. Although they last forever with just marginal care, the Hemi makes like 100 more HP, while getting 25% better fuel economy.
The '04 should be a no brainer...

The 5.9 has a plenum gasket issue, usually rears it's head somewhere between 60-80k miles, although it's a cheap part, it requires almost a complete engine tear down to get to it. That's really the only common issue with the engine as it will fail in 100% of the 5.9s and require replacing at some point. They have a permanent fix for it now, so the initial replacement would make it good for life. But when the gasket fails, it feels like the engine lost 50% of its HP & Torgue, not to mention fuel economy suffers.
The Hemi, aside from the famous "Hemi Tick" has not shown a single really common problem, and although the sound of the tick can be annoying, it's not been shown to be a major performance issue to date...
With the fact that the LA 5.9 & Magnum version was produced for like 30 years and the Hemi is arguably the most popular gasser of all time, both engines have a plethora of aftermarket parts and either can be built up to be awesome "beast" engines.
You really couldn't go wrong with either, but like I said to open, if the newer Hemi is an option for you, it should be a "no brainer"...

 

well I'm pretty sure I'm going with the 03 5.9l (yes it was gas). Went back and took another look at the 04 hemi today (when it was light out ) and saw that it has obviously been used as a work truck. Paint is scratched to hell and starting to chip at the bottoms of the doors (is this the paint problem mentioned earlier?) So even though the 5.9 isn't as great of an engine it has a few more miles on it it's still cheaper than a paint job. Thanks for the help guys.

 

there isn't another dealer around??

 

You beat me to it...

 

wow that was quick! It takes me weeks to months to find the perfect used or new vehicle.