Hello, i plan to buy a new truck in the next month or two and while i researched this back in january i just want to verify im correct on the engine types/years i have in my head. please feel to correct any factual errors in the statements that follow.

middle 1998-2002 2nd gen rams all have a common rail fuel system with computer controlled fuel pumps. this is only available on 24V engines so if it is a 24V it has common rail. common rail will allow me to program custom computer chips so i may switch from towing, to daily drive on the fly via an interface computer.

the HD 2500's have dana 80's in the rear while the standard 2500's have dana 60's.

Do all the 2500's have a certian spline count on the axle shafts or do they verry, if they very how do i tell witch is wich?

all 2500's with plow/tow packages will have the same transmission. (i plan to buy an auto, as much as i would like a manual it just would not fit my driving style unless i had a third or fourth hand.)

a side question: aside from more bed space are there any changes/differences to the frame, engine, drive train, ect when going from a short bed to long bed?

thank you.

 

Common rail didn't come out till 2003 but the years you listed did have computer controlled INJECTION pumps. It is my understanding that Dana 60s were used in the front on 4x4s of that era and Dana 70s used on the rear of 2500s with 3500s having the Dana 80s. I suppose it may have been possible to special order a 2500 with a Dana 80 but I've never heard of it. Also the early 24 valve engines from 1998.5-2001 often came with the dreaded ''53'' blocks that sometimes cracked so watch out for that, 2002 didn't use ''53s'', and understand that the lift or transfer pumps were poor too but can be updated with several different after market pumps. Obviously a longer box would require a longer frame I would think, but beyond that the fuel tank is slightly different with the long box holding 35 gallons 34 for the short box. I would doubt there is any difference on crankshaft output splines between transmissions but don't know for sure.

 

thank you very much for the break down. how do i tell what type of block the engine has? do you by chance have any links to documents on the issue?

thanks

 

Google "53 block" and you'll get all the info you need. If you look at the passenger's side of the block there may be a "53" cast into it. It's not always a bad thing, since there's no rhyme or reason as to which crack.

 

My 2001.5 had a ''53'' block and the numbers are usually at the front corner, on the driver's side just above the pan in numbers about 1 1/2 inches high. There you may also find 54, 55 or no number. Only the 53s are suspect and of those probably less than 10%-20% cracked. All 53s were cast in two different foundries in Brazil but only one foundry had the issue that made them prone to cracking, the reason being the water jacket on the passenger side, mid level towards the firewall was only 5-6 mm thick when it needed to be 11mm. And even then not all of the bad blocks ended up cracking but most that did had less than 100k miles and were replaced on warranty by Dodge/Cummins. A person named Nate at Cummins customer service told me a year or so ago that Cummins figured about 1-2% were replaced but you must also keep in mind that only the ones warrantied were known to Cummins via claims so any engine beyond warranty that cracked probably is not in the Cummins stats. My 2001.5 had 104k on it when I traded this summer with no issues.

 

Gah. Oops. Guilty as charged, posting while distracted.