Hey Guys,

I am a long time Dodge owner,but always pickup trucks.Last night I bought a 2001 Ram wagon 2500 Van w/100k miles on it.It seems to be in pretty good overall shape,but has a few issues.One was the heater fan only worked on high,but that is fixed now after I replaced the resistor pack under the hood.The other is a weird noise coming from the drivers side front end.It sounds like the spring is being twanged during low speed left hand turns of medium radius,and sometimes when just hitting a bump.It almost seems like the spring isn't sitting in its perch right,but I have yet to have the opportunity to jack it up,and look at it. The seller told me he had an upper ball joint on that side replaced a week or so ago,and yesterday he had the van looked at yesterday and the mechanic determined that his fellow mechanic had installed a ball joint that was too small.It turns out that even though the van is a 2500 it uses ball joints from a 3500.Does this sound right? It does make sense to me as my friend has a 2001 ram 2500 pickup that has a Cummins in it,and it uses the 3500 front end parts.Any ideas on the noise from the front end.How about the lower ball joints?Are they easy to replace?Are they cheap/expensive. Did I get ripped off with this deal at $6000 for a 2001 van w/100k miles? I guess it is too late anyway.Will this van with the 5.2 litre tow a 5000lb camper fairly well?Thanks in advance.


Chris
2001 Ram Wagon 2500 (Red)
1979 Mazda RX-7 GS (Spark Yellow)
1974 Mazda RE/PU(Rotary engine pickup)Green

 

For one, I have a 2001 B2500 12-passenger Ram Van/Wagon with about 84k miles. We payed $8k for it two years ago.

My B2500 has the HD suspension. That is, it has the 8-lug nuts on the wheel rims. If your van has the same, then yes, you will need the B3500 suspension parts. The light weight duty B2500 has the 5-lug wheel rims.

The 5.2L/318cid Magnum engine will tow up to 6,600lbs without to much trouble. I have the Roadmaster Active Suspension kit on mine, it gives an extra help for towing and control for the vehicle. For towing our Coachmen Cadet TT loaded at 4,500lbs, the van does well. It even did well in the Poconos mountains of PA towing the camper, loaded van and a family of nine.

If you plan on towing change out the tranny fluid, fiter and clean the screen. Make sure you use either AFT+3 with Lubegard or ATF+4 synthetic fluid. The rear differ axle uses 75W90 synthetic as a FYI.

Keep the IAC on the TB clean. Do a search in the forums here on, "How to clean the IAC". You may want to do a search for a crankcase breather mod I wrote up too. Both will keep the mpg at the best level and efficiency. Our van usually get 14mpg highway while towing. It's only 2mpg off from regular highway driving.

 

Thanks for the reply Stev.My van does indeed have the 8 lug wheels,so I guess it is the heay duty model.What is this roadmaster active suspension kit,and where an I find one if I wanted to get it? Do you use a weight distributing hitch like I have(probably). We have a Jayco Kiwi Hybrid 23' camper that weighs in the neihborhood of 4500 dry,and 5000lb loaded.It isn't super hevy,but you know it is there.I have towed this camper with the following vehicles.

1999 Mazda B4000 4wd extra cab(It was really good at it,but it did it)
1989 Ford F-150 4wd super cab w/5.0 litre,automatic(probably better at not being pushed around,but the power was terrible for a V8)
1992 Dodge Ram D250 club cab Cummins turbo diesel 5 speed w/air bags in the rear(TOW MACHINE,man I miss that truck)
2003 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab 2wd Hemi auto(Great truck that I sold a month ago to save soem money on payments)

Now I will be using the Van to do the towing as early as next weekend,and I don't have the time this weekend as we are going away to get much done on the van.It has a trailer hitch(after-market),and a brake controller on it already,so I should be okay there.I wish I had the time to change out the tranny fluid.Is that a hard job?Could I do it in an afternoon?What will it cost to have someone do it for me if I don't have the time?Thanks again,and any ideas on the weird noise I have in the front.Also thanks for the nice write-up on the IAc cleaning,I found that on the site,and plan on giving it a shot at some time.Thanks.


Chris
2001 Ram Wagon 2500 5.2 litre 3.92 axle
1979 Mazda RX-7 GS
1974 Mazda RE/PU

 

Hey Stev,

Would this be the right Roadmaster setup for my van?J.C Whitney only lists one setup for fullsized vans with heaavy duty loads.Here is the link.Sorry for the size.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/I...28454610617352

Chris

 

In addition to the other suspension parts, I'd also check the sway bar link. If it is popped in the worst place, it can still be in solid when the vehicle is at rest, but make noise when you are saying it does. The ball joint is another place to check for sure. I'm not sure why the guy who had the wrong one put in didnt take it back and make them put the correct one in when it happened. It boggles the mind.

 

He did bring it back to the place to get the ball joint fixed,only a week or so later which was Wednesday.I will try to look at the things you mentioned next week when I get the chance.Thanks for the input.


Chris

 

Here's the information for the Roadmaster Active Suspension Kit. It only takes basic home garage tools to install.

As for the JC Whitney site, that is somewhat expensive.

Try the Oklahoma website for some better pricing. http://www.roadmasterok.com

Or if you've been a customer of Sumit Racing, http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...115+4294843208

http://www.activesuspension.com/index.htm

 

Well guys,I had a chance to hook up the camper,and take it for a test tow today.It was the first time since I drove the van since Wednesday when I bought it,and drove it home in the pouring rain.The van seemed to tow the camper okay,but not great,and not bad.It had a bit of a bounce to it like my short wheelbase truck I owned a few years ago.It didn't have the power of my Hemi quad cab truck,or the Cummins truck I had before that,but it didn't seem too bad.It downshifted a lot,but not too bad.The shifts seemed nice and smooth,and while on side roads I shut the OD off,and had it back on while on the highway.The temp gauge was hovering about an eight of an inch away from 210* while I was towing.Does this sound okay?I think I will get the roadmaster unit,and that may help with the bouncing,but who knows.I have a weight distributing hitch,and a swap control unit as well,and it seemed to work like it has in the past on my trucks. I had the van,and camper p to 70 once on the highway,and that is about my limit while towing,so I should be okay.I like to tow in the right lane about 60-65,and don't like pushing it while I have the whole family in the car,so I should be okay.The engine is working it seems,and I will find out soon how it does on the largish hills we have around here,but as long as we get there in one piece I will be happy even if it takes longer.Any input on this is appreciated.Thanks

Chris

 

make sure on hills and when ever it keeps down shift in and out of OD to just shut it off, it'll save much tranny wear.

 

Hey guys,

I forgot to ask this before.What do you guys with passenger vans,and kids in car seats do with the bench seats?I removed the front seat this afternoon with the hopes it will allow lots of leg room for my kids in their car seats,and also allow for cargo storage both behind the second row,and in front.I don't usually carry a ton of stuff in the bed of my truck when we go camping,but I do carry stuff back there.My hope is to get most if not all of the stuff behind the secong row.Does this sound like a smart idea?Is there any way of reconfiguring the mounts on the floor to move the first row back about 6 inches to allow for more room with a rear facing car seat?

Alos an unrelated question.How hard is it to do plugs,and wires on these vans?Is there a brand of choice?Brands to stay away from?Thanks in advance.

Chris