Me and my husband are looking at buying a 95 dodge ram 1500 V8 with a 318 in it.
It's a manual transmission, by the way.
We want to be able to tow a 25 ft camp trailer with it and are concerned about having enough power. The guy that owned it previously said he towed a 22 ft with a 4-wheeler trailer behind that with no problems - and he's been from here to CA and to the midwest and back.
Ideas...suggestions.....?

Also, researching, I found out several things to look out for when buying a used Ram.
This one, fortunately, we were able to talk with the former owner, and he was able to tell us what had been done with it.
Transmission has been replaced. Clutch replaced. Bearings and seals in the back end replaced. U-joints and something else to do with the steering replaced.
It's got 127,000 and the dealer is asking 7500.00 for it. Our mechanic only found 3 things that needed fixing and would cost around 350.00 with labor. The body and interior are in pretty good shape - no major dings/dents and no signs of accident - carfax came up clean. Oil change/service record is empecable.

So all you ram experts, what's the word? Good deal? Go with a bigger engine? Dealer asking too much? Am I asking too much?
This is the first newer pickup my hubby will have and we want to make sure it's a good one. Right now he's driving a 76 chevy that belonged to his grandpa. It's only got 56k on it, but he's constantly fixing it. Replaced the engine once. One of these days he's gonna put his foot down and it's gonna go right through the floor.[:-][:@] Let's just say there's some rust that needs fixin'.

Thanks!
JEN

 

for the price it depends on what options the vehicle comes with, but an almost stock dodge with same feature and miles you mentioned blue booked about 2 grand less. the way it sounds is the engine has enough power, but because of everything that has been replaced it sounds as thought the rest of the drive train can't handle the weight. so that might be a good indication to go to something a little more heavy duty. when you do that you'll have a bigger engine too so no worries. just my opinion.

 

Alright I'll start from the top, my dad had a Jeep wiht the 318 we pulled a 3700lbs boat with it, it has power and no problems pulling., but then I have the 360 in my truck and that gives more power and better towing capability, but then you have to sacrifice gas mileage, your chose.

Replace tranny can mean a few things, either its gonna stay good or go bad again, I have heard both happening more than once. Ram are sometimes known to have bad trannies.

I have a strong belief in not buying from a dealer, you will for sure find a better deal if you go private, at least 5000 or less, no 7500 plus tax, this truck has problems and you are over paying for it, you might want to rethink it.

I'll tell you what I have seen when I bought mine. I got my 98' 1500 5.9L fully loaded, quad cab, 4x4, for $9000 with 70000 miles. The dealer had something similar with not all the options, a little more beat up and a few less miles for $13000, and wouldn't drop it a dime, so you have to think about it. I would have to say look for private but then again thats just me and my opinion.

So good luck and hope everything works out good..

Mike.

 

we have a stock 92 250 318cid v8 and it will pull a 2500 lb rockwood xl without even lowering the back anymore than 1 inch with 500 lbs of junk in it although a 1500 or 150 is smaller if it bottoms out put more leafs in the leaf springs

 

I'd look for a 3/4 ton truck for towing that much weight. And one thing not mentioned earlier is the plenum failure that occurs on all dodge engines. Look down the throttle body for oil staining or you can have your mechanic do this test on it...

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2000/09-05-00.htm

and this plenum cover that replaces it will fix it for good...

http://www.hughesengines.com/general...asp#plenum_kit