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I know this has been asked before, but I can't find the threads. Considering 2000 to 2008 diesel Rams, which are the best years? It seems some were prone to rust and others had mechanical issues. I want to use it for plowing, pulling an open car trailer, and I will probably put a camper topper on it in the summer. Auto or stick would be fine.

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Best years depends a bit on your priorities and how much you want to spend, but for me;

- 1998.5 12V Quad cab: only year of the quad cab with the bulletproof 12V using the 215hp pump. These trucks had issues with steering boxes and rear brakes.

- 2001.5/2002 HO 6spd. rear disk brakes, NV5600, HO motor

- 2003/pre-Jan 2004: best one ever IMO. New body style with much improved cab, better brakes and steering and NO POLLUTION control.


....from 2003 on, there are dissapointments every year and it's cumulative. DAMHIK. 2004.5 is OK but now you have a CAT and a post injection event to make it work (and burn/waste more fuel). 2006 and the nearly invulnerable NV5600 has been swapped for a G56 with a dual mass flywheel (garbage) and somewhere in there the intercooler tanks were plastic for a year.

My 2006 needs a new TIPM computor because the headlight burned out....$1200.00 and can only be reflashed once....google it.

My 2008 has VGT, EGR, CAT, NOX, DPF.....and has been a total bag of crap. Not Dodge or Cummins' fault, and certainly the Fords and GM's have all that stuff and are no better. Currently sitting on my desk is an estimate for repair for the 2008 to the tune of $4,000 including a turbo rebuild/replacement to deal with the dreaded P2563 code....google that too.


My 2003 with the NV5600 gets my vote as the best diesel ram ever built. I've had zero problems with this truck and it has only required replacement of regular wear items. It has absolutely no polution control and I've gotten a best of 20.2mpg. I regularly haul up to 20,000 lbs GCVW and the only mods I have are an aftermarket exhaust and MADS electronics Smarty programmer. 395 hp and almost 750 ft lbs.


Dave

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Great information! Yes it will be a very small camper. Just for going to the races.

Any thoughts on Ram 2500 vs 3500?

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Seriously consider a dually unless you are getting a very small truck camper.

The 48RE was introduced in 2003 (but not all 2003's had it) and it is far stronger than the earlier 47RE. I would not buy another diesel ram with the 47RE, but although the 48RE is better than the 47, I strongly recommend the 6 spd, especially up to 2003. The NV5600 is the strongest transmission ever used in a light truck of any brand; with a good clutch (I recommend South Bend clutches), it can and will take whatever abuse you throw at it.

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Seriously consider a dually unless you are getting a very small truck camper.

The 48RE was introduced in 2003 (but not all 2003's had it) and it is far stronger than the earlier 47RE. I would not buy another diesel ram with the 47RE, but although the 48RE is better than the 47, I strongly recommend the 6 spd, especially up to 2003. The NV5600 is the strongest transmission ever used in a light truck of any brand; with a good clutch (I recommend South Bend clutches), it can and will take whatever abuse you throw at it.

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Does the VIN or underhood sticker indicate which transmission the truck has? Or, do I need to crawl under and inspect?

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Get out of the rust country.

We've got loads of those trucks for sale in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Just avoid coastal Texas areas.

Find a truck. Have a local Moparts member check it out. Fly in and drive it home. You'll spend about $600 on the weekend trip (I just did it) but you'll have a truck with zero rust.

Do the best you can with rust preventative before the winter sets in.

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Not a bad idea, thanks for volunteering

Although it looks like many of the texas trucks have the dashes cooked out of them. In Minnesota, there seems to be quite a few of them with around 80-140,000 miles that are used to pull a trailer south in the winter so they generally avoid the salt season.

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My experience with diesel Rams are a little different, as apparently I am much harder on transmissions than most. I lunched 7 NV4500's in a 1999 3500 and 3 G56's in a 2007 3500. My 2004 48RE just exploded after 2000 miles on a rebuild. I have blown up two Cummins engines, a 2004 305 555 and a 2005 325 600, both were injector related and probably my fault for not keeping up maintenance on the injectors. My next truck will be one with an NV5600 or AISIN trans to see how long they last with me driving them. I like the power and less noise of the Common Rail and better brakes/interior comfort of the 2004-2006 Rams, but hated the 2007-2009 interiors. I may go back to the 2001-2002 quad cab because of the interiors and disc brakes, plus the HO engine. I did not like the 2003 compromise interiors between old style and new.

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Yeah maybe you need to change your driving habits but the injector problem is real but all you need to do is install a 2 micron filter like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/VPMAX-Single-Rem...d00&vxp=mtr and that greatly reduces injector problems, I have never had an injector problem but I always install a better fuel filter set up.

The 2013 and up now come with 2 fuel filters the canister filter up at the engine that is a 5 mic outer and 3 mic inner and a screw on filter/water separator under the bed that is a 3 mic I believe.

as far as the trans there is no reason for that I spent 27 years in that business and have done lots of ram units and I rarely saw one with problems before 150-200k and have customers that got 200k out of our rebuild with 0 problems.

my G56 was at 180k when I traded it and was still going strong and that was the original trans, clutch, flywheel and hydraulics.

But every one has different experiences. I do love the new 14 with 850ft lbs and the Aisin my only complaint so to speak is I think it has a little to much torque management programmed into it but no real biggy.