Why aren't there

Any forums around dedicated to a D/W series Dodge trucks like there are for the fords and Chevys?
I'm talking in genera,l online.
And why are the "square bodies" referred to "1st gen"?
That drives me absolutely crazy, as Dodge has built trucks consistently since what ... 1922 or something like that? Seems like those 100 year old models would be the "1st gen?
This from a lifelong Dodge owner, who has never had any other brand since buying my first one in the late 80s

This question gets asked a lot and i do agree they got it wrong. When ever they started using "gens" i would assume that's when anything before 93 became first gen. They went through a lot of different body styles to all be thrown in the same category. Have you checked out ramchargercentral

I don't get the 1st gen thing either but I stopped trying to figure it out.

This one is okay just not active enough www.mopartruckparts.com

The first gen thing never made sense to me either, but as explained to me by my son it comes from the Cummins being first offered in 89 in the "square bodies", and thus the first generation. It then bled out to all others. At least all others post 1980. Another term I don't care for as it is most commonly used in reference to the 73 to ?? GM's. The 72 through 79 being my favorite years of the D / W series.

'81-'93 is considered the 1st gen Ram. '89-'93 diesel trucks are 1st gen Cummins. Square bodies are GM trucks, not Dodges. Kind of like the parking/emergency brake debate. If enough people use the wrong terminology long enough it just becomes a generic term.

Yes, "Ram" being the operative word. D-Series pickups prior to '81 have their own generations starting in '61 by some accounts.

For the other part of my question, why doesn't the D/W series have forums they can call their own?
Yeah I've been to ramcharger central many times. Not much lately though.
I'm thinking that there should be forum(s) dedicated to 72-93 Dodge trucks exclusively, ramcharger or not. (Ramcharger stuff would also be welcome and possibly even the B vans but that's stretching it far enough)
I mean, how many c bodies are out there/ how many people actually get "into" them??
yet I can think of a few forums geared towards them. Not knocking the land barges one bit.

Forums seem to have been replaced by fakebook. There are quite a few pages there for these trucks. Most of the inhabitants appear to be pinecones though.

Yeah I've noticed that a lot of (used to be) regulars on some of the garden tractor forums and apache pop up camper forums I am part of have been said to have defected there.
I ain't a Fakebook member, was never into day to day blah blah blah gossip so I've stayed out, resisted going there, but I might not be able to stay outta there to find what I'm looking for.

There are a bUNCH of Face Book groups for the Dodge Trucks. '72-'80, '81-93, and about any mix you want.

I thought the 1st gen Ram started in 1981 because that was the first years to have the Ram name by Dodge.
Don your on FTO which is mostly Dodge. Yes there are Ford and Chevy sections on there but with as little of traffic they get might as well be nonexistent. Of course the site as a whole doesn't get much traffic.

61-71 Sweptline.
72-80 Tin Grill
81-93 1st gen Ram
Right?
To me Squarebody is a Chevy thing just like High Boy is a Ford thing concerning trucks.

High boy is commonly misused too. The term is correct for 67 to 77 F250 4wd ONLY. Those trucks can fit a 36 inch tire stock.

No such thing as an F150 high boy, no 78 79 high boy. Many use the term to describe any 73 to 79 F trucks. Nope Nope Nope.

And yeah the 1st gen Dodge thing started with the Cummins. 89 to 93 is 1st, 94 to 98 2nd, then I get lost. The key with those is that the gen is referring to the engine, not the truck.

I thought 72 to 80 were Power Wagon?

Power Wagons are 4wd going back forever.
I'm thinking there is a difference between 1st gen Ran and 1st gen Cummins. 1981 was the first year for the Dodge "Ram".

I built this 1978 F250 that had 44" meats. I thought it was pretty high, boy. lol.

I thought 1980 was first year for "Ram"

If you think the generations are screwed up on full size pickups, go take a look at the Dakota forums.

Maybe so. My 1980 tin grill didn't have the same Ram badging like the 81 and up but did say Dodge ram on the tail gate and a ram decal on the fenders..

All the on this truck thread has me to the point I'm not sure what I have

1st Genration with Cummins

I think the term First Gen is dumb too. The younger generation like to use that term to describe the 89-93 Cummins powered trucks, and seems it has become an all encompassing term now to describe the 81-93 trucks. Seems like a lot of younger guys cannot identify trucks by year, so they use a generalization.
Tin Grille is another dumb term too. Aluminum isn't tin.

When it started it was only Cummins based, and the only way it make sense.

Arrrrggh.... Fake book.

I was going to mention that. My buddy had a 1980 with the ram decals on the fenders too but it was converted to a tow truck within the first year or two so I have no idea what it said on the tailgate.

In my opinion the 1st generation is 1972-1993. Forget Ram and Cummins. The frames were all very close, wheelbases were the same, cabs, boxes and sheet metal could be swapped easily with minor modifications. Bumpers bolted on and plow frames could be used throughout the 21 years. That's my take on it.

Yep 72-93 is the same platform. 22 years actually.

While I agree with 72-93 being all " the same" generation

But I don't agree with that being considered "1st" generation, as that is to say that Dodge didn't build "any" trucks prior to that????? BULL$#1T. All the more reason I wish I could afford to go find me a solid old "Dodge Brothers " version on which to restore. So I could then show everyone what "1st gen" Dodge trucks really were. Or at least find me a a 64-71.

Right. 1st gen implies nothing before IMO. Weird.

While we're on this topic, I believe the dropping of "Dodge" and making "Ram" a stand alone division was a major marketing faux pas by corporate. People are still confused and I'm constantly hearing "Dodge Ram". Dodge trucks were/are a legendary brand with loyal followers and this marketing move blurred the brand IMO. They could've kept the slogan "Ram tough".

They could've kept the slogan "Ram tough".



This alone doesn't exactly say "RAM TOUGH" to me..........

Was never a fan of the "ram" name, I also remember the commercials of the two rams locking horns. Could never figure out why they went with the name. Should have kept the old Dodge logo also.

The original "RAM" was actually a long horned sheep, but the idea was to show how tough the trucks were. Nothing produces the image of being tough better then to watch two long horned sheep banging their horns together time after time and keep going after it. They slam together hard enough to lift their rear feet off the ground, back up and do it again, and again. The term was first used to describe the early 30s Dodge trucks, the first redesign after WW1 that gave the Dodge trucks the reputation for being tough dependable trucks.

This truck "Gen" thing is another crossover (like the term "Square body") from the Chevy truck camp. When the Chevy trucks couldn't hang with the Dodges, and the Chevy boys that needed a real truck, they brought their pet name tags for their junk along with them, so they could feel better about themselves being traitors, more at home.

I suspect that part of the reason these trucks are so poorly supported is because Dodge ran this truck for so many years, when the 94 all new trucks came out, everyone except the hard core guys jumped ship on the new design. Now that the 94 and more modern trucks have a similar shape, the loved of the old design is making a come back, but much of the knowledge base is no longer around (or may not clearly remember ). 30 years will do that.

Pretty sure you mean big horn sheep. A quick Google search of "long horn sheep" goes directly to "big horn sheep" but I can't find any reference to the terms being interchangeable.

Could be, old age does that sometimes, and I'm too lazy to look for the book I read the info in. Long horn or big horn was still male sheep butting heads together to claim territory.

Not Dodge specific but has sections for Dodge as well as the other brands. It's an OK site but not as active as the "brother" sites like forbbodiesonly / forabodiesonly,....

https://www.fortrucksonly.com/truckforum/

Ramchargercentral is good too. Lots of overlap with pickups and plenty active.

The 1st gen sections of Cumminsforum.com also has Lots of information on chassis and body. Mainly for higher gvw but still good information.

The website - machopowerwagon.com was another one I used to frequent a bit back when I had my 2 lifestyle trucks. But that was 10 years ago. That site is now a ghost town. A bit of shame as there was alot of good package trucks on there like palominos, machos, top hand, LRE, etc. I guess I will check out Ramchargercentral.... But I agree with the OP. Drives me nuts that the Bow tie guys and Ford guys have dedicated sites and not much for dodges. It also kills me the amount of aftermarket stuff available for gm squarebody trucks. Its absolutley nuts but I guess its simple statistics... More GM trucks were sold than dodges and from a business perspective I get it. Just irritates me all the parts I see that are available.