I'll be shopping for a 4-wheel drive used Dodge 2500 with Cummins / 5-speed soon, so what are the best years to look at?

Thanks!

Probably whatever year you can find. Those things aren't a dime dozen and expect to pay the price for it.

Ive been told BR body style

1999 to 2001

Power is never a concern, usually the question is fuel mileage:

For fuel mileage if you can find a First Gen with 3.08's is the best.
Second choice is 3.54's and those are available all the way to '02.

The 02's and prior are the most reliable engine-wise, but there are issues with the 5 speed reliability.

Despite the complete BS that gets printed on here, it's common knowledge in the Dodge Diesel community that the 03's and up common rails are reliability nightmares and fuel hogs. 3.73 gears are the reason fuel mileage took a dump. The common rail problems and schitt mileage are openly admitted from Cummins (I deal with them a lot). It sounds like Dodge addressed all the complaining did something about the fuel mileage and went back to a 3.42 diff.

What are you planning to use it for?

Use will be for a work truck, commuter for my construction job.

Occasional snow plow and car trailer towing also.

If MPG seems excessive, there is a local 4x4 place that does gear swaps all the time, so thank you for that info.

I'll try to save you a lot of unnecessary expense and suggest a gas pot.

A diesel is not a commuter vehicle: they need several miles (like 20) in the winter for full warm up, and no, idling for half an hour in the morning does not warm them up. Unfortunately with renting (leasing) new vehicles, many Wanna-be Truck Drivers park a new diesel in their driveway to impress the Neighbors and use them to drive 2 miles to Home Depot or 2 miles to their job. This absolutely effs these trucks up and it does not show up until you the second-hand buyer gets it. A guy I worked with this winter, hid Dad got one of these units....................$13,000.00 in two repair bills and the truck only had 80,000 miles on it. I laughed when he told me the story.

Barry: You have helped a lot of people on this forum including myself, so I'm just trying to pay it forward to you: it's too much to get into, but I'll cut right to the point: don't buy diesel.

A 6.4 Power Wagon, or 360/V10 2nd Gen is all the truck you will ever need. I pull E-Bodies on my open car-hauler with a 360 Magnum like they ain't even there. I've pulled 5400 pound QC 4x4 2Gens on the same car hauler and the 360 can still do it. Do I get passed by a Cummins? Yes. Am I paying $15,000.00 for the engine/trans and 45 cents a gallon more for diesel? No. Do I miss my Cummins diesels? Not in the least bit.

I have a 1998 12 valve 5-spd, a 2010 6.7 automatic, and have had a 2001 manual and a 2005 manual. The only ones that get (got) reasonable mileage is the '98 and the '01. The '98 can reliably pull down 18-20. The NV4500 did the traditional 5th gear failure but there are good fixes out there. On a good day the '10 6.7 might, might, get about 14 mpg on the highway turning about 1900 rpm. Power out the wazoo but you pay for it. If I was going to do straight highway hauling I'd still go with the Cummins, but for around town and short trip, I'm with Grizzly, a gas rig makes more sense.

(Notice I haven't even mention DEF which is another drawback to the current versions)

The 5-speeds are junk, buy a 6-speed NV5600 to save yourself major downtime. 2000-2002 are the only years you want. I didn't like the G56 Mercedes 6-speed in the common rail trucks either, went through a few of them too... But I am with Griz too, just turned 206K on my 2015 5.7 4x4 2500 and tow constantly with it, I will never go back to a diesel unless it is a steal. I know where a 2wd regular cab 3500 is that has the NV5600 and 300K miles and it is $5K, that may be cheap enough for me to take another chance...

rDART ... if you don’t move on it I would appreciate the referral ... definitely a 2wd for me as long as it has a suregrip!

I'd be happy with 10 mpg, so anything beyond that would be a bonus.

My last Cummins was in a 72 passenger school bus I converted to a motor home for the move here to PA, loved that rig, it did have an Allison automatic though.

My typical commute is 45 minutes or more at job sites all over PA and there will be times I'll need to pull big loads.

In cold weather I can plug in the block heater.

In nice weather I am not at all opposed to driving one of the 50 year old cars.

Any thoughts on the older 1st generations Cummins trucks and do the 3500s use the same gear box as the 2500s?

Thanks for all the thoughts so far, I also had a V-10 '99 with the 5 seed and loved it.

based on what you want it for I agree, a Gas motor truck would serve you well. And if you dont mind 10mpg ( loaded or empty ) a V10 would be perfect.
There was a V10 5 spd truck just advertised out here for about $5000????? ( don't know if it sold or not as I really want a 1500 and auto )


Diesels out here command decent money, regardless of model year.

But deals do pop up from time to time.
Just a few weeks back there was a 1999 quad cab , 2wd Diesel Auto. white truck with grey interior. I think miles was around 175k. 'Listed for $6900 and was gone same day. As a general rule something similar gets advertised at $10k and up

Ive been watching for a clean truck for my next daily driver. And I would prefer a clean 1998 to 2001 quad cab 2wd auto . Trust me out here clean gas motor trucks of similar years pull $4k easily.
Im not really after a diesel truck per say, But If I had seen that cummins truck sooner I would have gave it some serious thought

I spent over 7 hours on the road today, went to look at a truck and got the deal done.

I have a ride arranged for next weekend to go get it and bring it home.

Former fire department brush rig with only 44K miles, dings and so on but no rot.

It is a first generation D350 5-speed 4x4 with a limited slip rear, 4.10 gears. It gets 21.5 MPG.

At some point I'll likely swap the gears out for something less aggressive, but I'll drive it for a while first just to see how I like it.

So it's a W350? Is it a dually? Has the Getrag trans. Sounds like a decent truck but you know we need pics!

Yes to W350 and yes to dually.

I had my camera but I was having too much fun to take photos.

So next weekend when I get it home for pics.

Sure it does.

Any credibility you ever had............gone.

Really? That is what the seller told me and everything else he told me was spot on.

I will check it myself just for fun though.

He has a farm and the gooseneck was added to haul hay, so it was not on the highway much & I have no reason to doubt his statement.

If you know him to be a liar, please by all means send me an email with what you know about his honesty?

Gotcha, he hauls hay with it at 21.5mpg, should do 45mpg without that trailer behind it. lol, good one buddy.

I had a 92 for awhile that was a total beater with over 300,000 miles on it. It ran great and while the speedometer and odometer didn't work well enough to figure the MPG it seemed like it went FOREVER on a tank of fuel. I wouldn't doubt 20+MPG empty at 65-70MPH. Remember those 1st gens only had 160 horsepower.

You are the one full of sh!t. I've made 4, 1600 mile round trips from FL to WV in my 1st Gen. Hauling loads up and returning to FL empty. My truck gets 22MPG rolling down the highway at 80 MPH. On the last run back to FL it turned over 300,000 miles. It just made it's last trip up to WV yesterday. I could squeak out 25-26 MPG with my old 89 D350 5 speed.

Owned two First Gens and three Second Gens.......best one of the lot did 16mpg with 3.54's and a 60hp Edge chip. Additionally, I deal with a ton of people that run these trucks and they all get the same mileage as I did.

The odd person who needs to justify the 50 grand they just blew on a Cummins and 45 cent a gallon more for diesel will claim 20 to 35 mpg like a few on here, but all of us true Diesel Guys know they are full of it. There is also that other faction that after getting 9mpg out of a 454 or 460, and now getting 15mpg out of a Cummins feels like winning the lottery. Yes, a 50% improvement over a big block gas is huge, but it sure as hell isn't 32mpg like some of you have claimed on here in the past.

Guitar, you might as well add the house you were pulling behind you at 80mph and got 22mpg and ruin your credibility with me too.

Real World Cummins Fuel Mileage