Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: AmbulanceDriver on August 20, 2011, 03:57:53 PM
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SWMBO and I have the opportunity to buy a 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 with 60,000 miles on it for about $7k. The guy is in a hurry to sell, it's about $600 below blue book for the condition it's in. Cummins Turbo Diesel, 5.9L I6 12 valve. The only downside (for me anyways) is that it's an automatic instead of a manual transmission.
We've been looking at trucks for a while and this one basically just landed in our lap, but we need to move pretty quick as the guy is needing the money.
Any major (or minor) pitfalls I need to be aware of for this particular rig?
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It's a Dodge. Go for it.
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My FIL has the exact same truck one model year newer (but he has the manual tranny and 4x4) and I absolutely love driving it. So I'm used to the truck and the size of it... We're definitely leaning towards buying this rig. :D
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I've got a '97 Dakota with a manual that I really like. It's going to replaced eventually by another Dakota, a newer model with the V8 and 4wd this time. While I'd like a bigger Dodge Ram, the Dakota fits my needs pretty well.
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Check for tire wear. For the most part, they are very solid trucks but front-end work can be expensive.
If I were looking for a Diesel pickup, it would be a nineties Dodge like this one.
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Yeah, I remember seeing your truck when we met up for that rocketry event down your way. I'm pretty stoked about this rig. It's in just about showroom condition according to SWMBO's uncle. That nice dark Hunter Green color with a silver pinstripe, so it's a nice looking truck too... Canopy, spray in bedliner, and carpet kit over the bedliner. So it hasn't been abused by being overloaded with rock or dirt...
The tires are pretty much brand new, and tire wear seems even all the way around.
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If the Cummins has the mechanical fuel injection pump, I would say go for it. =)
We had a 94 Cummins wildland fire engine that was great, until it committed suicide by rolling down a hill.
I know folks with the newer electronic fuel injection pump that have had to replace the thing a couple times, at about $3000 a whack =(
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I'll check that, but I believe this is the mechanical pump...
ETA: yep, this year still had the Bosch mechanical fuel injector pump....
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I personally have a ford. Buttt....
The 12 valve motor is bullet proof. You will replace the truck 3 times around the motor.
Plus there pretty easy to hop up. A friend of mine has one making about 650hp at the wheels.
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I personally have a ford. Buttt....
The 12 valve motor is bullet proof. You will replace the truck 3 times around the motor.
Plus there pretty easy to hop up. A friend of mine has one making about 650hp at the wheels.
HOLY CRAP! 650hp at the wheels? That's roughly 3 times the rated hp for that engine. What'd he do (besides increase fuel consumption something fierce)?
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The 12 valve motor is bullet proof. You will replace the truck 3 times around the motor.
My impression of the fire truck was that it really need a truck to go with the engine (especially the parking brake :( ).
After driving it back here from Missoula, I got the definite impression that it wouldn't be to hard to break a driveline or axle just by romping on the diesel pedal, especially off-road in low range with a ton of water on the back. I actually warned everyone about that.
What we didn't know is that the parking brake would pop and it would jump a 6" tall chock :O
I used to run a Clark 666 skidder with that same basic engine. It just had a way bigger oil pan.
We now have a 2008 (?) quad cab. Nice truck but I hate the lack of visibility driving it. You can't hardly see over the hood. :(
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Does it come with complimentary truck nutz and road rage?
:-*
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I was wondering how long the truck nutz were gonna stay out of this thread..... :D
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I was wondering how long the truck nutz were gonna stay out of this thread..... :D
Heck, he pretty well invited the truck nutz here.... =D
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Bullet proof engine, like the rest said. Almost as much aftermarket stuff as a small block Chevy. The motor will outlast the rest of the truck itself several times over, including the trans (repeatedly). Shame it's not a manual, but otherwise awesome truck.
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I would say jump on it, especially at that price.
Personally, I prefer my Duramax, but you won't find one of those anywhere near that price. The Dodge will do.
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Well, here's the pics of the new truck. Should be landing in our driveway in a couple of weeks (my wife's aunts are coming up for a family visit, so they offered to bring it up then)
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg69.imageshack.us%2Fimg69%2F4126%2Fimagejpeg953.jpg&hash=8662c1085fff6a0870e4cd8ce6e894e8f744327e)
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg683.imageshack.us%2Fimg683%2F6236%2Fimagejpeg950t.jpg&hash=688fedb1cb632c842840b2ba8413c6e1cb4c19ba)
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Good looking rig!
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Yeah, we're really excited to get it up here...
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Nice rig....you'll enjoy it.... :cool:
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Is that 2wd or 4wd ???
Either way, it doesn't look like you'll be taking it off road much ;)
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it's 2wd. That's one of the two things that I was disappointed on about this truck (the other being it's an automatic transmission, but at least that way SWMBO can drive it).
We aren't big off-road types anyways, but there are times when 4wd is handy to have....
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it's 2wd. That's one of the two things that I was disappointed on about this truck (the other being it's an automatic transmission, but at least that way SWMBO can drive it).
We aren't big off-road types anyways, but there are times when 4wd is handy to have....
Where we live out in the boonies, a 2wd is about worthless if it rains very much.
OTOH, when we still live in western CO, I got to where I didn't care much about 4wd and didn't own one anymore. Even back roads had enough rocks that they weren't bad when wet, and in the winter it stayed so cold that you didn't have to worry much about ice. We had an old 2wd Suburban that we went practically everywhere with - just had to watch out for bog holes up in the back country, and even those will stick a 4wd about half the time.
4wd is highly over-rated and really unnecessary for the vast majority of people.
But these days it's become almost standard equipment. ;/
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I rarely used the 4WD in my old F150, but this diesel makes the truck so front heavy that I've been stuck in my own driveway after a rain. I could get out with 2WD, but why make a big mess?
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I rarely used the 4WD in my old F150, but this diesel makes the truck so front heavy that I've been stuck in my own driveway after a rain. I could get out with 2WD, but why make a big mess?
Well, that's an interesting thing to note. =|
Never owned a diesel pickup, myself. Had an old Cat, though.
Even my log truck was gas (GMC V6).
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Well, we just got the truck today! It's in great condition... But because it has sat so often, the tires aren't in very good condition, even though they should have plenty of tread life left. The engine is strong, plenty of power, and on the drive up here from NorCal, it got 20.3 MPG, with the A/C running.
I think I'm gonna be very happy.... :)
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Congrats, AD. Sounds like you made out pretty well. Enjoy your new ride by driving it down to the Sheridan launch on Sept. 23 - 25.
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Not a bad idea.... I do have the 24th and 25th off.... If we're not in the middle of working on the house still (installing new windows) we just might have to come see you attempt to achieve low earth orbit.... :P
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Are the tires rotted, or what ???
I don't see how sitting would hurt them much, except tubeless tires tend to go flat if they're not driven on.
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we were told that one of the tires was "separating" (haven't had a chance to look at it yet, as they mounted the spare and chucked the bad tire in the spare holder under the bed).
So we'll see what's going on, as the other three seem to be ok....
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we were told that one of the tires was "separating" (haven't had a chance to look at it yet, as they mounted the spare and chucked the bad tire in the spare holder under the bed).
So we'll see what's going on, as the other three seem to be ok....
Might be a rot issue - was that tire sitting in more sunlight...?
We had something weird happen with one of our wildland fire trucks - a 1 ton single wheel pickup with a 200 gal tank and pump in the bed. It started handling really strange sometimes. One time we were headed down the highway to do mutual aid, and it just started to "come apart" going around a corner at about 65mph. I've driven a lot of old trucks with various issues, but this felt just like you were towing a long trailer that was tail heavy and swinging. For a few seconds I thought we were dead, but I finally got it coaxed around the corner and slowed down to about 50-55 the rest of the way there and back.
The fire chief drove it somewhere and claimed it was just fine, but then some other volunteers drove it and it scared them to death. I thought that the frame must be broke. Finally, somehow it was discovered that the tread was trying to come off of one or both of the back tires. :O
So our VFD put two new tires on it, and since we got another dually wildland engine from the state, we pulled the tank/pump out it, put an old topper on it, and are using it for a command/service vehicle. It's actually sitting in my driveway right now as we don't have room for it in the fire hall. It drives pretty nice with new rear tires and all that weight off the back. =)