Should I let my friend buy a Ram?!?!?

[Nick26]

Ok my friend is getting rid of his 95 Nissan Hardbody cause things just keep going left and right on it and he's barely had it a year. So he was looking to trade up for a newer Ranger until he found this Ram 1500 at the dealership down the street from him. Its a 96 ext cab with about 80K miles on it, 5.2L Magnum V8, Auto tranny, Power everything, Manual Transfer case and a set of 31's and their asking 9k. He said the underside looked clean, no rust, and under the hood looked clean too. We do off-road nearly every weekend (probably the reason his nissan died ) so keep in mind the truck would definitely get muddy. I'm purely a Ford guy and never had anything but bad experiences with Dodge but that was a long time ago too so I don't know anything about the newer ones. Who can tell me a little something about this truck, anyone know of real problem areas to look out for? Im going to look at it today with him so reply ASAP, Thanks for your help!

if this is posted in the wrong spot feel free to move it...

 

[RFR2212]

Uh i dunno... it's gonna be his truck... Let him get what he wants, and what he feels comfortable with

 

[Nick26]

Oh yeah ofcourse, but hes' just lookin for a little advice on it to make sure he doesn't run into problems again and wanted my input.

 

[xwhaler]

Nick,
where in Mass are you from?

 

[james t]

tell him to start a transmission fund. i know many people with 94-up Dodge half tons that are on their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th tranny. seems its even worse than Ford's A4LD. my neighbor seems to get a new tranny every year.

 

[Jester1994]

xwhaler

Hey xwhaler, I am from Western mass and also go to school at UNH in durham. that's funny, the first person I've seen in here that goes to UNH. I'll email you...

 

[Nick26]

xwhaler: I'm in North Chelmsford right near Lowell... where do you wheel around here(that is if you offroad)? The only places in Mass that I have been offroading is down by where I went to school in the Freetown/Fall River State Forest.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Originally posted by RFR2212
Uh i dunno... it's gonna be his truck... Let him get what he wants, and what he feels comfortable with

For some reason it won't let me vote. But I second, RFR2212.

 

[Nick26]

I guess I should have phrased the title differently cause you guys are missing the point. no hard feelings. I was just trying to find out if the Ram was a good investment for him or not cause he's not that up on all the latest trucks. james t seemed to get it though, thanks for the info.

I have a feeling that the voting problem has something to do with where I posted it.

 

[squd92expsp]

Tranny is deffinately the weak point of the '96 Ram. My boss's '96 (same as the one you said, but with over 100K milage) has been in twice to have the transmission worked on. But other then that and a couple of oil leaks hasn't been too bad of a truck, and that's serving construction duty. So check out the tranny carefully.

 

[Shurup]

I had been working for a towing company for a wile and I can say that during that time, Dodges were the only trucks I towed with tranny problems. Not only middle of 90's Dodges got tranny problems but many newer Dodge trucks (less than a year old) were towed back to dilerships.
In fact, I never towed FORD or GM with tranny pronlem, so personally I would stay away from Dodges. FORD and GM - whatever he likes but not Dodge.

 

[DarkFox1]

I dont have "permission" to give my input so I will anyway dont let em! if you've ever driven one or known anyone that owns a dodge you already know they're not up to par

 

[Premier]

Dodge has a good engine in it. It would last forever, unfortunately if your going to be off roading then i'll place bets on the body falling apart real quick. I wouldnt buy a dodge unless it came with the new Hemi.

 

[Shurup]

I will agree that the engine is good and would last forever, but unless they put better tranny behind that engine I wouldn't even think about buying a Dodge.

 

[FourXFred]

where do you wheel around here(that is if you offroad)?

Nick, i live in townsend, like 2 towns over from you. I actually just Graduated from Nashoba Tech in westford (class of 2002). There is NOWHERE legal to go wheeling here. I belive it is against the law to even park on your yard, if it is not paved. I usually go wheeling up in New Hampshire.

My buddy that I wheel with has a 94 dodge, same setup as your buddy is looking into. It is the slowest vehicle I have ever driven. In 4-High, it will not climb hills off road. I would never want to tow anything with it. And it is MISERABLE on gas. His first tranny went at 120k, and he has replaced them pretty much with every oil change since then. But, if hes just looking for a BIG, very comfortable truck that will sound INSANE with dual flowmasters, let him buy it. Then send him to a good mechanic. Ill PM you next time i go wheeling if you want, to show you some of the trails in the area.

 

[Muskrat]

Crysler, building crap since 1972

 

[TarHeel085]

Originally posted by Muskrat
Crysler, building crap since 1972

BWAHAHAHA!!

 

[Randall]

Nick, your sig is too long.

Oh yeah, and everyone should have a hydraulic RAM on their truck