I'm looking to get a big turbodiesel truck for hauling stuff. Probably get a used one, since the turbodiesel engines are pretty darn reliable. Looking specifically at getting a Dodge Ram since I heard those are great trucks and can even be made to go fast with certain mods. Does anyone have experience with that truck? I'd love to hear some feedback before I get serious into purchasing one.

 

I know people with them and they kick ***. Id love to have one but dirtbikes dont qualify for the towing capabilities.
I love the Dodges, been in a ford TD that was super fast and it was a work truck with utility cabinets and all. I dont think you can go wrong, unless you lower it haha gross

 

I'd try finding a forum for showing horses. those people usually have duellies and use them for hauling quite a bit of weight

 

I'll probably put a big lift kit on mine if I do get one. That and some propane injection and a 4" exhaust.

 

cummings diesels are the ****

nothing like a 6 cylinder diesel performing just as well as all the V8 Diesels

I wish my ram was a cummings

 

You can't go wrong with the Cummins motors. They are practically bullet proof. If you are looking at a late model truck, start with the 98's as I believe that was the first year of the 24 valve motors. The older trucks can be made to make some serious power as well but with the newer trucks it's easier. There were some older high output diesels that made 505 ft/lbs before the latest generation that makes 610 ft/lbs of torque. I've heard of some tranny issues with the automatics so if you do some serious hauling I would probably stick with the 6 speed or get an extended warrantee of some sort.

FWIW, I have seen a 98 regular cab dodge with a pumped motor run 11's at Sears. They can be made into serious machines.

Bill

 

Id check out Banks, I see that everywhere but dont know much about it.

its cool when you can buy a 6 inch exhaust tip and get 100 ftlbs

 

Go here.. http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/

The best FREE Dodge Diesel site on the net IMHO. I'm Racenut there too, though I don't post much.. sorta like here.. I use it mainly to learn.

Turbo Diesel Register is another one that's really good, but charges a membership fee.

Cummins FTW! Mainly because my wagon would look damn silly with a 5th wheel hitch mounted on the roof

If you're gonna get a new one, get one before the 07's come out.. they're going to a new motor.. 6.7L. Not quite unproven since it's been used in other applications, but they had to go to a bigger motor in order to keep the same power level with all the EPA regs going into effect. It will also be a while before you're able to start "bombing" them.. trucks are cool that way..l you don't "tune" them.. you "bomb" them Sounds so much tougher :-p

Anyway, I put a $300 Quadzilla XZT module in my truck and added 65HP and 165LB/FT Torque.... the 04.5 and up come from the factory with a 4" Exhaust, so killing the kitty is about all you need to do there. They're so cheap to get really decent power out of. Then you start spending money and it's get crazy.. lots of 1000ft/lb trucks out there.

Mine will pull my 10K pound 5th wheel over Pacheco pass at an EASY 65mph... it would probably do 75 if I was crazy enough, but with that much weight, I take it easy.

With the trannys, there were a few issues, mostly with bombed 4x4 trucks with the 47RE auto. They switched to the 48RE in late 03 I think and it's been much better.. but similar to our Subarus.. the tranny does seem to be the "weak link" though I'm not sure you can say hanging onto 800+ ft/lbs is "weak".

 

Banks is marketed real well..... they make a good product.... but way expensive for the power you get. When you start talking to the guys that really go big on the power, Banks doesn't come up in the conversation much unless they're using a Banks intercooler which is a nice piece. The general concensus is that Banks is for people who don't know any better

 

Awesome! Great info there Racenut. So which brand would you go with? And what mods are the best bang for the buck? I'm looking to get a '05 Ram with a 6spd if possible.

 

I have a 99 with a Edge comp box, 4" catless exhaust and Intake. The truck pulls like a monster and is happy living with a enclosed trailor, car, tools and spares all day at 65mph and 16mpg.

If you get an 98.5-02 watch out for the VP44 fuel pump.

Mike

 

We have an 05 Ram 2500 Quadcab, 4x4 with the diesel of course. We looked Ford, Chevy and then Dodge. We sold our Dodge 1500 and my wife wanted something "different".

Tried real hard to buy a Ford, we know the Ford dealer here so this should have been easy.. we walk in, he gives us the invoice and that's that. Then we drove them... it's easier to go around the block than to make a U-turn in a Ford. Noisy as hell, and both the trucks we drove had issues.. one of them was surging badly. Also, I didn't want leather and the cloth interior on the 05 Ford looks like it belongs in a Kia. It's funny to me when I see the Ford guys cite "quality issues" when referring to the Dodge.. maybe they havn't looked at the Dodge since 1985.

So then we went to Chevy/GMC, nice truck. Comfortable, quiet. But at the time, nobody was dealing.. they all acted like giving me $500 off the sticker was doing me a favor... after walking out of every dealership in the area we finally decided to take another look at the Dodge.

The new Dodge was just as quiet as the Chevy... I think the Chevy is a little quieter at idle, but the Dodge is a little quieter on the highway. It seems the thing that most people knock the Dodge for is having a smaller quadcab... well.. now they have the megacab.. but the Quadcab is just fine. It's maybe an inch or two smaller and while I wouldn't want to ride back there across country, I fit just fine and it's very roomy for my kids. They were also willing to deal so a similar Dodge was about $6000 less than a Ford or Chevy.

As far as bang for the buck mods.. check out the boxes by Quadzilla. I got the mild XZT because I'm really only interested in towing performance. My wife drives the truck daily and isn't much one to hot rod. I also got their Commander module, which is basically digital guages. Very nice and compact and gives me all the info I want. If you register at DTR that I mentioned above, the guy that runs that site will give you a better deal too

 

so i can still laugh at the guys that drive their 20 foot tall trucks thru the city hauling a little dirtbike.
HA silly wannabe rednecks

 

I grew up about 10 miles from the nearest paved road, driving nothing but pickups (mostly 70's Ford 4WDs), so I can't resist throwing in my two cents. Don't go with duals unless you really need them for the load, they really hurt your rear end traction if you don't have a lot of weight on the rear axle and conditions are poor. Unless all pickups are AWD these days . . . I'm about a decade behind in first hand experience for these things.

 

Hey--I have not driven a ford TD or a Chevy TD but often drive my sister's 05 RAM 2500 HD TD with a 6 speed manual. I pull a trailer with 6 dragon boats on it for a total weight of roughly 7000 lbs. The truck barely notices the trailer/weight and behaves the same as if there were no trailer back there! I feel as though I could easily pull 2x that load! I have pulled the same load with a (gasoline) suburban 2500 and the sub sucked compared to the truck. Even pulling the trailer, the truck gets 16.5 mpg. Everything I have read about the cummins motor indicates bulletproof! I would get an 04 or newer due to the generation motor that is in those trucks. I also advise staying away from the 07s because of the new strangulation emissions rules.

lndbrusr