ex ram truck owners

Ok folks like the opening topic said. I used to have a Dakota yrs ago. I want to how many were full size ram ex owners on this fourm. And why you joined the taco force. I have seen plenty of exford owners and exchevy also. Due to many of thier problems( mid 2000s to now are not good as the 90's).
Lets keep to ram issues here and stay in topic.

 

I've owned a total of 4 Tacomas (or SR5's prior to becoming the Tacoma) and one Tundra. Prior to the Tacoma I drive now, I owned my first Dodge. A 2004 2500 Quad Cab, Long Bed, 4wd, Hemi/automatic. It was a great truck for what I needed it for. (I dragged a 25'/14,000gvwr gooseneck trailer around behind it most of the time)

I no longer needed it for pulling trailers. It was destroyed in a wreck. I had my mind made up before the wreck that I was getting another Tacoma. If I was to buy another 3/4-ton or 1-ton truck again, I wouldn't hesitate one second to buy another Dodge. But all things equal, the Tacoma's have always been my favorite vehicle to drive.

 

love seeing the 90's rams. Reminds me of walker texas ranger, and twister. I play pool with a guy who has 400,000 miles on his. I saw his odo

 

I used to own/drive a 1996 Dodge Ram double cab truck which I purchased brand new back in Dec. of 1995. Had it till I parted with it back in April of 2008 when I purchased my 2008 Tacoma brand new.
Before I had purchased that 1996 Dodge truck, I drove a 1986 Toyota X-Tra Cab truck which was also purchased brand new in the summer of 1986. I loved that truck!
During the time that I had it, it was stolen from me three times, two times previously recovered and restored but after the third time-well it was gone for good it was never found/recovered, stolen from my driveway in late November of 1995.

Oh and by the way, I definitely don't miss that Dodge Ram pickup.

 

Miss my Ram at times. Went to one of those "quick lube" places for an oil change and they used the wrong plug. I slowly lost all my oil without warning on a 2 day trip. My engine blew. After 3 weeks of fighting they replaced my engine ($18k) with a "refurbished" one from Dodge. I wasn't thrilled with the idea so I sold it. Like my Tacoma by I must say I do miss all the bells and whistles my Ram had. Heated/cooled leather seats, power rear slider, side view mirror defrost, nav, sirius radio, moon roof...

 

Had a couple rams and several dakotas. Still have one dak now. But always had a thing for Tacomas and got me one.

 

Had a couple rams and several dakotas. Still have one dak now. But always had a thing for Tacomas and got me one.

 

I've only owned one truck and it's been a Tacoma, but I have a question for you guys that owned dodges.

How was maintaining these vehicles? Easy? Hard? Were the engine bays cramped and hard to work in? I'm curious, where I live I've only gotten the opportunity to work on Honda's and Ford's, and never any Mopar stuff.

 

I've owned two Rams a 05 and a 12, they aren't hard to work on at all, however the one thing that does suck is the spark plugs, the hemi uses 16 plugs and the back 4 are so far back there I could barely get them sitting on the engine

 

My previous truck was a '96 2500 regular cab 4X4 with the Cummins engine and auto tranny. When I ordered it, I should have gotten the manual transmission. Instead, I went with the auto and had nothing but problems with it - some fault of the truck, some mine. When the engine was stock, I had to have the tranny replaced at 10K. By the time I hit 30K, the converter as shuttering. I had a new converter installed along with a shift kit and then started the power mods. It finally gave out at 130K when the input shaft broke after quite a few years of serious abuse. I just couldn't justify dumping about 6 or 7K into a built tranny. I do miss that thing as it as a lot of fun to drive. Nothin' but brute torque as I was running big injectors and fuel plate along with turbo mods. It could honestly lay strips for a couple hundred feet. The downside was that it seemed like I was always needing to fix something - being nickle and dimed to death. Even with that, some days I still wish I had that truck.

 

I still have a big bumpy 600 Hp dodge in the yard .

Most days I just get in the slow quiet Toyota . It's comfy , and I'm not towing or acting an ass with the loud pedal .

 

I had a 2009 ram. In all honesty it was a great truck. Never had an issue with it. I got a new job that gave me a company car so after putting only 1200 miles on it in a year we traded that and my wife's car in for a different car. Then I got a different job yet again that gave me a car allowance so I got smart and bought a truck with killer resale value and got my 2014 dclb

 

I would not mind having a Ram SRT 10 with a 6 speed Manual

 

interesting posts,, keep it coming.. I would use a ram for my hauling and heavy use.. while still keep a taco for dd duty for work

 

Never had an issue you with my second ram, first one at about 90k I pulled out of a dealer when I was looking at a jeep and as I hit the gas to go up the hill my toms went high and I didn't move very fast lol, needless to say it got traded in

 

2001 Ram Quad cab Sport 5.9L. At about 22K, the front hubs had to be replaced due to bearings as well as brakes on all four corners. 30k miles, started having intermittent issues with air bag light and check engine light going on and off. 53k miles, plastic trim starts to either break or crack along with dash. 65k miles, started having tranny issues not wanting to go in reverse at times. 80k miles, clogged cats. 86k miles, sold truck. Truck was never abused, never raced, never used for towing or hauling heavy loads. As far as maintenance, 5k oil changes, 30k axle oil changes, 60k trans fluid change. Took the truck in 4 different times for the check engine lights/air bag lights for dealer to fix it. Worst vehicle we've ever owned. This was my sister's truck she owned for 6 years. Sold it and she bought a 4runner. 90k+ trouble free miles so far.

 

I've had three Rams ('03 '04 and '11)...loved them all. Just sold the '11 a few months a ago when I got the Tacoma as my new company vehicle. I drive a lot, 44,000 miles on the Taco since beginning of March.

Sometimes I miss the Ram's power but it was a no brainer to sell it, don't need two trucks and the Taco is free...so far, so good.

 

1990 Dodge Ramcharger with a 360, 4x4, auto, 4" lift, 35" bfgs, Dana 44/60 8 lug axles.
1997 Dakota v6 auto.
2003 Durango 4.7 auto.
Miss the Ramcharger. Had it for almost 15 years. Sold it due to rust and no Superferry.

 

I guess I'll weigh in on what issues my '04 Dodge 2500 had over the 10 years I owned it. (It was totaled in a wreck 10 years to the day from when I bought it new)

The first issue was at 66,000 miles. The very first of the 5.7 liter hemi's had valve spring issues. They used the same valve spring as the earlier 5.0 hemi's and they just didn't hold up. The exhaust valve spring on the #1 cylinder broke the inner spring. Fortunately, it did NOT drop a valve. I had it towed to the dealer and a complete set of new (update) springs were installed.

At 121,000, the left steering u-joint started to fail. I changed that. At 144,000, the right side needed the same part. At 187,000, the left front wheel bearing started to fail. I did both left and right bearings at that time.

190,000, the AC evaporator coil sprung a leak. I understand that is a common malady on 90's through 2000's Dodges, trucks, vans, and some cars.

CD player would cause intermittant problems. (wouldn't eject CD's)

I had a hell of a time keeping anything to do with tail light bulbs working. (corroded sockets)

Due to a lot of towing overloaded trailers, I had to re-do the brakes a total of 5 times.

The battery lasted 9 years. I was impressed with that.

If you knew all the history of this truck, other than the valve springs, I wasn't disappointed at all with the required maintenance. This truck took a hammerin'. It dragged an often overload 25'/14.000gvwr gooseneck trailer on some bonzia runs to and from Northern Indiana, all over Ohio, into Michigan, and lower Illinois. I bought and sold antique tractors. I'd take a day off work and run 80 or 90 mph up and down the interstates to get a tractor home.

Long story short, like I've said before, if I needed another heavy duty pick up, I'd be all over another Dodge. I've had Chevy's, Fords, GMC's and this one Dodge. The Mopar was the best heavy pickup I've ever owned.

 

Had this for awhile but it was much more truck then I needed. Was a nice ride though.... Build quality was awful though.