Dodge Ram 5.7 Hemi tow vehicle

[oldjeep]

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Dodge_Ram-1500/2010/Reliability/
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Ford_F-150/2010/Reliability/
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Chevrolet_Silverado-1500/2010/Reliability/

Ford and Chevy reliability 3 out of 5
Dodge 2 out of 5

Interesting that the 2010 powertrain reliability in that survey is a 2 and it is a 4 in 2009 for exactly the same powertrain. I think I'll apply a grain of salt
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Dodge_Ram-1500/2009/Reliability/

 

[WIMUSKY]

Very good post Bruce. I see none of them a had fantastic rating. The 2011/2012s had a lot better rating than 2010, at least for Ram. Didn't check the rest. One bad thing, there can be problems with the front ends by 50k due to the lack of zerks.. I've heard a manufacture that went out at 30k.

 

[SDSeville]

What do you guys think of purchasing a warranty when buying a used car/truck?

 

[bruceb58]

Nice thing about the RAM, you can find them a lot cheaper than Chevy or Ford since they don't hold their values as well.

My brother runs a used car auction on Southern California.

I would also be looking at the Toyota Tundras with the 5.7L.

 

[bruceb58]

I think I'll apply a grain of salt

You going to apply a grain of salt to the number of recalls for each?

I would never buy a Dodge PU.

 

[oldjeep]

Very good post Bruce. I see none of them a had fantastic rating. The 2011/2012s had a lot better rating than 2010, at least for Ram. Didn't check the rest. One bad thing, there can be problems with the front ends by 50k due to the lack of zerks.. I've heard a manufacture that went out at 30k.

At 132K I have replaced the drivers side outer tie rod end twice (recall and then a warranty on the recall replacement which apparently was also a bad unit), the others are all still original. No idea if this is common, but haven't heard of any balljoint/rod end issues outside the recall. If it was common I'd expect to be seeing it on the ram forums.

 

[oldjeep]

You going to apply a grain of salt to the number of recalls for each?

I would never buy a Dodge PU.

Well the somewhat deceiving thing about the number of recalls is that most are for a small number of vehicles and are almost entirely bad batches of parts from suppliers. I've had Chevy, Ford and Dodge - of the ones I owned the Fords were the worst in terms of the trucks not being able to handle a lot of towing/hauling without eating parts - however your experiences may differ.

 

[oldjeep]

Nice thing about the RAM, you can find them a lot cheaper than Chevy or Ford since they don't hold their values as well.

My brother runs a used car auction on Southern California.

I would also be looking at the Toyota Tundras with the 5.7L.

They were also a lot cheaper to begin with. I paid 28K brand new for mine, which was a good 5K under a comparable Ford/Chev at the time. Toyota is nice but $$$$$ Even now you can pick up a new 2016 4WD 5.7L 8 speed Quad cab for 32K without even negotiating

 

[bruceb58]

however your experiences may differ.

My experience is from a brother who is in the car business who sees what is wrong with all types of vehicles. He knows almost every used car manager in southern California.

 

[oldjeep]

My experience is from a brother who is in the car business who sees what is wrong with all types of vehicles. He knows almost every used car manager in southern California.

My experience is actually owning and driving one for the past 7 years

 

[WIMUSKY]

Well, my experience has been driving them for the last 17 years..... I've had 4 of them. We're getting a little off topic, including me.......

 

[bruceb58]

My experience is actually owning and driving one for the past 7 years

That's great! Glad you had good luck with yours.

 

[bruceb58]

Well, my experience has been driving them for the last 17 years..... I've had 4 of them. We're getting a little off topic, including me.......

So Musky, what is Dodge offering you to buy back your truck?
http://blog.caranddriver.com/fca-will-buy-back-578000-ram-trucks-after-failed-recalls/

 

[oldjeep]

So Musky, what is Dodge offering you to buy back your truck?
http://blog.caranddriver.com/fca-wil...ailed-recalls/

Meh, that buyback is only in effect if you failed or were unable to get a couple of the recalls done - mostly due to parts availability. The biggest issue with the 09 1500's was the lack of parts available to fix the pinion nut issue (which was an AAM issue not Dodge), you had to wait a very long time before the retainers were produced and during that time your gear set could have gone bad. That is what happened with mine, dealer checked it out and then replaced the gear set 2 days later.

We get it - you don't like dodge. We could post links to chevys catching on fire or fords popping plugs - everyone has problems

 

[bruceb58]

Yep...they all have their issues. Kinda sucks that they dropped the ball on the recalls for a lot of people. How can you not get parts to fix a recall for 2 years? Jeez.

Is it because of Fiat owning them?

 

[GA_Boater]

I absolutely hate these damned topics! Nothing but purely biased opinions after a couple of useful posts.

Come on guys, offer help or stop making comments. Please no peeing contests.

What oil should SD use after he buys his Ford, Ram, Chevy, GMC, Datsun, Toyota, Kenworth, Mack, Peterbilt, Oshkosh, or International? Any opinions? :facepalm:

 

[SDSeville]

Haha. This is getting fun. Any thoughts on used car warranties when buying a truck with 100k miles?

 

[oldjeep]

What do you guys think of purchasing a warranty when buying a used car/truck?

Missed an actual question from the OP

My .02 - I don't buy warranties on anything. I figure that I break at least even between the things that have problems and those that don't. Part of the answer to that question is - how much work do you do yourself? Parts are cheap and labor isn't.

A more important question in my mind is - when you buy the truck, when was the last time the tires, shocks and brakes were done? Again, pretty cheap to do a full pad/rotor, shock replacement with OEM parts from rockauto if you are a DIY guy. If you are not then make sure you know what all that will run you to pay someone to do it.

 

[oldjeep]

One other thing to note on the 5.7 Hemi

They changed the interval a few times on how often the 16 plugs are changed. Initially it was something silly like 36K miles and the plugs still looked new. Replacing the plugs is an expensive service if you pay to have it done, DIY it isn't too bad except for the ones by the brake booster. So it would be good to know when the last time the plugs were done was or at least pull both of them from 1 cylinder and look at them.

 

[SDSeville]

Missed an actual question from the OP

My .02 - I don't buy warranties on anything. I figure that I break at least even between the things that have problems and those that don't. Part of the answer to that question is - how much work do you do yourself? Parts are cheap and labor isn't.

A more important question in my mind is - when you buy the truck, when was the last time the tires, shocks and brakes were done? Again, pretty cheap to do a full pad/rotor, shock replacement with OEM parts from rockauto if you are a DIY guy. If you are not then make sure you know what all that will run you to pay someone to do it.

​I do the minor stuff myself -- brakes, shocks, alternator, water pump (much easier than on my 470),... But I worry about catastrophic motor and tranny issues. I bought a powertrain warranty for $1000 when I bought my wife a used Mercedes a few years back and I slept better knowing I had it.