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Old 10-13-2018, 12:52 PM   #1
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Does anyone have experience with Dodge V10 gassers?

I found myself in need of a tow vehicle with not so much money to spend on it. I have an old 96 C3500 Chevy with a 454 in it, but the rods and mains have gone bad and the back of the frame is pretty rusty. I decided not to try fixing the 454 and went looking for a different truck. I considered ford, chevy, gmc and dodge. With limited funds it came down to either choosing a newer truck with close to 200k miles or an older truck with less mileage. What I ended up with is a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 2wd regular cab with an 8.0 V10. I'm wondering what your experiences have been with these trucks. The truck is rust free and has 96K miles on it. Everything works and it has new tires, new battery and a new dash skin to replace the notorious cracked dash problem on these trucks. I know this truck will suck gas like a pig. I can live with that for what I paid. My rv is a 2017 Cherokee 274RK which my wife and I dearly love (weighs about 7k). We also had to have a long bed truck because we often take either our street legal golf cart or our Polaris RZR 900 with us in the bed of the truck. I've tried to research this brand of truck and have found mostly good reviews about the V10 engine. I also know that a weak spot on these trucks is the transmission and advice about how to take care of it will be much appreciated. I know this truck is old and I know things can happen, but I hope everyone can help me keep this old rig running.


Thanks in advance for all your advice and help.
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Old 10-13-2018, 01:04 PM   #2
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i know when i got my first TT, many years ago, i was able to find a TT owner, who wanted to sell badly enough, that he agreed to take time payments [he trusted me, basically]

and i found a very nice used 3/4 ton chevy diesel, on a dealer lot, and that was Financed

auto loans must have been easy to get back then, because i didn't have a verified income source

marc
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Old 10-13-2018, 01:20 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FL-mph21 View Post
i know when i got my first TT, many years ago, i was able to find a TT owner, who wanted to sell badly enough, that he agreed to take time payments [he trusted me, basically]

and i found a very nice used 3/4 ton chevy diesel, on a dealer lot, and that was Financed

auto loans must have been easy to get back then, because i didn't have a verified income source

marc
Thanks so much for the reply. It's not that I couldn't get a loan. We have good credit, but we hate to tie ourselves to a loan. We had enough in savings to buy this truck outright and still have money left in the bank. We paid 5K out the door for it. Again, thanks for the reply.
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Old 10-15-2018, 12:19 PM   #4
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I just sold my Old 1996 Dodge 2500 V10. I pulled a 2000 Cougar 33 ft 5er with it for 2 years as for our part time RV. Never had a problem. Sold the RV 8 years ago kept the truck intending to buy a new vehicle when it quit on me. 8 years later & the Ball joints were shot (150,000 miles) so I used that as justification, (excuse), to purchase a new to me 2015 Low miles RAM 1500. That said the V10 is a gas hog but will run forever. Change Oil like clockwork. The Tranny was fine with mine but I did swap out fluid every 50 k miles
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Old 10-15-2018, 01:09 PM   #5
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I would keep an eye on the transmission temperature when you tow, I used the free Torque phone app with a cheap blue tooth adapter on my GMC Envoy when I towed with it.
I would also consider changing the transmission fluid and filter to refresh the transmission (but don't do a transmission flush).
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Old 10-15-2018, 03:57 PM   #6
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Thanks so much to both of you for the information. I plan to change the trans fluid and get the bands adjusted. Probably an oil change right away also. That way, I'll know where I stand on maintenance. I will also look into watching the trans temp while towing.

I value the advice given on this forum greatly. I've already learned a lot. I hope to hear more.

Don Williams
a.k.a. librarian
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Old 10-16-2018, 08:10 PM   #7
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My dad had one, I think a 97, he puts a lot of miles on his trucks, traded it in 2003, probably with 150k. Never had any issues though and loved the power. It was a guzzler, but, that's to be expected.
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Old 10-17-2018, 02:18 PM   #8
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I had a 97 3500 4x4 xcab, 4:10, 5spd. It was a great truck. No real issues other than the 10 mpg max. For an automatic, exceptional care is key to keep that era trans happy but it can be done .
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Old 10-17-2018, 02:29 PM   #9
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You're correct that the transmission is your biggest concern. I would recommend replacing with a high quality ATF like Amsoil and possibly installing a much larger, high quality trans cooler. This will help to keep temps down when towing.
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