Comments | mopars: Mid to Late Nineties Ram Advice

frockazulu in mopars

Mid to Late Nineties Ram Advice

Apr 17, 2006 10:38

I'll be getting a used Ram 1500 or maybe even 2500 in the next couple months. I'm probably gonna aim for a Cummins, but I'm not opposed to a 318 either. Manual transmissions only. Any tips on what I should look out for? Problem areas?

Comments 4

spyderbite April 17 2006, 20:24:36 UTC

90's rams were prone to transmission issues. check for sliping or see if you can find records of the issue having been addressed by a previous owner.

frockazulu April 17 2006, 20:37:56 UTC

Even the manuals? One of the reasons I'm aiming for a Cummins is that they used the NV4500 manual transmissions which I hear are the cat's meow.

spyderbite April 18 2006, 00:22:00 UTC

I'm not sure if the manuals did or not. My experience is only with automatic transmission rams. And I meant to include that the gasoline engine rams had transmission issues- I'm not too up on the diesel engine ones, so I'd hate to give you wrong information regarding them.

danthered April 19 2006, 01:31:45 UTC

There's been no systematic reliability issue with the manual transmissions, though when doing a clutch job the flywheel must be properly resurfaced (just chucking it on a brake lathe is halfassed and you'll get clutch judder when you bolt it all back together).

If you do much of any nighttime driving, budget for a swap to the '99-'01 Ram 1500 Sport 2-bulb headlamp assemblies, which are considerably less awful than the single-bulb units the rest of these trucks got. Hit DSL for a wiring and relay package to retrofit the Sport lamps.

Beyond that, they're pretty reliable and durable trucks if maintenance is kept up. Better mileage with the Cummins than with the 318.