How bad are 2005-'06 Dodge Ram Cummins?

[speeder]

I'm looking for a stronger diesel truck to tow heavier trailers and the pickings suck in the used diesel market. A new or late model truck for $40-50k is not in the cards, it doesn't pencil-out for my use at this time. Everyone knows that it's a seller's market right now, so I'm looking at every brand.

I'd prefer a Ford or GM but I'm finding some Rams that are in decent condition, not abused/etc... I see a lot of people using them as intended out on the wild blue yonder of western states, pulling huge trailers, etc. They even seem to be the truck of choice in Wyoming and Montana...maybe it's just my imagination(?) Seems like it.

Everything I've read here on PPOT points to major issues, what are they and are they addressable? Can they be made to be bullet-proof trucks? The engines certainly seem to run for a very long time. I know very little about 24-valve Cummins, so fire away, guys. School me.

Thanks a million.

[unclebilly]

Worse than awful. A lot worse.

[unclebilly]

In about a year...

2 transfer cases (one exploded and took out transmission, brake lines, wiring to back, fuel lines...
Heater controls never worked (couldn’t get defrost)
Transmission was taken out by exploding transfer case.
2 torque converters in new MOPAR transmission.
Death wobble
Steering box broke on the highway
Wheel bearings (one let go on the highway and was changed out in a parking lot)
They are drive by wire... the throttle position sensors are notoriously bad and mine went
Rad got hole in it from rubbing on foam.

I have had about 75 vehicles and this one was the worst. Complete POS.

Best days in my life include the days when my kids were born, and the day that thing drove away...

When it wasn’t broken, it was great. The trouble in that in my ~ 2.5 years of ownership, it was broken more than when it was not. It sat broken for a full year when the transfer case let go.

[Brando]

3rd gen? Run away unless it somehow has the lifetime warranty. Get a 4th or 5th gen.

Ask AZPorscheKid about his experience. My 2005 1500 is the 5.7L V8 and I'm having my share of issues, most related to parts availability.

[vash]

my retired boss has a 2006 Dodge Diesel. the mega cab or whatever its call. he calls it "the mother ship". it is huge.

he has about 100,000 miles on it. hard ones. pulling a tractor, working a hunting ranch. his dump trailer is regularly overloaded and towed around.

he loves his truck and his has been drop dead reliable. he drove it to some vacation destination and he said he got 24 miles per gallon. I didn't verify his math. we joke that if he passed away, I would get the truck.

[Arizona_928]

3rd gen..... stay away. Get a class 8 truck if you want to haul. It seems now in days the diesel truck market is replacing the suv market.....

[porsche4life]

Major issues in a 3rd gen? They are serious work horse trucks with tons of them pushing more than a half million miles. Ignore the posts about the half tons, because other than the body panels they are different trucks.


The Cummins is the best part of the truck, well maintained they will last a million miles with very few issues. The automatics have a reputation for blowing up, but those are usually in tuned trucks being driven by hoodlums. If you keep it stock and treat them right they will go 150k mi or more without trouble.


The heater box design is **** though. Plan to replace a heater core and blend doors if it hasn’t been done.


Other than those issues they are the most reliable of that era diesel trucks. They make gobs of torque and there are still tons of them on the road. There’s a reason they were appreciating in value before the covid used car market went nuts. Expect to pay north of 20k for a nice one.

I picked up a really nice 04 last October and it’s been great. It had a few deferred maintenance things I had to fix, but that’s to be expected of any truck with 100k miles. I’m going to do the heater box job now because I get an occasional smell that would make suspect of the heater core, and I don’t want to blow that on a trip. This is the second 3rd gen truck in our family, and we had a few second gen diesels as well. They are great trucks.

[porsche4life]

Also checkout genosgarage.com. They carry all the major parts and have great tech articles on maintenance.

[speeder]

Thanks for the replies. It seems that the experiences run the gamut, with Uncle Billy owning the worst truck ever made. There is no way that his experience is typical or they would be out of business and bankrupt from lemon law cases. That said, I don’t doubt it...experience is experience. I do have to wonder what type of use causes exploding transfer cases when the other 99.99% of people don’t have it happen, though(?)

I would be using it for towing and the other mixed use PU trucks get. As for the advice to buy a semi tractor...huh? I’m looking for a 1-ton diesel PU truck. Not confused in the least on that score. I could not even do the jobs I do w a class 8 truck...ridiculous advice. Has to be a 4x4 PU truck, SRW or dually.

As for buying something newer, unless it’s around $20k, that’s dead.

[porsche4life]

Ya I’d like to know more about that. The only time I’ve seen or heard of a transfer case exploding was due to abuse, or lack of maintenance, or a combination of the two. I’m also not sure why it took a year to fix? There’s a million of these trucks on the road, it’s easy to get parts in any salvage or new parts store, and they are stupid easy to work on compared to a German car.

Once you get climbed up into the engine bay or under the truck you’ve got plenty of room for activities.

[Arizona_928]

I've had a less than a year old truck sit a dealership for a month waiting on def parts.

[greglepore]

Great motor, lousy truck. The interiors don't stand up like the Fords or GM's and the heater box issue is a pita. I'd look for a 6 liter Ford that had already had the bulletproofing done as well, as they're solid trucks but people hate the 6.0 so they cheapish. With good reason, but the fixes are known and work.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

I've had a less than a year old truck sit a dealership for a month waiting on def parts.

That’s on a modern truck with specialized parts likely only available from the manufacturer.


Driveline parts for 3rd gen trucks are a dime a dozen on the used market, with plenty of shops doing rebuilds and custom builds as well

[mattdavis11]

Probably not a big deal to you Denis, not that hot there, but I made a good bit of money selling a/c parts for those diesels. The Mega Cab was by far the worst.

Forewarning, they have an electronically controlled fan clutch, it'll be fine, ac blows cold, then the high side a/c presssure sky rockets! After so many of those types of cycles, the compressor gives up. Time for a new system. The PCM or PCB is responsible for sending a signal to the fan clutch to engage, or lock up so the condenser can do its job, think at a traffic light or rush hour, needs air across the condenser. No signal is sent. One solution is to get an auxiliary fan for the condenser, the other is to have the pcm or pcb reprogrammed. It might even be the ecm, I forget.

Just something to watch out for.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by greglepore

Great motor, lousy truck. The interiors don't stand up like the Fords or GM's and the heater box issue is a pita. I'd look for a 6 liter Ford that had already had the bulletproofing done as well, as they're solid trucks but people hate the 6.0 so they cheapish. With good reason, but the fixes are known and work.

I would buy a good ‘05-‘07 6.0 truck in a heartbeat with low-ish miles and dead stock. I owned one before and they are great trucks if maintained properly. Of course that is a big “if” considering the average IQ of diesel PU truck owners. Most of the “bulletproof” stuff is completely unnecessary and bogus, IMO. They have built an industry over nonsense that people learned on the internet, just ignorance passed from one person to another. Early 6.0 trucks had some issues but most were handled by 2005 and most problems were had by geniuses who put tuners or other stupid mods on their trucks. For the most part, they caused their own problems.

As for good trucks being “cheapish”, guess again.

[porsche4life]

Dennis, what you just said about the 6.0 trucks generally applies to the Dodges as well. Finding one that hasn’t been abused is key, and keeping on top of normal maintenance. I have no doubt you’ll be happy with a dodge or Ford either one of that era.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Ya I’d like to know more about that. The only time I’ve seen or heard of a transfer case exploding was due to abuse, or lack of maintenance, or a combination of the two. I’m also not sure why it took a year to fix? There’s a million of these trucks on the road, it’s easy to get parts in any salvage or new parts store, and they are stupid easy to work on compared to a German car.

Once you get climbed up into the engine bay or under the truck you’ve got plenty of room for activities.

Google it... it’s a thing, it’s not uncommon, and it happened to me. It took a year to fix because I was so pissed off with the POS. At the time, it was cheaper to buy a GMC 2500HD from work than it cost to fix. Eventually I fixed it, drove it for a few months (long enough to go through 2 torque converters under warranty), a throttle position sensor, and sold it.

Seriously, my cost of ownership on that thing for about 30 months was around $25,000 and I never drove it for 12 of this months. I could have leased a Porsche for what it cost me.

And P4L - I thought this was the best truck ever until it started to fall apart with regularity. When you get some miles on yours, it will do the same. I bought it from my brother who bought it from a friend that had it since new. Both of them had the same ownership experience as you. The truck was never abused, it was just a total piece of 5hit!

https://www.google.ca/search?q=dodge+transfer+case+exploded&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-ca&client=safari

[rfuerst911sc]

Diesel trucks in general get worked pretty hard . The big 3 all have known issues with plenty of fixes out there . My 2001 GMC dually 4x4 was purchased by me at 98,000 miles . The 2001-2004 were known to have injector issues . I have no idea if previous owner had the injectors replaced but I am guessing he did .

I run 16 ounces of 2 cycle oil and 8 ounces of diesel fuel conditioner in every tank . My injectors at 178,000 miles are quiet and working great . I do run a mild tune nothing exotic with no rolling coal . The reason I am telling this is just to show a known shortcoming can be fixed and can live for a long time . My truck has been VERY reliable . A friend of mine has a Ford with the " dreaded " 6.0 and he has around 250,000 miles on it with no major issues .

Having said all that a Chrysler product would be my third choice of the big three . A coin toss between Ford/GM . Just like a Porsche buy the newest/cleanest you can afford .

[Arizona_928]

There's a reason why they call them a shipping crate....
The only good thing is the engine. There's a reason why they Cummins swap the fords....

Chrysler slowly has been getting better, but if i paid a shop to do all of the repairs on my ram.... I would be around 15k in the hole....

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by speeder

I would buy a good ‘05-‘07 6.0 truck in a heartbeat with low-ish miles and dead stock. I owned one before and they are great trucks if maintained properly. Of course that is a big “if” considering the average IQ of diesel PU truck owners. Most of the “bulletproof” stuff is completely unnecessary and bogus, IMO. They have built an industry over nonsense that people learned on the internet, just ignorance passed from one person to another. Early 6.0 trucks had some issues but most were handled by 2005 and most problems were had by geniuses who put tuners or other stupid mods on their trucks. For the most part, they caused their own problems.

As for good trucks being “cheapish”, guess again.

Really? Yeah, I'll give you the dead stock thing. Mine is an 04 and it had to have the studs done, at same time egr bypass and ficm rebuild, but it's been crazy good. King ranch crew long bed, yeah too big, but 12k 3 yrs ago with 200k miles and its a total workhorse.
The cab off to fix motor thing freaks folks. Maybe the market has changed. Nice 7.3 long bed short crew 250 w/ 200k local here on FB for 10k. Would buy it if I didn't have the 6.