So my dad called and was asking me about dodge diesel truck. I am not too familiar with them since I drive an IDI. He is currently towing his 5th wheel with his tundra, it is about maxed out and works really hard in the hills. Now that he retired he will be towing a lot more and is looking at a 2010 ram 2500 with a 6.7 deisel. It has 76k on it and they are asking 27k for it. 2wd. Does anybody know about the durability of these trucks? I know the dodge diesel engines are good, but what about the rest of the truck/drivetrain? Any big service intervals coming up that he should take into account?

Thanks for your help. I know its not an IDI or even a Ford, but I figured someone may have experience with them.

 

interiors seem pretty cheap and the seats are miserable, but havent had any real problems with the few around here. In fact neighbor just dropped his off to get the "treatment". Went from getting 14-15 empty to 23-24 empty and 17 with a horse trailer, and picked up about 40 horse along the way.

 

I have a 2011 ram 3500 4x4 manual with 3.73 gears crewcab 8ft bed. Has 18,000 miles at the moment. Does not run currently. I have gotten bad fuel and need to replace entire fuel system. Fyi same fuel ran through my idi with no issue.
Truck gets 9 mpg around town and 17 onhighway (empty) if im lucky. The plastic trim on bed sucks. interior is kinda crappy, but arent all the new cars. Stays in regen mode allot and check engine light i think stays on 85% of the time.

On the good side it has more power than you need, comfortable ride, quite, tows excellent, great visability.

Personally i would never buy or own another dodge after this thing. The dealer and chrysler in general dont stand by any warranty issues i have had. I should have spent the extra money on a ford.

 

Well I work for Chrysler, Dodge Chrysler Jeep... As a line technician I have been currently with Chrysler for 10 years working on these trucks as well. If you want instead of being a long drawn out post you can give me a call and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have, also I could check to see if you have any active recalls on the vehicle.. Anyway here is my number give me a call, I'm not afraid to post it up because I know it will be used correctly 775-842-9232, my name is Robert by the way lol

 

I remember now about them being touchy with fuel, forgot all about it. notice D-day works for dodge and drive a Ford, should answer about any question you had lmao

 

Lol, I can't afford a $60,000 truck haha, but yes they are real picky with fuel.. Stay on top of your fuel filters! The 6.7 was designed to be a work truck not a grocery getter, if you run them with a light load stop and go traffic all the time they will plug up extremely fast. Meaning turbos DPF, catalytic converter, EGR system... You get the picture, if he could give me a call that would be great this is just too much typing lol

 

interior quality is severely lacking in my opinion. same with body metal. they rust out while you sit there looking at it.
my son in law, a devout dodge owner just traded his pos 2010 in on a new 2014 F-350 diesel. he has had it with dodge.

 

Seems alot of the new ones are that way. You dont want to put em around and idling is a big NO NO. Just more reason to get rid of that junk anyway if youre in an area that you can do it.

Granted my grandfather, my dad and myself have always been Ford, seem that everyone around here drove a dodge including my uncles. That being said, the number is about equal now. A whole bunch of 2011-2014 Fords sitting in drivways that used to have Dodges.

 

Steve was so dodge everything he would not even ride in one of my fords.
then his truck was in the shop every other week and he had the choice of using a company truck(2012 F350 diesel) or one of my trucks/cars.
after a couple of weeks he realized the dodges were the pos vehicles and not the fords.
when the A/C went out again for the third time in 4 years and the dash had to come out of it again to replace the module, plus the death wobble they cant fix, 6th engine computer, body rot so bad it needs a bed already, and the 4th transfer case went, he had enough.
the truck was still under warranty, but he just wanted it gone.
in the past 13 years, he had 4 dodges, and every one was a pos and got traded in while still under warranty.

 

I didnt realize that was a commonish issue.. our AC went out of the 07 as well, compressor just stopped engaging. They had to bypass something and put a toggle switch on the dash.

 

If the 12 valve hadn't given Dodge such a great reputation, I don't think that they would sell half the number of diesel trucks that they do.

 

Where I am, I tend to notice a lot of the 'richer' people who don't seem to do a whole lot having dodges. They're usually clean and mostly empty.
I also see a lot of fords, which are almost always work trucks - scratched, beaten, have stuff in the beds, and often older models. I think that the workers and companies tend to use Fords and Chevys; Dodges are usually more for show than anything.

 

Thanks for the feedback. From a motor standpoint most my research just pointed to a need to remove the emissions stuff to achieve decent mpg/power/longevity. I think he is going to hold off until after the summer just to insure they are going to be towing the 5th wheel as much s they think they will. If not, no point in spending the $$ on a 3/4-1ton deisel.

He brought up that the Fords he looked at were substantially more than the Dodges and something about them being prone to leaky seals....not sure about that one. I did point out that if he was going to spend alot of time on the road the ergonomics of the vehicle plays a huge roll.......comfortable seats, road noise, visibility etc.