2012 RAM birthday coming up.....what to do?

pmaru77 · Sep 17, 2017

My RAM birthday is coming up next month, it will be 5 yrs old. It has been problem-less so I am a happy trucker. One thing I would like to bring u, and that is service. I have not had any service done at dealership or service station, as I do my own oil changes (synthetic mobile1) every year at Jan 1 or close. I have 34K miles and that averages out to be 7K miles per year. So, what should I have been doing or should I do aside from the oil changes. Ball joints? etc, are they not sealed? I suppose a visual of the underneath joints could be inspected. What am I missing?

TRCM · Sep 17, 2017

pmaru77 said:
My RAM birthday is coming up next month, it will be 5 yrs old. It has been problem-less so I am a happy trucker. One thing I would like to bring u, and that is service. I have not had any service done at dealership or service station, as I do my own oil changes (synthetic mobile1) every year at Jan 1 or close. I have 34K miles and that averages out to be 7K miles per year. So, what should I have been doing or should I do aside from the oil changes. Ball joints? etc, are they not sealed? I suppose a visual of the underneath joints could be inspected. What am I missing?

You drive too much......LOL

MY 2012 was 5 in July, and it has 21,250 miles on it.

I have had all service on mine done at the dealer, and the oil change is pretty much every year @ inspection time.

ExpressRules · Sep 17, 2017

You two are lightweights, my 2014 RAM is just over 3 and a half years old and has about 52,000 miles. besides oil changes every 7K or so it has just needed tires at 48K. The brakes have about 40% left so should be the next thing coming up.

69GWC · Sep 17, 2017

Might think about changing out the diff fluids, if 4wd you could do the transfer case as well.
If a 6sp I would think about the Transmission in the next year or so.

DRkNESS · Sep 18, 2017

Lol all of you gents are rookies as my 2011 has over 187,000 miles on it. The sad part is it wasn't even my daily.

Father Of Four

Pull Ya · Sep 18, 2017

^^^^ As well as you take care of your truck, it still thinks it's a ******. :naughty:

Jay

DRkNESS · Sep 18, 2017

Lol, I've violated that truck 1/3 as much as I've done my Legacy.

Father Of Four

zrfraser · Sep 18, 2017

my 2015 is about to turn 75,000 miles, bought it in FEB with around 45,000. 150+miles a day will do that though.

huntergreen · Sep 18, 2017

pmaru77 said:
My RAM birthday is coming up next month, it will be 5 yrs old. It has been problem-less so I am a happy trucker. One thing I would like to bring u, and that is service. I have not had any service done at dealership or service station, as I do my own oil changes (synthetic mobile1) every year at Jan 1 or close. I have 34K miles and that averages out to be 7K miles per year. So, what should I have been doing or should I do aside from the oil changes. Ball joints? etc, are they not sealed? I suppose a visual of the underneath joints could be inspected. What am I missing?

I might have my radiator flushed. In OM, they list miles and or months.

Kingsize · Sep 18, 2017

pmaru77 said:
What am I missing?

The internet says to buy it something wood.

TRCM · Sep 18, 2017

DRkNESS said:
Lol all of you gents are rookies as my 2011 has over 187,000 miles on it. The sad part is it wasn't even my daily.

Father Of Four

HA HA...

Yeah I got a 96 cherokee sport 4x4 I use as my daily.....

The Ram gets used:
1) when I want to drive it
2) when I am going somewhere dressed up (like to church)
3) road trips (of the 21k on it, 10-11k are just road trips to see family)
4) when I am going fishing
5) when I need to move my camper or haul something that won't ft in the cherokee

and to make it even easier to keep the mileage down, work is 2.5 miles away, church is 7.5 miles away, and everything else is within those distance except the doctor and the dentist (the dentist is 10 miles & she's cute, and the doctor is 20 miles but free).

I drove the truck every day to work for about 6 months when the cherokee was down with a transmission problem and I filled it up every 4 weeks.

O.R.T. · Sep 19, 2017

DRkNESS said:
Lol, I've violated that truck 1/3 as much as I've done my Legacy.

Father Of Four

Here we go again, I miss my '01 WRX, the 13 n/a FB blocked Forester, not so much. I still think at least you got a Leggy while you could and it's the solid front window'd turbo version. (But I'm biased, still part of i-crub, and know Gary Mann, Mike from GST, Mert@RBMS, and a ton of other WestCoast specialty peeps.) *Crap, now I really miss having a high-end Subbie.
:favorites13:

O.R.T. · Sep 19, 2017

Kingsize said:
The internet says to buy it something wood.

Wood inserts for the doors? Bed stakes? Wagon/GrandCherokee/ClarkGriswold door paneling?

Pic via Instructables: http://www.instructables.com/id/Stake-SidesFence-Sides-for-2014-Dodge-1500-4x4-Pic/

Casper · Sep 19, 2017

Manufacturer's interval for sparkplugs on a 2012 Hemi--all 16 of them, is 30K miles. Newer year models can go 100K, but not the earlier Gen IV's.

Using time, rather than mileage as an indicator, you might want to take a look at changing your coolant, have your brake lines flushed when you have the brake serviced and see if your steering fluid is getting old--flush might be good there too. At five years, even low mileage your tranny, diff(s) and transfer fluid may be getting old too. Sometimes sitting is harder on machinery than continuous use--just saying.

pmaru77 · Oct 9, 2017

Thanks for the tips. Low mileage is due to having a wrangler for around the hood. Ram is for trips, and now for a new job I just started (30 miles round trip). So it gets its exercise fairly regularly. Being in Cali with mild weather should help the fluids, but I think it would be good to flush all fluids and replace them. No brake service in the plans yet, as I drive mostly highway, but dusty out here and in Baja. Plugs? Yeah, I think I am getting worse mileage now that it's broken in. Seems like the mileage was better a few years ago.

Pull Ya · Oct 9, 2017

deleted

saintsreturn · Oct 9, 2017

I have a 14 with 65k on her. I was just recommended to change my rear diff fluids from it's first trip to the dealer in 2 years.

That said I am not doing it. Just thought I would mention it. Good luck on the decision and enjoy the ride!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

DRkNESS · Oct 18, 2017

So OP, what all did you decide to do ?

Dr. Righteous · Oct 24, 2017

Buy yourself and your truck a beer; then you can sit around and talk about the good old days.
"Remember when I got you stuck in manual shift and drove 80 mph in 2nd gear? Good times................"

Murphy Slaw · Oct 29, 2017

Cake.

Everybody deserves cake on their Birthday...

2012 RAM birthday coming up.....what to do?

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