used Hemi

Rscottg · May 28, 2017

New on this board...

Tomorrow I'm going to look at a 2004 1500 Hemi. I've seen pics and the body is pretty good. Rear fender wells are not rusted out like the trucks here in the city.

Wanting to replace our 98 5.9 as it's a good truck, but I'm going to be pulling a 5500+ lbs camper trailer and I know the 5.9 is going to struggle.

The 2004 Hemi has about 137,000 on it. If I don't like that one, will be looking at a 2005.

What should I keep an eye out for or a listen? I'm not that familiar with the Hemi engines.

Thanks

chrisp2493 · May 28, 2017

Don't know how much you get into tuning or modding your truck, but if you are at all interested in running a tune, try to get an 05. Much better computer in it.
When I bought my 03, someone ran it out of coolant and overheated it, so I got the pleasure of buying it not knowing the heads were shot. So when test driving, just keep an eye on the coolant temps going crazy. I'm sure it was a lack of maintenance then a ram thing.
The exhaust manifold bolts are terrible on these trucks, so look for rusted out or broken bolts causing an exhaust leak near the engine. Those are a pain to fix.
Early 03-04 models had problems with the valve springs being weak and breaking, cause quite a bit of damage if they go. Mine were good, but you never know. Supposedly that was fixed in the later years.
On the interior, the dashboards have a tendency to crack up, if it's broken it's about $150 to get a decent glue down replacement, and a whole lot of trouble to pull the dash if you want to do a direct swap, that's what I did.
Other then that, just the typical problems you normally look for in a used vehicle. The Hemi is a great engine, and with alittle work and tuning it can be a lot of fun to drive. Good luck

used Hemi

Rscottg

Junior Member

chrisp2493

Always Modding

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