2001 Dodge Ram 2500 sport advice

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Jomorse1789

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Feb 20, 2017
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Ram Year
2001
Engine
Cummins 5.9
I just purchased a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 sport most trucks I've looked at in this brand have cloth seats this one has leather along with more bells and whistles than I can name heated seats dual power seats heated mirrors the whole nine I was surprised when I went to look at it as he had not mentioned this and he was selling it for a low price the truck also has a valance that looks factory that I've never seen as well as a peice extending off the cab to the bed of the truck I've never seen looks factory as well. Questions I have are what's different driveline wise on this truck from others and what model is this ...Laramie? Also was $4,250 a good price for this truck with 200,000 miles . Any other advice about this truck would be greatly appreciated thanks
 

dapepper9

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Iowa/Nebraska Border
Ram Year
2001
Engine
5.9L V8
Leather, dual power heat and all that was an option. Driveline the only difference would be optional aux trans cooler, 4.10s and limited slip bit again, all options. Other trucks could get those too though the higher end were more likely simply because, why get the higher end without upgrading?

Only caveat would be if it's an offroad edition but that was only 1500s.
 
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Jomorse1789

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Ram Year
2001
Engine
Cummins 5.9
Looked up the specs through your link it does have the tranny cooler and 4.10 gears with limited slip diff also has the heavy duty package with the alternator and cooling upgrades that I didn't know about as well I'm liking this truck more and more

Thanks
 

dudeman2009

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Arizona
Ram Year
2001 1500 Sport with enough electrical modifications to make my brain hurt
Engine
Magnum 360
200K is a lot of miles, but these trucks can run for way more than that if they're properly maintained. The Sears auto center I work for has a 97 Ram 1500 with the 5.9 with 320K miles and the thing runs like a champ. Its got a fair amount of body rust, and the interior is beat up, but for a truck that has been used to haul parts and scrap metal around near its whole life, its in amazing condition. The engine runs strong, the trans was rebuilt at about 150K miles. The frame is in amazing shape having lived in Michigan its whole life, there isn't a lot wrong with it, its a base model truck.

My truck has 130K miles on it, I need to rebuild the trans, and I recently replaced the engine because I ignored the oil pump issue I had. But I have to hand it to Dodge, they made one tough son of a ***** when they made the Magnum. I'll never get tired of talking about it, but my old 5.2 ran for 30 miles on the highway with a 6x12 enclosed trailer without any oil. It had rod knock from hell so bad i've heard rods thrown through blocks that were quieter than that.

These are tough trucks. I mentioned having to rebuild my transmission, my front band is destroyed, its metal on metal. I have to floor it and let off the gas before each shift or it won't go into the next gear, if you hit the pedal too hard it comes out of gear and revs to redline. The trans fluid when I tried to replace the band in vehicle was black as the oil from a diesel. But that transmission still drives strong enough to pull that same trailer I mentioned earlier while loaded with about 1500lbs of patio stones.
 
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Location
Mississippi
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1998
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3.9L Magnum V6
200K is a lot of miles, but these trucks can run for way more than that if they're properly maintained. The Sears auto center I work for has a 97 Ram 1500 with the 5.9 with 320K miles and the thing runs like a champ. Its got a fair amount of body rust, and the interior is beat up, but for a truck that has been used to haul parts and scrap metal around near its whole life, its in amazing condition. The engine runs strong, the trans was rebuilt at about 150K miles. The frame is in amazing shape having lived in Michigan its whole life, there isn't a lot wrong with it, its a base model truck.

My truck has 130K miles on it, I need to rebuild the trans, and I recently replaced the engine because I ignored the oil pump issue I had. But I have to hand it to Dodge, they made one tough son of a ***** when they made the Magnum. I'll never get tired of talking about it, but my old 5.2 ran for 30 miles on the highway with a 6x12 enclosed trailer without any oil. It had rod knock from hell so bad i've heard rods thrown through blocks that were quieter than that.

These are tough trucks. I mentioned having to rebuild my transmission, my front band is destroyed, its metal on metal. I have to floor it and let off the gas before each shift or it won't go into the next gear, if you hit the pedal too hard it comes out of gear and revs to redline. The trans fluid when I tried to replace the band in vehicle was black as the oil from a diesel. But that transmission still drives strong enough to pull that same trailer I mentioned earlier while loaded with about 1500lbs of patio stones.

Jesus Christ man, what were you trying to do? See just how far it'd go?! 30 miles on no oil is insane. I have to know, was that at highway speeds or like 10mph? :roflsquared:
 

dapepper9

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2001
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It's not uncommon to find these engines running on about a 1/2qt of oil thx to an ignored plenum and having little to no internal damage lol
 

dudeman2009

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Ram Year
2001 1500 Sport with enough electrical modifications to make my brain hurt
Engine
Magnum 360
Jesus Christ man, what were you trying to do? See just how far it'd go?! 30 miles on no oil is insane. I have to know, was that at highway speeds or like 10mph? :roflsquared:

No, I was going 70, with about 500lbs of scrap in the bed and a 6x12 enclosed trailer thats 12ft tall.

I will never doubt the toughness of a Magnum. After I pulled it, I drained the oil and it looked fine, it only had about 3K miles on it and I run full synthetic. I pulled the oil pump and the pump gear had shattered into 3 pieces. The engine got NO oil, it all sat in the sump. On 5 of the 8 rods the bearings were gone, it was connecting rod on crank, the other 3 had slivers of bearing left but not much more. The crank had about 1/8in of play in the main bearings, the piston rings were destroyed, the front two pistons melted holes through them and the next three after were partially melted. That engine was ******.

Here's the insane part. The next day, it started up and drove about 300 feet from where it was parked to the garage where the engine hoist was, except for it feeling like it had the power of a tiny four banger, it still ran and revved up to 3krpm (I was scared to rev much higher than that while it was in my truck)
 

dudeman2009

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Ram Year
2001 1500 Sport with enough electrical modifications to make my brain hurt
Engine
Magnum 360
Looked up the specs through your link it does have the tranny cooler and 4.10 gears with limited slip diff also has the heavy duty package with the alternator and cooling upgrades that I didn't know about as well I'm liking this truck more and more

Thanks

Wanna swap rear ends? I've got a real nice 3.55 limited slip i'd be willing to trade ya :roflsquared:
 
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