Curious

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HillbillyGoat78

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Ram Year
1997
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Cummins 12 valve turbo
Im curious what some die hard Dodge fans would pay for a 97 Dually, with a Cummins 12 valve? Running propane injection and a 5 speed with under/over drive. Also have a custom built drive shaft and clutch. Mileage is under 150,000 on motor. Honest answers please. Its not for sale just want to prove a point to someone who is not a Dodge fan.
 

dudeman2009

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2001 1500 Sport with enough electrical modifications to make my brain hurt
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Magnum 360
Well, there are a couple numbers you'll get based on the type of Dodge guy.

What you have is a Cummins 3500 Dually with a 5speed manual, running some strange propane fuel system. It has an aftermarket clutch and driveshaft.

The real talking points are dually, Cummins (downside, it runs propane) Manual trans. Everything else is a throwaway item, clutches are a maintenance item, the only use in listing it is if its new and won't need to be replaced for awhile, its like tires or sparkplugs on a gasser. Propane is a downside simply because its not a known quantity, it requires even more specialised technicians to work on it (I am a diesel tech by education, there are so few of us in the auto market its hard to find a decent shop with decent prices) than the already scarce diesel techs. Since its propane, it's more difficult, even if only slightly, to find places to refuel, especially to the uninitiated.

To a Dodge guy who wants a 2nd Gen and is willing to spend money on it, a fair SELLING price is somewhere around 8K, at least in my area as long as the body has little to no rust. If it were a stock 12V you could reasonably get 10-11K from it. To the right person, if propane is a requirement you could get 13-16K from it, but thats a one in ten thousand find.

To someone like me, who is a Die-Hard 2nd Gen Ram enthusiast, i've spent more than 5 times what my truck is worth just to keep my baby alive and well. I wouldn't pay more than 5K for this truck if the body has standard Michigan rust, if it were pristine, I might go as high as 7K, but not much more. If I bought it, and you took it back to running diesel before I bought it, i'd pay no more than 10K if the body were pristine, Every door or fender i'd have to replace drops the price from anywhere from 500-1K each.

Trade-ins to dealers is just gonna be a joke.
 

dapepper9

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2001
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5.9L V8
Die a hard Dodge guy here that wouldn't pay 1 shiny penny. Playing around with that unofficial cummins tax is bs. A 23yr old truck with 257k miles of shear abuse and hotrodding needing body work isn't worth the $12,000 every Tom **** and Harry is asking for em. "The engine will run forever" is not a valid argument either. You have to spend thousands to make the same respectable power that a 3rd gen can make with a tune, anything that fails costs thousands and that 257k isn't just the engine, that's everything.

I'm not saying this is your situation at all but this is unfortunately a fairly accurate description for these overpriced archaic smoke shows
 

Yeret

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1999
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5.9 Magnum
My mother is friends with a dude who has a 2500 with a 12-valve Cummins engine.

He hates it. Says he only drives it cause he can't afford to get anything "better." I'm thinking he paid something between $7-10,000 for it. Don't remember the exact number.

He's the only guy I know that drives a Cummins 2nd gen. He paid several grand for it and he doesn't like it so, yeah.

I don't know much about diesels, let alone the whole propane injection thing. That alone is gonna limit you to a pretty small demographic because the average person thinks the same way I do. And that's "propane? Isn't that what you use in a grill?"
 

crash68

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If you really want to know what your truck is worth, go on a forum that specializes in diesels like the Turbo Diesel Register. There are a bunch of gasser lovers on this site and by the previous posts, don't have a clue what you have​. Take the propane injection for example, the truck doesn't solely run on propane. Propane is used in much the same fashion that nitrous is used in a gas engine.
Truthfully with this 12V it's not a Dodge fan thing, it's a Cummins fan thing. Some people transplant Cummins into Fords.
 

dudeman2009

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Crash hit it pretty good. Everyone has their own opinion on it. There are a lot of guys like Dapepper here that wouldn't pay a dime for it simply because its a Cummins.

I went to school for 2 years for diesel technology, we covered just about anything you'd see in on or off road vehicles as well as stationary installations. One of the classes I didn't take is alternate fuels, few people do and even fewer colleges offer classes like it. I had no clue that a propane mod for the Cummins acted like nos, I still don't know anything more than Crash said. I do have a very limited amount of experience working with straight propane/natural gas engines, but those didn't use the diesel style ignition, they were gasoline based. Seeing as I have some of the most up to date education in the diesel field, minus those working in R&D, and even I don't really know how the whole propane thing works, just goes to show the market you're looking at.

Try a Cummins only forum, they'd have more exposure to them and would know more accurately what you could get from it, simply because they all buy and trade them. Here, its just a handful of guys who own them.

Also, just like Powerstroke and Duramax, just because its a diesel, doesn't mean the price doubles. But, there's always that one guy with plenty of money who is looking for his perfect truck. Personally, the only reason i'd even buy a 2nd Gen is for the body, even then i'm going to spend a decent amount of cash for my dream build, the new 6.7L engine with a swapped 5.9 crank. People say the old Cummins will run into the ground and keep going, thats one of the reasons why right there. Out of all the engines i've worked on, i've never seen anything besides a CAT or Detroit beat a Cummins for crank durability.
 

dapepper9

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If you really want to know what your truck is worth, go on a forum that specializes in diesels like the Turbo Diesel Register. There are a bunch of gasser lovers on this site and by the previous posts, don't have a clue what you have​. Take the propane injection for example, the truck doesn't solely run on propane. Propane is used in much the same fashion that nitrous is used in a gas engine.
Truthfully with this 12V it's not a Dodge fan thing, it's a Cummins fan thing. Some people transplant Cummins into Fords.

+1 to everything but the bolded. I'm fully aware of what he's given us for a description. Assuming it's actually really nice and clean it's still mostly only worth anything because the aforementioned "cummins tax". Anybody familiar with Jeeps knows exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah being clean goes a long way but at the end of the day a 12v is an archaic, underpowered, less capable engine. Even being hopped up they can't compete with the more modern designs in terms of power output, comfort, handling and capability. All that being said they're a ton fun and they last like few designs do and with a few little things here and there they can be a great driver with a fair bit of nostalgia. However, they're still 20+ years old and age brings on new challenges with vehicles. Anybody familiar with 1st gens, 2nd gens and even 3rd gens can attest to this. Hell early 4th gens like 09/10 are starting to show these things. This is just stuff nobody wants to address because "12Vs last forever".

Not trying to hate just being realistic
 

Shadow_Death

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Killeen, Tx
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2006
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Die a hard Dodge guy here that wouldn't pay 1 shiny penny. Playing around with that unofficial cummins tax is bs. A 23yr old truck with 257k miles of shear abuse and hotrodding needing body work isn't worth the $12,000 every Tom **** and Harry is asking for em. "The engine will run forever" is not a valid argument either. You have to spend thousands to make the same respectable power that a 3rd gen can make with a tune, anything that fails costs thousands and that 257k isn't just the engine, that's everything.

I'm not saying this is your situation at all but this is unfortunately a fairly accurate description for these overpriced archaic smoke shows

I wouldn't spend a dirty penny on any cummins that runs propane. For me it's straight diesel or nothing in those motors. :naughty:

Truthfully with this 12V it's not a Dodge fan thing, it's a Cummins fan thing. Some people transplant Cummins into Fords.

Maaaaaan if I had the money to throw away I'd love to transfer a 4BT into my 2nd gen. :D
 

dapepper9

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Propane is actually a pretty viable method of making some extra power and mileage and its fairly safe. Similar to methanol injection.
 

DodgeTx

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5.9L Cummins, 5.2l v8
I'd offer you $5000 for it, but in Texas you could prob list for $9000 and settle for about 7-9 depending on the person.

Pics help a ton, but a lot of us buy and sell cars here, and everyone in Tx has a diesel or a family member with one. Which means a ton for sale. with half way decent miles
 

crash68

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+1 to everything but the bolded. I'm fully aware of what he's given us for a description. Assuming it's actually really nice and clean it's still mostly only worth anything because the aforementioned "cummins tax".

Unless you have inside knowledge of who the OP is(this was his first post here) and a lot more information about the truck, you assumed a bunch about the truck. Hence the "don't have a clue" comment which wasn't​ directed specifically​ at you.
If was going to take an guess based on the little amount of information in his post, the OP's truck has a lot more than 257K miles on it.
 

dapepper9

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Lol i never said the op had 257k or any specific mileage. I said that's the market style. It was an example of what you'll find trying to buy similar. I haven't assumed anything more than what wss given to us aside from saying "assuming it's clean" 1 time. And again, that was still only a hypothetical comment
 
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bulrid8

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A lot of diesel people like the 12v, because they are simple. You can make good power without all the electronics. Propane and methanol injection has been around forever. Propane will boost power and increase mileage. It makes the diesel fual burn thoroughly.
If you just want a power shot, then stick with nitrous. Virtually cannot hurt a diesel with nitrous.
I would say a vehicle as described would sell for $5-10k depending on condition.

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