Purchase advice

[Oilercat]

You can do a lot of work to this one for the 10,000 difference. I would suggest you get an independant mechanic you trust to do a detailed inspection and if it passes you should be good to go.

Thanks. I do have a buddy who is a service advisors for a Ram dealership near by so I plan to have him check it out. He is pro 6.4 Hemi on reliability. The Hemi tick doesn’t seem to be an issue on this truck so far. I have made sure to cold start it myself on my two test drives so far and it sounds good. I guess currently here in Texas this time of year a “cold start” doesn’t exist! I almost bought on the last day of June but something happened and I couldn’t make it. When I checked on it again that’s when they told me it threw a code and they took it to dealer. Found out they are replacing torque converter. Owner of lot wants to make sure truck is right and it comes with a 6month warranty which is pretty good for a used car lot.

 

[Dusty]

Thanks. I do have a buddy who is a service advisors for a Ram dealership near by so I plan to have him check it out. He is pro 6.4 Hemi on reliability. The Hemi tick doesn’t seem to be an issue on this truck so far. I have made sure to cold start it myself on my two test drives so far and it sounds good. I guess currently here in Texas this time of year a “cold start” doesn’t exist! I almost bought on the last day of June but something happened and I couldn’t make it. When I checked on it again that’s when they told me it threw a code and they took it to dealer. Found out they are replacing torque converter. Owner of lot wants to make sure truck is right and it comes with a 6month warranty which is pretty good for a used car lot.

You'll probably be charged a diagnostic fee, but a tech. can do a health check (clutch volume indexes, clutch pack fill times, etc.) on the transmission by using the Mopar scan tool.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build Date: 3 June 2018. Now at 95001 miles.

 

[Oilercat]

Well I test drove it today and basically the transmission is rebuilt from a local transmission shop. During test drive salesman tells me what had been done to truck and the transmission would have a three warranty. So I’m feeling pretty good about the deal but they did what I was worried about. They added the repair to the cost of the truck. I appreciate them doing the right thing by fixing transmission but I don’t want to have to pay for that. Price OTD was more than I wanted to spend so I walked away. When I started walking the owner came back with a better offer so I will wait it out and see what happens. I appreciate all the help!

 

[Oilercat]

I looked at another 2016 PowerWagon that is same color and everything as the one I’m also looking at. It popped up on Friday and was priced almost to good to be true….well I looked at and right off the bat the guy realized he priced it to low. He has no clue about Power Wagons. He gave me a verbal that I could buy for the price listed but I checked internet price and he raised $6k which is actually closer to market level price for a Laramie Power Wagon. I test drove it. First did the cold start to listen for Hemi tick and it had little bit but didn’t last long. Could be the exhaust manifold leak which I think is common. Truck has 160k miles but Carfax shows oil changes every 5k so I think owner took care of truck. He did add a CAI and and aftermarket exhaust so it’s fairly loud which I’m an old man so I don’t need that anymore!. I would guess he had truck programmed as well. I know I did the CAI, exhaust and programmer in the past. It was hard to judge things during test drive because it had three bald mud tires and one brand new mud tire on front driver side. I don’t mind putting on a new set of tires especially for as low as price for truck was. I took it to a big parking lot to check 4wd, lockers and sway bar disconnect. Sway bar worked but lockers kept flashing. I know these can be tricky to engage but what concerned me was when I went to put it back to unlock the rear locker kept flashing even in 2nd. Took it back to show guy and he had no clue about the locker system. When I turned truck back on the rear locker stopped flashing.
So at worst truck would need new tires and figure out what’s going on with lockers. Will keep y’all updated and thanks for the help.

 

[Atcer2018]

I looked at another 2016 PowerWagon that is same color and everything as the one I’m also looking at. It popped up on Friday and was priced almost to good to be true….well I looked at and right off the bat the guy realized he priced it to low. He has no clue about Power Wagons. He gave me a verbal that I could buy for the price listed but I checked internet price and he raised $6k which is actually closer to market level price for a Laramie Power Wagon. I test drove it. First did the cold start to listen for Hemi tick and it had little bit but didn’t last long. Could be the exhaust manifold leak which I think is common. Truck has 160k miles but Carfax shows oil changes every 5k so I think owner took care of truck. He did add a CAI and and aftermarket exhaust so it’s fairly loud which I’m an old man so I don’t need that anymore!. I would guess he had truck programmed as well. I know I did the CAI, exhaust and programmer in the past. It was hard to judge things during test drive because it had three bald mud tires and one brand new mud tire on front driver side. I don’t mind putting on a new set of tires especially for as low as price for truck was. I took it to a big parking lot to check 4wd, lockers and sway bar disconnect. Sway bar worked but lockers kept flashing. I know these can be tricky to engage but what concerned me was when I went to put it back to unlock the rear locker kept flashing even in 2nd. Took it back to show guy and he had no clue about the locker system. When I turned truck back on the rear locker stopped flashing.
So at worst truck would need new tires and figure out what’s going on with lockers. Will keep y’all updated and thanks for the help.

Allow me to play devils advocate for a moment. The gentleman selling the PW below market value may be trying to get rid of it quickly because he knows it has issues. He had no clue about the lockers but he has the knowledge to install a CAI and exhaust? Maybe he’s playing ignorant or maybe he’s hiding something. Three bald tires and one new mudder? He may not want to sink a couple of grand into it because he’s selling so he priced it accordingly or he doesn’t really care about maintaining the vehicle? Does he have service records? You noticed a tick on startup but it went away quickly? Quick enough for the manifold to warm up and expand or the beginning of an oil starved lifter? Could be a great deal or it could be a money pit that he’s trying to unload quickly.

 

[Oilercat]

Allow me to play devils advocate for a moment. The gentleman selling the PW below market value may be trying to get rid of it quickly because he knows it has issues. He had no clue about the lockers but he has the knowledge to install a CAI and exhaust? Maybe he’s playing ignorant or maybe he’s hiding something. Three bald tires and one new mudder? He may not want to sink a couple of grand into it because he’s selling so he priced it accordingly or he doesn’t really care about maintaining the vehicle? Does he have service records? You noticed a tick on startup but it went away quickly? Quick enough for the manifold to warm up and expand or the beginning of an oil starved lifter? Could be a great deal or it could be a money pit that he’s trying to unload quickly.

 

[Oilercat]

Ya I was thinking the same thing but I really think he priced it the same as a Laramie 4x4. I saw car come up Friday night on the internet for the first time. I looked at Saturday morning and when I checked internet Saturday he increased price by $6k. Which is more the going rate for a 2016 Laramie Power Wagon. If all it needed was a new set of tires it would be the deal of the century!

 

[Oilercat]

Thanks for the advice. I got a call back on the one I walked out on Friday. They called this morning and gave me a much better offer and I ended buying my first PowerWagon. Been wanting one of these since 2010!