Anyone else think their 4th Gen is a Lemon?

[SouthernBornRebel]

4th Gen is the pick of the litter so far period, you got one of the few with issues it seems

 

[garrye]

got an 05 with the 5.7 hemi only issue was a tranny drove it halfway across the country daily work truck been a great truck. Oh wait the driver seat has a hole worn in it, damn lemon

 

[etbrown4]

I agree that OP is probably blaming his own bad driving, or his bad roads on a great truck.

I have a 16 hemi with 92k and have never had any of the problems he listed.

I have no lifter noise and it's never been realigned, but drives straight down the road.

I feel for the other poster who paid 6k for a tranny just past warranty. Mine did fail at 59k and FCA paid for it luckily, and FCA extended my warranty to 120k at no cost. Really.

Except for the warranted tranny, not one repair in 92k except the tailgate recall and and overhead light replacement.

Other than the tranny, no Ford or Chevrolet can beat that, and with factory air suspension, I feel like I have the smoothest riding truck on the road., yes at 92k.

 

[ajwilson]

I agree that OP is probably blaming his own bad driving, or his bad roads on a great truck.

I have a 16 hemi with 92k and have never had any of the problems he listed.

I have no lifter noise and it's never been realigned, but drives straight down the road.

I feel for the other poster who paid 6k for a tranny just past warranty. Mine did fail at 59k and FCA paid for it luckily, and FCA extended my warranty to 120k at no cost. Really.

Except for the warranted tranny, not one repair in 92k except the tailgate recall and and overhead light replacement.

Other than the tranny, no Ford or Chevrolet can beat that, and with factory air suspension, I feel like I have the smoothest riding truck on the road., yes at 92k.

I agree. Mine is well past 170k miles and all I’ve done is the recalls, brakes once and tires twice. I have factory air ride and a GM dealer told me I had the best riding vehicle in his lot when I asked What vehicles he had that would ride as good or better. I have a 2014 Laramie Longhorn Ecodiesel. I think I’ve bought my last truck if idiots would stop scrapping it at HD!

 

[jr27236]

Pulling could be more than an alignment. My 07 pulled left after having 4 new tires put on at Mavis Tires. long story short after numerous visits to them and other allignment shops that only looked at the allignment specs and not a reason for cause of the pull. I slid under and found my drivers side half shaft axle was damaged. I changed both myself and never an issue again.
I now have a 16 Limited that I purchased used and this truck has got to be the best truck I have ever driven. Air suspension is unreal. Not only smooth but picking up and dropping trailers is so much faster and easier. Love my 16!!

 

[Octane]

Even the mighty Toyota company has had steering shaft and oil burning and sludge buildup problems.Along with unintended acceleration that they blamed on the floor mats.
I've only had my Ram 2.5 years and it has been very dependable.2013 Express.
Stats have always shown that electrical issues are about the same over every global carmaker and most every vehicle. Ive owned many makes over 45 years and you can definetely get into a certain set of years where the carmakers screw up badly

 

[gfh77665]

I second the motion that you go buy a Toyota.

Had Dodge ever had to replace 10% of the rusted out frames that Toyota has, you'd never hear the end of it. But you never hear a word about all those rusted frames because it is the hallowed TOTOTA.

This ^^^

 

[RixRox]

I have a 2o16 Laramie Longhorn. My first non-Ford Truck. I’ve driving Ford trucks since I was 15, I am now 63. I bought the RAM because I thought Ford lost its way in what light truck drivers want. I am very happy with my 2016 RAM and when it wears out, I will most likely buy another one…should I live that long, lol.

You may (or may not) have purchased a lemon, but don’t taint the whole brand.

oh, I forgot, I haven’t had issues with this vehicle.

 

[boblonben]

84K and nary a problem of any kind. you must be hard on vehicles.. cheers

 

[BadHemi2014]

2014 with hemi and 6 speed here. Bought at 106K now has 126K. Needed water pump and now has lifter failure.
Still not a lemon, it was a fleet truck that was idled to death.
I fell in love at first glance and was sold with 1 quick test drive. Once the work is complete she'll be one mean beast.
No regrets!

Gratuitous pic of my money pit ... err, I mean baby.

 

[Old Cop 66]

2014, 2500CC, 6.4….90,000.
Still original brakes, towed 35’ 5th wheel for first 5 years.
No issues. Bone stock, true lifetime warranty.
Dealership serviced on time every time so if anything goes I know whose record to verify.
Bought er’ new, keeping up with common sense maintenance.
Best truck of any I have had dating back to 1965…

 

[Keifus]

I totally agree with you and I’ve been having the same issues with my 2018 The pulling to the left I still haven’t figured it out I’ve taken it to a front end shop and a local suspension shop. The local suspension shop did a front and rear alignment plus I put bigger wheels and tires on it and it only helped a lil bit.
I’ve tried and tried to fix the third break light from leaking but it still leaks like the pos it is.
At least you don’t have the faulty tailgate latch that fca won’t fix. You gotta love driving down the road and hit a lil bump and there goes the tailgate dropping down god that’s nerve racking.
I don’t understand why fca is putting out strait sh*t! This is my first and last ram im not impressed at all.

 

[jmrec100]

I think all the newer trucks and cars from 2000 on are not built very well anymore. I have older cars and an older Jeep, 1994 with the 4.0L. Jeep has 325,000 miles on it. Basic things like alternator and starter replacement and battery. Now I need to replace engine mounts. At 325,000 miles, well expected. I did have that cracked manifold issue, - hairline cracks that don't really see until failed CA smog. New manifold and she runs again. I always heard that Dodge/RAM made good engines, but the rest questionable. And the Toyota are living off their previous reputation in my opinion. All the manufacturers are designing for the vehicles to die at certain mileages due to costs cutting. It astounds me for the costs of New trucks.
I am looking for a used truck to carry a camper or to tow a TT. But just concerned what is out there these days.

 

[RaptorHD]

Hmmm,
Well, I will chime in. I have been a blue oval guy most my life with a few exceptions (1970 Olds 442) I actually had a Chevy once, had that POS crushed too.. My friends have GM's, and they all complain about moisture in the headlights or Transmission problems. Have you ever noticed when you are driving behind one all you smell is a very rich exhaust? You don't need a degree in Rocket science to see that the GM's are designed bad---REAL BAD! I come from an engineering background and have helped friends with there lost causes (GM's) I have never---NEVER had any issues with my Rams!

I switched from Ford trucks to a Ram in 2001, picked up a 2500 ext. cab 4x4 Cummins with the 6 speed.. Told the dealer if I could hook a "U" at the light during the test drive, I would be sold, 15 minutes later I was saying good bye to my 1995 F250 ext cab 4x4 with the 7.3.. Kept that truck until I picked up a 2008 Ram 3500 dually Mega Cab 4x4 with the 6.7, great truck, got 110,000 miles outta my first set of tires ( I pulled the new tires off and went with 19.5 commercial tires) Loved that truck, did all I asked of it and more!

fast forward to 2020, I see this nice Ram 2500 5th Gen, its a 4x4 crew with the Cummins, its actually beefier that the 3500 dually but its blue,,hate blue on a truck.. Its a Bighorn with all the options I wanted including the dual alternators, the price was right--$50,000 out the door, hell yeah I am in. So I drive all the way to Kentucky, trade in a little grocery getter I had lying around and walked out with a bill of $48,000. Whats not to like? This truck is awesome, pulls better than my dually under heavy load, yeah, I like this truck.

If you don't like your ram, just go look at a Ford, if the sticker shock doesn't sell you on a RAM truck then run over to GM, I am sure you will get a Nice Isuzu powered 4x4 but don't complain when it keeps you up at night rusting away..

I am still a FORD guy, but wouldn't touch the trucks with a 10 foot pole. I have Ford Cars and Dodge trucks only now, they get those right..

 

[indept]

Seems like the OP fixed his issue since there's been no posts by them since post 1.
So OP if you're still out there I have a solution to your issue, enjoy...

 

[My4x4tune]

I agree! My 2012 has 168K miles and all original, incl shocks. Even though it's been mechanically sound and never left me stranded, ..and still goes down the road nice and tight, the seat has worn out on the edge from me getting in and out, so, yeah, it's DEFINITELY a lemon! He he

Seriously, a lot of those things are not uncommon on any truck. Lot of vehicles have had manifold issues for ever. For example, on the older Jeep 4.0L engines, those manifolds always cracked for like 20 years. I put 3x in one of my Jeeps, until I finally welded it myself and created gusseting that seemed pretty obvious (not sure why the factory didn't do it) and never had a problem since. Lots of exhaust manifolds have been warping since the 1960's. Maybe these are consistently worse, but.. Just remove them, and get them machined or belt-sanded (brand new ones will re-warp, so don't buy new). Then you can cross that one off your list.

Tie rods, tires, shocks?? What are you talking about?! You forgot to list off: thin paint, rust in the middle of the fender, LCD screen issues. Lifter/cam failures, No-start, battery discharging, TIPM corroding/failure, ...um...what else am I forgetting that can go wrong with modern cars (and Rams)?

Right now you should pass it off while prices are tops, then buy a Toyota tk with extended warranty. (no, seriously). This is getting under your skin, time to move on. If you can't find a new one, buy a used cheapo old tk till you can get a newer Toyota tk.

Yeah, and don’t forget the dreaded turbo failure! I’ll take 15 door handle fixes, 3 tie rod replace and 2 sets of tires over ONE turbo failure at 55k mi! (Truck was over 5 years old so warranty wasn’t an option, had to go to bank of ME!). But I still don’t think my beloved limited is a lemon. Gotta expect with the cheap parts made these days there will be more failures, but you would think/hope the major engine and transmission parts failures wouldn’t be some of them!

 

[Mbrigh3]

My 14th 4th gen was a 50k mile lemon. I traded it big time.

 

[JC4041]

I was a little worried when I bought my 09 in March 2010 with shy of 12k miles since it was a "first year". Just did the second set of manifold bolts (did headers and ARP this time). I think it's had 4 recalls (base model ST, no fancy ****, less stuff to break). The only "major" thing I've had to do was probably my fault (or just bad timing) when I programmed 2 new key fobs and the WIN went out. Living on base, being deployed and then working overseas for 5 years have kept the miles low at less than 84k currently. Few trips from Utah to Cali to Arkansas....I'd leave tomorrow and not worry about anything.

 

[Ram Night]

I purchased a new 16 rebel, and it was a total *************. From the steering being all over the road which the dealer could not fix, to the transmission slipping when cold. I got rid it is after 6 months and purchased a sport edition.
I had my 1990 Dakota for 10 trouble free years before I purchased a new 360 powered Durango.

 

[tones2SS]

I think all the newer trucks and cars from 2000 on are not built very well anymore.

I will agree with that!!!
Pride of work keeps going down. Unfortunately. Sometimes it's not the work that is faulty, but the crap parts that these corporations use.