First and last time Dodge Ram owner

[turkeybird56]

Not gonna get into hate fest, Mr ILoveMy Ram get what works for You and drive on. Just IMHO.....

 

[sandawilliams]

When it comes to vehicles 'You pays your money and you takes your chances.'

 

[huntergreen]

been a Chevy man all my life, multiple Chevy trucks, 1970 camaro rd/ss 1970 Chevelle ss big block, 1996 Pontiac GTO 6.0 6 speed. I can honestly say I never had any issues besides wear and tear.
Last year I picked up a super mint 2011 Dodge Ram Laramie crew cab, once I drove it, I fell in love with it, and decided to give the dodge a shot.
92,000 miles on the truck, I’ve changed the front wheels baring and tie Rod ends. Last week the famous exhaust tick started, so I ordered 2 new Dorman manifolds and bolts, upon inspection, 2 broken manifold bolts on the driver side. One of my friend a 35 year seasoned mechanic hasn’t been able to extract one bolt so far, 2 days of welding nuts to the stud.
Never again will I own a dodge! Wile my dodge is in the shop I’m driving my 2004 old trusty 2004 Chevy 4x4 with 257,000 on it, and still running like a champ. Dodge ad a chance to grab a new coustomer from Chevy, but failed. Going to trade it soon, and going back to what has worked me before

Known issue. If he can't extract the bolt just put a new head on it.

 

[ilovemyramlaremie]

I can dig that... but there's a difference between tastes, and making claims that {item} is generally crap.

(note that there's no accusations here - just pointing out the difference.)


Overall, even if you take meticulous care of something, you're going to get vehicles that last forever, and occasionally one that doesn't.

The 2002 Chrysler T&C 'Mommy Missile' (minivan) I just got rid of for $1500 lasted me for many years, and many, many miles - 148k miles or so, and the only thing I ever had to fix on it was the blower motor for the heater (the resistor pack crapped out causing it to always stay on high speed, then the motor died soon after. Cost me $60 at rockauto.com and about 90 minutes of work to replace it.) Otherwise it was mechanically cherry when I sold it. This was in spite of abusing the hell out of it through two kids, and using it as an impromptu pickup truck of sorts for the past 3 years (did you know it would actually haul 20 sheets of plywood, at around a ton of weight? I didn't either until I tried it. Squatted like hell, but I made it home just fine...)

The 2003 Pontiac Sunfire I had up until 2014 (EBS failed, and guess who got in a wreck because of that?) was a near-constant source of work -rubber bolt seals holding the rear spoiler down had rotted, causing the trunk to (over time) fill up with water (Pacific Northwest, go figure, right?) Ball joints went out at 75k miles, the serpentine belt would get eaten every 30,000 miles, the brakes had to be replaced completely (5 years before the EBS failed entirely), the electric engine cooling fan crapped out and needed replacing... oh, and the fuel pump crapped-out while I was on a road trip. Yay :/


So what's the point of all that? Well, I bet there were more than a few craptastic Chrysler T&C minivans, and a lot of Pontiac Sunfires out there even now which are still running just fine.

Same goes with

Known issue. If he can't extract the bolt just put a new head on it.

Known issue. If he can't extract the bolt just put a new head on it.

Known issue. If he can't extract the bolt just put a new head on it.

 

[ilovemyramlaremie]

We are waiting for drill gig, to hopefully drill out the broken bolt. What a ******* it’s been

 

[Rado]

We are waiting for drill gig, to hopefully drill out the broken bolt. What a ******* it’s been

Now that sucks .. I have drilled out a lot of studs for coil plates on boilers ,never on a car or truck and some are a royal pain !
Best of luck hope to you, I never have to do one again lol .
Bummer about the issue's with your RAM,But who knows how the past owner took care of it !
I purchased my 2015 Used and have been lucky, only a broken stud on the Y Pipe and it was a warranty fix ,
Hope you do not have further issues. Bummer is all brands have issue. My buddy got a Brand New GMC in 2016 and for the first 6 months (no kidding) close to 5 were in the repair shop! :O
I forgot WELCOME to the group

 

[JS1500]

Here are my two cents on this - Every make and model will have its share of problems. Just think of how many different parts and components make up these modern trucks (and all vehicles for that matter). Across the board - Ram, GM, Ford, you name it - no manufacturer is going to be perfect. At the end of the day you just have to do some research and pull the trigger on one with the expectation that some thing(s) will need repairing at some point. It seems that there are trends with issues with every make, model, and model year. Simple research will show different accounts of people having bad luck with their trucks, but you'll also find many accounts of people that have had great experiences with their trucks, whether it be a Ram, F150, Silverado, Tundra, you name it.

 

[Can Water Geo]

Every make out there have a few lemons. Unfortunately it sounds like you may have one. To be honest I’m sure I’d feel the same way you do. It must be frustrating.

 

[huntergreen]

We are waiting for drill gig, to hopefully drill out the broken bolt. What a ******* it’s been

It has been posted that if you machine the manifold back to level, you won't have to deal with this issue again. I haven't dealt with this issue so I can't give you personal experience.

 

[tones2SS]

Well,........the truck did have 92k miles on it. It wasn't a brand new truck.

 

[ilovemyramlaremie]

It has been posted that if you machine the manifold back to level, you won't have to deal with this issue again. I haven't dealt with this issue so I can't give you personal experience.

I got 2 brand new Dorman manifolds, clearly marked Made in China!!!

 

[huntergreen]

I got 2 brand new Dorman manifolds, clearly marked Made in China!!!

Lol, the stock manifolds are most likely produced in the same factory.

 

[ilovemyramlaremie]

Fingers crossed!!

 

[GsRAM]

Sorry for your issues, but as some have said, all brands have issues. If you want to go back to your Chevy stuff, go ahead it's your choice. I bought a brand new 2015 to Silverado, and I thought it was the biggest piece of crap I ever bought.

Tons of recalls, stupid stuff like the driver seat coming loose at 2,000 miles, known issue. The GM 6-speed is the worst shifting pile of crap I've ever owned in my life. The the new 5.3 L sounds like an Erector Set when you start it in cold weather, the driver side power door lock actuator always squeaked when it was less than 50 degrees outside. The crappy wax-coated frame was losing chunks after a thousand miles, and the frame is rusting. Completely ridiculous. The sheet metal on the truck was so waif thin I felt like I was going to dent it just from leaning on it. Absolute garbage. The truck started having interior rattles after 5000 miles already, typical GM junk that I've noticed since the 80s. They haven't changed one bit. I could go on and on I hated that truck, and that's one of the many reasons I traded it out of it for my 17 Ram 2500. I couldn't be happier. I don't miss that Chevy one single tiny bit.

My wife bought a new 16 Equinox that it's been okay, but the driver side seat heater burned out in less than 15000 miles. Absolute garbage

So all brands have issues sorry you had trouble with your truck, but you may not have any better luck with your next GM either. As others have said when you buy used you're always taking the chance that you're buying someone else's problems.

 

[Gary2]

I guess then Ram sheet metal is thinner yet then. My 2014 door didn't close all the way so I just pushed it closed lightly just above the door handle as I walked away and dented it . Hundreds of dollars spent just to change the ignition switch and I did the work at 46,000 miles. Many other things have added up over the last 5 Ram 1500's to the point this may very well be my last Ram. I have owned the other brand trucks for the 30 years previous . I only decided to try a Dodge/Ram 1500 initially because they were the only half ton with a straight axle at the time. I had always heard Dodge trucks were the cheapest built trucks since I was a kid but gave i. I have never been a die hard fan of any brand as said they all have their flaws and I tried to buy the brands with flaws I could fix and now it has gotten to the point I can't change a simple ignition switch with out going back to the dealer before its completed.

 

[Alexender]

Dammit why did the tundra have to drink so much gaz...

I would jump on it if it got better mpg. Its insane how it use gaz.

I heard for 2020, they will improve it. If it get better mpg im probably going to bite the bullet and go for one.

 

[reek]

Dammit why did the tundra have to drink so much gaz...

I would jump on it if it got better mpg. Its insane how it use gaz.

I heard for 2020, they will improve it. If it get better mpg im probably going to bite the bullet and go for one.

imagine if they put out a 3/4 ton, probably get a few more ship jumpers.

 

[pacofortacos]

Well,........the truck did have 92k miles on it. It wasn't a brand new truck.

Yeah, 7 year old truck with 92,000 on the odometer and expect it to be a brand new 2019.

 

[WWDiesel]

They all (brands) can have gremlins, just ask a mechanic who works on them and he will tell you Dodge is the least problematic truck available.
I am an old Chevy truck fan myself but switched over to Dodges after having so many problems with Chevys. I now own two 4x4 Dodges, one a gasser, one a diesel, and I also have a diesel Jeep.

 

[mohemipar]

To paint an entire brand as junk because of a header bolt issue is pretty ridiculous. I owned a bunch of GMs and literally ALL of the V8 ones had common drivetrain related issues that GM refused to address or waited until a new model refresh to address. Some of these problems had a result of your engine completely ******** itself. Costing thousands of dollars if out of warranty (most of it happened out of warranty) and actually rendering your vehicle undrivable and useless. Never the less I still didn’t label GM as entirely a junk manufacturer but wanted to move on. I still wish them well and hope they build good vehicles.

Having said that it seems they need to fire most members of their design and marketing teams these days. I want to shoot my TV every time one of those Chevy commercials come on and holy **** are they building some ugly stuff. New pickups, that new FUGLY hideous Camaro, what the hell were they thinking with the new “Blazer”, etc.

I like what Mopar is doing. I like their design language on pretty much all of their brands. They build exciting vehicles that have character, which is almost impossible to find these days unless you spend $100k. They have the best marketing team in the business bar none and it seems to me they actually try to listen to the customers and have a little bit more of a personal connection to them. This is especially true with Dodge and Jeep.

After Ram HD I would look into the Ford Super Duty, but I hear a lot of them have death wobble and I’m not a fan of the aluminum body.