lifelong Ford guy with his first Dodge truck

[sngehl01]

Well guys, I made the move to the dark side. I've owned about 15 Ford trucks (I have always had a tendency to do a lot of buying/selling/swapping). Wanted to buy something I'd have a while. Something with 4x4, low-ish miles, and in decent shape. In my price range there were a lot of Ford trucks with the 3v 5.4 motor. No thanks.

Happened upon a 2006 Dodge Ram crew cab short bed Big Horn edition. 97k miles on the clock. No rust. One owner, well maintained. 4.7L motor wasn't my first choice when looking around, but ok with it given I do minimal trailer pulling (and when I do it's not a crazy heavy load, truck will be more than capable to tow anything I need it to).

Just wanted to hop on the forum and poke around about it. Really pleased with it thus far. I don't like how the previous owner added 35" tires to it, but they are virtually new and a really good brand. Not much bigger than the stock size, but they'll do for now.

Anything I should watch out for specifically on the truck? I'll poke around on my own, but anything that's pretty common, I'd appreciate a heads up. My flood vents aren't blowing hot air (or any air), so I'm guessing it's a mode 2 door issue. May do a trans flush.

 

[quietpeen]

welcome

 

[turkeybird56]

Welcome from Central Texas...

 

[McBroom]

Welcome Aboard from Denison Texas. We’re glad you joined the team.
R ighteous
A gressive
M uscle






I Love my 18 Ram 2500HD 4x4 CC
Blue Streak Pearl off-road

 

[SYKRAMMAN]

Welcome. First thing to look for besides the normal checklist is corrosion on the electrical connectors and grounds, make sure they are clean and clear of rust, corrosion etc. I usually go around and put dielectric grease on all connections and fuses/relays to help keep them clean and functional. The biggest problem is the tipm (fuse box) because of where it’s located, it’s a recipe for disaster where they put it and causes a lot of issues. The transmission is finicky in these gens, don’t do wot downshifts, it doesn’t like it at all and has had issues. Otherwise it’s a very good truck and you’ll be happy with it. Good luck with your new ride.

 

[13ram1500crew]

It would be a good idea to oil spray the truck to keep the rust from starting..

 

[Harley Harrold]

View media item 26430

 

[Donutsahoy]

Make sure you do regular oil changes on the 4.7L. Not my favorite engine in the world but it does alright.

Welcome to the family!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RampageHTX]

Hello and welcome from Houston
Probably will take that 4 letter word out of your vocabulary now F**D

 

[WilliamS]

First thing needed is to De-Autozone that truck!

 

[MikeG71]

to the Forum!!

 

[mboymopar]

Welcome from west Michigan

 

[sngehl01]

Welcome. First thing to look for besides the normal checklist is corrosion on the electrical connectors and grounds, make sure they are clean and clear of rust, corrosion etc. I usually go around and put dielectric grease on all connections and fuses/relays to help keep them clean and functional. The biggest problem is the tipm (fuse box) because of where it’s located, it’s a recipe for disaster where they put it and causes a lot of issues. The transmission is finicky in these gens, don’t do wot downshifts, it doesn’t like it at all and has had issues. Otherwise it’s a very good truck and you’ll be happy with it. Good luck with your new ride.

Excellent advice. Looking for stuff like this. Familiar with a bad TIPM, my wifes 09 Caliber had the same issue (it was kinda funny, you had to open the drivers door before shutting the car off and removing the key to shut off a lot of the electrical stuff like the radio, lights, etc. Otherwise battery would go dead overnight.)

I will check all those connections. Thanks. I live in an area where rust is pretty common, but this truck is exceptionally clean, especially for the year. I'll have to search about flushing for this transmission. With only 97k miles I'd say I can decide whether to routinely flush or not.

 

[sngehl01]

It would be a good idea to oil spray the truck to keep the rust from starting..

Yeah, that's a good recommendation. The previous owner installed these plastic guards inside the wheel wells to hide the chassis. It's actually pretty nice, easy to see where it would keep crap from getting flung up. I haven't removed the flares, so I don't know if any rust is under there or not. Given how clean the rest of the truck is, I wouldn't be surprised if it looked like new. Given how prone to rusting trucks like this are around here, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Ignorance is bliss, in this case. Will probably still coat the chassis.

First thing needed is to De-Autozone that truck!

Man, tell me about it. You have no idea how bad it was on the inside. Dude has a really nice custom sub box under the rear seat with dual 10" alpine subs, and a nice sub box in the bed with 2 10" alpine subs and 2 alpine 6x9's, along with an amp mounted on the box in the bed + an amp under each seat. It was all done well and is good stuff. But he had a TON of little LED light strips everywhere. It was an older guy (and a sheriff, go figure) who owned it, and I guess he liked led lights. All the little chrome pieces drive me nuts. I'm going to see what I can remove without damaging anything, and what I can't remove will probably get plasti-dipped.

 

[WilliamS]

Wheel well liners are nice, its all the chrome fender diamonds and stick on crap that I cant stand.

 

[sngehl01]

Wheel well liners are nice, its all the chrome fender diamonds and stick on crap that I cant stand.

Completely agree!