Looking to buy 2001 Ram 1500 w/ V6 Magnum. What to watch for?

[dlister70]

My old Toyota pickup frame finally rusted beyond what I'm comfortable driving, so I'm looking for another older pickup. I found a nice looking 2001 Dodge Ram w/ a V6 Magnum 3.9 with under 60k miles on it! The frame has minor rust, but looks very well kept and must have been kept in a garage for it's whole life.

I don't really know anything about Dodge trucks and what to watch for. I didn't even realize that they made them in V6, as I'd always seen the V8 and V10 models. With the old Toyota trucks, people would tell you steer clear of the 3.0 V6, but the 3.4 V6 was golden. And they used plastic guides for the timing chain on the 22RE, so make sure to replace with something sturdier before they crack. I guess I'm looking for that kind of insight.

Are there any known issues on these trucks besides the extremely cracked dash which I've learned is par for the course? I've read that some had transmission troubles but I don't think it was the 2001 model. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

I don't tow anything, and probably never will, so I'm fine with a V6 if it's a reliable engine. It has an 8 foot bed which would be a nice upgrade as my old truck is only 6 foot. Mostly I just bring home supplies from Home Depot or Menards when working on projects around the house and it's great to have a truck around for those sorts of things. So I don't expect much in the way of performance, I just want it to last.

 

[Sappie19]

I've heard the 3.9L feels a bit underpowered, likely not an issue but I'd throw it out there.

One issue that comes to mind on these is the plenum gasket blowing - pretty common issue on these engines (google search will bring up). Not a difficult fix but a bit time consuming to get the intake off.

 

[Bigguyinmo]

Intake gasket as mentioned. I understand that the 3.9 is bad on timing chains. If it’s got some miles on it, I would toss one in.

 

[Skatulaki]

I had 2 Dodge Dakota's with 3.9 V6's and both were 4wd, manual shift. One an 89, the other a 95. I had a throttle body ( what I call semi fuel injection ) go out once on the 89. It basically looked like a 2 bbl carb with 2 fuel squirting devices. One went out but it still got me home. I got a 150,000 out of both, with virtually no trouble other than the throttle body. No problem with power on the Dakota's. On a full size Ram, its every bit the 300 straight six in F150's. Its fine for light duty use and in the Dakota's they were good on gas, not sure on the full size Ram.

 

[Bigguyinmo]

I have a ‘98 regular cab short Bed 2x4. It has the 3.9 with a 42re and 3:55 gears. It started off at 13 mpg on the highway and very underpowered. It could barely climb a hill without pulling into low gear snd out of overdrive.
I wanted to see what could be done with it.
Replaced intake gaskets, advanced timing, new lifters, V8 tb, new timing gears and lighter tires ( my old tires were heavy 10 ply)
It now gets 16 mpg and does have decent power about 3000 rpm
My next experiment will be Harland Sharp 1.7 rockers.
If I had to make a recommendation....don’t buy a 3.9