New guy; 2001 1500 Sport.

[ZombyWoof]

Greetings all! This is a great forum and I'm glad I found it.
I just got a '01 1500 5.9 last week, and I'm trying really hard to love this truck. Day one I had to get the water pump replaced. One week later the brake lines right under the hood blew (they had rusted through, thankfully I was already parked at work when I discovered the problem.)
The interior and exterior are in great shape (except the dash of course,) but there seems to be above average rusting underneath.
The engine and tranny seem to be in good condition although I'm due for fluid/filter changes ASAP. The steering is a bit sloppy but manageable for right now.
Anyhow, I'm not complaining; I bought the truck from a friend so the price was fair and we both knew she would need some TLC sooner or later. But WOW at only 130k miles what else can I expect to go wrong?

1st truck: '88 Chevy S-10 (Absolute garbage.)
2nd truck: '91 Ford Ranger (Absolute jewel.)
3rd truck: '96 Nissan XE (Faithful until the end.)
Now: Let's see what Dodge can do!

 

[Merc225hp]

Welcome to RF

Like any vehicle they have a list of commun things that go wrong.

Plenum gasket leaking, cracked valve seats/heads, clogged cat converter, some say weak auto trannys, brake line behind the gas tank likes to rust out and leak, weak hub or unit bearings, soft brakes, sloppy steering are the norm.

Get past that stuff and you have a great truck thats easy to work on and is tuff.

Like I like to post do a comp test before you spend a dime on parts.

Edit to add mpg ranges from 8 to 16

 

[ZombyWoof]

Thanks for the reply, Merc.
I'm going to give her as much love as I can afford and see how she treats me back.
Coming from smaller trucks, I figure that 10 mpg (give or take) is just the tax I pay for having a kick-ass machine to drive around!

 

[codered]

Welcome they have a thread where you can fix the sloppy steering in the 2nd gen DIY i'll link it here

 

[codered]

http://www.ramforum.com/f77/sloppy_steering_adjustment-1078/

 

[dodge dude94]

Merc is spot on, like usual.

Just take your time with it, treat it right and it will be there for you come hell or high water. That's the mistake some people make with these old Rams: they expect them to behave like a tool, no care and they expect them to last.


Welcome to RF and I wish you the best of luck with the new rig.

 

[BBartow]

Nice ORE Sport!

 

[Harley Harrold]

 

[1ATony]

Thanks for joining.

 

[quietpeen]

welcome to rf

 

[bigbadram1500]

welcome