Whats the word on Dodge trucks

[jimbo2]

Anybody have any personal experience with the newer dodges?
I am considering a 1500 quad cab with a 5.9 (360) 4X4.
Anything good, bad or ugly?
Thanks.

[Firetiger(MN)]

I don't know if they've improved on the transmissions or not, but a few years ago they had bad trannys. I knew of quite a few people that had serious tranny problems before 20,000 mi. That included full-size, Dakota's, and their mini-vans. The gas mileage isn't the best either from what people say. They are coming out with a new body style soon, so maybe you want to wait for that....or maybe not.

I own a Silverado and like it a lot. I'm not against Dodges at all, in fact I almost bought a Durango before I decided it wouldn't haul the ice house around as good as a truck. I also was leary of the transmission problems they had been having.

[Eyecon]

I would wait before buying another full size Dodge truck.I owned a 96 and 98 with the 318ci and the 360ci.The fuel mileage was a joke and I also experienced transmission problems as did several friends.I loved the trucks but hated the motors and drivetrains.If Dodge would put the Chevy 5.3 motor in there trucks I would be first in line to buy one.I hear there coming out with a new engine based on there new 4.7L engine(which is very good just to small and dos'nt equal the mpg's of the Chevy 5.3L)I believe they will be out sometime this fall.I see the dealers are practically giving away the 360ci engines you could make one heck of a buy.

[Tazztoy]

I own a 2001 1500 Ram Quad with the 360. It is a nice truck but I have had some trouble with the cruise not working correctly. The tranny will shift down on the smallest of inclines and it usually will not shift back up until I touch the gas alittle(a trick the service manager told me to try). They (the dealership) tell me that Dodge has the trannies set-up this way to correct the tranny from not shifting when it is cold out. If you are looking to get a little mileage out of the truck forget it. By mileage I mean anything better than 12-13mpg. I average 9-10 most of the time. This doesn't seem to matter if you are pulling anything or running empty. I have talk to numerous other people that own newer Ram's and most of them say the same thing. I like the truck but I don't think I will get another one anytime soon, in fact I will most likely try to sell mine and get a Chevy or GMC. I did own a 97' Ram before this one and I LOVED that truck. I got 19-20mpg and had no troulbes with it.

[Tazztoy]

The problem with waiting till fall is Dodge is not offering a quad cab next year(2002 model year). They will only have the regular cab and a new crew cab. The crew cab will have 4 regular doors like the Dakota has. The dealer has said the crew cab will run between $2000 and $2500 more than the quad does now.
Just a thought.

[Smitty]

I have a 2000 quad cab w/ the 360 and had a '97 w/ 360 prior to that and my only complaint on the new one as others have said is that the mileage is lousy.. I get 11-13 whether I'm pulling the boat or not, but I've got all kinds of power to spare.

I haven't had any tranny problems with either, but both were bought with the towing package which includes the transmission cooler (a MUST in my mind).. I've been very happy with both trucks overall, just don't care for the mileage on the new one.

[Tim FRick]

I have a dogde dakota 2000 with the 4.7l and like it allot. I tow a 3600 pound boat with no problems. Gas milage is 14mpg towing, 15-16 city, and 19-21 highway. I can tow up to 5,000lbs. If I were you try the 4 door dakota with the 4.7l. That engine has been proven out for several years know. The 5.9l that the dakota R/T has a rear axle tuned for high speeds not towing. I was going to go with that but it would only tow 1,200lbs. Now that's a joke for such a large engine.
Good Luck!!
Tim FRick

[KP]

I have two neighbors and a friend with Dodge vehicles. One has a full size van with small V8 that is 3 years old, 30K miles and on his 3rd tranny. Another has a 1500 truck with the big V8 he just bought last week and is back at the dealer getting the tranny replaced. He traded in an Intrepid that had a bad tranny which replaced his first Intrepid that burned to a crisp from an electrical fire. A friend traded in his 4 year old mini van for a new one because he didn't want to pay to replace...a bad tranny.

Dodge (Mopar) seems to spend too much time on looks, bells, and whistles, and too little time on reliability. Where their problems in the past were ugly vehicles and reliability. Why anyone of sound body and mind would buy a Mopar is beyond my ability to comprehend.

[Badger]

Have a 2000 Durango RT with the 360. Power is excellent (something like 250 HP/350 Torque), but the gas milage is unacceptable. I've got about 15K miles on it, and I average 10.5 MPG (doesn't seem to matter if you are towing)

I don't know why it's so bad. My brother has a modified small block ford pushing around 350 HP/350 Torque and he still gets 15 MPG. Pretty sad...

[Old Fisherman]

I had a 97 Dodge with a 360 which went bad at 8,200 miles.I liked the truck. Best seats and strong body. Lousy milage. I drive a 99 Silverado that has been good so far.

[Olfs]

Tim, what gears do you have in your dakota and is it 4 X 4? I have the same truck with the extended cab, 4.7 and 4 X 4.I get a little less than the mpg you do. I tow a 2200 lb. boat and get about 13 on the highway towing. I have less than 5000 miles so maybee it will improve a little more.

Thanks, Mark

[GregK]

I've had a Dodge before and was very happy with it. However, the last time around I chose the Toyota Tundra and have not regreted it at all. Mileage is reasonable 15 to 17.5 with the V8 engine. There's enough power to pull around the Queen Mary.

One last thing, if it makes a difference to you, the insurance association rated Dodge worst in crash tests. The cab crushes really bad in the 40 mph test. The Toyota also retained a great deal of damage but the passenger area was in one piece. Of all the pickups Toyota was the only one with a "good" rating. Dodge had the worst.

[jb]

I once had a neighbor, who's aunts great uncle's son inlaws girlfriends brother owned a Ford and a Dodge, but he didn't like either one of them, so he went back to riding his mule. I sure hope this clears up some of the problems with mopar. And while I'm at it, I have owned A lot of mopar products and haven't had a problem. They still have the best warranty in the business.

[Smokin J]

I have a 2001 Dodge 1500 Quad Cab-318-auto. Plenty of power! , get about 15 mpg not towing and around 13 or 14 towing (16ft Sylvan Expedition) around Casper Wy. Lots of hills, when towing in drive I take it out of overdrive and do not use the cruise, seems to help. I have 10,000 miles on it,and really like the truck! Big improvement over the Olds Bravada!
Sorry this got long, hope it helps.
Joe

[saugeye]

Another problem associated with dodge 4x4s is a poorly designed solid front axle.A part called a tracking bar keeps the whole works from moving.In order to keep the front end properly alligned the tollerances on the bar,which is held on by 2 ball joints,is 60 thousands.Expect to replace this part about every two years or you will chew up tires pretty fast.

[Bub]

I have a 99 Ram SLT Quad Cab with the 318 auto thats for sale for $18,100 in Ohio. Its loaded (minus leather or CD). 25,200 miles on it. Never had a tranny problem nor any other warranty work. Love it, just dont need it. My wifes SUV hauls my boat now. If interested, e-mail me.

[Mckoz]

The best advice I can give you is to look at what municipalities and construction companies are using as fleet vehicles. Talk with these people and find out the pro's and con's. You will find the prices are all comparable and the folks in charge of maintaining them will be very honest about their performance. Good Luck.

Mike

[vetspet(ind)]

i have the 99 v-10....so far not one problem other than low milage...put the truck camper and pulled my 21ft boat to erie last yr...went 80 mph on toll road and got 7 mpg...went real slow on return trip...no more than 60mph...just to see what the difference would be...got 8mpg...thats 14% improvement but realistically not much difference...other than that i have owned several caravans...they are total work horses...one the odometer stopped at 160,000 miles and still ran well...no trany problems at all...have a ram van...92...pulled my boat everywhere prior to v=10....no problems with trany at all...good runner...poor milage...had two other dodges which the kids inherited...not any problems at all..over 100 K miles and tranys all performed well...so i would have to think these are isolated instances or these guys are hot-rodding...i have four relatively slow driving daughters....my bet is these tranys are being driven like i did when i was young...hehehe...steve

[Shellback]

For every response here saying this and that problems with Dodges, I'm sure you'll find just as many on other brands. I've heard horror stories on em all. Had an 89 W250 Dodge with 155,000 trouble free miles on it when I traded on a 1998 Quad cab 4x4, and am now about 500 miles short of 100,000 on it without any problems. I take that back, I did replace one front axle u-joint. Sometimes I gotta wonder how people treat their stuff? My wife's old 1993 Jeep, son's got it now, 160,000 and no problems. Before the Jeep she had a new Taurus wagon, 70,000 and it was junk! McPherson struts shot, trans shot and the A/C compressor shot. Wouldn't buy another Ford. Never had much luck with Chevies, but I never bought one brand new, only used. probably previously owned by the same people that had all the problems with Dodge's. You know, mentally challeged!

[W.A.]

Okay, I had two Dodge trucks. Both were great for bells and whistles. Both had great power when they worked. Both also had an gasoline I.V. hooked to the nearest pump. Sucked gas like pigs. However, I wanted tow vehicles with power, and expected less than stellar milage. But the last truck even amazed me. I put "The gas pig" across the rear window.
The stick shift model (My first brainless foray into a dodge treuck)kept burning out throwout bearings. Dodge kept replacing them and not checking the rest of the tranny to see what caused the problem. I never got an old one back when I requested it, every time they had some stupid excuse why they didn't have the old part. I went to the GM of the dealership to complain (somewhere around the 3rd bearing failure) he told me it was cause I towed a boat. (A 16 foot Tuffy Esox, with a whopping 50hp motor!) My mother in law weighs more than that rig did!! He also said, and I quote, "If you know so much about trucks, why don't you fix it yourself?" When I traded the year and a half old truck in it was on bearing number 5 and it was bad. The tranny (the service mgr called me to ask of any knowledge of this and told me what was bad) had a warped pressure plate and a clutch disk out of round. As an added surprise, there was coolant in the oil! It seems this was a common problem that Dodge chose only to fix when it happened. No service alerts, no recall. When your motor grenaded, then they fixed it. Kinda like a band aid on a cannon shell hole! Add to that, the whole ignition and distributor was new, on my dime. ##### truck kept dying and was unable to restart it till it wanted to start. Bumper to bumper warranty only covered mechanical problems. Not electrical. Now you'd think thart when the fuel pump went that would be covered too? Ya right! If you beleive that, I have a bridge in San Francisco I'll sell ya cheap! The fuel pump is an electrical gizmo back by the tank, not a mechanical one on the block. You guessed it, my dime again. Did I mention I had this truck was only a year and a half old?
The second, a club cab, had brake problems from the day I picked it up. Thumping and surging while stopping. 17 trips for service and 3 dealers later they found the problem. The rotors had soft spots and were warped. I needed new ones. On my dime as I was convieniently out of warranty period. And they could not find any records about all previous service that would have shown a pre existing condition where by Dodge would honor the warranty and replace them. Thge stereo puked out and I had to get another. Took them 3 weeks to get the blasted thing. The tilt system on the seat broke, they had the truck for 7 days, to bolt in a new seat you ask? Nope. had to wait for a 50 dollar part and then they tore the old apart and put in the new part. My dime again. Lastly, the last straw by the way, the back window literally exploded one sunny day, while parked. No impact, no sonic booms. Service mgr said, "That can happen." My dime again. However, I did get the right wahoo on the phone at the zone office, and when I threatened legal action, I was sent a reimbursement for the window. 16 weeks after the fact and 5 weeks after I traded the thing in.
For me, I wouldn't buy another Dodge if someone paid for it for me, and a supermodel came to my houise to whisk me off to some tropical island paradise!
No he said she said from me. If you do want that, I know 17 people (that's right 17) who have had similar horror stories not only with Mopar products but customer NOSERVICE from the dealers as well! As to the mule, I would glady take one over a Dodge truck anyday. They are cheaper to own and more reliable.
The new Dodge my fanny!

[buzzer IA]

Hey Greg K,
I saw the same program and you must have tuned in late..Yes, the Mopar did not pass, but the ABSOLUTE WORST was the F150 club cab..The whole cab buckled and twisted out of shape in the 45 mph partial frontal crash test..The Insurance Institue came right out and said that the driver in the Ford PROBABLY would have received serious enough injuries to have died in that crash..Again, the Dodge did not fare well, but not 1/2 as bad as the Ford..

[Jerry]

I was in the gas station/auto repair business for 10 years. Believe me, because I have no preferrences...I will buy Ford, GM, even Japanese trucks...never MOPAR anything. They build the worst vehicles in my opinion ever built in the US. 80-90% of the cars we had to start on those cold winter days were...you guessed it...MOPAR!
They use the customer as their Ouality control department.
Sorry, that's my experienced opinion.

[dunns]

Not bragging just happy with my dodge. 94 ram with 318. original motor only 2nd tranny on 221,000 miles. thats right 221,000 miles. with exeption of a few minor problems, fuel pump, water pump, u joints I love my dodge and will never buy anything else.

[Nofish]

Hey Buzzer, (or anyone)

Do you know where a guy could find these stats on the web? I am really curious how the Chevy faired.

Thanks .............R

[Tim FRick]

I didn't get the 4x4 package so that could make the difference right there. My last truck was a 4x4 and it was like having insurance, 90% of the time you don't need it but when you do your glad you have it. Even though your not useing the 4x4, the gears are still turning, thus a lower gas mileage plus it's heavier truck. You should start to see better MPG. I think mine started to get better around those miles.
Good Luck!!
Tim FRick

[Will]

I had a 95 Dodge 1500 4X4 Ext cab with a 360 motor. At 268 miles it was on a flat bed going back to the dealer for a completely new tranny. I liked the layout and all, but after 6 recall notices, replacing fuel pump (its all one unit $300 just for the part), windsheild wiper motor, brake rotors severely warped at 15,000 miles, freeze plugs blew out, leaking valve cover gaskets, tranny slipping again, Infinitey radio that sometimes worked and another dozen items...I went and bought a Chevy 1/2 ton w/ 5.3 motor and 3:73 gears. It pulls my 3,000 lb boat much better than the dodge did. After having the chevy for 1 week I received a 7th recall notice for a possibly defective hood latch on the dodge. I liked the Dodge, but it didn't like me...and I had enough of playing weekend mechanic.

[cmb]

actualy, if you examine the test results on the web the dodge only beat the Ford in one category. otherwise it too would have recieved the poor rating. now, factor in the NHSTA test results, and yes, Dodge is the least safe.

Look at the big picture, not one test!!

[wyosteve]

Well boys, as much as I hate to keep up this debate, here's my take. You can get a lemon with any vehicle. The old saying, "if it's got tires, a tail or t-ts, it's going to give you trouble" sure applies. I've had 5 Dodges now since '91. All of them with the Cummins diesel. Every one except the current 2001 had well over 100K. Never had any of them back to the shop for anything. Recent job had a 99 Ford F-250. 14,500 miles, 4 clutches replaced, 1 transmission, and 6 recalls and out of service for 62 days, yet Ford would not honor the lemon law and take the vehicle back. You spends your money and take your chances!!

[wyosteve]

Well boys, as much as I hate to keep up this debate, here's my take. You can get a lemon with any vehicle. The old saying, "if it's got tires, a tail or t-ts, it's going to give you trouble" sure applies. I've had 5 Dodges now since '91. All of them with the Cummins diesel. Every one except the current 2001 had well over 100K. Never had any of them back to the shop for anything. Recent job had a 99 Ford F-250. 14,500 miles, 4 clutches replaced, 1 transmission, and 6 recalls and out of service for 62 days, yet Ford would not honor the lemon law and take the vehicle back. You spends your money and take your chances!!

[mikie]

I've got a 97 Dakota 4x4 extended cab, bought used 2 years old with 70 K miles. Had a thumping in the front end, turned out it had the wrong steering box in it, and the gears and splines were all chewed up. Replaced all that at nearly $1000 and now it seems the problem is back; then the a/c went out. Another $600. Washer pump is now gone. I like the comfort of the seats, rides real nice and the v-8 pulls my basstracker like it wasn't even there. Second the motion about the motor having a drinking problem, it gets a hard-on everytime it sees a gas pump. Friend at work has a full size Dodge truck been in the shop for 6 months withe tranny problems.
Buy a Dodge? never again. they just don't hold up. m

[Hunter]

Friends dont let friends, drive dodges, buy a CHEVY.

[JasonMN]

HAHAHAHA! I don't think this thread is real good place to sell a Dodge truck....just in case I have a 97 that is for sale too. :)

[saugeye]

I just talked to a friend that has been a mechanic for 20+ years about this thread and his opinion was almost all trucks have there quirks.He was wondering how many of you guys lock out the overdrive when pulling a trailer?According to him it does not take much to burn up a tranny,while in OD pulling trailers, even when they are relativly light.He also mentioned that GM had some problems with their trannys on the full size 1/2 ton pickups from 96-99 when they did not have allison transmissions in them.My buddy owned all of the domestic brands at one time or another and 7 years ago switched to toyota on all of his vehicles.0 problems in that time,maybee he is just lucky but I doubt it.He absolutly loves his tundra. saugeye

[JACKPINE]

My son reciently sold his & good ridance. 1998 4 wheel drive. Three rear ends later, Two by warrenty the third had to pay dearly. Service worse than terrible up here on the Iron Range in MN.
Jackpine

[JBL]

I have a 4x4 2000 Dakota quad cab, 4.7L engine,it has 18,000 miles and has never even been back to the dealer for anything. I just change fluids/filters etc myself. Went with the quad cab because we have 2 kids. Would have bought the full size truck but quad cab was not available at the time, and the back seat of a crew cab does not accomodate child seats well. Mileage is about 13-14, drops to 10-11 when I'm pulling my boat which weighs about 3500 pounds. I also have a Leer cap that perfectly matches the rest of the truck, the weight of the cap probably also lowers gas mileage a bit. Maybe I have been lucky, but have been very satisified with this truck.

[Ernie]

Sorry about the late response...

Got a '96 1500 4X4 with 360. Over 130K miles. Had to change the battery after a problem with the motor idling (darn new fangled vehicles). I have changed the tranny fluid twice, brakes once, and second set of tires.

Tow a 18ft crestliner, no problems. Mileage is 15 mpg without towing, much less while towing. Truck has been terrific.

[SDBear]

All I know is, I have the 5.9 Quad Cab. Every weekend I pull my Lund Baron from Sioux Falls to Lake Sharpe (150 miles). It does great. I am getting 11.9 MPG, which is better than I expected for pulling that large of a boat. I have had her since 1999. Good truck.

Scott.

[John Deigan]

I have a 2001 dodge (june 2000) quad 5.9 4x4 with a fold down slide in camper and I pull a small boat and have had no problems.
John