If you're shopping

I just went through a marathon purchase process to buy a diesel truck. It started in about june, and just ended last week with the purchase of a 2007 Dodge 2500 4x4 QC short bed with a 5.9.

In the intervening time I literally drove every truck. Peeked under every rock. Read every blog. Talked to mechanics. Did everything I could do.

First a disclaimer, I don't really tow anything bigger than a bass boat, and I don't really need this truck. There are a lot of you on here that are going to have different needs and different trucks will maybe work better for you.

But what I ended up doing was putting in place two requirements. One, was that I wasn't going to spend more than $27K. The other was that I wasn't going to buy a truck with more than 50K miles on it.

That basically left 2 options:
an '06 6.0 PSD  
and an 07 Dodge 6.7 or 5.9 (but the 5.9's are a little pricier).
I swear to the dear lord baby jesus that there are no Duramax trucks in my area (near detroit) that fit the billing, they were all $28-35K.

I decided off the bat that the 6.7 wasn't going to work for me because it has to run 20 minutes at highway speed to warm up completely or the emissions gear will eat itself.

So that left the 5.9 and the 6.0 PSD.

You read a lot on the board about the gap in quality between the RAM and the Ford and Chevy in terms of the interior. To be honest, I think that's more apparent when you compare the 08 Ford with the 07 (not 09) Dodge. But the 06 to 07 Dodge/Ford comparison doesn't really yield that much difference. Maybe comparing the king ranch to the laramie or something. But the SLT to XLT comparison seemed about moot. They are both relatively spartan, and what you'd expect of a truck. You ain't shopping for a land rover here so I think it's safe to say they're comparable.

The 08 Ford interior is pretty sweet. But its also yards of plastic. The new GM interiors are also nice, but they feel more like a car for what its worth. I'd feel weird about getting the cab shitted up after a day of salmon fishing or deer hunting or whatever.

The Ford pretty definitively had a better ride than the dodge. The Dodge pretty definitively seemed to have a sweeter motor/transmission combo. Also, this also appears to be a local problem, all the Ford's I drove in were beat to hell and had been smoked in. They also appeared to be in the 12-15MPG range.

I eventually found a very clean RAM 5.9 in Wisconsin for 27K that had a perfect interior. I've put about 1000 miles on it and averaged about 20MPG.

More or less happy with the decision.

The gripe is mainly with the ride, its very bouncy even when pulling the trailer. But not a big deal.

My friends and the kids love it and it sounds awesome.

I'm sure there are many scenarios in which I may have ended up with a Ford or Chevy, and for a while there I was really almost about to buy a ford. I also know everyone here has their own bias.

I sort of like them all, and if you're someone who is shopping I hope my story helps you.

And if I were rich enough and had 50 or 60 large to drop I'd probably have bought the cabelas F250, but seeing as I am on a budget I feel like I got the best truck for me and I was happy to sneak one of the last low mileage 5.9's out there.

Cheer's y'all!
jsmitty  

Firestone Air Bags.

Get a set installed on your rear axle and the ride will change for the better.  I have them on my '08 and it rides better than my '06.



Kris  
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 QC 5.9L - No Mods Yet
2008 Dodge Ram 3500 QC 6.7L - Titan Fuel Tank Owner

Where did you buy you airbags at?  Do they set the back end up to high so the truck is not leveled out because I just put a 4" suspension lift on my 06 Cummins and it sits level if not just alittle bit higher in the front.  Are the airbags really worth the price?  Are they hard to install?  

Thanks for any help  
2006 Dodge 2500 Cummins,smarty,k&n Intake,5"TBE,Banks High Ram Intake Manifold, Phantom II Guages, 4" lift 35" Dick Cepek M/T,Quadzilla Max Mileage

It was an option my dealer offered when I bought the truck new.  I got full length step bars and the air bags for an additional $1200 (IIRC) installed, so I couldn't pass it up as I use the truck for towing my 26 foot toy hauler.

The truck sits level and all service to them is provided by Les Schwab (they did my install for the dealer, and some warranty work for an airleak I had) which is a chain of auto maintenance/parts stores similar to PepBoys or AutoZone.

The ride alone is worth the cost of the airbags, and the ride while towing a 6700 pound (empty weight) trailer is even better.  I can scoot down the road and hardly notice the trailer while towing, except for when I first start pulling it from a dead stop.

I'm not sure this will work for you since you've already lifted it, but if you're considering going back to stock then look into it.



Kris  
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 QC 5.9L - No Mods Yet
2008 Dodge Ram 3500 QC 6.7L - Titan Fuel Tank Owner