i am buying a 1998 dodge ctd with 270,xxx miles on it. it has a 5 speed manual that has been rebuilt, and is a 2wd dually. the truck has a walk in tool box on the back and will be used for my fence company. i would like to know what commonly breaks on these trucks, what i might need to upgrade, and what i should look out for. thanks for any info

 

just take a glance at the afc and see if it has been tampered with. check out the front timing cover for leaks or even a cracked cover. dashes are bad on all of them. might just pull the radiator cap and make sure its green and not brown. take it for a drive then leave it running and check for excessive blowby.

 

what and where is the afc and why would it be tampered with? the truck is leaking oil out of the front timing cover, but the truck runs and drives great. thanks for the reply

 

Well, first i'd do a search as there's a lot of info out there on this forum about this subject.

I can say from personal experance that the more you know about this truck before you buy it, the better. There's a fuel return line that's know to corrode over time, usually all lines and the sender unit are replaced at one time. The 5th gear nut can fall of, but I've not had any trouble with this. The KDP (search) needs to be corrected if it's not been done yet. Ball joints are a weak point, as are front brake rotors, both are $$$ to have replaced. I've also repalced the pitman arm & idler, as well as rear drum rotors.

With any work truck, the work it was doing lends to some of it's care, and if it's been well maintaned, buying someone else's work truck is not a bad idea. If it has not been maintanied, but has been abused, then you may want to steer well clear of this one. Good luck - and be sure to compare with other units that are out there.

 

Definitely do a search on Killer Dowel Pin. If it has oil leaking out the front of the motor it is a fairly decent bet that the KDP has fallen out. Basically it's a locating pin that is press fit into the case, but the hole on the case had too wide of a tolerance so the pin can eventually shake itself out and fall into the gears on the front of the motor and usually gets pinched between a gear and the case and cracks the case, thus leaking oil. Taking care of it isn't too bad, you can find prices with a search.

As far as other potential problem areas, just check the underside of the motor for signs of excessive blow by, and I would recommend having the front end checked out by a shop, or yourself to inspect ball joints and brakes. Other than that, there isn't a lot of major things that can go wrong with these trucks, the motor is pretty cheap and very simple to work on, odds are you won't need to touch the motor aside from the KDP.

5th gear nut was mentioned earlier, it is believed that towing at low speeds in 5th gear stresses things too much and the nut ends up backing off and finally you start to lose 5th gear. That can be fixed by a simple tack weld of the gear to the shaft, or an upgraded shaft.

Interior problems... dash has already mentioned, some of the 98+ dashes crack over time, but replacement tops can be bought for relatively cheap. I guess if it were me, I wouldn't worry about buying a truck with close to 300K on the clock if the price is right, as most of what can go wrong probably already has and has probably been fixed.

 

well i bought the truck today. heres the background on it. it was a service truck for Sunbelt rentals for most of its life. the guy i bought it from bought it from sunbelt with 261,000 miles on it. aparently the trans was rebuilt right before he bought it. the truck n ow has 179,xxx miles on it. the guy i bought it from put a new 4'' stainless exhaust, and an aftermarket air intake box on the truck. i drove it 100 miles to get it back to my shop. it drove great. it runs smooth and has lots of power. and there does not seem to be any blow by comming out of the engine. but there was one thing that was acting up. when i tried to shift the truck out of 5th gear it would get stuck. i had to disengage the clutch twice to get it out. this happend 3 or 4 times on the way. i would like to know if anyone else had this problem? is it something to do with the fifth gear nut? it seems to me that the sincros arent always working, kinda like they arent getting enough oil. im gonna change all of the fluids, is there anything in particular i could put in the trans to help. i would apprecite any info on this

2006 ctd qc 4x4 6 speed manual
jacabs exhaust brake
b and w hitch with prodigy brake controller
50,xxx miles

1998 ctd 2wd 5 speed manual
utility walk in box
1279,xxx miles

 

be sure to get the correct trans fluid. i always go to the dealer for that and only that might try dodge or even GM is slightly cheaper put just get the correct stuff. on the shifting its probably in the shift rail. might be bent slightly and hanging. the afc is on the back top of the injector pump, since it was a work truck i doubt it was messed with.

 

Congratuations on the purchase -- although how many miles does it actually have? I'm a little confused by your signature vs. what you posted.

I'm unsure of this transmission issue - never happend to mine. Have recipts from when the trans was rebuilt? Perhaps they could get it sorted out for you. Good luck and welcome!

 

sorry the truck actually has 279,xxx miles on it. do you know if there is any addative i can add to the transmission to help.

 

My 5th gear hangs on me like you speak of........it does this fairly often. I've found that if I push it it forward before I try to pull it out of 5th it normally slides right out.

Waylan

 

I have seen a bent shift fork make it hard to get out of 5th. When you change the oil drain the old and fill it back up with diesel and jack the rear of the truck up off the ground and put jack stands under it and run it threw the gears a few times and then drain it and fill with fresh oil. This will cleen the sincros off if someone put in the wrong oil ( very common and it coats the sincros and will not let them grap right and shift smooth, I have been in many trans that thats all that was wrong with them) and just an oil change usualy will not get it all off. It only calls for 4qt but use 5qt keeps things a little cooler. Just what I have seen and done. The oil leak is most likely to be the front main seal give it a good cleening and see if it is. If it is you just pull the cover and do the seal add KDP at the same time and make a tab for it . by the way is it a 12-valve (sure it is) or 24-valve?

 

i appreciate the info on the trans. i will try cleaning it with the diesel like you said. do you know what kind of trans oil i should put back into it it? by the way, the truck is a 12 valve.

 

Its Castrol Syntorq LT 75w85 GL-4 You can get it from Dodge or Chevy and some other places $16-$20 per qt. its hight but I have tryed many others that say thay will work and thay never shift as good. and you dont chang it often.

 

here is a pic of the KDP tab. I used a saw zaw blade.