My brother is in the army and leaving for Germany in 6 months. He can't take the truck with him and is selling it to me for a steal. He has a 2004 2500 with the CTD. My question is besides being a million mile engine what other issues do the rams have. Have heard some talk about tranny and drivetrain problems. The truck has no mods on it and has been taken care of by the dealer at normal intervals. Any information would help out.

 

Congrats on the truck. The tranny and driveline problems that I am aware of are generally from mods without upgrading the tranny if it is an auto, overloading, neglect of maintenance, or other abuse.

I spent 3 years in Germany myself, but I imagine it is a lot different now.

 

Most of the unavoidable failures are with the lift pumps failing and taking out the inj pump. Monitoring the fuel pressure will help avoid that failure. The rest is do your maintenence regularly and change the trans oil, T-case (4x4) and diff oil, use coolant conditioner in the rad, change belts when needed, and enjoy driving your new truck.

 

This is only accurate for the older, 2nd gen rams. Lift pump issues far far more rare on 3rd gens..



Most likely I'd drive the truck and see if it has the 70mph vibration issue- which seems to plague a lot of people. I would check to see that the trans cooler line recall/tsb has been done on the truck. Next I'd find out if it is a 2004 or 2004.5 (600 engine). If it's the 600 I'd make sure to get the TSB for white smoke/poor mpg..

Lastly congrats, welcome to the club, and enjoy your CTD!