dodgemandan

I am thinking of trading my 99 for a 05 or 06 ,and was wondering if there is any thing I should know about. I would like to by new but may have to go used. Any suggestions would be helpfull.

Larryb01

It all depends on what you plan on doing with your truck.I bought on 05 auto and pull a 5th wheel.Pulled the trailer once for a test drive up some steep hills and realized that this auto is in for some upgrades.I am not too impressed with the auto should have bought a 6 speed.This teruck is brand new off the lot and I am pouring money into it already.Wife likes driving the auto but is not happy about the money spent on tranny.

J BODY

Most have been very happy with the 48re. If I could I'd put one in my 01 that's for sure. I'd also go with the 06.

STATELINE

If you go new & can find one I'd go 05 for sure, better looks, better warranty, & this late in the year, better deal for sure.

Yellowlab

I agree with stateline for sure. I just sold my '03 and upgraded to an '06, not by choice. You can get a pretty good deal on an '05 right now because the dealers want them gone to make room for the '06's. The '05 still has the 7/100,000 warranty, while starting in '06 it's down to 3/36,000 (engine still has the higher warranty). The problem is I couldn't find a single '05 left in the entire pacific N/W that was equipped the way I wanted because they've already sold most of them off. You might still be able to find an '05 equipped the way you like. If you can't, do like I did....I'm happy with the '06 too.

STATELINE

my local dealer still had about 10 05's on the lot as of about 3 weeks ago, had about 15 06's also

J BODY

06 you can lock out Overdrive
06 48re is allowed to have a factory exhaust brake.

bluepp

Jbody is right -The o6s you can lockout 4th, and you have tow haul. But the 05s you have tow haul but you CANT lockout 4th .For this reason alone makes the o6 more desirable for towing. About $3000 more for a 06 over a 05. Trade in time you 'll get that back. 7-70 waranty wont fix the 05 auto, that doesnt work right to start with. You need the 4th lockout in a tow truck.

Yellowlab

That's very true...I forgot to mention the tow/haul issue. '06 definitely has 'em beat on that one. The exhaust brake thing is weird though, most people say you can't put one on '05, but my dad has an '05 and just had one installed by the dealership in Colorado...says it works great. The service manager there said everone's crazy, he puts 'em on 05's all the time.

in any case, the O/D lockout thing is HUGE!!

bluepp

Yes you can use a exhaust brake on the 05 and 06, because you have torque converter lockup in 4th 3rd and 2nd for downhill motor brakeing. 04 didnt have that feature.

Larryb01

I'm getting an exhaust brake installed by the dealer where I bought my 05.The only problem is I have to get an aftermarket type stradegy box installed so it can control lockup. The 06's have this already intergrated into the trucks pcu, so DC is installing Jake exhaust brakes as an option and fully warranteed.

drew03

just go with the six speed.

runamuk

I'd go six speed also! Auto's are nice but the 6-spd's make the truck!

Rick

snowball

A buddy was looking at the 05 and he said if you push t/h once you get t/h but if you push twice it will lockout 4. Anybody else find this.

bluepp

No you cant lockout 4th on the 05s. You can play with the button and make the trans shift back to 3rd but it wont stay there. As soon as the trans sees fit it will shift back into 4th. You cant lockout 4th permanently.
As for the 6 speed. This is what I'v observed. A 6 speed in 6th gear will turn 150-200 MORE rpm at 60 mph with a 3.73 gear than the auto will with a 4.10 gear. Also the 1st gear is so low you'll never use it running empty, you'll start off in 2nd. This setup will pull a barn. IMHO I'd want a faster gear in the 6 speed .Like maybe a 3.23 rear end ratio, this would make low more usable, and 6th gear more where you want it, you can always shift down to 5th to pull that stiff grade.