Greguw

Hi Guys

I Grabed my coffee this morning and hit the road , I found a few dodges with cummins ... new and used . I hit the other dealer in NJ ... Dodoge city ...cool name for a dealer , I looked at the single rear wheels and the dually , I'm not sure if they use the same frame , I did not like the dually had the the class 3 hitch as the rear frame member that connected to two rails ... seems like they could have done a little better job with that , but unfortunatlly these days the are building in the crush zones all over the truck .

Dose any one know if the 4 wheel drive dually uses the same frame as the 2wd frame ...?

I also hit a few of the used car lots to get the feel of what dodge did over the years as far a construction of the trucks ... keep in mined I know trucks , but not too much about dodges ... for my vast whole week of research seems like 1996 thur 1997 was a good year fo dodge 2wd and 4wd .

I found a few 96 4wd selling for around 12 to 15 grand ... I did find a pretty nice 2wd 1996 , It did do some towing ...it still has the ball in the bed , it's a 2500 with the cummins pretty clean 100,000 mi's they want around 8 grand for the truck ... the motor is bullet proof , my only concern would be the auto trans and the rear ...
Dose any one know if they had dana's in the 2wd's 2500 's , and what else to look for in these trucks beside's the normal used truck stuff.
What was the last year for dana rears that dodge put in the trucks .

Thanks Guys

Greg

Bobcat698

I'm pretty sure 2002 was the last year of the Dana axles.

Best Dodge year.. 1998 Quad cab with 4 doors with a 5 speed manual.. You get the newer interior and the potential of the 215 P Pump.

I'm pretty sure the 2WD & 4WD trucks shared the same frame, the front suspension is different though.

It seems the manual trucks got the Dana 80 rear with the heavy duty transfer case, while the Autos mainly got the Dana 70 and the std duty transfer case. I don't think you'll go wrong with the std duty transfer case if you don't go crazy on power, but you'll need to beef up the auto.

1320

The question has been asked many times. The concensus is 98 12 v.

see sig....I took three planes and one rental car and 24 hrs to get it......22 hrs and 80$ in fuel to get it home. Worth it too.

CIN'S DODGE

Hey Bobcat where are your pics?

Bobcat698

Here
Mudding

Clean Truck

I have more videos than anything
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...t=77455&page=1

infidel

Not mine!
I've worked on them all, unless you want a quad cab the '97 is best.
The '98 has the potential of the crack prone 53 block and doesn't feature owner access to trouble codes without use of a scanner.

TxDiesel007

1998 is the holy grail

cause of the new interior and the quad cab option on some of these vehicles. I like the 1997's though, dont get me wrong i like the newer interior and quad cab option, BUT the risk of a 53 block kinda scares me, just goes to show u get good and bad with everything..

Tx

CIN'S DODGE

Da-- man! how long did it take ya to clean it up after that one

Bobcat698

I tell ya.. about 2 hours! There was probably 300lbs of mud sitting on the ground after I pressure washed it!

FATCAT

I concure whole-heartedly 1997 was the best.

drew03

2003 of coarse.

1320

Bill, I said consensus......not your opinion. Just in general. Oh BTW.....its 2005 if you don t / can t use a scan tool......you shouldn t be wrenching. LOL

I sold my last truck cause I wanted rear doors that open, cause of kids. Hiking the baby carrier over the seats was getting tough as the little ones get heavier.

drew03

here let me quote myself.

Shovelhead

I think the '99 came with the best/most standard features.
Every year after that Dodge cut a couple of items.

PeteRR

1975. Duh.