Hello everyone,

1st off I am new here and this is my 1st post and know nothing about diesels. Is that even how you spell diesel?

The rig is a 96', 3500, SLT, drw, auto, 4x4 and has over 220,000 miles on it.
Upgrades:
00' - transmissions upgrades - do not know yet what that means.
03' - Dr performance pump and injector kit
05' - Banks tuned intake manifold, turbo housing & Gear Vendor over/underdrive.
06' - 19.5" wheels/tires
07' - new front brakes, exhaust behind muffler

The seller has taken this to a dodge dealer from day 1 for all scheduled maintenance. At least what he told me. When I test drive it we will be going over the dealer and picking up a Copy of all the records.

Is there anything in this setup that would call for concern?
Anything that would need to be done to it?
Anything to ask the seller about the upgrades?

I am very new to the Diesel world and so just want to make sure this is a ok overall setup.

Looking forward to all the info here and hope I can supply some in return.

All opinons welcomed.

Thanks again, Robert.

 

Did you buy it? How much do they want for it?

I bought a 97 x-cab SLT 5-speed with 218,000 last April. The DPO knew nothing about trucks or anything mechanical for that matter. I fixed all the problems and now have a great truck. I wouldn't hesiate driving this truck to the east coast from where I live.

 

bought a motor with about that many miles on it and had the mechanic take the head off and the pan and it has had hardly anywhere on it and i know it had been run purty hard and went thru 2 turbos. gonna put it in an 03 so the motor shouldnt have too much wear on it

 

You actually took the head off just for inspection? Wow...

It depends on price. If it's clean and the owner maintained it then it's a great truck. The mileage is nothing for the motor. The front end suspension parts will probably need some attention if they have never been touched. That's a sought after truck and I think you will really like it. Also, where are you located?

 

What makes it more sought after than any other '94-'97 12v cummins? Are you speaking of the upgrades, or the truck itself?

 

So far I like what you all are saying about the miles. I was a little concerned about over 220,000 but I have heard in a cummins diesel that is not much. But it is nice to hear from more people saying the same thing.

Yes I would like to hear about the upgrades too. I do not do much upgrades like waht has been done to this truck.

Thanks for the opinions so far, keep them coming, Robert.

 

I would be concerned about the front end also it can be a pretty exspensive fix and if its not been done already with 220,000 miles your gonna need it soon.

 

This is true

i have 3K in mine with mechanics labor involved...

Rick

 

Any idea what that was just in parts? I haven't had to do anything to the front end of my truck yet, but I just want to know since I usually do all my own work and I know I'll have to sooner or later.

 

If the price is 10k or below i'd say go for it. It already has a gear venders unit in it which should be nice, and the upgrades it has seem decent and reliable. And 19.5 wheels are real nice to. So if everything checks out, go for it. Because the engine won't really be the thing that wears at those miles, it will be the truck itself, so inspect that stuff thoroughly.

 

Of course any 2nd gen 12v is famous. But in '96 they added a few minor things like the 180 pump, 47re automatic tranny with lock-up feature, and a few other upgraded electrical components. I think 4-wheel abs also came out in '96. What else?... I think those 2.5 years are the best for the 12v, and that's what makes them so sought after and rare to find a clean one; the fact that they were made for only 2.5 years and now it's been over 10 years for some.

Just for your info, '97+ had hydroboost brakes in the rear. And of course... '98 has new interior and some weird bolt sizes in some places. The 98 was designed for the new 24v.

You can easily dump a lot of money into the front-end, and the rest of the truck for that matter. It's always the little stuff that fails andadds up ending up costing a lot. That's why you really gotta see how it was treated. Sounds like the tranny was rebuilt, so that's good. Regardless of what truck you buy, you should expect to spend about a thousand right after you buy it just for bringing the maintenance up to date. After all the truck is 10 years old.

 

47RH's have lockup too.

I bought my rig 1995 3500 reg cab w/ 207,xxx miles on it.
I picked it up for under 5k due to the kid put over 5 transmissions in it and luckilly the last time the tranny went out, it went out at our shop .

All I can say is I had twisted 2 input shafts in the tranny and took the tranny out once for overheating. After replacing the auto in and out I swapped in my 5spd and have been happy ever since.

I just invested $300 in the front end, $410 went towards the cams for the balljoints, labor to put them in, and labor to get it aligned.
$160 went to a new steering box due to mine went to crap. And I also replaced the pitment arm.

Everything else upfront is tight.

The main thing I would be concerned about in purchasing this truck is the automatic. If you do purchase this truck I recommend a trans cooler, and trans temp gauge right away if you wanna keep the auto in shape.

Heat kills.

-Jared

 

Well it sounds like a deal to me, mine was thrashed... last fuel filter was 3 years ago, last time the coolant was checked... 3 years ago, now you can imagine what the tranny looked like... Those 19.5's would make it worth it by itself to me!!!!