For the third year in a row, as soon as we have a cold snap my truck, a '05 Ram 2500, 5.9L, is hard to start. The batteries are less than two years old, I replaced the first time this happened.

I live in north Florida so the cold thing isn't all that cold. But last Friday before the front came thru the truck cranked as soon as I turned the key. Now the starter barely turns over but it does crank.

I'll have the charging system checked again just because I'm not sure what else to do. For what it's worth, it runs fine once it cranks but right now I don't feel all that confident when I turn the key.

 

I had the same problem with one of my trucks last week. I thought the batteries were sulphated. After 2 new bats and a terminal scrub it was still hard to start. The odd thing was one bat closest to the alt showed 17 volts and dr side 11.5. Turns out that the terminal bolt that connects both bats on the dr. side corroded with that white stuff on the inside of the holes and bolt shaft . Cleaned it up and voila, 12.9 volts each bat. and it cranks like its 2005. Hope that helps

 

That's something worth checking out. If I get home before dark I'll give all the terminals a good cleaning.

 

Make sure ALL battery posts terminal connection are and the crossover cable is good.
When everything is GOOD you should have the same voltage reading on both battery positive posts with engine running.
Different reading = connection problem

 

Well, I had the charging system and batteries checked, both showed ok.
The best part, it warmed up some and everything is back to normal. I have a suspicion that the starter may be trying to die. I'm going to roll with it until it gets to be a real problem.

Thanks for the advice, I checked everything suggested.