JOE M

I am new to this sight and only drove a Cummins once, and that is why I am onboard.

I test drove a 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 Quad Cab SLT LWB Cummins w/ a 4spd. o/d tranny 4X4 today. It has 85,000 on it and was pretty clean.I have a question about strong vibration/hum in the truck cruising at 60-70 mph and at times a howling sound w/ the vibration.It was not felt in the steering wheel but just noisy.If you change the RPM's up or down the howl briefly went away but the vidrating sound was still there. The truck is priced right at $19,000 slightly below wholesale value (KBB) and 5K below NADA.

Is this sound normal? My 02 Excursion is super quiet for a diesel at 60-70 mph.,which I am keeping by the way.(Sorry/LOL) My buddy who was with me who is a diesel mechanic said vibration is pretty normal with the inline diesel engines. I road in a friends 2007 st and it was smooth and quiet compared to this one.

Any inputs? Also do you think I should buy it? $19k is about my limit.

Thanks,Joe M.

elandon1201

Sounds like tires to me, my michelins were 4 yrs old but only had about 25K on them and did the same thing, I changed them and no more problems

bumpytruck

I think you need to do a search on here. The vibration was a big problem in the early 3rd gen. I don't know what the end result was but now that I think about it, I have'nt read anything about it lately.But if you do a search you'll find all your looking for. Good Luck.

BigDave12768

Not all the 03's were the same. Is the truck an S.O or an H.O and if its a S.O what is the build date? 2 differetn auto tranny's in the S.O

Dodgezilla

If that truck is still vibrating 3 years later then I'd say it's one where they could not figure out what the problem was. I would NOT buy it if it were me!!! Lots of guys traded theirs in because DC could not figure this issue out....

Almond Pale Ale

My 04 has a very minor vibration at highway speed as well. After reading on here, a fluid dampener will probably help provided it's not a suspension issue or tire issue. I have new tires on mine so I'm pretty confident those are balanced well.

bulabula

Hey Joe, there are no vib's or howling in my early '03. If its stock, it shouldn't be all that louder than your Excursion. I did put a louder exhaust on mine because I didn't like it so quiet.

Describing sounds on the internet is very subjective. The howl could be tires, could be a diff going south, could be a 2000 rpm drone that some folks used to report early on. Bottom line, is that its not normal to have those kinds of sounds - if it was normal I wouldn't have bought mine. I'd keep looking for another Dodge.