Howdy Gents...

Just bought a 2005 Ram and so far so good. Bone stock with the exception of some exterior stuff.Love the truck and the fuel mileage. Like the power and I think it will be much more capable than my now sold and gone 2007 Hemi 1500 quad cab.

I drive lots and lots of Hwy miles and next year the truck will be fitted with a snowplow and do some light duty commercial plowing. The truck is in very good condition as it was owned by an older driver who babied it...No towing load hauling or offroading. Driven on a short commute to work and back.Very well taken care of Truck that would qualify as a "Cowboy Cadillac". 30K one owner miles.

Heres my new guy questions...

Shocks? Any recommendations on an aftermarket shock that would give this truck a better ride? My build sheet says I have the heavy duty shocks but is it safe to assume that thats standard on a 2500 4x4?

Trans servicing...How often are the folks that are really putting on the miles servicing the transmission?

Edge Controllers Juice programmers? I bought a new edge Juice w/attitude on E-Bay for $450.00....I really wanted the gauge Pkg but when I saw I could get that and the option of a power boost I went ahead and bought in. Any major problems with running an Edge at say the 2nd setting?

Thanks for any help or advice! I really dig this Truck and cant believe it took me so long to join the Diesel party.

 

Welcome to DTR,

For the shocks get Bilsteins, hands down one of the best shocks. As far as tranny serivice, every 30,000 miles, or every 20,000 if plowing alot. Fluid exchange or dropping pan, replacing filter. It is up to you.

 

Has the truck ever been wrecked? The reason I ask is the plastic peace is black and not painted silver like the truck. I kind of like that it sets the front bumper out and looks different than any other.

 

Yeah...that was the first thing that struck me as odd as well. I found the original owners name on a slew of service records in the glovebox and gave him a call. Turns out he was tires of that front piece collecting bugs and rock chips and not being able to get it clean and bought and installed the black one from a base model work truck in its place(I really think he was trying to make a Homemade Power wagon look as he removed the front air dam as well. Thats how the P-Wagon was factory standard 2005 ).


Photos dont do this truck justice...this guy was ****. Truck is pristine. I cant even find a scratch on it! My 1 year old 2007 was a beater compared to this truck...Oil changed every 4K. Kept it detailed to perfection. Never carried anything heavier than a load of groceries! Not even a scuff on the bedliner. Never smoked in. Not a single scratch anywhere. Not one!





Heres the kicker to the story...I found a slew of transmission paperwork in the glovebox. The truck had a real bad case of the 1-2 shift hunt with an added bonus stuttering. The guy took it in to the local Dodge store 4 times to address the issue and they reflashed, attempted to adjust the bands and serviced it to no avail. All the work was dated pre-May of 07 when the Governer Valve TSB was released. The truck is still on its factory warranty and I took it in and told them it had to be done as the trans was shift hunting badly and very irritating. The service writer knew the truck and his many attempts to fix it for the first owner and tried to tell me it was normal and unfixable....I think the tranny pushed the first owner over the edge and he finally gave up traded it for a VW Jetta Diesel. I demanded they perform the TSB. The service guy had such a bad attitude he wrote on my ticket that the TSB hadnt fixed the issue.

Soon as I pulled out of the lot it shifted like ..."Buttah"!! This service writer just wouldnt accept the fact that I walked in with a found on the internet TSB. Drives perfect now.

Great guy who owned it before me as he has offered to have me stop by his house and pick up the painted grill piece as well as the lower airdam which he removed as well. I dont have the heart to tell him that the year he spent dropping off his truck and stressing was fixed with a $200.00 TSB for a Governor pressure valve solenoid.....

 

Congratulations on your truck! Did you really pay for that TSB? That's BS if you did..warranty, pre-existing condition, etc. Glad it fixed it for you, though. It sure as heck isn't normal...my '05 shifts fine. Oh, I service the trans every 15,000 mi.

 

Looks good. Bilsteins are good shocks but there is some discussion about the shock body rusting quickly. Also, if you are going to plow, you might want to look into Timbren springs for the front to help with the extra weight.

Timbren.com

 

Free...The truck has 30.5K miles and is still under the 3/36 Til December or the 36K.

 

As far as the edge box goes, i have one on my 06 2500 and i have no problems with it. I leave it in the 1st setting which is the mileage setting and ive seen almost a 2 mpg difference. I love it cause you can watch whats goin on with the motor. Good luck with it!!!

 

Welcome the DTR! Looks like you got a great low mileage one owner truck w/ no mods yet.This is the truck that I would look for if I was buying used.Fill in your sig so we can all see where you're from.By the way,great pics.

 

Thanks for the kind welcome!

Its funny I bought this truck to work the heck out of it and hope that it can withstand the abuse.....In just a few short days of ownership I'm developing a strange bond with this truck. I dont want it to get dirty! I park it far away from the cars in the wal-mart lot...I baby it. I dont try and spin tires and I constantly wipe down the leather.

I have been working in a suburb outside of Denver Co...I swear every other truck up there is a Cummins powered ram 4x4 QC. Housewives, workingmen, rich guys.....Everybody is rattlin'!

I'm bitten by the cummins BUG! I'm in love with my truck!

My last two trucks didnt have this effect....Very odd indeed I say. It will really hurt me deeply to release this truck unattended to my employees...It will hurt even more to bolt on a plow and sander.

I'm eagerly watching the mail for my Edge! I'm skeered to drill the exhaust manifold myself so I'm gonna pay a performance shop to install it instead. $150.00....At least I'll sleep better at night knowing that ny big baby aint chomping on metal shavings!

Thanks again for the welcome!

 

Nice truck and welcome to DTR. I run Rancho RS9000X's on my truck and the truck rides great. I have hung my Western Pro-Plus for the last two years on the truck with 0 issues except for crappy stock front end parts going at 66k. I do light commercial plowing as well and the truck is absolutely awesome at pushing snow.

You really got a nice truck there, good luck with it.

 

I have actually billed out 150+ hours this year with this old Chevy 1500.....Meyer 7.5 ST with wings...Western pro-flow 2 sander. By years end it will be worn out completely. The Dodge will take its place as main plow truck and it will be relegated to the smallest lots and back-up duty....



Since I added these wings my plow time has been cut literally in half! but I still bill for the full hours that it took in my "Pre-Winged" days!

Imagine a half ton truck with a small block 350 pushing a 9 foot blade!! Just wish it was an 1st gen Cummins Dodge!!! The cheap parts and pieces needed to keep it plowing all winter made me choose the generic and cheap to own Lil' Chevy though.......

I bought this 2007 QC Hemi 1500 Ram last year...Didnt think I would need another plow capable truck and these are a NO-No for plow duty. Lucky for me I had a buyer for it and got it gone to make way for the Cummins powered beast!

When the day is done...Or actually when the sun rises in the warmer months this is my true pride and joy though and all the rough nights plowing and paiting seem to melt away after a few miles on a tight mountain trail on my 2007 KTM 525!...It has Cummins like power delivery as well! Like a Diesel. Pure grunt. No dramatics.

 

Nice Chevy and plow wings. If I do solely parking lots next year, I think I am going to invest in some wings for my blade. I think in the last two seasons, I haven't put 1/3 of the hours you have this year alone. Just doesn't snow here like it used to.

 

We have been getting constant snow in Colorado....I paid 5K for the Chevy and dropped $750.00 on a used Pro-Flow 2 off craigslist. The wings were $275.00 installed. I bill $100.00 an hour plow time and have almost tripled my investment in 3 months!

The sander was the key to landing new contracts as most commercial stuff wants an even spread of product be it Rapid Thaw or 90/10 mix.



I fabbed up my own mounting system as Western wanted $500.00 for the reciever mounting stuff. I added a set of Timbrens to the rear and being greedy I generally carry not only the .6 Ton in the hopper but another .4 in the bed of the truck which I hop out and shovel into the unit.

Driving around with 1 ton of product plus the unit and a plow on an old IFS Chevy and it hasnt failed yet....Hence the choice to go with a bigger sander on the Cummins next season. 90/10 costs me $15.00 a ton at the sand place and I can spread it all day long at $100.00 applied.

I'm jealous of the guys who pull in with big V-box sanders on 3/4 ton Dodges that load up with 2 tons of product and wobble away much more profitable than I can.

 

you will like the edge. i use it on my 06 2500 and works great! i use the milage setting as well. sometimes i use the "drive" setting when i want to pass people. i love the guages monitors in it. it does not monitor oil temp, or Fuel pressure so i have Optix guages on the way for that. id also recommend a Oil pressure guage. the stock guage is a glorified idiot light. works off a 6 psi on/off switch. dont ask why it just is. search the forum for more info on that.