stevenknapp

21 June my Ram came out of the factory.

It's almost here. It's almost here.

Any idea how long it takes to get a truck from Mexico to St Louis?

Now I wait, some more.

stevenknapp

And when I get home, a box with a couple of spare fuel filters, an oil filter, and three gallons of oil. All set for it's first oil change even.

DFD536

Congrats on you new order... Mine took 1 month to build, and 2 months to get from Texas to Michigan (The first of which was sitting on the lot before loading on a railcar)... Good Luck, track it often, and STAY ON YOUR SALESMAN when it gets offloaded! I found out mine sat on a truck for over a week before I got it, because it was "not an attractive load" meaning it had more than one dealer stop on the same trailer, so the drivers were simply passing it up I have no idea (nor did my salesman) how long they can get away with this. However, A few well placed phone calls to regional managers, etc... It showed up next day. Funny how that works isn't it

Have fun, and enjoy it when it finally gets here, believe me.. it is worth the wait!!!

Dennis

shakycummins

They lost mine but they did a nationwide search and found a truck like it after a 100 days.

stevenknapp

Well the good news is that it made it on a rail car one day after being built. The railcar # doens't show up in the UP tracking yet. But we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Stingerpup

Congrats! I am still waiting on mine. I don't know how many days are left in this model year run, but hey have to be cutting it close.

As of 6/9, mine was gatelined, so that means it is _suppose_ to be built. I can only hope...

stevenknapp

It's in East St. Louis. We'll see how long it takes to get off the train and the 30mi or so to Tomeygun's place. If I can get it this weekend, super, otherwise it will be two weeks before I can run down there to pick it up.

Fingers crossed.

Brad, call DC, see where it is. I got the # either here or on TDR. I've got it at work, I can PM it or post it when I get there.

Stingerpup

Believe me, I did call DC. That update on 6/9 was the last thing they had. It was a bit disheartening, since I have been waiting since before April.

I am still hoping....

stevenknapp

Do you have an order # (VON) and all that? 6/9...and hasn't gone D1? And you've been waiting since APRIL? Something is wrong, they are switching to '05's soon!

Stingerpup

I have a guy on DiRT that told me that a few of my options were probably what was holding my build up. I can neither confirm or deny, but apparently New Venture fell behind on the production of the 6spd. That, and a few other things had my truck at the back of the pack.

I have a complete VIN, and now that it is moving, I can stop sweating

I was worried since I think this week was the last week of the 04's, and they take a two week switch-over break and start the 05's. It was close.

stevenknapp

Thanks to tomeygun, I'm flyin down to pick it up Saturday.

Which I need to keep reminding myself IS NOT tomorrow.

stevenknapp

It's here it's here!

Yesterday, wife and I got up early, mooched a ride to the airport, and caught a flight to St Louis. Tomeygun met us at the airport, was waiting for us even though our flight was early. A quick ride to his dealership in a new Dakota and we got our first look at the new rig.

Took maybe an hour to get on the road, most of that was me BS'in with Tom, or our short test drive before we took delivery. The paperwork was fast. The LineX installer he uses did GREAT work. I've got nothing but nice things to say about buying from Tom, a great price, great service, and a fun road trip home to boot!

Outta there, we headed for Chicago. But decided to "vary" our speeds by stopping for what looked interesting. Some slab, some back roads, some getting lost in St Louis trying to go see the arch only to find that there was some fair that had all the roads closed. We took some old sections of Rt66, had a cosy dog in Springfield. Overhead mileage was 15.8 for this section of the trip.

We then topped off the tank at "Dixie Truckers Home", what is said to be the first truck stop. Reset the overhead, and just hit I55 back towards home @ 70-80MPH. A couple stops to switch drivers, eat dinner, and the 25mi local roads we need to get home...at the end of that portion the overhead said 17.2. Only a quarter tank gone, so I won't have a hand calc until we burn some more fuel in this tank.

I know it's not 24, but I'm happy enough with these figures. Then seem reasonable from what I've seen for this truck. And I tend not to get really good MPG unless I work at it, I wasn't working at it. More "enjoying it".

Truck is fab for all the reasons that folks love their third gens. It's quiet, but you still know there's something special under the hood. The steering is good. The ride isn't as smooth as I remembered, but it's not bad for a truck! Already getting used to the idea of it's size, driving it is 2nd nature. It is not only our first diesel, but our first full sized truck. The mirrors are huge, and the right side is flat, not the usual "objects are closer than they appear". THAT took some getting used to more than anything!

There are some vibes/noise from 70-80. At ~75 the mirror buzzes a bit, but it's not THAT bad. I'd almost write it off to the off-road tires had I not read about it earlier on this forum. I wouldn't demand they buy it back or anything, but if they had a fix I'd take it. The radio reception seems a bit deaf too.

But first I need to get the sidesteps installed! I'll have pictures online soon.

dieselnewbie

Hey Steve, congrats on the new truck!

So what's the deal on service/warrantee?

Did Tommygun or yourself set something up at a dealer local to you?

Any worries about not-up-to-par service because you won't be taking it to the dealer you bought it from?

Thanks...

stevenknapp

Here are the picts:

http://www.pbase.com/stevenknapp/ram_ctd_3500

Warranty? Any dodge dealer will honor it. They will be more than happy to take my money for service too, tho I plan to do much of that myself.

I'm somewhat worried that I'll get the service department that cares about where I bought the truck. A good dealer won't care. Their service department is a business, just like sales. BOTH need to make money. Service isn't a loss leader for sales, or vice versa. They get paid to service your vehicle by the warranty, so they *should* be happy to have your business, keep their techs busy. Some aren't, and if they care that much I'll take it to another dealer.

ed paul

congrad on ur new truck!!! ,,,who is tommy gun? did he give u a good price? anyways i hope ur truck was worth the wait!,,,,ya know,,when i took my 3500 for a test drive the ride didn"t seem as harsh a ride as it did after i bought it also,,checked the tire pressure( ur gonna need a new tire pressure gauge by the way,,unless the one u have reads over 50 lbs) and they are under inflated( 50lbs all around) so when i pump them up to the reccomended pressure it will be even a stiffer ride,,i found a forum where people are discussing that subject, to get a more user friendly ride,,,some people put 2500 tires on and take out the overload springs,,,which to my understanding is the only dif. between the 3500 and the 2500,,the 3500 have a harder tire with more plys than the 2500 so it can handle a heavier load...and some guys have changed the shocks,,,one guy said he got a softer ride with bilstien shocks,,another said he tryed rancheros with no improvement,,,that"s what i have read,,not what i have tried,,so if the ride is to hard for u,,check out some of the forums ,,I"m gonna give my truck some time to soften up abit,,If it doesn"t,,I"m gonna try different shocks first,,cause i think that would be the cheapest way,,,glad u finally got ur new truck pal!