NJMurvin

I have the bone stock 2004.5 in my signature that I have owned since new. I am nearing retirement (1-2yrs) and starting to have new truck fever. I sold my old 5th wheel but intend to replace it with something newer around 30' 10-12k lbs.

My truck currently has about 80k on it and has been very reliable (batteries, water pump replaced and lift pump replaced with in-tank version). I work out of the house so I'm putting very few miles on the truck.

I'm thinking about a new truck because I'm concerned about possible expensive repairs on this one coming up (ball joints, trans, injectors, etc.) and I like some of the new features (added power, exhaust brake, Aisin trans, etc.).

I'm probably looking at $40k net after selling mine for an upgrade to something similar in a new truck. Am I crazy to be considering this? If so, please talk me out of it.

Busboy

Buy an exhaust brake and save your money. Sure the 4th gen have a lot going for them but a heck of a lot against them. The emission stuff will drive you crazy and do you really want to add DEF and still have problems. The brake controller in the 2010/11 is junk so if going for those years save your prodigy, the DEF equipped 2013/14 and perhaps the 2015 have two radiators mounted up high one behind the other with a "Y" piece that breaks and spills all the coolant out, water pumps don't seem to last as long as they used to. 2016 and perhaps 2015 went back to a single radiator. The plus side.. they ride nice, have tons of power and the 2013's and up tons of payload and they finally installed a class 5 hitch from the factory. As with any exhaust brake you have to constantly use it or it will clog up, the factory one has to be turned on at every start up. If you do buy a 4th gen also buy a code reader that way you can read your own codes and reset them at will. The remote starter shuts down with any CEL and low fuel... They do ride nice though....

1-2-3

I just went thru this. My 04.0 has been paid off for awhile now. I'm close to that retirement age (thought I would never say that). It is in perfect shape. Well as perfect as it can be. It has been my baby for awhile now. I had decided I would upgrade about a year ago. My decision also included our youngest son who wants to get into welding and would need a heavier dependable truck to help get him started. So we decided to trade his little V6 truck in and let him make payments to us on the 04. I've been 4 years without a payment and I really didn't want to add one back, although we really didn't stop it. We have been using it to pay off other junk. The main thing for me, is I didn't want it to tie our finances down too tight. I knew I wasn't going to get a new one. One lap around any lot and you may decide that. The truck "I Wanted" was in the 60 to 70 K range. Ouch real fast. We decided on a '12 -3500 4X4. It had more miles on it than I would usually feel comfortable about. (132k) It's not the DEF model. It is still factory intact, so it has the emissions. It;s in beautiful shape. We looked at alot of them and decided if we were to take a chance, this would be the one to take a chance on. I can see what has been said about the emissions is true. On day 2 I got a code and on day 3, a higher end code reader. Already the MAF code has come up every few days. It has bothered me at the start, but I've been learning about how to properly test things and not just throw parts, and how all the emissions work together and how they don't work together. I can clearly see the what is going on on this 12 is from the soot that is being recirculated back thru the motor to be burned again. I learned about the MAP sensor last night. Went out an pulled it and it was a soot ball. I still have that all over my hands even after washing them several times. I have been going back and forth about deleting, because I've been enjoying not having a strait pipe truck. The quiet has been enjoyable. But after last night, I've made up my mind. I'm going to order the egr cleaning kit form geno's, take it all off and scrub it as best I can, then after we get past taxes, I'll be deleting it and 5" strait pipe. We don't have to worry about emissions testing, plus I can always clean it, seal it up, and put it back on if I have to. Then, re-delete it. I absolutely love the ride and the cab has way more room. I've always wanted a 3500 dually. We have plans on some future rv'ing trips that would require 4X4 and that I would prefer having the duals with us. I love the B&W hitch in the bed. I just got a curt X5 that is a set of rails that drop in the place of the ball and I can lift them out and have a clean bed when not rv'ing. I'll say that so far, the only regret I have about going from an 04.0 to my 12 is where I work. The new boss is one of those, "I learned it in college but have never actually done this so lets start doing things my way". I'm hoping either he wont be around long or I can make my last couple of years without just having to out right slap him. Or something else can come along that I can move over to and finish out my time. Overall, I'm happy with my choice. I have had to let go a bit because my son likes the glow lights under the truck and has already added them to my baby. He talks about doing other things to it and I cringe. He goes to a local truck club meet every Friday night and when he pulled up in my 04 he was the talk. He let someone move it to a different spot and he got out and told everyone that he had never seen a factory 5.9 run as well as my baby ran, so everyone was checking it out and he's now been crowned the guy with the best running truck. A plus with him having it, it we technically still have it.

Now that I've done it, I would do what I did over if I had to go back and redo. I know with the deletes done, I will have a really really nice truck now.

ptm600

I got my 15 on June 1st. The only complaint that I could have about this truck is more of a comparison than a complaint. I get about 2 mile per gallon worse fuel milage than I got out of my 05. The 05 was a single wheel and the 15 is a dually. The power of these new ones is really impressive. It'll run circles around the 05.

DodgeCowboy

Here's my take on this, if you upgrade go for the 2010-present. Reason said is I own both a used but new to us 2012 and a brand-new 2014 tradesmen work truck that is my ranch truck, we use them both for heavy hauling and have zero problems with either one. I on the other hand have the urea system on mine and won't ever delete the 14, the emission system on this truck is so much more refined its crazy I have to do allot of idling sometimes farming and what not and I've never had one problem and this truck is strong, my only complaint is the six speed manual witch I needed for feeding cows is a bit of a dog till it gets spooled and running but is a beast once your going,I installed a bullybdog for the gauges mostly and the other day finally bumped it to towing and what a difference! It woken the beast up and it drives so much more smoother and has the power down low from the start, I now live my truck again. As for the wife's 2012 its a high output auto and is insane for the amount of power it has, we don't use this one for any ranch work but do on occasion and the emission system is flawless. It has never gave us any problems clogging up and what have you but we also don't do a whole lot of city driving, we have to drive 60 miles round trip to get to town so they may never get the chance to build up. The 14 for the first time ever did a full regen at 35k miles. So in short do it! And don't look back.

1-2-3

I haven't really had the chance to put my 12 to the towing test yet. Just got my rails and its raining here too much to connect the rv up and reset the level on the hitch and take it down the road.

NJMurvin

Living in CA with bi-annual smog testing, deleting is out of the question for me. I'm not willing to delete/reinstall every two years. So, I would have to live with the DEF, regens, etc. It's likely I'll come to my senses and just keep mine and fix stuff as it breaks.

SOhappy

For what it's worth, I've owned both 3rd and 4th gen trucks.

They are both great trucks, but of course the main thing the 3rd gens have working against them is age- at some point they will start to nickle and dime you in repairs. If that's not an issue, then stick with the 3rd gen. Of course the main thing working against the 4th gens is emissions, and it sounds like being in CA you can't get around that. So flip a coin- you'll either get nickled and dimed in mechanical repairs (3rd gen) or get nickled and dimed in all-too frequent oil changes, crappy mpgs, and emissions issues (pre-SCR) or nickled and dimed paying for Urea (post-SCR) until it's out of warranty, then the emissions issues may start to rear their ugly head.

In short, the 4th gens are great if you can delete them or only hang on to them only while they are in warranty.

NJMurvin

SOhappy, from your sig, it looks like you're back to a 3rd gen. That says a lot. Mine has only 80k and I put very few miles on it these days. It runs as well as the day I bought it. As much as I'd like something new, I'm probably going to stick with what I have, deal with issues as they come and pocket the $600 payment I would likely have on a new one.

MikeyB

I recently went through this exercise and decided it's cheaper to keep my truck and buy a nice car for a daily driver.

SOhappy

Yes, If I were in your shoes, I would keep your truck at least until 150k then re-evaluate. Especially where you're in Kalifornia.

My current truck is getting close to 200k, and the nickle-and-diming has begun. Once that starts to add up to a monthly truck payment on a newer one/lower miles then it's time to go shopping.

DodgeCowboy

That's what I did with my 01 with 250k was eating me alive,when I sat down to taxes for the business and seen what I spent to keep it going my wife said it had to go ha-ha wasn't hard to make me step up.

98DRQC12V

The 5.9 was one of Cummins best. I had 275,000 km (171,00 miles) on mine when I gave it to my daughter and replaced it with a 2012 Ram 6.7 CTD. This latter I purchased used at 22,400 km (about 13,900 miles). Within 15 miles of leaving the used car lot, the MIL came on. This was later diagnosed as an oxygen sensor problem and was repaired/replaced with wiring harness and probe by on of the Chrysler dealers. That was back in Dec. 2013. All or 2014 I've had no problems with the 2012 and with the emission ssystem with exception of getting a message once to continue driving as regen was in progress. It so happened I was on the highway at the time and could not understand why this would come on at that time. In any case, Regen was completed. This year about mid summer Water in Fuel warning came on and off for no apparent reason. No water nor crud in the filter housing. Eventually it stayed on 100% of the time. As I drove with this on my return trip home (about 450 miles) my cruise control acted up, sometimes would not turn off from the steering wheel switch nor would it resume after cancelling, or even reset after turning it off and on. This would last about 20 to 50 miles of driving, then it returned to normal. It did that 3 times during my trip. Then before I got home the MIL engine light came on. I continued to drive home and visited the dealer a day later. To make a long story short, The WIF sensor was replaced as it tested bad, the oxygen sensor and wiring harness was replace (second time around). At the same time I had the transmission serviced - filters and fluid + reprogram they tell me. A month later the dealer found 2 stored transmission faults; P0735 and P0868 relating to 5th gear and oil pressure. I was told to continue driving it and return it if I thought I could not live with the way the transmission shifts up or down. Right now it seems to have trouble shifting down and pushes a bit coming to a stop. So, I believe there is some transmission work in the future - fortunately still all under warranty. Looking back now, I almost feel I should have kept my 5.9. It was easy to work on and relatively trouble free. I had replaced the tie rod ends and the front wheel bearings once. Oil and filter changes were relatively easy and there was no emission system. As far as I can say, there is way too much electronics on the newer vehicles of today - and I can't see that getting any better. Although the new truck rides very nice, it also bring with it a higher fuel consumption than the 5.9. Of course it is a bigger engine but I figured the 6 speed tranny would level it out against the 4 speed in my old 5.9. Not quite so. If you are handy with doing a bit of your own work, I'd recommend to stay with what you have and stay away from the 2010-2012's. I am not sure if I will keep mine past the warranty period as I foresee significant high cost in keeping it running. Since I do not haul great loads, trailers or 5th wheels, I may opt for replacement with gasoline engine rather than diesel. Although I do like my diesel and have had one since 1980.

jethroish

Reading some of this I am wondering if I made the right move. Traded off my 02 2500 5.9 5sp for a 2015 6.7 3500 6sp Aisin. Had 305,000 miles on the 2002. Still ran good and got 20 mpg as a daily driver and got 11.5 to 12 mpg towing 12,000 lbs horse trailer.

Had the 2015 for 7 weeks now. Gets 21 mpg empty at 75mph and 12-13 mpg pulling horse trailer. I am still a little leery of the trailer hitting the bed/tailgate since the '15 is a bit taller. I do have the air levelers though.

SOhappy

Yup, I owned my 2003 from new to 100k. The MIL light came on exactly ZERO times during those 9 years.

But I did have to replace the ball joints twice.