Considering first diesel buy
 

Been considering a diesel for some time now and have been doing some research mostly on ford's 7.3l and the 5.9l cummins I-6 12v. For the cummins, it would mostly be a daily driver with hardly any towing (for now at least). I'd assume it'd hold up well if it's maintained properly and not worked incredibly hard but was just looking for some first hand experience on the matter. Thanks for any input.

Also, I have found this 1996 for $6800. Lots more to find out about it, but looks pretty decent to me. 1996 dodge ram 2500 4x4 cummins Anything specific to look out for when buying one of these 12v's or certain problems to look out for?

That's a good price. As a daily driver that engine will last forever, and down there the truck probably will too. The main thing to be concerned with is the Killer Dowel Pin, do some reading on it here so you know what to ask. If it hasn't been addressed, it should be. With 232k on it I'd think it would have come out by now if it was going to, but you just never know with them. It could be any second, or never. Best to eliminate it as a potential problem. Sounds like most of the nickle and dime you to death stuff has been done, at least for a little while.

must be nice being in az with no such thing as rust lol, I had a 12v with an auto and I liked it for a driving, but disliked it for towing, went from that too a 6.0, then got a 7.3. If the 7.3 got the mpgs of the 5.9 itd be perfect. theyre both great trucks

i like my 12valve:tu:

the 12V is a great truck .. the trans is the weak point .. but cheaper than a 6.0 or even the 7.3 .. I have had a 7.3 and know many with the 6.0 .. unless you haven money to burn .. the 12V is the only way to go :tu:

Thanks for the responses guys, yea it seems to be rust free which is a real plus. Im not to worried about the miles on it, though I just hope he maintained it with regular maintenance.

the 12V is Literally a Million mile + engine all day .. when properly maintained

Its just whats around the engine that's not so sweet from what i hear.

well my 7.3 just s*&t out 3 injectors at 335k. soooo yea. idk im buying a duramax :rocking:

there not any better JSATCT860 .. do some more research

Just more expensive to fix! LOL

So the guy brought the price down to $6100 but also added that, on top of replacing the power steering pump, that the fuel guage doesn't work along with the A/C kicking on and off. And being in AZ with the high being 114° today, that's a bit essential to have. So in total he told me the cost would come out to around $600 for a shop to do it all professionally.

A/cs a deal breaker for me... I go out that way rather frequently. and diesels are always so damned expensive! its just where you wanna spend the money I guess haha

Either way .. ur money ahead .. fix the ac and u know what u have then .. it will pay for its self in the end easily :tu:

Definately want a shop to look it over as well just to be sure.

Huh, My AC has 400K on it and I use it every day. Pretty much year round. I've had to hit Walmart for those $40 recharge/stop leak kits a couple times, but whatever. My experience has been that the system is pretty robust, I've never replaced anything.

Yea the guy told me it only had to be recharged. For a guy who doesn't have much experience with auto motives would it be pretty doable? I'd like to work on my truck instead of giving it to a shop the majority of times so I guess I'd have to start somewere. Aldo for the fuel guage, he told me that the sender needed to be replaced but the the fuel tank had to be dropped. Is that doable as well?

Look for a NV4500 rig. Then you wont spend money on the slushbox later. Mostly a preference thing tho. Other than spending money clutches My Nv4500 has served me well. Save money for some cold cans instead of a slipping auto! :c: :c:

I've literally never driven stick but have been wanting to learn for some time now, especially now from everything I've been hearing about the automatics in the 2nd gens! Though I have heard it sucks in stop and go traffic

kindof a B*tch in traffic but hey thats where the granny comes in! Its an awesome tranny to learn with though, Very forgiving and if you choose to you can really float all the gears and its easy as hell. I had a 1/2 ton gasser b4 my cummins and the overdrive started goin out at 70k... That led me to the NV4500 behind a 12v and its great! I'd recommend it to anyone looking for Long term reliability.

Am I right that you can convert an auto to the NV4500? Might be something for me to look into if I get this truck!

if the truck is 4wd .. ur pissin money at a fast rate by swapping the auto to manual ..

if its 2wd then ur not gonna be out a bunch of money and time to fab and such...


I have a 47Rh .. and I love the crap out of It .. I can stay on the turbo, I rarly loose 1/8 mile drags .. LOL
and I haven't got a ton of cash into it .. I have a single disc converter, a SunCoast VB, and a Billet Serov kit .. Done, Shifts awesome and I can shift up and down , lock 2nd gear .. I am planning to install switches to lock in when I want to and O/D when I want it ...

I say a small investment in the aut and your still money ahead.

Yea i'd prefer a 4wd, like the one i listed above, so i guess it just depends on whether i get this one or wait for a manual to come along. Getting pretty psyched!

There are advantages and disadvantages both ways, for sure. I always drove stick until I got this truck, and most of the time I miss it very much. There are so many things that can and do go wrong with an automatic that are just not a concern with a standard, not to mention they just plain drive differently. If you're used to the constant engagement of a stick, you can spend insane amounts of money building one of these autos to give you some semblance of the same driveability and control. That said, there is no way to make a 12V stick anywhere near as fast as a built 12V auto with factory cases, and there's the whole sitting in traffic thing to. Up here, plowing snow is pretty much a deal breaker.
But I make a living driving my truck all day every day, then it's my toy on the weekends so my demands are a little different than most people who own one. If all you're going to do is tool back and forth to work, pull a little trailer every now and then or something then you aren't going to spend enough seat time in it to really justify going hog wild with a trans one way or the other. If you want a cool truck, either one can do. If you want a light duty work truck, a stick will probably be better, as long as you don't have snow to plow or massive traffic to drive in. If you want a race truck or sled puller, a built auto is the way to go. From a sales perspective, the manual trucks seem to be more desirable and harder to find, and tend to sell faster. In the end, it's all about what you want. That said, I would have to really, really be sure I knew I wanted to live with a standard to buy one before I'd even learned to drive one.

Traffic aint so bad if you drive it like a big rig, just put it in first, and let it roll with plenty of distance! the standard trucks are definetly way better, and your nipping a problem in the bud that could come back to bite you later. unless your in seattle or new York. I think hes running into the problem that all manual cummins powered 2nd gens are like 3500 more at least, and if there not there usually spanked. idk I would save some more money til you could buy a stick. just a personal opinion on it, or find a fummins :rocking:

Well thetruck sold so I missed chance on that one but now I have a better idea of what to look for. Anyone know, besides craigslist, a decent website(s) to look for used trucks?

I have had great luck on commercial truck trader. I know it sounds stupid, but they usually have low miles and are fleet maintained. I bought my 6.0 there 3 years ago with 99k for 10.5, bought my 7.3 for 4500 there with a little under 200k, plus I like how you can search a 3/4 ton, and 1 ton at the same time. theres tons of trucks in az im always lookin at there too. id try that, or a manheim broker, those guys get you into the car auctions, and you can go get a super nice truck for much cheaper.


Just throwing out ideas

Thanks for the suggestions :tu: unfortunately they didn't have any listing for a 1996-1998 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins though i will definitely keep my eyes open as time goes on