Should I Stay (with my 1996) Or Should I Go (buy a 2018)?

[kthaxton]

As far as TQ management goes simply watch the videos where the top RAM DOG clearly says no TQ management and also mentions burning rubber into 3rd on a DRW.

The Ram engineer however, only stated that full torque is available in all gears, I'm pretty certain that TM still exists on initial acceleration and between shifts.

 

[Newsa]

I really can't help you with your decision but I will tell you I bought my 2018 tradesman with a 6spd manual for $45060 out the door at Dave Smith. Frankly, you're getting hosed. (note that I live in MT so no sales tax)
Currently, the mpg is absolute crap but I've read that it will improve as the truck accrues more miles on it. Overall, I like the truck and am glad I bought one before the 2019 changes came on board.

I bought my manual g56 tradesman for around $43,000. The Aisin will add almost $3k to it. And mine is just a 2500. I think the 3500's and duallies are a bit more (like a grand more)

 

[CoastyAV8R]

It's nice to have a truck with no payments and it's far from worn out at 77k miles. If you put $5000 into your truck, it will be like brand new. The only reason to get rid of it is if it can't pull/haul what you want. As far as price goes call Dave Smith Dodge and Dennis Dillon Dodge, both of them are in Idaho and get price quotes from their internet folks and use that to barter price or fly out to Idaho and pick up a new one as you'll be hard pressed to beat their prices anywhere. I got my 16 3500 tradesman with the Aisin out the door for a shade over $43,000. If you do decide to buy, wait till late summer or fall as that's when they drop their prices.

 

[rashwor]

I'm still in my '05 and I am still enjoying it at 436k. My wife traded her '05 Durango for a 2013 1500 Longhorn Laramie with all the goodies. The '13 was well maintained and low mileage for the age and is an awesome truck. I love driving it when she lets me.

Our 14 year old daughter was complaining about riding in my '05 quad cab and being cramped like your kids are before we traded for the '13. She love's the '13 crew cab space. She and her brother still battle for shotgun when only 3 people are going. I love them but teenagers always have something to be unhappy about.

The one feature I am excited about on the '19 Cummins powered is the electric heat in the vents while the cold natured cummins is warming up to operating temperature. That would be nice in my '05.

The only thing that really makes me want to trade my '05 is the piss poor A/C in the Texas summer. The 4th gens seem to have solved the issue. I can solve it on mine. I just need the time to get an electric fan installed on the condenser triggered by the compressor kicking on. May get to it this summer.

 

[JPM]

I'm still in my '05 and I am still enjoying it at 436k. My wife traded her '05 Durango for a 2013 1500 Longhorn Laramie with all the goodies. The '13 was well maintained and low mileage for the age and is an awesome truck. I love driving it when she lets me.

Our 14 year old daughter was complaining about riding in my '05 quad cab and being cramped like your kids are before we traded for the '13. She love's the '13 crew cab space. She and her brother still battle for shotgun when only 3 people are going. I love them but teenagers always have something to be unhappy about.

The one feature I am excited about on the '19 Cummins powered is the electric heat in the vents while the cold natured cummins is warming up to operating temperature. That would be nice in my '05.

The only thing that really makes me want to trade my '05 is the piss poor A/C in the Texas summer. The 4th gens seem to have solved the issue. I can solve it on mine. I just need the time to get an electric fan installed on the condenser triggered by the compressor kicking on. May get to it this summer.

the 03 had AC that would freeze up unless it was really really hot outside. I learned to just turn if off until it started blowing again. I did not want to get it worked on because it was too cold! Also had to fix the HVAC doors , common problem

 

[Matt42]

I've bought many new vehicles. My largest regrets over time have been buying less vehicle than I really wanted to save money up front. That's not to say that the car or truck wasn't good or reliable. But I turned down trim levels or options that I regretted years later. A few I could add myself later, such as the right-hand visor on a stripper-level Mazda in 1979 that I drove for 16 years (and later upgraded to a 5-speed manual from the original 4-speed). But some things can't easily be changed later and would have been less expensive in the first place.

I've known several people that did well at Dave Smith, even making the airfare and return trip more than worthwhile. And I'll have some time in the future for that.

I have pretty much decided to hang on to the 1996. I can do a whole lot of restoration and upgrading for a fraction of the sixty thousand bucks. My wife would have been okay with replacing the truck, but our retirement plans are far from solid. Work has kept me so busy for the last five years that I haven't had time do do much of anything other than work and travel for work. So I'm looking at finally pulling the plug later this year. A large problem is that she's never been comfortable towing our travel trailer, which is the same age as the truck. The only issue I've ever had with it is the NV 4500's missing gear between third and fourth in hilly country. The truck has no problem at all with it.

Thanks.

 

[CoastyAV8R]

I don't blame you, now going forward if you do update your camper/trailer you can do it knowing what truck you'll have and buy accordingly. Do you have an exhaust brake on your 96? It makes towing a much safer adventure and may help put your wife at ease.

 

[JPM]

I don't blame you, now going forward if you do update your camper/trailer you can do it knowing what truck you'll have and buy accordingly. Do you have an exhaust brake on your 96? It makes towing a much safer adventure and may help put your wife at ease.

the exhaust brake on the 17 is great, I giggled like a little girl when I first drove one, without an exhaust brake I did have to do a lot of brake rebuilds on my 03, so the factory E brake on the 17 should be a good thing. Other than that, the 03 was a great truck( besides the manual and PITA shifting in traffic jams) and I am wondering about my very expensive decision to get a newer and very complex truck.

 

[Matt42]

I don't blame you, now going forward if you do update your camper/trailer you can do it knowing what truck you'll have and buy accordingly. Do you have an exhaust brake on your 96? It makes towing a much safer adventure and may help put your wife at ease.

We put a PacBrake on our 1996 many years ago. This was after I smoked the truck's brakes coming down the Arizona 260 grade into Camp Verde. Now I can just select the correct gear, turn on the exhaust brake and coast down with my feet off of all the pedals, occasionally giving it a little throttle to speed up. That aspect is a little surreal headed down on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass, I gotta say.

the exhaust brake on the 17 is great, I giggled like a little girl when I first drove one, without an exhaust brake I did have to do a lot of brake rebuilds on my 03, so the factory E brake on the 17 should be a good thing. Other than that, the 03 was a great truck( besides the manual and PITA shifting in traffic jams) and I am wondering about my very expensive decision to get a newer and very complex truck.

Something I like is the capability of adding the Load Leash, in addition to the exhaust brake, on the later 24 valve models--like the 2018. But I don't anticipate ever hauling that heavy. On the other hand, the 1996 is just so simple by comparison.

 

[SnoKing]

Lesson on retirement!

Try to have newer vehicles and other desired toys going into retirement that are paid for BEFORE retirement. You can then spend that retirement money enjoying what you want to do, and not making payments on things and sitting home complaining about not be able to afford to travel, snowbird etc.

We are coming up on 13 years of retirement for me and 16 for DW. It has been good.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Does anyone know anyone PERSONALLY that actually owns a LoadLeash???

 

[SnoKing]

Does anyone know anyone PERSONALLY that actually owns a LoadLeash???

From the manual
Use of aftermarket exhaust brakes is not recommended
and could lead to engine damage

Me thinks RAM would void warranty if they saw the LoadLeash installed on the valve train. PacBrake would be marketing their product to Cummins.

 

[EDankievitch]

Just signed in and thought I'd put in my 2 cents worth.... The newer trucks when they run are awesome. The power and torque right off the dealer's parking lot is so much more than the older trucks had even after they were tuned and turned up with after market performance parts. The 4th gen's are quiet the cab is nice. Having an Engine break, Power mirrors, Power seats, cruise and Ac makes long drives welcoming and a pleasure. Some service items are better some are worse Ex breaks, oil changes, fuel filter changes. Ball joints and front end parts their life expectancy hasn't improved much from the 3rd gen trucks. When they run and don't throw codes..... That said I wish I still had my 89, First gen. No Ac, No Cruise. It was loud. But I drove it hard for well over 500,000 miles and it never let me down. No check engine lights hell No computer. The radio was a real radio not this integrated head unit that is vin matched.
I'm not really a good source as my truck has spent more time in the shop for recalls and software issues more times than my 89, 02, and 05 trucks combined. I will say I just did a run to fla running Bob tail No trailer this time and while racing along at almost 80 mph I still got 22 Mpg. My 89 would have never done that . 74Mph was wide open and best you'd expect at that speed was 18-19 mpg. All day in that truck and you were def and tired. In this 13 I was ready to explore Savanah as soon as I parked after 14 hours of driving. I know a few people that have had very good luck with their 4th Gen's I'm hoping that now that I'm over 100k miles and it's finally paid for that my gremlins are all behind me. Time will tell. That said my 05 was really a good truck also aside from a set of injectors and a cracked number 4 injector line it never gave me one bit of trouble. over 250k miles on that 05 when I traded it in.
Maybe the truck to buy is a left over 17 or 18? I know I've been talking about trying the "F" brand and in 5 year I might just for a change almost 40 years with Chrysler could be time for a change..... But I really do like the way the 4th gen trucks look... And when they run they will out pull anything.....

 

[lpennock]

From the manual
Use of aftermarket exhaust brakes is not recommended
and could lead to engine damage

Me thinks RAM would void warranty if they saw the LoadLeash installed on the valve train. PacBrake would be marketing their product to Cummins.

Technically the LoadLeash isn't an external exhaust brake. It depends on the VGT to provide most of the actual braking. It works by releasing the compression on what would be the power stroke in a 4 stroke cycle so that the compression you built up doing the compression stroke doesn't push the cylinder back down. This recovers the brake effect the compression stoke provides. Similar to the compression release brakes you hear on the big rigs.

With all that said since you are mucking with the valve train operation by installing itm I could see FCA voiding the engine and possibly the transmission warranty. I think the warning was more geared to adding additional in exhaust brakes like the PacBrake inline unit.

 

[DHayden]

I still have my 2001.5 with only 125,000 miles. It is in great shape with the 5600 manual. My knees are bad so the 6 speed isn't as much fun as it used to be. The truck is loaded and still comfortable but I'm somewhat sad to say that it doesn't compare to the 2015. I installed the BD exhaust brake on the 01 and it isnt close to the performance of the 15 factory brake. I had a prodigy brake controller in the old truck, the built in controller in the 15 seems to work as good, is a clean setup and can be set for multiple trailers.
The usable power and way the truck handles my heavy 5er is like the difference is stability between a three wheel atv and four wheel atv. Both trucks are duallies and I love them both but I will never tow my 5er with the 01 again unless I have no other choice. I spent a lot of money on the 01 making it the way I wanted and making it better, which it was for its time. Now just about everything you spent a lot of extra money on in the past has been seamlessly integrated into a much stronger platform. Just my opinion since were pretty close on trucks and issues.

 

[RVTRKN]

Older vrs newer capability wise, yes, buy an 18 while the deals are there now. If you can afford it, keep the 96 and turn it into off road use only/mostly. If your asking about buying an 18, then you must be able to afford the crazy high prices.

 

[mpaulson]

I agree unless you plan to travel in Canada. Their laws say you have to be under GAWR and GVW rating. They probably won't stop you unless you're tail dragging but ......

Yes and No. I've done allot of research on this topic in the last few years have have called many scales in the western three provinces, like 12 of them. For recreational vehicles, the only way they would look at you is if you "LOOKED" grossly overloaded. At that point they first check that you are not overloading any tires as per there sidewall rating. If you are, you're parked. If not, they make a judgement right then and there as to how well set up your unit is, if it looks risky. With hauling my boat on top of my truck, I draw allot of attention everywhere I go(Redneck Express), so I have yet to be stopped or questioned yet and I've traveled allot in BC which is the known to be the Nazi DOT province. Like you said, I don't have my tail dragging on the ground look on my set up, intact it's a little bit higher that stock in the back while loaded.
Now hauling two quads on a half ton while pulling an RV, you'll most likely get stopped.

 

[mpaulson]

Just for chits and giggles I went in and talked to my dealer about the price on the 2019. I had them build me one exactly the same as my 2018 and it was basically exactly $10,000.00 more than I paid in Aug of 2018 for the one I have now. Yea, they've added some more frills to them, but not that much!!!

 

[AH64ID]

Just for chits and giggles I went in and talked to my dealer about the price on the 2019. I had them build me one exactly the same as my 2018 and it was basically exactly $10,000.00 more than I paid in Aug of 2018 for the one I have now. Yea, they've added some more frills to them, but not that much!!!

This is why I went with the 2018, along with not wanting to be a guinea pig for a new motor with a truck that expensive. By the time 2020-2021 rolled around the truck would be 15-20K more and my 05 would have been 5-10K less... big price delta.

I also really like how the 18's look, well the 10-18's.

 

[SnoKing]

Well our left over 15 in Sept of 15 was 53,550 of something like that. Window sticker had TOTAL PRICE:* $ 64,595. Guest we bought at the right time.