Buying Used 3rd Gen, What year is best

[AWeaver]

i second the tipm and electrical issues. i have an 07 5. 9 and had to replace my tipm which was $1200 dealer only part and still have electrical gremlins in my truck. my cruise control come on and off by itself and my cargo light does also. my trailer brake controller never worked right so i have since just took the damn thing out. my truck only has 86,600 miles on it... wtf dodge? oh and i have also replaced my ac compressor too. just like my 01. #@$%!

 

[RVTRKN]

Look at my sig, it is hard to find one that someone is willing to let go of, and with low miles, will even be a bigger challenge. My brother went through it, and knowing that I had what he wanted with relative low miles, asked me if I was willing to sell it to him, seeing how I had two CTD's. The best trans for the CTD is the NV5600, and I would not even consider a G56, if I was looking for a truck from those years. I own the G56 and I always wonder when the DMF is going to fail. If you plan on the manual and you can only find a G56, budget the solid flywheel conversion and don't haul over Dodge's GCVWR full time. The 48re is junk, in the stock form, so if you do decide to get one, get it with an upgraded trany, or budget it in and have it done.

 

[Grizzly]

I sure do like my 05 with an NV5600. The 04. 5 with an NV5600 is maybe slightly better, depending on who you ask.

 

[AH64ID]

I sure do like my 05 with an NV5600. The 04. 5 with an NV5600 is maybe slightly better, depending on who you ask.

What's the difference that would make it better?



I know that the IC is metal, but the lift pump is weaker, and it does have 10 ft/lbs less tq Oo.

 

[Grizzly]

What's the difference that would make it better?



I know that the IC is metal, but the lift pump is weaker, and it does have 10 ft/lbs less tq Oo.

You got it.

 

[macdaddy]

A friend and myself bought our trucks about 3 months apart. His is an 04. 5 325/600, and mine is 325/610. The lift pump being messaged by the motor caused his to fail twice before he went with the fass system.

Get the in tank pump if at all possible.

Mac

 

[AH64ID]

You got it.

That's what I figured, just wanted to make sure.



I am honestly not sure how many 05's would still have plastic IC's, or 04. 5's with canister pumps. Both were fixed under warranty for many people.

 

[Grizzly]

AH64ID,



I have the 05 in my signature and my son has an 04. 5, 3500 SRW. Mine has the plastic IC, as you know, and my son's has the metal. Neither one has had a problem. In fact I have never heard of any problems with the plastic IC. I spoke to Jim Gale (jelag), former owner of Pacific Clutch and Break in Spokane. Since he had a fleet of Dodge trucks I asked him if he had any problems with the plastic inter-cooler. He said he had not and had never heard of anyone who had. Jim and his wife were here three weeks ago for the annual Balloon Fiesta.



I have not had any problems with my truck and my 7 year extended warranty expires in mid November. My son replaced the water pump on his truck 3 or 4 months ago, which has been the only problem he's had with his from day one.

 

[AH64ID]

I have read about plenty of the plastic IC's popping. The initial rate was high enough that it only lasted for half of a model year.

Mine failed at about 40K miles, but the dealer claimed they couldn't find a leak. I took it to them twice with the same symptoms, it would build boost normally until about 30 then it would start loosing boost into the low twenties by the time I would let off for EGT's (I am almost certain I would have melted a piston had I not had boost/EGT gauges since the boost would fall off enough to drive the EGT's hundreds of degrees higher but not low enough to set an under-boost code or cut fueling). It would then hold again until I hit 30 and the same story. On a cold day it may hold 32-34, but on a warm day (or if towing) it would never hold more than 30. Finally I changed dealers and they found it pretty quick. The clamps that hold the end caps on had been stretched and the seal was still intact under low boost, but would blow open and then re-seat.

I asked the dealership if it was common and they said it was very common for the first few years after the early 05 was sold but had really tapered off. They figured some were good, but most were bad and failed early on. Yours appears to be one of the good ones, but if you ever do anything to up your boost a little it probably won't last long.

My warranty also expires in one month and the only issues I have had were the plastic IC failing at about 40K miles (don't recall exactly when, but it was finally replaced at 48K about 9 months after I noticed the issue) and the CP3 was replaced at 28K miles because it had a small (very small) seep and there are no dealership level repairs on them.

 

[Regcabguy]

My buddy and I have nearly identical '07 2500 4wd,G-56's. The difference is he has beat the crap out of his in Baja. Aside from the KO1 reflash,neither has been graced by dealer service. We both performed the '08. 5 steering upgrade without dealer assistance. Our dmf's are still functioning fine also as well as TIPM's with both trucks carrying popups around 24/7. I've driven three NV5600's and prefer the shifting characteristics of the G-56,even with the weak clutch. So far so good.



In contrast,my '98. 5 was a POS. :{

 

[S.Morris]

I like the 03-04 mostly because the oil is cleaner with 10000km on it than an 04. 5 or 05 after you start them the first time after an oil change:-laf



I changed my filter housing lift pump at 300,000km just because everyone says they are prone to failure. It was working fine and I keep it as a spare.



The 5600 is not the most user friendly transmission in daily driving but put 5or 6 ton behind it and it shines like a diamond.

 

[jwduke]

My 04. 5 is ALMOST a 05 (06/04 build date), it has the tow/haul, the metal IC, and 325/610 engine... . almost the best of BOTH worlds.

 

[MikeW.]

Yeah, I know. It wasn't an outright lie but it was far from the truth. The transmission is fully capable, no difference from the 06's. The ugly truth is Dodge would not retro the computer to handle their factory installed brake becuase they want to sell new trucks. Therefore, their position was it could not use an EB when the real truth a PAC or BD brake works fine with the supplied controller.



Dodge would not warranty it so it was not possible in their eyes. Total BS from the start.

Right now I'm leary of my truck's transmission even though the dealer 'rebuilt' it under warranty (20 K miles after it started to self destruct)... to the point I'm thinking of looking for another one with the stick that wasn't available here when I got my '05. I went throught the same thing with my '91 with an auto trans after they tore into it about 5 times I gave up and got rid of it, I really liked it as I do my '05 now so I don't want to go through the same thing all over again. I'm even thinking GASP*** of a new one.

 

[AMink]

I really like my 06 Mega, last full year of the 5. 9 and the really big back seat. I haven't had any issue with the blinkers going south because of towing but I am less than thrilled with the A/C. The seat can be torture but there are fixes for it, and I have DTS (dead tach syndrome). Other than that, the truck has been great over the almost 85,000 miles of towing, commuting, and driving on unforgiving dirt roads while hunting. Appreciate the guys who know WHY something might not work right (TPS, and all the other PIA acronyms)! Sounds like an '05 is hard to beat if you don't want the really big cab.

 

[grimesja]

Thanks guys, I have found a few 04s and 05s in Orlando, I live in Jacksonville. Unfortunately, all of them have been on the dealer market with 110-200K miles on them.

 

[MikeW.]

I find a few with less than 100K but not in Jax or Orlando, some show up in Georgia.

 

[Jim Ross]

After reading all the info in your reply (and those of others), it appears I really goofed in buying an '07.

My mileage is rotten and I am now wondering what options I have;

1. sell it and buy an '05 or

2. can the engine be modified (within reasonable economic limits) to improve mileage or

3. swap in an '05 engine?

My '01 was awesome and gave great mileage, but I wanted a dually to pull a 27 ft 5th wheel trailer, so I sold the '01 and bought this fuel hog '07. Buyer's remorse.

BTW, I have tried a Smarty Jr. and after more than a year of fooling around with settings, it really does not seem to make a whit of difference in my truck, even though others have reported success with their's. I have even tried running this truck with SRW's and if it makes a difference in the economy, the difference is too small to measure.

 

[AH64ID]

05 and 07 have the same programming and parts. . aside from the CAN BUS vs SCI they are identical.

What are you getting for mileage?

 

[AMink]

After reading all the info in your reply (and those of others), it appears I really goofed in buying an '07.

My mileage is rotten and I am now wondering what options I have;

1. sell it and buy an '05 or

2. can the engine be modified (within reasonable economic limits) to improve mileage or

3. swap in an '05 engine?

My '01 was awesome and gave great mileage, but I wanted a dually to pull a 27 ft 5th wheel trailer, so I sold the '01 and bought this fuel hog '07. Buyer's remorse.

BTW, I have tried a Smarty Jr. and after more than a year of fooling around with settings, it really does not seem to make a whit of difference in my truck, even though others have reported success with their's. I have even tried running this truck with SRW's and if it makes a difference in the economy, the difference is too small to measure.

My '06 has worse mileage than my '97 but that's the price you pay for more power. Living in Reno too, I think the elevation makes a difference in our mileage. It's up every way we go!

 

[AH64ID]

There are some things you can do for mileage, but with what it costs it will take MANY MANY miles for the economy to pay for the mods.

1) Cam. . Colt Cam Stage 1 or the new Hamilton ($1500 ish installed)
2) Turbo. . Garrett Stage 2 ($1800ish to your door)
3) Manual front hubs ($1500ish to your door)
4) Trans upgrades to hold tq increase from Smarty Jr/Cam/Turbo $1500??

That should get you a few mpgs. . but hard to say. I did get 19 this past summer (after all the above mods but hubs and I have a manual trans) from Seattle to Boise (2 dressers and a washing machine in the bed) where my previous best was something like 17. 3 with more timing.