Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Well, I did it! I sold my '03 Ram 2500 CTD and bought a new 2013 Ram 2500 Laramie. So far, I really like it and I'm fairly impressed with it. My '03 had 175K miles on and was still running great, I had all of the upgrades on it that I wanted, and it has long since been paid for. So why did I sell it? Basically, it was starting to show its age and it was a matter of numbers. I had been watching the value of my '03 on KBB (Kelley Blue Book) for that last few years and it finally came to the point where if I could still get enough money out of it for a nice down payment on a new one and still have some cash left over for goodies. So I had "that conversation" with my wife and after not too much wailing and gnashing of teeth she saw where I was coming from so she gave me the nod. I have been really impressed at how well these gen 3's are holding their value. I sold mine foView attachment 86699View attachment 86700View attachment 86701r $14K and my wife's '04 with 98K miles is still worth, according to KBB, 50% of its original sticker price.
I must that getting into the new one is like crawling into the cockpit of a fighter jet compared to my '03. I treated myself and got a lot of bells and whistles on this one, some of which I'm still learning how to use, but was not available when I got my '03. My '03 was an SLT that was basically a Laramie minus the leather seats and one or two minor convenience packages. That was all you could get on them back then. It took DC (at the time) a couple of years of putting new stuff ino their cars before introducing it into the pickups. This is one reason why I think that Dodge lagged behind Ford in sales. I like how Chrysler has now stepped up to putting the latest techno gadgets and amenities into the Ram pickup line as fast as they are putting it into their luxury/sports cars. This has made them very competitive with Ford, and having the Cummins engine should give them the advantage. GM seems to have been pretty well left in the dust for the time being.
I am now on my 3rd Ram diesel. My first was a 1998. 5 (first model year for the quad cab and the 24 valve ISB). Had that one for 5 years, sold it because it had a short bed and with a saddle box, doesn't leave a whole lot of bed space. Sold it to a buddy of mine, whom I just talked with recently and he said he's still running it and has never had any issues with it. Got the '03 (first model year for the common high pressure fuel rail). I put a Banks Six-Gun package in it in 2008 for better fuel mileage, which it delivered along with a lot more power. Also upgraded the track bar and sway bar end links, put a 2" leveling kit on it, replaced all of the u-joints with Precision greasables, and the ball joints with Dyna Tracs, and had the in-tank lift pump conversion done. Basically I fixed all of the factory shortcomings with it and it both ran and drove really sweet. Still does too. Now with the 2013 (first model year for the SCR system I believe), I haven't seen a whole lot of need for upgrades besides shocks at some point. Everything else under there looks pretty beefy.
So what I like about the 2013 after three whole weeks is the power of the 6. 7L coupled with the 68RFE transmission and the 3. 42 rear end. WOW! This one has more power than my '03 did with the Banks tuner. It gets better fuel mileage than my '03 did stock, but not as good as my '03 tuned. Still, it's not bad. I'm having to learn how to drive it and it's been a little difficult. To begin with, the 6. 7L is so quiet that I really can't hear it. My old 5. 9L with the Banks upgrades was easy to drive because I could tell by the sound of the engine, turbo, and exhaust drone where I was at in the power band and rarely had to look at the speedometer to know how fast I was going. I do kinda miss those sounds and the puff of black smoke I could get when I really stepped on it. I also like the standard equipped exhaust brake. Found out how much I liked it in stop and go traffic one morning. Saved a lot of service brake use. I like the fuel filtration upgrades. Seems that Chrysler wants to keep up with the likes of Fass and Air Dog with the duel filters.
Some things I don't like are the TPMS. With as much research and care that Chrysler seems to have put into this truck, the one thing that they blatantly missed was the fact that one of the first things that most of us are going to do is put new rims and/or tires on it. New rims don't have the TPMS sensors and different sized tires don't run at the same pressure as stock. So we're stuck with the low pressure waring in the EVIC. Would be nice if the dealer could either disable it or reset the thresholds for the TPMS, but I'm not sure that is possible. I don't like the fact that they assume that every time I start I want to hear the radio. Most of the time I do, but there are times when I'd rather have a nice quiet ride. Not real wild about all of this new EPA crap (the SCR, DPF, etc. ). DEF is now an extra cost. Not that it's a whole lot, but it's still an extra cost. It also makes me wonder how much more power these 6. 9L's would have without all of the EPA crap. Another thing I'm not fond of is the capless fuel tank system. It has two flapper valves. One you can see, the other you can't. I found out the hard way while trying to add some Stanadyne the last time I refueled. Most of it ended up on the ground. It's only briefly mentioned in the "user's guide", that which now posseas a "User's Manual".
I'm sure that I will find more pluses and minuses as I gain experience with it, but aside from the nits I mentioned above, it's still a really nice truck.
I must that getting into the new one is like crawling into the cockpit of a fighter jet compared to my '03. I treated myself and got a lot of bells and whistles on this one, some of which I'm still learning how to use, but was not available when I got my '03. My '03 was an SLT that was basically a Laramie minus the leather seats and one or two minor convenience packages. That was all you could get on them back then. It took DC (at the time) a couple of years of putting new stuff ino their cars before introducing it into the pickups. This is one reason why I think that Dodge lagged behind Ford in sales. I like how Chrysler has now stepped up to putting the latest techno gadgets and amenities into the Ram pickup line as fast as they are putting it into their luxury/sports cars. This has made them very competitive with Ford, and having the Cummins engine should give them the advantage. GM seems to have been pretty well left in the dust for the time being.
I am now on my 3rd Ram diesel. My first was a 1998. 5 (first model year for the quad cab and the 24 valve ISB). Had that one for 5 years, sold it because it had a short bed and with a saddle box, doesn't leave a whole lot of bed space. Sold it to a buddy of mine, whom I just talked with recently and he said he's still running it and has never had any issues with it. Got the '03 (first model year for the common high pressure fuel rail). I put a Banks Six-Gun package in it in 2008 for better fuel mileage, which it delivered along with a lot more power. Also upgraded the track bar and sway bar end links, put a 2" leveling kit on it, replaced all of the u-joints with Precision greasables, and the ball joints with Dyna Tracs, and had the in-tank lift pump conversion done. Basically I fixed all of the factory shortcomings with it and it both ran and drove really sweet. Still does too. Now with the 2013 (first model year for the SCR system I believe), I haven't seen a whole lot of need for upgrades besides shocks at some point. Everything else under there looks pretty beefy.
So what I like about the 2013 after three whole weeks is the power of the 6. 7L coupled with the 68RFE transmission and the 3. 42 rear end. WOW! This one has more power than my '03 did with the Banks tuner. It gets better fuel mileage than my '03 did stock, but not as good as my '03 tuned. Still, it's not bad. I'm having to learn how to drive it and it's been a little difficult. To begin with, the 6. 7L is so quiet that I really can't hear it. My old 5. 9L with the Banks upgrades was easy to drive because I could tell by the sound of the engine, turbo, and exhaust drone where I was at in the power band and rarely had to look at the speedometer to know how fast I was going. I do kinda miss those sounds and the puff of black smoke I could get when I really stepped on it. I also like the standard equipped exhaust brake. Found out how much I liked it in stop and go traffic one morning. Saved a lot of service brake use. I like the fuel filtration upgrades. Seems that Chrysler wants to keep up with the likes of Fass and Air Dog with the duel filters.
Some things I don't like are the TPMS. With as much research and care that Chrysler seems to have put into this truck, the one thing that they blatantly missed was the fact that one of the first things that most of us are going to do is put new rims and/or tires on it. New rims don't have the TPMS sensors and different sized tires don't run at the same pressure as stock. So we're stuck with the low pressure waring in the EVIC. Would be nice if the dealer could either disable it or reset the thresholds for the TPMS, but I'm not sure that is possible. I don't like the fact that they assume that every time I start I want to hear the radio. Most of the time I do, but there are times when I'd rather have a nice quiet ride. Not real wild about all of this new EPA crap (the SCR, DPF, etc. ). DEF is now an extra cost. Not that it's a whole lot, but it's still an extra cost. It also makes me wonder how much more power these 6. 9L's would have without all of the EPA crap. Another thing I'm not fond of is the capless fuel tank system. It has two flapper valves. One you can see, the other you can't. I found out the hard way while trying to add some Stanadyne the last time I refueled. Most of it ended up on the ground. It's only briefly mentioned in the "user's guide", that which now posseas a "User's Manual".
I'm sure that I will find more pluses and minuses as I gain experience with it, but aside from the nits I mentioned above, it's still a really nice truck.
).
Especially those little snotty kids with their " fast and furious" little vacuum cleaner sounding zip zip cars, buzzing around like they have 'uncontrollable horses" under the hood... LOL
