Ram 2500

[Arthur Cooper]

I have spent more money on repairs on my 2015 ram in the past year than I have on my 2003 z-71 the entire time I have had it. The Chevy has 240000 miles on it and all I have for was replace the water pump. On my ram I have had to replace DEF pump,both front wheel assemblies , EGR heater, brake master cylinder and wiper motor this is all in one year. This amounts to about 6k in repairs. I keep up with routine maintenance religiously as you can tell by the Chevy. This has been by far the worst truck I have ever owned would not recommend one to anyone. I will be going back to Chevy as soon as I get my Ram back out of the shop. It is in there this time for electrical problem don't have a clue what this is going to cost

 

[TFucili]

Sorry to hear of your troubles.
I could recount similar horror stories on two Chevys(three if you count a used one), numerous Fords, a Toyota, and a Volvo, but it wouldn't matter.

 

[Timd32]

Yeah that sucks. Does not matter what brand no one wants a bad vehicle.

You will find alot of us here cross over to all sorts of brands so no issue if a Chevy works out better for you. I have a bunch we picked up this year. I moved away from FCA for a little bit. No diesels on the newer stuff so cant compare the service history apples to apples.

I do have a 2019 burb gasser with the 6.2 10speed it's pretty nice no real issues to speak of on that yet. Only thing I would like to see trans temp when not in tow haul, has the heads up display which is pretty neat.

I read yesterday the 2020 burb/Tahoe have the 6cyl duramax (3.0l ??) option, not sure if they are like the FCA EcoDiesel and have similar issues, only ones that don't have that are the Z71, it was due to the new front end limited intercooler sizing for the offroad ratings.

I also have a 2019 Chevy 1500 with the 3.6 it's a work trim was pretty nice, have some Rams all Tradesman 2-1500 2017 and 2018, 1-2500 2018.

Had some odd issues with the 2018 1500 was a clock spring they claimed it fixed it right up.

Good luck with your current repair hope it's something simple for you. Also welcome to the TDR.

 

[RVTRKN]

My company sued FCA and won, for a lemoned 2014 2500 CTD Tradesman. Thankfully for the owner, it was all under warranty. That cost FCA big dollars, not only did they pay for repairs they had to reimburse all costs for the service bed and lost earnings. Good luck with Chevy, I know I won't buy any GM product.

BTW, my Boss was a big Ford fan and purchased the Ram at my request, needless to say I heard about the POC.

 

[nukegm]

new trucks are very similar. ram, chevy, and ford just assemble parts and such, then sell the truck. i was a ford guy 100% until 1999. powerjoke diesel. biggest POS vehicle i have ever owned. ford did nothing to resolve the issues with the truck. bought a 2001 dodge cummins 2500 5.9 then. 259k. still runs great. total pile for a truck now. rotting out but still going strong....i love my ram 2500 2018. still under warranty. will buy extended in next month or so. too many electronics for my taste, but thats the way it is now. multiple modules forever. LOL. cheers!

 

[Signal73]

So you went through the effort to join the site yesterday to tell us about your troubles and you will be selling your ram and going to Chevy as soon as it’s out of the shop? Well thanks for stopping by!

 

[Jim W]

I agree with the other posters to this thread! I could discuss the failed transmission on my 1996 Chevy Blazer. When the Sun gear walked off the input shaft do to not being staked on the shaft at the factory. Or I could discuss with you the poor handling and drive ability of my 1992 Ford Explore. Which I did have a roll over experience of this vehicle. Or how I had to replace the IS on the RH front wheel of my 2001, Chevy 2500 pick-up truck! Or how I had to replace three manual clutch's on my wife's 1996 Ford Escort in the five years that we own the car. Or how we had to rebuild the entire front end on my wife's 2001 ford Escape do to failed ball joints at 60,000 miles!

Since vehicle are made by man they are going to fail. It is a matter of when this will occur, some will fail early and others will fail at a much later time period. But all things will fail.

 

[HVAC2]

In the end for me, its about financial exposure. Taxes,insurance, food are a fixed number. They go away only at death.That's why being debt free for the past 2 decades has allowed me to always justify a newer vehicle, with payments and a factory extended warranty. I see it as an inner peace, that over time is not the cheapest way to go, but worth the slight premium. Buy new, take good care of it, get rid of it at or around 8yrs 120k miles or less, and recoup higher trade in price of a one owner. Works for me anyway.

Possibly electric vehicles, with 11k or more fewer parts will be a new paradigm? Over time that has to reflect increased reliability.

 

[Newsa]

I'm still a Chevy/GMC guy. But the Cummins beats Duranax any day and all day. The Cummins has legendary reliability, but may be subcontracting/sourcing parts to/from those with not so stellar quality control and build quality. So far the only parts needing replaced or repaired that were not recalls were Ram parts, not cummins parts. All covered under either factory warranty or extended warranty minus $100 deductible.

 

[SnoKing]

In the end for me, its about financial exposure. Taxes,insurance, food are a fixed number. They go away only at death.That's why being debt free for the past 2 decades has allowed me to always justify a newer vehicle, with payments and a factory extended warranty. I see it as an inner peace, that over time is not the cheapest way to go, but worth the slight premium. Buy new, take good care of it, get rid of it at or around 8yrs 120k miles or less, and recoup higher trade in price of a one owner. Works for me anyway.

Possibly electric vehicles, with 11k or more fewer parts will be a new paradigm? Over time that has to reflect increased reliability.

If you have vehicle payments, I do not believe that is debt free??? Or did I misunderstand your statement?

 

[gsbrockman]

For me.......it’s sometimes verrrrrry hard to take seriously a poster that just joined up on 12/13/2019 for the sole purpose of making their first post a tirade.

 

[jgillott]

For me.......it’s sometimes verrrrrry hard to take seriously a poster that just joined up on 12/13/2019 for the sole purpose of making their first post a tirade.

It is very common across all automotive, RV, etc. internet sites. In most cases, it is a harmless need to vent frustrations. For others, it may be an attempt to get some information to the manufacturer when other avenues have been exhausted. Rarely is it a genuine attempt for assistance in the problems that they are having.

On the RV site I moderate, we call them drive-by's. Stop in, vent, and leave.

 

[kthaxton]

I have spent more money on repairs on my 2015 ram in the past year than I have on my 2003 z-71 the entire time I have had it. The Chevy has 240000 miles on it and all I have for was replace the water pump. On my ram I have had to replace DEF pump,both front wheel assemblies , EGR heater, brake master cylinder and wiper motor this is all in one year. This amounts to about 6k in repairs. I keep up with routine maintenance religiously as you can tell by the Chevy. This has been by far the worst truck I have ever owned would not recommend one to anyone. I will be going back to Chevy as soon as I get my Ram back out of the shop. It is in there this time for electrical problem don't have a clue what this is going to cost

Ok, thanks for the info.

 

[snadamo]

On the subject of vehicles that aren't all that great to the owner...

Before my current rig, I had a 95 class B with the "tried-and-true" Ford 460 engine. I took this thing with wife and kids on 4 unsuccessful short trips and 1 final long distance cross-state trip that didn't make its way home. In short, I had manifold and head issues. After 5 trips to the mechanic, and 1 very expensive bill to "fix it all" (let's say well more than what I bought the damn thing for), it left me stranded for the very last time next state over. It was a very expensive lesson in which we realized A) motorhomes ain't our thing... B) always take to a mechanic YOU TRUST, not someone elses. And most importantly C) trust your instincts!

I guess the relevance of my story is I bought this type of set up based in my brother in law, who has a very similar rig (same engine and year). His motorhome has given him ZERO mechanical problems and he's been all over the western US in it. It can be luck of the draw at times, and it totally sucks when you're on the short end of the stick. Most are great, and the ones that aren't are painful to deal with. Just a matter of which one you end up with (IMHO from my experience)

I say this while planning to purchase a CTD in the next few months...so I'm doing my due diligence and praying I luck out playing the new truck roulette game.

All the best to you and I hope your truck stops giving you these issues!

 

[HVAC2]

I don't look at as debt. Just like taxes etc. Never goes away and worthless over time.Food, insurance the same thing. A house appreciates. That's been over 20yrs and I suggest everyone try it.

Yes its debt, but to me its life. Today's repair bills and complex vehicles all have a monthly payment, paid off or not. It comes in repairs over time. I know my route is more expensive, but to me worth the reasonable amount. Not having to worry? Priceless.

 

[Ozymandias]

I read yesterday the 2020 burb/Tahoe have the 6cyl duramax (3.0l ??) option, not sure if they are like the FCA EcoDiesel and have same issues

Aside from sticking rods through the crankcase walls...
The dreaded emissions stuff is the same. Doesn't really matter which brand of car ones choose.

 

[EDankievitch]

I’ve been a MOPAR guy ever since I learned how to spell Challenger. I stood up and took pride in Chrysler when they needed it the most. My 89 Dodge was old and out dated by truck standards when it was new. But I had to have it. In fact I had bought a W150 short bed first with a 6 cylinder and manual transmission. I was at the dealer to pick it up when I asked about the cost of the truck next to it with the Cummins engine. The salesman, and I’ll never forget his name Tom Connor took back the keys right out of my hand and walked me over to this Red W250 handed me the key to it and said take it for a drive. 24 short, long at the time, hours later and it was mine. Awesome truck became my best friend for over 11 very hard years. I wish to this day that I never sold it. It was tough. Quality was fair at best but it always started and NEVER left me stranded. Flash forward and my 13 has lived in the service shop more days than my 89, 02, 05 trucks combined. While it has not left me stranded limp mode really sucks. Am I asking too much of a $60k truck to just work when I need it? My $12k 89 always did. Work that is. Even my 05 did it worked. I never know if my radio will wake up and play or how many times I’ll have to cycle the lock unlock button on my key fob to wake up the computer just to get it to start.
RAM forget the image. Go back to being just DODGE a brand that meant quality. Loose all the bells and flash I don’t want a large screen Tv on my dash I just want a radio that works. I can manually adjust the temp inside the cab. I don’t need blind spot warning. Ok a back up camera is nice. But don’t let that be your focus. Get back the quality. Ram really needs to step it up if they expect me to buy another one.

 

[Cummins12V98]

I assume a person can still buy a plain Jane truck it they want.

 

[RVTRKN]

The few options they have are still part of a communication buss, so yes you can buy a tradesman with vinyl seats and floors, but there still is a complicated communication buss.

 

[EDankievitch]

Ram needs to go back to Keep it Simple Stupid! Lol
Not
Fix
It
Again
Tony