Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I bought my '01. 5 in late 2000. After 125,000 miles, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the truck.
At the risk of being kicked off the TDR (which by the way saved me so many times - I'd like to thank everyone on the board - you'd be surpised how many people have helped me, knowingly or not), frankly I've been very disappointed in the truck.
I hope I can remember all the things that I've had to repair-
Injector Pump at 110k
Fuel pump (see above - wish I would have listened to the guys that preached GAGES)
Transmission at 74k highway miles with no towing
Evaporator at 110k
Evaporator lines at 115 (the air box vibrated through the AC lines..... )
Heater Core at 115k (yes, right after the evaporator, if you've done this job you understand)
Cruise at 125k
ball joints - 3 times, needs it again.
steering gear - twice under warranty, after that I said screw it.
Bought the lukes link kit - nothing against the product, it's fabulous, but if the factory did their job - I wouldn't need it.
cd player (an assist point goes to my son - I suspect sticky fingers on the disc was a contributing factor)
left front tweeter
fuel fill line fell off (thanks to the Friday afternoon factory guys)
vacuum pump rebuild at 90
starter at 80
Muffler fell off at 85~90 (rest of the exhaust was perfect - just the muffler)
Needs a complete brake and steel fuel line replacement (discovered right before it got COLD, rotting)
Doors rotted out
AND - at 60+ MPH, with any headwind, the drivers side wiper comes off of the windshield RIGHT in my line of sight. This drove me completely crazy, to the point where I had a spring supplier of mine make some customer springs that actually put the proper spring pressure on the wiper to keep it from sailing off the windshield. This one really blew me away. Windshield wipers are almost 100 years old - you 'd think they would have them figured out by now.
Now - I have to say, I expect that I would have to do something after 125k miles. I wasn't expecting perfection. However, I also wasn't expecting that pretty much every major system on the vehicle has had a failure. I've had to put thousands of dollars into it just to keep it going after 100k, and this is with doing all of the work myself, with the exception of the transmission and ball joints.
I paid $35,000 for this truck. I love the way it pulls (even though I've only towed with it about three times), I love the cab space, I love that cummins motor, and I like the looks of the truck. But that's where my love affair ends.
I guess I just expected more for $35,000. I didn't expect the level of corrosion that I saw, I've never owned a vehicle that rotted so fast. Of course, the dealer wouldn't do anything unless it was rotted through. I thought for a while about drilling holes in the doors to help it out, but two wrongs don't make a right.
And - I didn't expect the level of failures that I saw. I think that's ridiculous.
The reason I bought this truck was that I had a half ton before it, and I beat the living dog snot out of it. When I turned it in at 75k, the four wheel drive was broke, the frame was bent 1. 5 inches due to a dukes of hazzard 4' high jump, the engine was burning oil, BUT - it never stranded me. So I was hooked.
This one - I learned my lesson and I babied it. My plan was to buy it and drive it until the doors fell off, then buy new doors, and drive it again. But you can see my results.
I'm not sure that I would have done much better with buying a Ford or a Chevy. I've heard horror stories about them as well.
I guess I don't know where I'm going with this - I'm not going to sell the truck, he!! I rebuilt the whole dam thing, and it's paid for, but to be honest when it comes time to buy a new one, I'm not sure that I would choose Dodge. I'm an engineer in the automotive industry, and I know what those guys are capable of, but it really ticks me off that I have to pay almost $2k for an injector pump because some marketing guy told the fuel pump engineer that he has $25 - make it work. If they would have lost another $15 in profits, they could have put the fuel pump where it belongs, with the proper line size, and had thousands upon thousands of loyal customers who would have gave them so much word of mouth advertising, and repeat business. Add $100 to the transmission, and they could have pulled 0. 050" end play out of the transmission, got rid of some of the leaks and crappy parts they put in there (thanks for the education Lsfarm - BTW if you even need transmission work, or anything else for that matter - that guy is one of the best), and they would have put the DTT guys out of business. (Nothing against DTT - my transmission has been awesome).
My family was a GM family for 3 generations. I was about wrote out of three wills when I bought a dodge (at that time GM was having engine problems). I recently bought a Honda minivan since we had kids, and my dad didn't speak to me for almost a month, until after I explained that it had MORE north american parts content than the Ford, and that half of the bolts in the vehicle were made in Dexter, MI with UAW labor (I work for a bolt plant). I haven't had a single issue with the van.
It just eats me up when I read in the paper that the big three are hurting, thousands are taking early retirements or being laid off, and the imports are eating their lunch. They don't realize that the reason they are in that position is because they are companies that are focused on quarterly profits. Period. Not long term customer satisfaction. If you sell cars with the intent of making the customers happy - you will sell more cars.
If you sell cars trying to make your 4Q numbers, then you will not make your customers happy. And then they will complain, and post messages on the web, and talk to their friends about it, and you will lose sales to companies that make their customers happy. Business 101.
For those of you who managed to make it through this rant, I apologize. I guess after dealing with this last issue (Cruise) I needed to vent. I just hope that the right people are listening, and that hopefully they get their crap together. Maybe they will sell me another truck someday.
At the risk of being kicked off the TDR (which by the way saved me so many times - I'd like to thank everyone on the board - you'd be surpised how many people have helped me, knowingly or not), frankly I've been very disappointed in the truck.
I hope I can remember all the things that I've had to repair-
Injector Pump at 110k
Fuel pump (see above - wish I would have listened to the guys that preached GAGES)
Transmission at 74k highway miles with no towing
Evaporator at 110k
Evaporator lines at 115 (the air box vibrated through the AC lines..... )
Heater Core at 115k (yes, right after the evaporator, if you've done this job you understand)
Cruise at 125k
ball joints - 3 times, needs it again.
steering gear - twice under warranty, after that I said screw it.
Bought the lukes link kit - nothing against the product, it's fabulous, but if the factory did their job - I wouldn't need it.
cd player (an assist point goes to my son - I suspect sticky fingers on the disc was a contributing factor)
left front tweeter
fuel fill line fell off (thanks to the Friday afternoon factory guys)
vacuum pump rebuild at 90
starter at 80
Muffler fell off at 85~90 (rest of the exhaust was perfect - just the muffler)
Needs a complete brake and steel fuel line replacement (discovered right before it got COLD, rotting)
Doors rotted out
AND - at 60+ MPH, with any headwind, the drivers side wiper comes off of the windshield RIGHT in my line of sight. This drove me completely crazy, to the point where I had a spring supplier of mine make some customer springs that actually put the proper spring pressure on the wiper to keep it from sailing off the windshield. This one really blew me away. Windshield wipers are almost 100 years old - you 'd think they would have them figured out by now.
Now - I have to say, I expect that I would have to do something after 125k miles. I wasn't expecting perfection. However, I also wasn't expecting that pretty much every major system on the vehicle has had a failure. I've had to put thousands of dollars into it just to keep it going after 100k, and this is with doing all of the work myself, with the exception of the transmission and ball joints.
I paid $35,000 for this truck. I love the way it pulls (even though I've only towed with it about three times), I love the cab space, I love that cummins motor, and I like the looks of the truck. But that's where my love affair ends.
I guess I just expected more for $35,000. I didn't expect the level of corrosion that I saw, I've never owned a vehicle that rotted so fast. Of course, the dealer wouldn't do anything unless it was rotted through. I thought for a while about drilling holes in the doors to help it out, but two wrongs don't make a right.
And - I didn't expect the level of failures that I saw. I think that's ridiculous.
The reason I bought this truck was that I had a half ton before it, and I beat the living dog snot out of it. When I turned it in at 75k, the four wheel drive was broke, the frame was bent 1. 5 inches due to a dukes of hazzard 4' high jump, the engine was burning oil, BUT - it never stranded me. So I was hooked.
This one - I learned my lesson and I babied it. My plan was to buy it and drive it until the doors fell off, then buy new doors, and drive it again. But you can see my results.
I'm not sure that I would have done much better with buying a Ford or a Chevy. I've heard horror stories about them as well.
I guess I don't know where I'm going with this - I'm not going to sell the truck, he!! I rebuilt the whole dam thing, and it's paid for, but to be honest when it comes time to buy a new one, I'm not sure that I would choose Dodge. I'm an engineer in the automotive industry, and I know what those guys are capable of, but it really ticks me off that I have to pay almost $2k for an injector pump because some marketing guy told the fuel pump engineer that he has $25 - make it work. If they would have lost another $15 in profits, they could have put the fuel pump where it belongs, with the proper line size, and had thousands upon thousands of loyal customers who would have gave them so much word of mouth advertising, and repeat business. Add $100 to the transmission, and they could have pulled 0. 050" end play out of the transmission, got rid of some of the leaks and crappy parts they put in there (thanks for the education Lsfarm - BTW if you even need transmission work, or anything else for that matter - that guy is one of the best), and they would have put the DTT guys out of business. (Nothing against DTT - my transmission has been awesome).
My family was a GM family for 3 generations. I was about wrote out of three wills when I bought a dodge (at that time GM was having engine problems). I recently bought a Honda minivan since we had kids, and my dad didn't speak to me for almost a month, until after I explained that it had MORE north american parts content than the Ford, and that half of the bolts in the vehicle were made in Dexter, MI with UAW labor (I work for a bolt plant). I haven't had a single issue with the van.
It just eats me up when I read in the paper that the big three are hurting, thousands are taking early retirements or being laid off, and the imports are eating their lunch. They don't realize that the reason they are in that position is because they are companies that are focused on quarterly profits. Period. Not long term customer satisfaction. If you sell cars with the intent of making the customers happy - you will sell more cars.
If you sell cars trying to make your 4Q numbers, then you will not make your customers happy. And then they will complain, and post messages on the web, and talk to their friends about it, and you will lose sales to companies that make their customers happy. Business 101.
For those of you who managed to make it through this rant, I apologize. I guess after dealing with this last issue (Cruise) I needed to vent. I just hope that the right people are listening, and that hopefully they get their crap together. Maybe they will sell me another truck someday.
). But still a little ****** off. I still have to do the evaporator for the a/c and do the heater one also..... My two cents... . Rick
