To Buy or not to Buy

[RGH43]

I asked this question on the 5.9L forum so thought I would like to hear what the 2016 & 17 owners think. I'm looking at 2 Rams #1 a 3500 SLT Big Horn & 2 is a 3500 Laramie. Both are SRW & have 3.42 axle ratio, 1 has an Aisin the other 68RFE. Future 34' 5th wheel in mind. My current Ram is a an 07 3500 DRW 5.9L & it is just over 40K total Miles.

The newer ones have a lot of stuff on them but on the other hand the money not spent on a new one could be used to add many things to the current Ram and have probably quite a bit left over. How do you current owners of the newer 2017 or 16 Rams like them compared to the 07 if you owned one. I have no or very little pollution equipment. One other factor is I will be 74 in Oct if that makes any contribution to the choice. Any ideas or thoughts.

 

[NIsaacs]

If you want info on the '16 or '17 you might want to ask in the 4th Gen forum, you are still in the 3rd gen section.

Nick

 

[Killer223]

i have a 6.7 and a 5.9, the 6.7 pulls easier, but they both pull the load just fine. if you are itchen to spend some money then by all means get the new one, you only live once. but if you really think about it, the current truck will pull the load just fine. if all comes down to you. do you want/need the newer features of the new truck? how much longer do you expect to be driving and pulling?
if your current truck is in good working order, and you'd like more power you could always add a tuner.
But please remember, You are only here once. be happy.

 

[Dieselnut59]

You will like pulling a fifth wheel MUCH better with a DRW truck than a SRW. Much more stable, especially in wind.

 

[SnoKing]

Get the 3500 with the Aisin. It has lower ratios in 1st and 2nd gear to get the load moving vs the 68RFE.

I have a 3500 Aisin SRW 3500 and tow a 16K 5th wheel with a combined 24500 weight. Tow in 5th at 60 MPH and 1750RPM. Works great.

Bobtail the 3.42 cruise so nice on the freeway. 80MPH is only 1750 RPMs. I thought I would want 3.73 until I owned this 2015 with 3.42. It has made three round trips from Washington to Arizona.

I have to use cruise control all the time or I find that I am speeding.

Need 1450 miles in first 48 hours. John Elway's in Greeley, Co to NW Washington.

DW even drove for hours at 80. It is just an amazing setup.

SnoKing

 

[Tuesdak]

Shorter RV's are easier to tow and park. Camping at National Parks (like $16 a night) appears to have a magic 30' or shorter RV number being easier to actually get a space. Sure they have 40' spaces, but, good luck getting one at popular campgrounds. Just saying try and go smaller if you can but your use/needs may be different. No reason the 2007 5.9 can't pull a 34' well stock as long as the RV isn't over GCVW, etc. Your RV dealer will cheerfully ignore those numbers and overload your truck so you have to watch it yourself.

Put your 2007 5.9 on eBay if you do get a 2016-17 as they are in demand at high value for the lack of troublesome fuel wasting pollution controls. (Sell it any other way and watch it show up on eBay for significantly more money...) Simply put when the pollution control systems have trouble they shut the engine down to protect the engine and expensive after-treatment parts. I am biased myself after owing a non-DEF year DPF equipped fuel waster and would rather throw a complete engine at a older diesel than put up with emissions controls. DEF reduces the fuel waste and engine gagging on excessive EGR, but, it's still complex over the 5.9 with "what could possibly go wrong"? I really haven't found a reason to spend more on a new pickup, but, you may have. A lot of others like me will find your low mile 5.9 truck a real prize and are willing dig deep in their pockets to own it.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Shorter RV's are easier to tow and park. Camping at National Parks (like $16 a night) appears to have a magic 30' or shorter RV number being easier to actually get a space. Sure they have 40' spaces, but, good luck getting one at popular campgrounds. Just saying try and go smaller if you can but your use/needs may be different. No reason the 2007 5.9 can't pull a 34' well stock as long as the RV isn't over GCVW, etc. Your RV dealer will cheerfully ignore those numbers and overload your truck so you have to watch it yourself.

Put your 2007 5.9 on eBay if you do get a 2016-17 as they are in demand at high value for the lack of troublesome fuel wasting pollution controls. (Sell it any other way and watch it show up on eBay for significantly more money...) Simply put when the pollution control systems have trouble they shut the engine down to protect the engine and expensive after-treatment parts. I am biased myself after owing a non-DEF year DPF equipped fuel waster and would rather throw a complete engine at a older diesel than put up with emissions controls. DEF reduces the fuel waste and engine gagging on excessive EGR, but, it's still complex over the 5.9 with "what could possibly go wrong"? I really haven't found a reason to spend more on a new pickup, but, you may have. A lot of others like me will find your low mile 5.9 truck a real prize and are willing dig deep in their pockets to own it.

Pre-DPF is huge, but I think his 07.5 is DPF, then again, he says 5.9L so it could be either he has the 07.5 wrong, or the engine size wrong.. that is when they added them, but if DPF, he's not DEF, its the LNT (BlueTEC) emissions truck. The EGR can be un-plugged and run with a locked in P0405 code with no power degrade, it's not quite a "delete" but it prevents the EGR issues. In many ways I'd rather have a pre-DPF truck as well.. it is much less to worry about, and doing a delete is far, far from ideal, and of course.. not legal for street use.. Totally concur on shorter RV, my 21' lets me go many places a larger rig can not go, and they are typically the better places to camp.. not to mention so easy to tow, I have to check to ensure it's still there when towing it!

 

[jgillott]

Totally concur on shorter RV, my 21' lets me go many places a larger rig can not go, and they are typically the better places to camp.. not to mention so easy to tow, I have to check to ensure it's still there when towing it!

I'll agree with this statement also. We went small on this latest trailer and we keep wondering why we didn't do it sooner. Yea, I can see wanting something big if we were full timing. But for a hook up and travel for a week or weekend, the smaller the better. So much less stress, easier to find spots, and frankly less to worry about.

As far as the truck goes, I'm still hanging on to my 5.9's. Going to have to give them up at some point, but they keep doing what I need them to do and are so simple to deal with in comparison to the new ones.

 

[SnoKing]

You deal with the new ones with a credit card and extended warranty! SnoKing

 

[surfbeetle]

My 16 has been great, bought it June of 2016 and now have 20,000 miles on it. When it was two weeks old, we took a 5,000 mile road trip pulling the 11,000 5ver from So California to Mt Rushmore, the truck performs flawlessly. I love the integrated exhaust brake on the auto, we have the 2500 so we got the 68RFE trans. DEF usage us much more when towing, don't have exact numbers on it, check the 4th gen forum for that. I just get the $8 DEF at Walmart or buy it at the truck stop pumps. The dealer wanted $300 to change the fuel filters, I found a two filter kit on Amazon for $80 and changed it myself. The job was easy, not much harder than changing the filter on my 12 valve. My wife daily drives the truck while I drive the 12 valve or the Challenger. She loves the Ram much better than the Ford Flex she had before. Our decision to get the new truck last year was because we have started taking longer road trips with the fifth wheel. In the summer of 2015, we pulled the same trailer over 4000 miles with the 1995 12 valve and lost the AC for part of the trip. We've had the '95 since new and with 232,000 miles on that truck, I decided it would be nicer and more comfortable for our three kids if we got new crew cab. Now with all of that said, only you can decide what you want to do, but your 07 has 40k and is still new and dependable in my book but you should read the TDR buyer's guide to see what other issues you may have with the 07 if you were to keep it and then decide if you'd rather take on the expense of a new one vs keeping the old one. As a side note, wow, I just realized that this is post #1500 for me...