$300 Dodge Ram - Good tow vehicle or money pit?

Found a $300 Dodge Ram while riding my bike the other day. Sign says "drives OK, cold AC". Owner claims a clear title but doesn't know if it's a V8 or V6. I also asked what he meant by drives OK and he said "well it's old but it'll get you from point A to point B".

I'm considering picking it up because the Corolla is a little light for towing the boat to the Keys but on the other hand if this thing crumbles apart while driving that doesn't help much either. Any comments on the general reliability of one of these things?

If it runs and drives it's hard to go wrong for $300.

It was my experience that the major mechanicals on those dodges werent that bad. They usually outlasted the body and interiors, which aged faster than a meth head. At $300 and you can drive it home its pretty hard to go wrong. Parts are cheap. If you get it home and realise its not worth saving worst case scenario is you scrap it for $200, but odds are you could part out some stuff to at least break even, or shine it up a little and resell for $400-500. There are plenty of people looking for cheap mulch/junk haulers.

How heavy is your boat/trailer?

I'm guessing the tool box, Newer model wheels and tires, and gauge pod on the A pillar could be sold for $300, so I don't think you'd lose money on it. But that's not really your question.

That's kinda what I'm thinking. The boat is just a 15' Whaler. I'm guessing right around the max capacity of the Corolla at ~1500 #s. The issue is when we go to the Keys or make trips it's fully loaded with people and scuba gear. That's when I would feel more comfortable with a truck or a rental truck.

Even with a six it would pull that boat.

Only thing that may make it a money pit is the trans. The automatic transmission in these are garbage. Manual is fine.

Dont try to make it a nice truck if it isn't already. Youll go nuts and lose your ass.

Even with a shakey trans, only pulling 1,500 lbs is nothing for a full size truck (and far better than making out an econo-box 4 cylinder). Buy it and do nothing beyond what is ABSOLUTELY necessary to keep it on the road.

It'll probably run forever if you don't abuse it.

If the transmission hasn't been replaced already it likely wont need to be. The one sinking into my backyard had 247k on the original until rust took it off the road.

The body looks decent for a $300 truck. As long as the frame is solid, it's worth it. Replacing / rebuilding the whole drivetrain could be done pretty cheaply and mostly with junkyard parts if needed. The mechanicals on those are pretty simple and easy to work on (and common).

Any preference between V6 or V8? I was going to pass if it was the V6 because I sometimes tow larger boats and it looks like the 6 only has a 3500# capacity.

Ive had both. Really, until the 5.9 there wasnt a hell of a lot of difference between the 3.9 and 5.2 that i could tell.

What do you sometimes tow these larger boats with?

yupididit wrote: What do you sometimes tow these larger boats with?

Nothing yet, I've had to borrow trucks.

I plan on getting another boat in 2-3 years but I'll need a bigger truck when that comes.

Buy this one till then, throw it away when you are done with it. As others have said they are pretty stout beside the Trans and interiors and will make towing your boat easy.

For $300, just buy it. Paint aside, that looks a lot more solid than the $1200 Rams I see around here. Go get it!

chandlerGTi wrote: Buy this one till then, throw it away when you are done with it. As others have said they are pretty stout beside the Trans and interiors and will make towing your boat easy.

And even the trans isn't much of a weak point. Add more cooling, do the proper fluid changes and band adjustments and they usually hold up pretty well (especially if you give it a couple turns on the line pressure screw).

Why is this not in your driveway yet?

I agree that those trannys werent THAT bad. They werent overpowered to death the way the cummins trucks are, and in florida it hasnt been used to plow snow, so i wouldnt sweat it. And as stated, even if the trans puked on the drive home you should still be able to break even on the truck. If it is still somewhat straight and solid i would probably give it an el cheapo paint job to reduce the ugly.

I would test drive it. If its a $300 truck, chances are the steering box and front end bits are so wasted that piloting it would be like driving with rubber bands in place of tie rods.

Seems like an overkill truck that may have been abused so hard that it is no longer up to the task of being a tow rig without significant repair. I just know that towing with something that has loosey goosey suspension bits is a really white-knuckle experience.

I would personally look for a $1500 truck that is more ready for duty, but if the test drive shows promise, get it. Worst case scenario is that it sucks and you sell it for $500.

I'm voting curtis73 in this election.

I remember when I found a running 450SEL for $300. Were'nt too many reasons not to get it

Good tow vehicle or money pit? Probably both. The two are not mutually exclusive.

There is nothing scary on that truck. The only thing that's not easy or even unusually easy to repair would be the original riveted ball joints IF it even still has them.

Ask Dan Downey, he may have some input on checking whatever issue caused this to happen to his.....

That's not exactly a common issue...

What is, however, is the gasket on the plenum plate on the bottom of the intake manifold. Unless it's been fixed (ideally with an updated plate or a better manifold), it's 100% guaranteed to be leaking.