06 Ram 5.9 4 speed auto - good, bad or ugly?

[takethebounce]

I have been putting off a new tow rig/daily driver for awhile. My '02 extra cab Chevy 6.0 has been a trust and reliable rig for almost 7 years for me. Still not over 280,000 K on it, it has never missed a beat. Idealy I would find another Chev/gm with the LBZ but a Megacab peaked my interest.

I recently saw a 06 MegaCab with moderate milage, under 150k for a decent enough price (20ish K) with the 5.9 in it. I have no experience with the 4 speed autos though. I don't want to drop a huge amount of cash into a truck. Truck payments are not my thing. I want something that is going to last another 7 years but be slightly more modern than I am driving.

This is going to be a daily driver, I am not a HP junky for my trucks, I would rather have fuel economy, I am also not a guy who can't wait to lift my trucks, I love the look of built up trucks, but again, its not for me, so it would be running stock or near stock size tires. Unloaded I can get under 15 Liters/100 km with the 6.0 gaser. I do not tow any large trailers and put the deck on the truck during winter. With the megacab I can load the truck full with the dogs and people and make for more comfortable road trips.

Off those of you who have had, or have these pre 6.7 liter auto's happy with them? I haven't ever been a dodge guy, but I can not stand the rediculous prices asked for classic duramax GM's.

 

[tex78]

The 5.9 other than an injector Mabe are good.

The trans. Well they suck.

Last year we just about bought a mega 06.

But then with a short box and a toy hauler was just too much to set up and still might hit the cab with trailer.


Biggest things are the front ends can get bad easy fast and not cheap.


U should buy Fernies truck.

Could have got a 07 lbz 1 ton dulley loaded with extra tank , hitch , ect .. for 19000.00 all set up for towing last year.




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[AreWeThereYet]

My truck has been great up until I added extra HP from a Smarty Jr tuner to my now EFI live that I have. The 48re transmission is definitely the weak point in these trucks, but if built up for a few thousand will last a very long time. I have been running 295 70 17's since '10 and have no problems, a 3" Carli leveling kit is going on next month, at the end of this month I am getting the transmission built to handle the extra 100-200HP I am throwing at it

You will want to run a a 5mic filter from Baldwin, and change out to a Donaldson ELF7349 oil filter, I install a pyro and trans temp gauges for towing. Handle calculated I am getting 16L/100 mixed and 12L/100 highway.

 

[takethebounce]

I know Fernies truck is for sale. If it was a quad cab I likely would look at it harder. I am tired of the extra cabs though.


And its funny, I can get a single wheel long box, or dually classics for thousands less than quad cab 6.5' lbz. I just don't wish to be in that $30k range for a truck. Still trying to find a few pennies to be on a different sled this winter.



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[tex78]

Go to Edwards garage .com.

Think we have 2 or 3 for sale both gas and DSL.

But yes a quad cab is not for me either. Even the classic crew cabs have less room than my 97 inside.

It's 1/2 way between a mega cab and classic c.c. and with close to 5 foot plus kids now need the room.



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[tex78]

There is 2 gasers. The white one is a nice truck.

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[Bnorth]

If I were to buy a new truck right now it would be a CC L/B LBZ so I can see what you mean with guys wanting a premium for them.

The 48re is not a great trans but near stock power and towing moderately it does fine. My folks have one with intake/exhaust/tuner and it hasn't given them a lick of trouble with their 3800# truck camper and boat all BC highway miles including mountains. Unless you are going stupid with power/huge loads they really only need a torque converter and valve body to become a decent transmission, no full billet upgrades required. From my experience if you're mostly on pavement and not running a big lift and tires the dodge front ends aren't as bad as their rep. My 2nd gen has 300k km on it and all it's needed is a trac bar and one balljoint.

 

[takethebounce]

I can't imagine they would be any worse then the GM front ends. Idlers, pitman, tierods and ball joints are going to wear out quicker on these trucks especially with big tires. The newer trucks sacrifice durability for ride comfort it seems.

If I am going to look at gassers they are going to have to be lower mileage, under 100k. Plus I would rather have the six speed in a gasser so I think that is 09 or newer. Or maybe the dodge fuel saver function. Does that come on the HD hemis? I had a challenger for a week. Had it down to 6.5 Ltr/100k, I know that's a car but I was impressed.



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[tex78]

Both them are 6 speeds I'm sure.



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[Bnorth]

The cylinder shutdown only comes in the half ton dodges unfortunately.

 

[0neoldfart]

A lot of misconception about the 48RE transmission behind the diesel. It is a decent transmission, but requires regular band adjustment if it's being used as a hauler / towing rig, and regular transmission fluid and filter changes. Most of the ones I see for repair haven't had a transmission service (fluid / filter / band adjustment) for the 1st 100,000km - they need to be serviced every 25,000 IMHO, and they will last. The 68RE is a much stouter trans, and uses the same electronics (no bands) as the trans used behind the hemis. As far as front end repairs, my 07 3500 has been used in the oilpatch it's entire life, and hasn't needed any front end repairs in 180,000km, although I did replace both front axle universal joints and front driveshaft u-joints this spring. Front brakes were replaced at 120,000, rear pads at 100,000km

 

[Tiny pro-x]

I have a 06 mega cab diesel 5.9 and love it.Have a 4" mbrp exhaust AFE cold Air intake Edge juice with additude chip (on the fly adjustable 5 levels) and snow profromance water/meth injection running 285 70 17 tires. It has 230000 kms on it and no troubles with it other im doing the front end in it now new bal joints pitman arm drag and track bar already put the Dyna trac free spin hub kit in last fall. I went back to Ontario with it 3 times now twice just me and the wife once with kid and dog lots of room to lay down and have a nap while the wife drove. Only had little issues with it like wiring in back door broke and i had make them longer but it was a two hour fix. The 5.9 is awesome on fuel on long trip if you keep it on level one and at around 100 km but 120 uses a little more.I can go to edmonton from Grande Prairie and back on a tank of fuel and drive around down there. Tranny been good in so far even after towing my tandem car trailor out here from Ontario three times once when we moved out and twice bring my cousins jeep back and some other stuff on it and still can break it loose off stop light but done like doing it to much. I even had it in two truck pulls and tranny is still holding in. It will probably go sometime soon but no worst than all my Chevs that went at 250000 km it just a tranny if your worried about stuff like that then buy new and get warranty

 

[Mike270412]

I also own an 06 3500 Mega 5.9.I love this truck.Mother uses it for a daily driver and it does all our towing.Big heavy toy hauler in the summer and lots of trips with Nick's big enclosed in the winter.Never had any tranny problems yet.Have had some fuel problems;both pumps,injector lines,o-rings,and its got a few electrical gremlins,such as no power to one back door, but it still runs and drives great for an 8year old truck with 230,000k on it.Last time the wife took it to Abbotsford she averaged 23mpg according to the lie-o- meter.

 

[takethebounce]

I know fuel problems can happen on any truck but stuff like that makes me lean towards staying with a gaser. The last think I want is a dead truck 50 miles from no where. Atleast with a gas fuel pump you sometimes get a little warning.

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[tex78]

And a hole engine in a gas pot for the price of a set of injectors and pump for them.

A newer style d.s.l engine is at least 10 g without any thing on it.

A 6.0 l gas New gm crate motor is 4500.00

Big difference there

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[Mike270412]

I plan on running this 5.9 at least a million k before I'm done.Will your gasser do that?

 

[teeroy]

I plan on running this 5.9 at least a million k before I'm done.Will your gasser do that?

for the price of the fuel pump and injectors you will be changing, perhaps more than once, you could buy a whole new engine in the gasser. so I'm gonna say yes....

 

[Murminator]

After you get by the ugly interior on the '06-'09 trucks....the body will rot off around the drive train

 

[tex78]

for the price of the fuel pump and injectors you will be changing, perhaps more than once, you could buy a whole new engine in the gasser. so I'm gonna say yes....

And that's what I was trying to say right there.

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[takethebounce]

The downside to the gaser is the torque loss. Pulling a trailer or deck with sleds on it certainly is noticeably different with a gaser vs diesel.

Maybe have to see about a supercharged 6.0 ltr

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