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'03 24 Valve 3500 - School Me

bgaidan

bgaidan

Red Skull Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2020
Member Number
2322
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3,186
Loc
NC Triad
Looking for a sanity check before I jump in to this shipping crate.

Pretty much decided I want a third gen with a 6 speed. Was hoping to find a late one with the G56 but I had someone here today looking at a piece of equipment I'm selling and he asked if I'd be interested in a trade and one of the things he threw out was an '03 24 valve with with a 6 speed...which would be the NV5600. He happened to live right around the corner from me so I shot over to check it out. He had a gooseneck dump trailer hooked up to it with a load of pine logs....probably 12-14k so I got to test drive with a trailer similarly to what I'll likely pull with it.

What I know/observed:
-330k miles
-Zero observable blow by from the oil cap
-90 hp tune, tuner included
-4.10 gears
-Recent "heavy duty" clutch
-Most front end components - ball joints, steering, etc. done recently
-Some steering slop that appears to be in the box
-Need to rev match when shifting to 6th gear or it'll grind a bit.
-Felt like it may have been a little hard to find gears when downshifting, but I don't have much to compare it to and it may have been normal
-has an overdrive for it, not currently installed, "needs to be rebuilt, needs clutches"
-no body damage/cancer. Clearcoat is flaking on flat surfaces


Basically, it's a reasonable price. Not a killer deal, but not crazy out of line and leaves a little room in the budget to take care of some maintenance items. My goal is to have something pre-emissions that I can trust to drive across the country every year or two. And last a good 10 to 15 to 20 years, obviously with a powertrain overhaul at some point in the relatively near future. I figure I'll try to pick up a spare G56 and eventually build a spare 24v for it to swap in.


But as far as this generation shipping crate, anything I else I should worry about before jumping in to it? Anything I should plan on replacing/upgrading right away to help ensure reliability?
 
Here is how I view 330k miles...

  • Its been worked its whole life by many unknowns? hard pass.
  • I put 330k on it? love the truck, 10/10, would recommend.

to recap, that's a hard pass.... unless he has a book of receipts for everything done to it by the dealership since 2003. Even then I wouldn't offer anything for it.
 
Here's what's gonna happen

A) you buy it and an injector washes out a cylinder so you rebuild the engine then the transmission eats itself within 90 days.

B) you don't buy it. He sells it to the guy across the street from you who then uses it to tow a 20lb excavator all over the place for the next 13 years with nothing more than brakes and fluids, you get to see it everyday and you grid your teeth flat.

There is no inbetween:laughing:
 
Projectjunkie said:
Here's what's gonna happen

A) you buy it and an injector washes out a cylinder so you rebuild the engine then the transmission eats itself within 90 days.
Click to expand...

It's a 24v not a common rail :laughing:

Projectjunkie said:
B) you don't buy it. He sells it to the guy across the street from you who then uses it to tow a 20lb excavator all over the place for the next 13 years with nothing more than brakes and fluids, you get to see it everyday and you grid your teeth flat.

There is no inbetween:laughing:
Click to expand...

Any of truck that age and miles from someone I dont know is a hard sell for me. Especially at the prices they command.

Also curious why op thinks a g56 is better than an nv5600, I've always heard the opposite.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
It's a 24v not a common rail :laughing:
Click to expand...

He's calling it a 24v, but says it's a 2003 3rd gen
YotaAtieToo said:
Any of truck that age and miles from someone I dont know is a hard sell for me. Especially at the prices they command.

Also curious why op thinks a g56 is better than an nv5600, I've always heard the opposite.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd need to buy it cheap enough to be happy, then put a couple thousand in it locally before really trusting it
 
TRINDU said:
Here is how I view 330k miles...

  • Its been worked its whole life by many unknowns? hard pass.
  • I put 330k on it? love the truck, 10/10, would recommend.

to recap, that's a hard pass.... unless he has a book of receipts for everything done to it by the dealership since 2003. Even then I wouldn't offer anything for it.
Click to expand...
YotaAtieToo said:
It's a 24v not a common rail :laughing:



Any of truck that age and miles from someone I dont know is a hard sell for me. Especially at the prices they command.

Also curious why op thinks a g56 is better than an nv5600, I've always heard the opposite.
Click to expand...
Projectjunkie said:
He's calling it a 24v, but says it's a 2003 3rd gen


Yeah, I'd need to buy it cheap enough to be happy, then put a couple thousand in it locally before really trusting it
Click to expand...


I'm going off what the Internets tell me, but I apparently missed the fact that the '03 went common rail. I thought all of the 5.9 through 2007.5 where 24v. Sounds like that makes it a pass regardless of other facts?
  • First Generation: 1981 – 1993. 1986 Dodge Ram D150 – Image courtesy of and copyright Bring a Trailer. ...
  • Second Generation: 1994 – 2001. ...
  • Third Generation: 2002 – 2008. ...
  • Fourth Generation: 2009 – 2018. ...
  • Fifth Generation: 2019 – Present.
Click to expand...


I guess I need to rethink my search criteria.

Around here, you can either get a decent body buy high mileage second or third gen (according to the dates above) for $8-12k. Or you can get a lower miles (under 200k), pretty nice one for $25-30k. There really no in between.


In my mind, I'm still not going to know how that lower mile one was treated and it's still a 20 year old truck. I feel like I'd rather buy one for $10k and put another 10 in to taking care of higher probability failure points (injectors, turbo, fuel pump, etc) and know it's good vs. just basing it off mileage.


My main criteria is dually, 6 speed and diesel. That makes it pretty slim pickins around here.
 
Is 4wd your criteria? A srw 6speed 4wd truck was probably abused for fun, and a drw truck was abused for work:laughing:

Hard to cherry pick a nice truck without deep pockets


Just beware injector problems with the first few years of common rail trucks
 
Projectjunkie said:
Is 4wd your criteria? A srw 6speed 4wd truck was probably abused for fun, and a drw truck was abused for work:laughing:

Hard to cherry pick a nice truck without deep pockets


Just beware injector problems with the first few years of common rail trucks
Click to expand...

I would prefer 4wd, but I could probably live without it if everything else were just right.

Is the injector concern something that can be mitigated by just throwing new injectors at it immediately? Or will it be a recurring problem?




Other option is to throw money at this ugly fuck
1686406435164.png


'95 12v 2wd auto. Engine is toast (looks to have lost an injector, and dropped a valve....directly in to the front piston) and trans is questionable. Body and chassis are good as far as cancer, but there upper paint - roof and hood - is almost entirely gone and just rusty sheet metal now, so that would have to be addressed before it saw a road in winter here. Interior isn't great, but salvageable.

I have nothing in to the truck..maybe a grand. But I'd basically be looking at an entire drivetrain replacent.....so probably $12-15k if I did a manual swap while I was at it.
 
Which I'm still confused on the terminology, because the common rail was still a 24v, wasn't it?


Random internets pic of an '07.
maxresdefault.jpg
 
I'd rather have 12k into a ppump zf6 truck than 12k into a common rail g56/nv5600 truck

Best bang for your buck, is find a 6.0/6.4 6 speed super duty with a bad engine.

Then rebuild your 6bt for it

Or find a 5 speed dodge with engine problems and bad interior and combine the two
 
3rd gens got a bad rap for injectors because of idiots. You had a bunch of people who know nothing about diesels, adding bags of chips. Recipe for disaster.

If you drop an injector, and are so fucking retarded that you melt a cylinder, you deserve whatever stupid tax that costs.

555 engines (03-04) are better than 600 (04.5-07) merely from an emissions standpoint. 555 dont have cats, 3rd injection phase, or a retarded camshaft.

Nv5600 is definitely more robust, but is now hindered by parts availability. G56 is aloomenium with the pansy dual mass flywheel. You throw that shit away and run a solid flywheel, new hydraulics, drain the piss ATF4 and run syn 50wt, and it shifts like butter.

Great trucks if cared for, giant piles of shit if abused. I own two, all never sell them.

people used to avoid VP44 trucks, cause why buy one instead of a 12V or CR. But now a $1200 injection pump + labor doesnt sound bad opposed to $80k.

Buy a 8.1L :flipoff2:
 
TRINDU said:
3rd gens got a bad rap for injectors because of idiots. You had a bunch of people who know nothing about diesels, adding bags of chips. Recipe for disaster.

If you drop an injector, and are so fucking retarded that you melt a cylinder, you deserve whatever stupid tax that costs.

555 engines (03-04) are better than 600 (04.5-07) merely from an emissions standpoint. 555 dont have cats, 3rd injection phase, or a retarded camshaft.

Nv5600 is definitely more robust, but is now hindered by parts availability. G56 is aloomenium with the pansy dual mass flywheel. You throw that shit away and run a solid flywheel, new hydraulics, drain the piss ATF4 and run syn 50wt, and it shifts like butter.

Great trucks if cared for, giant piles of shit if abused. I own two, all never sell them.

people used to avoid VP44 trucks, cause why buy one instead of a 12V or CR. But now a $1200 injection pump + labor doesnt sound bad opposed to $80k.

Buy a 8.1L :flipoff2:
Click to expand...

This is what I've seen also. I know a few guys who bought them new or near new and still claim they are the best truck made. On the other hand almost every person I know who bought one with 150k+ had issues with them.

I'd only own one if it was like a buddies dad who owned it from new and I knew the whole history.

Also, I hate that they tried to pass that off as a crew cab, it's no bigger than an extended cab, they just made it harder to get in the back.:homer:
 
Ive owned two 03's both 2500's. They are 24v CRD. 03 had a standard output and a HO option. The HO is the 305hp/555ftlb. Honestly im not sure if the low output was offered in the 3500.

Lift pumps were common failures, stock location on the driver side by the water separator filter. The recall was to an in tank pump.
The damn APPs sensor can and will die randomly. The ECM's can and will die randomly. The blend doors fail on the HVAC.

Overall solid trucks, especially if they arent chipped/tuned fucked with.
 
YJ4Rox said:
Ive owned two 03's both 2500's. They are 24v CRD. 03 had a standard output and a HO option. The HO is the 305hp/555ftlb. Honestly im not sure if the low output was offered in the 3500.
Click to expand...

Yes, with a 4500. HO was 5600.

IIRC stupid California shit. The HO didn't have a cat. The standard output did.
 
TRINDU said:
Yes, with a 4500. HO was 5600.

IIRC stupid California shit. The HO didn't have a cat. The standard output did.
Click to expand...
My 04.5 HO 2500 had a cat. Electrical gremlins and rust killed mine, no real engine issues other than the waste gate solenoid dying. But everything (other than the trans) was stock. The shipping crate around it was falling apart more than anything due to rust.
 
Kunker said:
My 04.5 HO 2500 had a cat. Electrical gremlins and rust killed mine, no real engine issues other than the waste gate solenoid dying. But everything (other than the trans) was stock. The shipping crate around it was falling apart more than anything due to rust.
Click to expand...

What's rust? :flipoff2:

All 600 (04.5-07) had cat and other emission remedies. 555 had two injection phases, about the best you could ask for.

04.5+ was all HO
 
Yeah, in hindsight I would have looked harder for a 555 engine, but "more power is more betterer".
 
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