Looking for dodge pickup

[bigboreG]

Been looking around for a pickup, would like to find a 98 - 02 with a cummins. Reg cab is fine, preferably under 200k miles. Needs to have a good body and mechanically sound. Auto or manual, any color but brown. any idea what a truck like this is bringing these days? If anyone has one they want to sell or knows of one please let me know.
 

[bobs old iron]

depending where you live,i'm in colo, have a 2004 one-ton dually, 5.9 cummings, auto, single cab,,,only 70k miles,, don"t know if you want to spend $15k
 

[ericlb]

truck paper.com, put in what your looking for, you can look at everything from a compact pickup to a semi, prepare to pay for a nice one, the early Cummings dodges are highly sought after, and hold some value if there nice, the early ones like i have mostly just sit in the truck and run, with few issues and they get great fuel economy, then they had to go and improve them...
 

[scotc]

A mechanically sound truck with a Bosch VP44?

Some guys have gotten so tired of replacing that injector pump that they've gone as far as replacing it with the VE44 rotaries out of the first-gen trucks.

"you know you drive a Cummins" #97- Some poeple carry a spare belt with them. You carry a spare VP44.
 

[ericlb]

that what i like i do carry a spare fan belt as i do on all my old trucks, here its possible to have one break and the nearest town is 70 to 100 miles away, now thats inconvenient!, my old 12 valve 94 now has over 250,000 miles on it worked hard most of its life, and just made a 2,000 mile road trip, never missed a beat, in that time ive replaced 1 waterpump and starter at about 150,000 miles and 1 injector line that got damaged somehow, thats about it just the usual oil changes ect just cant beat that for a truck,even if it has a few character dents, no big ones , well not real big anyway
 

[scotc]

The VP44 found in the 24-valve, non-common-rail trucks doesn't have the best reputation as far as reliability. The electronics tend to fry.
 

[MSD]

The VP44 pumps were a problem. Some failed because of failed soldier connections on the computer board. Others because the fuel pressure was lost because of a failed fuel pump. The pump itself gets all the blame usually. Some rebuilders will go through and replace what looks bad. If the board still meets specs they leave it alone. Trouble is they had a life span of so many heat cycles. After that they died so if you got one that they didn't replace it in, you could have it fail anytime after you put it on. Fuel to the pump heats up as you are driving. This contributed to the failures also. I have a temp gauge on mine and I have seen it as high as 170 degrees. There are actually only a couple of factory authorized Bosch rebuilders in the US. I sent mine to the one in Chicago. They had a new upgraded computer board for it and basically made a new pump out of it. I had them send me the replaced parts back so I know what went into it. I run a fuel pressure gauge on it and watch it close. Before I choose who to send it to I talked to a lot of places offering rebuilt ones. When I asked one guy about replacing the computer board, he said they test it and if it works the don't bother. They wanted the same price as the factory rebuilt one I got with the new board. Paid to ask questions.
 

[MandM56082]

I have a 2001 dodge ram 2500 manual, shortly after I bought it I had to replace the vp44 injection pump but the problem people don't fix when the do it is there don't upgrade the transfer pump or the main injection pump. I went and got a high performance pump and a hi flow transfer pump so the injection pump doesn't starve for fuel which is one of the main reasons why they fail in the first place. Since I've replace my fuel system I've put over 100,000 miles on it and have never had issues even in the coldest of winters.
 

[4010 puller]

the vp 44 injection pumps dont do too bad if they have a good aftermarket lift pump installed. You also want to do an internet search on the "53" casting in the engine blocks. I would look for this and stay away from any of them for sale.
 

[430]

I've had two 01's. Both fried pumps before 60000. I put fass lift pumps on with the next injection pumps and never had another problem. I only have one of the trucks left and it has 125000 on it. Not a lot of miles, but already better than the first set. If you buy one and its still stock, put an after market lift pump and fuel pressure gague on it right away even if the existing pump is ok. It'll save you headaches. I also recommend a diablo sport power puck. Really wakes them up and only ads 50hp and 100 ftlbs. The Stock drive train has held up with this.
 

[Dean Olson]

Please express an opinion on why a 98-02?

I have an 06 Dodge with the 5.9. I have 175k on it with no engine issues. I did replace torque converter and trans at 110 k.

I intentially bought this truck before all the new emission regs went into effect.
 

[scotc]

earlier body with the 24valve motor.
Believe they went common-rail in 03.