Dodges engines are gas... haha but yes Dodge makes a sub parr truck Cummins makes it worth buying..

I dunno about sub par trucks. Granted, I do have a cummins, but my Mega Cab interior is bigger than any Ford or Chevy Crew Cab,
The leather is of excellent quality, all the bells and whistles work, and so far it is more realiable than any Ford or Chevy I've owned with comparable miles. This is my first MOPAR, but I am impressed.

My 2000 is over 11 years old and it has had a dashboard come apart. Cracking in so many places that if the dash was taken apart the dashboard would come out in pieces.
I have a side plastic plate that cracked a couple years ago that is only cosmetic and does not affect anything.

Other than that all I've had was a few rattles show up that I've taken care of with a minute or two on each of those rattles. The truck falling apart syndrome is not happening. My father was a Dodge man too and he had several trucks going well over 200k that never fell apart.
I've also had a few engine sensors fail in 11 years along with a few lift pumps. Big deal though as 11 years and a couple hundred dollars in pumps along with the probably 4 hours to do the fixing. I'll take that.


I do like the Ford and Chevy interiors better than the Dodges over the years. I have not been in a new anything in a couple years though. Mine is set to go another 10 years unless it happens to fall apart but I don't think so.

I have a friend that has an older 2500 that the dash board cracked on. I assume it is heat on plastic related, so I always put my windshield cover on when parking in the sun. I'm thinking about putting one of those carpet looking after market dash covers on. Any thoughts?

The windshield cover didn't help my dash. Neither did all the Armor All I put on it. It got really brittle around year 4 and cracked in several spots. I hope for your sake they've changed the plastics since the mid 2000's.

The plastics broke around the driver door actuator plate, too (not that any of the actuators ever worked right anyway). I finally just glued it on after it popped off a few times.

unfortunatly for my line of work, a 2wd is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

and i ain't doing all that shifting all the time

Dodge does not make auto's for its diesels, so I have no idea where JL got his info. In actuality the 6 speed auto is an Aisin, which is the worlds largest transmission maker. The two major stockholders n Aisin are Toyota and Asin-Sekei. I have no problems with someone who is knowledgable bashing the Dodge, but when you absolutely don't have a clue, ya ought to not put an opinion out there. As for as 4WD, again JL does not have a clue. Chrysler has a long history of solid 4wd units. Jeep and Power Wagon come to mind.

There are a lot of front axles out there on Jeeps that are pure carp, which is why the beefed up Rubicon is so sought after by off-roaders, as well as so many swaps.

I'm not sure your statement regarding jeep front axles either.
According to this review:

http://www.examiner.com/auto-review-in-n...uy-this-vehicle

The Rubicon is a step up above the base Jeep --- Wrangler(which several different option packages).

My feeling is that it depends on what you want to do, and what you expect to do, with your vehicle.
I bought a 3/4ton, SWB, 4wd, 2008 Cummins Powered Laramie Mega Cab, because it suited my needs. If I was never ever going to get off the interstate, I would not have bought the 4wd which I know robs me of probably at least 2mpg between the rear end ratio and 4wd. If I were going to pull a 40' fifth wheel or a heavy stock trailer, I would have bought a dually.
The point I am trying to make is that depending on what you do with your vehicle, you need to buy the one that meets your needs. For someone to say Dodge makes a crappy this or a crappy that, is pure bunk, and most of the time its coming from someone who does not even own a dodge. I do know there are some design flaws that have been uncovered over the years, but then the same has happened with other brands of vehicles as well. I had a chevy v-6 minivan that the dealer swore up and down was plenty to pull my 18ft Ranger Bass Boat. I remember almost rear ending someone once because I could not stop, and I remember taking the van back 3 different times because of transmission slipping that the dealer could not find, because he did not let the van get good and warm before he test drove it. Eventually, due to my persistence, he finally found the problem and replaced the tranny, but I had some insecurities the whole time I owned it. That's why I ordered my F-150 and made sure that I got a C-6 Transmission and not one with auto-overdrive. Never had a problem with the tranny, just all the other electronics, like electric windows, electric door locks, a/c unit, and things you don't expect to have problems with, like Paint.....etc.
I bought an Expedition after the dealer assured me that the new 5 speed electronic overdrive tranny was bullet proof, only to find out that his definition of bullet proof and mine were two different things. The third transmission went in at 38K miles. In fairness, I never had another tranny problem and I traded the Ex on the dodge after 10 years and 120K miles, but again, a whole lot of insecurity.
The point is this....There are lemons that come from all vehicle manufacturers and there are design defects with all of them. You buy a vehicle and hope it isn't a Monday or Friday build. If you buy one that suits your needs, hopefully you will have good luck with it, but there are no guarantees that yours will be different than others. I have a friend that still owns his first cummins powered 3/4 ton Dodge, with 350 K miles...Cracked dashboard and all. He also bought a new one a couple of years ago....

Just saying the Dana 44 is an upgrade from the Dana 30, so people who are serious about off-roading usually like the Rubicon. The Dana 30 is often considered a weak link. I never thought Jeeps were the best 4x4's, just easy to mod because of the live axle.

But I agree, it depends what you want to use it for. For occasional snow/ice or just to pull the boat out of the water, anything will do the job. I'm sure not taking a brand new $45k truck off-road.

Well thats an opinon for you... and you know what they say about those!

My dad has a 2004 2 wheel drive duramax 2500. My uncle has a 2004 2 wheel drive 1 ton cummins dully. Both trucks have roughly 120K on them. The cummins is quieter inside and out, gets better fuel mileage empty and pulling, and the only problem he has had is the clasic cracked dash. Now on my dads chevy all the mechanical works, but the instrament cluster has been replaced twice, none of the dash lights work, and there is this rediculose clunking noise that comes from the steering colum...

Yep sounds to me like dodges are junk all toegether. Never had a problem with a dodge 4x4, heard gm has had lots of issues though. Im with kingwood, get what suits your needs and you will be fine. All the manufacturers turn out a lemon, it happens. My last truck was a 1994 chevy, wore out the main bearings at 5K miles, the mains on the block were drilled croked, they put a new motor in it and it ran great for 260K when I got rid of it. Oh yeah about 10 years after I got it I had to replace the radiator, it came with the wrong radiator to (must of been one of those monday/friday deals)

matt

Well, I learned the hard way about getting a diesel in mud. That front end is so heavy it buries itself quickly. On the other hand, the beast does surprisingly well in sand.

Face it, us guys are just kids at heart and we love our trucks.......
Speaking of....Does your Truck have a nickname?
Mine actually has two....."Big Red" and "The Beast".....

Jinxed myself. The traction control system just went haywire on the wife's Expedition today. I have a few names for it right now.

Sometimes I think its by the grace of God any vehicle holds together.

Cat or any of you other guys with a Cummins, if your ABS and BRAKE (dash) lights start staying on, its probably the rear wheel speed sensor that needs to be replaced. A simple 45 dollar sensor mounted on the top of the differential.

I drove mine without a speedo for a month till I decided to look into what was happening. Took all of 10 minutes to diagnose and after a trip to the dealer it took about an hour to do the changeout. I happen to be a complete numb... at mechanical things.

My wife and kids are genuinely surprised when I fix something and it still works!

I didnt say they made them just reffering to what IN a Dodge.. And the autos are junk when you starting making any real HP.. And by 4wd I didnt say the unit itself the 4wd as a whole suspension and all parts.. Every person I know whith a Dodge 4wd has problems with hubs, suspension ect... So you "ought" to not tell people what to say on a public forum.. An opinion is just that and based of my personal experience with my close friends and family I base my OPINION not cause I can google and copy/paste... Maybe its just the people I know all have lemons, lol.. Yeaaaah lol