Serpentine Belts and Hoses

If you are a bit mechanically inclined then Serp belt and hoses on a RAM/CUMMINS is not a hard job at all.

On the other two not so much!

I'd change the belt and the upper/lower rad hoses because they are pretty easy to do and why risk it when it's so easy to do?

Now, when I look at my 13 F150 Ecoboost... That's not so much the case! It ain't gonna be as easy to do as it was on my 97 F150, but I'll probably think about it after it's 5th birthday.. :)

Good luck!

Mitch

The last thing I want is to be traveling out of town and have a hose burst or a belt break and have to be towed to a garage, stay at a local motel for a night or two while the vehicle is repaired.

Water hoses as they age can collapse on the intake side of the radiator and reduce coolant flow and make the engine run hotter. Belts can slip and reduce the effectiveness of the AC or the alternator.

I replace the hoses (radiator and heater) along with the coolant every 5 years, and the belt as recommended by the manufacturer. That way I never have an unplanned repair required while I am out traveling. Even worse with a trailer in tow.

I have put more than a million miles on my tow vehicles over the past 30 years and never lost a day with an unscheduled repair. Cheaper to do it before it has to be done and avoid the tow charges, the motel and restaurant costs, and the lost time. The risk to the trailer is another aspect as well as finding someone to tow the truck and the trailer.

You can inspect hoses all day and not see the issues on the inside

You could change that stuff for cheap right now or "maybe" have to pay a lot of money to have some one fix it. Ever hear the phrase....living on borrowed time ?

genosgarage.com

They speak Dodge/RAM CUMMINS. They sell top quality products at a very fair price. They are knowledgable also.

Just me, but I would change the belt and hoses at around 100K miles.

Difficulty: Moderately difficult
Duration: May take several hours
How often: Every 60,000–100,000 miles, check owner’s manual

Perform preventative maintenance.

One way to make sure your belts are up to par is to schedule a belt replacement during a routine checkup. If a belt has 65,000 to 70,000 miles on it and your vehicle is already in the shop, go ahead and replace the belts. The technician should also check the condition of the automatic belt tensioner to ensure that the new belt is properly tensioned.

Look for visual signs.

Some of the visual signs that indicate it’s time for belt replacement are abrasion/misalignment, cracking, glazing or pilling.
Abrasion/misalignment: The nylon on your belt is essential. If there are any tears, they may cause misalignment and your belt won’t work properly. If the belt is misaligned and slipping, you will hear unusual noise or feel vibrations.
Cracking: With Neoprene belts, it was common to look for three cracks in three inches, as a rule that the belt's life was over and it needed to be replaced.
The new EPDM belts are built to resist cracking, making it harder to notice wear at first glance. With EPDM belts, look for rubber loss that’s similar to how a tire wears out over time. The loss of just 5% of the belt material can cause the ribs of the belt to "bottom out" on the pulley(s). This accelerates belt wear and causes it to slip, which may affect the water pump, alternator or air conditioning compressor performance.
Glazing: The belt is hard at work bending and flexing against a pulley, producing heat that causes its rubber to harden over time. If the belt gets loose, the added friction makes it hotter. This causes glazing and makes the belt slip more.
Pilling: As your belt ages, it loses material that can build up in the belt grooves. This can contribute to a lack of tension, misalignment and worn pulleys.

Important Tips:

The performance of your accessories is directly affected by the condition of your belts. Just a 5% loss of material can affect component performance.
Never use belt dressing or any type of substance to coat the belt. Contamination from applying a substance on the belt will adversely affect belt life.
There are no serviceable parts inside a tensioner. The entire assembly must be replaced.
When re-installing a belt, clean the pulley groves. Dirt or paint on the pulleys may cause belt noise.
A belt failure affects the driveability of the vehicle, leaving the passengers stranded until a new belt is installed.

I did the belts on the 06 DTS with 105K couple of weeks ago because it has to be done with access thru the wheel well. Didn't want to have to do that on the road. Belts looked good, no cracks, but who knows.

Replacing a belt is not that expensive. Repair costs for when one fails can be. Mine started to shred this time last year. Hadn't failed completely but by the time I noticed it was failing, belt parts had wrapped around the AC compressor, water pump pulley and punctured a hole in the rad. $2200 later I had a new belt.