45Ricochet,
From your post:
"I purposely didn't respond to the thread for a bit, just waited for the usual detractors of a Ram thread Sure enough they showed up and I might add the usual suspects Why is it they are soooooo interested in giving information on something they would never own, let alone knowing nothing about."
Let me clue you in on some info and background as to MY experiences and knowledge on what you are charging in your post. I cannot speak for the others you have dissed as they can speak for themselves.
I have owned 3 Cnrysler/Dodge products of wich one was decent during the time I owned it. The 1989 Dodge D250 LE pickup with the Cummins 5.9 I had purchased for my engineering business was not! The diesel was a novelty when first put into service but after about the first year no one wanted to drive it as it was so loud and rode like an unsprung buckboard. Some of the problems with the truck were the tranny puked at 39,XXX miles, replace the lift pump, replace the water pump, oil leaks, ate tires which wore smooth in less than 20K, and several other minor issues all before 40K on the clock. Tranny, L.P., and W.P. were all just after the warranty was up and not covered. Had enough and it was not being used so it was sold with just under 40,000 and took a financial bath.
As for knowing nothing about Chrysler/Dodge? Read closely! For 29 years (till in the 2000's) of my business's nearly 40 year existence, we worked as an independently owned contract/consulting vendor to Chrysler Corp and the Ddoge truck division along with Ford and GM who were our originals. I have never been employed directly by any of the Big 3 and other automotive company. Being independent and working with all 3 gave myself and us the opportunity to see firsthand in depth the actual components, their design and engineering, testing proceedures, and production methods/facilities to do the trouble shooting projects we were so often invited to help with.
I can assure you that 2 of our 3 customers had a very different approach to solving problems as they would spent the additional money required to fix the issues during the build. One would not add a dime to the build cost to fix an issue. Guess who that ONE was? Yup, your beloved!
Beyond this fact, seeing each of the 3's components for decades on end and the test data of the componenets that made up the various vehicles had always allowed us the compare precisely and there sure is a REASON the Dodge/Ram trucks etc have much less usable cargo capacity in their comparable model segments, has led the frequency of repair charts for nearly every year since records were first kept track in the 1950's, have a lower resale value on nearly all comparable models, show rust and rust thru much quicker, etc.
Now for a real slap in the chops: that same Corp had a very iffy financial status for over 50 years and was sold to a foreign owner (Daimler) who then after about a decade of suffering resold it for less than 1/3 of what it was purchased for to cut the rope to a heavy dragging anchor bleeding them, then borrowed billions from the new owners and forgot to pay their vendors while claiming they had billions in cash on hand (yup, the vendors money for the components they had long ago supplied that were being driven down the roads)DUH! even my operation waited 1 year + to be paid for approved completion of projects using their arsenal of stall tactics and I finally cut them off as did most of their best vendors leaving them with the underling vendors and forign vendors - Iacocca alone had literally sold out much of Chrysler Corp to Mitsubishi to get components but who remembers that, next they filed bankruptcy and was nearly not bailed out by the U.S. government but was barely by one vote, now has been sold to another foreign Corp (Fiat) and run by who is experiencing some issues now with the European market huge decline/financial issues and where will that leave or affect Chrysler Corp soon?
Dodge/Ram trucks have been the entrenched taildragger of the big 3 for over 50 years at roughly 1/2 of either Ford or GM's pickup sales alone or 15%-20% sales of their 33-1/3% sized participation level. Half or less in sales annually of either of their competitors tells the story and the American consumers know why and show it with their wallet votes.
Very interesting as the Chrysler Corp is foreign owned and run, all HD pickups are built in Mexico as are all the Hemi engines used. A new huge Pentastar plant just finished in Mexico also and just starting up. Ford and GM both own and produce their own diesel engines but the other one simply buys their engine from an engine vendor. This vendor is branching out as reported in WSJ and several other publications. There are many better options for this vendor and to limit their over-exposure to one option. I'm not knocking the Cummins engine as it is a good engine but so is GM's Duramax as both have a stellar history. Yes, Ford's 6.7 is built in Mexico and all GM Duramax engines are built in Moraine, Ohio and the Cummins 6.7 is built in the USA.
Further, the Jeep/Grand Cherokee is going to be built in China and Sergio (Fiat CEO) said the China Jeeps will not be sent to the USA as they will be sent to Europe etc first for some final assemble as goods in process and guess where they're going then and where will the tags say they were built?
My friend, I do know Chrysler and Dodge/Ram very well and the components in their vehicles and have owned their vehicles. However, I make my choices based on knowledge and not drinking kool-aid furnished by slick or fake or catchy commercials/advertisements. Must be the majority of the purchasing public sees thru the fog and clouds also as even an old vehicle platform design truck sell twice as many as the new glitzed up over-touted brand offerings.
Now you know!
Edit: Wife said it was a 1990 D250 LE and not to argue with her! O'well!
