Starting to look for a DRW

[garyp4951]

I'm at the max for my 03 Dodge 2500 4x4 QCSB, and it does good, but I have the DRW bug because of the added payload, and stablity.
I can only afford up to a 2010, and today drove a 05 Dodge 3500 QCLB. It drove great, and could tell it was stout, but the leather seats are like sitting on a folding metal chair with a little cushion. Also the fiberglass fenders look flimsy, and wavy. I'm in no hurry so any suggestions are welcome.

[kennethwooster]

I have the same fever. My F250 is overloaded, and we also would like to get a longer trailer. We can only buy one and then later the trailer. Looking at the DRW for the first time. I had a friend with I think an 06 Dodge DRW. It pulled his heavy trailer great. He also went to the standard transmission. He would get about 21 MPG without a load. Nice truck.

[donn0128]

Just washed my truck and they are steel for positive. As far as I know GM was the only ones using fiberglas fenders

[RedJeep]

I have an older (2001) F350 CC dually with a 7.3L diesel. 220k miles and rock solid. I pull a 40 foot toy hauler. It is noisy but with the minor mods it is a great truck that is really inexpensive. More money to buy diesel and go camping. 🙂

[alex1200]

I just sold my 05 3500 DRW to a good friend. I loved the truck, and only had one minor problem with the turbo in the first year. It was fixed under warranty and I never had any more problems with the truck or the engine. I consistently averaged 14.5 MPG but most trips were city/rural. It only saw the highway when we towed.

My 05 definitely had fiberglass fenders, as the bollard in the drive through taught my wife a valuable lesson about rear-end cheat. The only complaint I had about the 05 Auto Tranny was the lack of aftermarket or factory exhaust brake. I waited for most of 2005 for Jacobs to produce a brake. The problem, as I understood it, was the engine and tranny computer were new for 05 and not worth the engineers time to crack the coding for an EB. If you do end up with an 05, be aware of the EB issue.

Otherwise, it was a great truck that I will sorely miss. The only reason we sold it was because the quad cab was getting a little tight for the two boys and two dogs. That and the trailer we just bought is 2000 pounds too heavy for the two rating.

I just picked up a 14 Ram 3500. I was very satisfied with everything about the 05, that I went back to Ram without hesitation.

[Shepherd]

My 07 with the 6.7L had fiberglas fenders.:C

[eHoefler]

45Ricochet wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Fiberglas? Hummm My 07 fenders are all steel. The 5.9 was a wonderful motor, but suffered at least in the automatic versions with a 4 speed auto and no EB. My 6.7 has a wonderful 6 speed auto and factory EB which will bring down my fully loaded fiver on a 6% down grade easily without the use of much service brakes.

Same with my fenders but mine came with a Jacobs Exhaust brake. Yeah wish I had a couple of more gears though, and glad I didn't get the early 6.7's. It was a learning curve for all manufactures.
Seats are still good, little rough after a 6 hour drive but so is the DW's Infiniti. Must have a skinny rear end :B

Look at post above.

[eHoefler]

donn0128 wrote:
Fiberglas? Hummm My 07 fenders are all steel. Wonder if someome replaced the OEM ones. The 5.9 was a wonderful motor, but suffered at least in the automatic versions with a 4 speed auto and no EB. My 6.7 has a wonderful 6 speed auto and factory EB which will bring down my fully loaded fiver on a 6% down grade easily without the use of much service brakes.

You might ought to go out and try to stick a magnet to your dually fenders, they are fiberglass. The steel one piece bed and dually fenders did not come out until 2010.

[Bionic_Man]

If you are looking at Ram, and can afford a 2010, that is what I would be looking for. The emissions stuff was largely figured out, and you get a real crew cab and nice fenders.

[45Ricochet]

donn0128 wrote:
Fiberglas? Hummm My 07 fenders are all steel. The 5.9 was a wonderful motor, but suffered at least in the automatic versions with a 4 speed auto and no EB. My 6.7 has a wonderful 6 speed auto and factory EB which will bring down my fully loaded fiver on a 6% down grade easily without the use of much service brakes.

Same with my fenders but mine came with a Jacobs Exhaust brake. Yeah wish I had a couple of more gears though, and glad I didn't get the early 6.7's. It was a learning curve for all manufactures.
Seats are still good, little rough after a 6 hour drive but so is the DW's Infiniti. Must have a skinny rear end :B

[donn0128]

Fiberglas? Hummm My 07 fenders are all steel. Wonder if someome replaced the OEM ones. The 5.9 was a wonderful motor, but suffered at least in the automatic versions with a 4 speed auto and no EB. My 6.7 has a wonderful 6 speed auto and factory EB which will bring down my fully loaded fiver on a 6% down grade easily without the use of much service brakes.