Re: [A/S] Dodge Ram 2500

["Don" <dash7_@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks to those that answered my query about the adequacy of the Ram 
2500 360/3.55 for pulling a 31 A/S.  

It was a very clean truck but when the owner told me the axle was a 
3.55, a little alarm went off and thus my query.  I thought about 
swapping the gears but the idea that it might still not have enough 
margin to make towing pleasant because of the engine size led me to 
discard that thought.  

The idea of a diesel pickup had crossed my mind earlier but I 
discarded it because I didn't know much about them and the ones I ran 
across were beyond my budget.  I decided to take another look at 
diesel pickups this weekend and discovered that, as Harvey noted, 
going back several years, the price becomes reasonable, in fact, the 
differential to gas PU's virtually disappears, even for vehicles with 
less than 150k miles on them.  The difficult part is going to be 
finding one close enough to make inspecting it practical, ie, closer 
that 300 miles.  I had to do a national search on the web to find 
enough to draw a conclusion. I called several "big three" dealerships 
and none had a used diesel truck on their lot.  I asked one salesman 
if he would call me if one came in and he said  "sure, you'll be # 24 
on my list, diesel owners never trade!" 

Fortunately, searching can be fun and usually enhances the acquisition 
when you fine "the" one.

Thanks again, you have undoubtedly saved me from regret down the road.

Don (MI)