potential next rig

a family member is looking for a new vehicle for his wife, he has a couple of farm trucks, (2 duallies, a 3/4 ton and a 1/2 ton) and his wife is currently driving a half ton as well. he wants to get rid of the farm half ton and 3/4 ton and keep his wife's half ton for the new farm truck. i am interested in buying the 3/4 ton from him.

its a 2001 dodge ram 2500 cab and a half, shortbed. 4x4 auto with a 5.9/360 magnum. it has 86 thousand miles on it and he has owned it since 2002 or 2003. im wondering if these trucks and engines are good/reliable or not, my knowledge lies soley on 87-96 ford f150 to f350s so this will be a bit of a change. it only has 86 thousand miles on it and it was used for a little while to haul manure on the farm with before they got the first dually. I know it has hauled an international 1586 (maybe a 1566 i cant say for sure) on a double axle gooseneck to a shop about 15 miles away and he said it had good power. Im not sure what he considers good power though. I did not notice a transmission cooler on there but i did not look the truck over real good yet. i know it has no body rust and the frame is just barely surface rusted in a few places. he wants 10k for it which considering the rust belt market and the low miles is a pretty good deal in itself for even a gas rig. not sure on the rear gears but it sounds like they are pretty steep if it has good power towing 16, thousand ish pounds. it does have an 8800 pound gvwr

so to recap, anything i should look for/ keep an eye on or check when i go to test drive and look it over better? any problems i should be aware of that might happen down the road if i do buy it? if i do buy it i plan to throw a trans cooler on there if it doesnt have once and a controller to firm up the shifts

Dunno - that truck is now 15 years old.

Well i can vouch for the 360 as we have one in our 2003 Dodge Durango and it is still going with 219000 and change on it , yea it will eat a qt of oil in about 1500 miles or two qt. between oil changes but you can count on it to start and go when needed. We bought it with 16000 miles on it and from day one it has had nothing but Castrol oil in it i run a 10-30 year round . The big problem with Mo Pars is the transmissions since they have only ever built two . The one that is out and the one that is going out.

If the dash ain't cracked you've found a gem.
If the transmission goes out call up Goerend or ATS,
don't mess with a stock rebuild. And get a new
converter with the kit! The weak stock lock-up
clutch is what usually takes them out, it slips and
sends debris through the system.
They like their gas!
We had a 98, think it would climb a brick wall at 80
if you could make it stick.
The ball joints on the front track bar aren't the
best. Pull up to something, shut it down, and turn
the wheel. If the track bar is bad, you can see the
front of the truck move sideways when pulled up to
something to use as a reference point.
Change the transmission fluid and filter. At that
many miles, chances are against it surviving a
flush.
Valley cover gaskets can go bad and they will suck
oil into the intake.
If the torque converter habitually locks and unlocks
with the slightest variation in throttle input,
there is a bad wire in the throttle circuit. Its a
known issue and easily remedied by cutting the wire
at both ends and splicing a new one in between.

And that is a bit high priced.

That is a best case $8K truck on the lot, I think $5-6K is more reasonable price

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$10k sounds high, even if it is in pristine condition. 3 years ago I paid $11k at a dealer for an '03 Ram 2500 4x4 with no rust and 70k miles on it.

The 360 engines are pretty bullet proof, but about 100 fewer horsepower than the 5.7 Hemi's. The weak link on those trucks was typically the transmission. If you tow or plow much it could be trouble. If you tow a lot, the low horsepower will be disappointing. Fuel milage will be mid teens at best.

Good luck!

the 360 is a good one and the auto tranny are week worst thing is thay the 4x4s drive awfull compared to a ford or a chev drive it first and see if you can put up with it itwill never drive and better.

He better check his tax situation. Our cpa told us a 1/2 ton truck cannot be deducted as a farm truck, 3/4 ton and above are all that are accepted by our government.

How does it match up to your requirements? $10,000 does sound high for a 15 year old truck. The value of pickups can drop fast when they hit a certain age, being a farm truck does not help value either. I would check the Blue Book value of the truck from several sources before making a counter offer: Edmund's, KBB, etc, or drive it to a dealer.