2004 Dodge Cummins aka - (The New Wood Hauler)

[certified106]

I have been looking for a truck for the last year to replace the Durango with and finally ran across a 2004 Dodge Quad Cab Cummins Diesel 2500. I went and looked at it tonight and it was spotless not a dent or ding on it interior or exterior and only had 112000 miles on it. Does anyone have opinions on that model year or issues I should be looking for? I am really considering going back to get it on Saturday as it's priced 3,000 less than book value and I haven't seen one this cheap in over a year of looking.

 

[nate379]

Good trucks. manual or auto?

 

[certified106]

It's an auto but it has the tranny pressure boosted and a locking valve body installed. The truck has never pulled more than a 5,000 lb camper to the Nascar races in Tn and it's a one owner owned by an older guy using it for his daily driver.

 

[Pallet Pete]

The only dodge I have owned was a 99 ram and though the motor was great I went through trans after trans after trans!! I ended up selling it to many trans problems no other car manual or auto has ever given me such fits.

Pete

 

[mking7]

Things that go bad often? Lift pump and injectors. Oh, ball joints too.

 

[MasterMech]

Newer Dodges ('02 and newer) have gotten much better than their predecessors in terms of reliability. 5.9L Cummins is BOMBPROOF as engines go. And I haven't seen a 4x4 truck yet that doesn't occasionally need some front end work. (Ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.)

 

[Mick-Fish]

I have a 2006 Dodge 2500 4x4 Auto with 5.7 Cumming and love it I have gotten any ware from 19 to 24 miles per gal. depending how you drive it .You can load the heck out of it ,and it feels like no weight on it at all.I would buy another one in a heart beat

 

[Dieselhead]

5.7 Cumming

Um, 5.9 Cummins?

 

[Dieselhead]

I have 217K on my 04.5 it has needed a couple injectors and obviously front end work. adding a 2 micron inline fuel filter will help with poor fuel quality which is what usually at fault for injector problems. I-6's are very easy to work on, should the need arise. As long as the trans has been maintained they are ALOT more reliable then the 2nd Gen Dodges (94-02).

 

[Halligan]

Is the truck a 2004 or a 2004.5? The difference is in the power rating and whether or not it has a catalytic converter. a 2004 will have 305hp/555tq and no cat. 2004.5 has a bump in power to 325hp/600tq with an added catalytic converter. Some consider the 2003-2004 305/555 Cummins to be the holy grail of the common rail 5.9 Cummins. The 48re auto transmission is a much stronger trans than the problematic 47re used up until 2002. the 48re is not as fancy as the Allison but it's strong. If it has a manual trans then it will be the NV5600 6 speed which is pretty much bomb proof. FWIW I had a 2004 305/555 Cummins in a 4X4 2500 and the truck was a beast that pulled my 10,000lb fith wheel camper with ease and in the 40,000 miles I owned it it was trouble free. Ball joints are known to wear quicky but there are good replacement ones out there with a lifetime warranty. If the truck needs ball joints PM me and I will steer you in the right direction where to get those.

BTW, this is my first post here on Hearth.com and I hope I could help you out some. I guess it beats the typical "Hi, I"m new here and have 500 questions about wood, wood stoves, wood haulers, chainsaws, log splitters, moisture content, creasote, chimneys, wood sheds, Husky vs. Stihl, Stihl vs. Husky" and whatever else I've read while I lurked here. FWIW though, I expect those above 500 questions answered in my second post .

 

[nate379]

47 or 48RE, neither will take much power over stock. They are really the same trans other than some fairly minor upgrades. No one will argue that the 48RE is stronger, but the engine that it's bolted to almost makes much more power than the 24v motors of the 2nd gens.

 

[certified106]

Is the truck a 2004 or a 2004.5? The difference is in the power rating and whether or not it has a catalytic converter. a 2004 will have 305hp/555tq and no cat. 2004.5 has a bump in power to 325hp/600tq with an added catalytic converter. Some consider the 2003-2004 305/555 Cummins to be the holy grail of the common rail 5.9 Cummins. The 48re auto transmission is a much stronger trans than the problematic 47re used up until 2002. the 48re is not as fancy as the Allison but it's strong. If it has a manual trans then it will be the NV5600 6 speed which is pretty much bomb proof. FWIW I had a 2004 305/555 Cummins in a 4X4 2500 and the truck was a beast that pulled my 10,000lb fith wheel camper with ease and in the 40,000 miles I owned it it was trouble free. Ball joints are known to wear quicky but there are good replacement ones out there with a lifetime warranty. If the truck needs ball joints PM me and I will steer you in the right direction where to get those.

BTW, this is my first post here on Hearth.com and I hope I could help you out some. I guess it beats the typical "Hi, I"m new here and have 500 questions about wood, wood stoves, wood haulers, chainsaws, log splitters, moisture content, creasote, chimneys, wood sheds, Husky vs. Stihl, Stihl vs. Husky" and whatever else I've read while I lurked here. FWIW though, I expect those above 500 questions answered in my second post .

LOL I enjoyed your sense of humor! I gave the guy money down on it yesterday morning and he already had three other people lined up to buy one guy was offering more money than what I paid. I am going to pick it up this morning and will post some pictures later on. I am not clear whether it has the 47re or 48re tranny but it is super clean and low miles for a cummins so I am going to give it a shot. Worst case scenario I will resell it if I don't want it as I got $3600 less than kbb private party value. I think the guy realized he messed up when he told me I could bring him the down payment yesterday as he had already pulled the add back off of craigs list and reposted it for $3500 more than what I bought it and there was a lot of whining about not realizing how much the truck was worth when he listed it.

 

[certified106]

Alright here is the new to me wood hauler.....

 

[amateur cutter]

Nice !, but it's only a shortbox & way too purty to nick & ding out in the woods.

In all seriousness though, get a bigger trailer & load it too the gills, or you'll forget it's behind you. Good find. A C

 

[PNWBurner]

Nice !, but it's only a shortbox & way too purty to nick & ding out in the woods.

In all seriousness though, get a bigger trailer & load it too the gills, or you'll forget it's behind you. Good find. A C

Yeah, no kidding. That a pretty cherry rig to be hauling firewood around in, congrats! I think you need a big old dump trailer behind you now...

 

[Halligan]

Is the truck a 2004 or a 2004.5? The difference is in the power rating and whether or not it has a catalytic converter. a 2004 will have 305hp/555tq and no cat. 2004.5 has a bump in power to 325hp/600tq with an added catalytic converter. Some consider the 2003-2004 305/555 Cummins to be the holy grail of the common rail 5.9 Cummins. The 48re auto transmission is a much stronger trans than the problematic 47re used up until 2002. the 48re is not as fancy as the Allison but it's strong. If it has a manual trans then it will be the NV5600 6 speed which is pretty much bomb proof. FWIW I had a 2004 305/555 Cummins in a 4X4 2500 and the truck was a beast that pulled my 10,000lb fith wheel camper with ease and in the 40,000 miles I owned it it was trouble free. Ball joints are known to wear quicky but there are good replacement ones out there with a lifetime warranty. If the truck needs ball joints PM me and I will steer you in the right direction where to get those.

BTW, this is my first post here on Hearth.com and I hope I could help you out some. I guess it beats the typical "Hi, I"m new here and have 500 questions about wood, wood stoves, wood haulers, chainsaws, log splitters, moisture content, creasote, chimneys, wood sheds, Husky vs. Stihl, Stihl vs. Husky" and whatever else I've read while I lurked here. FWIW though, I expect those above 500 questions answered in my second post .

LOL I enjoyed your sense of humor! I gave the guy money down on it yesterday morning and he already had three other people lined up to buy one guy was offering more money than what I paid. I am going to pick it up this morning and will post some pictures later on. I am not clear whether it has the 47re or 48re tranny but it is super clean and low miles for a cummins so I am going to give it a shot. Worst case scenario I will resell it if I don't want it as I got $3600 less than kbb private party value. I think the guy realized he messed up when he told me I could bring him the down payment yesterday as he had already pulled the add back off of craigs list and reposted it for $3500 more than what I bought it and there was a lot of whining about not realizing how much the truck was worth when he listed it.

It will have the 48re transmission. The only question is if it's an early 2004 with the 305/555 engine or the later 2004.5 with the 325/600 engine. A quick glance at the tag affixed to the engine on the drivers side will tell you the horsepower of the engine. Good luck with the new truck. Dodge really stepped up their game with that generation of truck and they are a reliable beast with a few known area's that require upgrading. I drive a 2010 Ram 2500 Hemi and love it.

 

[greythorn3]

dodge has never made a transmission that was worth a hoot and never will im sure. they are always garbage. if it wasent for the cummins engine no one would buy a dodge sad to say but true. and the new cummins arent very good either. i cant belive people still buy them trucks they are ticking timebombs, you can see it in their low resale value.

 

[G6 at Snook TX]

I have to agree with greythorn to a degree. I have had two Dodges and use one right now, but the problem has been that the body always wants to fall apart faster than the motor. Also, I can say that the 5.9 is a good Cummins, but I would NEVER buy a 6.7, especially the 2007 model. I had one and it was nothing but trouble. Also, a complaint about modern, efficient, and clean diesels are that you cannot idle the truck while in the pasture. It may have changed in the last few years, but there was a reason Dodge was always 4-5 grand less than Ford or Chevy or Toyota. There is a reason why--quality of make. I drive a Ford, F-150, and would buy another again, or look at a Toyota, but that is where the list ends.

It looks like you bought a clean truck and I hope it treats you better than Dodge treated me.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

There are people with 350,000 miles on a 47RE trans, the problem is many people won't change oil & adjust bands. I realize this won't have the 47 in it, same deal though, get Jiffy lube to do a power flush on it & get all that old oil & band material out. The sad thing about the Cummins was after 98.5 they needed to take the low speed torque out of the engine because of emissions. If you,ve ever driven a good 2 valve you'll be spoiled. I drove newer ones that had all the off idle torque of a gas engine. A Smarty chip will put the timing advance back in. Good luck that should be a nice truck for you.//// Think Federal Mogul(Moog) front end parts as Dodge really dropped the ball there, Randy

 

[greythorn3]

the newest cummins engine i would get would be a 24v then i would pull just the engine and sell the rest the truck because thats where the garbage begins.

 

[certified106]

Nice !, but it's only a shortbox & way too purty to nick & ding out in the woods.

In all seriousness though, get a bigger trailer & load it too the gills, or you'll forget it's behind you. Good find. A C

Yeah, I agree it won't make it out into the woods but the plan is I can now haul the tractor on an 18 foot landscape trailer so the truck won't have to but I will now be able to pick up small scores without having to go home and get the trailer. I also wanted something to pull my camper through the mountains in WV so it will be pulling double duty lol

 

[certified106]

dodge has never made a transmission that was worth a hoot and never will im sure.

Dang I wish I could have found a low resale value but it took darn near two years to find this one. I agree the stock tranny is horrible if it is not maintained properly however it really only takes about $550 dollars of upgrades to pretty much make it bullet proof. There is a local guy about 45 minutes form here who works on nothing but Dodge cummins engines and the tranny that is attached to it. ALL the locals swear by him even the guys buying almost brand new trucks take them down and have the tranny reworked. My best friend has three Dodge Cummins and all three tranny's have been reworked for under $600. His 1 ton dually has 275,000 hard miles on the tranny and is still going great and that truck is constantly pulling a huge skidsteer, 5'th wheel, or very large farm equipment. I already called and set up the appointment for the tranny work so I will let you know how it seems afterwards. I will say the original owner had the bands adjusted every 25,000 miles (saw the receipts) and the tranny still shifts great and drops into gear really solid.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

dodge has never made a transmission that was worth a hoot and never will im sure.

Dang I wish I could have found a low resale value but it took darn near two years to find this one. I agree the stock tranny is horrible if it is not maintained properly however it really only takes about $550 dollars of upgrades to pretty much make it bullet proof. There is a local guy about 45 minutes form here who works on nothing but Dodge cummins engines and the tranny that is attached to it. ALL the locals swear by him even the guys buying almost brand new trucks take them down and have the tranny reworked. My best friend has three Dodge Cummins and all three tranny's have been reworked for under $600. His 1 ton dually has 275,000 hard miles on the tranny and is still going great and that truck is constantly pulling a huge skidsteer, 5'th wheel, or very large farm equipment. I already called and set up the appointment for the tranny work so I will let you know how it seems afterwards. I will say the original owner had the bands adjusted every 25,000 miles (saw the receipts) and the tranny still shifts great and drops into gear really solid.

I'd be interested to find out what is done with the tranny reworking. My guess would be a valve body mod. I would recommend doing a pan drop & band adjustment & filter change every 12,000 miles. You only get rid of 4 to 5 quarts out of approx. 18 this way. Good luck there, Randy

 

[certified106]

dodge has never made a transmission that was worth a hoot and never will im sure.

Dang I wish I could have found a low resale value but it took darn near two years to find this one. I agree the stock tranny is horrible if it is not maintained properly however it really only takes about $550 dollars of upgrades to pretty much make it bullet proof. There is a local guy about 45 minutes form here who works on nothing but Dodge cummins engines and the tranny that is attached to it. ALL the locals swear by him even the guys buying almost brand new trucks take them down and have the tranny reworked. My best friend has three Dodge Cummins and all three tranny's have been reworked for under $600. His 1 ton dually has 275,000 hard miles on the tranny and is still going great and that truck is constantly pulling a huge skidsteer, 5'th wheel, or very large farm equipment. I already called and set up the appointment for the tranny work so I will let you know how it seems afterwards. I will say the original owner had the bands adjusted every 25,000 miles (saw the receipts) and the tranny still shifts great and drops into gear really solid.

I'd be interested to find out what is done with the tranny reworking. My guess would be a valve body mod. I would recommend doing a pan drop & band adjustment & filter change every 12,000 miles. You only get rid of 4 to 5 quarts out of approx. 18 this way. Good luck there, Randy

I'll get the specifics when I take it down there but what I know so far is he replaces the reverse gear, rebuilds the valve body to be a locking valve body, upgrades some solenoid, raises the tranny pressure, and adds a locking switch to the truck so the tranny can be locked into any gear and you can shift it like a stick. From what he was saying one of the major problems with the tranny is the stock tranny pressure isn't high enough and it's hard on the bands. Once he performs the mods listed above the tranny shifts really solid into every gear. I have driven a few with these mods and the difference is incredible. If you are going to be using the truck for major pulling all the time he usually wants to replace the torque converter and overdrive gear also but he siad 80% of people don't need that. We will see how it goes.

 

[thewoodlands]

Alright here is the new to me wood hauler.....

Certified106, the truck looks great.


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