Used trucks - 4.7 worth looking at?

[Deleted member 214]

I'm looking for a used Ram quad cab 4x4. I see some with the 4.7. Isn't that a Mercedes motor? Seems small for a big truck. I'm not looking at doing any towing the near future other than a utility trailer. Any maintenance issues vs. a Magnum? :eusa_eh:

 

[RustyRatRod]

They don't get mileage worth a crap either.

 

[Budnicks]

yes it's a Merc/Daimler Engine design... if you live in a flat area & don't drive in the mountains much they aren't too bad, my cousin has one in a Dakota, he likes it, but lives in the valley doesn't really drive up here in the hills much, they are kind of dogs in the mountains, but there are tuners &/or computer changes, air box/gauze filter, swirl spacers, free flowing exhaust, hotter coils, injectors, or other possible bolt ons you can improve the performance slightly & mileage some too...

 

[RustyRatRod]

Never as good as a 5.2 Magnum.

 

[383man]

They are ok as they are a larger version of their cousin eng the 3.7. Both are overhead cams and use a few timing chains in them as I had to do a few. Had to put a cyl head on our parts truck as it sludged up. Gee a dealer parts dept did not change the oil enough in their truck ? LoL ! But its true. I also had my nephews 3.7 drop a valve seat and I ended up putting a head on it and retiming all of the chains. Did one 4.7 head from a dropped valve seat. Change the oil in them about every 3500 miles and you should be good. They run OK but wont win to many drag races. They actually have a dummy shaft in the block where the cam normally is. But since they are overhead cam they have what looks like a normal timing chain from the crank to the cam dummy shaft. Then they use a chain from behind the gear on the dummy shaft to each head and then each head has a timing chain from the driven cam to the other cam it drives. See no big deal but its not something you want to replace the chains on without the special tools. I would have no problem owning one as I would change the oil every 3500 and then it should be fine. Ron

 

[Donny]

4.7 was a replacement for the 318, later the 5.2 Magnum. Its not a good motor this 4.7, there's issues with reliability with this motor as from my friend who's a mechanic at a Dodge dealership. The heads have issues, but, if the price is right, you should be good to go as long as you keep care of it.

 

[Deleted member 214]

Thanks, everybody. I did some research on mh own and yep, if the oil wasn't changed religiously and/or the PCV valve broke they would sludge up and die an early death. Buying used, there is no way for me to know for sure how it has been maintained by the previous owner. I'm narrowing my search down to a Magnum or Hemi.

 

[RustyRatRod]

We do business every once in a blue moon with Jasper. Our rep actually told us they had found the problem with sludging in the 3.7 and 4.7 to be the same. Under sized oil pump pickups. He said all of the Jasper remans get over sized pickups with bigger tubes. Something about the smaller pickups and tubes allowed the oil to overheat. It made sense the way he explained it.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I have a 4.7 in an 02 Durango that I bought new and it's still going strong at 180K miles. I change the oil anywhere from 5-8 K miles - usually at the 5 K mark but sometimes time gets away from me! I have towed my jet boat with it more times then I can count, and it wasn't exactly cold out during that time and the back of the truck was also full of camping stuff! I have also towed cars, including my 66 hemi Charger and a buddy's car from Oregon, which is about 2K lbs overloaded. And when I towed the heavy loads up over a mountain I just dropped a gear and held it at 4500 RPM so I don't kill the tranny.

The only things I have done are: Four O2 sensors, radiator cap plastic adapter thing and radiator for good measure, on the fourth set of tires now, several brake jobs up front, exhaust manifold gaskets twice (major issue with these), fuel pump and the ball joint recall (my original ones were fine). I changed the tranny and rear end fluid several times. The LS carrier has an issue but it has had it for about 100K miles so when it finally starts to complain I'll fix it. My on going complaint with it is the front brakes are horribly undersized so it's just eats them up. But the good news is rotors are $20.00 ea and the job is cake. Rears are fine but started getting really grabby so I just replaced them and all is better. I think in 03 the brakes got a major redesign, which pretty much admits there is a problem.

If you found a nice one with good records I'd say get it. Even though I have the new 3500 diesel I refuse to give up my Durango!