I just bought a 94 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9 V8 4x4 5 speed, and wondering if anyone knows anything about them?

like are they reliable?
good for towing a car trailer?
good for 4wheeling?

 

Transmissions on those trucks are notorious for being defective. But, I used to have a Ram 1500 4x4 with a 318, and it was a good truck. The truck has a straight axle suspension, not IFS, so lift kits will be cheap. Truck has a Dana 44 Front Axle stock. 318 and 360 both share performance parts, as both are built on the same block.

But, gas mileage and horsepower/torque is bad with a 318 or a 360 considering what options are available to you now in the same engine size. With a 3 inch suspension lift, and 33 inch tires, I only got 17 miles to the gallon out on the highway.

Also, you may have a problem locating new parts for that engine since the 318 and 360 are no longer produced. The 318 was replaced with the 4.7L V8, and the 360 was replaced with the 5.7L Hemi. Expect most, if not all replacement parts to be remanufactured.

 

Yes its a good truck for towing I have a 96 ram 1500 with 318 engine and I tow everything with it but the transmission jus went out on it though

 

the auto trans has a horrible rep for failure. i've never heard anything bad about the manuals.