Reliability of Used Dodge B

Hi all -
I've been considering picking up a used Class B. In the price range I want to spend ($14K) I find 95/96 Roadtreks on a Dodge chassis with 100K+ miles. From the photos and brochures, the layout would work well for us. My question concerns the longevity/durability of the Dodge engine, transmission, chassis. What kind of miles can you expect to get out of the engine (like the 318) and transmission? Pretty reliable? I plan to tow a boat, approx 2,000lbs in the summer in Eastern Washington, with expected high temperatures.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I have a 95 Dodge Ram 3500, 4x4, st'd transmission, with 90,000 miles which is running as good as the day I drove it off of the dealer's lot in 1995. One of my neighbors has the same truck with 471,000 miles on it. He has had to rebuild the automatic transmission twice, but has not had a bit of trouble with the engine. As long as the oid is changed at the 6-7000 mile intervals, the engine is good for 500,000+ miles. I've heard of the RV/trailer delivery drivers getting 700,000+ on this engine.

Go for it.

Chet18013

Whenever I've purchased a used RV, I start out assuming all of it's maintenance items are overdue and go through everything up front.   High on the list are replacing all of the belts and hoses (it's really much easier to do them all at once on a scheduled basis instead of doing them piecemeal when you'd really rather be traveling), changing all fluids (engine oil and coolant, transmission and brake fluids) and inspecting the brakes, tires and batteries.  Tires and batteries go bad from non-use in addition to just wearing out, so if they're more than 5 years old I'll just replace them up front.

If you'll be towing, you'll want to install additional cooling for the transmission oil.  High oil temperatures are what kill transmissions.

Great, thank you for the advice and guidance. That takes some of the fear out of looking at these units. The maintenance items are also a great suggestion, if I find and purchase one, that will be first on the list. What kind of shop would be recommended for a transmission cooler installation?

I think Chet's Dodge has the Cummins diesel engine in it, which certainly is a 500,000 mile engine. The 318 gas engine that Dale inquired about is not likely to live anywhere near that long. I'd guess maybe 150k tops.  The transmission is likely to fail first, though.

Good info - the one I looked at with 124K might be getting close to a rebuild then. I assume the usual indicator like compression readings will give an indication of how close to the end it is getting.
Thanks again everyone for the advice.

My 94 RT190 Dodge with the 318 engine just turned 200,000 miles. The engine still runs like new, burns about one quart of oil each 1000 miles, and has only needed a new water pump (at 195,000 miles.) I had to replace the fuel pump in 1995 because of the introduction of a fuel additive that softened the plastic fuel line inside the tank, but that was covered by the warranty. The main problems that I have had have been the need to replace the transmission twice, once at 109,000 miles, and then at 190,000 miles. My chassis did not come with a transmission cooler, so I had one installed after the second failure. It seems that these units really need a cooler, and I notice that somewhere in the mid-nineties Dodge started installing factory external coolers. The chassis is really solid, and tires seem to last forever. I have had to replace the tires three times because of age (six years) but with lots of tread left. Regarding the motorhome components, the only thing that I have had to replace is the refrigerator about two years ago. Apparently they will last about thirteen years before the steel tubing in the cooling unit rusts through and lets all the coolant escape. I replaced it myself in about two hours, but having done it once, I could probably do it again in about 45 minutes; so, it isn't very difficult. The generator has many hundreds of hours on it and has not required any maintenance other than oil changes. Bottom line: I would go for it at that price. If the engine has had regular oil changes, it probably has many more good miles on it.