It has a lot to tell.
We’ve heard many stories about cars that have logged a lot of mileage with their faithful steed. We saw a Nissan Frontier drive off the lot with one million miles last year. We felt it was a good story. It got a replacement truck free of charge from Nissan. A small Mirage hatchback also came from Minnesota with over 400,000 miles.
This is one such story – an Oregon man has logged over 1.5 million miles on his Dodge RAM 3500 that he purchased new in 1997.
The badge on the side of the truck is not a Ram 5500. It didn’t exist in 1997, and the owner made it up. This truck is in good condition considering it has never had a paint job. The 3500 was used to pull boats, RVs and horse trailers. There is minimal rust and dents. Impressive.
The owner made a variety of powertrain modifications that enabled this truck to reach the 1.5-million-mile mark. Three Cummins diesel engine modifications have been performed on the truck. Technically, it was two as the second engine swap was a rebuild of the original 3500 engine. According to the owner, the current engine has covered approximately 500,000 miles.
The owner stated that the transmission was a 12 NV4500 model transmission change before he could learn how to replace it by a G56 six speed gearbox. It’s currently in use right now. Yes, twelve.
The owner was asked if he would like to purchase a new truck to replace the old workhorse. He declined to answer because he needs a bay that he can use to repair mechanical engines, which is something newer trucks lack. He’s actually about to replace his current engine with a brand new one. Talk about loyalty.
Although the two-decade journey of the man and his workhorse was not easy, it was a rewarding one. The video below will tell his story.