I was worried about that too. It's my understanding that it gets the same HP and torque as the 5.2L that is in my current truck. If that's true, then I won't really notice the difference when I test drive it. But that is certainly a point I will be keeping an eye on.

I'm talking to a rep at Autonation Southwest. Hopefully it all plays out the same. I'm definitely not afraid to walk though. I DO like not having a car payment...

In my research, I pulled this up. I don't know how representative of the entire population it is, but I think 10% isn't a HORRIBLE failure rate.

http://www.truedelta.com/Dodge-Ram-1500/engine-problems-78

I'm trying to locate something unbiased to give me a fair assessment of the vehicle with that particular engine. Everything I've found so far seems to be firmly planted in the "I HATE IT!" or "I LOVE IT!" camp, with no one actually giving an unbiased opine. cargurus.com seems to have the best unbiased reviews, and so far it's leaning in the favor of the 4.7L (overall rating is a 4.6).

I realize I could still end up with the one engine in 200 that ends up blowing up, but I can't take a handful of negative reviews to mean it's a piece of crap, ya know? I think I'll give this one a chance, get on the gas during the test drive, and poke around under the skirt for a while. I deeply appreciate your feedback, guys! I'll keep it all in mind when I head up wednesday to ogle the shiny twucks.

Well, the specs in the listing say the pickup has 31" tires, but I think those are factory specs. The tires in the picture look to be 33" and the diff ratios are 3.55 to 1. With that tire size and diff ratio, and your intended uses, I think you will be fine with that pickup. Of course, you will get a better feel for whether or not the pickup feels underpowered at all when you test drive it.

Spider-Pig, maybe you could explain to me how that works out? I don't really know how gear ratios equate to power transmission. I just know there are gears inside that spin, lol.

Basically, the taller the gears are the more power you lose. Same with tires. The more power you lose the harder your engine has to work and everything suffers, like fuel economy. 3.55 isn't bad, and 33" tires aren't bad either. If the gears and/or tires were taller, or you planned on doing plenty of hauling/towing especially on grade then I would consider the bigger engine.

On the flip side, if your gears are too small then your engine would be too high revving, and that will also affect fuel economy. These days auto makers lean more toward the taller gears because consumers want better fuel economy, but the second you apply any type of load to the vehicle like taller tires, steep grade, or towing/hauling then you will lose a ton of power. Usually the transmission is the first to suffer any kind of catastrophic failure.

Yep think of it like riding a bike. Gear ratios can make or break a truck.

I'm tracking, ok. thanks for explaining!

My Ideal gearing for a truck is 3.73ish as all the manufactures use slightly different ones. My reasoning for this is I will be putting at least 33s on it and I want to be able to pull a car on a steel trailer at least and not be turning 5k RPM on the freeway. If it wont do that then whats the point, get a car, but as always YMMV.