Hi Scott. I bought a 2013 ram 1500 in 2016 with 14k miles on it. Lifters failed after 101k abd engine was toast. Replaced engine. After 2yrs6mos and 33k miles, that engine failed. It was at least still under warranty. Its the 5.7l hemi with two styles of lifters. Are the new rams with 5.7l hemis redesigned engines or will they have the same issues? I dont tow, i drive like a ..., rarely use 4wd, and got regular oil changes.
Time for you to leave Chrysler/Stellantis products behind and move on to something else.
Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the 5.7. But I think that is mainly what it is (bad luck). The lifter issue is obviously a bugaboo with that motor, but generally the 5.7 hemi is pretty solid. It's been around a long time, and I am not aware of any major changes in it recently [if anything, it's the opposite - they (Ram/Stellantis) haven't wasted much resources in upgrading it since they plan to transition to turbo-6's like everyone else].
The general trend with both the hemi V8 and pentastar 6 is that they are fairly simple engines that have had most (though not all) of the bugs worked out. The biggest risk in buying a Ram is not the motor, it's all the stuff around it.
I am not recommending you buy a new Ram with the hemi, far from it. But it is not wrong to do either, given that all the other half-tons on the market have flaws as well (that includes the Tundra). And if nothing else, when all the V8 pickups are gone, the last generation hemi V8 should hold its value pretty well.
