The name for the modern Dodge Ram 3500 Dually, as with all the full size Dodge pickups, comes from the hood ornament first used on the Dodge trucks in the early 1930s. Designed especially for Dodge, the ram name was chosen for the animal's strength and its agile surefootedness on mountain trails.
Dodge pickups go back even further than their hood ornaments. The first Dodge truck, actually a van, was made during World War I. The first Dodge pickup truck was a one and a half ton with a four cylinder engine, released in 1921. By 1935 that design evolved into a Dodge one ton pickup truck, the initial forerunner of the modern Dodge 3500.
In 1959 Dodge made their first one-ton dually, called a Utiline D300, with a 5000 pound maximum payload. The next year saw the first use of the Cummins Turbodiesel engines. In 1974 the Dodge D100, which was a half-ton pickup, had a version called the Ramcharger and the ram name has lasted in various forms until the present time. The modern Ram pickup line, including the Ram 3500, came out in the 1994 model year. The last update for the exterior styling came in the 2003 model year, giving the Dodge heavy duty trucks a slightly different look from the half tons.
From its 1994 beginnings, the modern Ram 3500 was offered as a dually. Initially it had only a regular cab engine. Club Cab came out in the 1995 model year and the full size four door Quad Cab the next year. The latest cab version, dating from the 2006 model year, is the Mega Cab, a behemoth of the four door cab available only with a short bed.
The newest Dodge Ram 3500 dually, the 2009 year model, comes with a 6.7 liter I6 engine that can be matched with either a six-speed automatic transmission with overdrive or a six-speed manual transmission with overdrive. It develops a whopping 610 pound feel of torque. Fuel efficiency and NHTSA crash test information isn't available, but the former will not be good and the latter should be.
The original base price on the Dodge Ram 3500 Dually was $18,417. That was for the 1994 model, which still has a Kelly Blue Book value as high $4,425. Suiting up in one of these babies today will cost you no less than $35,985. But, as has been the case since Dodge built that first World War I truck, the modern version of the 3500 Dually is a true work truck, built to move whatever needs moving.
