2016 5.7 Hemi’s. Which to buy?

My buddy works at a shop and has two 1500’s I could buy off him. One has 59,000 miles, the other has about 80,000 miles.

I would like to get the 59k truck, it is a bit cleaner, has a full king cab with a nicer interior. However I’m sketched out about the lifters and cams on these trucks. Nothing has been done to this one, I feel as if it’s a gamble of whether I get a good motor or not.

The truck with 80k has the smaller quad cab, isn’t quite as clean, and the interior isn’t as nice. However…. It just had the cam and lifters warrantied and they will be brand new at the time of purchase.

Any opinions or insight?

They both will be about the same price. I would like the nice model, and would consider putting a hellcat oil pump on it, as I’ve heard those can help prevent lifter failures.

TLDR: I can’t decide which to go with, I want the truck with lesser miles, but am afraid of a fatal cam failure.

The one without the famous hemi tick .

Any vehicle is a gamble, get what you like the most. The one with the new cam could have other issues that haven’t shown themselves yet. Either way they could both be good, or one or the other crap out in a month. Run a good oil at short change intervals, and a quality filter. but don’t let a possible problem consume your mind with something that may never happen .

Get the lower miles one. Use a good oil strategy and move forward. Don't let worry about a potential future problem make the decision

I would tend to agree with going with the less miles...and you seem to like it better anyway. I agree with what others have said. The one that had the lifters fixed could break in 5000 miles, or be great for a long time. The one with fewer miles...same thing. Go with the one you like the best, and if something happens engine wise, fix it when it happens and move on. I would definitely go with a good oil, change oil every 5k and keep on keeping on!!

Get the one you want and set aside money for repairs down the road. Machines break.

The cam thing happens. It also happens to V6 pentastars, though possibly for different causes. The chances are greatly exaggerated online, IMO, vs what you'll see 'in the wild' because nobody comes to join an auto forum to talk about their vehicle ran great today. Every Ford has cam phaser issues. Every Ram has cam failure. If Chevy owners could read and write, they'd probably have some issue online as well.

Two thoughts:

1) What about buying the one you WANT now, then wait a year, save some $$ and have a shop replace the cam/lifters in a year? Or do yourself if you're capable ...with the plethora of info on this forum from guys who've done it and have offered their thoughts and do-differents. Or any number of Y/T videos. Yes, it'll cost you more, but you'll end up with the truck you WANT (no second-thoughts) and an engine that has probably 2 year's worth less mileage, or more depending on how much you drive. It's better to get what you want and pay a bit more and be thrilled by it every time you drive it, than always think, "Why didn't I get the OTHER one?!!". That said, there are lots of trucks which go their entire life and never have cam issues (but that's tempting fate). Mine has 175k and as far as I know the lifters are original. (I might replace them one of these days).

2) Would truck #2's interior be acceptable if it was professionally detailed and cleaned? Or is it a matter of colors/options/features? If it's the later, then I'd go with truck #1 and get the cam/lifters re-done down the road. Obviously the condition of the rest of the truck matters too.

Best of luck!

Get the one you want and set aside money for repairs down the road. Machines break.

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Ha ha...we posted basically the same thing... I agree with your assessment, other than they don't ALL cam-out. But he should get a new one installed for peace of mind, and longevity.

Jeepwalker said:

I agree with your assessment, other than they don't ALL cam-out.

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I was just saying that's how forums make it seem, not the reality. I've yet to have a cam issue in a personal or issued vehicle. Additionally, I used to have access to fleet data and the occurrence rate wasn't super significant over 100k mile ownership when I did. Longer term, transmissions put down more vehicles than motors, but these were very hard use miles.

Maybe 59K and buy a service contract

I would go with the 59K miles truck. Used is used so who knows. You're buying someone else's problems. New cam may not mean anything if it wasn't done correctly.

What cam and lifters were put in the higher mileage truck? OEM or some E-Bay "special"? At 59k miles, I'd go with that one and as others said use good quality oil and filters.

Dbeck229 said:

My buddy works at a shop and has two 1500’s I could buy off him. One has 59,000 miles, the other has about 80,000 miles.

I would like to get the 59k truck, it is a bit cleaner, has a full king cab with a nicer interior. However I’m sketched out about the lifters and cams on these trucks. Nothing has been done to this one, I feel as if it’s a gamble of whether I get a good motor or not.

The truck with 80k has the smaller quad cab, isn’t quite as clean, and the interior isn’t as nice. However…. It just had the cam and lifters warrantied and they will be brand new at the time of purchase.

Any opinions or insight?

They both will be about the same price. I would like the nice model, and would consider putting a hellcat oil pump on it, as I’ve heard those can help prevent lifter failures.

TLDR: I can’t decide which to go with, I want the truck with lesser miles, but am afraid of a fatal cam failure.

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I would get the lower milage vehicle and put it on a good oil strategy. If you can get the maintenance records for it, even better. As with most things purchased, the warranty usually goes to the original purchaser and may not be transferrable to you. Not to mention, what was the quality of the parts and labor of the cam and lifter job? The seller may have put just "enough" in it to get it ready for sale.

I would buy the one with 59,000 miles and get on a good lubrication strategy, also you don't know what kind of a job was done and how much metal was in the lubrication system of the higher miles truck.

The issue with the cams and lifters isn't actually in the cams and lifters, but rather the tolerances in those engines and other parts. So you literally would have a better chance of getting a cam fail in an engine already prone to this issue, most hemi's will not have the cam fail. Look up the threads in my sig and read up on two oils strategies. A 2016 will do good with a 0w40 low visc or a 5w30 that is stout, and the additive biotech might depending on which oil you chose. That is the year when they made stronger rollers in the lifters, so good choice on year. Are the gear ratio's the same in both as well?

I pretty much agree with what's been posted so far. But I will bring up something no one has mentioned yet (unless I missed it LOL).

I would expect that someone who is meticulous with keeping the interior and exterior in great condition would also be diligent with maintenance. Inversely, someone who doesn't take good care of the interior and exterior might not be as good about keeping up with maintenance. The fact that the cam/lifters need replacement on the one that's not as nice might support that. Of course, these are assumptions. And you know what happens when you assume. But unless you have complete maintenance records for both vehicles it's better than nothing.

I hope Dbeck (OP) doesn't abandon the thread and lets us know which he bought....

I gathered from the original post, the same company owns both trucks. Could be one is manager/owner/foreman driven, or driven by an engineer/project manager??? The other truck could be 'tech-driven' truck which goes to jobsites all day, which could account for the difference in condition. It also sounds like one interior is bare-bones, whereas the other is higher end ...he didn't really get into specifics.

Where I used to work, guys had company vans and some were meticulously neat and clean. Other's vans were just a mess inside. Project manager trucks were slightly nicer spec'd out because they drove them to discuss project details with owners/plant operators, and often would take them to lunch or whatever. So you gave them a slightly nicer customer-facing pickup. You don't really need to give technicians or concrete workers trucks with leather interiors and deep pile carpeting. They cost a lot more, and don't stand up as well as vinyl usually.



Note: Good call guys on going on a good oil strategy...

Jeepwalker said:

I hope Dbeck (OP) doesn't abandon the thread and lets us know which he bought....

I gathered from the original post, the same company owns both trucks. Could be one is manager/owner/foreman driven, or driven by an engineer/project manager??? The other truck could be 'tech-driven' truck which goes to jobsites all day, which could account for the difference in condition. It also sounds like one interior is bare-bones, whereas the other is higher end ...he didn't really get into specifics.

Where I used to work, guys had company vans and some were meticulously neat and clean. Other's vans were just a mess inside. Project manager trucks were slightly nicer spec'd out because they drove them to discuss project details with owners/plant operators, and often would take them to lunch or whatever. So you gave them a slightly nicer customer-facing pickup. You don't really need to give technicians or concrete workers trucks with leather interiors and deep pile carpeting. They cost a lot more, and don't stand up as well as vinyl usually.



Note: Good call guys on going on a good oil strategy...

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Maybe I misunderstood then because I thought he was talking about 2 different used trucks for sale at the same dealership or car lot. If what you're assuming is correct then maintenance history should be very similar for both trucks.

I would get Hemi for Certain.

The lower mileage one obviously makes the most sense since you appear to like it more. Go for it and take care of it like previous posters have said and it should be fine. My 2014 has the 5.7 but with only about 89,000 miles. So far, no hemi tick but I change the oil every 5,000 miles and use full synthetic.

I really don't think you can go wrong here but you never know. A new truck can break as well but the odds are very low and I think the same is true with this truck. Buy it, drive it and enjoy it.