Trading a 97 RT/10 for a 96 GTS question

[monnieh]

I am thinking about trading my 97 RT/10 for a 96 GTS.

Does anybody know of any problems with the 96 GTS's? I think I heard the wheels are not as strong and can fail under track conditions? Any 1st year production gotcha's that anybody knows about I would appreciate hearing from you! Or anything else to watch out for on a 96 GTS?

thanks!

 

[99 R/T 10]

Got a question not related to your post. Why do you want to trade? Did you not like the the R/T? The 97 is a great year, wish I had the money to take it off your hands.

Mike

 

[monnieh]

I just like the way the GTS's look a bit more than the RT/10, no other reason

 

[C O D Y]

The '96 GTS and '97 RT / GTS wheels are the same. The change came in '98 to stronger 17" wheels and then changed to 18" wheels in '99

 

[C O D Y]

You might be right, Tony. The weld is what to look for when looking for the stronger wheels. No visible weld on the inside and they should be the better 17" wheels.

I was going from memery when Larry (club vice pres) bought a set of stock wheels for his '98 and when they came in they had the date 1997 stamped on them (or the box) and you could see the weld easy. He ask the Dodge dealership to return them and get a set of 1998s. When they came in there was no visible weld on the 1998's.

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Running change to forged wheels in 1997. Early ones cast, later ones forged.

Beyond that, nothing unusual in 1996 versus 1997 or even later years beyond the normal TSB's which involve the alarm system, airbag, etc.

In fact 1997's have their own unique issues like the defective intake manifold gaskets and potentially porous oil pan if my memory serves me right.

As the happy owner of a 1996 GTS, if I had it to do all over again I would still choose it over any other year including 1997. I like the uniqueness of the stripes through the license plate box and the novelty of it being the first year of GTS production. I do wish it had ABS though.

</FONT f>

 

[BWoodbury]

I'm with Ron. I upgraded to '98 wheels to get the stronger forged wheels with the much better shine and I upgraded to the newer fan module and I had the alarm system TSB done.

I am very happy with my 96.

All I miss is ABS...

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Jason;

As I stated, it was a running change in 1997. Early ones were cast, (identical to 1996) and later ones were forged. To Bob's point, 1998's were also forged but the process was slightly different as they are more highly polished that 1997 forged version.

The weld bead is the giveaway on the 96 ~ 97 cast wheels.

I also swapped out my 1996 wheels for 1998's. Had no issues and I don't race (yet) but wanted the extra strength and shine.

As far as the oil pan goes, my owners manual had an addendum on the oil capacity, so either all 1996's had slight more capacity then printed in the manual or it was a running change. Either way, you'll want to upgrade to the added capacity of the M/Y 2000+ oil pan. 1999+ fan assembly is also a improvement, but I've never had a issue with the stock one. I upgraded just in case and to improve the A/C.</FONT f>

 

[dadsvpr]

i believe there was an oil pan change mid year on the 96 gts which is what the 97 had. not sure what the issues were. for some reason my info says the 96 wheels were cast and the 97 wheels were forged. does this make sense?

jasont