1997 Ram 2500...Light Duty or Heavy Duty?

Im looking at one of these 2500 trucks thats about an hour from me..Ive always wanted a 2500HD because of the Dana 60's. The 46RE is no good, but you cant have it all right? Anyways i like the looks of the truck, but the guy, I guess doesnt know if its a LD or HD....is there a number in the vin or a tag somewhere that says specifically one way or the other?

I looked at one last year, but he wanted too much for it, and it needed alot of body work. It had D60's front and rear, and a 360 gasser.

Here pictures..

(cant post pics til 5 posts, sorry)

factory dual exhaust(dual cats)with the 5.9 gasser. You gave no description of what the truck is regular cab, ex cab, 4X4, diesel, gas, year etc...

4X4, Ex Cab, long bed, 1997.

Id intended to post pics with the first post but that didnt go too well.

So the exhaust would be visibly different that the 98 ram 1500 with the 5.9 I used to have...it had that stupid 2in 1 out cat that was built into the front Y pipe.

would the dual cats dump into 2 mufflers and 2 tips, or would it Y down into a single?

dont think the exhaust package is an identifying factor. perhaps a rear leaf count, and type. the HD models should be an over-load leaf from above and frame stops for them. a standard load leaf would have the over-load on the bottom.
how many leaves are in the pack and how wide are they?

i dont think answer is at this below link but there are alot of specs at this site , i searched my 2000 2500 there :

http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/ram_specs.html

maybe if did a google search ' dodge ram 1997 2500 specs '

dont think the exhaust package is an identifying factor.

My factory service manual has diagrams of all the exhaust systems from the v6 on up. The only two that had duel cats(duels to the muffler) was the 2500 HD and v10's. The HD's/V10's had duel pipes to duel cat's going into a large round style muffler single pipe out. The springs can be another way to ID. Most of the HD's i see have the plain steel rims(no caps). Do you have the link's to the pis of the truck since you can't post them?

All the HD's had two tone paint. Mine has every heavy duty/towing option available in 2001 and it's got single 3" exhaust. It's also a transmission junkie,,,now going on the thrid one in 160,000 miles. Working on having one built by transdepot in Florida. I'm adding the external trans cooler this time. Also adding the manual converter fill valve and a better pressure regulator from sonnex. Might even run the nasty green trans fluid from PATC,but will see if that affects transdepot's warranty. Another thing the heavy duty trucks have is one-ton rated steering components. Even with all that mine stock saginaw steering box is a piece of crap. It is adjusted,doesn't leak either but you can see it physically distort the output shaft while gorillaizing the steering wheel. I'm going with a borgeson box after the new trans is installed. Maybe then I'll have a truely Heavy Duty 2500. I also run the stock 265/75-16 tires as they are more readily available,but would like a set on bigger mud tires for the off-road fun. Also in that catagory,,,My 2500HD sets a good 5" higher that a regular 2500. With 2" levelers in the front and maybe longer trailing arms 35" tires should be happy under there.

I have a 96' 2500 v10 4x4 and even thou it does not say it is an HD. I do believe it is, because I do have the heavier axles and the same exhaust the 2 into 1. I have about 130,000 on it and seems to be running good and strong.